Before jumping into the Q&A I have to preface a few things because it’s hard for everyone to understand emotions through words alone. You can, but they can be misunderstood.

My tone shifts between serious, joking and dramatic. (I love to be dramatic for absolutely no reason at all.) Your questions didn’t offend me and I hope my answers won’t offend you back.

My opinion on the game isn’t meant to be considered canon. I don’t want to taint your theories and thoughts on the story because I’m not perfect either. Sometimes you can find meaning I didn’t expect to add, a layer I didn’t see and, if it resonates with you, please do keep it.

And absolutely do not force people to change their minds because the author said this so it can’t be that. Don’t destroy people’s fun, ok?

What you’ll learn from me is my thought process and behind the scenes. I did my best to keep spoilers out of the way, but I figured stuff can slip out, be careful of what you want to learn.

TL DR this is just a fun discussion we’re having and some questions brought to light issues I didn’t see before. (There’s too much content and having a fresh reader tell me about it is helpful.)

Questions with the * are grouped at the end for a big answer. You can have a meme answer as a placeholder for a little giggle to break the seriousness in between.

At the beginning I grouped everything by section, but gave up because I didn’t want to go back, make an edit and create mistakes from distraction. If you’re looking for your question, think about when you sent it, that’s kinda the order now. Big questions were sent at the bottom.

This is a 10k word Q&A. It’s half the length of a Night 3, take your time going through it. Questions are numbered for that reason, easier to stop and resume.

Which N3 route did you like the most?

Dylan 17
Blake 10
Patrice 4
Ryan 3

Dylan absolutely crushed this question. I had a feeling he would. Nothing to say, it matches perfectly with my expectations.

Favorite sprite?

Dylan 12
Clyde 9
Blake 8
Patrice 6
Ryan 3

These votes give me high hopes for Clyde’s N3. I think his route will bring another big spike in people’s general consensus.

DISCUSSING CHOICES

So, I reviewed everyone’s choices and noticed a trend of readers trying to be nice guys. I decided to stay on vague territory instead of talking about specific choices because in some cases that’s ok, just not all the time. I discuss this again in the Q&A section, but you can’t ignore Joel’s feelings on the matter. The right choice is always keeping in mind what you would do and what Joel would do. Sometimes they match, sometimes they don’t.

Being a good person can be toxic too, don’t forget that.

I will create a guide for perfect choices and why in the future. You guys have been asking me so I’ll do that. I’ll do that when all Night 3s are out. This means March.

Q&A Section starts here. Be careful about spoilers.
It is recommended to have read all routes, but if you don’t care— go right ahead.

Q0 -> The sprites sometimes move in an awkward way.

A ->  I discuss this in Q43. Don’t jump there. It’s getting mentioned again.

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Q1 -> I don't really like how Patrice angry sprite looks. He looks like he’s always gonna do fistfight in serious situation

A -> Patrice angry sprite accurately reflects his personality and background. It would make more sense after reading his N3 route to understand, but that’s exactly what we were going for. An exaggerated reaction that makes him stand out from a generic >:(

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Q2 -> Liam's new sprite outfit doesn't match with the CG. (The CG has an unzipped hoodie and a green shirt, but his sprite doesn't), and the gallery doesn't have the N3 pictures.

A -> Fuck, you’re right and I don’t know how we didn’t notice that. We’re already getting the Liam CGIs fixed, maybe in the next patch? I’m unsure. The N3 pictures are missing from the gallery on purpose because of coding issues. They’ll be there in the future. (He does have a green shirt underneath.)

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Q3 -> I remember seeing something strange in Blake's sprites, I advise you to look at them carefully.

A -> You’ll have to be more specific because, with all the work we have to do + all the fixing, our brains are purposefully hiding issues away from us. Having fresh eyes to find them is the point.

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Q4 -> So if you click settings tab there's no back button for the homepage of the vn you have to start the game press back to title to go back to the homepage

A -> It took me a while to understand the real issue here, but I got it. You simply want to be able to look at the homepage again after clicking settings\gallery etc. I’ll place it on my to-do list.

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Q5 -> Maybe more sprites.

A -> Maybe more money.*

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Q6 -> It likes to crash A LOT

A -> This has never happened to me in any playthrough I’ve done so far. Sounds like a skill issue.

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Q7 -> Maybe more CG...

A -> Maybe more money…*

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Q8 -> Will there be an Italian version?

A -> I’m Italian, but the answer stays no.

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Q9 -> I want to see the past of the characters

A -> You will see it, I can guarantee that.

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Q10 -> More suspense during the night. Cute moments in the day

A -> This is also 100% happening

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Q11 -> Obviously nsfw or underwear cgs or sprites of the characters

A -> Slut. You’re getting that when the time is right.

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Q12 -> I imagine a scene in which, on the last day of the game, during the night, Joel and his lover walk through the streets while it snows under the streetlights and there they reconfirm their mutual love with a kiss.

A -> This can’t be a coincidence. I don’t want to say which VN you reminded me of ‘cause that would be the most indirect spoiler of your life, but the answer unfortunately to this question is no, we won’t do it. (You’re still going to get the smooches though)

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Q13 -> Well, me personally I'd like to see a lot more romance (I feel like in password having a bit more romance and interaction with the love interest would of made it shine)

A -> I can’t define how much romance I’ll give, but there will be romance.

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Q14 -> Patrice

A -> Is a whole route about him not enough? You’re such a greedy person.

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Q15 -> I want to see the significant difference between route A and B. So far, only Dylan route that have a bit different with route A and B

A -> I discuss this at the bottom, above the money issues paragraph.

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Q16 -> Dylan

A -> Yes, I know.

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Q17 -> Loving relationships that develop

A -> I will make sure to add the sloppiest kisses I can possibly imagine.

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Q18 -> Maybe (and I'm not sure if this is possible) but either more choices regarding how we deal with the ghosts, or maybe some turn based rpg stuff like in Cryptid Crush.

