Facts regarding release dates, developer's recent communications, etc.

[Cloak]

Since there's a lot of confusion and speculation going on, I thought it would be helpful if there was a post that summarizes some of the facts regarding release dates, developer's recent communication, and other things. I'll start off by including the facts that I know. However, I'm sure I'm missing some things, so please feel free to add facts that you know. I'm going to start off my bit with a timeline of posts.

[Edit: [/i/ [b]Note: [/b] Now that the dev is back to communicating regularly, I am only going to post updates regarding the release date specifically. Otherwise, I will not be updating unless there's some other major announcement.

Edit: On August 29, 2024, the dev posted in an IG story explaining the latest delay and how she plans on announcing the new release date. I have edited my post to show this. Scroll down to the end of my timeline, and you will see it. Please note that there is no new release date as of this edit. Not saying this to criticize, just trying to stop further misinformation on this front.

Edit: @tizthenana did an amazing job compiling all of this information into a PDF. This is a format that is much better than Steam discussion post, so please feel free to check it out here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H5Et3KKw-bUtEhgejtpfuQ0yaFK_ceZ0/view

Edit: Normally, I wouldn't publicize information included behind a paywall, but this information has to be included in order to get the big picture of this situation. There's also quite a bit of important details that have never been made publicly available to everyone. If the dev would like this to be removed, she may ask me to do so, and I will.

Edit: I have added a bunch of Patreon membership and earning details that can be found on Graphtreon: https://graphtreon.com/creator/talesofreinravine

Graphtreon reports TORR's Patreon paid memberships from April 2021 to July 2024. They do report some moneys earned, but they only do so from June 2021 to January 2022. For those months, I will list the moneys they have reported. For all the other months, I will do my own calculations.

While Graphtreon's money calculations include the cuts that Patreon and various governments take (According to Patreon: "We keep 5% of each transaction, plus payment processing, currency conversion, payout fees, and applicable taxes." https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/16733504643597-Pricing-FAQ#:~:text=It's%20free%20to%20list%20products,pricing%20and%20feature%20details%20here.), my calculations will not include these numbers because I do not have the exact numbers for these cuts. For this reason, my calculations for each month will be the number of patrons multiplied by $3.50 USD, the lowest paid membership tier. Without more specific information regarding Patreon's cuts, this is the best I can offer. Please just remember that Patreon does take a cut.

Thank you, @Malcot for telling me about Graphtreon.

Edit: There have been some recent discoveries via Social Blade (thank you @azucuqui for pointing this out) that the dev has been deleting and/or hiding posts across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok both before and after the potential release date of August 2. We don't know the reason for these deletions, but it does indicate that she has been online. I have edited this post to include the dates of deletions for the past month (July 14 - August 13). I will be keeping an eye on these pages to see if there are any further deletions. If you want, you can check out the Social Blade statistics at the following links:

• YouTube: https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/talesofreinravine/monthly
  
• Instagram: https://socialblade.com/instagram/user/talesofreinravine/monthly
  
• TikTok: https://socialblade.com/tiktok/user/talesofreinravine/monthly

Edit: Thank you @Nachtfalter for pointing out that the dev has liked various TikToks since August 2. I have added them to the timeline. These prove again that the dev is online.


Edit: April 2021: TORR's Patreon launched. There were 16 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $3.10 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $50 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: May 2021: There were 71 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.44 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $173 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: June 2021: There were 61 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.49 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $152 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: July 2021: There were 60 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.49 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $149 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: August 2021: There were 71 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.51 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $178 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: September 2021: There were 70 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.53 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $177 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: October 2021: There were 77 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.59 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $199 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: November 2021: There were 73 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.23 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $163 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: December 2021: There were 113 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.47 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $279 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: January 2022: There were 138 paid members on Patreon. Averaging $2.45 USD per patron, total earnings for this month was $338 USD (rounded to nearest dollar by Graphtreon).

