2022 Retrospective (/w Apology) and 2023 Plans

Hello folks, been a bit, but it really does feel like this year somewhat flew by, perhaps due to all the things that happened in it. (For me, but more on that.) I figure it's important to take a chance to talk about what we accomplished this year, and talk about what we can see ahead in 2023.

First, I want to issue a formal apology, some of you all were charged at the beginning of the month due to a failure to pause the Patreon. Never fear however, I do believe I refunded everyone charged during this period that was not meant to be charged. (If you do believe I missed you however, please send us a direct message here on Patreon and I'll rectify my mistake.)

Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about everything in 2022. We hit the 1 year mark for the hiatus regrettably, but that doesn't mean we haven't been hard at work. For example we just sent out a twitter video showing off a CG as well as the beautiful new UI that Eddio the developer for Killigan's Treasure helped design and is now programmed to near completion thanks to Wattson, You can check out the Twitter Video showcasing the UI here. In addition we have several extra menus that are just shy of being completed, so there's gonna be a lot of neat features when the next build is released.

We've modified several existing designs which we believe to be improved for the better. We haven't drastically changed anything conceptually, just made things more symmetrical and well, proportionate, an example of that being with Quinn's relative facial structure seen below here.

Admittedly, one of the obstacles we hit in 2022 and why we'd been on hiatus so long was due to all of the changed layers was due to the layers not being compatible with the set architecture Melo had designed for our code. (We'd just began a revamp of how we were managing our layers when he stepped down which put us in this awkward state of unusable layers.) Thankfully, I can report that 95% of the images we have are now fully functional and usable for the game, and it just requires me to take a week or so, to do a 1:1 rewrite of any expression declarations in the scripts. (This is very very very very good news, because it was the main thing keeping us from being able to produce a functioning build.)

However, outside of modifications, we've finished several new CGs as well as new character sprites, as well as given characters some alternative outfits so they've got at least some variety to their wardrobes. An example of an alternative outfit would be for Zoe here, I imagine it wouldn't be very fashionable to be that girl who just wears that one hoodie all of the time. Beside her is Mr. Briar, the teacher in that first class you attend where you meet Quinn. (He's kind-of got that scholarly silver-fox look going for him.)

Another obstacle to future releases has been the prologue rewrites, which admittedly, I've been dragging my feet on because I want to get it to a point where I'll never touch it again. I want it to be as solid of a foundation as possible, and between rewriting that I've also been charting ahead with some scenes so I'm expecting certain sections of the game to come together very quickly. (Or just certain builds will find themselves much larger than others.)

The last obstacles we've faced, is just life in general. As I mentioned in my last post, I was putting in minor work on the side to getting my Associate's and I can say now that I have secured it which I'm very proud of myself for doing so. In addition I had some financial matters to settle after my grandmother's passing, amongst other matters that are too trivial to mention.

But yeah, 2022. It was honestly a fairly productive year and although we hadn't reached the point of pushing out anything new for anyone to get their hands on, I do think we made many steps in the right direction, so let's talk 2023.

Let me be clear. Psychic Connections will be leaving hiatus in 2023... I just don't know when in 2023. Be it the beginning of Spring or Summer. Part of the uncertainty is because of the life-component. After I got my Associate's a question arose regarding working on my Bachelor's and seeing how I can balance a full-time job, part-time school, and a Visual Novel project, and the options I see are either: Continue the Hiatus, Potentially Overwork Myself, or Abandon the Month to Month release model. 

The last option is the most compelling to me, but I'm not sure whether that looks like a Bi-Monthly or a Quarterly release schedule. Additionally, I've yet to determine how that would work with Patreon being a monthly-subscription platform, and that has led me to consider potentially seeking another platform, or just dropping overall Patreon tier prices due to a reduction in the frequency of benefits. There's also just the dropping of the patron and the rejoining to "get the best deal" aspect to it, so it's a whole thing trying to figure out the best way to manage my effort levels while still making the whole subscription worthwhile and convenient for others.

But yes, much to think about in 2023, expect some polls regarding the subject in the near future, and I hope you all are as excited for our return as much as I am. But in the meanwhile, please enjoy this CG-teaser for the updated skinny-dipping scene.