dronaroid - Tumblr blog

[dronaroid]

Hey, I hate doing this but tax stuff hit me pretty hard this year. If you like my work consider leaving a tip.

[dronaroid]

HEARTRENDER is included as an upcoming release in Steam's FPSfest. Don't forget to wishlist it and get ready for a rollercoaster of an immersive sim Early Access (also an ambitious demo later this year)!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2457640/HEARTRENDER/

[dronaroid]

thinking about Her

[dronaroid]

remember to cover your mouth when you cough!

this lil alien with "lime" disease was designed for BLANKSWORD by @kitet-frogspond, and pixelled/animated by me.

Support development of BLANKSWORD here!

[dronaroid]

hey. i (disabled trans femme person) need urgent help escaping abuse.

i come to you with some very bad news and a long story, i guess. it's a story of financial abuse and years and year of my life in vain.

snippets of this were things ive talked about before, but theyve been intensifying recently to a point that i can't ignore them anymore. they dont blend into the background anymore. figurateively, im being poisoned, and im feeling it.

look below the cut for further details of what's happening. i wish i could've been more concise, but the ongoing situation is convoluted and its hard to wrap my whole head around it sometimes.

ive had my patreon for around 7 years, now. since the beginning, i wanted it to become sizable and to earn me a living eventually; it never did.

ive also released several games, which, again, didnt earn me a living. ive done a lot of work on projects under nda, which didnt earn me a living either.

none of it came together.

as a result of this, i have spent that past while being strongly supported through donations from people like you on tumblr and discord (thank you ;;) and... from my parents.

the latter is the crux of this. their control over my finances lends them a very strong influence over what i am allowed to do and what im not allowed to do in my life.

as a result of this, they have essentially kept me from pursuing the jobs and the life ive wanted to pursue for the past 7 years. anything i was able to come up with wasn't good enough. game development is an "expensive hobby". "an outcrys" nomination was a "costly adventure that didn't retain value". my art is "sad and depressing, no one wants to see it". video games are "not real, you need a second foot to stand on".

so ive been toiling away, trying to please their whims of what im "supposed to be doing", using precious time i couldve used entering the industry i actually wanted to enter learning skills i didnt want for jobs i didnt want, applying and being denied. for a brief while, between 2020 and 2023, i was allowed to do my game development thing, finally, because of covid and such. that grace period is now over.

they have also been strongly controlling my bodily autonomy as it relates to choices im allowed to make without having to suffer emotional damage from them, which has been paranoia-inducing to say the least.

at this moment, i am at a crossroads.

either, i take on a job that pays whatever my parents think is enough for a living and is the "right kind of job" (with my lack of education outside of artistic fields: close to impossible); or i find a well-paying high-profile job in the video game industry (with my qualifications and the state of the industry: close to impossible); or i enter my country's disability pay system.

i have a disability diagnosis, so this would be within reach. it would also be a good deal more money than my parents are keeping me drowning with. to succeed with my application however, id need to:

close my patreon

stop developing games (not enough resources, mental or financial)

be at the whims of this country's political situation and how it relates to welfare, which is in sharp decline

im asking you all for help choosing none of the above.

i want to be free from their financial influence. i want to be able to instantly send them back their "alimony" and know that they can no longer direct my life according to any whim they may have. i want more time to be allowed to stand on my own two feet without being emotionally hurt and financially controlled - because it is nothing short of killing me.

i've started goal on ko-fi - 6000 $. i need a buffer like that in order to be able to have a bargaining chip in this arrangement, at least for half a year.

i need that money to be able to refuse the money my parents only use to have power over me and my life choices, to be able to consistently emotionally harm me and my prospects to become independent in the way i want to.

thank you for reading. even just talking about this makes me feel a little better. please help, and donate if you are able.

[dronaroid]

Because there seems to be a demand, I just went and compiled over four minutes of tether swinging in HEARTRENDER, because this is a platformer and you can do things like that. Enjoy!

[dronaroid]

At the peak of Ground Minus lies the museum, an uncanny, impossibly massive structure that simply... is. Casting no shadows and lit by its own beautiful marble, its true purpose is unknown. You'll be able to enter it, of course.

