Quest Failed: Chapter One - One Year Anniversary

Hiya there!

So, today is a very special day--and truthfully I wanted to do more with it beyond a blog post, but have been stretched for time on things while focusing on Chapter Two, but maybe one day soon I can do something more elaborate!

Today of course, marks the one year anniversary of Quest Failed: Chapter One! I think this crept up on all of us, and the year has gone by lightning fast, but it really has been a whole year since I released it!

None of this would have been possible without everybody's immense support and love for Quest Failed, and the desire to see it grow into something truly special. And I really can't say it enough--thank you all, so, so, so much! Whether through monetary support, feedback on the game, or even just simply enjoying the end product, it all means the world to me that this silly little monster girl game I once started out with has grown into something incredible--taken a life of its own, almost!

My only regret is that Chapter Two has been taking so long to get out, due to my increased ambitions and scope of the next game (more than quadruple the content now!) and for that I do apologise. But I really do hope it will have been worth the wait, as I really am putting my all into making it something amazing!

And while we're looking back at Chapter One, I just wanted to share a little bit about its development last year, and what it personally meant to me, without getting too personal or sappy (or at least try not to) since I do make it a point to avoid mixing my own personal affairs with that of my game development on the official channels (patreon, twitter, etc.)

Near the beginning of 2016, right when I was beginning to get things underway with pushing out the Chapter One demo, a close family member was suddenly hospitalised for unknown reasons at the time. Needless to say, things were in a state of disarray and panic. Every day I'd be up and out to the hospital to visit them with other family members, fearful of what might happen as their condition seemed to deteriorate with each passing day.

This of course, was incredibly distressing and upsetting--to see someone you've loved and have had support you your whole life get weaker and weaker before your eyes, where even the doctors were shaking their heads, saying there was nothing else they could do beyond just try to make them comfortable.

But how does this tie back into the development of Chapter One? Well, as I say, at the time, almost right when this was happening, I was about mid-way through development of the demo. And truthfully I'm amazed I could find the will at all to continue working on things, even when everything  else around me was bleak.

I used the project as something to take my mind off of the bad things, essentially. It was something to pour my efforts into and keep me going, even when I was at my lowest point and wanted to do nothing more than curl up in bed and mope.

But between each hospital visit, I'd come back, get on the computer, and work. Work, work, work! Funds dwindled as I used the little I had saved up to get the assets for the demo complete and live day to day with no other obligations beyond the project itself.

Somehow, though, miraculously, I got the demo done and pushed it out--admittedly nervous with little money to my name as I hung onto the hopes the Patreon might gain some traction, if only a little. It was make or break, essentially. Would my little project get noticed in a sea of ecchi/erotic visual novel games that were becoming increasingly popular at that time? Or would it get drowned out in the noise and leave me with nothing?

And truthfully, it didn't get that much attention at all in the first day or two of being put out. Some curious downloads here and there, maybe--but it really only get any kind of significant attention once the people at LewdGamer were kind enough to post an article of its release up for me. And from there, traffic exploded. I received advice from the people at LewdGamer too on where best I could also advertise and post about my game for more exposure in the hopes it would catch on, and for that, I'm incredibly thankful for LewdGamer and the other adult game communities for being so interested in what I had to make.

From here, the Patreon has had a steady amount of growth--where even today the continued support of people from all over the world continues to amaze me as more and more people discover Quest Failed.

Seeing so many people enjoy what I created motivated me to go further--the motivation I needed in an otherwise dark period of my life to keep going forward and finish Chapter One--to meet everyone's expectations and deliver the product they all believed in so much. I was emboldened by this, even if truthfully I often doubted my abilities and wondered if the things I create are really worth peoples' time. But to see so many people enjoying it and ask for more, I surely couldn't have been doing anything too wrong, right? Though, that doubt still does linger today, and I think will always be a part of me, even as I work towards Chapter Two. It's just a matter of not letting it control me or get me done, and to push onwards with things, letting you, the audience decide if it's worth your time, rather than deciding that myself before the verdict is even out.

And amid all this, the family member was still in hospital, their condition unpredictable as we all went through emotional highs and lows, month to month, visit to visit. It took its toll both physically and emotionally. But again, with the development of Chapter One, and the support of everyone, I had something to come back to each day--something to put my energy into and keep myself going.

So, I guess what this long, rambling, stream of consciousness post is all about is a way of thanking you all once more for giving me the opportunity to let Quest Failed exist. For giving me something to work on, and to take my mind off of things while they were at their worst. Essentially for giving me a purpose in life, as cheesy as it might sound, as I didn't really have much else going for me before this took off, beyond a few temporary stints working with visual novel groups.

Writing has been the one thing I only ever really considered myself 'good' at--even if over the years I never imagined the silly little stories I used to write purely for my own indulgence would explode into something like this. Sometimes it still doesn't feel real at all--that I was able to somehow make a living out of this stuff and utilise the one skill I had in such a beneficial way. Was it luck of the draw, maybe? Did I just happen to be at the right place at the right time for this to all unfold as it has done? I do often wonder just where I might be at the moment if I had done things in life even slightly differently than now. But I'm sure lots of us probably reflect back on the past like that too, huh?

Ah, but don't worry--I wouldn't put you all through such a depressing and emotional series of events if it didn't have a happy ending, regarding the family member I mentioned previously. Through what we could all only consider a miracle, even from the doctor's perspective, this family member came back from the brink of death. And while it took a long time, they gradually recovered, able to finally come back home just in time Christmas. And to this day, almost one year on, they've been in good health!

The future is looking bright, and I really hope you'll enjoy Chapter Two! Here's hoping FrostWorks and Quest Failed will be around for yet another year and we can meet back here and celebrate yet another anniversary.

Apologies for the rambling post and thank you for taking the time to go through it. I'm not one to go on about my feelings too much and try to keep work and my personal life seperate--so will avoid making too many of these kinds of posts down the line. In fact, this will probably be the only one, so don't worry!

A proper dev log will be soon to follow, continuing on the redesign of a new sprite!