Another big thank you!

Hello Patrons!

I hope you've been enjoying my work on MoeGamer over the last few months; with the Ys: Sights and Sounds article published today, that's now four full months of following my new "cover games" format, with a few tweaks along the way.

You may have noticed that with Ys I shifted slightly from the fixed article formats I followed for Senran Kagura, Megadimension Neptunia and Dungeon Travelers 2. This was partly to make the things I write seem less formulaic, and also, in my opinion, represents a better means of splitting up the things I want to talk about across the several articles.

Probably the biggest change from before is making the first piece each month cover the historical context of the game rather than putting this in the same piece as a discussion of the game mechanics, as to a certain extent introducing a game or series requires talking about its historical context anyway. By extension, discussion of game mechanics are now in their own dedicated post, and in the case of series like Ys, this affords the opportunity to talk about how the way the games actually play has evolved over time.

You may have also noticed an article about the wonderful cyberpunk visual novel VA-11 HALL-A sneak in; I'm going to start adding a few one-shot posts like this alongside the month-long coverage of the Cover Game as a means of talking about certain topics with a little more immediacy rather than waiting for the following month to post something. Me posting a one-off article about a game doesn't preclude it from getting the full Cover Game treatment at some point down the road, but to minimise the possibility of me repeating myself too much, I'll try and leave at least a few months in between this happening.

So what's coming up? Well, next month you can expect an in-depth look at something that isn't a game at all, but rather a piece of software that will help you to make your own games: Degica and Kadokawa's RPG Maker MV. Over the course of the month, we'll look at the history of the RPG Maker series and its numerous incarnations over the years as well as the new and exciting features MV has brought to the table. For those of you interested in getting your hands dirty with amateur game development, this coverage will include some tutorials and handy links, too!

In the near future, you can also expect at least one article on the subject of the recently released rail shooter from Inti Creates and PQube Games, Gal*Gun Double Peace, too. It really is a very unusual game indeed, and, of course, due to its subject matter, it's something that the mainstream gaming press completely ignores at best and refuses to take even a little bit seriously at worst. It is, however, well worth your time; despite the hilarious premise, it is both a solid rail shooter and an interesting take on dating sims, with some fun characters and an absolute ton of unlockable and collectible content to keep you busy for a long time.

I'll also do my best to try and remember to post updates to you lovely backers a bit more often, too; your support is very much appreciated, particularly as the missus and I have been struggling a bit with financial matters recently due to her long-term sickness keeping her out of work for a good few months and my reliance on erratic freelance income. Your pledges have helped take a bit of the edge off these trying times, so a thousand thank yous for that.

Do please point family and friends in the direction of MoeGamer and this Patreon page if you think they might be interested in my work and the things I cover, and know that I am extremely grateful to those of you kind enough to think my work is worth a bit of change each month. You make the time and effort that goes into putting these posts together all the more worthwhile.

Here's to many more months of moe moe kyun kyun~ or something. <3 you all!