London's Aesop
Goodbye.
Hello, everyone. This is HyenaDev.
It's been quite some time since I last talked about the game. I'd like to take this time to address my absence and explain my future plans.
First, I'd like to address the future of London's Aesop. To be blunt, the game is not cancelled but is on an indefinite hiatus. I no longer have the time or motivation to continue working on the visual novel. While I may return to development sometime in the future, please don't hold your breath.
The reason why is one that I'm not eager to admit, but it must be said. I'm afraid I have lied to you all.
When asked about my age or employment, I always admitted to being a 20-something-year-old receptionist. I'm afraid this is a lie. I am actually a young university student who finished my final paper last week. The reason I lied was to keep my anonymity. I am not as open about my interests as I'd like to be. While the community has been one of the most welcoming I have had the pleasure to be part of, I do not have the courage to admit this publically. As someone who still relies on my parents for accommodation and money, I fear what they may do if they found out about my… activities, so to speak.
Last year was probably the roughest I have faced thus far. I have recently been put on anti-depressants and am saving money to attend therapy. As is the case with the past four years, I rarely had time to work on my own projects: School quickly took over my entire life. During this time, I spent six months a year focusing entirely on school, the other six trying (And failing), to find part-time employment.
I started London's Aesop not knowing the full scope of video game development. I underestimated the amount of work that had to be put in to make a decent product. I also realized a little too late that video games are primarily a visual medium: As someone who can't draw for toffee, working on the game required a large amount of money for little in return.
Perhaps because of my inexperience, my expectations for the game. When creating the game, I eventually wanted to create something that would rival a professional visual novel. I wanted to reach the level of the more popular otome games/visual novels, such as Aokana, Amnesia: Memories and Collar X Malice. Naturally, these dreams were far too lofty for a first-timer to accomplish. Creating something of that calibre would require a lot of resources: Voice acting, CGs, sprites and an original soundtrack, to be precise.
One of the reasons I did not create a Kickstarter or Patreon for the game comes down to my own inexperience. I did not wish to cheat anyone out of their money, should I have ceased development. I have always made an effort to keep the development of the game squeaky-clean and drama free. While I do not wish to name anyone (For the sake of politeness), a few similar games have been subject to controversy or backlash due to mismanagement or late builds.
My goal, in the long run, was to distribute the game for free until all eight chapters were complete. Once that was accomplished, I would then create an Indiegogo/Kickstarter to raise funds for assets. The final game would then be launched on Steam and potentially Nintendo Switch. Of course, this never came to be.
I once again must apologise for the way I have treated this project. I know a lot of people were expecting me to complete it. However, I would like to thank you all for your continued support. Perhaps one day, I will return to London and continue the exploits of our favourite hyena. Until then, I bid you adieu.
Get London's Aesop
London's Aesop
An urban LGBT furry visual novel
| Status | In development |
| Author | HyenaDev |
| Genre | Visual Novel, Adventure, Interactive Fiction |
| Tags | 2D, Bara, Furry, Gay, LGBT, Romance, Story Rich |
| Languages | English |
More posts
- So...Oct 31, 2021
- I'm back.Sep 08, 2021
- What's going on here?Aug 04, 2021
- Time to talk about 0.2Jul 17, 2021
- Build 0.2, here we go!Jul 05, 2021
- Thank you!Jul 03, 2021
- I'm so sorry.Jun 30, 2021
- Another Chapter 2 updateJun 12, 2021
Comments
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HyenaDev,
I think you did really well for your first visual novel. My only tip is that you can still get money and not be committed to finish the product. I don't support projects so they 'must' finish them. Only to 'encourage' them to make 'more' of it. People like me understand that not all stories complete. With Patreon you can take long breaks and just restart when you have the time and energy. No one sensible will be demanding a complete product.
Any way take as long as you need , and there is no pressure to return
I would do ANYTHING to see this VN come back..
