The Brynjolf Romance Mod: Is it still happening? (Yes. Slowly. Painfully.)

It's been a while since I've updated on this and I still get messages, both on and off reddit, about whether it's still being worked on.

The answer is yes.

Why has it taken so long?

Well, I have fallen into a very avoidable trap. "Feature Creep". I made too many plans. I flew too close to a sun a few times, and I had to completely start over about twice. Roll back to prior versions. Have some serious moments of reflection about what I want to include in the beta version, what should wait for v1, v2, etc. Because people will have a lot of demands, and I understand that. No, you won't be able to marry him in the beta version. In v1? I don't know. Again, I need to plan more carefully before I start promising features over and over.

Also, I have depression, got laid off (you'd be surprised how quickly any motivation for life dies at this moment), got discouraged, etc. Note that I started completely from scratch with NO idea about modding and how to use Creation Kit. Zero idea. So part of building this mod is a strong vertical learning curve, messing up a lot, rage quitting, etc., and I've done it 99% on my own (a few other modders have lent some troubleshooting, and I really appreciate that. I won't pretend like I've been entirely on my own). I'm also writing all of the dialogue on my own, storyboarding on my own, etc. FYI, multiple people have offered to help with writing, etc., then end up disappearing. Nobody owes me their time and I don't really feel resentful about it. But it does always come back to being just me. That's fine, but it does put a time delay on everything. Especially as the scope and storyboard of this whole thing shifts around. My sticky note wall is crying right now.

I'm sorry this is probably disappointing. I don't know when a proper beta will be rolled out. A month from now? Two months? I still have to beta test everything for consistency, then get some voice acting in place. Right now I'm just keeping this version simple and more looking for feedback with the writing and consistency of the thing before I start implementing more complicated features.

So. I figured I would provide an update because I realize I left a lot of people hanging for a couple of years and I want you to know that I plan to finish this before I retire in 30 years.