General Update

Okay! I said I'd try to let you all know what was going to happen going forward by the 22nd and it's the 22nd. For those that don't want to read the whole wall-of-text, I'll put a TLDR version at the bottom you can scroll down for.

First, all of you should already know that I'd been planing to shut down current development on Eros Academy at the end of last year. If not, you haven't been reading my update posts pretty much at all, since I've been giving warnings about that for 3 or 4 months. There is some chance that I will pick up development of it again, later, but frankly it's unlikely. I've already said why in other posts, so I'm not going to inflate the word count of this update by covering that again. The rest of this post is about what will happen to development of my other works.

First, know that I have not been idle for the month of January. I don't idle well and I want to actually solve my problems, not just play the victim and whine about them. You all know, or should know, that I paused development (and payment) for January because of stress-related health issues. The short version of a very long (as in spanning the last decade) tale of that issue is that, when I sustain extremely high levels of stress for prolonged periods (as in months), I start getting chest pains and other scary symptoms. Those symptoms tend to start causing anxiety attacks which only feed the cycle by causing more stress and my actual health starts to tank. It's something I've known about since I was in my early twenties (I'm 33 now, for the curious) and I've long since learned to properly manage it like an adult human being. 

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control (including getting fucked over by two Silicon Valley firms I was contracted for in a row), I've been under increasing levels of stress for the last year or so. I was forced to take a series of contracts that aren't paying well, simply because I got left high and dry by a startup company I went waaaayyy out on a limb to work for...and on top of not paying well I actively hate the work I'm currently doing. The whole reason I went out of a limb for that startup was because I was trying to shift industries, getting out of the tech sector I despise working in (despite the fact that I'm good at it) and into somewhat more creative fields. All of which was only made much worse by the fact that I've been simultaneously trying to to work a full time job, develop two adult games, create rewards for you guys, and work on a few projects of my own to try and eventually get out of the bad financial and stress situation I was in. 

Predictably, despite how very very good I've gotten over the years at managing my stress so that it didn't fuck up my health...that was simply too much. By the end of December I ended up in the ER for a completely new set of symptoms, plus some of the old ones, and I was faced with the reality that I simply couldn't keep on with everything I was doing. So, I paused for January and built a new plan of attack to try and get myself back to a healthy place.

Unfortunately, that plan doesn't put a very high priority on my Patreon work. I've never really turned a profit from my work here, having expended most or all of the money my wonderful supporters have donated on bettering the games. New DAZ3D assets for Eros, new hardware, software, and art classes for The Cosplay Cafe, and so on. Which makes it fairly low on my priority list. It's really just a hobby and is unlikely to ever be more. Which, doesn't mean that some of what I did spend January working on doesn't potentially help that hobby in the long run...which is where the drawings of the Goblin Girl I've attached to this post are vaguely relevant. 

You see, what I've spent January doing was building up a couple of new portfolios in an attempt to eliminate the two biggest factors in my stress problems (The I Hate My Job problem, and the I'm Really Really Poor to the point I can't afford little things like medical insurance problem). One of those portfolios is related to my writing and isn't really relevant, aside from the fact that if it works out I might be able to switch some of my work over to something I hate less. The other portfolio, which is actually serving double duty as concept art for an extremely long term project of mine, is made by me pushing my current limits with my new art skills to their max. Nalia Srix here is one of the results.

That's pretty darn close to the absolute best I can draw at the moment. The second image of her (the one on the right) needs a little tweaking to make her properly look like the first one. And I need to try and add some highlights, but that's about all. I've got 4 total pieces drawn for that mini-portfolio, with two more planned by the end of the month. In part, those pieces are actually for that long term project I mentioned, but they are also intended to possibly open a few doors by taking commissions and such, which could again help my situation.

So, that's the longish-short-version of what's going on. I will, by the end of the month, have managed to put together two entirely new portfolios of work aimed at two new fields that I haven't tried to get into before. With a little luck or the partiality of almighty God (Yes, I actually am a practicing Christian, surprise! I just don't mention it since I don't want to start any drama with either non-believers or believers who think porn is from the devil or something. On that note, any comments trying to start that shit here will be deleted the moment I see them.) one or the other will stick, I'll be able to get out of the sucky position I'm in, and that will take away a metric ton of my stress.

However, despite having the portfolios ready by the end of this month(or close to that)...I still have to actually use them to try and find new employment. Which means I'm going to be super busy and probably super stressed for February, unless I get lucky or blessed and stumble on something on the first try (that's almost never happened to me in my whole life, so...). The net result of this is that I've chosen to put development on The Cosplay Cafe off for another month, which also means I've already paused the patreon page again for the month of February. You will NOT be charged for the new month if you stick around. I'm planning to try and work in an update for one or two of the stories over the next month as well, just as an apology of sorts, with another part of The Elven Maid being the most likely thing to get updated. (As such, there will be a poll up sometime soonish for that story, so that I know where it's going if I get time and energy to work on it). 

Now, that's the short-term news. However, I've also made some long-term decisions. Namely that, if in another month or s  I get back to a place where I can work on my adult games again without adding tons of stress, I'm likely going to rework the Patreon to be more low-key and less stressful for me. What that will mean will depend on how much time I feel I can spare. If only a little time is available, then I'll likely revert the patreon to the Tip Jar approach I used for a while, with a few stories as rewards and updates coming only very slowly. If I have more time than that, I will update more quickly...but still probably fairly slowly compared to my previous update cycle. In which case I'll likely downgrade the cost of the patreon tiers so that getting the newest version of the game is simply a matter of being a patron at all, with a few other rewards for super nice people that donate more. The main point being that I won't be working on a deadline, just on a 'when I can' basis. It's the deadlines that stress me out.

 
TLDR VERSION: I'm making progress on getting back to where I can work on at least one game, but I'm not there yet. I've paused the patreon page for another month (February). Current patrons WILL NOT BE CHARGED for February, so stick around for updates and possibly some story updates, but don't expect anything for the game for at least another month.