Hi everyone!

It's been some time since I last updated. Truthfully, I had written out an entire postmortem on An Everyday Love but the draft wasn't saved so I lost a lot of motivation to rewrite it ^_^;

I’ll keep this update brief since a lot has happened since An Everyday Love released and I’ve been quiet on socials.

1. An Everyday Love’s success was incredibly heartening, I’m grateful for the support I’ve received. Thank you to everyone who played and donated!
2. In the past few years, I’ve had to juggle new jobs, getting laid off, starting new work, a chronic illness episode, my first romantic relationship, and moving to a new state. That, alongside with a desire to slightly distance myself from the project after release (I needed a break) resulted in silence. But I’m still working on games!
3. I had been developing several projects independently, but I didn’t want to officially announce anything until I had at least a demo to show for it. Despite telling myself to focus on smaller projects, I couldn’t seem to focus on anything except my next big, ambitious idea.
4. First though, the elephant in the room. Itch’s decision to mass delist games featuring mature content. An Everyday Love contains intimate scenes meant to add dimension and representation for healthy, honest intimate conversations with players having complete control over consent and how they physically present. This was important to me, because by separating the content away from the main game, it could make players who opted out of intimate scenes feel like they’re “losing out” on content, rather than given an alternative scene. Moreover, untangling feelings of undesirability connected with themes of disability, race, gender, and sexuality are a crucial aspect of the game’s main themes.
   1. With the new Itch changes coming, in the circumstance where this game is delisted, I’ll likely put up a page for a 17+ version of the game, with closed door scenes. People who want open door scenes will be able to email me at hollowrosestudios@gmail.com. The game is free so there’ll be no conditions there.
5. I couldn’t have foreseen this, but there’s been sudden professional interest in this game, so I’ll be adding an updated version on this page - mainly for spelling corrections, small dialogue changes, and slight coding errors. It’s not meant to be exhaustive, and those familiar with the game will likely not notice the changes, but I’m hoping it will serve as a better entry point for new players.
6. My next game will be a historical fantasy mystery retelling of The Little Mermaid, titled “Tazenkwet: The Free Mermaid.” I’ve  conducted extensive research and am hoping to develop a prototype by the early next year. I’ll be looking for collaborators for this project, but want to create a solid, feasible foundation before I make any official calls.
   1. As of right now, I’ve outlined the entire plot, completed a detailed outline for act 1 (out of three), determined the game mechanics I’ll use, the art style, and potential music assets. I’ll also be working in Naninovel, so I’m teaching myself how to navigate that too!

Thanks for being patient with me! I’m excited to show everyone  what I’ve been working on and will provide a more thorough update on my next project’s status later this year. 

All the best,

Hollow Rose Studios