Progress Report - Sick But Still Working Hard (Patreon)

Hello everyone!

I've been meaning to write this post all week but I've been working very hard on getting The Hungry House ready for it's final release. This has been going very well, incredibly well, actually, given the circumstances that I'm about to go into.

That sounds really ominous, but it's quite simple - I've been sick. I dunno if it's a cold or a weaker flu variant or something else - it's worse than a cold but not as bad as the worst flu I've had - but since the beginning of the week I've been ejecting various unpleasant fluids from my face. It's really not that terrible, though - if it was then I would have been to the doctor or something - but it's mostly been managed by a combination of medication and my own determination.

Medication doesn't eliminate brain fog, though... or vast quantities of mucus... so I've had to combat through that and as a result I've only really had the time to focus on The Hungry House. The good news is that I'm not really behind on it at all and it will be launching here on the 24th of this month, full, complete, and with far more content in it than I initially promised at the beginning of the month. I think I said there would be a handful of new scenes but there are now eight new scenes and a whole bunch of other stuff that I am very excited to show to everyone in just a few days.

So, yes. No delays there. Game is still coming. If I die then I'll crawl out of the grave to complete it. Please don't worry about me pushing myself here, I both want to and need to do it. I'm well aware that the cleverer thing to do would be to lay down and rest until my nose stops pouring, but... some things are just more important. As proud as I am of this project and would love to keep working on it forever as a perfectionist, I also want to close it soon. The last few months developing it have been very intense. Thousands of lines of code, tens of thousands of words of prose, hours upon hours spent tweaking animations and bug testing and... the list goes on. I need to slay the beast.

I have created this post to address a couple of other things, though.

To get the baddish news out of the way first - there will not be a poll this month. I know I promised one, but given the sickness and the fact that there is still quite a lot to do before the 24th I am sparing myself the responsibility this month, especially when I already need to write like two bonuses endings already next month plus whatever else I put on my plate. To make up for this, I will be doing a special double poll next month. Not as in two polls running concurrently, but as in there will be multiple winners selected. I did not plan on bailing on it, but I didn't plan on getting sick either. Regardless, I'm still really sorry about this. 

What about the two Halloween stories, then? Those are still coming, just... after the 24th when I'm done wrapping up The Hungry House. But before the 31st, or the end of the month, because it's not really a Halloween story if it's after Halloween, right?

The last thing that I would like to address is the results of the big big poll which ended a few days ago. You know, this one. By vote count Tiny Furry On A Huge Quest won fairly clearly. I will also say that, out of the three, it was the one that I was most eager to work on at the time of posting the poll. For this reason you might think that my decision is pretty clear cut - Tiny Quest won the people's vote, it's also got my vote - but I dunno, it doesn't feel that simple to me. 

I still need some time to chew everything over. It's a big decision and it's one that will influence my life and my creative output (to some extent, anyway) for the next few years. I need to make sure that whatever I pick is something that my heart and soul are ready for. Remember... I said when I posted the poll that it would serve more as a guide than absolute decision, and as a guide, I am seeing that even if there is a clear winner there is also a substantial amount of votes for the other two concepts.

I think I will get everything done with The Hungry House first and then make my final decision. It's hard to think about the next game when you're stitching up your latest one. I will also probably not be sick by then, which will probably help with thinking more than an hour into the future. Sorry if this is frustrating. I'm sure if my brain was running on all cylinders then I'd know what to do, but...

No matter what, though, I will make my decision before the end of the month.

I need to get back to game development, but I just wanted to drop in and let everyone know the situation. To summarize: final version of The Hungry House is coming on the 24th, I'm sick, poll is cancelled really sorry, Halloween stories still coming, going to let everyone know what game I'm moving forward with by the end of the month.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I'll see you all right after it with a whole ass game. See you then!