A few months ago, I said I was making an escape room. For reasons I’ll get into, there will be no game. If you’re one of the one person in the world who was looking forward to playing it, I apologize.

I made a sample game to figure out the programming required to make it work. I sketched out another room with some tricky puzzles to solve. Then it came time to create the graphics, which turned out to be the most difficult step.

I love 3D renderings like this one from Neutral. If I could make a game that looked half as good as this, I’d be happy. But I haven’t done any modeling since I was in college 25 years ago. I’m sure there have been many advancements in the past quarter century, but learning how to use them would take time I simply don’t have.

My broken promise is a perfect example of why I can never have a Patreon account. I can’t in good conscience accept money for products I will most likely fail to deliver. So instead of getting paid for what I WANT to do, I get paid for what I CAN do, which is stocking groceries.

In the past, I had a decent work/life balance. I could get by working just 18 hours a week, which left me enough free time to complete my Chuck’s Devils comic. But expenses have increased, along with the time I spend at the store to cover them. I also have no car at the moment, which means four miles of hiking up to five days a week.

So, I’m spending most of my life working, walking, aching, exhausted, and miserable. I don’t have the time and energy to build an escape room from scratch. But I want to do SOMETHING to lift me out of depression. Something I could do quickly and painlessly. That’s when I remembered some old friends.

Yeah, I know. I said goodbye to the Mini-Devils only six months ago. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the time I’ve spent away from them has helped me realize a couple of issues holding the comic back. So going forward:

No more Chuck’s Devils crossovers. I’ve written about how Chuck’s Devils could be extended, but regular visits from the Mini-Devils was disrupting that potential timeline. I think it’s best if each group remains happy in their own universe, so I’ll give the magic Easter egg a rest. Speaking of Easter…

No more holiday episodes. Thinking of new Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day jokes was getting harder. Holidays also meant any longer plots had to be wrapped up or postponed for an obligatory, out-of-character gag. Even I’m not sure if Tyler is a real leprechaun or not.

Upcoming Mini-Devils episodes will consist of four-page storylines. I think this format is much better than the mix of singles and series I’ve been doing. It allows me to focus on the characters’ personalities and relationships a lot more. The addition of Destiny and a reformed Rose has also led to some new interactions.

Starting next week, I’ll upload a new minisode here and on the Chuck’s Devils website every Monday for what I’ll call Mini-Mondays. I’ve made 24 pages so far, and will try to make as many more as I can. I hope you’ll like them, because this is the best I can do right now. Pathetic, innit?