First, I want to start this by saying a special thanks to all of the players here on Steam. As a solo dev, it is deeply flattering when something I've worked so diligently on is well received. This post will be a bit long, but I hope you stick with it. Full disclosure, this is a crowdfunding effort I've recently decided to start. I mention this now because I am a big believer of informed choice - however, I hope you'll stick around if only to learn more about the project's past and current direction.

The Early Days

As some of you may know, I am a solo developer. When I began Heavenly Peaks, my motivation was simple, "to make the sort of game that I wanted to play". Most adult games tend to be casual and leave something to be desired. I wanted to create something that would offer deeper, ongoing gameplay - and 'fun'. The results of this endeavor would be unpredictable in many ways, but I knew early on I'd have to put in a ton of work, simply because I don't have resources. From my past experiences I was able to determine early on that seeing this project through to its conclusion would most likely take some years and I've already committed to that. Starting off, I spoke with and hired an artist as it's the only skill I really lack in terms of game development. This artist was responsible for many of the early images of the project, which you can see here:

A few characters have full color drawings.
Unfortunately, things didn't last long. The artist quit indefinitely less than two months in with no explanation. This happened despite having met all of their requirements on pay-rates (even offering extra on the back end). As a result I was forced to make a decision that affects the project in a major way even now. As you can imagine, I was turned off to the idea of working with an artist after this experience for a few reason. I'd agreed to pay thousands of dollars out of my own pocket just to get the project off the ground and all I really needed was an artist to commit and produce work. The money I'd spent on what little art that was produced was now wasted. I figured I'd decided to try once more to hire another artist, but I needed more money - money I didn't have immediately. Around this time, I decided to look for potential investors when someone suggested that I purchase and use a 'certain program' to make the characters and renders featured in my project. This was mentioned after I explained my past experience w/ the artist. Their suggestion seemed like a godsend, as it would eliminate the need for hiring someone potentially unreliable and disrupting the project. I followed their suggestion and purchased the program - only to realize that my PC at the time was absolutely terrible - I couldn't even run the program. Those were the beginning of grueling, tough times, now that I look back on it. I rented a Shadow Virtual PC for around 30$ a month just to be able to create the characters I needed. Unfortunately, my internet back then was so terrible that it took me a LONG time to do any significant work. I spent days making less than an hour of content for the game around that time, and this continued for months. Now that I think about it, I pretty much only made it through those days with the help of my early supporters! All in all, I skipped more than a few meals, worked tireless hours each day, neglected my personal health to a dangerous degree - all in an effort to push the envelope. To better put things into context - there are 8,700+ hours in a year, of those hours we are generally awake for 1/2 of that time, roughly 4,380 hours. In a single year I spent 1,200 hours developing the game. This means that I spent 50% of my waking time on this project in one year's time. Looking back on it, it was a silly thing to do that, to date, hasn't paid off. And then.. Things got better (improved internet, workflow, saved for a new PC, 3 meals a day instead of 1 peanut butter sandwich, etc). As a result, I met a key project goal early - start Chapter 1 of the game. I'd now arrived at a point where I needed significant funding, to the tune of thousands of dollars - enter Steam.

