Alright, today, it’s finally time to talk about that other thing I’ve been working on recently, which I’ve alluded to in the previous two updates. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a few months now, going back and forth on the idea, but now we have decided to actually go through with it!
The title of this posting already gave it away and, if you’ve checked our Twitter over the past few days, you might have already seen it there. I am, of course, referring to the launch of our Patreon page.
I won’t be going into too much detail as to why we have decided to join Patreon, as there already is a rather lengthy description, detailing our reasons and goals, on Patreon itself. So please take a look at that if you’ve got a moment to spare. It would be very much appreciated!
As of right now, there are two postings available. A poll through which you can decide who will be featured on this year’s Halloween artwork, and the first Patreon-only blog post. It contains some information about one of the four suspect characters appearing in GENBA no Kizuna and even a design sketch. Needless to say, we will eventually introduce this character publicly as well, but certainly not within 2017. So if you want to get an early look, you can do so on Patreon.
Generally, that’s what Patreon will be used for. To give you very early looks at things we currently work on, and to share stuff from my archive, which I never ended up showing publicly. I’m usually too shy and embarrassed to share WIP pics or sketches (basically anything that’s not 100% finished). But I’m trying to force myself to change that for Patreon at least.
So, what else can you expect? A bunch of old artwork, like very early SHINRAI sketches, for example (dating back to 2011, so that is gonna be really embarrassing to share, ahahah…). I’m also planning to share some assets like sprites and backgrounds of the VN projects we’ve worked on before SHINRAI and give you an in-depth look at how we started our journey as VN devs. And of course, we will also start sharing early demo versions of GENBA soon. So, if you’re up for it, you can help us with bug testing a little before we make a demo publicly available later this year.
There is definitely a lot more to come, even in regards to SHINRAI’s sequel Withering Without Hope. So I hope that will be something for you to look forward to and which will make it worth your support through Patreon.
I’m quite honestly not too sure how to handle all of this, as I’m still new to it. I can’t really say how many Patreon-only blog posts there will be a month or when exactly they will be up, so it might be a little sporadic at first. However, for now, I will try to at least post two each month.
As for the art polls… Since we started a little late with it, the current one will end on October 7th. But eventually, I want those polls to start at the first of a month and last until the month is over. So, during the first two weeks of a month, you will then get to see WIP glimpses of the artwork until it’s finished.
Of course, just as mentioned on Patreon, we’re open for suggestions as well. So feel free to let us know what you’d like to see!
Currently, our main goal is to save up enough to eventually hire a new composer. Once we can do that, I will be formulating further, more detailed goals for the goals section on Patreon. For now, however, we are going to take this one step at a time.
I actually wanted to get out a few more words in regards to the situation with our composer, but seeing as this has already gotten a little longer again, I will talk about it next time.
With all that said, I would like to thank everyone who has already made a pledge! It is truly appreciated and we’re very, very grateful for the support! Even now, after all this time, it’s sometimes really hard for me to comprehend that people actually enjoyed SHINRAI so much that they’d even go as far as supporting us to this extent. It’s crazy. And I know I’ve said it so many times already, but I can really only repeat myself here, so: thank you so much!
If pledging isn’t an option for you, but you would still like to support us, we would also greatly appreciate a simple re-tweet or re-blog! That also helps us out a lot!
Anyway, time to wrap this up and get back to working on some sprites, so…
Please enjoy the rest of your weekend and, until next Saturday, take care! :3
