Update On Equellum/Fabula

FYI the game's not abandoned or cancelled. I know a lot of people are worried I've forgotten about it or abandoned it but I have not. Now that the short version is out, lemme explain a bit.

What's been happening with the game?

Last few things I've done for the game is storyboard everything about the game so I know what CGs I'm doing, etc. All the romantic subplots are also written out, not the dialogue, that will be done as I go along. I also have someone on board to do the music, and they recently finished the main theme of the game, which I have posted on the Discord! I don't really wanna bore anyone with the details about why everything's been slow but it's mostly a combinations of lots of things.

"Day Job"

The Yen tanked. Like a lot. I had to reach out to a friend and earlier in the year I started working for a lewd video game company as a lead artist for a shortstack game called Short Nite. They do want to publish a concept/game with me, but I have to wait my turn in line so to speak. FYI, we had spoken about getting people to help with Equellum/Fabula, but the changes they needed to be able to put on Steam and most platforms was too much and it would require remaking a lot of art so as I was doing that I decided to just continue developing and publishing on my own. I've also had to pick up commissions here and there to help add supplemental income. Before I used to think about having Patreon/Fanbox as my main source of income but more and more as I use subscription methods, its generally a less than stable way to earn income, and more a way to earn supplemental income. Which leads to the next point.

Restructuring and Reinvesting into the game

I've been planning out projects such as doujins, short episodic VNs, designing characters, etc. Shorter term things that will, in the long run, be products people can buy and help me create a more sustainable way of making a living. I want EF to continue being the labor of love that it is, and even if its still an RPG Maker game, I do want to invest money into it, like hiring people to make custom soundtrack for it, hire someone to look over my spaghetti code and help me fix the bugs, maybe have custom sprites. I've been blessed with friends and supporters that have reached out to QA test the game, help with the game's story and dialogue, and geniunely I cannot be more thankful to them. It's really a privelege. The issue is that it used to be ok to just have the game be the main way I make my money, people joing my fanbox to help the game be made and get to experience as it updates. However, right now I have a few goals, like moving into my own apartment, etc. My current living arrangement is fine, there's no problems but I need my own place long term. My idea right now is to make things I can sell and add more content to Fanbox to give y'all more things to sink your teeth on and use that money to invest into the game so I can get things moving along and I can focus on art parts so there's more content. I'm still working and planning but the next things I will personally be working is mostly fixing all the current issues in the game before I add anything else, and work on art assets.

Burn Out

Honestly I also felt a bit burn out from the game. Outside of the help from my supporter and friends with script stuff and qa testing, it's been a solo project. I love working on this game but between trying to polish every update, having lots of bugs that don't make sense, going back and forth with the art, planning etc. it adds up. This is coupled with the issue that I also want to draw or make extra stuff that it's not the game but I know myself pretty well artistically, and so I have to plan my time accordingly and I also have IRL stuff that's eaten my time up so it's usually a balancing game for me. Everyone has to do it. I'm not special in this case. I think it's mostly like, I have to continue working on the game, however it's lately not enough so I have to take some comms/extra work, but it eats a bit of the time I have for game dev, and after publication there's bug fixes, but I also haven't had time to draw things I wanna draw for fun, but I have to think about Fanbox content cause I can't go without putting stuff up, and it turns into a weird cycle. And coupled with the fact that I'm terrible at programming, each new addition I want to add new things but even when I managed to clean up a lot of the backend, it ends up breaking a lot of the games, and a lot of people can't experience the game ie Suzuya's ball lap scene. I just got burnt out. This is my baby and I don't want to begrundingly work on it and I dont want this to turn into a chore. I stepped away from it for a good bit.

What now?

I'm still getting my energy back as I am studying art, learning new things from working at a game company and also writing down some ideas on how to better tackle my game. However, for now I'm working on a project that a WIP will be out for Fanbox supporters hopefully this month, but more likely next month to check out. If I can't hit my deadline, I will show some progress work and ideas. I'm also in talks with people to help out with EQ in terms of making additional material, aka music, sprites etc and I'm gonna try and hunt down someone with RPG Maker experience or programming experience so they can look up and help me fix issues. I'm still gonna hammer down whatever bugs need to be smashed.

Final words

My general feelings on this is that every time I'm not working on the game I feel guilty and anxious because I know a lot of people are super stoked about the game and love the characters and story. Nothing makes me happier than knowing this. However it's mostly my fault because back when I started this project, it was supposed to be a small game but I kept adding and expanding, etc. It got out of control because I didnt sit down, plan the start and end, what I would need to do etc. I really want to make games moving forward, and this game has taught me a lot of things I should be doing and what I shouldn't be doing. I know everyone here has been patient with me, and I will reward with good content coming up and uploads will slow down because I am focusing on just making things right now. I have a few simple things I can make that I will try to create for Fanbox but I will not make such promises and instead just deliver when I can. Content creation isn’t easy and I hope you guys continue to stick around. Sorry for the wall of text, and as always, I appreciate the love and support over the years and I hope I can continue to count on your support, whether it’s enjoying my content or providing financial support.

Much love,

Roz