Introduction

Hello everyone! It's been yet another month, and I have a very serious conversation lined up here today. This announcement will cover some of the main issues of this project, the development of it and also my plans moving forwards. Please read through everything if you have the time, it will be greatly appreciated. 

Chapter 1: The Start of Volleyborne

Firstly, I will need to go back to the start and make a proper self introduction. I am a 22 year old university student still in the middle of studies and is currently living away from my family. I am also an avid volleyball fan/player and have played both semi-professionally back in my hometown, and also coached a few beginner/junior teams. 

As a game developer, I've always had the idea of taking two of my biggest passions together and merging it as one, and that was the birth of Volleyborne. I started this project completely out of passion, and I would always dream about how it would feel to become the next big Volleyball game. 

However, those were just words and dreams I was not truly ready for.

While working on this project, Volleyborne grew into a small little community with a small group of people encouraging me and pushing me on. We had only about a hundred or so members back then. and some of the familiar faces are still active in the server today. It was fun, light and just plain enjoyable. 

I released a playable demo, and that was around the time when one of my friends in the community who I owe a large part of my success to, @Smalleyball asked if I would be interested to make a TikTok account for the project. With little to no expectations, I agreed. 

That was the start of both the highest and the lowest time of my life in the last 2 years. 

Chapter 2: The Burnout

At first, things were going great! The server grew to a massive size of 20k and I was enjoying how active the server was. I love this community more than anything and the last thing I wanted to do was let everyone down. While chasing this dream, I neglected my personal mental and physical health out of "passion" and expectations.  

It was around this time when my relationship with my ex-girlfriend has started to fall out, and my mental health was taking hits. Things were not going well, and the weight of the massive community started dawning on me when I was at my weakest.

Me, a solo indie game developer working on his first ever project with little to no help and no prior experience. 

It was no surprise that negativity would start storming my head. Eventually, the long overdue burnout hit harder than I have ever expected. The expectations from the community and myself was slowly putting out the flames of passion, and development started feeling like a chore. 

The project went from something I loved working on, to something I had to work on . Being a solo developer with barely any experience, it was difficult for me to push any harder and I started losing my motivation to work on the game. I ended up in a endless spiral of making attempts to work on the game, and losing motivation from failing those attempts.

But enough is enough, and I took a few long breaks, focusing on myself and figuring what I really wanted with this project.

Chapter 3: The New Chapter

I've since recovered from the burnout, but it's clear that things can't go on the way they were. Volleyborne has grown too big for me to handle on my own. So, I've made the decision to change my perspective on the project. I'm no longer going to treat it as just a passion project, and instead, treat it as a potential future career. 

Today is the day I'm going to step up from a hobbyist to a developer.

This means that Volleyborne is no longer going to be a solo indie game development project. I'm currently paying one of my fellow game developer friends from my own pocket to work on the project with me. We're both passionate about Volleyborne, and we're excited to take it to the next level. We will be planning the development as a team, and with multiple developers working together, it will be much easier for us to get a fresh take on development.

I'm also planning to grow the team in the future. But for now, I need everyone's support as we move into this next chapter of Volleyborne.

Some changes you will see in the near future are:

• More organized roadmaps
• Changes to how you can support the developers
• Livestreams and events

I've tried to be honest and open about my experiences, both the good and the bad. I know that this is a difficult time for the project, but I'm confident that we'll come out stronger on the other side.

Thank you for being a part of this journey and see you all again soon!

Sincerely, 

AzooDev