Hello everyone! You may have seen that recently Steam made some updates to it's policies regarding adult content. These policies may (or may not) affect the eventual release of this game; at this point it's unclear. Everything about this situation is unclear as payment processors put pressure on platforms like Steam and Itchio to remove more and more adult content; even when it's very much legal and art, like my game is. It may end up that the game comes out but has no sex in this version, it's a very real possibility. (If that happens, I'll have to ramp up the romance and heavy petting...)
TLDR: Work on the game has paused until I can finish the Solanaceae comic and see how Steam's policies might change in the future. This game is not canceled in any way.
I have been slowly but surely working on this game behind the scenes. (Patrons of mine have already seen all the sex scenes completed, woo-hoo!) Game dev is very much not my full time job, so I only dedicated about one day a week to it, but it was doing small stuff like finishing art for the game, tweaking dialogue, or just doing some sprite work. I had even passed off the game to an assistant to hopefully finalize another update for the Halloween season: but as things are now, I don't feel comfortable continuing to pursue another Early Access release, considering just how much time it takes out of my work week for nothing (monetarily) back.
I have to focus on finishing the main comic of this series first and foremost. I can't put time aside for another Early Access release; since I don't plan on monetizing any Early Access version of this game. I have to focus on stuff I know will pay the bills. This game was one I know won't make me much money at all once it's released (this is very much a passion project) so it isn't smart for me to continue to put time aside for it, even if it's a small amount of time.
This doesn't mean I am stopping work on the game entirely though; if I have time during a week and want to work on it, I will. But, I'd decided to stop trying to plan for bigger development time or new release until the Solanaceae comic itself is wrapped up. By that point, I know I will need to finish the story for my own sake and the sake of fans and am hoping to put out the planned Early Access update and totally finish the game once the book omnibus crowd fundings are complete.
To some of you, these words are going to be meaningless because you've already given up on the game being complete and hey, that's okay. The game isn't for you then! The game is for me and the fans of Battam and Sal who want to see where the story ends up. I think was just a little too eager getting the page for the game up in the first place. I was excited! I like this story and I love these characters. But, I know how I should have waited to put anything out, because it messed with some people's expectations of what I could reasonably do.
I still believe, and I've got a pretty good track record of finishing stuff, even if it takes a while. To those of you willing to wait and who have left me feedback on how I can improve the game: thank you! I see you and I do write down your feedback to try and implement as much of it as I can.
Hang in there everyone and I hope to see you again sooner rather than later.