Ah, I understand exactly what you're saying, no worries. I thought that's what you meant but I wanted to be sure before responding to that.
Well, unfortunately that much I can't do. The game, when crowdfunded, was designed to be 7 chapters because it was more of a "let's see how this goes", kind of like TV series get funded for a season or two upfront, and then if they do well, they get funded for further seasons. The idea internally was "If they like it, we'll see about continuing the story in a sequel". You can view that if you want to, here.
The team no longer exists, so I call myself just working on finishing what I started to the best of my current ability. As it looks right now, it'd be impossible to continue making games without a pay wall without either a massive crowdfunding campaign, or maybe some kind of magical investor come down from the sky. The only other option is the more traditional method of funding it through a smaller campaign, or funding it myself somehow in the future, and then charging for it going forward, to recoup my costs.
My living expenses aside, adding new art and continued programming for 4 platforms is expensive. I just wanted to be upfront that there's unfortunately no way I can afford to continue the game's main story itself for the foreseeable future, without charging something. If people can't accept that, it's understandable, but those are the facts as it stands now.
Viewing post in Ch. 05, 06, & 07 CG Illustrations Added! comments
That’s okay too and I understand that as well. Perhaps I’m overstepping here, but I don’t think it’s necessary to have it on so many platforms especially if it’s causing issues. I mean, plenty of mainstream video games are either console or computer and not both. Sometimes even console games are exclusive to one console! They may add additional devices later but many do start out on one device first. I also think having a set price isn’t a bad idea. This is a produce and rarely are products free. I know fanfiction, fan art and whatnot can be/is free but a lot of that is also a hobby and not a complete job. Even some of those end up becoming “real” books for profit (looking at you Fifty Shades of Grey).
My point is, don’t be afraid experiment! It’s hardly fair for people to act like an up-and-coming artist of any kind will perform like a pro. You’re learning how all of this works, honestly I still don’t know how much of these things work as it is, so props to you. Just do what you can when you feel ready for it. Honesty is the best policy and people can honestly say “things can’t continue as they are” and be allowed to change. Just take care of yourself!
Thanks for the feedback and for understanding. Well, TTEOTS has been on several platforms for 2 years now, so I wouldn't want to remove it from fans, but it's not unusual to diversify how many places you offer a game. It also brings in more funding.
The biggest challenge with that is when I did constant updates. That's when it wasn't really feasible. In the future, if created, TTEOTS' sequel will probably just come out all at once on multiple platforms, with the exception of pre-order beta access on PC.