Edit: February 2022: This is the first month where Graphtreon only reports the total number of patrons. From this point on, I will be calculating the earnings (see above for info about my earnings calculations vs. Graphtreon's). The total number of patrons this month is 1,812, and the minimum earnings is $6,342 USD.

Edit: March 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 2,761, and the minimum earnings is $9,663.50 USD. Graphtreon also lists TORR as a "Hot Creator" for this month.

Edit: April 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 3,789, and the minimum earnings is $13,261.50 USD.

Edit: May 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 3,776, and the minimum earnings is $13,216 USD.

Edit: June 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 4,417, and the minimum earnings is $15,459.50 USD.

Edit: July 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 4,812, and the minimum earnings is $16,842 USD.

Edit: August 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 5,057, and the minimum earnings is $17,699.50 USD.

Edit: September 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 5,393, and the minimum earnings is $18,875.50 USD.

Edit: October 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 6,008, and the minimum earnings is $21,028 USD.

Edit: November 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 5,659, and the minimum earnings is $19,806.50 USD.

Edit: December 2022: The total number of patrons this month is 5,794, and the minimum earnings is $20,279 USD.

2023: The game was originally slated to release in 2023, but it was eventually delayed. I don't know the exact date she announced this first delay. If someone knows, please post it below, and I will add it to my timeline (while giving credit to the person who provides the information).

Edit: January 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,683, and the minimum earnings is $19,890.50 USD.

Edit: February 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,573, and the minimum earnings is $19,505.50 USD.

Edit: March 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,433, and the minimum earnings is $19,015.50 USD.

Edit: April 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,260, and the minimum earnings is $18,410 USD.

Edit: May 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,317, and the minimum earnings is $18,609.50 USD.

Edit: June 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,317, and the minimum earnings is $18,609.50 USD.

Edit: July 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,201, and the minimum earnings is $18,203.50 USD.

Edit: August 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,099, and the minimum earnings is $17,846.50 USD.

Edit: September 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 4,966, and the minimum earnings is $17,381 USD.

Edit: October 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 4,894, and the minimum earnings is $17,129 USD.

Edit: November 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 4,953, and the minimum earnings is $17,335.50 USD.

Edit: December 2023: The total number of patrons this month is 5,339, and the minimum earnings is $18,686.50 USD.

Edit: January 2024: The total number of patrons this month is 5,498, and the minimum earnings is $19,243 USD.

Edit: February 2024: The total number of patrons this month is 5,498, and the minimum earnings is $19,243 USD.

Edit: March 2024: The total number of patrons this month is 5,398, and the minimum earnings is $18,893 USD.

Edit: April 2024: The total number of patrons this month is 5,325, and the minimum earnings is $18,637.50 USD.

April 8, 2024: The dev posted on Patreon (post titled "BIG NEWS about Tales of Rein Ravine Steam release!!") where she announced a new release date of July 19. She also announced that the initial release would be free. She stated: "Tales of Rein Ravine will be released as a Free To Play game on Steam, at least for now. It is possible that the later parts of the game will become paid. One thing is for sure is that the whole Early Access period will be entirely free."

Edit: As @EpsteinDidn'tKillHimself and @Joty pointed out, the dev had previously detailed the reasons the game was going to be free for a period of time. I remembered seeing this too, and I could have sworn that was included in the April 8th post on Patreon. However, it's not there or anywhere else on Patreon as of this edit.

With that said, I did find what appears to be screenshots of the original April 8th Patreon post on the paid Instagram subscribers stories (these don't disappear while the feature is still in use, but they will probably eventually disappear since the dev no longer wants to use this feature). This story post was also posted on April 8, and it states:

"How come this decision? Well, there are several reasons.

Admittedly, back when I started developing what was at the time Horsegame.exe seriously, it wasn't in the plans to release the end product for free. The original plan was for the main game to cost something like 20 bucks, as a one time payment. However, the overwhelming amount of still ongoing Patreon support after the demo release has changed a lot.

