"I'll Just Wait Until the Whole Game is Out." :( Yeah...No.

Hello Beloved Subscribers!

Since I'm pinning this post let me also say, you can't wait a year and get all the episodes for $5. Back episodes are closed every month, but you get a coupon to grab them for only $5 each when you join!

We are working hard on getting the art for episode 4--AND IT'S A BANGER! No really...Wraith and Tide bang.

I've been promoting like crazy trying to keep up our minimum monthly subscribers. Each month it gets a little harder...and I get a lot more stressed.

I recently promoted on a friend's Discord and got the reply: "I'll just wait until the whole game is out."

I wanted to address that, since it seems to be what's holding us back.

Monster Ops is meant to be an ongoing episodic series. Every month where I hit our subscriber goal, I'll be putting out a new episode. I talked to the writer about a 36 episode arc to get started. But that was never meant to be the end.

But if I don't hit our minimum subscriber goal, the project is a failure. I can't throw good money after bad. I have to pull the plug on Monster Ops. We still need 39 new subscribers for October.

I can't think of a worse slap to the face of my diligent subscribers to take their $5 a month for a year and then just put out a bunch of episodes as a standalone game for a lower price. >.< Talk about rude!

There are no plans to offer a bundled up standalone game of Monster Ops. I'm hoping to get many happy years of this series. Will I? I don't know. But even if it wraps up, it will still be offered in two ways:

$5 an episode for Patreon backers, with episodes put out 6 months early
$7 an episode for Steam and Itch, 6 months after we launch the episodes on Patreon.

We're not doing launch discounts on Steam to ensure Patrons get their full benefit.  I've been roped into doing some bundles with other devs--I can't say no when a fellow gay games dev asks for help, after all--but in that case, you'd still have to buy the other game to see a discount.

Will I never put out bundled up versions on Steam and Itch? I won't shoot future Yamila in the foot by promising that, but I see several things having to fall into place for me to be comfortable with such a thing.

It has to be so far out after the end of the series (years) that the Patrons won't mind, and/or it has to include something new for me to reward the loyal Patrons with. Like maybe we do a Kickstarter to add full voice acting, and Patrons who stuck around for XX months get that version for free.

I'm not committing to anything like this at present.  My current plan is to give Patrons a new episode each month, and Steam and Itch buyers the episodes 6 months later, and for more money.

If we don't hit our subscriber goals something worse happens...meaning the project is a failure and I have to end Monster Ops a lot sooner than I ever would have wanted.

If you're a free member reading this: PLEASE DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN! We still need 39 new subscribers for October to hit our goal. Will you please help us out?

These game episodes really are worth the $5! Play the free episode 1 to see what you'll get every month! On Itch here.  On Steam here.