Another transparency post! This is a long one, but please read the whole thing.
These are some important things I have to discuss; I don't want anyone to be caught be surprise.
2017 has been quite a hectic year, both in the good & bad stuff.
I wanted to make a post looking back on things, and announcing all the changes I have coming, because I want to make sure you guys know who & what you're supporting here.
So we'll start with the good, then the bad, then my plans.
THE GOOD!
The biggest thing I want to mention is how I've recently crossed the $1,000 mark.
(I only didn't bring it up before because it was rising & dipping over & under that mark, and I preferred to wait until I was safely over it, monthly cancellations etc. factored in).
I cannot believe how far we've come together so fast; I never thought it would grow this much in just two years. I've only got you guys to thank for this; there are no words for how much I appreciate the generosity & support you all give me.
I absolutely love having this as my job (that's right, I'm officially self-employed with this now! Paying taxes & everything!), doing what I love to entertain you guys, and evolving as an artist. I'm actually two thirds of the way toward being able to look for my own place, and when that happens, I'll be able to focus way more on my work, and put out better content, more often.
I was even able to finally become an official sponsor of Yandere Simulator, a fantastic project by a dedicated developer I have mountains of respect for, and have learned SO much from!
It's not all about the money though:
This year, I've gone through a lot of self-improvement too. I've lost a LOT of weight through dieting, I quit drinking and stopped eating takeout, and I've got my finances more or less under control. No more being irresponsible.
The kind comments & messages I receive from you guys, the support I see you all giving each other on related sites, it moves me to no end, and I'm so happy I could even have a hand in creating such a great little community.
Even my art has gotten vastly better - my techniques have improved, my quality has improved, and I've been able to move into mediums I always wanted to.
THE BAD
It's not all been sunshine & roses though.
The main problem has - strangely - been the art itself.
As my technique and quality improve, so does the size of my PSDs, as evidenced by FetFort #20 and the Menat piece I just uploaded, which had to be divided into 32 archives just to fit on Patreon.
As the PSDs improve, my laptop's performance dwindles, and with each new piece where I try to push the boundaries, it's becoming harder & harder to get them out in a reasonable time frame.
This is part of why most of my work ends up getting posted in clumps at the end & beginning of the month; even though I work on art from the moment I get up, and it's the last thing I do before I go to bed, I tend to work on something until the slow performance stresses me out, quit and work on something else, then come back to it later, doing everything in phases until they all get finished around the same time.
This is part of why in my streams, you rarely see me working on shading or texturing etc., because my laptop won't have it if I try to stream a document that big.
As you can imagine, this constant frustration with technology impeding my work has not been good for my health.
I've always been a massive ball of stress, a nervous wreck whose anxiety problems directly lead to depression and have caused some very self-destructive behaviour in my life. I used to cut myself a lot, have attempted suicide multiple times (the last time being in December 2016), had a complete mental breakdown in 2015, and even my nail-biting and teeth-grinding habits have come back.
And as many of you may remember, I used to drink VERY excessively.
Not as in constantly or dependently - I was never an alcoholic - it's just that when I DID drink, I drank hard, to the point of irresponsible madness, for no reason other than to deliberately cause damage to punish myself, and humiliate myself for others' amusement.
After one very bad night in April, however, I decided to quit drinking for good, and haven't looked back since.
But as I continue to develop as an artist, it's ironic that improving my art is also what's slowing it down!
How did this happen?
When I began my Patreon work in 2015, my first project was "Foot Fetish Fanart Fridays", a 52-piece set of foot-focused fanart that was originally intended to be posted on Twitter, until I was introduced to Patreon, and realized this was my chance to finally get out of this Hell-hole and become a real professional.
I completed the project (Holy shit, Screampunk finishing a project!? Sorcery!) and the full set is available here on Patreon.
For a while, I continued experimenting on other websites to find a business model that worked, in something of a "teething period". I realize a lot of people still have bad memories of that time, and while I understand & apologize, I must ask you to consider that everything has to start somewhere, and it was a period of adjustment for somebody new to this, a period of adjustment that was never to be permanent.
