I congratulate all the users and followers of the Depression on the first anniversary of Deep Russian Depression!
Despite the hardships and doubts that constantly hover over all of us, the development of the game continues thanks to your belief in our cause. The second year of Deep Russian Depression begins today, and it will bring new perspectives for many of us. Stay tuned for updates so you don’t miss what awaits us this year.
As promised, today we will answer the questions that were asked.
How did it happen that the game’s release date suddenly changed to 2028?
Such things happen in life — it's the human factor. I miscalculated the time Valve would need to review Deep Russian Depression, which is why the full release of the game on February 24, 2024, was delayed. Since I’m a bit obsessed with beautiful numbers, the next beautiful date for the game’s release is February 28, 2028.
Will we see an early version before the release, or is the release date the date for Early Access?
Yes, possibly. If the long-awaited cessation of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine happens soon, Russian banks will be reconnected to SWIFT, which will allow receiving money transfers from Valve for game sales on Steam.
However, I'm not entirely sure whether the agreement to avoid double taxation between the US and Russia is currently in place. If this agreement has been suspended, I’ll have to pay a 30% tax on the game’s price in the US and 13% in Russia, which is unacceptable. Having such an agreement between the countries is a mandatory requirement for Deep Russian Depression to be sold.
Therefore, if both conditions are met, the game will quickly be available in Early Access on Steam. Otherwise, the game will be released on February 28, 2028.
Is it possible to play the game right now?
Such an opportunity is available to the forty-eight people who received activation keys for the game before the event Bissextus (2024). This giveaway was an exceptional event and my compensation for all those who eagerly awaited the game’s release and showed activity in the community hub .
Such giveaways will not be held anymore, but not because I’m reluctant to give out keys, but because I need people to buy the game through Steam, thus bringing us closer to the most important goal — deleting the "Limited Features" tag, which will allow adding Steam cards, emoticons, stickers, and backgrounds related to Deep Russian Depression.
Dear developers of Deep Russian Depression, have you considered creating an additional product related to the game, like Deep Russian Depression Coin?
Of course! Against the backdrop of recent news about the success of the $TRUMP coin and the meme Belarusian bank "Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated" I’ve been casually thinking about the prospects of creating Deep Russian Depression Coin.
However, I and many readers are far from the world of cryptocurrencies and don’t really understand it, so don’t expect any coin to be released anytime soon.
If I remember, 2 years ago, you had a significantly different art style to the anime one of more recent. What prompted this change?
You probably know that our modern youth is obsessed with anime. Obviously, games in the anime style attract more attention than similar ones made in a photorealistic style. Two years ago, when neural networks were just starting to infiltrate our everyday lives, I, filled with interest in this new technology, decided to experiment with Stable Diffusion and was pleased with the results. Since the previous cover images for the game in the store seemed a bit dull to me, it was decided to create new ones using Stable Diffusion, but this time in the anime style.
The community had mixed reactions to this change: many of the loyal users unsubscribed from the game’s updates, but in their place came new ones — the very anime lovers I mentioned earlier. I believe I made the most successful decision: the game started attracting more attention, which positively affected important metrics on Steam. Also, the cover image was added to the collage on the game’s main page during the Steam Next Fest: February 2024 Edition, which further confirms the correctness of this decision.
What about the music and visual aspects of the game? In the description, you mentioned that there are significant issues with them. Are you doing everything yourself, or do you have a team/assistants?
The main issue is that I don’t have a talent for music and visual arts, but I also can’t trust someone else with this. I still have some free time to master the necessary skills, as well as neural networks that can help me create quality images and audio files.
I have a few advisors and testers, but they are not directly involved in the creation of Deep Russian Depression.
Did you have to study the basics of programming by sifting through hundreds of articles on the internet, or take courses? Or perhaps writing code turned out to be the easiest part of development?
No, I didn’t have to take courses or read hundreds of articles. Of course, I read some thematic guides, but they were far fewer than a hundred. It’s important to note that Deep Russian Depression is not my first project on RenPy, so the mistakes typical for beginners are a thing of the past.
Writing code for a visual novel is not that difficult, considering I have guides created by the years of effort from the RenPy community, as well as two assistants: ChatGPT and DeepSeek. Writing the actual novel itself is much more challenging, given my high standards for any text I plan to publish.
Sometimes, I get this obsessive thought that I have no right to tarnish the Russian language and this genre with my mediocre writing and the equally mediocre meaning embedded in it. My dilemma is that I have a huge aversion to my own prose, yet readers and like-minded people find it excellent, and at worst, just "not bad."
How much time does development take? Do you have a set schedule, or do you work on the game in your free time?
No time to answer this question.