A -> Choices are tough to create. You don’t want them to be useless. You want them to feel like they matter, but you don’t want them to tear a hole in space and time because another branching path isn’t fun for me. And no, you’re not getting turn based combat jeez. That’s crazy.

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Q19 -> I wish Joel's apartment was more detailed. So far I have only seen the bedroom, but I think there is also the kitchen and the bathroom, and if he wants to invite someone there will also have to be heating, electricity and a sofa with a TV.

A -> It’s an average apartment and it is small. I’m sure that they’ll figure something out. I wrote an in-depth Joel analysis Q47, maybe reading that will help you on why nothing is mentioned.

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Q20 -> More cuteness and wholesome interaction with Dylan.

A -> From who? Dylan? Are we talking about the same character?

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Q21 -> Paranormal events outside of the castle, especially in Dylan's/Liam's route, mostly to flesh out some ghost stuff and compare it to the ones in the castle.

A -> You will see those in all 7 routes because it ties to Joel, but I like where your mind is going.

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Q22 -> More full screen art of characters

A -> I’d love that too.*

Q23 -> Just more of Dylan's character, I like him best

A -> This whole survey has been taken over by Dylan

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Q24 -> Some bad endings, and consequences of our actions, that won’t be fixed by time travel.

A -> Night 3 is considered the ending of the prologue. If you’re looking for those things in particular they’re planned in future updates, it takes time unfortunately. There’s no time travel in the game. I know what you’re thinking rewind = time travel, but what I meant to say is it won’t happen ever again. Someone didn’t read Dylan’s N3

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Q25 I'm expecting it, but potentially more detailed backstories as time goes on. I love the detail you've given every single character so far and I'm eagerly anticipating more.

A -> Thank you. That’s the plan, yeah!

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Q26 -> What exactly caused Joel to be a Medium?

A -> The gift of life included it as a little bonus when he was delivered into the world. Also something else, read Q33 for more details.

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Q27 -> At the beginning of the game you can choose a name for a character, however I don't know who this mysterious character is. I would like to know who he/she is.

A -> I can’t answer that. The name you typed will matter.

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Q28 -> I really want to know more about the love interest the most, AND the castle.

A -> Alright, let me send you a copy of the whole plot so you’ll know everything before everybody else.

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Q29 -> Why does the dragon in the castle protect the group from coming back to the castle? The story explains that he's a ghost that exposed with so many curse

A -> You will learn more about him and his motivations as the game progresses, but I can tell you that he’s an observer whose role is to make sure the curse follows its own rules.

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Q30 -> Confused about the candles symbolism, I understood that blue was for Joel and red was for the others. I thought it also meant that if a candle was snuffed out it meant someone died. However, Ryan's N3 disproves this as it mentioned that only 2 candles were lit before they rested but when Joel woke up and was on his way to find Ryan we found the rest of the cast alive?

A -> The candles are connected to the observer (Q29). Candles disappearing doesn’t mean death, except Ryan’s candle before rewind. Candle = Person. If there are no candles that means there’s no people and if the whole candle is missing rather than the flame being out the meaning changes. How does that tie with the observer? You can pick up the pieces yourself now.

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Q31 -> what exactly can Joel do aka what is his power?

A -> I think giving you this answer would ruin the fun because it is not shown yet. Night 3 shows you that Joel has potential and that he can use basic skills every medium has, but no unique talent appears yet. You do get a hint on a certain route though. You’ll get a better answer when a missing Night 3 will be released.

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Q32 -> Who did the ancient castle belong to? Were they royalty or a noble house?

A -> This answer will appear in one of the missing N3s. I don’t need to say it. I can say that the castle was royalty until it fell into ruin then it was picked up by nobles.

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Q33 -> Who is James from Ryan's route? And how are mediums chosen, or how they work exactly. Also how did Liam's sister get trapped, and how did Liam find out about the fact he's a medium.

A -> James is a character that you will meet in Ryan’s D4, but it was already hinted that James, Ryan and Joel have history. If they’re all connected and you’re told that Ryan and Joel are childhood friends their relationship becomes easier to grasp.

Mediums are born that way. This is revealed in Clyde’s route. A medium’s job is to purify curses and evil spirits that torment the living. You can choose to seal your powers and live a normal life, but you can’t become a medium. Mediums also share something else, just think about it. Why are Liam and his sister both mediums? What a coincidence! Brother AND sister are mediums? You can randomly become one OR…

Mediums can see what normal people can’t. When you randomly come across a wandering spirit in the streets you start asking yourself questions and, about Liam’s sister, you will learn more about her as the game progresses so I won’t spoil it.

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Q34 -> The past of the characters is not clear, I would like some CGs of them when they were children.

A -> Ignoring the fact that I will write chapters about their past I feel like not every character requires it. Ryan, for example, has lived a very basic bitch life and has nothing meaningful to share except his relationship with Joel. I would love to have more variety, but resources are lacking, learn more about money issues at the bottom.

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Q35 -> Does Joel have a specific ability, or does he have many, since he clearly has some power but it doesn't seem clear what it is, unless that ambiguity is supposed to be intentional for the story so far.

A -> It should be a process, not something you unlock out of nowhere. He’s finally opening up to it and, without guidance, it’s clearly harder to obtain his unique talent. (Also Q31)

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Q36 -> I think it would be cool if the little joke with the "naming of our character" at the beginning, bamboozles us, and they end up appearing as an actually relevant support character later. Perhaps they could have been part of an old group that perished there, and they are responsible for creating a safe area in the castle, where the forces of the curse can't harm the current group. Perhaps they could have a "faint presence" , so only the MC could communicate with them, because they are kindred spirits. Perhaps some of their friends escaped, who are now adults , thinking it was all never real, and they can be contacted by the current group to help in memory of the "named character" who maybe was the reason they at least managed to escape. I think it would be nice to know the stakes and our team's objective in regards to the destruction of the curse, and actually use the "daily life" section of the game to prepare , learn more, and gather forces to fight the castle.