Tales of Rein Ravine is in a unique situation compared to your typical game project in the sense that this is pretty much a single developer game. Albeit I do very frequently buy models, music samples, code snippets etc from other developers and artists, the only permanently employed and salaried person by the project is me. As you may know, salaries are the biggest budget killers for gaming companies, so this makes the running costs of this production atypically low. The ongoing Patreon support, given that it stays at relatively similar levels, and the team doesn't grow - is therefore enough to fund the project.

A second reason for this decision is the issue of time and technical support. Releasing a paid game on Steam would be guaranteed to cause an impossible amount of requests from players needing help, that I simply would not be able to handle. When the demo first launched, and the massive interest it gained, I started receiving thousands of messages from players needing help to get the game running. During the first few months I tried helping everyone, but it was taking hours a day, which was not sustainable in the long run. Understandably, the horse gaming community is not the most 'gamer' audience, so having higher system requirements than your typical horse game naturally causes players to need help with things like updating graphics card drivers. Whereas Steam does not contractually require the developer to give technical support for a paid game, it is still highly expected, and ignoring it would end up with a [sic] some players having to refund the game and leaving bad reviews. By making the game or at least its first releases free, this burden is lifted from my shoulders almost entirely. (I did briefly consider the route of hiring a person for tech support, but the employment laws in my native country where the TORR company is registered are so strict (+ double strict for foreign workers) that I'd basically need to take business courses for it, which in turn would take time from development. So kinda net zero sum game)"

Sorry for the long quote, but since this appears to have been edited out of the Patreon post (I know I didn't originally see this on Instagram because I only started as a paid subscriber after August 2 passed) and it'll probably disappear due to the dev not wanting to use the Instagram subscribers feature anymore, I thought it was appropriate to include the entire quote.

Edit: May 2024: The total number of patrons this month is 5,406, and the minimum earnings is $18,921 USD.

Edit: June 2024: The total number of patrons this month is 6,060, and the minimum earnings is $21,210 USD.

Edit: July 2024: The total number of patrons this month is 7,190, and the minimum earnings is $25,060 USD. For this month, Graphtreon reports that the TORR is ranked 10th for the Games Rank and 140th for the Patreon Rank.

July 12, 2024: A post on Patreon (post titled "Riding a DRESSAGE TEST!") announced that the game would have to be postponed past its July 19th release date. The dev stated, "Lastly, I do have some sad news too. The Tales of Rein Ravine first Steam launch was planned for the 19th of July, but it will experience at least a two-week delay. I will post an updated date as soon as I know!"

July 13, 2024: On Patreon (post titled "Peek into the Steam page"), the dev posted a video that showed off the steam page. She also stated: "For the current publishing date I put 31st of July, since it's mandatory to put some date, but on the public page it will show up as Coming Soon."

Edit: July 17, 2024: According to Graphtreon, the dev set the Patreon stats to private. By this point in time, TORR's approximate minimum earnings was $536,161 USD. I got this number by adding together all of the monthly earnings calculations that both Graphtreon and I made. See above at the top of this post for more details about these calculations.

July 17, 2024: On Patreon (post titled "Info about Steam release.. And demo!") and Instagram, the dev posted that the earliest possible release date would be August 2. She stated, "As I wrote to you a few days ago, the Steam release originally planned to release this Friday is experiencing at least a 2 week delay. Currently the earliest release date looks to be the 2nd of August, given that the Steam page is approved during this week. It already went through the approval process once but failed, and each time you submit it, they take a few days. More info will be posted as soon as I know." Since this post, the dev has not announced any other potential release dates. Any other release dates seen across social media are either speculation or misinformation.

