Build 14 will be released on July 3rd for patrons.

On the same day we will be publishing the two updates preceding it (corresponding to Builds 11 and 12) as a single mega update on Itch.io. This way the wider public will have all the game's content except for Build 14.

This update adds the big, climactic sex scene we've been building up to for years. This is no regular sex scene, not even by the high standards we've set across Minotaur Hotel, Devil's Gambit and Sex Drive. It's scope and size is unprecedented for us, possibly for furry visual novels as well, and I'd like to take some time today to lay out what we are about to publish.

For a long time we've known that "the big sex scene" should provide players with the freedom they've come to expect from Minotaur Hotel while remaining thematically coherent with our vision — by which I mean it should be meaningful, erotic, beautiful and poetic.

To put this in more concrete terms: over the years we had collected an extensive list of ideas, many of them coming from players through comments and survey responses. We knew that some of those ideas had to go into the game, and some of those did not fit what we were going for. Between those two ends of the spectrum there were many ideas which were good, people reasonably would want to explore these in-game, and we could see ourselves putting those in. Our goal was to include all the absolutely necessary ideas and as many of the "good and coherent" ones as we could, all while strictly addhering to our vision.

Now, what this means is that we'd have to write an extensive number of "things that you can do during sex", as well as a number of "things that each player can toggle on or off", and we'd have to put it together in a technically sound structure. We'd need many CGs to illustrate all of these actions, as well as the scripting know-how to make the transitions and key moments really work.

The "kink selection" mechanic is something I prototyped with Sex Drive, and my partnership with Alpha on Devil's Gambit provided us with the experience required for all the illustrations. And with Wattson, who's extremely experienced with ren'py, we knew we were covered in terms of programming.

But then there is the writing itself. This structure could please most, if not all players, while pushing the story forward in the way we need it to, but, again, it'd necessarily come at the cost of an absolutely gargantuan workload -- the kind of insane amounts of writing that no single writer could reasonably be expected to deliver. Something that only a team of writers could accomplish in an all hands on deck effort.

So we did it.

The Behemoth

As of the time of writing this post, Build 14 is 70,000 words long, of which 15,000 are dedicated to setting things up and 55,000 are for the sex scene itself.

Before anyone loses their mind at this absolutely insane word count, I must reiterate that the point here is to provide players with choices and the ability to pick what happens, how it happens, and how quickly things advance. Your choices will determine how much of the sex scene you'll see, and all the toggles we provide will essentially personalize the text for you.

To convey just what I mean, I want to go over how it's going to work.

Mood & Nickname

You'll be able to choose between 4 "moods" that set the tone for the sex scene itself. This choice will affect the sex scene in a number of ways, including by unlocking unique options. Three Moods will be available to all players, while the fourth and final one will be exclusive to players who have acted more dominantly during their playthrough.

You'll also be able to pick what Asterion will call you during sex, and we're including an option to type your choice in.

Anatomy & Wardrobe

As many of you figured out over the years, Asterion's limited "shapeshifting" powers could be used creatively and recreationally! I think people will really like this one.

Additionally, you'll be able to select jewelry for Asterion to wear — that includes the nose ring, the laurel wreathe and whichever accessory you gave him during Chapter 20. Some of these will also affect the writing in select moments.

Kink Selection

And then there are the kinks! You can activate any combination of them (including none or all.) Though not pictured here, you will also be able to pick how often you'll be shown descriptions of scents (or "musk" as some would call it).

All these choices — wardrobe, anatomy, mood, and kinks — can interact with each other, and at times you will get extremely unique lines. It is no exaggeration when I say that you'll get an extremely personalized sex scene. Putting everything together, there are 23 variables we keep track of as a result of these choices (but we also use at least 8 more for a few less noticeable flourishes.)

And this is just the setup! For the sex scene itself...

The Beef

Now, I don't want to spoil too much, so I'll stick with the facts.

The sex scene is divided into three main sections: foreplay, oral and anal, each one with its own set of options you can choose from. They all adapt to your choices, and some are exclusive to players who picked certain moods or kinks. They range in length from short and concise (about 500 words) to sprawling, detailed and extremely adaptive (one in particular is 3,500 words long).

Foreplay will have 9 options. They tend to be longer and more detailed, as they are very different from each other and have many unique ideas to explore.

The Oral section has 14 options (maybe more, 2 options are for now considered to be cut content but if we have time we'll squeeze them in). This section in particular has many variations to account for Asterion's anatomy and the kinks you selected.

The Anal section is the most difficult to quantify because it will have many particularities. I'll say it has, in the traditional sense, 12 options — but you'll only be able to explore half of them, and then there's a series of extra choices and variations. This is the most literary part and, in terms of writing quality, it's the one I'm most proud of.

Also, and let me be clear here: the MC tops, Asterion bottoms.

Overall these three sections are about the same length, around 17,000 to 19,000 words each, but the Anal section will most likely be the shortest in your playthrough because it limits how many options you can pick.

Now, in regards to the visuals and music, Alpha0 prepared 14 CGs for us, which are broken down to 119 files to handle all the variations, and Eymon contributed with 2 tracks.

Playtesting

We intend on doing another round of playtesting, which should go out to our patrons in the Good Master tier in the next few days, if all goes well. We really want to make sure this big update will be as bug-free as possible.

This new Playtest will include the Anal section, either limited to its first half or in its entirety depending on how things go.

Good Master patrons currently have access to the Playtest build containing the Foreplay and Oral sections — so I'd say now is possibly the best time ever to subscribe to it. You'll gain access to the presently available Playtest immediately, followed by the one containing the Anal section, then the final version in early July... And on top of all that you'll gain access our unpublished prototypes, DevTalks and Art Streams, VIP Stories, Pedro's Spellbook, and even permanent access to Sex Drive. It's a lot of value, and you'll be supporting the game's development — in particular all the beautiful things we have in store for the Visual Update.

In short...

I'm paraphrasing it, but one of our Good Master playtesters described the sex scene so far as "like everyone is invited to the same party, and the party works for nearly all of us (even those with opposite kinks or preferences.)" Another playtester (again paraphrasing) said: "I'm completely blown away. Every one of my high expectations has been exceeded tenfold. Everything about it has so much soul and heart; it's infectiously uplifting, in a way.(...) Here, the sex scene is the next step of Asterion's character arc, not a reward at the end of the arc or something separate from it."

These comments just about encapsulates my hope in all of this: to write a sex scene that welcomes just about everyone while strictly maintaining our creative vision. It's character-driven, literary, beautiful, meaningful, erotic and poetic.

This sex scene was a gargantuan amount of work. I haven't bothered to actually check, but it just might be the biggest one in a furry visual novel. But more important than its length is its quality, and we are confident we wrote something remarkable.

I look forward to unleashing this behemoth. I'll see you soon, my dear reader.

—Mino.