A -> Your brain be working overtime. I know that feeling. Naming your character does have plot relevance, but it’ll take a long while before we get to that part. We’re talking endgame territory.

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Q37 -> I didn't like the fact that the CG of the dead character is the same, basically only the corpse changes.

A -> That is cold. Your love interest just died and your answer is “ok, but couldn’t they have a cooler death?”

The final CG might be the same, but the writing, the story, the way it builds to that specific picture isn’t recycled. It’s unique and completely different and, before you tell me that’s not the point, let me give you a behind the scenes.

We have 7 routes, each route requires a CG otherwise people would think that we play favorites, that a character receives special treatment over the rest etc.

There’s the finance issue. 7 completely different pictures over 7 similar looking ones? It decreased workload and I was given a discount. I wanted to compromise. Drawing so much is just as tough as writing is.

There’s the story issue. I want to give specific and unique deaths to these characters in the future and if I’m ALREADY dropping the high quality ideas right from the get go— well there’s only so many good ways for someone to die. (That’s a fucked up thing to say out of context.)

These scripted deaths have genuine plot relevance. It’s a minor reason ‘cause I wrote it that way, but these rituals have meaning that you won’t know until way, way late into the game.

We even tried dropping all 7 at once ‘cause we knew the surprise effect would only hit you the first time, twice if you’re a dork, but we could only manage to finish the most popular options. We were hoping to give you that surprise factor over your first choice because you will totally play your favorite first so we’re sorry for all the Clydes, Liams and Russells enjoyers out there that won’t get to experience this feeling firsthand.

Sorry, rambling a little. We need to work with the resources we were given. It wasn’t possible to have the variety you requested. We couldn’t afford it.

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Q38 -> why is Ryan so dreamy? (I did love the new spirits) but I PERSONALLY would love to see a lot more development with the Main Protag and the love interests.

A -> You will. D4 is next which is exactly what you want.

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Q39 -> I don’t like Liam that much. He’s just kind of a jerk about everything in general. I really don’t think he needs to have a route.

A -> I will answer this question in the next one. Read Q40 as well and then I’ll answer both.

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Q40 -> i feel like it isn't properly explained why everyone hates Liam, Blake I can understand but why does EVERYONE hate him, how evil are his pranks? rather than implying Liam is a bad person everyone hating him just makes it seem like everyone BUT Liam is in the wrong.

A -> Hello, this is what we call the duality of man. Q39 is clearly a Liam hater. If he could squish that gremlin and get away with it he totally would, but you, on the other hand, try to see beyond the veil and want to be more understanding and nice which is sweet.

Let’s discuss Liam’s character, shall we? I’ll do my best to use only what’s revealed in the game so far plus some hints to show you my personal thinking when I write that pesky little shit.

Liam is your class clown. He’s not harmful, but ANNOYING if you’re the target. He has a “reputation” on campus for being a prankster. Everyone knows that by default regardless of interacting with him or not.

-> Liam scares the whole class by cosplaying a murderer 
-> Liam jumpscares Joel literally a few scenes later
-> Liam uses inappropriate language with Clyde
-> Liam almost gets beaten up by Blake. Thrice.
-> Liam is “allegedly” the reason why Blake is scarred
-> Ryan mentions how he was tricked by Liam into scaring Joel
-> Liam literally kidnaps Joel.
-> Liam harasses Patrice so much that the tiger has given up mending his relationship with him.
-> Liam ALSO kidnaps Patrice. (Jokingly, but that counts.) Kills u cutely kinda vibe.
-> In all N3 routes Liam wants to drive a drone dressed as a spider into people’s faces.

I feel like we have enough starting material here. You want more? Wait for his route to progress. You get more juicy details and stupid shit. At some point you have to shift your focus away from Liam and focus on the route you picked. Nobody wants to read about Liam in a different route.

Sorry, Liam disliker, but there’s actually people who like to learn more about this character and the way he learns and grows. If you guys want a good appetizer about Liam you should read Patrice’s N3 because they’re connected.

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Q41 -> Bring back the old greenhouse music plz :)

A -> No, lol.

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Q42 -> Few moments in which it is possible to make a choice, as if the protagonist's personality was already fixed.

A -> I made it clear that there would be only one choice in each update and it would change your affection for said character. I won’t branch the story further. You guys might read only 1 or 2 routes, but I’ve gotta deal with 7+A\B(We’ll talk about A|B at the end)+Bad endings. Joel isn’t an empty character. He has his own personality which is why certain choices tend to be correct even if you, as a reader, wouldn’t pick them.

In Dylan’s route if you resist the urge of slapping that fucking bitch Joel will tell you exactly how hard it was for him to hold himself from doing it. 

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Q43 -> I wish we had a bit more influence in the story. And one of my biggest complaint are the tiny inconsistencies, more specifically: Sometimes there are quotes ("), sometimes the sprites fade into a different one, sometimes they just switch (which makes it a little clunky looking), and the fact Joel's hat sprite didn't show up for the majority of the game after day one. And last but not least, they keep changing between being called paws and hands. But all in all, a good story, lovable characters and an engaging story.

A -> If the cast wouldn’t be so big I would accommodate this request, but as I previously said this isn’t humanly possible. I literally do not get paid at all for this. I’m not sure what you meant with “there are quotes” please explain that one. The sprites shifting around in place is something I wasn’t aware of until recently ‘cause I don’t code and (the fade is harder to fix, not sure if it’s only on new updates or everywhere.) I will get that sorted in the future and prevent it.

Joel’s hiding animation was exclusive to Day 1. That’s how the game is supposed to look like in a fully completed and polished form, but I was told that it took a lot of work to make the whole day feel so smooth and bouncy. The coder simply gave up because there was too much work, too many routes, much MUCH more to fix that took priority.

We’re not going to make future days animated the same way D1 is. It can be a goal if there’s more cash flowing into our Patreon, but right now? We don’t get paid for this. It’s not fair to work so hard on a free passion project when we have real jobs to prioritize that actually pay us money to survive. Also, on a side note, wouldn’t that be annoying in the long run? It’s really cute to see, but I feel like it would stop feeling that way overtime. In my opinion it is best utilized as an appetizer for Joel’s character and it would be “in the way” if it overstays its welcome. 

