THE INN - FEBRUARY 2023 DEVLOG!

What's up people?

We're finally in february, huh? It felt like january would never end.

So far the month's been pretty busy for me, this scene I'm working on proved to be more work than I had anticipated (but that's kind of normal for me, right?)

I wanted a small, simple and cozy cafe environment for this sequence and all the assets I had available were either large or fancy stores.

So I went ahead and spent some time porting a new asset to use, it worked really well and I'm very satisfied with it!

I hope I can get everything I need for this BETA done before the end of the month, there's still some ground to cover regarding scene work, but it should be fine, I think.

Anyway, I also want to use this Devlog to talk about something else...

5 FRICKING YEARS!

Earlier this month I realized that on february 3rd The Inn had reached the 5 years milestone!

Can you believe it? 5 years since I started this little project back in 2018!

So much happened since then, so much stuff, so many, many things... Both good and bad.

What started as just a hobby to vent out my frustrations and help me deal with ADHD has grown into something so big and so important to me.

Back in 2018 I really just wanted a release from all the pent up frustrations from my job and some way to try and organize my thoughts and everything that flooded my brain all the time.

Back then I didn't know jack about coding or any of that and I didn't even think I would be able to translate what I had in my mind into actual visual scenes, mind you, I'm still in no way a fully fledged programmer or artist, I'm just a guy that likes to pose 3D dolls and wants to tell a story.

A story that I honestly didn't think anyone would like, mostly because it makes no damn sense (or it didn't at the time). I'm so glad I was wrong...

So much happened during this short span of time, those little 5 years that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things... Not just to me but to the entire world as it was thrown into a global event that got everyone unsure about their future and screwed up the entire world's health (both physical and mental).

On my end, while I didn't catch that one thing (or rather it didn't catch me), my mental health took a huge hit.

At the time I worked as a civil servant (I dunno if that's the right term for that tbh) in the public healthcare system and seeing all that happen around me all day, every day and, at the time, with no real hope that it would get any better ended up taking it's toll.

I got severe anxiety episodes and went down with a pretty bad depression. It was so bad that I had to take meds for it because the simple tought of having to get out of bad every day was too much for me to handle. It got to a point where I had a dissociative episode and just went out walking, barefoot, with no documents on me. I didn't really remember much of it, but my wife says I disappeared for about half an hour until they found me just walking in the middle of the street at night.

It was after this that I realized I couldn't keep going the way I were. I had to do something. So I took my leave from my former job.

Thankfully at the time I already had a very stable income from this project, in fact I was earning more with it than I did at my job, so I could  afford to dedicate myself entirely to it.

This was when I realized this wasn't just a hobby anymore, that it was actually something I was good at, something I enjoyed doing and something I can provide to my family.

Speaking of family, I have to thank my wife for everything she did for me, for all the support she gave me and all the patience and understanding she showed me when I was in a dark place. I honestly don't know if I would having being able to go through it without her.

But don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean I started taking other directions with The Inn just because I don't see it as just a hobby anymore.

The Inn is still my passion project, one of the things that brings me joy in life!

And I owe all that to you guys. To everyone that showed their support, either financially or with good reviews and compliments. Everyone that has come and gone, the ones that stayed and the ones that just arrived, YOU are what make this possible and YOU are one of the things that keeps me going!

I honestly can't say where this project will go from here, but I can guarantee you that it still has a lot of coal to burn!

I mean... It's been 5 years and we don't even have a FUCKING INN yet!

All in all, what I meant to say with this long ass ramble is...

THANK YOU!

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for believing in me and making this possible!

Oh yeah, by the way, don't forget to check the official sneak-peeks post!

See you all around!