I congratulate all the users and followers of the Depression on the first anniversary of Deep Russian Depression!
Despite the hardships and doubts that constantly hover over all of us, the development of the game continues thanks to your belief in our cause. The second year of Deep Russian Depression begins today, and it will bring new perspectives for many of us. Stay tuned for updates so you don’t miss what awaits us this year.
As promised, today we will answer the questions that were asked.
How did it happen that the game’s release date suddenly changed to 2028?
Such things happen in life — it's the human factor. I miscalculated the time Valve would need to review Deep Russian Depression, which is why the full release of the game on February 24, 2024, was delayed. Since I’m a bit obsessed with beautiful numbers, the next beautiful date for the game’s release is February 28, 2028.
Will we see an early version before the release, or is the release date the date for Early Access?
Yes, possibly. If the long-awaited cessation of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine happens soon, Russian banks will be reconnected to SWIFT, which will allow receiving money transfers from Valve for game sales on Steam.
However, I'm not entirely sure whether the agreement to avoid double taxation between the US and Russia is currently in place. If this agreement has been suspended, I’ll have to pay a 30% tax on the game’s price in the US and 13% in Russia, which is unacceptable. Having such an agreement between the countries is a mandatory requirement for Deep Russian Depression to be sold.
Therefore, if both conditions are met, the game will quickly be available in Early Access on Steam. Otherwise, the game will be released on February 28, 2028.
Is it possible to play the game right now?
Such an opportunity is available to the forty-eight people who received activation keys for the game before the event Bissextus (2024). This giveaway was an exceptional event and my compensation for all those who eagerly awaited the game’s release and showed activity in the community hub .
Such giveaways will not be held anymore, but not because I’m reluctant to give out keys, but because I need people to buy the game through Steam, thus bringing us closer to the most important goal — deleting the "Limited Features" tag, which will allow adding Steam cards, emoticons, stickers, and backgrounds related to Deep Russian Depression.
Dear developers of Deep Russian Depression, have you considered creating an additional product related to the game, like Deep Russian Depression Coin?
Of course! Against the backdrop of recent news about the success of the $TRUMP coin and the meme Belarusian bank "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated" I’ve been casually thinking about the prospects of creating Deep Russian Depression Coin.
However, I and many readers are far from the world of cryptocurrencies and don’t really understand it, so don’t expect any coin to be released anytime soon.
If I remember, 2 years ago, you had a significantly different art style to the anime one of more recent. What prompted this change?
You probably know that our modern youth is obsessed with anime. Obviously, games in the anime style attract more attention than similar ones made in a photorealistic style. Two years ago, when neural networks were just starting to infiltrate our everyday lives, I, filled with interest in this new technology, decided to experiment with Stable Diffusion and was pleased with the results. Since the previous cover images for the game in the store seemed a bit dull to me, it was decided to create new ones using Stable Diffusion, but this time in the anime style.
The community had mixed reactions to this change: many of the loyal users unsubscribed from the game’s updates, but in their place came new ones — the very anime lovers I mentioned earlier. I believe I made the most successful decision: the game started attracting more attention, which positively affected important metrics on Steam. Also, the cover image was added to the collage on the game’s main page during the Steam Next Fest: February 2024 Edition, which further confirms the correctness of this decision.
What about the music and visual aspects of the game? In the description, you mentioned that there are significant issues with them. Are you doing everything yourself, or do you have a team/assistants?
The main issue is that I don’t have a talent for music and visual arts, but I also can’t trust someone else with this. I still have some free time to master the necessary skills, as well as neural networks that can help me create quality images and audio files.
I have a few advisors and testers, but they are not directly involved in the creation of Deep Russian Depression.
Did you have to study the basics of programming by sifting through hundreds of articles on the internet, or take courses? Or perhaps writing code turned out to be the easiest part of development?
No, I didn’t have to take courses or read hundreds of articles. Of course, I read some thematic guides, but they were far fewer than a hundred. It’s important to note that Deep Russian Depression is not my first project on RenPy, so the mistakes typical for beginners are a thing of the past.
Writing code for a visual novel is not that difficult, considering I have guides created by the years of effort from the RenPy community, as well as two assistants: ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Writing the actual novel itself is much more challenging, given my high standards for any text I plan to publish.
Sometimes, I get this obsessive thought that I have no right to tarnish the Russian language and this genre with my mediocre writing and the equally mediocre meaning embedded in it. My dilemma is that I have a huge aversion to my own prose, yet readers and like-minded people find it excellent, and at worst, just "not bad."
How much time does development take? Do you have a set schedule, or do you work on the game in your free time?
No time to answer this question.
Do you have a dev blog anywhere else besides the Steam news (for example, a Telegram channel)? It would be interesting to follow the development.
No, at the moment all information about Deep Russian Depression is published only in the game’s community hub, as everything is in one place, which is very convenient for both users and me.
There’s also another important reason: I don’t like online platforms that require phone number registration, including Telegram.
Deep Russian Depression is Available to Purchase!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1858710/