Bad News

Hello, everyone, I have some bad news for you all. I've been very nervous to bring out this announcement, but the longer the wait the worse it gets so guess I'm just gonna go ahead and rip off the bandaid: Plushibes will go back into a hiatus / work-in-progress state. Please read the full announcement if you wish to know the reason and how to move on from here

Reason

Please read the passage below if you want to know why. I in no way mean to come across as venty and I tried to state everything in an as-is way. This is no excuse, just an explanation

I started working on this species around October 2022 with no consistency whatsoever regarding progress and activity. I hosted an event which attracted quite some people and since then shared the process with all of you. The progress was very on-and-off due to college and some mental issues. In September 2023 (about a month before my graduation) I ran a poll to see if people were interested in the launch event being another advent calendar which was an easy 'yes'. I would have 2-3 months to finish all the traits, the site and the event, which I thought would be enough

It turns out it wasn't enough as I started to struggle with my mental health once again. I pushed through with the site, server, traits and species as a whole as I had now given myself a deadline. The original plan was for the launch event to be from 1-25 Dec with MYO opening on the 1st, then I realised the MYO opening would have to happen on the 25th instead. Then the species was still not finished, so I asked if people would mind an advent calendar in January instead, which you seemed alright with. Yet again, the plan changed from 1-25 Jan with the launch on the 1st to 5-30 Jan with the launch on the 30th. The constant extensions I was giving myself did leave me with quite some guilt (everyone has shown me nothing but support so this feeling of guilt is my own mind and nobody else's fault of course!)

One of the biggest issues I'm facing right now is the traits. I've relied a lot on feedback and opinions from others, and sadly I've done so way too much. One of the polls declared you preferred more vague and lenient traits, which is the reason I went with that for the most part. I do like simple species which aren't very traited and have general leniency, so I wasn't against this idea and even though I did find myself struggling with the creation of a couple of traits, I overall had no issue with it.

It wasn't until MYO submission opened that I realised that despite the visual sheets, text on the sheets and even more explanatory text on the site - a lot of people were still confused about my traits (rightfully so, they are hella confusing). When trying to explain the traits to people, I even had trouble understanding or explaining some. Starting off the bat with the first designs I already started letting things slide because I felt I was being too strict and confusing. This drained my motivation and enjoyment drastically and I started becoming a bit more inactive.

I took about a week off since that realisation to think this all through, decide what I want to do and make sure I am certain of it. The way I've done the traits is just not working for me and I've decided I want the species I'll be running for years, if not my entire artist-life, should be something I enjoy and am satisfied with. Besides that, I want it to be less complex for all of you as well

I understand this may be incredibly frustrating for you and I genuinely apologise for that. This will hopefully be the last time something like this happens and I fully intend on doing it right this time. I will not make any promises or deadlines which I might fail this time, and even though it might take a while I will finally release a fully finished and enjoyable species after this

what's next

Now, what exactly am I planning to do?

First off, some elements of the species I opened will be closed again, such as MYO submission (with exceptions that can be found in a section further below)

 I will redo all traits. This means new sheets but also new concepts and perhaps even new categories. I will either make fewer traits with more leniency or more traits with less leniency (the latter would mean one trait has a more set concept, but there are a lot of set concepts to choose from). This is not fully decided yet, but I will make sure to give it a lot more thought than I did previously

I will finish all the guides and info pages. I don't want to open a species again where everyone is at a loss of what to do

I will prepare myself and my staff better for launch when it's time. I may look for additional staff anywhere between then and now

questions/concerns

What does this mean for you? here are a couple of possible questions you may have;

"I already own a Plushibe"
There are a few things you can do: 1. You may keep the design as-is and it will be marked as a 'legacy' design, meaning it doesn't fit the current Plushibe traits but is still considered a valid Plushibe (lore-wise they may be considered similar to 'prototypes'). 2. You may keep the design on-site with the intent to make a design update once the species re-launches and the new traits are out. 3. You may ask me to delete the masterlist entry (all items, including the MYO Carrier, that you used will be returned to you) either to void the character from the species or to re-submit once the re-launch is here. 4. You may contact me about any other solutions you have in mind, I'm open to hearing them

"I submitted an MYO Design or am already in the process of designing"
There are a few things you can do: 1. You may submit the design with the current traits and it will count as a legacy design (explained in question above). 2. You may keep the design to yourself for now and wait until re-launch. 3. You may un-Plushibe the design and use it as a random non-affiliated OC. 4. Contact me if you wish to find another solution

"Are there any features staying?"
The site and Discord will remain available! Dailies, shops and collections will remain functional. You are free to keep chatting and sharing art etc.

"How long will this take?"
I will no longer risk making empty promises, so the true answer is that I don't know. It would be a miracle if I finished it in 1-2 months, so I'd say assume it takes at least longer than that. I may send out updates sometimes so you can keep up with the progress

If you have any other questions or concerns, please ask me in ⁠the discord server or DM me if you prefer doing so privately <3 Thank you for being patient with me, I also understand if you are no longer patient with me, I'm really sorry about how things are going