Hey there, friends! Hope you're all doing well this week. Hopefully everyone had a happy holiday. It's been a bit of a rough one for your pal Neon! I started feeling under the weather on Christmas -- a feeling that was likely exacerbated by staying up to get the Christmas teaser build finished. Then I had to work the following day, and felt like my energy was depleted. Then I developed a cough and runny nose, shooting pains throughout my body, and I kept falling asleep anytime I sat down. I was looking a bit like a sickly Victorian child. Finally, today, I'm mostly back to normal. My sinuses are still all gunked up, and my sense of taste/smell is shot, but my energy is back.

This is all to say that I lost three days of game dev time, at a really inopportune time. So, the next build of the game is going to be a little delayed while I pull myself back together. As always, if you were/are subbed at the $15 tier for December and then reduced/removed your pledge for January, just hit me up when the build is ready, and I'll send you a link. I don't want anyone feeling ripped off. (I'll reiterate this offer when the build is ready.)

Despite my sickness, I did manage to get a little work done. The ending sequence has grown to stupid proportions, as endings with Nicki, Mason, Ashe, Indigo, and Jun have grown to roughly 400 renders -- that doesn't even include the Gabby material, which I also expanded to add a friends-to-lovers route I hadn't fully planned on, initially. I really don't know why I make things so hard on myself. Maybe I'm just stupid? Hard to say.

Still, despite this chapter being an exercise in self-flagellation.. I think it's really coming together. I'm working on a build right now with everything I have done, trying to see if there's anything I'm missing before I start plugging in images for this last segment. There's some really cute material with a few of the love interests, which I hadn't fully intended to add. There's some fun drama. Good stuff all around, I think.

But, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready to be done with this thing. I suspect it'll be over 2000 renders by the time it's done, and I will never, ever do this to myself (or you folks) again. 2026 is going to be the year of more frequent, reasonably-sized updates.

Once the update is out, I've got two things I immediately want to start working on. I've mentioned one before, but it's a mini-update that's slated to be 300ish renders, featuring Guy going off on a bit of a sidequest. The other is a short story featuring Mason, from before the traumatic brain injury that left him with a stutter. I've only got the bones of the story right now, but I think it'll be fun to see a different side of Mason.. And probably a bit bittersweet.

Despite my flagging health and my frustrations with this update, I was gratified to see reactions to the Christmas teaser. Most people seem to have successfully navigated the save transfer function, but I'm going to post slightly more detailed instructions when I unlock the update for the public this Friday. And people seem intrigued by Cassie, and the early direction of the story. So, that's fun.

tldr; The update's coming. Still working to pull together the alpha, but I'm on the struggle bus right now. Bear with me a bit longer, and hopefully it'll be worth the wait.

Until then, I apologize for the delay. But as always, take care of yourselves -- and thank you for your support.