It’s been almost six months since we released Regency Love, and to be completely honest, we have been absolutely floored by its reception and the feedback we’ve been continually receiving. For Jenny, Melody, and myself, it is incredibly humbling and heartening that so many of you have found such delight in a game we decided to make three years ago, a project we decided to take on due to our love and passion for story-telling.
When we released Regency Love last December, our main aim was simply to share with the world the little bit of Darlington and its people that we’d shaped and come to love. At that time, we had a few tentative plans on expanding Regency Love, but nothing was set in stone—and, to be honest, we hadn’t really expected so many people to enjoy our game so much and to ask for more.
We really, really want to give you that “more”, but right now, the situation is a little complicated. To begin, we’re all currently working on this part-time. For those who are interested, I’ve included a financial explanation below of what “part-time” means and entails. But for those who just want to know the implications, it is simply this: we are going to update very rarely, but when we do, there will be quite a bit of new content included. The alternative is to release many small updates that contain an extra scene or two, but we figured that wouldn’t be much fun for you as the player, and so we’ve opted for chunky updates instead.
So, what can you expect in the next update? Here’s a little teaser:
- Yup, there will be a new bachelor, whose identity we’ll be revealing in the coming months!
- Remember the “Bickering Couple” consisting of Miss Ingram and Mr Winslow? They have their own side story!
- More interactions with Mr Digby
- More (one-sided) conversations with Mrs Norris (and you might find out a little bit about her past, too)
- More from Lord Fat Cat
- New trivia and hangman questions
- A few other side plots and extra conversations
And when might you expect this update to be released?
Unfortunately, we can’t give you any definite dates at the moment, primarily because, as I’ve said, we’re all working on this part-time at the moment. So far, our rough estimate is near the end of the year, so possibly around December. I know this probably seems like aaaaaaaages and you probably just want more Regency Love shinies nooooooow, but as much as we’d love to spend all our time creating new material for the game, it’s just not feasible for us at the moment. But we do want to assure you that there will be an update which includes all the aforementioned goodies, and we are working on it at the moment, but it’ll just take a little longer than we’d like.
Now, for an explanation of our financial situation, and why we’ve been unable to release any substantial updates since the game’s original release (apart from the bug-related update in January, because bugs need to be squashed ASAP!).
I’ve already mentioned that we’re working on Regency Love on a part-time basis, but that’s actually untrue—it’ll be more accurate to say that we’re working on this in our free time. All three of us have jobs, and are actually working both full-time and part-time, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for Regency Love! And as much as we’d love to shuffle around our schedules and spend more time on the game, we kinda need to keep up with our day jobs so we can feed ourselves, and so we can continue to fund Regency Love (which wasn’t cheap to make, and is continuing to be not-cheap to continue making!).
What do I mean by “not cheap”? Well, the original game cost us over $150,000 to make between April 2011 and December 2013. This is an exceedingly generous calculation, based on the (under-estimated numbers) that Melody (programmer extraordinaire) worked 40 hours a week, and Jenny (artist of awesomeness) and I (writer of everything) worked 20 hours a week. We have also based this calculation on the entry-level fees of $20/hour, which, again, is a severe under-estimation (because we really don’t want to know how much money we’ve actually lost by making something we’ve done out of love). So, according to these numbers, the 94 weeks we spent developing Regency Love cost us $150,400.
These numbers don’t include hours spent on admin, any of our overtime and going the extra mile and so on, or any opportunity costs (for example, the hourly rate of my day job is $60-70). The three of us don’t really want to think about these numbers too much, for obvious reasons…
So far, the proceeds we’ve made from the copies we’ve sold amount to roughly $5,000.
I know a lot of you want new content, and you want new content ASAP, but the kind of game we’ve made requires a lot of time to create said new content. As a bit of a comparison, try to think of Regency Love as a bit of an interactive novel—you’ve paid about US$5 for a 200,000-word novel, and we’ll be providing some free content updates after you’ve purchased your novel. That’s actually quite a bargain!