Edit: According to Steam's "Coming Soon" article (https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/coming_soon): "To post your page as Coming Soon, you will first need to create a new application, complete your release checklist and have your page reviewed and approved by Valve. To do this, click "Create New App..." on your Steamworks dashboard and then follow the checklist on your product landing page. Everything in the "Your Store Presence" section is required prior to posting your store page. Once you have your checklist complete, you'll need to hit the "Mark As Ready For Review" button in the top section of your product landing page. This will make your product visible to Valve for review and approval prior to release. Please submit your request for review at least 7 business days before you want your page live." (Thank you, @tizthenana for reminding me about this; they have a great discussion post here if you want to view it).

Edit: July 18, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 1 post from TikTok.

July 19, 2024: Dev announced on Patreon that the Steam page was public. She included a screenshot of the Steam page that included a release date of July 31. However, the actual Steam page has always publicly stated "Coming Soon" and has never had a publicly listed release date. This is as the dev said it would be in her July 13th Patreon post (see above). The dev also posted the first free build of the demo on July 19.

Edit: July 19, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 5 posts from Instagram.

July 20, 2024: The dev posted a reel on Instagram. This is her last public Instagram post that is still publicly visible. Edit: This reel was also posted on TikTok and is the last post over there. (Thank you @Sonorus for reminding me of this).

Edit: July 22, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 16 posts from Instagram.

Edit: July 26, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 14 posts from TikTok.

Edit: July 27, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 3 posts from TikTok.

Edit: July 28, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 6 posts from TikTok.

Edit: July 30, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 21 posts from TikTok.

July 31, 2024: The dev posted 5 screenshots on Patreon (post titled "Just came here to drop these pics real quick"). This is currently her last communication on Patreon. She also posted these screenshots to her Instagram subscribers, and it is also the last post over there. Additionally, she posted an announcement on her Instagram story that she was going to have to cease using the Instagram subscribers feature due to financial reasons. Since this was posted on her story, the public version is no longer viewable. However, it can still be viewed if you are an Instagram subscriber.

Edit: August 3, 2024: According to Social Blade, TORR's YouTube account lost 495,511 views. This massive loss in views is usually an indication that the channel owner (our dev) has either deleted or privated several videos. This is our first piece of evidence that the dev has been online since the potential release date of August 2.

Edit: Also on August 3, content creator @digiflips posted a TikTok of him trying out Simone Bile's signature gymnastics trick. The TORR TikTok account liked this video.

Edit: August 5, 2024: According to Social Blade, the dev deleted 1 post from Instagram. As of this edit on August 13, this is the last social media deletion and the last evidence we have of the dev being online.

Edit: August 11, 2024: Content creator @clemence.yellowluck posted a TikTok playing the TORR demo. The TORR TikTok account liked this video. As of this edit on August 14, this is the last evidence we have of the dev being online.

Edit: August 24, 2024: The dev added two posts on Patreon: an Early Access Trailer and a video on how to use public transport in the game. The text from the Early Access Trailer post is as stated:

"Hello guys! I'm still dealing with some delays with the launch 😭 I'm now working on the game basically 24/7 so I can get it out as soon as possible, so I haven't really even had time to post here (and at this point I'm scared to accidentally spoil too much about what I'm doing!). However the Early Access Trailer is now here - this is also coming to Steam today.

In Early Access you will be able to visit the college (which is closed for the summer though) as well as two barns in Rein Ravine. While waiting for the school year to begin, you can take summer riding lessons, a riding essentials course teaching you the basics, a dressage basics course, and jumping basics. Regardless of if you played the demo, you will have to play all riding lessons from the beginning, due to the fact that some things in the riding mechanics were changed due to the addition of dressage. Then when the storyline later begins, you won't have to redo the lessons though."

Edit: August 29, 2024: The dev posted on her Instagram story explaining the delay and how she plans to announce the new release date. Note: There is no official release date as of this edit. Since IG stories disappear, I will post the full quote here:

"Hi everyone! Sorry to tell you that I'm still sadly dealing with some delays in the Steam release of Tales of Rein Ravine. I'm basically now working 24/7 to get the first build up and accepted by Steam as soon as possible.

