2024 Roadmap and plans (Patreon)

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Heya everyone,

As we step into 2024, I wanted to share a bit  about what I've got planned for the whole year. This is going to be  pretty packed, and I'm sure it's going to be very exciting! Here's all  you can expect from me this year:

Finalizing Release 0.9.9

My immediate focus is, of course, wrapping up Release 0.9.9.
This  update is not just another milestone; it’s the tying of ends and the  conclusion of the main storyline, hence why I’m taking the time to make  it really polished. This should hopefully come before the end of  January.

Patreon discontinuation

As  planned since the great Patreon banwave, and even though my page didn't  get banned, I'll delete my page on 31st, January. I still have a few  useful posts to save and put back here, like the debug command list.

Polishing for Perfection: The 1.0.0 Update

Following  0.9.9, my efforts will shift towards Release 1.0.0. This is a pretty  important milestone, as this is where I’ll consider the game "finished."  This doesn’t mean "completed," but more like a state when I can look at  it and see it's playable from start to end, without temporary  mechanisms and with a main story that can be finished.

So, what  does this imply? This means that for this release, I’ll make a giant  pass across all the pesky little bugs, polish the world, add more  interactables in the world (something that I find very lacking), extend  some features I implemented but never really expanded upon (NPC  accidents for example), add more little events playing in and out, use  more some places that are currently used only for a side quest...I think  you can see the goal here: Not adding a ton of new content, but  polishing and expanding what already exists.
The projected date for that update is the end of Q1, so late March- early April.

Community Insights: Survey Results
Somewhere around  the 1.0.0 release, I'll be sharing the insights from last year's survey.  Your feedback has been invaluable, and the first dive into the results  has been really interesting. It will be extremely useful going forward.  Some of you might be wondering, why taking so much time? It's only  results right? 
The answer is that I only have the raw results for  now, and I've just began analysing it . Going for a serious survey  analysis take a little bit of time, and I really want to be serious here  to respect everyone that took the time to reply.

There's also a  tons of verbatim from the survey that are more difficult to analyse, and  some asked interesting questions, so I'll be sure to answert his in a  separate FAQ or something like that.

Balancing Act: Post-Release and New Horizons

Post-1.0.0,  I'll be juggling two roles: continuing to support The Pacifier Project  with additional content, and kickstarting development for our next  project. This is where your voices matter. I'll be reaching out to you  to gather insights and preferences for the direction of our new venture,  using the survey results to better orient the direction of the future  game.
The goal here is to continue to provide content for The  Pacifier Project, because there’s still a ton of things that can be  added to the game, and also because, very likely, it will be some time  before something "playable" comes out for the next project.

New Game, New Goals

The ultimate goal for  the new project this year is to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) –  a prototype that will serve as the foundation for further development.  It's a big step, and one that marks the beginning of another journey. On  that road, I may release small prototypes so you can test out features  to see what works and what doesn’t. I really want to build something on a  much stronger basis than The Pacifier Project, and I want to be very  careful going forward with all the very basic features, ensuring that  it’s tested and feels "fun" right from the start.

A Change in Pace: Quality Over Quantity

Here  comes a very important yet controversial point. During the last two  years, I did my best to release a monthly update of the game. I think  this is very important, both for consistency, the ability to gather  feedback, and to give people something to expect.
However, I feel  like it comes with some drawbacks that are slowly compounding over time,  namely stress over deadlines, rushed updates, lack of QA, and bugs  creeping out. To be fair, most of these drawbacks come from bad planning  in the first place by wanting to cram too much into a one-month period.  So, for the best interest of everyone, I’ve decided to step back a bit.  This is especially important since this year, there’s going to be a  small overlap between the ending project (The Pacifier Project) and the  next game, meaning I won’t be able to dedicate myself 100% to releasing  something for the current month.
A monthly release will not be set in stone this year. Instead, here’s the general outline:

• There will be a guaranteed member-only quarterly release for The Pacifier Project during 2024.
• Starting from 1.0.0, if an update has the potential to be ready  earlier, I will release it (cosmetic things, simple additions…) when  it’s done.
• The next game will not have any planned release this year but will have multiple prototypes and demos released to test out.

As for the public release:

• The 1.0.0 will release for public availability soon after the member-only version.
• Another public release will probably happen at the end of the year with all the new stuff.
• There probably won’t be any public release nor demo for the new game in 2024 given how early the project will be.

I know this can be disappointing to some of you as Patreon  previously and SubscribeStar now have a monthly support model, and you  can rightfully expect to get something every month. If you really feel  this is unfair, don’t hesitate to voice it up. But, from my side, I  think this change in approach will help with general game quality and  polish.

In closing, 2024 is a year of both endings and beginnings! I’m very  excited for all this year has to offer, and I hope you’ll continue to  enjoy my work. I would like to thank you all for your constant support  during this year. This was a pretty packed year, with a lot of  hardships, especially at the end where Patreon decided to kick us out.  I'm glad we managed to sort things out. Thank you again, and wish you  all the best for this  year!