And have we considered crowdfunding through Kickstarter? Yes, we’ve given this quite a bit of thought, and might launch a campaign later in the year—but the situation is a little complicated. Kickstarter (or whichever platform we choose to use) will take a lot of time to run (we’ve estimated at least 40hrs/week collectively for 4 weeks), and if we don’t reach our goal, then all of our efforts would be wasted, and it would basically be awful and super sad. To minimise the possibility of this super awfulness and sadness, we want to have a very solid user base before we launch our campaign.
The campaign itself would focus entirely on the bachelors (and possibly a bachelorette). Basically, if we reach our initial goal, then we can work on a new bachelor, and for every stretch goal, we can work on yet another bachelor. There are currently at least five bachelors sitting in the sidelines in need of some funding, and we’d love to be able to expand on at least some of them! We’re waiting to have enough of a user base before we put together a plan for Kickstarter, so the best way you can support us now is by spreading the word and telling everyone you know to check out Regency Love. Every little bit counts!
And how about Android? Unfortunately, this is waaaaaay too expensive, and we’ve all agreed that the best way to spend our funds is to create new content.
So that’s our massive post to keep you updated on our current progress, our plans for the future, and to give you an explanation about our financial situation. We’re not ignoring your requests/comments/pleas—we’re just too poor to address them fully at the moment. Please know that we sincerely appreciate all the kind words of support you’ve given us these past few months. If you have a few moments to spare, it would mean the world to us if you could encourage your friends/family/teachers/colleagues/neighbours/cats to check out Regency Love—for all the reasons I’ve already mentioned, this would be the biggest help to us. (Unless you can throw a spare $150,000 our way—we at Tea For Three Studios are in quite the need of a generous benefactor or benefactress!)
If you have any additional questions, please leave a comment or shoot us an email. If you want to contact me directly (seeing as I’ve become the main communications person thingy), you can reach me at myfirstname@teaforthreestudios.com. Thank you so much for reading this, and, as always, thank you for your patience, understanding, and overwhelming support for Regency Love.
Since you guys mentioned crowd-funding I thought I might mention Patreon.com? It’s less pressure than Kickstarter in there is no real “deadline,” but still utilizes similar methods and means to allow creators to set production goals and encourage fans to fund their work (based more off the classical concept of patron supporting a favored artist.)
I don’t know if this would help but, since it seems like an oft-ignored option, I thought I’d at least mention it. Good luck with everything!
Hi Haley, thank you so much for your comment and your suggestion! I haven’t come across Patreon before, but it looks fantastic and might be exactly what we need to continue working on Regency Love. We really appreciate your input and your support!
Yay! I’m glad I could help!
Even if you guys choose not to pursue “Regency Love” through Patreon I hope everything works out. I remember playing the game for the first time last year and being completely blown away by how fleshed out the world and characters were. Having replayed it a few times since then, the sheer volume of detail that went into both the story and gameplay still amazes me.
(Somewhat tangential, but the review site VNs Now! actually named it the best hybrid visual novel of 2013 — sorry if I’m restating known information!)
Again, good luck with future projects! You guys deserve all the credit you can get for your hard work and dedication 🙂
Well, one thing that might help your visibility and customer base is contacting someone at the app store and asking why when I type in “Regency Love” on my iPad, it shows up under “iPhone only” and when I type it into the iTunes program on my computer it’s listed only as “iPhone.” Some people may not realize it works on the iPad. I downloaded it again to write a review and had to dig to find it.
So are y’all planning on doing ALL that extra content (new bachelors, side-stories, trivia questions, Fat Cat, etc.) for free? I see doing extra trivia/quote sections and more side character interactions as a free update, but I hope y’all will charge for the extra bachelors main story lines. I don’t know enough about how much time/money it takes per bachelor route (or one where you and Fat Cat eschew romance and do your own thing), but I’d happily pay $3-4 to access two new routes. I’d do them in sets so if one route really ticks off a player they won’t feel like the money was wasted.
As long as y’all didn’t have a specific amount that HAD to be raised each month, Patreon is worth exploring. I’d certainly chip in.
Hi Lydia, thanks so much for your comment! I’ll pass on that “iPhone only” kink to Mel, who’s much more well-versed with the app store than I am. Thanks for letting us know!
