Novus
patreon
Sitrep for December
🕑 Added 2025-12-05 03:46:07 +0000 UTCAlright, guys, gals and others. I'm going to be blunt here and admit that November did not go the way I'd planned. Which is going to have some follow on effects. The biggest issue, and one I've been stressing like heck over, is that I may have gotten everything else done...but I barely scratched the surface of the Sound Project. The entire point in doing a quick-and-easy game was supposed to be that I could use the time freed up to devote to sorting that out. I'd planned to get roughly 60 animations done with the new sound in November.
Instead I managed a grand total of 24. Out of more than 200 animations in the game -_-. Actually, I think the final count might have broken 250.
Yeah. That's a problem. It's doubly as problem as December is already sort of a hell month for me. I have to take time on for family stuff around Christmas every year, as it's the only time of the year most of family drags their way together from all across the country. They'd show up to knock me out and drag me away to participate if I didn't do it voluntarily. That, unfortunately, always takes a bite out of December and I often struggle to get everything done as a result. It's going to be worse this year, too, for various personal reasons I'm not going to get into. Suffice it to say everyone in my immediate family had been having a rough few months. Some of my extended family, too, actually. Everything from my mother going on dialysis, my cousin needing brain surgery for a tumor, and my sister's entire apartment block having a sewage flood that damaged like 90% of her possessions.
The result of this is that I've been sort of fighting back anxiety attacks and trying to figure out for the last few days what the fuck I'm going to do to make things work. The answer, as much as I really don't like it, is that I need to cut out the Mixed Media Short this month. I purely hate that, as its a baked in reward for certain tiers. But I just can't figure out a way to make it work. I need to:
----------
1) Push on with The Modded Player.
2) Get a lot more of the Sound Project done this month than last month.
3) Maintain my other Patreon that is, in fact, actually paying the bills more than this one right now. Go fucking figure that the side project I made writing fanfiction as a way to get myself out of a different dead-end side job from hell is now making significantly more money, for a fraction of the time and effort invested, that this games Patreon is making.
4) Do all of that when I'm gong to lose pretty much an entire week out of the month.
------------
Yeah. That's...well, I've been dipping into the Xanax I normally try not to touch while trying to figure out what to do. So, the highpoints of what I've hacked out in the last few days are thus:
1) I'm not doing the Mixed Media Short this month. If this bothers any of the $20 Patrons, contact me and I'll refund you a part of your monthly Patronage. I'm not trying to screw people over by skipping out on rewards here. I'll appreciate it if you decide you don't care, but if you do, send me a PM and I'll get it taken care of.
2) I'm going to do a Holiday-Focused Short Story so that I don't have to worry about the usual polling complexities. One slight weight off my mind.
3) I bit off more than I could chew or, more accurately, got overly ambitious with The Modded Player. This isn't really a bad thing, though it did contribute to not getting enough other stuff done in November. I'm officially extending what was supposed to be a November-December project to a November-December-January project. This will allow me to do the game full justice, while also allowing me to take another month for the Sound Project overhaul for Left Hand Magic. I'm expecting the end result to be that The Modded Player is probably a 300+ render game, instead of the 200 MAX that I expected/planned for it to be.
4) This will also allow me to run more polls for the next MAJOR game, to hopefully be started after Left Hand Magic's final form release. The second such poll will most likely be up tomorrow, with a brief overview of the results from The First One, which I just closed out the voting for.
Deep Sigh
Okay, that's...a lot. Sorry for having to cut things down like this, this month, folks. I've done my dead level best for years not to have to skip out on rewards. I just don't think I can realistically pull it off this time, even pulling the usual long hours form hell that I normally fill December with...
Comments
Novus
Thanks! That means a lot, given you've often been more of the more vocal people on the Patreon, and one who's been around a while :-). I'd go a little crazy if I didn't work on SOME things, putting everything off would create almost as much anxiety as trying to do to much, since I'd know future me would be even more piled on with stuff T-T. Still, finding a happy medium balance I and patrons can both live with will help a lot.
Novus
Ugh, personal property tax I take it? I cannot tell you how nice it was the few years I lived somewhere that didn't have that. As always, I appreciate the words of support :-). December used to be my absolute favorite month of the year. After all, I have a birthday in the middle of it, along with Christmas! Ever since I started creating content though, it's gotten much worse. Generally, it's the time where you want to give people EXTRAs for the holiday, not cut back T-T. I've even managed that, most years. This one is just extra rough for a number of reasons.
George Lever
As mentioned by others, December is busy. If you need time, take it. I'd even be fine with a month's delay on The Modded Player. Life made other plans and I have never once felt shorted by you. I would prefer that you stopped and reduced your anxiety levels as opposed to trying to buckle down and work harder.
Merlin
Of all the developers I support, only one other is even close to producing as much as you do. I will certainly not complain if you need a break. December is tough on many people, even if they love visiting their families. There is always a lot of stress and pressure from the holidays and the end of the year being imminent. I know the holidays are supposed to be fun, but that seems to have gone away after I turned 8. December is now by far my worst month. After posting this, I have to pay enough to support you for 15+ years. This happens every year at this time and it has nothing to do with my piddling income. I just happen to live in an area (where I was born) where everyone is making at least 15 times more than I am. They tax accordingly for your tiny piece of land *sigh*.
Novus
Thanks :-). Eliminating at least one major thing like I'm doing (for this month at least) will help a lot. The MMS is by far the second most time intensive thing I do, particularly since the rendering for it takes my laptop out of commission while its happening (Game renders are done on my dedicated Desktop, MMS renders on my poor abused gaming laptop which I think is threatening to unionize).
Novus
Thanks, I appreciate it :-). I'm absolutely considering a revision of how I update things and structure overall releases once the current projects are done, but I'd really like to get Left Hand Magic in particular finalized before I do.
Matt
I agree with everything noraleit said. You do excellent work, and you deserve a break. I feel like Im getting my money's worth out of this page. Take some time and be with your family. It's the time of year for it.
noraleit
Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but December is a busy month for a lot of folks. I wouldn't mind at all if you wanted to take the month off and just work at something you *want* to do rather than what you feel obligated to do. Also, you pump out way more content every month than most other creators I follow, even ones with whole teams working. I appreciate all the hard work you do in trying to provide consistent updates, but it sounds like you are running yourself ragged trying to meet deadlines. Maybe adjust to providing a game update once every 2 months?
