🔧 Devlog 27 - the 0.7 patch, resting and art update (Patreon)

About the new patch releasing on patreon in about 2 weeks… Being as direct as possible, it's over 25k words.

I really wanted to have finished further ahead, at a specific point I had in mind. But then I started thinking about the future, the challenges that lie ahead and prioritizing myself a bit as well.

With the start of the new season aproaching, the search for new artists to work with us and still needing to make certain systems, I decided to limit the patch to 25k words. Which, put into perspective, almost reaches the size of a double patch xD.

But yeah, I needed to rest. I took the last few days for myself, to visit family, to be 100% off from work but also off from TrueClash. It was a decision to make sure I'm doing well and that I can continue producing content of this quality. And it actually felt pretty good!

I also wanted to have these 2 weeks to review the content we already have and start making new one, which is great because it allows me to have reserve content and hopefully avoid stopping releases due to the start of season 2, which requires a lot of images, a lot of preparation and a lot of planning... And if I'm doing that, I'm not writting the content itself :P

And YES! THIS PATCH IS GOING TO END ON A CLIFFHANGER! (as someone suggested...) or at least on a heavy moment... Or right before one... Who knows? (me 😈)

Feedback from beta testing:

Well… I let Alex and Viv test the patch and I asked them…

How would you summarize it? And this was their answer:

Art Update:

I've already met with some artists. I know—I know… No one surpasses "cat's" art (fywfhhy), but hear me out.

I decided to start with a group I had immense pleasure talking to by voice because of their perspective and their energy in general. It will be a bit more expensive because it's a studio, but it should be worth the investment.

They're going to remaster our sprites, fix small things like improving the linework, maybe change the pose to give more of the feeling I intended, in some cases change a thing or two I'd like, as well as improving the shading, coloring, etc.

But the goal is to keep the same characters, appearances, feeling, and emotions (especially their expressions) while giving the game a visual update. I want the characters to actually feel the same, just transformed into HD. I will try to not ask them to change bodies, features or clothes because I know you're used to (and so am I) the characters being the way they are. But sometimes, I had something in mind that I couldn't do at the time and now with their help I might. But rest assured, I want the characters to still look like themselves! That's the most important part for now.

I'll show the initial results here later, they need time to cook ;)

Art Roadmap:

Update the drawing quality—a remaster of our characters while keeping their appearance and who they are—starting with Matt, who was the first one I made and poor guy… of all of them, he's the one with the lowest quality linework and coloring (I didn't know better at the time xD).

Take designs I've already made for the new season and update them as well—I have designs I've already done for the new season and I'd like to reuse them.

Create new designs for the new season. I have character ideas in my head, but I confess I haven't translated them into visuals yet. I'd like them to start doing that work.

And these would be the priorities for now.

In the future, it would be a dream to keep on working with artists while I dedicate myself to the writing side. Patches would be bigger, the drawing quality and characters would be visually better and it would truly stop being a solo project. We could redo the combat sprites (right now I could make them much better, but I don't have time…), backgrounds and who knows, maybe even some CGs. But that would be a dream. To get there, we have to keep building a game that you love and want to see grow. One step at a time.

And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for this possibility. I couldn't hire anyone without your support and beleiving in us.

Expect more updates on this soon.

Your comments

I tried to pick up on some topics you talked about in your comments and take the opportunity to comment myself or clarify some of your questions.

So let's dig into some of them!

On Joel:

I know you're interested in getting to know him better. When I introduced him at the club, I still greatly underestimated how long things take to progress xD.

I wanted him to be a teaser of someone I would develop more in the following season. But it's already been a few months and we still haven't reached the beach to be able to do that :P

But in short, yes, I plan to make content for Joel and introduce more of him at the beach.

On explicit NSFW:

The goal of this game is not and will never be explicit NSFW. I want to introduce explicit NSFW at a time that makes sense and is meaningful for the characters or for the story. I want to introduce it because it's part of reality and not as a product. Of course, I have planned a character or two who are more open to getting involved that way with Ren, but the remaining characters, by fate's design (me <.<), aren't like that.

So yeah, this game is more about the story, about the characters, about the emotions and about the relationships you build and that are formed, rather than sexual content itself.

That's why I want to be 100% honest with you and reinforce that it's not the main focus of this game. But I do hope you like it when you get to experience it <.<

See you soon