gb-patch

[gb-patch]

Take it back! I'LL FIGHT YOU!

[gb-patch]

What's that? A new package? 📦 Delivered straight to your Patreon? 😱

The latest Our Life: Now & Forever Patreon beta is here! 🎉 It includes Part 2 of Colorful Class, and a few of the first scenes from "Home" –the 10th Moment.

[gb-patch]

Serenity, please drop the link to this dress in the chat. Your formal wear is simply stunning. 🥹

Our Life: Now & Forever is a nostalgic Visual Novel where you create your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with your two closest neighbors. It’s currently in development by GB Patch Games.

Steam Page

Itch.io Page

Discord -  Twitter - Website - Patreon

[gb-patch]

Recess time! Welcome to the North Acres' playground, where the floor is made of squishy material and the leaves are immaculately swept away. A trip to the swings, anyone? 💕

Our Life: Now & Forever is a nostalgic Visual Novel where you create your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with your two closest neighbors. It’s currently in development by GB Patch Games.

Steam Page

Itch.io Page

Discord -  Twitter - Website - Patreon

[gb-patch]

I personally believe that Mrs. Murray has a notebook where she writes down all of the incredible things Qiu says. Or at least she should! 🤭 Here's a peek at a convo between the two of them while at school.

Our Life: Now & Forever is a nostalgic Visual Novel where you create your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with your two closest neighbors. It’s currently in development by GB Patch Games.

Steam Page

Itch.io Page

Discord - ��Twitter - Website - Patreon

[gb-patch]

Structure Poll Results

Hello again everyone, GB here!

The release structure poll for Our Life: Now & Forever has closed. Nearly 10,000 people voted, and we got hundreds and hundreds of thoughts people left about the idea. I want to say thank you so much for the supportive and understanding messages. It made me pretty emotional to see how much people loved the game and cared about the team 😭 💖

To restate how this worked, players could vote for or against the idea of OL: N&F releasing Step by Step. We would change our original plan to launch the first three Steps together if people wanted us to. But we wouldn’t do such a major shift if people weren’t interested or there was more of a split in the community. With that said, this is the poll-

Yeah, it’s almost exactly 50/50 between people who want the episodic release and those who don’t actively want it! That could have made this complicated, but after thinking about it and reading the reasons for and against the options, I do think the decision we’re going with will be for the best.

Our Life: Now & Forever will not release episodically. However, there’s going to be truly massive updates to the demo this year.

And this is why: a true early access release with DLC content becoming available would impact things in ways that might not be worth it. Us as a company would have to promote an episodic release the same way we would the entire game launching, and then we’d have do that again when the next Step came out. We’d have to be concerned with sales numbers and such before the base game was even done. Also, the game would be releasing for the entire world, not just for our current players. That isn’t the type of work we want to jump into ASAP unless it was what a majority of players really wanted. The point of this was always meant to be something good for the people most excited about the project.

If we keep OL:NF as a demo and focus on putting out a ton of the free-to-play parts of the story, we can make this all about our fanbase and that’s it. We could drop a 100,000 word demo update and move on with our day like it’s nothing ‘cause it’s not a proper launch. A lot of the best content has been left out of the demo, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. We could make the demo a more fulfilling experience without impacting anything behind the scenes or putting anything up for sale.

Not only that, but those who don’t want to see too much of the game before it’s fully launched will then be able to avoid the extra content more easily since it’s hidden away as a demo instead of getting the full marketing treatment. Sure, it might confuse newcomers who try the demo and find out it’s absurdly long for a demo, however that’s not the end of the world.

Since there is this clear divide, I think a compromise that tries to avoid the main things people were worried about while keeping as many of the benefits as we can is better than simply choosing one side or the other.

I hope that sounds like a positive development. Look forward to future announcements about the mega-sized demo expansions that will be on the way in coming months! And thank you again for following along with the development of Our Life: Now & Forever 🥰️

[gb-patch]

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day, and we've got a little something to share.

We continue to be amazed by the entries we received in the Winter '25 contest. So, GB and I have decided to gift each entrant a set of Our Life digital wallpapers! If you submitted an entry to the contest, keep an eye on your inbox, which should have a small gift delivered to it soon. 🎁

Anyone else doing any random acts today? 💕

[gb-patch]

February Mid-Month Update 💕

Hellooooo GB Patch community! Not only is it Valentine's Day, but it's also time for our mid-month post update! We hope today is full of love from friends, family, partners, and perhaps a fictional LI or two. Or three. Or....

ANYWAY! What has GB been up to so far in February? First, she announced that she is considering an episodic release format for OL: Now & Forever. A poll was sent out about it, and today is the last day to vote. If you'd like to, follow this link.

