The Future of SOULWINDER

Welcome to the very first official SOULWINDER News post!

Finally, a real update! And full of good news it is. Whether you've been patiently waiting for a status update since the comic ended a year ago (Bless your soul), or you finished the comic mere moments ago and are still trying to process that cruel "Cliffhung-and-Cancelled" cocktail: Read onwards, and rejoice!

We're officially working on a new SOULWINDER project.

More on that later in this post! And that's not all, either:

New entries in the SOULWINDER universe will utilize A NEW MEDIUM (Not comics).

The next medium has already been determined. In fact, it was determined before we even finished airing the comic! “Very cool!” “Wow!” “Who asked?” I'm glad you think so too. We'll officially reveal the medium at a later point in time. For now, enjoy your spectacular speculating with those spectacles of yours! What I can say is that the road ahead involves (And has already involved) a lot of learning for me and those on board. And it involves a lot of spending for us, too! (More on this later as well)

What’s important for everyone to know is this: WEBTOON will no longer be involved in the creation or funding of new SOULWINDER projects. Any future SOULWINDER project is completely up to me (Lynk) to create and fund. And oh boy, if you didn’t already know, let me tell you that producing robust entertainment media can get EXPENSIVE like you wouldn’t believe. Either time-wise, or financially. Or both! Usually both. Anyways, back to the news:

For this medium, TWO experimental “Test Projects” are in the works.

• Project #1 is based on a new intellectual property, which I created for the purpose of experimentation. It's extremely likely that this one releases first.
• Project #2 is a brand-new canon SOULWINDER side-story set during the events of the comic series. This is the "New project" mentioned earlier.

The goal is to release these fun experiments for you to enjoy at unspecified dates in 2025. Each of them offer different production challenges I’ll need to overcome if I want to take the SOULWINDER franchise forward in the way I'm envisioning. Wish me tons of strength, because I'll need it!

Now, the mysterious "Project #1" is cool and all, and personally I’m excited for when I can tell you more. But I know you’re all looking at "Project #2" — the SOULWINDER one. This humorous side-story can be summed up in one idea: "Who cares if the world's ending? My rent is due on friday!" Please look forward to a return to The City of Zale, and new interactions with familiar characters.

The reason I'm opting for a side-story like this is simply because SOULWINDER's world is very special to me. If I’m going to use it to tell a significant story, then I want to be confident I can give it my best foot forward like we did with the comic. And these test projects will help with just that. After they release, we hope to start working on a new mainline entry to the SOULWINDER universe, with a story that has a similar "significiance" that the comic does. And one more thing about these “Test Projects"...

The “Test Projects” will be released for FREE.

“Free?! That’s awesome! But didn’t you say that making things costs money, or something?”

I did say that, yeah! Since WEBTOON isn't backing these independent projects, you may be wondering how exactly I'm able to charge people nothing at all. What changed? The answer is simple: Nothing! This is probably gonna cost me a lot! But the idea of charging people to enjoy “Experimental Test Projects” doesn’t feel right. When they come out, there WILL be ways in which you can financially support them if you wish to, but it won’t be a requirement.

Now, even though I’m a working adult with a fulltime job, the world we live in demands we spend our hard-eard dabloons to survive. I’m able to allocate some of my personal income to working on independent things (Like said “Test Projects”), but I know that as I go further down this path, it’s not going to be enough to do SOULWINDER the justice I want to give it. As you've likely figured out by now, a major way we're hoping to fund SOULWINDER's future is through the related merchandise we're developing (Just announced!). And if you haven't taken that merchandise survey yet, please take it now!! We really, really DO need your help with this, and the input of our fans will help with a lot more than just creating merch. If you know you know, and whatnot.

I’m also considering launching a Patreon (and/or a Ko-fi) soon, so you can throw your dough at supporting this cause if it's your heart's desire. If that sounds like you, then either comment below or react with an orange square on our latest Discord #soulwinder-news post so I can gauge interest! At this time, any and all profit made from merchandise/Patreon/Ko-Fi/Etc. will be reserved solely for SOULWINDER-related projects that need the funding. Making a Kickstarter campaign is also a cool idea for a larger project the future! Not yet though. Baby steps.

[12/18/2024 EDIT: We now have a Ko-fi here!]

Thanks for reading to the end of the first official SOULWINDER News post! You are now up to speed with the current state of things, and what we plan for the future. For the curious, I hope I could scratch your SOULWINDER-itch for now, even just a little bit. And if you're subscribed to our mailing list, then you got an email letting you know about this post as soon as it went up. If you're not subscribed, you can do so now at the very bottom of this page, so you never miss a future news update!

There's another announcement coming up in a few weeks, but for most of you it'll be less exciting than everything else we've shared so far. It'll still be cool though, especially for SOULWINDER readers who can't exist right now.

Thank you to everyone for sticking around for as long as you have. I look forward to what the future holds for everyone along for this journey. Until then, remember!

Don't calm down!