Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest LoveSick Darlings developer update.

I have news of ALL kind to cover this week - so let's just dive right into it!

LoveSick Darlings... coming to its first CONVENTION?!

Yes, you heard right! LoveSick Darling is coming to a convention near YOU!

Well, er... that is if you live in Canberra, Australia! If you are in the area, or visiting in any shape way or form... please check it out! It's a cozy little local convention, but it's a lot of fun. It runs from August 3rd-4th. And I will have a booth and display there featuring a special demo of LoveSick Darlings! It will even feature some exclusive content you can only play through at the booth!

For more info, check out GammaCon's website here: https://gammacon.org.au/canberra/

You can find me at the "AIE Indie Game Showcase"! Check out my game, and make sure to play everyone else's games there too. They're all awesome. Thanks GammaCon for having me, and to AIE for sponsoring the event!

Progress on the game:

The second social event is... COMPLETE! Well, almost. There are still a few choices I didn't get to write up results for - but alas, I simply ran out of time this month before this update. I will tell you more about why I ran out of time further down...

But in any case, the main choices and plot of the second social event is complete! Once I tie up the loose ends and all the possible paths, it will be truly complete. The last two weeks have been basically dedicated to this part of the game, so that's really all there is to report. But I am extremely happy with where it's at now. This was the hardest section of the game to write yet.

I really had to grind away at the second social event - and it became a huge undertaking. There are so many options and paths to account for that I am really looking forward to what you all think of it! It's a shame most of you won't get to play it for months, but alas, that's game development for ya...

Progress on assets:

The game's art assets are going through somewhat of a "transformation." I should have some big news to share during the next developer update. Speaking of which...

Life Update - A Brief Hiatus:

I am going away for the rest of July! I am going on a holiday with my family, for the first time in many years, on a trip to my good old Motherland of Greece! Yes, that's where my name comes from. I honestly don't even know much Greek, but I have missed the beaches and food there - so I'm going to be enjoying that as best as I can. I know it's a long time to go away, but don't fear - I will still have internet access, and you will find me very active on Twitter (@DAdoniou / @LoveSickDarling). I will still be doing all the marketing, e-mails, and organization work from Greece. I always accounted for this break in writing (I booked this trip last year!). But this hiatus on the actual writing for LoveSick Darlings does mean I am taking a break from these developer updates until a bit after I get back. Because, not only will I be overseas, but also the week I get back is GammaCon! So I'm going straight into convention/game display mode after my holiday. After GammaCon you can expect a DevLog covering all the juicy details of my July trip and how showing LoveSick Darling's demo at GammaCon went!

Question Corner:

So,  I have a brand new question to wrap up the devlog this week!

What kind of funding platform/future would you be most likely support for LoveSick Darlings?

VOTE HERE!
https://www.strawpoll.me/18284725

Honestly, I always thought a Kickstarter would be the best fit for this project - but I wanna hear what you all have to think! A Kickstarter is more tangible, and immediate sign of things going well. The major downside would still be that it would still take time for your money to bear fruit in the form of a completed LoveSick Darlings game. But a Patreon can be a more sustainable source of funding for an ongoing project. If you're into a steady stream of updates and exclusive content, this could be the path for you. The downside is that there isn't really a confirmation or "end-goal" that is as tangible as a fully funded KickStarter.

The wild-card option I thought of is... Steam Early Access? I know Early Access is synonymous with projects that NEVER get finished - but, it could be an option to get the game out there to people and have you guys play it as I update it! I don't if this can be done with a visual novel, but I'd be interested in experimenting with this. You know how manga comes out weekly or monthly, or how some light novels get published one chapter at a time online in Japanese by their authors? I dunno. Doing something like that via "early access" was just a stray thought. It could be a foolish idea.

What do people think? Are there any alternatives that come to mind for anyone? Please, let me know!

Once again, I will make this clear: nothing in this poll is going to be binding one way or another. I just want to hear other people's perspectives.

This poll will be open for four weeks - and when I get back, I will asses the results with you all like I did for the last poll! If you have any further thoughts or anything, please feel free to comment or DM me :)

I'd also LOVE to answer YOUR questions on here sometime, so ask away! Whether it is here or DMs, I'd love to hear from you all! Making this section a Q&A sounds like a lot of fun too.

Conclusion - and Farewell (for now!)

That about covers it all for this pre-hiatus dev update. I'll be back in four (or so) weeks, but in the meantime you can follow me and the project on Twitter (@LoveSickDarling and/or @DAdoniou) to keep up with the latest news. As always, thanks for taking the time to come by and read up on how LoveSick Darlings is coming along.

See you all in early August! Catch me at GammaCon in Canberra or here for the next developer update!

Got nothing to do til then? Check out my livestream of LoveSick Darlings I did last month! There is even secret content near the end of the second part of the livestream ;)

Check it out here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umY_HQrjfm4&t=14526s