I don't wanna be Bad.. i just love the Game SO much and i hope you are happy now 💝 i Will be waiting that day.. waiting Iroko.. and maybe thinking he used the Drug on us and we forgot about her.. i hope You are living the best of your life and i wanna make you know you are something.. a good heart human. You have the support of so much persons! And the persons and me .. we love you, goodbye and thanks for creating a amazing game.. goodbye. ❤️
I can relate to you. All I can say is, that you did a great job. I do hope at some point in the future when you do get everything better, that you find the motivation to continue. If anything, perhaps talk to other big visual novel makers. But if you do not ever return to this, its okay. Life always comes first. But from what I saw, since I do love Visual novels, yours is one of the better ones. I hope things work out for you.
I would say it's one of my favorites, you can do this, doesn't matter if it's perfect, just unique and you've done that so far, hope you do well and are doing well, live your life to the fullest my friend
Take your time sweetie i'm on your side ! take all the time you need if one day you decide to continue, but i hope peoples would love to help you with the vn
Well, another VN to add to the list... That's over a dozen in the past year that are abandoned or go into indefinite hiatus. You creators need to abstain from publishing VNs, if you are not going to commit to the projects, instead of getting our hopes up and invested for months for nothing. This is getting ridiculous!
Commitments change, it's not always up to the creators when it happens. content was free, they can't live off of this. there's more to life for these people then just making free content for you to consume.
well you sound like a lovely person 🙄
shit happens man, but they have the right to cancel there project if they want, its unfortunate yes but nothing we can do about it
Life happens and unless you've actively paid the creator, they don't owe you shit lol.
If you're this butthurt about it then create your own damn games.
I see you're another one of those people who think that VN creators don't have life situations to deal with.
Sometimes, people like you just need to keep their traps shut. And that's the truth.
honestly speaking, i only just found this and i loved the concept and everything upon seeing. im more than sure there would be several people i know that would love it as well, it truly does seem unique compared to more than a few out there. i can only wish you luck in your endeavors and wish you well. remember, dont let other dictate what you do, you do you and keep going :)
Take care, budd!
~
(hugs)
Take care of yourself, alright? Good luck. :)
I respect your decision. Focus on living, because we have no other choices.
Still a little bit sad, your creation is really amazing.
Also, it's really nice you choose to tell us everything. We've all seen a lot of game developers (or teams) who suddenly *disappeared* ...
Hey your VN is wonderful, I'm sad to see this but you're also human you got your own life. Focus on yourself first okay, when everything is sorted out and if you decided to come back here, remember that all of us will be waiting for you, we will be supporting you.
Thank you for the game it was great and I hope only the best comes to you good luck and may you find success.
For what it's worth, the story that you did give us in the time that you had was an amazing story even if it wasn't finished. It saddens me that it's not going to be continued anytime soon oh, but this is one of those instances where he got to do what you got to do for your own well-being. Wherever you are, and wherever you go in life, I give you the best of good wishes and good luck for your future endeavours.
Thank you for your candour. It wasn’t easy, but you’ve already put out amazing content in spite of your real world situation.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with putting yourself first in deciding what to do or not do next. I wish you my sincerest in getting things for yourself back on track. As well as maximal success in your future.
Although I'm sad to see the indefinite end of London's Aesop , it would not be right of me to say your personal circumstances don't matter. In fact, your well-being takes precedence above all else, as the sole creator of the game.
So I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Hope the best for you. Your work is amazing so if you decide to come back it won’t matter how long the wait is.
London's Aesop is a very good quality game and I had a great time reading and voice acting it for my videos.
Developing anything like a VN is a very difficult job and coupled to being at university would make things very difficult for anyone.
I enjoyed the time we had with Iroko and the rest, if you should pick it up again I will definitely return to it.
May life treat you better in the future, and your projects be successful.
For what's worth your VN was professional. It was competently made both visually and in terms of scripts.
You've made your choice, but don't fall into impostor syndrome. Your work is art.
i'm sad to see you going but dont hold yourself back only for the sake of this project. I myself have been working on a vn for a while and i DAMN well know how much work goes into so little playtime ingame ^^'.
I wish you all the best and take your time, I will wait as long as you want ^w^