1 year of HoS! (And a personal update)

Hey everyone,

Today marks something really special!

Exactly a year ago I've put out the first demo version of HoS. Never did I imagine that today thousands of you would be enjoying my creation!
That’s one full year of development, storytelling, characters, systems, bugs and wanks 😳.

Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of what this project has become.
What started as a vision has grown into a game and a community that now lives and breathes, thanks in large part to every one of you!

Your support, feedback, encouragement, and excitement have kept me going more than you might realize.

A personal update

For more than 12 months now, I've been pouring everything I have into HoS, often at the cost of sleep, social life, and, more recently, even my health.

I tried to push through it, but I saw first hand that v0.20 has suffered from it. Fatigue has left me questioning every decision I make, every creative choice, it all turned into a big blur resulting into a delay, and what I consider to be a subpar update.

This fatigue isn't the kind that goes away with a night of rest. Mentally, physically, I'm just burnt out.
Continuing to push through without pause would only lead to diminishing quality and eventually, jeopardize the future of HoS altogether.

What this boils down to is:

• I am taking a short break of around 10 days to both recharge, and recalibrate my approach in delivering future updates

• I'll still be around working on low mental-fatigue tasks, as well as staying in touch with the community

• Normal development resumes right after the break, with v0.21 releasing in early September, and future updates about every 6 weeks after
  (More about v0.21 in my recent Dev Notes #2 post on Discord)

My promise

I've always vowed to stay transparent with all of you, and I felt the need to be upfront about the current state of affairs.

This break isn’t a sign of things slowing down, it’s a necessary step to ensure they can continue at the quality and consistency you’ve come to expect.
Taking care of the project means taking care of the person behind it.

To everyone who's been here since day one, or just the last week, thank you for riding along this journey! You've shaped HoS into what it is today, and will continue to do so until it's finished.

I’ll be back soon, recharged and ready to push forward into the next chapter.
Until then, stay safe, stay cool! ❤️

— CutePercentage