Recently something very awful happened in my family. I don't normally speak about personal issues here but this will impact my work. On Sunday my brother-in-law hung himself. He's in a coma and brain dead; by the time you read this they're likely to have pulled the plug.
I was not close with him but I am close with my sister and nephews. He was on the phone with my sister when he killed himself and she is currently an emotional wreck. My mother is not in much of a better state as she had just arrived for a visit with me and now blames herself for not being there. As a result I will be travelling to visit that part of my family and seeing what I can do to help and bring what comfort I can. Work on my game will NOT stop but I sincerely doubt I'll be making the deadline if I need to help her family for a week or two. I apologize and hope for your understanding.
I don't really use much of the Patreon funds for myself, preferring to put them all into my games. I will be using a small portion of it to help hire a psychologist for my sister, however. Suicide is like a plague; at the worst it spreads to others and at best it does extraordinary emotional damage. Time will only tell how my nephews deal with this; they're very young. Proper care after events like these is extraordinarily important, and I will not allow things to go poorly if I can help it.
I will not ask for contributions but should you wish to do so I would appreciate it; it'll help cover costs for the trip and psychologist. You can use the paypal button for a one-time donation. I can manage as things are and still finish the game in a timely manner without anything extra; it'll just make things easier.
I apologize for being a downer and presenting my personal problems to all of you, as well as for the delay. I will continue to work on a computer I bring with me as I'm with my family. If nothing else it is good to have something to occupy the mind. Work is the way I prefer to deal with things.
On some more lighthearted notes I do have some good things to report. First, that Sleepymaid has completed some monster art for the game which can be seen on my Patreon (for free) here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-battle-3224688
Second NoMoshing and I will also reboot the indecent gaming podcast. Raw audio of the recent recording will be uploaded to my patreon within a day or two; the properly edited version will be available to the public before long.
Up until a certain point I had a good weekend. I visited a local anime convention (my first) and had a good time. It ran from Friday through Sunday. I didn't go on Sunday due to the tragic events that happened on that day but the first two days were very enjoyable. NoMoshing wants me to go to Anime North next year, I may do so and hold a panel on making NSFW games there.
I've given various artists assignments for the month and am working on hiring mappers to remake some of the less pleasant maps. Unfortunately the response was overwhelming and I have to figure out an audition, something I'm not really in the mood to do right now. Still, we do what we must.
Unrelated to the game I've harvested a few crates worth of peaches. I'm going to have to can them before this weekend as that's when I'll likely travel to see my family. That's going to be a... hefty job. I was anticipating having more time and some help. Still, we do what we must.
If you see me away from here and I'm cheerful, well, I'm trying to be. My game exists to bring people joy and beyond this post you probably won't see me mention these events again. I really prefer for people to come here to read good, happy news. I sincerely hope this is the last time I have cause to make a post about a subject matter as dark as this.