As for the extra content, we’re actually going to do exactly as you’ve said: free updates for the extra bits and “add-ons”, but a paid option to purchase the new bachelor. We’re looking at around US$3-4 for the bachelor, but unfortunately, we won’t be able to release two sets simultaneously. However, we will include the first few chapters of the paid romance plot in the free update, so you can have a go and see if the bachelor tickles your fancy enough for you to pursue him.
As for Lord Fat Cat… No further comment for now. 😉
Again, thank you so much for your interest and support–we really appreciate it!
You’re welcome! I hope that the sorting mix-up can be easily rectified. Until then, I’ll contact two of the bigger English visual novel news sites/feeds I follow and see if they’ll note that it Regency Love will work on iPad. I checked and they have it listed as iPhone only too.
As long as the player has some idea what the new main plot is like, that price seems fair.
I’ll be over here, waiting for more Lord Fat Cat…
LOVE LOVE LOVE this creation of yours! Bought the original and then Mr. G pack and got all of the FANTASTIC updates! Has anyone tried to apply for any sort of funding through the worldwide Jane Society? Or JASNA? This would be a great way to introduce Jane’s genius to the younger population. I can’t wait for more and will gladly pay whatever is required!
I really love Regancy Love, I adore the time period and was apsolutely estatic to discover this! I really wanted Mr.winslow to be a romantic option :*) I think he’s really handsome! Congrats on making such a beautiful game! I hope you do well in the future! I hope Mr.Winslow will be a romantic option! But if not i’ll be sad but it’s okay if he isn’t! Good luck with the game!
Ps. Wow! Sorry I seem so insistant! Awesome game and fantastic work!
Hi, I have to agree with Lydia. Anyone who loves the game would be quite happy to pay for the route of new bachelors, and while my bank account might appreciate it if they were free, for the game to continue on the is more ethically viable that you charge for the new routes.
I love this game, it is unique and extremely detailed. I have played other romance storybooks and they pale in comparison, I know voltage inc charges about £2.49 for new routes in their games with the exception of the epilogue which they charge about £1.60 for.
I don’t know if this information helps with regards to how much you might charge, if you choose to charge. But I hope it might give you a idea of how much others are charging for new routes.
You might also consider using Indiegogo for crowdfunding- that’s what the web series “The Autobiography of Jane Eyre” did recently, and I assume they’d have a somewhat similar audience. I also second the notion of looking into doing something similar to what Voltage/Voltage USA does with their otome games- charging per character route/storyline.
Hello,
I enjoyed your game and I would like, more bachelors, more letters to write (and not only to read), and achievements sessions (like in the game : P&P hidden anthologies : pieces of piano, cross stitch, etc) and maybe travels, exhibitions, theatre, etc !!!!
In any case, thanks for this interesting and nice game !
Oh! I am hating android right now, I wish I could have an iPhone just to play this game. T_T
Hello!
I am heart broken that this will not be going to andriod but I can certainly understand why. I will simply have to try it on an apple item at some point. I really love the whole idea of the game and wish you all the best !
Regards,
Aspasie
Ever thought about putting a pre-order feature into the existing app? It’s like a donation option but with a bonus. That way, there would be extra funding from supporting customers, while giving them an incentive/thank you gesture for pitching in the effort to the upcoming update. And then, maybe after the update is launched, the pre-order can be transformed into the regular donation button.
Personally, I’d be happy to pitch in a couple tens. But with a few more supporters it can turn into a bigger fund.
I have played this game many times and will play it many more. Keep up the great work!!!!
I have exactly what info I want. Check, please. Wait, it’s free? Awoseme!
I’d be willing to shell out some money for more content hands down.
hello,
I’ve just found this game a few days ago and I love it.
I’m finding it fun to try and get all the achievements.
I wonder if there are any further plans for more bachelors?
That Lord Sutton looks rather fetching in his blue coat and I wouldn’t mind playing to my bad side and trying to win over Mr Winslow after breaking up him and Miss Ingram. (It’s what Isabella Thorpe would do)
That and I suppose for the less adventurous there is always Mr Digby.
I would gladly pay for each of these as separate content packs or be happy to crowd fund or whatever.
Are you going to make this for android?? I’m dying to play this I’ve heard great things
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