Eventually, I settled into my TTTT (Tempting, Tied & Ticklish Thursdays) project, the same thing but tickling-themed, and in Flash format.
At first, I could handle this just fine, until I made the stupid mistake of starting my Fetish Fortnights project much too early.
I always wanted to make a real game, something I could be proud of, not these dingy little mini-games. And plus, there was always the problem of copyright to consider. I needed something original that I could justify selling.
At first, I decided to stop profiting from any kind of fanart at all, and just rely on my original works. But when the fanart quickly began to outweigh the original stuff, and I realized I was losing more than I was gaining, I figured I had to take advantage of how none of these companies etc. really seem to care, and just go back to the old way of doing things that a lot of other people do anyway. I couldn't let my one chance slip away because of my stupid pride over something that everyone else does.
So with these two projects in place, my original intention was to weave the FetFort set into the weeks with the TTTT set, and use them as another "adjustment period" while I developed & improved these characters.
Once I had a solid cast of 69 characters I could be happy with, I planned to use them for a dating sim (and I still do!).
After a while, the documents grew even bigger until I simply couldn't handle the workload anymore, not if I was to keep doing the $7+ Patreon rewards and some commissions on the side. It's even become next to impossible for me to find any time to make 2D / 3D resources or tutorials anymore.
There's my slow computer to consider, and also the time it takes to make all these.
A lot of people forget that an artist is just one person doing all this work; we're not machines.
So I decided to put the TTTT project on hiatus. After a while I quickly decided it wasn't worth pursuing again, and scrapped it entirely.
The FetFort project became my main focus.
Then, Adobe announced their intention to discontinue Flash in 2019, and I was left with no choice but to make the jump to RPG Maker MV, which I already had some experience in.
This was very much to my benefit, as the production quality and flexibility is far greater than in Flash.
The only downside was it not being very reliable on platforms other than PC, and while I do try my best to provide what support I can, I'm unable to guarantee it will work on other platforms. I've had a lot of patrons kind enough to test these out on their various Mac OS configurations, but what doesn't help is when other people refuse to tell me what they've tried and what's happened, so I can't write an FAQ or open discussions as I don't have access to any versions of the Mac OS to test anything. I hate to sound blunt about it, and I do apologize, but these were made on a PC, with PC in mind; I can only do what little I know of to provide support to other platforms.
However, the original problem persisted no matter how much I lopped off, and confining myself to a big mini-game every two weeks as well as commissions, all of which are further held back by performance issues, has become too much of a problem to simply ignore anymore.
This is why some MAJOR changes have to happen. Some of you may not be happy with them, and I completely understand if you want to stop supporting me. Believe me, I do, and I would never begrudge you for doing so. I appreciate absolutely any & all support anyone gives me, and even if you choose to cancel, I'm still grateful for what you've given.
But I also believe that in the long run, this is what's best for not only my health, but my growth as an artist, and my ability to put out content that you enjoy.
That's why I'm making this long post - I want you to know exactly what I've done, what I'm doing, and what I will do.
Changes to be made:
Let me begin by stating that these changes may - at first - seem to imply that there will be an overall lesser flow of work than before.
However, this is not the case - once all factors are considered, the flow of art posted here will even out.
I am also keeping my original promise I made when I began Patreon - the rewards I give for the $1 & $5 tiers will not change, and I will NEVER increase the cost of these tiers.
Over the past few months, I've spent most of what little free time I have designing a game.
A fetish game, granted, that I still believe can be taken seriously as a real game too.
This is a project I REALLY believe in, that I know will be my first step in becoming a proper indie developer as I've always dreamt of.
Inspired by the hard work and dedication of people like YandereDev & HuniePot, I believe I'm ready to make that first real push.
The problem is, I need time to work on it. There aren't enough hours in the day, especially with my slow laptop, to work on a game like this, even though I've planned it all out.
I'm still not ready to announce anything; I'll make a concrete announcement with several posts once the game's first pre-alpha is done.
I still want to use the Fetish Fortnights content for its original purpose one day; I will never abandon the work I've done with Twyla-Jane and the girls.