The hands paws issue is on me, sorry. In my brain? They’re the same thing. In my brain? These are basically synonyms I can use. I've been switching back and forth LET’S GO. (I wanted to say I can stick to one, but not everyone has paws, like Clyde, so you’d still see some variety, but I’ll try keeping it consistent.)

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Q44 -> I don't like Patrice, looking at his appearance and character he is the stereotype of the stupid quarterback in American films.

A -> Patrice is literally one of the most liked characters and, at the time of me writing this, two people have been using his silly face as a profile picture. Here, have a skill issue to take home.

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Q45 -> The hat going down is cute and adds a lot to Joel but it is not being present/rarely used in N3 and some scenes in N2 despite the story saying so is kind of disappointing. Not enough to put me off though, just something I realized.

A -> We already discussed this in Q43.

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Q46 -> This isn’t a criticism like you asked for as, aside from a few spelling and grammatical errors that were few and far apart to the point I couldn’t accurately pinpoint one off the top of my head, I’m opting to abuse the space regardless so my apologies for that. Of all the visual novels I have read in recent years, this particular novel, even in its still relatively infant stages, has surpassed them all in terms of writing, characterization, narrative, and the like. I’m finding all the characters to be very compelling and masterfully done, even the ones I initially had little interest and expectations of (particularly Clyde, Patrice, Dylan), and am absolutely blown away by the sheer miles in which my expectations have been exceeded. On top of that, the level of relatability to the characters is bar none and is the first time in a very long time I’ve seen parts of myself in a character, that character being Blake. The reasons for that I’m sure you understand and don’t need to be said. Admittedly, I don’t typically write “reviews” like this which speaks volumes to myself that I felt compelled to do so, and once I can get my life on stable ground I’m looking forward to supporting you on patreon when and with what I can. Long story short: while I’m unsure how much or little you may hear this, for some people, what your doing means a lot. You’re doing great, really. P.S. boundless praise to your artist, those are the best vn character sprites I’ve seen to date.

A -> Thank you so much, really. I know who typed this and you’re always welcome in my DMs to discuss the game with me. Your words were one of the first positive reviews I’ve received and it’s nice to know you did something, that someone feels understood, that I managed to touch and reach another person who struggles through similar things. You and everyone else is encouraging me to keep going and that this is a good project worth investing my time into, thank you for supporting us.

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Q47 -> I think the MC needs a bit of a revisit with his dialogues. It's kind of hard to put into words, but his interactions don't feel natural at times. Has he been written by multiple people along the routes? I think he shifts too quickly from trying to be a relatable, realistic kid who is scared, and doesn't want to die, to someone who gives an unnaturally long "talk no jutsu" out of nowhere... I'd give some examples, but i'm filling this in on my break, and it's been a while since i played the latest update, so i don't have specifics in front of me. It's just the feeling I got while reading it...perhaps it's just me.

A -> This is an interesting criticism because it touches directly on the writing which happens to be my thing, crazy coincidence I know, and no, I’m the only one handling the story. I have two editors who clear up the mess I make, but they don’t change the sauce.

Let’s discuss Joel instead, which I didn’t expect to do, but it is a welcomed topic worth discussing. I do admit I have no idea what you’re trying to convey with “talk no jutsu” but I’ll give you my whole mindset and behind the scenes when it comes to Joel and maybe that should clear stuff for you? We’ll try.

This next part contains spoilers in some way to Joel’s story.

Joel’s story is about finding purpose. This is the simplest way for me to summarize this character. He’s overly attached to life and is always seeking peace and quiet. He’s shy not because he’s timid. This shyness stems from childhood trauma, fears and insecurities. This man lacks confidence which is why he loves hiding away inside his hat, a temporary safe place from that violent world he’s living in and being gay only enhances these traits to their extreme.

He’s really smart, can read between the lines and, because of his family issues, has learned to adapt to any situation if needed. Hiding your problems, pretending everything’s fine and running away are also other unhealthy ways to deal with your issues and, as long as it works, why stop?

Joel is currently focusing on staying alive, even now, all he wants to do is to be a good hard working student to please his mother because his feelings don’t matter. It is hinted across the routes that Joel isn’t satisfied with the career he chose, but there’s no other choice for him. He can only push forward. People are covering for him. His mom is paying for the apartment. There’s a scholarship chaining him down. He has to do it. He can’t escape. He can’t throw away something people envy him for. And I haven’t mentioned his step dad yet, but he’s an abusive asshole.

Joel feels empty, but pushes it away. Joel doesn’t have a real goal in mind. He doesn’t have a purpose, that's why this strange castle thing was so appealing to him. It was something new, something fresh that could temporarily fill that emptiness he holds inside his chest.

It is hinted multiple times that Joel just sucks it up, does what he’s told and never fights back. And he wants to change that or at least tries to, but he’s scared of the consequences of trying. He’s never in control of his own life and in some routes you hear this line in particular “I’m tired of fighting a losing battle.” which greatly sums up his life. Trust me, when you bottle up for so long things start leaking until you explode, randomly, over stupid things too.

Helping people is much easier and distracting than helping yourself. Joel would do anything to keep his mind away from his issues. When he knows what to do to be impactful it is much easier for him to overcome the shyness. Joel shines the most when single people are involved than groups so it makes more sense for him to talk. It’d be awkward to just silently stare at each other.

Is “talk no jutsu” about him talking too much? Or that maybe it feels unnatural for him to talk so much now? I don’t know how much you’ve read, but until Day 3 to Night 3 Joel doesn’t talk much to people except Ryan. I feel like it is fair for him to openly talk with someone he has known for over 20 years. During Night 3 you see him fail. You see him watching the person he loves DIE. If that isn’t enough to motivate you into changing that fate I don’t know what else will.