Do you have a dev blog anywhere else besides the Steam news (for example, a Telegram channel)? It would be interesting to follow the development.
No, at the moment all information about Deep Russian Depression is published only in the game’s community hub, as everything is in one place, which is very convenient for both users and me.
There’s also another important reason: I don’t like online platforms that require phone number registration, including Telegram.
Ask The Dev (#1)
No one expected it, no one asked for it, but exactly three years ago, a page for the game Deep Russian Depression appeared on Steam.
It happened spontaneously, and only because my father sent me a motivational video in which actor Anthony Hopkins urged people to believe in what they are about to do. And I believed. After that, I spent my last money to pay the Steam Direct fee required to publish the game. As it turned out, this decision was timely, and I managed to seize the last opportunity.
Back then, we didn’t yet know that a pivotal event would soon occur, forever changing the lives of people in the post-Soviet space, and its consequences would affect everything, including game development. Yet, despite all the changes and challenges that have emerged over the past three years, I continue to believe in what I’m doing!
However, some users suspect that Deep Russian Depression doesn’t actually exist, and all the activity around it is a scam to collect donations.
While their suspicions are not entirely unfounded, these users are mistaken. I don’t blame them for this, as they don’t know what I know. This is my shortcoming, as I’ve been less active in posting updates on this blog, which has raised suspicions. But today, decisive measures are being taken to address this!
On February 24, 2025, the first anniversary of Deep Russian Depression, I will answer all your burning questions. These questions can be about any topic related to Deep Russian Depression.
If you have a question, write it in the comments to this post. Each user can ask one question, and related questions from different users will receive a collective response. I ask everyone to be tactful and refrain from using profanity or insults.
Questions will be accepted for thirty-five days from the date of this post.
How I Spent My Summer (2024)
Later I will post here something.
Product Build Review Result
A few hours ago, I received a long-awaited response from customer support. They apologized for the lengthy review and identified two issues with Deep Russian Depression that need to be addressed before submitting the game build for re-review.
Valve Corporation takes financial matters seriously, and the first issue is that their employees don't fully understand the programming aspect of the current distribution and monetization system for user-generated content in Deep Russian Depression.
The other issue is that the process of creating modifications is not as simple as advertised on the game's store page. A buyer may get the false impression that they're dealing with a visual novel constructor. Deep Russian Depression is not a constructor, as there's no special functionality within the application for creating modifications.
Both claims are justified. Customer support doesn't oppose my innovative ideas, but they require a build where all the game's features are available for use within the application without any external interactions.
Unfortunately, creating such a build in a short time is difficult considering my skills and the initial data. In order for the game to be released, the previously announced features will be adapted to Valve's requirements.
The ability to create modifications based on Deep Russian Depression will remain unchanged, but it will reluctantly cease to be a key feature of the application, resulting in changes to the game's page on the Steam store in the near future.
As before, users will be able to upload their additional stories, sprites, and backgrounds to the Workshop to share them with the community, but only on a non-commercial basis: monetizing such content through Steam will not be possible.
The in-game store and Steam inventory will be temporarily disabled: in some project development scenarios, this functionality may be useful in the future.
Once all necessary changes have been made, I will request a re-review of the game build. Considering that the last review took almost three months, the next one may be equally lengthy, although this is unlikely.
I will definitely notify you of the results as soon as they become available. And I remind you: as before, DonationAlerts is available for anyone wishing to support the game's development.
I̴n̷ D̷e̴p̵r̶e҉s̸s̴i̸o̸n҈ W̶e̵ T̴r̷u̸s̴t̶
April 1st, 2024, Monday:
Well, April has rolled in, and the first three months of this year have vanished into thin air. The weather outside matches my mood — gloomy and hovering around zero degrees Celsius. Feeling alright, though.
Time keeps marching on, but they don't answer to my messages. Guess they don't see me as a partner anymore. Why? I've tried to be a good man, remembered important dates, and even dished out some gifts. But alas, it wasn't mutual. Maybe we're just not on the same page.
Forty-seven days have passed since I submitted the game to the Product Build Review in Steam. During all this time, I have patiently ҉̢S҈U̷̸F̴F̶E҈R̷҈E̷҉D̴̸ for a Steam Support answer, but still haven't received any. I guess we'll have to ҉̛S̶U̴F̵F̶̶E̵̵R̸҈̵F̷̨͞O̶̢͡R̴̢͠Ȩ̷̛V҈͜͡E̶̡̕R̴͢͞ before the full release.
