(Originally posted on discord, please join for the most recent updates to the game, also, any mention of DMs means my Discord DMs, just for clarification)

Happy New Year everyone !
I was planning on posting an quick dev update to patreon but I thought it might be better to post it here for everyone to see because many of you likely have a lot of questions regarding the next update to how long it's taking. I'll start by reassuring everyone real quick that I have been and still am working on it. It's been taking MUCH longer to get it done than I and many of you would have hoped but I just want to reassure you that I am still committed to seeing the game through to the end. The main reason it's taken so long is because I've been busy in my personal life as I've told some of you before. I currently have an almost full time job, I go to college and I have my personal life (friends, family, responsibilities, etc.) that have been taking up much of my time. Nothing bad or dramatic has happened so this isn't the same type of situation as the delay for 0.3. I've had small moments to myself to rest here and there but the main issue has been that they are never long and when I am in the writing process, I struggle to write good scenes and moments for the game if I don't have hours to myself where I can just fully immerse myself in the world of the game and get in the zone. Despite this, don't worry I haven't been sitting idly and doing nothing for the game. I've been rendering already written scenes and designing characters when I have shorter breaks, and recently due to the holidays I've had (and will have) more time to get some good writing sessions in.

The writing process is the process that usually takes me the longest to get done because I want to really nail the story so the updates don't disappoint. All this waiting time has also allowed me to flesh out characters, events, and the exact layout of the story in my head (Because not a day goes by that I don't think about how I can improve the game and make a better playing/viewing/jerkoff experience xD) and because of this, I plan to finish the script this week (I have the time and the ideas). Once the script is finished, it shouldn't be long before I have a lot more to show you guys and the update comes out. I already have a good portion of scenes rendered and the rendering process is relatively quick for me because I just have to follow my script and make it look nice (Except the more complicated and "advanced" animations, I can spend a whole night working on those just to get them right, the results when I put in the effort are very satisfying to me at least).


I'm looking forward to having more visual things to show off soon, thanks for bearing with me despite the wait, I'm also looking forward to seeing everyone's thoughts and reactions to where the story is going in 0.4, as this is where the main storyline will truly kick off (Everything before the final scene of 0.3 is basically a prelude to the main story and the first act is coming to a close within 0.4). I know a lot of you love the more mythological and fantasy aspects of the game and I'm glad to let you know that those parts of the game will begin to come more to the forefront now, without reducing the harem/love aspects of course. Some questions will be answered and some new ones will be raised. At least story-wise, I am glad about this long wait as it has allowed me to get a more in-depth plan for how the story will get to its end point satisfyingly (the end has been planned since the release of 0.1, and has not changed since other than minor tweaks to be a better conclusion), and without rushing between major events and while keeping all the characters relevant and interesting with their own way to directly impact the main storyline so that even "side-girls" don't feel like they are just thrown in to be fuckable.

0.4's story will be a lot more interesting and hopefully much better paced than my original plan because of this. I know maybe not everyone is SUPER interested in fantasy stuff because a lot of the time it feels generic and the same as a lot of other generic fantasy media or sometimes magic is used as an asspull, but rest assured, I did my best to try and create something unique with a magic/power system that I've developed to be consistent and draw inspiration from things like (but not limited to) astrophysics, traditions, Greek, Nordic, eastern, and Native American mythologies , along with many other sources such as works of H.P. Lovecraft, etc. My goal was to create something unique and understandable but also deep that can remain consistent without having things happen just for the sake of the story. I also included an unexpected mythology as well but it won't be super clear for a while unless you're familiar with it and are thinking through the lens of the recontextualizing I did with all the included mythologies to make them function in the same world without changing the written history of the mythologies. What I mean by this is that pretty much every mythology exists in the game, written and discussed by humans the same way we do IRL, but in Evermore, they are all also real, and the way people worshipped them or discussed them (IRL and in the games history) was just an attempt by humans to understand things that are beyond them and in the events of the game you will begin to see the reality of these mythologies (I've explained this before but I doubt everyone saw it so I'm reiterating it).


That last paragraph may sound a little convoluted but trust me I'm doing my best to keep things simple in game, I'm avoiding massive information dumps and anyone who wants to know more about the history of the world and gods can do so by participating in optional conversations, and from simply putting the pieces together as you play through the story where the necessary information will be presented. I highly recommend reading the optional conversations however, because I've put a lot of effort into worldbuilding and creating a history of the in game world, and also because its simply fun to see different takes on myths, gods, legends and the "truth" about actual real life questions people may have and historical events such as the lost colony of Roanoke, the fall of the roman empire, the subsequent dark ages, etc. (edited)


TLDR:
I am still working on the game, production is advancing despite working 30h a week, going to college and have my personal life

I also discussed the direction the game will be going, if you are interested


Sorry for the long ass essay, I wrote this for anyone who was curious about this stuff or had any questions, if you have any more questions, my DM's are always open

One final thing, I wrote this to reassure you that production is still ongoing and I am very much still invested in the story of Evermore. I'm writing the story I want to write since that is when I do my best work, but I'm also giving ways to avoid content that some people will simply not be interested in that way the game can still be enjoyed by everyone and if you get curious, you can dive deeper into the lore of the game. I am also open to suggestions and ideas from everyone and am willing to put in some scenes, gods, mythologies, etc. into the game if I can make it fit within the main narrative satisfyingly, so don't hold back if you have any because I'd love to hear what you guys have to say and I'm open minded to everything with one exception: no NTR