You’ll have to give me some examples of dialogues that don’t feel natural. I hope this character introspection about Joel helped in some way. Also reading Patrice’s N3 can give some clearer insight on Joel’s character in which he forcefully opens up to Patrice out of guilt for what he did.

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Q48 -> Your work is impressive overall, and incorporating sound effects could further elevate the experience. Keep up the fantastic effort!

A -> This one comes back to haunt me constantly and I won’t mind answering it again ‘cause I know people won’t read old Q&A which is understandable.

I’m bad with music. I’m learning how to use tracks because the game can’t stay on mute, but I’m totally not going to touch sound effects. They would look cool, I agree, but I’m handling SO MUCH ALREADY that having to think about where and what sound effects to add and download is HELL.

This is another broadcast about sound effect artists out there or whoever wants to try their hand at it. I’m willing to hire someone in charge of this whole thing. Unfortunately pay would be either none or on the low side. I talk about money and resources at the bottom, feel free to learn more about what we prioritize and who gets paid (not me, lol).

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Q49 -> I can see improvements across the board in writing and development. Great job on the sprite re-design, overall a great improvement on the previous iterations of the cast of sprites and well worth the effort the team made on doing this. Also enjoying the original tracks that have been added to date both in this update and previous updates.

A -> Thank you. I also appreciate the effort you put into writing me this feedback. I can see that you care about the game and clearly want us to get even better. I’ve cut your review in small parts, shortened when I could, to make it more accessible to everyone else and myself.

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Q50 -> There's a lot of background story information which I don't understand and never gets mentioned. They are small details, but to me, they stick out as odd things to *not* be mentioned (if even in passing) and you could easily incorporate them into the story during the early days/nights prior to N3.

A -> Since I’ve already read the whole thing I know what’s coming. I can summarize the whole thing between “fuck, I forgot.” and “that didn’t seem important” to “I avoided it on purpose”. I will go into depth now as you list them one by one.

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Q51 -> There no name is given to the college the cast of the story are attending

A -> This is a FUCK I FORGOT moment, but thanks to the way Joel is written this luckily fits into “I avoided it on purpose” but that wouldn’t be true because I genuinely forgot. I came up with a nice name, it will be added on Day 1 when Joel first steps on campus.

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Q52 -> We don't know the courses that the main cast takes in college. They share classes at least, one of which is a math related subject. It's mentioned that Ryan is in a different course, so they might at least share some common modules....but the actual courses that Joel (or anyone else attends) is never mentioned which seems a little odd for it to never come up.

A -> This one lands into “It didn’t seem important” and “I wanted to avoid fucking it up” this is literally when an artist hates drawing hands so they make sure to shove them into pockets or out of view as much as they can, but I did give some small hints here and there to have the reader piece something together which you did. You listed some yourself. (that I removed ‘cause it was too long already).

The school system is different in my country and, to avoid using mine, which would alienate certain people, I decided to stay on vague\generic territory.

In some routes it is bluntly stated that Joel is in IT. Liam is a classmate of his, and from that you can deduce they’re in the same career path. Everyone else is in a different career path, but they might share some lessons together which was the case with Clyde (Ryan’s route).

Everyone else is also older than Joel by one or two years which places them in different sections too. Their age isn’t stated because I didn’t find an appropriate moment to say it. But everyone is around 25 with Russell being the oldest.

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Q53 -> Location of the university, for example, how far is it to drive from Joel's apartment to the college when driven in Ryan's car - again, this type of info is not "necessary" information per se, 

but including it (even if in a throw-away manner) helps to flesh out the universe of the story.

A -> I’m trying to avoid naming locations or claiming real locations for the game because then I’d be chained into more research to make everything look correct so, unless it is absolutely necessary, I’m keeping geography out of the equation. The reader is free to imagine where Joel lives.

Ryan needs 1 hour more or less to get on campus from his house and, as you guessed, yes they used to be neighbors so it would’ve been easy for him to drive both straight to campus, but Joel wanted to run away from his family, which is going to be explained in depth as the game progresses. 

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Q54 How far away is Ryan's family home, how far away is Joel's mother's home? Bearing in mind Ryan and Joel are childhood friends, is where they're attending college in the same place/town/city as where they grew up? If their childhood homes aren't far away, why is Joel living alone in an apartment (which is presumably expensive) and how does he afford it?

A -> My previous answer already covered some of your points here. His mother pays rent for him, which ties nicely with the hints that he can’t afford food and basic needs. She can afford rent thanks to Joel having a scholarship. It is considered “a good investment” to them. His step-father also took the opportunity to get him out of the house and agreed. Your guesses were spot on so I just filled in the blanks for you.

It isn’t brought up in conversation because Joel doesn’t want to talk about it. This is, like, his sin, something that haunts him and he refuses to discuss it. Ryan tried at the beginning, was shut down and, as good friends should do, stopped pushing.

You witness Joel fighting through his fears and finally call his mother to ask for the allowance he’s supposed to go and claim, but refuses to get. He hates the idea of having to meet his step father again and would rather endure until he has to go.

These plot points will be explored as the game progresses.

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Q55 We're never given any name for the diner/restaurant/bar that Russell is working at. Given his adoptive father is the owner, it seems odd that this is never mentioned in passing.

A -> This is a “fuck I forgot” moment with the exact similar energy of the question about Joel’s university. Same answer. I’m giving both a name next update, D1 gets extra lines.

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Q56 When walking to Russell's diner/restaurant, Joel remarks on it being on a twisting/turning route (which explains it's lack of patrons due to lack of footfall, it's off the beaten path somewhat)...which makes me ask the question, how big is the city/town that the story is set in...there's never any mention of a name of the place of the city/town, it's size, whether its inland, by the coast, the season/time of year it is …

A -> This is between “I avoided on purpose” and “unnecessary information” I didn’t want to give a time frame, which season and position because I thought that’d be fun for the reader to headcanon that themselves if they cared. I did consider the city they live in to be a medium sized city and I chose modern times as the time period, but I wanted it all to stay as vague as possible.