At this point I've decided to not set any specific release date - I'll inform you 24-48 hours prior to when the release is about to happen!

Here's what's currently happening behind the scenes. The first game build has to be reviewed and approved, the release plan is now to publicize it 24-48 hours after it has been approved, wherever [sic] day that may be.

Thank you for ur [sic] patience and so sorry for all the delay."



That's it for my timeline (please feel free to add other dates below if you think anything needs to be added here). However, there is one last thing I want to address. I've seen several people say that the dev has never gone this long without communicating, and that is not true. She has gone without communication for months at a time before. According to Patreon, she took the following breaks in posts over the course of the last year (August 2023 to August 2024):

• A two month break from August 18, 2023 to October 22, 2023.
  
• A one month break from October 26, 2023 to December 8, 2023.
  
• A three month break from December 15, 2023 to March 19, 2024. This was the period of time where her computer was broken.
  
• A one month break from April 27, 2024 to June 2, 2024.

Interpret these breaks in communication as you will. I'm not posting these to be mean or to criticize the dev. I am simply listing these to illustrate that there have been breaks in communication before.


Edit: Another thing to address (thank you, @tizthenana, for reminding me of this) is that there has been some speculation based on some record updates on the game's SteamDB page (https://steamdb.info/app/2299740/charts/) that the dev may potentially be working behind the scenes. However, these changelogs don't necessarily prove that this is the case. According to SteamDB's FAQ page (https://steamdb.info/faq/):

"When an application or package changes, Steam creates a "changelist" to notify all Steam clients that something changed. This changelist has a number, referred to as a changenumber. This changenumber increments globally and is not a per-app thing.

Change list and number terminology comes from Perforce, a version history control software, which Valve uses internally.

App and package updates do not even have to be related to the app/package itself as Valve does periodical changes to a batch of apps/packages. Usually when such a change happens, it affects many apps at once.

For a changenumber to change on an app that hasn't been active in months, it's more likely a useless change rather than a sign of life."


This is all the facts I have for now. If I discover any more, I will try to add them here. If you have any facts that I missed, please feel free to include them below.

[EpsteinDidn'tKillHimself]

SHE'S BACK THANK GOD

[peanutzdogz]

She just posted on patreon

[tizthenana]

not gonna lie i wish we had gotten a proper apology. from what she wrote i felt like the game was actually never even ready to be released when she said it was. but i'm glad she is back and actively working on the game, tho i fail to see how she couldn't even have made that post earlier (without the trailer). now we wait for the release date. i'll see how active she is throughout the rest of the month to decide if i should resubscribe or not tbh.

[Cloak]

The future of this discussion post: Now that the dev is communicating with us again, I will continue to add edits for a few more days if the dev adds more posts. If she communicates more over the next few days, I think it would be fair to the dev to include those posts here. After a few days though, I am going to take a break from this and will only post again once there is an EA release date.

[Cloak]

Now for my personal opinions: I'm glad that she is talking to us again, and I feel that the trailer is excellent proof that she is working on the game so hopefully that will stop further scam rumors.

On Patreon, I stated that I was glad to see her working on this, and I asked her to please keep communication with us in mind at crucial moments like this. She liked my comment, so that means she should have an understanding about how a lot of us feels about this.

I did renew my membership because this was personally all I needed. I understand though if this isn't enough for others and if this is the end of the line of their financial support for this game. It's absolutely valid for you to go whichever way you want in this situation.

I am glad that she did not give us another potential release date. At this point, I think it's wise to not give out any dates unless they are the absolute, set-in-stone release date.

Finally, I do hope she posts to the more public social medias at some point because it's important for non-paying fans to know what's going on too since a potential release date was shared with them. I think that's just fair.

