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2017 in Review (Patreon)

Published:
2018-01-07 23:23:23
Edited:
2018-01-15 00:26:44
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

It turns out I have a lot of things to say about 2017, so I'll divide this post into several sections.


Reflections

Lots of things happened last year. I went outside my usual genres with Crimson Gray, then dipped my toe into Steam releasing it. I finally finished the main development of my oldest side project, Desecration of Wings, and showed that all to you (more on its future later). At Hreinn Games, we launched Kingdom of Deception and the first few of many updates to come. I also took a few breaks to try something different, like the monster girl side project.

We made good progress in the overall storyline of TLS. At the beginning of 2017, the party was in the elven forests. Since then, the party explored Zirantia and Eustrin, though of course the biggest thing was the full Third Arclentian War. Very happy to finally be able to pay off a lot of plot threads, and I'm glad it was well-received. After that, I detoured into base customization, built the three new nations, opened up all past locations, and started chapter four. Last year was divided into many different kinds of update, but I feel good about the overall progress.

This was another year spent working full time as a creator, and I'm immensely grateful to everyone for supporting me. ^-^ Over the course of the year, I got significantly closer to ensuring that I can make this my permanent career. On the other hand, 2017 had a lot of stress, in part due to the main lesson of the year:


Platforms are Not Your Friends

Not a great year for adult creators. Patreon threatened a negative change to payment processing, but fortunately changed their minds. But they haven't compromised at all when it comes to flagging adult content, and the new review system seems like it will be the new status quo. Steam didn't help with explicitly saying one thing and then contradicting it, on top of policing games according to contradictory criteria.

This is not a great environment to work in, overall. Things like this are one of the reasons I haven't wanted to focus fully on a single project, since it's unwise to assume that things will stay good forever. You've all been wonderful supporters, but it's possible that Patreon could sweep in and kill most of my income.

If that does happen, I won't be homeless or anything, but it would be a pretty big setback. Other projects would be dead in the water and there'd be no hope of getting scene art for TLS.

A notable fact I noticed while doing my finances: in 2017, I spent more money on project assets than on personal expenses. Crimson Gray, Desecration of Wings, Once Ever After... commissioning art is expensive!

There are always multiple possible sources of insecurity, of course. I won't get into all of them, but one has been explained pretty well by SMBC in comic form:

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/healthcare

My situation is similar. It sucks to work hard at being frugal, only to get hit with something like this. Now, thanks to everyone's support, I'm not undergoing serious hardship because of this. But it's one of the many things I need to try to ward against working full time as a creator.


Looking Forward

So, what all will we see in 2018?

TLS: Some people have expressed concern or uncertainty about the scope and various new plot elements. The plot advancements this year will show how things are interconnected and I hope increase confidence in how the plot will conclude. I'm not sure how far we'll get this year, but by the end, the conclusion of the game should be looking much closer.

Desecration of Wings: Because I was focused on other things, I didn't finish commissioning the art for it. I also need to figure out how to do a NSFW patch on Steam. >.< But I will be hoping to release the full version in the first quarter of the year. I may run a countdown of assets I'm waiting on in order to finish. (Current: 5 scenes)

Once Ever After: I don't know if this will be released in 2018, as it still needs tons of assets. My progress on it is also slow, as it uses the same energy I use for TLS (unlike a different genre of project). But I'll keep sinking extra Patreon money into commissioning more pieces of this.

Something Else: Not sure what, I just try to be transparent and so I want to say that it's likely that I'll need a change of pace this year. A sequel to Crimson Gray? I like the idea but I don't know if it would work. A short game in a new genre? Maybe. It's possible that nothing will happen and I'll spend the entire year on core projects, but I wanted to be upfront about it.

As a whole, I hope to see if I can improve myself over the course of the year and deliver a lot of content. Hope everyone has a good 2018!

Comments

Tempest

This may sound like being a gushing fanboy but screw it: Your works have been excellent so far Sierra, TLS is what brought me to your Patreon and it's hardly been disappointing. Ouroboros in 2016 was a delight, and this year Crimson Gray was good fun as well! I haven't had a chance to try out Desecration of Wings yet, but I imagine it will have the same great story telling. Thanks for all your effort, and if you have to end up changing platforms I know that I and others will be happy to follow! Here's to a kickass 2018!

