Update 05/07/2021 - Hell Month and Future Plans

CW: Suicide, grooming, and COVID-19

Hey ya'll. As you might be able to guess based on those content warnings, it's been an eventful month.

But first things first: The Cyberpunk 2077 video will be done within the week. Everything's finished save the last couple minutes and some last minute editing. I know it's been taking way longer than expected. Whole project expanded into way more than I'd expected it to be, but I believe it will be well worth the effort.

That said, that isn't the real reason things have taken so long. In reality, it's taken long cause a lot of major league Bad Things have happened lately and it's been... a lot. I want to be clear, I don't tell you this cause I want pity or sympathy, but purely cause I want to be transparent about how content production is going, and that includes the reasons it's not going well. So, with that in mind, and with those content warnings in full effect,

I'm sorry to say that, at the beginning of last month, I learned a close friend of mine took his own life. Needless to say, it's hit me hard, and has honestly only sank in more and more as the month rolled on, not helped by the fact that both the projects I was working on both discuss death and suicide which uhhhhh... yeah, made it a little challenging to approach them with my usual enthusiasm at the moment. It is all still kinda raw for me, so if it's all the same to you, I'm gonna leave it there for now.

To add to that, my grandfather-in-law was diagnosed with COVID-19 in the middle of the month and, long story short, he passed away this week. This naturally has taken a large toll on the family and demanded I be there for them in these difficult times. The funeral is planned for this week and things have been frantic to say the least. I expect things to calm down to some extent after that, but for now, it has been a trying time for all involved.

Last, but absolutely not least, there is one more thing that slowed production which isn't personal, but very much needs discussing:

Early last month, accusations against Ice-Pick Lodge founder and Pathologic developer Nikolay Dybwoski surfaced claiming that he has a history of dating uncomfortably young girls and students, with behavior towards them that could be described as grooming. None of the accusations have dipped into what would be considered illegal activity under Russian law, and he has denied them, but I have been taking them very seriously all the same and am doing my best to inform myself on the situation as best I can. I'll be talking more about the accusations themselves publicly in time, but I also don't want to comment on it till I know I'm able to say something that is accurate, helpful, and respectful to the situation at hand, ideally with some concrete plan of action. I do not have that yet beyond saying that my thoughts and empathy are with the victims first and foremost. Beyond that, commenting on something as important as this requires a clear mind. However, in light of everything else at the moment I've mentioned, I hope you'll understand why I haven't managed to find that quite yet.

With that said, the accusations have also made it very clear that none involved believe that Nikolay = Pathologic nor Ice-Pick Lodge, and are in fact more concerned about his role as a professor than a developer. Knowing what I know about the game and the reality of the many different hands that contributed to and shaped the game outside of him, I am inclined to agree. For this reason, as well as several others I'll expand on later, I have made the personal decision to continue the Pathologic series, or at the very least finish the Bachelor's route. However, I feel it would be deeply remiss of me to not let you all know that these accusations are out there. If this kills whatever excitement you might have had for any Pathologic related content and, consequently, the content I'm planning on making for the immediate future, I will completely understand with no hard feelings whatsoever. For everyone else, I hope you can understand why it would give me more than I've had to reconsider and rework more than a few things.

All of these factor, as a whole, are why progress has been moving at kinds of a snail's pace this past month on everything and, in all honestly, will likely continue to move slowly for the immediate future.

tl;dr, It has been a really bad month, and this one isn't looking too great either.

Now, this does not mean that I do not have plans. As mentioned, the 2077 video will be dropping this week. As soon as that drops, I will begin recording and producing the next Pathologic video. I'll have more concrete details on what that production is going to look like once the new video is out.

In the meantime, please allow me to say thank you so much for your patience and continued support through all of this, it has helped immensely. I apologize if this is all kind of 'a lot', but as said, wanted to be as transparent with you all as possible. Still, despite everything, very much looking forward to the future. 

See you all in a few days with another update ~

Peace,
Ruby <3