JPDE - Projects Update

Hello thar, Meinos Kaen here... And boy, what a crazy few months, huh?

Not just for stuff of public knowledge –the whole debacle with the Payment processors and the Australian NGO behind it, the way Itch.io knee-jerked to it and they've still not recovered, Youtube views tanking for everyone because of new AI included alghos...- but also for behind the scene stuff. It has affected our projects in a few ways, so I figured this would be a good time –being September and all- to make a summary of the situation and share what my ideas are for going forward.

1. JPDE2 [Missing Sheets] - For those not familiar with JPDE2's art pipeline, is goes like so: a character artist makes reference sheets for the new characters, which are then used to make character sprites, and finally both of those can be used as references for CGs. That's how we keep consistency in looks and feel of characters even with different artists working on the project.
   Which means that, if the character reference sheets are missing, the system crumbles. Guess which artist has ran into IRL problems? I've literally ran out of reference sheets to give the ChocoJax -our sprite artist- and I've started the process of looking for a new character sheet artist but that still means at least a couple months before anything new is made, and there's one character in particular that needs to be added to the game or the Main Story can't progress.

2. Tales of the Kinkeeper [Animal Rights, Art Pause] - Due to the chaos created by the Payment Processor-calypse, the very vague terms in their demands and the fact that Itch.io is severely understaffed for the size of their website, they've first made the entire side dark and then started working back up from there. This affected even works that are only tangentially related, like ToK just for having anthropomorphic Robin Hood-style characters. Also, the main artist of the Game needs a break because of IRL issues, so it's going to be a couple months before they can start working on it again.

3. BABELOMANIA [IRL Sucks, but Old School Helps] - If you played the DEMO, you know that it's set in the very near future. I thought it would be neat but since we live in the WORST TIMELINE, I've had to rewrite certain things a few times already... But it's finally done. Also, after researching some old-school computer games, I got an idea for how the final product is gonna play like. Which means we're fully back in business.

4. MAH RENPY TUTORIALS [Youtube, WHY?] - Youtube keeps getting worse. In case you don't know, during the summer I've started making Tutorials for creating Games in Ren'py. The first video has performed better than any of my previous ones, while the second but especially the third one have not performed as well... If you look at the Youtube chatter right now, you can see that this is very likely due to a faulty implementation of their new AI systems, and has left many people –me included- quite displeased.

So, what does that mean for the Patreon and our output in the near future? Well, I've come to a few decisions.

1. JPDE2 Dating Sim Version – Until I can properly work on the main story again, I will release a 'fork' of JPDE2, so to speak. There won't be story updates on that, only further dating sim content with the characters whose graphics have already been added to the game.

2. BABELOFOCUS – For original projects, BABELOMANIA will be the main focus for the foreseeable future. If all goes well, I think the game will be functionally done by the beginning of 2026, and you can expect a Demo up on its Steam page by spooky season.

3. TUTORIALS ON PATREON FIRST – You may have noticed that all the paid tiers on Patreon now have the 'power' to vote on the subjects of future tutorials. Not only that: I've decided that from now on all new Tutorials will be uploaded on Patreon first. As free to peruse videos, but still: there will be a delay between posting them on Patreon and then only later on Youtube.

4. SMOL NEW PROJECT – Also, there's a new project I've been wanting to get my mitts into which, if all goes well, should be out for everyone to play by the end of the year. I shall share previews soon but, for now? Only hint I shall give you is the name 'Ian Flynn'.

Some challenges, as I said, but nothing unsurmountable. Although, as I've observed the Patreon funding wane over the last year or so –which is understandable, it is a recession after all- if it goes down any lower than what it is right now, I will have to make some more drastic decisions to try and secure other sources of funding for our game-devving.

Have a good day and don't miss the new JPDE2 poll opening tomorrow!

Meinos Kaen