Free Patreon for a Month, (Almost) a Year in Review, and Taking a 2 Week Break (Patreon)

Hello! A few days ago I posted a new build! Patreon build with cheats : https://www.patreon.com/posts/deep-snow-0-7-0-134070863itchio build without : https://drenindoku.itch.io/deep-snow-deliveryI typically take a break once every 3~ months after major milestones (ie. getting a devlog or major build done), but wanted to take 2 weeks this time since it has been about a year since the game first launched. I feel kinda bad taking this many breaks while you guys are still paying me since I am trying to treat this like a full time job. Thankfully, there is a lovely "pause billing" button in Patreon which lets me give you guys a month of Patreon for free! So if you are currently reading this, it means you won't be charged for a month <3I wanted to take this time off to reflect about the past year, and things I could have done better. When I look at the game now I think "Wow, a lot has changed over the past year!" When the game first launched there was no story, lore, characters, weather, radio, tank customization, or even saving. The map was way smaller, there were half as many upgrades & mechanics, and the framerate was horrendous due to my non-existent optimization experience (which I am slowly learning, it has gotten much better but I still have a long way to go before the steam release).

Even so, I feel my productivity could have been better over the past year. I was doing well for the first few months after launch, waking up early/biking every day, and getting at least 8 hours of work in per day. But after the "freaky" devlog and all the incidents that ensued, I was having those bouts of insomnia. There were other personal issues that contributed to it, but I would rather not go into details about that. Thankfully I have been insomnia free for about 4 months now due to healthy sleep habits, dayvigo and my mod team, but I never quite got back to 100% of how productive I was before. I still struggle to hit 8 hours of work a day sometimes. I am trying to treat this like a full time job so I feel I should be working 40 hours a week at minimum.To remedy this I am considering a few things :

Waking up earlier. I am typically in bed for 10 hours a day, and while part of this was due to insomnia, that hasn't been an issue for a while now so I'm gonna try cutting back to 8.5 or 9 hours.

Going biking every morning like I did last summer to clear my head/put myself in a good mood.

Telling you all "Dev streams start at 11 (or even 10 if I can wake up that early) every day!" That way you all can hold me accountable if I am late.

Staying on call with you guys while I have dinner, so I don't lose track of time or doom scroll for too long.

Planning out my todo list for each day BEFORE I go to bed. Often when I wake up and am a zombie, I don't want to think about what to work on, I just want to get to work on something simple/easy to get the day off to a good start.

If I am able to do all of this, I should be able to get 8-10 hours in per day, and still have time in the evening to relax, stream a game, hang out with my friends and destress. We shall see how well I am able to follow this.

That aside, I wanted to talk about some of the things I am grateful for/more positive stuff over the past year. You have all been so supportive and kind towards me and my project, and understanding when I need to take breaks. All the fanart, fan stories, deep snow dating sim, the yuri novel, the Minecraft server, my VTuber model, karaoke, Sanuku's guitar songs, and the 100~ (I think) radio song submissions?! It's all so incredible to me. And seeing you guys making friends/hanging out in the discord server is so heart warming, and makes what I do feel so fulfilling. There's probably other awesome stuff I'm forgetting to mention. I really couldn't ask for a better community.

Also, the talented people I now work with : IDKY (Hannah), Luis, Acadian (Matt), Rafa, and formerly Ceddy. Not only have you all been amazing to work with, but you have become some of my closest friends over the span of not even a year. I don't think I would have been able to stay sane through the trials and tribulations of this past year without your guys' support.

I feel so much love and support around me, and I'm so grateful to all of you, my friends, and my family for letting me do my dream job. Despite the stress, this past year has been one of the happiest periods of my life. Thank you for reading, and for your support <3