Decanter

It seems likely to me that adult creators will need to mitigate risk by participating in alternative platforms and communities, especially creators that make less mainstream content. For Patreon in particular, let's hope a viable alternative emerges soon. Sorry to hear that healthcare is such a concern. I'd hoped that living where you do would make it less of a concern. When you say "5 scenes" for <i>Desecration of Wings</i>, is that what you have now or what you're waiting on? Wishing you the best and looking forward to whatever you create in 2018!

sierralee

Thanks, I appreciate you speaking up! This year especially I've often felt like I'm working at the margins of the subgenre on niche games, so it's good to remind myself that so many of you help support what I create. And while I'm grateful to everybody who supports silently, I'm only human, so it's nice to hear that people enjoy my various projects. ^-^

DukeLeto7

You use the word "queue" and the phrase "come in useful" in cold blood but have to worry about the flaming dumpster fire of the US healthcare system? You must have led an interesting life to this point. I'm sorry about the healthcare market instability, since the Arsehole of America is in some degree my fault. Hopefully he has his own personal Iris to end that particular brand of insanity. Happy New Year though!

sierralee

I agree about mitigating risk. I am on a good creative roll to start the year, but at some point I intend to devote more time to diversifying. Five scenes remaining, though a few of those are multi-part jobs. There are also one or two assets I'm undecided on adding to the list. But as a whole, we're closer to the end than the beginning. And finally, thanks! I look forward to bringing everyone fun new stuff this year!

sierralee

All facts about me are neatly explained by the fact that I was raised by Tibetan wolves. Happy New Year!

Vitreous Humour

I heard Kickstarter was creating its own patreon type platform, so that may be something to explore, though that may have the exact same problems as patreon with regards to censorship and unpredictable policy changes. My understanding is that much of the problem stems from the prudish opinions of Paypal and the credit card companies, which is yet another terrible thing that can be partially attributed to Peter Thiel. I'm surprised that some enterprising adult websites haven't realized how much of an opportunity this is for them, actually.

DukeLeto7

Now I know you're lying. Everyone knows Tibetan wolves don't adopt and raise humans. Only Bhutanese wolves do that.

sierralee

Kickstarter's platform is still invite-only and you're right about it potentially having the same problems, but I'm keeping an eye on it. They have the userbase to potentially create an alternative to Patreon. And yes, evidence does seem to suggest that payment processors are at the root of many issues.

Decanter

<i>Only</i> Bhutanese wolves? Don't tell me you actually believe <i>The Jungle Book</i> was a work of fiction. (Also, while SL didn't confirm she's in America and there are other countries with terrible healthcare systems, I will note that I know plenty of Americans who use those phrases. America isn't shy about borrowing from other cultures, after all.)

Lord Forte Games

Plot Twist: They may not raise humans, but who said Sierra was human under that cloaked sprite anyway...? =P As an amusing aside, bringing up Tibet after I just played a long game of Crusader Kings 2 in the east side of the map made me idly wonder what a mod for modeling the TLS world in the CK2 style would look like. I might have to post those ideas on the wiki forum for amusement's sake XD

Lord Forte Games

It's sad to hear that this year has had so many platform-based setbacks for you. As someone with some interest in doing similar things, I've been quite disheartened to follow developments on Patreon this year myself, though I'm glad that you seem to have more or less weathered the storm for the moment. I hope that they don't decide to go further down this path--and I can't speak for others, but I personally wouldn't object to moving my support for you to another medium if that becomes necessary. Mostly I'd like to see one emerge that feels worth something, as I feel the patreon model is a really great one--better than traditional crowdfunding--and I don't think it's a good thing that the model's only real widely available venue gets to make these kind of choices... Also, the Steam thing is kind of disappointing to hear, especially given the deluge of low quality erotica I've seen on there of late (SakuraGame machine translations... -_-). Patching DoW could definitely be a pain since the only rpg maker patcher script I've seen required an unencrypted game, though I haven't looked that hard. Hopefully there are better options out there than that. In any event, happy new year, and I wish you all the best in the coming year! As ever, looking forward to TLS and whatever else you may end up deciding to create.

