Update on Old Builds, leaks and more!

Hello there. Today I have some news, explanations, and other things to talk to you all.

I'm going to try to divide this into different topics, so here we go:

Old Builds Deleted:

So, this month’s is a sad one for me. This is not the first time I have had to delete old builds, but it’s the first I have to do it because of wide-scale leaks. Patreon system is not perfect, that’s the truth. And there are not a lot of other systems like Patreon that would deliver the money to my PayPal account here in Brazil where I live, so I’m stuck with this.

So, given this situation of leaks, the old builds were deleted. I don't know if deleting them here will eventually update the places where they've leaked or not, but it will prevent any new places that do the leaking system from having them. Now with the password system, even if we have leaks, only a good cracker would be able to unlock the files, To this day I was never able to unlock a .zip file protected by a password that I didn't know what it was.

The Password System:

It's not the most elegant system to be had I'll admit. And I know bigger creators that make thousands of dollars every month don't do this. To them, the leaks won't matter. But to smaller creators, who make just a few hundred dollars a month, the leaks are devastating. So, even if it means micro-managing every new patron that arrives, giving them the specific password for the last released build will consume a lot of time, and probably make some of you wait one or two days to get the passwords since I'm mostly working on the game and I check Patreon once every two days or so,  that's a sacrifice that needs to be done.

To all of my new patrons who already had to wait eight hours until I finally was able to see your message and deliver the password. I'm sorry. Know that sadly this is a necessary measure. Once this game reaches a consistent level of income, to a point where leaks won't matter anymore, then I'll stop doing it. After all, doing the password for 38-40 patrons is doable. Doing it for 200-300 patrons, with lots of them coming in after the build is released would be insanely difficult and tiring. If we ever get to a point where managing the Password system alone is not worth it anymore, then I will stop doing it. But for now, and for the foreseeable future, that's how we're gonna roll here.

The case of the leaks:

Leaks always happen. There's always someone who wants to show the game to a friend and share the file with them, and that eventually ends in some sketchy website full of malware. I never actually cared for that, after all, they happen. However, a few years ago, a website was created with the sole purpose of using a Patron Login Key to make a hard copy of the entire page of that website. All of it. Every single post that is posted every single comment, discussion, files. Everything.

That, in itself, is a problem, but I still have you guys here, constantly supporting me, so for a while, I just decided to believe my page wasn't on one of those websites. I actually never knew what websites those were, since I don't like piracy. However, a close friend came to me with a link recently and what I saw there hurt me a lot.

The entire Patreon Page was there, up to Build 0.47. Available to everyone who wants to go there and download it. But what was worse than that? The page had 170+ people who were "Favouriting" or "Bookmarking" it to check constantly.

I don't think I need to come here and ask you guys to NOT put the page there, but since it wasn't super recent, Build  0.47 is at least 4 months old, which means none of my recurrent patrons do it. Instead, probably one of the less frequent patrons comes here every few months, pledges whatever they want, and uploads the page on those websites.

But the truth is, 170+ people preferred to bookmark my page on a website made to leak other creators' content, but they don't even consider coming here and supporting the project as a Tier 1 patron. 170 people supporting me as a Tier 1 would give me more than enough to buy at least two pieces of artwork for this game monthly or pay a good musician for the game's theme and all that. Seeing how many people preferred to resort to piracy instead of supporting a small project like this, which is already getting to four years now, hurt me a lot. Not only that but frankly, that many people as Tier 1 patrons would ensure that I could start the new project I've been brewing for years now too.

And finally: Allowing my Builds to be uploaded to these websites effortlessly is an offense to all of you who've been supporting my project for so many years, It's thanks to you guys, that I'm able to work on this game. The spare that is left after I pay my bills is not a lot, so it takes a very long time for me to save it to buy more art. Still, you all are here, supporting me, giving me feedback, and lending me a bit of your own salaries to help this project happen. Whenever I think that, all of the pain and sadness of knowing the overwhelming number of people resorting to these sketchy websites goes away. So thank you guys. You are incredible. It's thanks to you all that I have a job that I love, and I can't thank you enough.

The Decisions:

Because of all those factors, I decided to put the password system in place. For now, the password system covers the Tier 2 content and Tier 3 content. Each file has a different password, and sadly, new patrons will have to ask for the password OR they will receive it once I see the notifications when I check for new patrons that arrived after the previous builds or posts release. If there's any content they want to access and they can't, all they have to do is ask for the passwords and I will provide the respective passwords. I won't be giving Old builds passwords, however, but for artwork releases, I will be giving them if they ask for that.

