Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Hello everyone. I am afraid that me and my partner of 9 years have decided to break up. 2024 is probably the roughest year I've experienced and it is only March. I am going to have to find a new place to live and have a lot to consider about my financial situation as a previously split mortgage and bills made my current income a lot more viable than it is now. I think I will be fine, I have a lot of opportunities available to me. But my Patreon/YouTube earnings alone are insufficient to sustain myself fulltime under these circumstances.
There will be more information soon here and on Patreon about what I want to do going forwards. But for now I just want to be transparent about why the return to work I had *just* started, is... ending again while I figure things out.
For what it is worth, our breakup is a mutually beneficial and necessary decision and me and my ex are planning to stay friends, despite the immediate term difficulties this will cause us both. It is in many ways the hardest time in both of our lives, but I think will ultimately be the beginning of great things for us both.
So uh, yeah that's why I didn't stream today I guess.
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[Cross post from Patreon]
Hello all,
So it's been about a month since my last update, in which I explained we've been dealing with a very surprising and sudden death in the family.
The funeral was last week, it was a lovely service and we are holding together as well as we can hope to.
I am personally beginning the process of returning to work. Given that I have already been away for so long, I am planning on taking this and maybe next week as a sort of "life admin" holiday to put various home and life-related tasks in order and generally look after myself before jumping straight back to the content mill.
My aim is to do at least one livestream next week and re-orient myself with the turn-based-combat code and go from there. If there's anything you are particularly chomping at the bit to see from me, feel free to make some suggestions as I know it's been a while and I'm keen to reward your patience.
Thank you, for that patience. Thank you for being here and allowing me the time I needed to support my partner and look after myself. I am extremely fortunate to be in this position and I am here by your grace alone! So thank you, truly, ever so much.
Hopefully see you all again very soon. I genuinely can't wait to get GameMaker open again, but I know I need to recover the right way.
-S
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(cross post from patreon)
Hello all.
Last Thursday my partner's mother died unexpectedly in her sleep. She was 63 years old and this was the last thing anyone could have expected. We were very close and this has hit us both extremely hard and we've yet to really process what has happened.
A lot now falls to my partner as next of kin to arrange a funeral among so many other logistics and I am doing everything in my power to share the load wherever possible.
As such I won't have the capacity to respond to many messages, or create content in the immediate future. I had just recently released a new patch for the PokeyPoke demo and plan on finishing the turn based tutorial series as soon as I am able.
This is not the start to 2024 I had in mind, but it's the one we've got. Thank you all for your patience and support.
-S
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No stream today as there's been an unexpected family death. I'm ok and with loved ones. Hope to see you all again next week. ♥️
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No stream today sorry December is hard. Everything is going well though! New devlog for PokeyPoke coming soon ( have you played the new demo yet? store.steampowered.com/app/1083230/PokeyPoke/ ) and some cool new GameMaker resources coming next year! =3
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Called it!
GameMaker is now completely free for "non-commercial use" including all features. Asset bundles are also being made free. If you want to sell your game you now buy a one-time pro license for $99. Current subscribers get a discount on this price based on how much you've paid through your subscription (Including up to 100% off).
The only tier above this is console exports, which still requires a pricey monthly sub.
More info on the website: gamemaker.io/en/blog/gamemaker-free-platforms
I think this has been coming for a while since Opera's strategy with GM has become more and more clear. They just want more GameMaker users and don't need GameMaker to profit them directly and well, that's good for us!
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The new demo for my game PokeyPoke is finally available! It carries with it nearly four years(!!) worth of improvements and changes to the game. If you played the old demo, a lot has changed!
store.steampowered.com/app/1083230/PokeyPoke/
Thank you everyone for your continued support! Speaking of support, it helps the game a lot algorithmically if you WISHLIST it on Steam. Even if you don't plan on buying the game, or will be getting a free copy via your Patreon support etc (details tbd), it really helps me if you wishlist it regardless!
This is a big milestone for the game, and the next step will be continuing the long march to Content Complete. But for now, I need a little breather. I'll also be returning to work on the Turn Based RPG Battle series so that it is properly wrapped up!
-S
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If I did Feedback Friday again but you could pay $5 (or above? pwyw?) to be prioritized would anyone be interested in that? When streaming I'm always asked "When Feedback Friday is coming back" and I'd really like to find a way to justify doing those streams again more frequently, they seem valuable to people and they're really fun to do! But I just dunno how to pay for the day-out-of-my-week.
Patreon funds it in an indirect way, but it still just feels really hard to justify. I always have the audience of people with games they want playing/feedback on but I wonder if that's only cos it's free lol. 😅
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Hello everyone! Here is a big dramatic public patreon post about The Future of my work:
www.patreon.com/posts/future-90650823
In short, I want to make games. Who could have known. I've spent ten years focusing on tutorials first and developing games second and I want to flip that around. I will still make useful stuff, tutorials, etc. Hopefully better than before, but less often. And first and foremost I want to be a game developer and make games and content about those games and what I've learned making them.
So more devlogs, more streams, more game dev.
I hope that's ok <3
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Hello, I finally lost the ongoing global battle-royale and caught covid =(
It has been very not fun. I will not be streaming today. But I am starting to feel better.
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I'm Sara, or Shaun. I'm a former Ubisoft game designer turned Indie. I make games and tutorials for the GameMaker engine and for game development in general.
If you like the work that I do please consider supporting it via my Patreon!
I am currently working on a game called PokeyPoke, check it out at: store.steampowered.com/app/1083230/PokeyPoke/
Thank you for passing by!