Hello!! I don’t know what happened! But Doce Fim was the top featured game on itchio’s front page yesterday, go on the top 8 visual novels, top 10 browser games, and reached over 1k downloads and 3.3k browser plays!

*And 25 ratings, which I noticed only after I finished adding the text in the artwork lovingly made by our sprite artist Kay!

I am very confused! But thankful and happy! How does one become a latest featured game on itchio’s front page? How the hell did we go from less than 100 downloads last week to this? WHERE HAVE YOU PEOPLE COME FROM

I don’t have the words to explain how happy I am. It’s the first time a game of mine has been featured on the front page. And it being Doce Fim specifically means the world to me.

Because this is THE game for me. I’ve been wanting to make it for 9 years. It’s the end of a series that has received games, comics, and novels for a decade. I would gladly retire from game dev after Doce Fim, as I know I’ll have accomplished all of my goals and finished up a story that I’ve had in my head since I was a pre-teen, writing character bios and doodling designs in notebooks instead of paying attention to math class.

This past year, I’ve been dealing with countless rejections from grants, events, publishers and opportunities. I pitched Doce Fim to so many folks. And as much as I was told that the game was interesting, BUT it just doesn’t fit our catalogue, wouldn’t be a good match, not profitable, unfortunately we can’t give feedback, little by little it all piled up, and I wondered if nobody else except for me wanted this game or even would enjoy it.

Seeing Doce Fim, a queer visual novel that doesn’t shy away from showing the uglier but realistic sides of mental illnesses and trauma, released under the current political climate, get this reception and even be featured in such a way, has had me realize that it all meant something, even though it was hard and I wanted to give up.

To be frank, I thought that without a publisher, this game would fall into obscurity instantly. Never in a million years did I think that what I assumed would be a failed release from the get-go would get a thousand downloads in under a month. I’ve never had a game that’s not a yandere or romance game get this kind of reach.

There are games of mine that haven’t even broken 200, let alone 1000, downloads, and I assumed this would be Doce Fim’s fate.

It feels like a miracle, not because I don’t believe in the project, but because everything I had received this past year told me it wasn’t going to happen.

I kindly ask that those who enjoyed the game share it with their friends, families, favorite streamers and let’s players, and whoever else you think might need a story like Doce Fim’s, to keep this momentum going.

The most important thing stopping me from continuing development is the lack of money, but I strongly believe that we can reach our minimum funding goal with everyone’s support.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t care if I don’t make a cent of profit off Doce Fim, this game needs to exist because it’s going to make a difference for someone. This is what kept me going.

My dream is to reach as many people as possible.

My dream is to have Doce Fim be that one piece of media that someone can look back on and say helped them through a hard time, had them realize something about themselves, or helped them keep living on.

Thank you for helping that dream come true.

Thank you!

• With love, Meiri (& Komi, Syun, Rikka, Lion, Kie, and Luz!)

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Get Doce Fim _{sweetend placebo}