DukeLeto7

Maybe she knows the guy who runs the NOT A WOLF twitter feed. With the Paradox engines, it's safe to assume that the result will be unintended side effects from too complex modeling. And that the Incubus Kings would be conquered by the Byzantines.

Wildeyes

I just finished your latest update. I just have to say, I've been following you for years, now, and I believe in you! You are a truly inspiring writer. You do a fantastic job of calling out many of the hokey tropes involved in the genre, even as you have fun with erotic themes. Happy New Year! All the best wishes, and I hope that your creativity ever flowers and grows in all of your projects! Your world building and character development is amazing and I can never get enough! I hope that your writing can one day set the standard for erotic gaming for years to come!

Jan Dietrich

"Arsehole of America" LeL, you made my day.

ZDreamer

One of the creators i follow is a big believer in blockchain based crowdfunding, where there is no central actor who can change the rules (which technically can be achieved). Looks like there is nothing like this for now.

Jan Dietrich

Sad to hear you're having difficulties. For whatever it's worth, Hatreon has removed it's strange invite-only mechanic, it could, in a case of emergency, at least be a temporary alternative. Anyway, even though i'm pleased with the developement of TLS so far, i guess i'll take a break from it until the next major update. I'll continue supporting you of course. Maybe shift my attention to DOW, which i haven't tried out in detail yet. Literature, films and gaming are three highly time consuming hobbys, competing about my attention. I wish you a happy new year again, and hope that things will turn out in your favor.

sierralee

It's hard to know what to expect with Patreon. What I see now is less an organized policy or trend than a new system with no clear rules. Many have tried to figure out rules for what Patreon is enforcing, and I've even subscribed to some for a time, but all have been disproved eventually. I have no solid ideas about how to patch DoW, honestly, and the task of checking other games has been made more difficult by Steam's patch policy. Anyway, thanks! All the best to you in the coming year. ^-^

sierralee

It would be nice if something like this came to be, but we may not be there yet. I'm struggling to remember the names, but over the course of my career I can remember two blockchain-based efforts, both of which had to close. Maybe in the future, though.

sierralee

Thanks for your support! You may want to wait a bit on DoW, as the new version with full art plus fixes and improvements will be coming out before too long.

Jan Dietrich

Thank you for the advice. I shall do so then.

Desertopa

What are Steam's actual policies regarding adult content? Is it allowed for adult content to be present in the game's files, but dummied out? If so, I think you could make alternate versions just by gating adult content behind a switch that's turned off in one version, and on in another. That was my own thought for how to make adult and non-adult versions of a game with a minimum of additional legwork, but I don't know how well it fits with Steam's policies.

sierralee

Steam has no coherent policy, unfortunately. They don't have a clear set of rules and their enforcement is inconsistent. Based on statements made by MangaGamer and some private messages, I suspect they don't care about adult content but need to avoid penalties from certain state laws and payment processors. So yeah, I don't know. The other examples I've checked seem to just hand out the game's assets in unencrypted form to add to the game, but this is not ideal.

DukeLeto7

Minutiae: While prodding around improving the Investments wiki page and the Battle of Yhilin wiki page, and researching the source on the threat of AriGarda Consequences yet to come, (it's a switch called "AriGarda Consequences"), it recurred to me that there's no in-game notice for persons who hired AriGarda in Chapter One that the company has departed to serve House Rose until you wander into House Rose during Governing Yhilin II or later. The guard on the left has variant dialogue for the AriGarda and AriGarda II flags, but the first one just says "The AriGarda is grateful that you reassigned us to House Rose." and the OCD sufferers in the playing community think "Did I do that?" One option would be to have Simon send AriGarda in preference to orcs to House Rose during the petitioner phase of the BoY, but that's a game balance issue, so I would instead suggest that a bit of optional dialogue be appended to the beginning of Janine's rundown of what needs to be done in Governing Yhilin II during Event 034 in the New Yhilin Palace Royal Chambers, between "Fortunately, at this time there are no..." and "Three things, however, definitely require your attention." Something like, "One minor note, while you were away, I took the liberty of giving your contract with AriGarda to House Rose instead of that group of orcs. Blah blah tensions in both AriGarda and House Rose blah blah..." (I realized a long time ago dialogue was not my metier.) Inserting such lines after the the three major items Simon needs to attend to disrupts their flirtatious banter at the conclusion of the scene. There may be other better locations for such a message, or it may not be needed at all, but you did indulge my whining about the dialogue on the fate of the Dusty Horde a while back... Amusingly, Event 034 already starts with some mercenary housekeeping, as the Iron Cudgel II switch is set to the Iron Cudgel switch at the start.