[Cloak]

Originally posted by tizthenana:

not gonna lie i wish we had gotten a proper apology. from what she wrote i felt like the game was actually never even ready to be released when she said it was. but i'm glad she is back and actively working on the game, tho i fail to see how she couldn't even have made that post earlier (without the trailer). now we wait for the release date. i'll see how active she is throughout the rest of the month to decide if i should resubscribe or not tbh.

I agree that it is still a bit strange that she was ready to release the game but now isn't. The best speculation I have for this is maybe she decided to add more stuff to the initial release that she wasn't planning on adding before.

[AutoPartsQueen]

so the game is still being worked on... it wasn't fully ready for release.... idk why she gave us a deadline

[pinhead_larry]

Originally posted by AutoPartsQueen:

so the game is still being worked on... it wasn't fully ready for release.... idk why she gave us a deadline

i dont think she ever gave a deadline. she gave an *earliest* release date.

[tizthenana]

Originally posted by pinhead_larry:

Originally posted by AutoPartsQueen:

so the game is still being worked on... it wasn't fully ready for release.... idk why she gave us a deadline

i dont think she ever gave a deadline. she gave an *earliest* release date.

she did. she confirmed the game would be released on the 19th of July but then cancelled that supposedly because of Steam.

[pinhead_larry]

Originally posted by tizthenana:

Originally posted by pinhead_larry:

i dont think she ever gave a deadline. she gave an *earliest* release date.

she did. she confirmed the game would be released on the 19th of July but then cancelled that supposedly because of Steam.

yeah so the first release date was pushed back to an unknown date and afterwards only an earliest date was given. thats the latest info. so that means she doesnt know when the game can be published just the earliest it could have been published. it also doesnt mean the game was unready to publish necessarily but who knows. the lack of communication is frustrating.

[Mariposa]

Glad to hear the dev has come back, I can't read it as I have cancelled my paid membership after a year of doing so when I heard the release was coming.

Why the dev would choose to put such vital info behind a paywall I have no idea. Unless she saw the numbers dropping taking that income with it and that's what finally kicked her into action,

She'll tell us what's going on but only if we agree to give her money first, yes keep some exclusive behind the scenes stuff behind a paywall but something like why you disappeared right when the game was expected to release should be open to everyone.

[KingKobrat]

I feel like people are being a bit too forgiving tbh. Its coincidental that tons of people began cancelling their memberships and all of a sudden she finally want's to communicate. She obviously had time to do other things like delete videos and like videos but couldnt spend two seconds to communicate before? Nah lol

[carms]

she said that the early access trailer would be released on steam August 24th, can anyone see it or has she not posted it yet?

[Cloak]

Originally posted by carmen ♡:

she said that the early access trailer would be released on steam August 24th, can anyone see it or has she not posted it yet?

I haven't seen it on the steam page.

[Kaiarra]

Well...what an absolute mess this is. All that needed to happen was for the dev to upload the OLD demo (that's been out forever) to Steam, and I'm sure (almost) everyone here would be happy and looking forward to the future update/new version. Certainly at least what I wanted (vs downloading some DL link from a YT video). I still have no idea why that didn't happen...and why there now seems to be some weird pivot towards waiting for some undetermined amount of time for some future updated version? Or at least that's what it kinda sounds the Patreon post is saying...but honestly, who knows? What is it with horse games + devs with terrible communication (HT:EVR, Astride, etc)?

At this point I'm honestly starting to think Steam needs to either ban games that are still being funded via Patreon, or at the very least put their devs into a contract that forces them to post the exact same information to both websites (or have their games removed). It's getting a bit old seeing the steam community get treated like some homeless people they can just ignore in favour of keeping their Patreon subscribers updated. At least this game is supposedly free...but that still doesn't mean it's a good idea to breed ill-will like this...I mean, just look at the state of this discussion forum. This could have been easily avoided with just a few minutes worth of update posts.