Developer's Journal 3:2

Hey everybody!

The last two weeks have really been great for our supporter numbers--we've basically doubled in size.  As I've said before, I'll never make a profit on Leaving DNA from Patreon/SubscribeStar, I've just invested too much and the game is too niche.  But with your help I think I will eventually  get to the point where I'm at least no longer losing money every month.  That gives me confidence to continue spending to make this game as good as I can make it.

You may be thinking to yourself, "Monk, isn't selling the game on Steam going to make you wealthier than your wildest expectations?"  Well, that would be nice, and if it does I'll send you all a picture of me swimming in my Money Bin.  But, even on Steam the game is still niche.  More importantly, I submitted the game for review at the same time I gave it to my Biggest Supporters, and I'm still waiting for someone from Steam to play it and tell me whether I can even sell it on Steam.  I couldn't really talk about this before you played Episode Two, but I do have serious doubts that it will be accepted.

Steam's rule is that a game cannot exploit children.  Leaving DNA does not exploit children; in fact, in my opinion both the courtroom scene content and Jamie's childhood content do exactly the opposite.  But I've got at least one developer promising me I have no chance of getting the game accepted because "minor plus sex" equals banned from Steam, even in the way I have presented it.  I hope that Steam understands the nuance and sees Leaving DNA for what it is.  But I've always expected that LDNA would be a passion project, and I never expected to recoup most of what I've spent making it.  When I started production, I never planned on selling it on Steam.  So if Steam rejects the game, I'm completely fine with that.

(For that matter, I'm really not confident Patreon won't kick me off.  If that happens, all of my Patreon supporters are welcome to join us over on SubscribeStar. 🤣  Seriously, though...)

Okay, you want to know how development on Episode Three is going:

Development has started slowly.  In the scenes I am currently working on I have really struggled to get the lighting correct.  The first scenes of the episode are early morning as MC meets Malena in the park to train.  It's this morning lighting I'm struggling with, particularly inside Malena's loft.  And these are all long renders so redoing them takes time.

With respect to the script/story, I still have the rough draft of Episode Three I wrote before I released the demo, but I have made some substantial changes since then, so the script needs to be reworked, including fleshing out a couple of scenes that I had only concepts for.

Also, I pushed really, really hard the last several weeks to get Episode Two out.  The exhaustion hit pretty hard once I released it.  So, while I'm still working on the game every day, the last couple of weeks I've been signing off earlier (i.e. 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. instead of 1:00 or 2:00 a.m.).  And I've still got my very demanding full-time+ job.

Those of you who have been around for awhile know this already, but I give everything I have to this game.  My time with friends and family, my job performance, my hobbies--all of these have bowed to my obsession with creating this game.  It's not healthy, but it's the choice I've made and I have no regrets.  You don't ever have to think to yourself, "Is Monk working on the game?"  Monk is obsessed and doesn't have a choice but to compulsively work on the game.  For that matter, if I ever miss a weekly Developer's Journal by more than two days, I am probably dead and you should unsubscribe immediately.

I will have previews for you next week.  Thank you for your support!

--Monk