Rise and shine, Dwellers!

Are you used to it being 2024 yet? I'm not... but working on it! :)

In this devlog, I'm going to take a look back on 2023, which turned out to be a year of much growth for Tymedust Games. Naturally, we owe so much of that to you, and for that me and the team are so very, very thankful! <3

(I did a recap like this both at the start of 2023 and the start of 2022, so feel free to check those out if you're interested in a quick history lesson for our studio...)

Now then, let's summon the powers of XMAS GUIDE and get this party started...

So, 2023... WHAT A YEAR, HUH?! 

• We released version 0.1 of Poetry in Purgatory, our brand new MUCH LARGER standalone sequel to Pitstop in Purgatory (which even in its current form is bigger than all of our previous games combined). The game was released as part of Otome Jam 2023, and while the release came with some mental hardships brought on by its very intense development process, me and the team were ultimately able to learn from it and now we couldn't be more proud of what we've accomplished... with so much more to come! Also, we're proud to share that it's currently more popular than it was even at release. So thank you so much for that! <3
• We released our most viral game to date, Guidelicious, which was even played by ManlyBadassHero himself! Reaching 5000 plays in less than a week, this free micro visual novel was a huge success for us, and has brought many new fans to the Purgatoryverse!
• We reached over 1000 followers both on itch.io and on Twitter!
• We reached over 100 members on our Discord!
• We added both Poetry in Purgatory (wishlist now) and Guidelicious (with achievements) to Steam!
• Our games were featured by itch.io and shared via their socials a grand total of 4 times (the games in question were Poetry in Purgatory, Guidelicious, Ezrebeth (A Holiday Mindfudge) and A Day in the Life)!

There are also other things I'd love to include in this list, but they're still secret and as such I unfortunately can't share... but SOON (hopefully)! :)

But enough talk, it's ITCH.IO TABLE TIME!!

It's really crazy to see those numbers go up like this each year, and it's crazier still to think that so many have tried our games. I never would have expected that when I downloaded Ren'Py (visual novel engine) on a whim back in August of 2021, but I've really found a home here and being able to make these games for your enjoyment is a huge source of pride and fun. :) 

For 2024, I can somewhat safely say that for the first time since I started making games, the studio won't partake in Otome Jam. This is because Poetry in Purgatory will take up all of our development time, as we want to make sure we work on it at a good pace while also not burning out (since the entire team has jobs and/or studies outside of game development). Put simply, if we don't allocate all our time to that game, it will probably never get done, since its scope is so much bigger than anything we've done previously.

That said, though, I do think that we'll be able to come up with something cool for 2024's edition of O2A2 (the Jam which Guidelicious was part of). :)

As for the long awaited version 0.2 of Poetry in Purgatory (aka THE MASSIVE CONTENT UPDATE), I recently answered a question sent to us via our Tumblr, and it looked like this:

So, there you have it folks. I'm toiling away (everything except the written parts - which are kinda important to visual novels heh heh - is 100% done) to finish that which remains. After that, the update will be properly tested and uploaded to supporters of Dweller tier or above over at our Patreon, and then finally released for free to the rest of y'all.

We can't wait to see what you think of all the new content! It's truly a labor of love... one that is ever on-going...!

Thank you so much for all your support in 2023, and we hope you'll stick with us as we continue forward in the world of strange lil' visual novel/point and click adventure hybrids set in the afterlife. <3

All the love,

Tymedust

(PS: If you want to buy Pitstop in Purgatory, be sure to grab it for 30% off either here on itch.io or on Steam... the sale is almost over!)