I do have a general map of all the places in my head so even in vague terms I make sure it’s consistent, I think.

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Q57 -> Joel lives in a 1-bed apartment ... and relies on his mother for money. He also lets Ryan pay for food whenever they visit Russell's diner. It's never clear if he actually *has* the money to pay his fair share, or if he's just letting Ryan do so to let Ryan feel good about himself, or if he actually wouldn't otherwise have the money to regularly eat at Russell's.

A -> Joel tells you that he avoids breakfast on purpose to save money and Ryan feels compelled to buy him food to fill the blanks. Joel doesn’t like that, but he also doesn’t like fighting Ryan on it so depending on the current mood you see him giving up, fighting for it, compromising etc.

He pays only because he has to. He doesn’t want Ryan to waste so much on him, even if that goes against his desire to save as much money as he can. He wouldn’t be eating at Russell’s at all without Ryan because of what I explained earlier. He wants to avoid asking mom for his allowance for as long as he possibly can. Technically the truth is that Joel isn’t really poor, but his cowardice and insecurities make him act like one.

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Q58 ->  It's never mentioned if Joel has a part-time job, or if his mom/step-father are wealthy (which would at least infer he doesn't need to work a part-time job to afford the apartment he's living in while attending college).

A -> Joel doesn’t work, doesn’t need to work. His family is well off, not wealthy but can live comfortably. This is information that gets revealed overtime as he has to face his family again and because of the constant theme of “running away” it makes more sense for him to not mention and withhold this information from the reader.

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Q59 How long into the college term is it when the story begins (e.g. the story beings with Joel ruminating on the week-to-week grind of life, another Monday that nobody is ready for, etc) ... but we're not given a hint as to how long he's actually been attending college, e.g. is this his first year of college, or is he further into his education, what course is he taking?

A -> Actually you do get a few hints about it. When everyone talks about the stray cat incident you get enough context clues to deduce that Joel is at least in his second year. He mentions how last year was a blur due to him moving into the apartment. Anyway that is also the correct assumption. Joel and Liam are second year students while everyone else is third or fourth. (The other points were already answered so I’m avoiding a double.)

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Q60 -> Prior to the cast's first trip out to the woods, it's organized that they rent a van (so everyone can go together). However, it's never explained who organizes this (is it Liam/Liam's organization? - at this point in the story, it's not revealed that he's a medium/working to investigate/find his long-lost sister, so he'd hardly be advertising the fact he's got the money to pay for that) - so the assumption is that everyone chipped in to help pay for the rental van?

If so, given Joel is seemingly low on money (mam giving him money for groceries, Ryan paying for his meals when they go to Russell's diner/restaurant/bar), surely this would come up in conversation at least in passing? Seems like an odd thing not to be touched on.

A -> The clear cut answer is Liam paid for it. Working as a medium is dangerous, you can die. The pay has to match these risks. In his route it is mentioned that he’s given good cash and the answer to why nobody asks is a mixture of pre-established relationships with a touch of who cares about Liam, we’re going out to have fun.

Ryan, Blake and Joel are the original group with Liam randomly showing up to bother them and crash at their table. They’ve interacted for two years already so these questions, to them at least, have already happened and Liam only offered vague answers. The rest of the cast either knows(Dylan\Patrice), doesn’t find it strange(Clyde) or doesn’t care(Russ).

Everyone chipped in by bringing food, utensils, the grill and Liam covered the travel expenses. I feel like it shouldn’t be seen as an issue.

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Q61 -> In certain parts of the first two days of the common route, it feels like there is an overuse of music tracks changing from scene to scene. I like the tracks that are used, however it's more often than not that the music track seems to change before it's finished playing out in its entirety before the reader gets to the next scene. In the instances where there is not a lot of text to get through before the scene changes, it sometimes comes across as somewhat jarring when the music keeps changing so frequently with the changing scenes.

A -> As you probably already guessed — I was trying to showcase theme songs, but I’m now aware of how short those introductions are and I’ll make sure to add more fade ins\outs and to extend the theme songs all the way until a new background changes. We did get the hang of it more on D3 and N3. I’m learning to use silence as well, sometimes music isn’t always required.

(I cut your examples, but I sent them all over to our coder to get them fixed. I also added in my list to get more environments + animals sounds + crowd.)

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Q62 -> Music gallery?  Previous itch.io dev logs made reference to new original music having been added, would be cool to see those tracks playable via a gallery of some kind accessible from the main menu if it's not too time consuming to include in a future update. 

A -> The source code is honestly a mess right now. Some people can probably guess that by the unusual weight of the whole game. We need to fix stuff first and the music room isn’t coming for now, sorry.

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Q63 -> I think from having completed all day 1 & 2 for everyone is that overall more detail to set up how the group all know each other would make it feel more cohesive and give a better reason for why they all hang out, as depending on the route you take, it sometimes can feel a bit forced that *all* of the group continue to hang out with each other

A -> I don’t feel like it is forced. They were grouped up by Liam on Day 1 for a fun little trip that was turned down and moved to Day 2. The whole cast isn’t sticking together the whole time, is it? (The big gatherings are such a small portion of the game. They’re mostly sharing a meal and then splitting again.) There’s a bit of pre-established relationships, but you’re told in advance so it’s like they’re all aware of each other beforehand in passing.

Back in high school, at least in my country, you kinda get to know everyone even if you never really interacted with said person. You know them by face, even more if they carry a reputation. Liam, Dylan, Clyde, Joel and Blake fit this description. Ryan is always glued to Joel and Patrice, and has connections with Dylan, Liam and Ryan. The real nobody is Russell, who just happened to be dragged into this. 