Steam Days

The main issue with niche projects (that is, non casual games) is that they don't generally receive the same level of financial support as casual projects. This is something I learned many years ago, and also something that large companies practice religiously. In fact, it's why they "dumb down" games - in an effort to appeal to more people and make more money. I knew that when (if) it ever caught on, it would be in it's later years of development. I accepted this and basically hoped that by the point I needed to really fund a new art direction, that the game would have proper support. But! I was ahead of schedule on production, and as a result, behind on funding to make my plans a reality. I started looking into different methods for funding. I tried many things in that time, ads, social media growth and many other things behind the scenes. I found success, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the project's financial requirements. I either needed a larger sum of consistent monthly support or one lump sum of 30,000$. None of these endeavors panned out. I decided to take a chance and submit to Steam. My hope was that placing the game here would provide a larger audience and, as a result better fund the project's future development. Initially things looked good. Early interest trended towards this being a great solution and, if even 20% of the people interested in the project had purchased it - I would have generated the 30,000$ needed to fund the project for the remainder of it's development. For the first time in a while, I was excited - truly hopeful. I would no longer have to develop with restrictions and shackles. I allowed myself to look forward to a better future. But...there was an unseen problem. The program I purchased to make characters for the game so long ago. As it turns out, there's a clause in their Terms of Service which essentially states that any renders created with their product "belong to them". Another clause states that any renders created with their software aren't to be sold commercially. As a result, I wasn't able to offer the game for sale on Steam. I could only rely on donations until such a time that I change out all of the art. This is the reason why the public version is only available here, while the latest is available elsewhere, there is no other reason. For the past few months I've made plans about what I would do in case things didn't pan out - but those plans always included some portion of project funding from Steam sales. I'm now facing the prospect of moving back into a grueling development cycle, one with bigger financial requirements , more work - and still not enough funding. However, there's another reason why we're having this convo : I don't want to assume the worst about people. I don't want to assume that artists will flake, or that players by default won't support the things they like or love. I don't want to be the type of person who is conditioned and obsessed with the road of the 'lone wolf'. That's the direction I've trended towards in the past year, and even now I can feel it's unmistakable pull. If this fails or falls upon deaf ears, so be it. However, it's important for me to try this, regardless of the results. I've walked the road of tribulation for quite some time and, as bleak, uncomfortable and lonely as it is -I won't hesitate to do it again if need be. I have a vision that I feel will ultimately be worth all of the effort. But I've seen a few comments, "those comments". And, if I have to be honest - they aren't too good to read. Just because I have a Patreon page, it doesn't mean that I'm well funded. I thank the 108 stars of destiny for all of the support, financial or otherwise that you all bestow. But the the reality is, the Patreon page only generates just over 400$ a month after nearly 2 straight years of constant development. I do more consistent work than whole teams of game developers. By comparison with the amount of work I do vs pay ratio equals up to 4 cents.. an hour. Yes, clearly a grand scheme to rake in the big bucks! Personal rant aside - that's the most support this project has ever had since it's inception. Itch.io contributions also help - but currently the project does not have enough support to sustain itself properly. At this rate, I'll be forced to , once again, make some drastic choices - and while current supporters of the game have assured me they don't mind the wait, I feel I owe it to myself and them to try everything I can possibly do before taking drastic measures. As such, I've created a crowdfunding campaign, hopefully to solve this issue once and for all if things go well. With proper support things like this become possible:
Here's a full list of my intended improvements for the project, with an estimated cost of 30,000$ to procure everything needed for the remainder of the project's development. However, I'm only aiming for half that amount at 15,000$.

• Custom music and sound effects. (I've already started some of this process.)
• New outfits that better reflect ancient Chinese apparel. (This is also in the works.)
• 2D art assets to revamp user interface and other aspects of the game. (Need to hire artists for this.)
• Support for post image processing which ensures that images in the game look better aesthetically. (Need to purchase or subscribe to something akin to Adobe After Effects for this.)
• New environmental assets that reflect the eastern fantasy theme of the project. (Needed 3D models and environmental props / buildings etc.)
• New character models (enemies).
• Secondary programmer (Speeds up backend development.)
• Replace the 3D art for Heavenly Peaks and release a full version on Steam.( This was something I always planned on doing once the project could support itself better.)

If you've read this far - I just have two remaining questions - Did you enjoy the current version of the project and can you see it's potential? Do you believe this eastern fantasy adventure could be better with proper resources? If you've answered yes to either of those questions then consider donating to Heavenly Peaks' funding - no matter how large or small the amount. My hope is that together we can achieve a better version of Heavenly Peaks. Thanks for taking the time to read, if you've come this far. I'll always keep working on my end, but I hope to see you on the Immortal Mountain. P.S. You can use any of the links below to contribute to the project if you so choose. Heavenly Peaks Crowd Funding Page Buy Me A Coffee Patreon - My Big 'Little' Brother