Episode 5 Tease

What have we here?

Whose butt is that?

Whose foot is that?

JUST WHAT IS GOING ON!!

If it would be safe for you, would you consider giving me a retweet? I go into why your help would be so valuable toward the end of the post.

https://x.com/ypressgames/status/1849969926112518260

You can do Blue Sky also or instead:

https://bsky.app/profile/ypressgames.bsky.social/post/3l7et5xdjp42g 

The key art for Monster Ops has two principle artists. We have Sunkeytail, the lead artist for Oni Onsen, and ZionCiel, another artist who works for him. ZionCiel does most of the Monster Ops art as Sunkey is still finishing up Oni Onsen.

However, Sunkeytail decided to do the main CG for episode 5 since he was so ashamed that the art was 2 days late last time. I told him it was okay. We have a 10 day buffer to make sure we always deliver a new episode every month. The most important thing to me is that:

1. The artist doesn't get burnt out. (This is a HUGE problem with visual novels, and keeping up artist morale is extremely important)
2. The artist makes a high commercial rate and doesn't feel exploited. (The fact that we're not breaking even yet is MY problem, not theirs.)
3. The subscribers get an exceptional new episode of Monster Ops every month.

So I always tell Sunkey to tell ZionCiel that I'm happy, and not to stress. They're doing great work.

The thing is, Sunkeytail has an insane work ethic, and he is fiercely loyal to me. Two days late is just not acceptable to him, so he took matters into his own hands. He says he want me to be able to get a new episode out on the first of every month!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I have an AMAZING team. ;0;

Episode 5 is only one episode away from the Mid-Season Premiere!  THIS IS A BIG ONE! I commissioned over $1,500 just in new backgrounds for this epic international episode! We also have six new characters!  And...we have a VERY special guest making a cameo in Monster Ops from a different Y Press game! You will get to see them introduced episode 5. SERIOUSLY--I've pulled out all the stops!

I hope you'll stay with me for all the amazing stuff I have planned. I'm going for broke with Monster Ops, since it's success is so important for the future of Y Press Games. I know things get tight with money near the holidays, but if you could keep your commitment of $5 per month to me, it would help me so much.

We had a wave of cancellations that are keeping me up at night. I thought Episode 4 was pretty good--but I've been wrong before. It's hard to see the forest for the trees when you're neck-deep in development. Did people cancel because they were just waiting to see Wraith and Tide bonk, and now they got what they wanted? Or did they cancel due to holiday obligations? Or...was it just a bad episode? :( (Or piracy? Oh God I hope not. Message me if you've seen anything, please.)

I don't know. But I do know I've got a horrendous challenge if I want to keep our goal of 50 new subscribers a month. This is the absolute minimum amount of growth we need to keep Monster Ops going.

That's why I bug you to do that retweet above. Mentions on appropriate Discords, Reddits, Forums, or other social media you subscribe to would be super-helpful too. Just give this link: https://www.patreon.com/c/ypressgames

I'd love suggestions for Patreons I could swap recommendations with, or if you know of other places where I should be promoting. Just comment or message me!

Love you guys!! <3