Today, let’s discuss Chapter 2 and adjust some expectations, shall we?

How long will Chapter 2 be?

It’s around 27,000 words, compared to Chapter 1 being around 22,000 words. Gameplay time is different for everyone but, from beta testing, we can say it varies from 1 hour and a half to 2.

Why is your game so short compared to other AVNs?

Because that’s the way we like it. Just to put it out there, the length of the gameplay itself has nothing to do with nor was it affected in any way by development issues. We had always planned to make a sort of short story, with short-ish chapters. I guess we think of each chapter as a movie, or an episode of a show in terms of length, but overall we end up going for what feels natural for the story we want to tell. 

What's up with the LGBTQ+ content?

We've addressed it before, and we’ll do it again if we have to. Yes, there is LGBTQ+ content shown and/or discussed in Strangers on Paper. No, you can’t “turn it off”. If this is something you’re uncomfortable with seeing or reading about, I’m sure you can find plenty of other games that suit your preferences, maybe this one isn’t it. I will clarify though, the MC is a heterosexual male.

Will there be animations?

There will be some animated scenes, but these are not sexual in nature. We are not interested in introducing those kinds of scenes in an animated form in this game… for now.

Is your game streaming-friendly?

We'll do our best to introduce a feature to skip sexual scenes if you wish to do so before things get steamy.

Will Chapter 3 take this long to develop too?

Let us say this loud for the people in the back: This. Is. Not. Our. Full. Time. Job. 

We really, really wish it could be, but the way things are in our lives right now do not allow the time we wished we had to devote to this game. We trust that every person who chooses to support us is a consenting adult and, as such, they can also decide when to cease to do so. That being said, the financial support we have received so far has made all the difference during the hardest times, otherwise, we’d probably have given this up long ago. 

We are hopeful things will be better, smoother, easier, from now on, but we know better than to make promises involving things outside our control by now.

Will you now give us a release date for Chapter 2, pretty please? What do you mean? We just did :) First person to figure it out will definitely be getting a steam key.

Now, something I feel doesn’t get talked about enough is the mental health struggles that come with this whole thing. Publishing your work can lead to connecting with other people in beautiful ways, but also to reading the most dehumanizing comments - not to mention misinformed takes. Sure, constructive criticism is okay, but the fact that some people choose to be purposefully unkind online will never cease to amaze me. And I can already hear it: “if you’re not ready to deal with it, then don’t do it!”. Ha. By now, it’s really easy for us to understand where each comment comes from, and which ones are actually written with good intentions, but the ones that are not, that just exist because someone felt like throwing shit at something they don’t like… It’s just sad. Not for us, we are enjoying our game as it is, but for them. We spend our time creating something we love and that, fortunately, makes people happy. Haters spend their time… hating. 

So? Have you figured it out yet? Do you hate us for it? Here, drop the hate and have some dulce de leche.