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Thanks so much for your words. I really appreciate it. Yeah, addiction really is terrible. This isn't the first and unfortunately, will probably not be the last friend I lose this way. I try not to blame myself for too much of the things that are out of my control, but I think we all find ourselves beating ourselves up unnecessarily from time to time, so thanks for saying that in particular. And, yes, sometimes you just have to let go of the arguments. Depending on the disagreement, being the bigger person, taking the high road and letting the other person "win" if you need to can help you both be happier in the long run (at least I think so).

As far as my dad goes, it was just his time. Thankfully it was quick and painless. 

But yeah...I've kinda let some of this pain and anger seep into my stories for better or for worse.

Thanks for playing my games. I'm glad you're enjoying them. Working on the first half of the final scene of Ch4 right now!

Hey, yeah, I remember our conversation.

Creating these stories has been awesome. I wish it was something I could do for an actual job, but that's not looking too likely. I'm kinda hoping I can learn enough about writing through creating these games to maybe write a book someday. That'd be cool. Let me know when your game is done. I'd like to check it out.

Thanks! Yeah, that ending was crazy. And yes, Eve is a cutie, for sure. I hope everyone likes what I'm doing with chapter 4!

Thanks for understanding. Yes, it is just me doing all of it. Thankfully I have some good people over on my Discord telling me when I need to fix stuff. That said, it definitely makes me feel like a dumb-dumb when I screw up the fix that was meant to fix a fix. ;P Oh, well. No biggie. Oh, and thanks for the support! I truly appreciate it!

Thanks! I'm glad you're liking everything so far.

As far as learning game development goes? This is it. This is me learning. If you look back at "Christmas Eve", you'll notice a pretty big difference in image quality, coding, animations, and writing as opposed to NYD. I have always enjoyed reading and I have a knack for telling stories. I also love video games. 

I was a CAD design engineer in a past life, so I applied some of those skills to working with DAZ Studio to create the images. The rest has been a series of trial and error, forums, videos and this and other communities giving me advice on how to write Ren'Py code, make better images, etc.

It's been hard work, but I also find it fun. If you're interested in trying it out, download DAZ and Ren'Py (both are free), and I'll give you what advice I can.

Thanks! I'm glad to hear you're liking things so far! Chapter 3 is shaping up nicely (or at least I think so), so I hope you like where I take things.

I really want to do a gallery/scene replay options, but the coding is beyond my current skill level (which is pretty weak). I'll get there eventually!

You're kind of right, but it was meant to convey that: 

Spoiler:

keeping Mia there against HER will could possibly lead to a kidnapping charge, not Kaylee. Kaylee is going with Mia voluntarily because of her sense of duty as Mia's daughter. The MC says "You don't have to go", and Kaylee responds, "Yes I do. This time I do."

If that bit was confusing to the reader, I apologize, but that is what I meant to get across.

I appreciate the feedback in any case. I'll read through that part again and see if I can think of a better way to phrase things. Maybe tweak it when I release ch. 3.

BtW, I tried using Butler a while back and couldn't figure it out. I'll try again because I really would prefer to host the files directly on itch. I've sent them messages requesting more space for my games and I never get a response. Thank you for trying to help though. I truly do appreciate it.

I'll look into it.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I've tried different file formats and compressions and can't get it below the 1GB limit without sacrificing tons of visual quality. If anyone knows how to and can help/teach me, I'd really appreciate it.

Yep! Chapter 1 is anyway. Here you go. Thanks for playing!

When i try it i get the choice: open in Mega App or Open in Browser. Choose open in browser and you shouldn't have any problems.

Hey! You shouldn't need to sign up with Mega just to download. It should do a "pre-download" and then actually download the file really quickly once it reaches 100%. I dunno why it works this way, it just does.  I hope this helps!

Unfortunately, I don't have the skills or the know-how to port it to Android. I wish I did. I've looked into it and it's pretty complicated (at least for me). I'm sure there will be someone who does it for all of us soon. Sorry it wasn't me!

There's no reason to worry about that. New Year's Day(e) is a continuation of the Christmas Eve story. It will pick up right where Christmas Eve left off. The main difference will be that New Year's Day(e) will focus on Dayton more than Eve. That being said, Eve will still be in this story quite a bit, as well as Kaylee and Becky. You will also meet some new characters and see how they influence the story. 

Thanks for your commitment to Christmas Eve, though. It was a lot of fun to create, but the fun has just begun!

~ Jonesy

Well, happy birthday in advance! Yes, Dayton is a bit different from Eve in personality for sure. While still a sweetheart, she can quickly become a handful. She's a very loyal friend, daughter, and sister, but she's not too big on patience or tolerance. In short, she's a little bit of a hot-head. Most people would call her a firecracker (erhem...pun intended?).

