There is a pretty simple explanation if you all are willing to accept it. And if you can't, there probably isn't any way to convince you other than for me to actually release something, which is exactly what I'm trying to do.
Summary:
This shit is hard and it takes years to develop an application like this. If this were easy, there would be more competitors.
Longer explanation:
I was developing VaM1 for several years before I even showed it to the public in any form. VaM2 required something similar. At first I thought I could reuse a lot of code and work from VaM1 so the transition to VaM2 would be shorter, but I'm essentially rewriting everything from scratch. After digging further into VaM2 it was obvious that I had to lay completely new groundwork to meet all the goals I had set out for performance and improvements in rendering and physics. For VaM2 we are now somewhere in the middle of those 3 years of development it took before presenting VaM1 to the public. I won't say where we are because it is too hard to predict exactly. I know it has already been more than 3 years since the first mention of VaM2, but along the way VaM1 was also still being worked on, including the Hub, which was a huge amount of work to pull off and maintain. A sizeable % of the Patreon earnings go into running the Hub ad free. I also took VaM1 off the shelf to help with the retail launch and help ease the large time gap between VaM1 and VaM2. So VaM1 got some much needed love to improve usability to help extend its lifetime. Another thing to consider is during the earlier VaM1 days I was also working 80 hour weeks and it was costing me a great deal in the rest of my life. I'm no longer willing to do that as it isn't sustainable. I would rather it take longer than burn out or worse.
Like many of you, I don't like how long it is taking to complete VaM2, but I'm doing the best I can with the resources I have. Thank you to those that have been supportive and understanding. If this were easy, there would be more competitors. I have seen competitors come and go. Many of those projects that looked promising as a competitor (that I even supported!!) have kind of dropped off the map. My guess is because this is not an easy thing to create and they got stuck and lost hope. There are challenges every day that often require custom workarounds, clever solutions, or compromises. The work can be frustrating and sometime solutions to problems take weeks or months to work out. But with the proper drive and persistence, it is possible to bring a project like this to completion.
I'm loving working on VaM2 nearly every day. I'm very excited about the possibilities and improving the parts of VaM1 that I was not as proud of (mostly usability and performance). I want to keep enjoying making it and make a quality product that improves upon every aspect of VaM1. If I love what I'm doing, it will show in the end result. That is how VaM1 came to be, and I believe it is the correct path for VaM2 as well.