Between missions in HEARTRENDER, you may spend time exploring Ground Minus, a recently-evacuated mining town hub with a long history and a few other things, some of which might be better left alone. Explore your surroundings, practice mobility with the tether, piece together past events, scavenge for curiosities and much more. You can even jump onto the next mission right away, if you want. The pacing is entirely up to you.

[dronaroid]

Life persists, even when surrounded by a mysterious and corrosive red ocean. In the Null, people get together to make small island towns to survive their circumstances. Carving small pieces of paradise, they all have unique stories and appearances.

The sandswept, windy town of Lámpara, neighboring the massive Bretish Library, is one such example. Formerly a place famed for its work with clay and expeditions into the mysterious nearby library, an evacuation notice due to a certain maestra has reduced it to a hastily-emptied ghost town.

It is a place with its humble share of advanced technology, mainly being elevators, announcement speakers and hologram billboards given out by the BSR. Anything that makes life in the Null either easier or more pleasant is very welcome.

Towns in HEARTRENDER are a major recurring component of exploration. They're where you find a fair share of resources and information for the harder parts of your heists. If you can survive any resistance likely to be found in them, that is.

[dronaroid]

In HEARTRENDER, all weapons you carry are summoned on the spot, built out of Eris and her obsidian flesh. First among them is the Overture: A powerful, accurate and elegant piece that's a perfect fit for a maestra like yourself... with a few secrets to be shown later.

HEARTRENDER has dozens of different pieces of equipment called "petals". They fall under three categories: Guns (self-explanatory), casts (anything that is thrown out or otherwise produced like grenades and discs of light) and oddities (miscellaneous powers that range from utilities like invisibility to showstoppers like freezing time and harnessing volcanic might). Rather than deciding on a "build" and sticking to a methodology for the rest of the game, you'll learn to flow between whatever's available and, against all odds, make it work.

[dronaroid]

really good HEARTRENDER news: without ANY major work on optimization, the game already runs nearly decently on a modern low-end laptop's integrated. this is an amazing starting point to making HEARTRENDER a game accessible to as many people and setups as possible at native resolution and at least a solid 60 FPS.

i am of the strong belief that games should try their absolute best to be playable on as many system specs as possible. if someone wants what you have to offer, they should be able to jump in, at least on a technical level. like many others, i spent most of my life with a barely-functional toaster. i am privileged to have a far stronger computer now, but i could never assume that's the average. i'm a sympathizer to the cause of toaster computers everywhere. OPTIMIZE YOUR GAMES!!

[dronaroid]

helloooo gamers, incredibly happy to announce that HEARTRENDER has SURPASSED 2000 STEAM WISHLISTS!! it's a great milestone that comes with the holiday gift of a 3D render of our BELOVED MAESTRA + news on the long-awaited demo release!

after many delays in the interest of polish and health, the HEARTRENDER demo is expected (no promises) to hit around halfway through 2024! it is slated to be a hefty, polished showcase of the null's unique brand of science-fantasy sandbox chaos.

as always, i deeply thank you for your support. HEARTRENDER is a small, independent, budgetless, one-person passion project. i recently knocked down MANY obstacles to keep going and have done things that exceed even my original expectations. oh, if you knew what's ahead. to think that so many people want in on what i'm doing doesn't quite feel real yet. you all make my soul sing. happy holidays!!

(also, if you haven't wishlisted yet and wish to help - because trust me, the algorithm LOVES a good wishlist - remember to do so at HEARTRENDER's steam page!!)

[dronaroid]

i gotta use tumblr more often

[dronaroid]

I finally got around to doing a model for the Cactus Cat I did a while back

[dronaroid]

ENORMOUS BLANKSWORD progress update on my Patreon today!

The little gif of the new logo and palette work is just the start.

I hope you enjoy the read, it was an enormous joy to write this one >:)

[dronaroid]

There Swings A Skull: Grim Tidings, the full version of There Swings A Skull, is on sale again! Grab it if you haven't played the middle-aged gay marriage experience (feat. Anatoli and Pyotr Dragavei) yet!!

[dronaroid]

Happy Halloween!

[dronaroid]

entire life falling apart into a million pieces 100% speedrun