But as it stands, it would take 9-10 years of this constant repetitive cycle every month to even get to the point where I have the cast just the way I want them.
I don't want to spend a decade of my life doing that; I'm 27, and I'd like to have finished my first real game before I'm 30!
The plan for Fetish Fortnights was to develop the cast until I could put them into the real project, which I dubbed "Double-F" (it doesn't stand for Fetish Fortnights).
So, the first part of the solution to my time problem is simple: I have to cut the fortnightly obligation, reincarnate the mini-games developing the characters as "Double-F" and simply use a subtitle when the time comes to work on the real project.
In the future, the Fetish Fortnights / FetFort mini-games will be released as "Double-F", not fortnightly, but monthly, with no set release day other than "the end of the month".
In the same order as before, and with the same format.
The second major change will come to the $7+ tiers.
With the aforementioned problems, it's becoming next to impossible to avoid constant stress and burning myself out while attempting to get all this work done.
So to put it bluntly, I'm going to begin phasing out the $7+ tiers, starting with the $7 tiers, then $10, then $100 lastly (I already cut the $20 tier).
I may keep the $50 tier open, however.
Those of you on these tiers - I can't tell you how immensely grateful I am for your constant support over the last couple of years, and I have to apologize for this.
-HOWEVER-
I will be making some adjustments to my commission system, so you won't be left out. I always remember support, generosity & loyalty, and so:
In the future, when I'm able to take on commission work on the side, I will be offering significant discounts to anyone on the $5+ tiers who has supported me - recently or ever - for at least two months (which I can check in the Patron Manager page).
Where a Kidnap Quickie sketch costs $10 elsewhere, those who qualify will receive a -$3 discount.
Where Lineart commissions cost $20 elsewhere, those who qualify will receive a -$5 discount.
Where Cel-Shading commissions cost $40 elsewhere, those who qualify will receive a -$10 discount.
Where Full Render commissions cost $80 elsewhere, those who qualify will receive a -$20 discount.
Where Game commissions cost $120 elsewhere, those who qualify will receive a -$25 discount.
This is my way of giving back to people who've supported me in the past, even if you've cancelled. If I don't already know who you are, please tell me your Patreon name & e-mail when commissioning me so I can check your pledge history and apply your discount~
With these changes in place, I'll have more time to work on my game, ensuring there are no delays in the Double-F mini-games, and you know the best part?
All those polls I ran before and never had time to do the art? They'll all be able to be done now, especially the Marvel & DC ones.
In other words, I'll be able to put out just as much content as I already do for you guys, but under more relaxed conditions.
This means more streams, more art voted for by you guys via polls, etc.
I'm going to begin these changes by phasing out the $7 tiers soon.
Those of you at these tiers, you're welcome to downgrade to the $1 or $5 tiers if you prefer, and wait for me to open commissions. Your discounts will count forever, so you'll never have to worry about that.
Or if you prefer to cancel entirely, you're welcome to do so, and I completely understand.
The $10 tiers will be phased out at the end of January, and the $100 tier will be phased out at the end of February. (Unless those holding the slots cancel early, in which case the slots wil be phased out immediately.)
Plans for the future:
Over January, I'm going to be focusing on finishing the Kidnap Quickies I have to do, along with the final "Fetish Fortnights", #22, which was to be the final one of the 1st rotation anyway, before beginning the 2nd rotation as Double-F in February. I also have to finish off the last few things I owe people, before starting fresh and putting all my effort into building a pre-alpha of this game, which I know you guys are going to love.
Existing workload for the new year:
Splatoon Tickling
Kale Tickling
Kidnap Quickies
Seras & Integra Feet
That old group project I never finished
The Patreon-voted Marvel & DC art
It's also going to be my top priority to save money for a good PC that will last at least a few years and solve my performance troubles!
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I'd like to close this post by thanking you all again for your support over the last couple of years.
I can't believe I've had this opportunity, and you guys honestly mean the world to me.
Working for my patrons is the only reason I can keep going anymore, and I'm going to continue to strive to do the best I can.
Thank you all so much <3