Little extra ‘cause I’ve read your question again and (I think?) you seem to think D1 and D2 aren’t enough for certain routes to keep characters together and that’s not right? To explain this I need to bring forward something I hate -> when the main character is the center of the universe. Nothing happens if he’s not there. Life stops if he’s in the scene. The story won’t continue without him. I hate that. I hate that with all my heart. Joel can help his route and will focus on his route, maybe a third person a little, depending if it’s on the same path, anyway— I wrote the story with the idea in mind that you, as a reader who follows Joel’s POV, won’t get to see everything. The world isn’t waiting for Joel just like real life— you won’t get to know everything about everyone and sometimes what your friends do may not make sense to you and that’s perfectly fine.

I strive to replicate a form of writing that matches real life as much as possible, pushing my skills to the limit. Sorry, rambling again. The point is— if you want to know about all the characters and their motivations then you have to play their respective routes ‘cause they’re all happening at the same time and it’s just not humanly possible for me, but also for Joel, to keep up with all 7. The moment you pick a route the story will focus on said character, Joel and maybe a tiny bit of Ryan. 

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Q64 -> How many days in total are likely needed to "complete" the main story (assuming it's the same for each route).

A -> The main story ends around Day 15. You’re going to get epilogues that can take a few more days, but they would move in quick succession, not as slow as an average day.

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Q65 -> The pacing of Dylan's route is a bit squished. We learn a lot in very little time and I had to read through two times to really get it, though I enjoy what's being set up. Patrice's route was paced excellently- I understood and really enjoyed the plot points that happened and look forward to this route. Blake felt a bit underdeveloped, we go from him smoking to him being suicidal pretty quick, but his route is interesting nonetheless. Great job overall and I'm really excited to see the future updates! I really appreciate the new art as well!

A -> Hello, thank you for your feedback. What are you trying to say by squished? I’m going on a limb and say that maybe you felt like the night ended too fast? The answer is the story was dragging for too long, and I was cutting corners where it looked possible to do so. Why is that? for the reasons you mentioned afterward -> His night has a lot of knowledge, but I did my best to simplify the terms and make it digestible. From a character standpoint it makes sense for Dylan to not tell you anything unless he really has to, there wasn’t much space to compromise this.

I agree with your review for Patrice’s route. I have been setting it from the very beginning and it feels so good watching it come to fruition.

Blake’s route, on the other hand, I’m quite surprised to read that you feel this way. I was much more prepared to hear this kind of comment toward Ryan’s route because in terms of reveals and knowledge it doesn’t offer much. It has a bigger focus on his relationship and romance with Joel, slowly sharing his torments that are eating him inside. Anyway— going back to Blake.

It might feel sudden, but the signs were there for you to see on D3 when he opens up about Anthony, Day 1 as well. Joel feels something’s wrong with his behavior, but you’re clearly told to mind your own business (politely). Blake’s depression hits me close to my personal experience. You know you’re fucked up and nobody has to know because they wouldn’t understand. They would feel sorry for you(or they would tell you the opposite, how dare you feel that way, just a bunch of excuses.) and your problems would ruin the whole atmosphere.

Blake is functional outside and wants you to think that he’s fine. That’s why there isn’t much setup. I wouldn’t want to tell anybody that I often think of ways to die.

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Q66 -> I'd like to see Liam be able to present less of his prankster/antagonistic persona towards the group, and be able to act closer to his true personality, rather than feeling confined to playing the part of a hated jester.

A -> We already explored Liam in this Q&A but I do wish to explore his character more than just he’s the main villain please hate him. I don’t think all routes will touch Liam but I’ll surely do that in his own route.

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Q67 -> The Doppelgänger's propositions of a sacrifice for the safety of others; was the deal a legitimate trade off, or had it been a false promise? In the cases of both Blake and Ryan, the trade off had still resulted in harm coming towards Joel. 

In the case that the deal had been a legitimate trade off, what are the motivations of the Doppelgänger, or rather the Castle as a whole to accept just one soul, when it is most likely in their interests to claim the lives of them all?

A -> Fuck, this is a really good question. I’m tiptoeing around it ‘cause the answer matters, but saying the reason behind it also means revealing juicy stuff. The faker’s priority was to rile them up. It is explained that emotions going wild = messing things up. He’s not lying though. There’s a big prize they want, something that is worth giving up the whole group for it. Something that is pretty close to being obtained when the rewind happens. Who did that, why they did that and what they were looking for in letting it happen? That’s for the future to reveal.

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Q68 -> Give my boy Liam some more love!!!!

A -> Liam doesn’t want it, but we’ll try to forcefully shove some down his throat.

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Q69 -> Sprite wise I think they are okay for me. Although the cgs don't match with their current sprite.

A -> It’s impossible to have a 100% match. There’s two different artists here (Gotta respect their style). I’m only correcting big mistakes, like Liam’s jacket.

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Q70 -> I think the dialogue box is way too big. Compared to the old version where you can see the sprite more.  The text box is a bit big.

A -> This was a trade off to accommodate users who were struggling with buttons and readability. You’ll have to accept this arrangement and take advantage of the hide button whenever you want to look at sprites up close.

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Q71 -> I do wish the sound design can reflect the atmosphere since it's weird that Blake is explaining his backstory about him beating up someone and the music is well....happy? It would do well if it's like something more in-tune with the atmosphere.

A -> Ok, this one made me laugh. You’re absolutely right. I’m struggling to remember if this was something I already told our coders before. I did now.

—

Q72 -> The dragon appearing is a bit of a surprise when N3 resets after each route, it's implied that the dragon is the one that told you to leave. It would've been more nice to see him appear like maybe someone passing by once Joel heard him to leave on the previous night.

A -> Yeah, your guess is correct. The problem here was lacking assets and resources. We BARELY managed to get everything ready in time. Unless you wanted him to have lines without a sprite, but I don’t think I want that part to change.

Q73 -> Some dialogues are a bit wordy, it feels like they are talking like long form essays in English Lit. I feel like they need to have some form of defining characteristic in the way they talk. (Although Dylan already shows it with him being blunt and Clyde being more formal). Others just feel a bit flat (yes, even Dylan my beloved).