Desertopa

I think that the adult images in Everlasting Summer are in the data in the Steam version of the game, and the patch for the game just causes them to actually appear during gameplay. But, it seems the patch is no longer being openly distributed, so it may be that Steam has since cracked down on this.

sierralee

Not sure if it's necessary, but I suppose it's harmless other than the consumption of time. Added.

sierralee

Hmm, the patch does indeed appear to contain no images. Thank you for bringing this data point to my attention! Unfortunately, there's no guarantee Steam will apply this rule consistently, as with patches. Steam explicitly said they could be linked, then began demanding the opposite, but only on some games.

aosdh

While I'm not quite sure, Steam would allow most adult content barring explicit sex scenes, the reason for this instead of just having say an adult plus ranking is that legally that requires an entirely different set of credit information when purchasing, so I would be very sure that unless there was a way to avoid the explicit H-content the game would eventually be flagged and taken off from steam.

Edward Culham

what i find strange going through everything is that AriGarda leader in House Rose; says "that they are the best employer ever; no offence" but makes no sense if you did not hire them but instead persuaded them to join House Rose.

DukeLeto7

Hmmm... If you really want to get meta, the conditional for getting that speech is that you are in Chapter 4 AND you completed the elf realms content. Dunno enough about RPGMaker to know if that's redundant or not. And if I'm reading the conditional for the 3rd tab of the event right, they appear working for House Rose regardless of whether you ever paid them... Which torpedoes my hypothesis that the AriGarda Consequences switch will be triggered when someone attacks House Rose and AriGarda ain't there to defend it... Oh hey, Sierra, have this lovely bouquet of nits. Edward and I picked them just for you!

sierralee

@Edward: You're correct, I'll add a variant line if players never hired them. @DukeLeto7: FYI, you're right that the switch is redundant but you're not reading the third tab correctly.

DukeLeto7

I guess I should know enough about RPGMaker to realize that I don't quite understand how event triggers work.

waffel

Kickstarters platform from what I have read in the ToS have a zero tolerance against erotic content

DankPotatoes

Damn. I have a lot of respect for USA, given everything they have managed to accomplish in a few hundred years of existence, but this whole healthcare debacle is a joke. But i suppose there is a logical reason behind it: Trump is the Incibus Emperor confirmed

PMR (edited)

Comment edits

2026-11-01 13:00 I've just got to say,i absolutely loved crimson gray,although i thought the true ending should have been the "happiness" one,i like to think that it eventually leads to that,it just isn't said,and my god would i love a sequel.
2018-01-22 02:25

sierralee

Thanks, I'm glad to hear you liked it so much! John and Lizzie do find happiness on the canon path, it's just a more complex happiness. Something that I'd want to get into over time, so I also wanted to give them a simple and sweet path in the first game. I would love to do sequels, but I don't know when it will happen. Reviews help, if you haven't left one!

sierralee

I'm saying if I made sequels, they would follow the canon path and show John and Lizzie in different stages of their relationship. I actually have big ambitions for this - I think it would be fascinating to write about the two of them with children, for example. But it would take a lot of time to do that right, more than one sequel. So I was just saying that I also wanted to give them a simpler happy ending via the non-canon paths.

sierralee

I hope to be able to make further games too! This is a passion project of mine and I want to create my own vision eventually, but due to my situation it may not be able to happen right away. A full sequel may be far off... but I think it's likely I'll at least make a short return to the two of them this year. I have an idea for Lizzie and John in college that I think is a nice addition. ^-^

sierralee

Glad you enjoy it! You'll definitely hear about the development of future stories with John and Lizzie here! Thanks very much for your support! People like you who connect with this story definitely motivate me to continue it!