So-so news, good news and 0.21 release timeline

Hey everyone,

since Christmas is imminent and I'm about to publish new releases for both patrons and the public today or tomorrow, I wanted to share some news and updates.

First, the so-so news: The first half of the month was so stuffed with work at my main job that I could barely get any TM stuff done. Not zero, just not nearly as much as I would've liked to.
Normally, that wouldn't actually be a huge problem, since I'm on vacation for the rest of the month, so I still would've managed to make a decently-sized update by the end of the month.

But here's the catch, "by the end of the month" would obviously be too late for Christmas, and I don't want to leave you without something new for Christmas.

So, what I'm going to do is to release a smaller 0.20.5 for Lv3+ patrons this weekend that brings approximately half the content I had planned for 0.21, and then bring the rest of the content planned for the full 0.21 when it's done (hopefully around New Year's Eve, but definitely within 2 weeks).
I think I can spoil as much now, 0.21 will finally add the 6th maid, which is why I feel it's best to split this release so I can give you something now, without rushing her arrival scene and initial sandbox content.

I would've preferred to just get the full 0.21 done for Christmas myself, but that just wasn't in the cards, sorry.

Now, these so-so news about the relatively small update actually have a good background:

The reason I was so swamped with work during the first half of the month was because I worked hard to get some stuff at my job out of the way early, so I can cut down my hours at my main job in good conscience starting January.

So from January onwards, I'll finally have more time for game development, and the smaller size of the Christmas release was basically the price for that.

That being said, 0.20.5 will still bring some nice new content, namely
- The 'Grand Finale' of the Chapter 2 Mary story arc
- some new Mary sandbox content, unlocked by completing the above
- a small Christmas special for the one maid who didn't have one yet (Iris)
- a few bugfixes and updated animations over 0.20a (some of those will also be in the public 0.20b which will launch alongside 0.20.5, so they won't be exclusive, but they're still an improvement over 0.20a)

This doesn't sound like much, but the Mary story scene was quite a bit of work, and I just couldn't do more in time for a Christmas release.

And remember, this is just an early slice from the full cake; the rest will follow soon, along with some polls about what kinds of content you'd like to see prioritized in 0.22 and onwards.

Stay tuned!