22nd Mar 2020, 11:33 AM
Hiatus Announcement
Hey. So, My Delirium Alcazar is taking a break--at least a month, I expect, as that's about how long it takes for me to pump out an HTML5 game and hock it on various websites. I am taking this break for two major reasons:
1.) Money. I am extremely appreciative of everyone that donates to me on patreon; however, this is barely enough for me to survive on currently, and as you may have noticed things are getting a little weird in the world right now. I have huge anxiety, migraines, and bouts of depression and the number of people I'm indebted to is steadily increasing, which it turns out makes anxiety worse. I know, I was also surprised. I've been going hard on advertising hoping to bump up that patreon number, but uh advertising in 2020 fucking sucks. I will spare you a long winded rant about my frustrations in the business end of trying to make art business and instead go onto point number two,
2.) Mental health. And no, I don't mean the comic is having a negative impact on my mental health, I mean the other way around. Full disclosure, I think the last couple of pages kind of sucked. Ideas didn't land as well as I thought they would, a couple of effects I went for didn't shake out, shit felt too rushed for the gravity I was trying to convey and overall my writing has not been up to par. It's incredibly likely that when I return from break I will be deleting the entire possessed brochure subplot and acting like it never happened, starting fresh from "Plaire and Kate find a chest." I am that disappointed in my work, and I've honestly worked myself up pretty hard trying to think of a way to salvage it (I haven't succeeded).
Between politics, pandemics, and issues in my personal life I'm not giving MDA what it deserves and I guarantee it's because my head's fucked up right now. I'm going to give it a month, make some money, buy Animal Crossing, and return to working on this when I don't constantly feel like I'm going to explode.
Other points of note:
I'm just so fucking tired
1.) Money. I am extremely appreciative of everyone that donates to me on patreon; however, this is barely enough for me to survive on currently, and as you may have noticed things are getting a little weird in the world right now. I have huge anxiety, migraines, and bouts of depression and the number of people I'm indebted to is steadily increasing, which it turns out makes anxiety worse. I know, I was also surprised. I've been going hard on advertising hoping to bump up that patreon number, but uh advertising in 2020 fucking sucks. I will spare you a long winded rant about my frustrations in the business end of trying to make art business and instead go onto point number two,
2.) Mental health. And no, I don't mean the comic is having a negative impact on my mental health, I mean the other way around. Full disclosure, I think the last couple of pages kind of sucked. Ideas didn't land as well as I thought they would, a couple of effects I went for didn't shake out, shit felt too rushed for the gravity I was trying to convey and overall my writing has not been up to par. It's incredibly likely that when I return from break I will be deleting the entire possessed brochure subplot and acting like it never happened, starting fresh from "Plaire and Kate find a chest." I am that disappointed in my work, and I've honestly worked myself up pretty hard trying to think of a way to salvage it (I haven't succeeded).
Between politics, pandemics, and issues in my personal life I'm not giving MDA what it deserves and I guarantee it's because my head's fucked up right now. I'm going to give it a month, make some money, buy Animal Crossing, and return to working on this when I don't constantly feel like I'm going to explode.
Other points of note:
a.) If you're mad or want to bail from the patreon, I completely understand. I get it. It's cool.
b.) I will probably not be in the discord chat for the duration of the festivities. It's nothing anyone said or did, I have my own reasons related to the above.
c.) I will still be reading the comments on this page, and in fact am putting this hiatus message on its own special page specifically so comments about the hiatus won't hang around on any pages where actual shit happens, just in case I decide not to retcon an entire arc in progress (who even knows at this point, really)
d.) I'm sorry and I feel like shit about this. It's a horrible mistake and a month+ hiatus is not going to do any favors for a webcomic already struggling to grow its audience but the alternative is me writing increasingly dumber, more confusing bullshit as I slowly lose my mind so
y'know
damned if I do, etc
I'm just so fucking tired
Rate this comic:
average rating: 5
Personally, I'd also be quite cool with a more spaced-out update schedule if you need it after the break. Something like a Mon-Wed-Fri thing.
https://youtu.be/JmA0wmTBzeQ
Seriously though, you are entitled to do whatever you want with this comic. Stay safe, be smart, and do what makes you happy.
Wishing you the best and eagerly awaiting your comeback!
Take care of yourself, MM.
in the desperate hope of keeping people from leavingso I'm not just totally disappearing or anythingI'll still be here by the time you come back, so take as long as you need!
Good luck and stay safe out there.
There are a few points to consider since this is a collaborative effort: First and Foremost, everyone here is having fun pretty much every page regardless, full stop.
Next: People here get very involved with their theories and ideas and to an extent that's great. but 'collaborative' means that we don't get to railroad shit just because we talk a lot. Sometimes you just gotta say "lol no that's not remotely related."
Next: As it stands you are p. much forced to either update quickly or face a wall of well-meaning-but-intensive lists of comments.
That's gotta be exhausting. PLUS I have to imagine that when comparing your plans for the next page w/ all of those ideas it's gonna feel like yours aren't as good.
I guess what I'm saying is I'm pretty sure nobody's going to jump ship if you have to start imposing restrictions or pull the occasional "DM Fiat," for the sake of your mental health.
Any chance of Plaire getting a hold of this game and playing it to get some dream power?
and for what it's worth i enjoyed the last couple pages immensely but i understand not liking what you're doing
i know you can make it the way you want it to be!! we're all here for you!!!!!
Do what you think will help. And yes the cursed brochure was a bit out of nowhere, so getting rid of it makes sense.
I'll mostly agree with everything said so far on this page, so I only have one real thing to add: you come off as a guy who's a tad to hard on himself. Sometimes, you just need time. Don't neglect your R&R.
Stay healthy.
(I've actually come to like the fact that so many of them have ended, because I've liked all of them, and there are so many unique ideas and mechanics that I wouldn't have gotten to see if you were stuck in one comic.)
As for the retcon, I'm in favor, but that's because I think we, the choir, handled that encounter poorly, and I didn't like where it was going.
And rest assured that I'll continue to support you on Patreon as best I can, even if things are quiet for a month(s).
On a side note, if the priestess does end up getting retconned, in my mind it's going to be that she *did* entangle herself in the narrative but then saw we weren't a threat and so removed herself from the narrative as an apology. : P