Netorase Phone is 1 year old!

On April 24th, 2024, I released Netorase Phone version 0.1 on Itch.

At that time, I was in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend, in what was basically a dream job, but only a part-time one. I was working on a tactical RPG on Unity, and taking the train every week to go join my girlfriend for 3 days in her little town.

One week, I couldn't go and, feeling bored, did what I always did then: I made a prototype of a small game. I had tried doing a lot of genres like that: action games, A-RPGs, management games, platformers, etc...

That week, I had recently discovered CivitAI, and decided to make a visual novel prototype using AI-generated pictures. It was supposed to be a 3-4 days project, to have fun and learn a few things before going back to my main project. I had shared the first prototype of this project 2 months ago on various websites, and had received a whopping 15 downloads in that period!

On the 24th, I shared version 0.1 on Netorase Phone, talking about potential "future versions", convinced that I would go back to my main project on the next day.

I woke up to nearly 1000 downloads, quite a few positive comments, and even a few donations on Itch. My very first gains as a video games developer!

So I decided to keep working on it, releasing a new version every 3 or 4 days, until I had read enough comments suggesting a Patreon to actually open one. On May 2nd, I inaugurated it, and version 0.4 was the first one to release one week earlier for supporters.

Over the next weeks, I watched as the game and its Patreon grew in popularity. It went from giving me a bit of pocket money to, less than a month later, doubling my income. I had never expected so much success. I was extatic. At that time, a lot of things were changing in my job too.

4 months later, the Patreon was generating 4 times what my day job was earning me. And this day job had become, over the last weeks, something of a hellhole. I took the plunge, and handed my resignation.

Now, here we are, one year after that first version. I'm officially a professional, independent game developer. I'm living with my girlfriend in her small town, and I've never been happier. I'm basically living my dream.

All this text for a simple message: thank you to each one of you for this wonderful opportunity, and for your support. I hope I'll be able to keep giving you content you enjoy, and I hope this adventure will keep going.

I love you all, see you next year! 😁