It can confidently be stated that I҉̧͝Ţ̵͠ is the P̸̡̛E҈̧̛Ŗ̸͠F̵̛͜E҉̡̛Ç̵͡T҈̧̛I̴̧͞O҉̢͠N̵̢҇ in the visual novel genre, which only S҈̦҇́̇͢E҈̧̫̲͓͛̕̚E҈̨͉҇̏̓̿K̸̲̞̦̽͜͠E҉̨̞̄͌̕R҉̨͖̓̀͠S҉͖͇̓̀̓̕͜ will try out! Forty-nine S҉̡҇Ȩ̵͡E̸̡̕K̶̨͞E҈҇͢R̴̡͠S̴̢҇ have already seen I҉̧͝Ţ̵͠ and the majority of them turned out to be Z҈̡͡E҈̨͞A҉̛͜L҈҇͢O҉̨͝T҈̡̕S҉̨͠! But now I҉̧͝Ţ̵͠ has no time for empty words.
I think everything will be fine, I just need to wait a little bit. They will write to me, I'm sure of it, I just need to wait a little longer. Wait. A little longer. Everything will be fine.
Bissextus (2024)
Bissextus is an ancient term for a leap year in the Roman calendar. The term comes from the Latin "bis sextus," which means "twice sixth day." A leap year adds an extra day to February to synchronize the calendar with the solar year.
The concept of a leap year was introduced in Ancient Rome, where an extra day was added every fourth year to compensate for the extra six hours in the year that were not accounted for in the regular 365-day calendar. This allowed for consistency between the calendar and the seasons.
Today, the concept of a leap year is widely used in the Gregorian calendar, which we currently use. It mandates the introduction of a leap day if the year is evenly divisible by 4, except for years that are evenly divisible by 100 but not by 400. This complex algorithm ensures precise alignment of the calendar with the duration of the solar year.
In the modern world, a leap year is important for maintaining order in our time measurement. Without it, dates would quickly become misaligned, and our calendars and clocks would be out of sync with natural cycles. Thus, while the term "bissextus" may sound archaic, its significance for our everyday lives remains undeniable.
***
Launch the game on February 29, 2024, to unlock the "Bissextus" achievement in 2024. The next possible date to unlock this achievement is February 29, 2028.
Release Has Been Postponed
I apologize, but the game release has been postponed. We failed the Product Build Review on Steam, and the destiny of the game is uncertain for all of us.
Please inform me clearly below this post if you want to get a copy of the game right now. I will personally send you a key, which will grant you a copy of the game and full access to it before the release.
Also, I strongly recommend that you get for the achievement "Bissextus", which can be earned by launching the game only on February 29th of any possible year.
Don't delay with this: you have only 146 hours from the publication of this post to get the key and the achievement.
Steam Next Fest Live Stream (#2)
Steam Next Fest Live Stream (#2). Join us!
Steam Next Fest Live Stream (#1)
Steam Next Fest Live Stream (#1). Join us!
Deep Russian Depression Blog (#0)
Greetings! Apologies to each reader of this blog, as this part was supposed to be out in the summer of 2023. Unfortunately, at that time, I forgot to publish this on time, and there wasn't much to say. I must mention a reader who became concerned when I stopped communicating. This reader is known to me under the nickname Puck, and for their vigilance, they have earned my respect and a mention in the last edition of this blog.
Yes, this is the final part of this blog. As you may have noticed, the material from previous parts is no longer available for reading. In my opinion, this news format was initially a mistake as it forced me to find some words, sometimes unrelated to game development. From now on, all game news will be based not on the publish date but on the information I want to share.
As of today, the game has attracted the attention of five thousand five hundred Steam users from around the world! The greatest interest in the game was shown by users from the USA and Russian Federation. Still, on the eve, an unknown user from the small European state of Andorra also learned about the game, after which he/she/it added it to his/her/its "Wishlist". This small happening reminded me that on the Internet, we are not limited by distance or language, and that's wonderful!
However, many of us are limited by weak financial situations and modest incomes. To ease this situation, I've decided: in each country, the game will cost approximately as much as one US dollar in the local currency. If you want to support the game for a larger amount, pay attention to the penultimate paragraph.
I highly recommend testing the game's demo version during the Steam Next Fest: February 2024 Edition, which will take place from February 5 to 12, 2024. Everyone who adds our demo to their Steam library will receive a small souvenir in the main game. I'll be grateful for any feedback during the demo version testing. Perhaps during the festival, I will conduct one or two live streams where we can discuss my plans and your suggestions regarding the game.
You can still immortalize your name in the game menu by making a donation and leaving a message for players and descendants: visit DonationAlerts to find out the details. All donated money will be used to buying a new PC to me. I could patiently wait for the game's release and receive money for sold copies, but currently, I can't receive payments from Valve, because Russian banks was banned in the SWIFT.