A -> This is probably the only question that I don’t know what to say. I understand the problem, but I don’t think I can fix it. I’d need someone guiding me through it and I really don’t see it happening. I’m just a bilingual mess who happens to know English a little more than the others, sorry! I’m going to huff some copium and say that there’s many readers that find this approach easier to read and understand. Sometimes— bringing things like slang and dialect can take away from their understanding and it’s nice to have something simple and smooth to read, turning your brain off.

Discussing A\B routes

This is a bonus section, something I deemed important enough to discuss with everyone. Someone brought it up already and I tried answering, but I needed more space so I pushed it here at the end.

A\B were supposed to be completely different stories. That was the original plan. Depending on where you’d push the characters around the story would head in different directions. I wanted to give you more control and open up the world around you with alternative storylines, but…

I bit more than I could chew. We dreamed too big. And, as some people already pointed out, instead of branching out further D3\N3 did the opposite, I merged them again. I wanted to keep lying to myself that I would open them back up on D4, but hell no, that’s not going to happen.

Imagine writing 14 routes. Imagine coming up with so many unique scenarios each time. This is death. For me, at least. For the casual reader who enjoys just two characters out of 7 I’m sure it’s a loss ‘cause now they have less material for their fave, but you gotta put yourself in my shoes, just for a little bit. One writer here is handling it all. I want this project to be fully finished. Executing this would take TWICE AS LONG. I’m not just handling the writing btw. It is me writing on social medias, it is me who makes updates on Discord, it is me who writes on Patreon, it is me who seeks Team Eclipse members to get their help on specific things, it is me who coordinates them, it is me who makes sure everyone is on the same page, it is me testing the game and correcting mistakes, it is me who makes sure I pay some of our members (read the next bonus section about money) and don’t get me wrong. I like this. I’m also having fun. I choose this path because it’s so rewarding to see a project moving, it’s rewarding interacting with the community, it’s rewarding reading and replying to feedback, it’s rewarding receiving genuine help to improve our work, LIKE, I LOVE THIS. It’s also hell. It’s also so much work and thinking and organizing. Some days go by and all I think about is the VN. My brain has been repurposed to Moonlight Castle, which is fine. I’m usually brain empty without it. That’s how it is to have a burning hunger for making stories. This is how I want to leave my mark in this life of mine. I want to leave behind my feelings, forever burned into these letters. A little dramatic, but I freaking love being dramatic.

TL DR -> A\B side will be about final endings. Both routes will share the same storyline now. You will be allowed to jump between A and B all the time as long as you get a perfect score. I think this Q&A will go up before Russell’s N3, but if you care about choices and interactions, I tried something new in his route, something I want to improve in the future that also includes the affection system. (Another big reason why the A\B side won’t happen is because we lack resources.)

DISCUSS MONEY ISSUE AND RESOURCES.

Hello, I left this one last for the simple reason that talking about money sucks. Having you sit there and watch me cry because we’re poor is never fun. So… if you don’t care— your last warning is here. The Q&A is over.

For those of you who are still reading I wanted to discuss our group. Currently our group is 7 people. 2 Coders, 2 Editors, 2 Artists, 1 Writer, 1 composer. Oh my God. Did I miscount? Why did you say 7 when you mentioned 8 people? Well, 1 one of us covers both coding and editing. It’s not me. I really don’t have space for coding as well I’d be dead.

Out of these people who’s getting paid? The Artists, The Editors and The Composer are getting paid. They’ve been all super kind to me. Some work for free, some work at a huge discount and others just wait their moment to receive some cash from our Patreon funds when they’re available. I haven’t touched a single Dollar from it. I’m actually in negative LMAO.

The biggest investments are out of the way so now I’m waiting for the monthly payments and immediately handing it to whoever needs it the most. Not me. Thankfully I don’t need it right now. And the increased funds are really helpful ‘cause now I can pay more people at the same time.

So to all those questions “we could use more of this” “we could use more of that” I don’t have the money for it. It’s not that I don’t want to do it. It’s that these kinds of projects, if people aren’t supporting you, they drain your wallet. So I need to think — what to prioritize, how to save money, people have to be paid, their work deserves to be compensated. And I barely gave out any to those who have been working for free. This isn’t a ploy to make you feel bad and donate, absolutely not, I’m just giving you a tour of what’s going on behind the project and what I think.

I want to give more, but in our current condition things can’t be created without sacrificing something else in return so I can’t offer much for the time being. I will think about Patron goals in the meantime and figure out how much money we’d need to safely give everyone a decent pay and more art\sprites\CGI\music whatever you guys want.

People who can’t support us financially can help in other ways as I previously stated. Spread the word, encourage your furry friends into reading this “masterpiece”, interact with me, I love being praised, please tell me more. It’s important for me to feel the audience around me, it boosts up my motivation. Being affection starved sucks.

Our current funds are 90. I don’t expect it to grow. I expect it to drop eventually ‘cause Patrons come and go, that’s how it is. That’s life for ya. So I split them between 3 people. So… 3 people out of 7 get a monthly payment of 30 Dollars. It’s not bad, but for all the work we all put into this for free? It would be nice to pay more. Paying more means we produce more. Since we all work for free this project can’t be a priority. We got irl stuff to do, real jobs & shit. So… please try to appreciate what we have done so far instead of asking for us to invest more money into something I already invested A LOT IN. Mentally physically and economically. It’s fine, BTW, don’t feel bad for me. I chose this. I would do it again.

Damn, I talked a lot. I’m also going to re-read everything and think about it all over again. I feel like I missed something and you’d be like ARE YOU NOT DONE YET? Yeah, you're right. I did write a lot, thoughts come and go, fleeting little bastards. 

This project will keep going no matter what because this is my dream, so never worry about this. Less money only means a drop in quality, but we cross fingers that it won’t happen.

I’m thankful if you’ve read everything I had to say. I hope you guys will keep sticking around in this journey and encourage us to produce more.

Next Q&A? Probably March 2024, after Liam’s N3 drops and all 7 routes are caught up. A little gift from me to you, Joel's sprite.

I hope you’ll have an awesome day, happy new year!