February 2023 (1 Year Anniversary!)

Welcome to February everyone, it's already been 1 month into 2023!

I wanted to take a moment to talk about Persona H and the development from when I started, up to now.

Beleive it or not, Persona H is 1 years old today! My first posts onto itch were on February 1st 2022.

So, with that in mind, should we take a quick look at progress pics of avatars over time?

I think so!

In fact, I still would never claim to be any kind of artist, but my work definitely improved over the year, from the first iteration of chie to the most recent one, you can see many changes!

Wow, from the nightmare lizard people feel of the original, to the more Persona 4 Sprite accurate version of the middle, to me being able to draw chie without a reference sprite at the end!

Of course, Chie's avatar is always evolving and will be as I work on the game, clearly I haven't even made clothes or anything yet for my latest iteration.

I think it's a very fitting example of how the game changed quickly over the years and how much development can change when your idea grows as well as your audience.

Looking at original version, compared to the new version, It's easy to see that I made a lot of different design descisions too. These changed a lot over the course of the year and were molded by feedback from you all.

It's fun to look back over the years as a progress report and see how I feel about the project. When originally starting it all, I really just wanted a more dating sim-like atmosphere within the Persona 4 universe. 

Clearly, as I developed, the scope was getting larger and larger, but I didn't let that deter me. I had a plan for the major core girls to be added, as well as external characters. This was completed, and it always felt like a small win to get a new girl in there.

Now, looking back, I feel I was rushing quite a bit on the development and I wish I took my time more on things. Not necessarily just art or programming, but also stopping and thinking about what I actually wanted in the game. I was very focused on just the next thing I was excited about.

Moving forward into Persona H Golden, I really would like to create something different. This whole thing was inspired by Persona H, the original Spinner Flash Game fromm back in 2017. What I would like to do now is focus on that concept, something smaller than before, and see where this idea takes me.

Knowing my brain, when I complete a smaller scoped project, the new, more wacky ideas will come pouring in and I will get to pick and choose form those to implement. As I have been coding this since the middle of January, this has already happened and I'm very pleased with the results. 

Some of you may be dissapointed knowing this isn't the same Sim Dating experience as Persona H The Midnight Channel, But know that I'm not ruling it out either. I haven't made a full commitment either way, All I would like to do is start with this spinner concept and see where it goes from there.

The last thing I want to touch on is the community we have built on here and on Discord. I mean it when I say it makes me incredibly happy to know you all are out there and talking about this and that, to come in and see you all having fun is a huge highlight to my day.

I never thought about creating a community like this when first starting out, which made me write a lot of development blogs and posts on itch. I became more attuned to writing out al lof my information there and thought it was the platform for everyone to converse on. After discord (and more accurately Kino) changed my mind, I started to realize that more and more of my focus should go to Discord.

As that happened, another funny thing happened. This Patreon started to build a little community of it's own!

Which leaves me to an interesting time, where I enjoy talking to peopel and getting feedback, but also need to get my work done and focus on what you all are donating to here on Patreon.

Due to this, I'm going to be making certain blogposts and images and what not available only to Patrons. This has been implemented since around November of 2022, and it seems most of you are enjoying it already. I think it's only fair that you members of Patreon are given exclusive information, and it acts as a way for other people to recognize that game development does require time, money and resources.

Without sounding too preachy, I do want to cover that a little bit. I don't like to talk finance much, as it's something more personal to me. I find it hard to euate time and effort on a project to a dollar value. That being said, over the course of this year, I have learned how much development can take a toll financially annd of my time. I want to thank you all for your financial support, it's enough to make me feel a little better each month about this hobby and putting the time in.

I would like to focus on building an equipment sheet for things I could use to better my development for Persona H, and that way I can list of what I"m buying next with donations from you all. First and foremost, my computer blew up in the middle of 2022, and I"m still using the dusty old spare I had in a closet. I would like to put thhe donations towards a new computer with a better processor and more RAM for the design work. I will build a mockup and set a goal. 

Anyway, that's about all I have to say at the moment. I really enjoyed this last year, and I learned so many things. I can't wait to create more content for you all for 2023 and I hope to hear your voices on here or Discord soon!

Have an awesome day, and I will ge to work on getting some more progress done for February!