I have implemented an offline mode. If you signed in and your subscription has expired, you will see an “Offline mode” button. If you click it, you can play the game without signing in. Note that you must sign in with an active subscription the first time you download it.
The offline mode won’t connect to the internet and will only work on the device that you originally started the game on. I haven’t tested it yet. But the plan is that this will be part of the next update as well. I hope to address most people’s concerns with this change.
The reason for this change is, as @sdirishpirate72 (I appreciate your kind words, thank you) has stated, that the criticism is a bit overbearing and influences the process; it takes the joy out of developing the game. If it’s not fun to create, we can cancel the project. And I’d rather have GoL to be financially unstable, but therefore fun again to develop.
And who knows? Maybe it works out financially, too, if the initial activation deters enough pirates.
Glad to see this happen. Though I wish people were nicer in how they expressed their dislike with the current system. The overall idea you had in mind with it was a cool one.
I hope this game continues to be a fun thing for you develop.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get around to adding new Christmas content. Still, a lot has changed. Especially UI-wise. Since GoL is a sandbox game, this update includes another major step towards making it as a sandbox game more fun: The last update added options to show exact stat numbers. This update now does foreshadowing with how certain choices will influence your stats.
I felt the need to release something once again to keep you updated. The numberifying of the game isn’t done yet, though. It’ll continue with the next update, hopefully along new content.
Oh, I almost forgot to add: This version includes an offline mode. If your subscription expires, you’ll see an “Offline Mode” button at the bottom of the login screen. It’ll allow you to play the game even after unsubscribing, so you can keep that version of the game forever after your initial activation:
Small reminder: Today is the best day to subscribe, as it will give you access to the game until the end of January, regardless of when you subscribed during January.
Hi, appreciate the question. Unfortunately, I will need more details on your progress. This is, because Jane’s story depends on several factors, depending on progress on where/how it continues. Generally speaking, however, going to college once on time and once too late could trigger the next event.
Gain of Life is hereby officially cancelled. I think this is the correct step to take, because it’s basically been cancelled, but just not officially yet, because I still had the hope of returning to it. The servers for Gain of Life will shut down at the end of the month, which shouldn’t be a problem, if you activated the game already (offline mode is available anyways). If not, please don’t worry, I will make one final version of the game, which I aim on making available. I’ll remove the online check altogether for the final version, and thus make it natively offline once again. Maybe I’ll do some adjustments to certain content, and one last, minor update to round off certain content, to give it a little bit of a “completeness” feeling. I aim on making the final version available on Itch; for free for loyal Patrons (i.e. those who paid for Patreon subscriptions shouldn’t pay twice for the game). On Itch, the game will be yours to keep.
Now what does this mean? Well, Gain of Life won’t receive any more updates in the future. However, I have a couple of items on my list that I will try out. I will pitch a list of ideas soon.
One major learning I would like to take towards a new potential game project is to outline the scope more clearly, and aiming on completing it. Maybe a smaller game project for starters. My Patreon will continue running, but the funds will no longer be GoL-specific, but for new projects. Funds collected in excess to GoL will go towards a potential new project, including funds I’ve collected over the past months. And there’ll be polls on Patreon to ensure that these funds are used in a way that you guys support.
I know these news might come in disappointment to some of you. Looking on the bright side, however, this is the chance for a new project to do all the things right that went wrong with GoL. Please feel free to share your thoughts. Game ideas, or concepts you find interesting, but felt are missing in games so far. I’d like to use this opportunity for a closing discussion, as part of the transition to a new project. Please note: Criticism is appreciated, but keep the energy positive. Suggestions for improvements will help framing the next project; whereas simply reiterating on all the negative things of GoL won’t help at all.
What an adventure this was. I’ve followed it for a long time as a lurker, now here I am with an account, to give a heaping of praise for the introduction of a good core gameplay loop with 40-something visual stages, the most in any game I’ve seen. And the much-maligned portrait generation, was at its core, a doubling down on that choice of gradations and nuance.
I also don’t want to heap on negativity but I want to give you the opportunity to add some further positivity, by expressing a lesson you learned based on what I think a lot of people have been trying to express to you. I see you mention “outline scope more clearly and aim on completing it” as aims for your next venture. Fair enough, admirable goals. But maybe you can make your future games more profitable, less suspect up-front, if you also decide on a monetisation strategy at the start and then stick to it. I hope that, given that you have made this decision, at least some of the concerns voiced earlier about dropping support, seem more salient in retrospect.
It’s certainly been a long journey. I remember discovering Gain of Life all those years ago back in 2020, it was such an ambitious and promising game and I’m glad you stuck with it for as long as you did! Totally understandable that the project isn’t viable anymore especially after the big asset generator controversy. I hope you’ve learned a lot from this project, and that you can create something new and even better with all the skills you’ve acquired over the years