The Repercussions:

I have no idea if deleting older build posts will update those websites once someone decides to come here and upload the page there. And it's impossible for me to know who's doing it, and Patreon does not care for creating a system that protects the content better. However, I do know that by deleting all builds, and only letting the password-protected ones, even if someone uploads the page now, these people who are resorting to those sketchy places won't be able to access the files. Meaning, that only you guys, who are here supporting me will be able to access them, which is as it should be after all. You pay money for this project to happen, you deserve to have exclusive access to the content.

However, the leaks also create this whole situation where sometimes you will have to wait a few hours or a day to receive the password for the file. And I'm so sorry for that. Please be patient, I promise that as soon as I grab my phone and I see the Patreon notification of you arriving here I will come ASAP to give you the passwords even if you don't ask for them, OK?

What about the next build?

Build 0.51.0.35 was the first protected build, and from now on, every single build will stay on Patreon. I did a lot of tests and even now I am unable to use any software to unlock any zipped files that are protected by a password that I do not have. So I believe the common people won't be able to access those files, they will stay here, However, the password for older builds won't be given to new patrons, only the current build. I won't be micro-managing Patreon's posts deleting every single build, I really don't want to be erasing the history of this page, and of this game because of people who don't want to help us.

Build 0.52.0.35 will have a very good update. I'm currently working on Johan's first route. His first day is twice as long as Karnal's and Wagner's, and since his first few routes don't have enough points for Affinity routes yet (Affinity routes are the routes you enter when you answer a good answer and have enough points to get a better result than the regular result, usually each route has three Affinity routes per answer-set) I will be actually writing two main routes instead of only one. The 1stAct-Part1 and 1stAct-Part2. Both acts will count with F, B, A, and S type of answers, differently from Wagner and Karnal which only started having S-type answers on Day 2. So instead of delivering 8 routes, you guys will have a total of 10 routes this month.

Not only that, but since Johan is an original character, his personality will be more complex than the other guys, and every single answer with him for the first day will have more text to compensate for the fact that for now, there are no Affinity routes.

Johan's also the only character where the Affinity routes will start on the 1st day instead of the 2nd. Meaning by the 3rd Act, if you have enough affinity points you will be able to see better text. You will know after the third act when you get to an affinity route or not, because the more affinity you have with a character, the more open he is with you and the less distant he feels.

So far I'm very happy with what I've written for him and I'll keep on doing it, making him a more three-dimensional character as you play his route. He's also a very handsome raccoon. So that's a win, right?

What about Tier 4 Content?

Tier 4 patrons have access to a lot of artwork and book versions of the game's story. These files are protected by Telegrams group's policies and the ebooks are also protected by password, so they're totally outside this website. Meaning they are safer too.

People who pay for Tier 4 essentially want to just give extra help to me (which is a lot actually), and they also want an easier place to see the artwork, Telegram allows that as it has a gallery system. The Book version of Just Friends is a bit different than the game, but the whole story is the same, It's just a small thank-you gift I give those patrons for supporting me with more money than they need to, and it's a cool little thing they can add to their E-readers to read, and have a Tiger, a Dog or a Raccoon as a wallpaper for their E-readers. If you're curious you can check the picture below how the ebook looks on my Kindle.

So yeah, it's a little thing, quite hard to make by the way, but it's worth it. And I hope they enjoy it.

Final Considerations:

It took me a long time to write this post. I thought a lot if it was worth it to explain the whole situation, but I decided you guys deserved to truly and fully understand the extent of the leaks so far. I think this system will work for now, and if we ever get to a point where Just Friends and other Projects here are receiving more than 150+ people backing it up, leaks won't be as problematic as before. If it ever comes to a point where managing the password system will become a hassle, taking way too much time away from the game then I will suspend it. But for now, it's the best way to respect the help you guys give me.

Thank you all for your support. Thank you all for staying with me, and thank you all for your patience and love. It means the world to me.

For now, please enjoy the current build.

Thank you all for your time. See you all soon.

If you ended here by unofficial channels:

If you're reading this from one of those sketchy websites, consider supporting the project. I won't be here screaming at you, but it does take away all of the strength we as creators have (and it almost made me want to stop creating this game), when we make so little money, barely enough to survive even, when we see there are more people wanting to grab what we do for "free", instead of supporting us. It's thanks to the people who are here supporting me and giving me their time and their hard work money to make this project a reality that I haven't given up yet.

The project already has a free demo that is updated every six months here: Just Friends - Visual Novel by yekkusu (itch.io)

So please, go there instead.