Good news, Kinoko fans – the Kinoko Fan Club has launched!

If you’re here, reading our blog, then you’re probably well aware of the game we’re developing by now. We’ve been working on it for a little under a year, and even though we recently dropped Unity to and began porting our work over to Godot, we’re really happy with the progress we’ve made on our game so far. Whilst neither of us are game developers, we’ve learned a heck of a lot over the last 12 months and we’re both super excited about what the future holds for Kinoko and the Cult of Galaxy.

Until now, we’ve focused entirely on the aspects of game development that we can do whilst gradually building up a budget for the stuff we can’t. We’ve done that mostly through commissions, which Chelsey has been working extremely hard on these past few months, and we’ve been lucky enough to receive a few extremely generous donations along the way. We’re now looking to move Chelsey to the project full-time, though, which means she’ll be closing down commissions and we need to look at new ways of funding the game.

That’s why, today, we’ve officially launched the Kinoko Fan Club. Powered by Patreon, the Kinoko Fan Club is where you’ll get exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content, such as the very latest and roughest game previews, daily updates on our progress, never-before-seen character spotlights and other lore, work-in-progress art and concepts, access to a couple of additional Discord channels, and super special Kinoko-themed role overrides for our community Discord server. It’s basically the ultimate package for any Kinoko fan, and we’ll be announcing even more benefits in due course!

Even though we’re lucky enough to be a team of two, with neither of us receiving any form of payment for our efforts, developing a video game remains a lengthy and costly endeavour. Although things like Patreon take time to nurture and establish, in time we hope to be able to build a modest monthly stipend that we’ll be able to put towards the game. As with our previous funding efforts, every penny we raise via the Kinoko Fan Club will go directly towards the funding of the Kinoko project, so it’s a great way to support the project whilst also getting something in return, in terms of the regular Patreon blog posts and bonus content we’ll be sharing.

Whilst nothing’s yet set in stone, and we’re currently very much open to suggestions as to ways that we can enhance the value of our Patreon offering, we hope you’ll check out the two tiers currently on offer and consider joining. Membership of the Kinoko Fan Club is not and never will be a requirement for participating in our community, and we’re never going to stop posting updates in our public Discord channels and on social media, but we hope you’ll think about joining us on Patreon too if you can, because the monetary side of things really does make a massive difference towards the development of our game!

As we’ve mentioned before, we plan to hire the services of a background/environment artist in the coming weeks. Despite the setback caused by the switch from Unity to Godot, we’ve still come a long way and we’re at the point now where it makes sense to start thinking about dropping in some real level artwork. Getting the artwork in place will open up so many other avenues to us – we’ll be able to start exploring lighting and particles, for instance. Whilst we currently do have the budget to get the ball rolling on this, additional funding will enable us to complete more levels and perhaps look into filling other roles as well, if we’re lucky.

Whether you’re in a position financially to join the Kinoko Fan Club or not, we really do appreciate your ongoing support – even if that just means enjoying our stuff on social media and chatting in our Discord server, it all goes a tremendously long way towards keeping us motivated and spreading the good word of Kinoko. The Kinoko Fan Club is just our little way of giving something back to those who can help us with our budget, too!

If you’re interested in finding out more about the benefits of a Kinoko Fan Club membership and seeing if there’s a tier suitable for you, we’d be incredibly grateful to you for checking things out and giving it your consideration. All the information you need about the Kinoko Fan Club can be found over on Patreon – and if you have any questions or suggestions, then you need only reach out to us on social media or Discord and we’ll be happy to help.

Thank you, and until next time, take care!