As far as availability and pricing, I think I will be offering this chapter to my Patreon subscribers a bit early, but I will offer it here on Itch with the same optional donation that I have set up for Christmas Eve. I am still learning this craft and this is a labor of love at this point. Maybe once I've become more established as a creator I'll venture into the more complex world of cross-platform marketing and release dates. Seems like a lot of unneeded stress right now.

I'm very excited to see how the world receives this next chapter. I love it, but sometimes that isn't an indication that others will. Either way, I'm not too worried. I do this for myself first. If others happen to like it, then that's awesome. If not, that's OK too.

Thanks again for all your enthusiasm and positive support!

Hey, thanks for the positive feedback! You know, I thought about doing the same thing, kind of like "Star Wars: A New Hope", "The Empire Strikes Back", etc., but for whatever reason decided against it. Maybe I'll rename it in the future and make it a whole series with different "seasons" or "volumes". 
Anyway, thanks again. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Chapter 1 of NYD is almost done!

No worries! People like what they like. I have been the fanboy on many occasions as well. Thanks again for all of your enthusiasm, support, and positive feedback. It really does help to recharge my determination to keep creating. Yours and the other positive messages I have received are always deeply appreciated. Sorry for not responding sooner, but I've been busy working on NYD all weekend! 

Thanks again!

I know! I feel bad for her, too! She's such a sweetheart and really deserves to be happy. I'll see what I can do to fix things in the next story in this series.

Yeah, there is a lot I have done and am in the process of doing to kind of clean up/polish certain scenes and dialogue throughout the previous chapters as well. As much as I hate to say it, it may take a little longer than I want it to, but the payoff should be better overall for everyone. 

Thanks to you and everyone else reading this for your patience. It won't be too much longer, I promise.

Hey Itchanon,

Thanks for all the input. I really appreciate it! I'm so glad to hear you liked the story and I hope that you like what I have in store for you in chapter 4.

As you already know, this is my first attempt at this type of project. I have come to see this as 2 separate stories. One being the obvious story called "Christmas Eve", and the other, more subtle story, is the one about myself progressing as a developer. I started this in August and already I am looking back at chapter 1 and thinking, "Man, I made some hits, but I definitely missed the mark a few times, too." I personally like that. It's like an accidental journal. 

Anyway, I am still working hard, but I will not be able to meet my target release date of 2/14. I blame it on my characters. They keep hijacking the story and making me write/render/code more scenes! I'm getting to the last scene as of this morning. Hopefully I'm going to have it done by this coming weekend, but we'll see.

Thanks again for all the support. I hope to hear from you soon!

-Jonesy

It's not currently on my radar, but I like to keep my options open.

Hey Falauren! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I want you to know I am definitely going through the whole story a few times and fixing any typos I can find before releasing chapter 4. I understand how distracting they can be. 

Textbox opacity slider has been added!

Hey, thanks for checking out the game. I hope you've enjoyed it so far. While I can't make any promises, I don't currently have any plans for pregnancy content and none of my current female characters are lesbians. That said, they may have messed around with each other from time to time just for fun. Generally, I try to let my characters dictate what they want to do and I try to think about what would seem at least somewhat natural or realistic as far as what I imagine their personalities to be. I feel that by doing it this way, the story writes itself. Will we meet a lesbian or pregnant character in the future? Maybe. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Thanks for the positive feedback, I really appreciate it. I have some ideas rolling around of a more robust story after I "hone my skills" with this one. I hope you like what I have in store for you!

Thank you so much for all the praise! I am not the type of person that accepts praise very well, but it does mean a lot to me, so thanks. I also really appreciate the donation. That will definitely help purchase more goodies for upcoming chapters/projects (this stuff gets expensive quick!). 

I really have tried my best to make the conversations feel natural and to convey through dialog, thoughts, and actions how much the characters truly love each other outside of the naughty stuff they get into. I'm happy to hear that I succeeded with that on at least some level.

I haven't written the script out properly for chapter 4 just yet, but I have a collection of ideas and directions I want to explore. At this point though, it seems like the characters are calling the shots. I'm just  going to start rendering and writing and see where they lead me. I'm sure wherever they take us, it will be a fun time that will also get you right in the feels. Until then, be safe!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

-Jonsey

Thanks so much for the encouragement! Hopefully I get everything done by Christmas Eve. Maybe it will be a chapter 3 part 1 and part 2 situation. We'll see.

Sorry about that. Thanks for letting me know. I'll try to get it ported to Android soon. In the meantime, I fixed the icon.

You and I think a lot alike! ;P

Sorry! I'll have that up soon. Still getting all that set up. Thanks!

Hey, thanks for the support!  I tried to make the style of the banter back and forth as close as possible to real conversations I've had or overheard. I'm rendering my butt off right now. My goal is to have chapter 2 done by the middle to late November, but we'll see. I'll try to keep everyone up to date in the Dev Log. Thanks again!

Please feel free to leave me some feedback. I'd love to know what you think of the story so far.