Here's a big one: Over 20K words have been written for the Homecoming Moment, and the characters have not even arrived at the dance yet! (Getting ready for a dance really does take forever 🤭) Colorful Class is also nearly finished programming-wise. 🎨

And that wraps it up for this mid-month update. If you have a note or question for GB, feel free to leave it in the comments! 👋

[gb-patch]

It's the day before Valentine's Day! Whether you're single, taken, or somewhere in the middle, we hope these Our Life cards make your heart happy! 💕

[gb-patch]

Winter 2025 Contest results are in! ✨

The moment you've been waiting for has finally arrived. We received an unbelievable amount of entries for the Winter 2025 contest, and each were just outstanding. I know it's a cliché to say that it was difficult to judge, but it really was. So difficult, actually, that we expanded two categories to include more winners. These new categories are "Other: Animatic" and "Art: Comic".

Thank you one thousand times to each person who submitted their hard work – we were humbled to see your love for Our Life.

With that being said, let's get into it! Your Winter 2025 GB Patch Games Contest winning submissions can be found here.

["Art: Comic" winning submission pictured, by Cam]

[gb-patch]

I didn't have time to submit anything for the contest :( do you have any idea when the next one might be? you guys are awesome btw and I'm excited to see who wins! also, would you consider maybe leaving more time for the next contest/doing them more frequently?

Hey there! Yes, I would love to do more contests in the future and, at the moment, don't have any reason not to host them. I'll likely send out a form for feedback on how to make the next contest even better, so keep an eye out for that! :)

[gb-patch]

Museum? Theme park? Regular park? Where do you think we're going? 🤔

Check out the Chapter Card for this Step 2 Moment! ✨

Our Life: Now & Forever is a nostalgic Visual Novel where you create your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with your two closest neighbors. It’s currently in development by GB Patch Games.

Steam Page

Itch.io Page

Discord -  Twitter - Website - Patreon

[gb-patch]

say hypothetically if you were to win the contest yet you already have all the paid rewards, would there be anything different? apologies if asked before ;^;

Hi! Those are our three offered prizes, but you're welcome to pass them along to friends or family if you win. Ideally our next contest will have new prizes, so you may have more interest in that one :)

[gb-patch]

Our Life: N&F Release Structure Poll

Hello!

Today it’s me, GB, writing a post for socials. I’ve been doing some thinking and have an important poll for all of you. I’ve gone on record to say there was something I didn’t ever plan on, but I’m reconsidering it. I want to know what players think of Our Life: Now & Forever releasing Step by Step instead of waiting for Steps 1, 2, and 3 to be completed before launch.

Google Form Poll Link

Honestly, things have been extremely upsetting with the state of the world. I’ve been stressed about it, wanting to do something that could comfort or reassure anyone, just lift people’s spirits a little. Having to accept that OL: N&F is not gonna be out any time this year has felt worse and worse every day. Though, players aren’t being unkind about it. Everyone’s been understanding; it’s my own internal anxiety troubling me. But that’s why I’m considering changing the release structure of the game. If getting to experience all of Step 1 in five or six months and Step 2 at the end of 2025 would be a positive development, then we’re gonna do that.

I’m a little self-conscious and think people need the whole growing up experience to be sold on the OL games. That’s a major reason I’ve not considered an episodic launch. But I think our player base knows the series well enough to decide for themselves if they’d rather play just a single Step or hold off on the game until more is done.

But the early access versions of Steps 1 and 2 would have some bells and whistles missing. Not all the MC Doll customization options would be included, a more advanced MC Detail system that listed things like if you’re good in school and if you have a bad relationship with your mom likely wouldn’t be there either, etc.

And another reason I tend to avoid early access is because it’s helpful for developers to gain income to finish the game. OL: N&F doesn’t need that. It’s already fully funded. I wouldn’t want players to buy DLCs at a bad time thinking they’ve gotta support this early access build.

So, there’s things to consider. I did think it was at least worth floating, whether it ends up happening or not. Please feel free to vote in the poll and comment any thoughts/opinions you have. The poll will close on Saturday, February 15th.

The episodic launch will have to be the clear winner for us to switch to that. If people are split on it or don’t care either way, we’ll stick with the original plan of launching Steps 1-3 together. 

Take care, everybody 💖

[gb-patch]

Hey! Hi! Howdy! 🤠 Did you know that GB Patch is on YouTube?

Well, friend, you do now. We'll be posting all of our TikToks and other video content there. 🥰

Check us out, here!

[gb-patch]

Today's the last day to submit your entry for the Winter 2025 contest!

Make sure to send them to community@gbpatchgames.com by 11:59 PM PST TONIGHT! ✨ Winners will be announced next Wednesday, February 12th 🥰

[gb-patch]

would there be more contests in the future? (i couldn't finish my entry on time </3)

That's my goal! I'd really love to make it happen and currently don't have any barriers to doing another. So all signs point to YES! 💕