Back and moving forward (Patreon)

To anyone who hasn't seen, I've been updating the game over on itch: https://rell02.itch.io/bloombound

I've been working on some updates and addressing things people have been working for.

As for the hiatus, I wrote about it on itch as well which you can read here if you're interested: https://rell02.itch.io/bloombound/devlog/1663567/coming-back-why-gone-whats-next

I also added the ability for you to write your own scenes and load them into the system to play. That way, if my updates are too slow, you have something to keep you entertained, lol. The document for how to write them is also on the itch page and downloadable. If anyone has written any scenes, I'd be really interested in seeing them. I'm also considering maybe having a method of having people being able to upload and share them somewhere 🤔. Also, if you are trying to write a scene and running into trouble, please let me know!

Now for the special patron only stuff.

So I'm trying to have updates be at least weekly. Either Mondays or Fridays, I haven't totally decided which yet. If there is a preference, let me know. As for this current month, I'm trying to focus on adding in some more flavor, more talking scenes, more date scenes. Kind of fluffing and filling out without more forward progress yet. I've seen a number of people ask for a mobile version, so I'm testing that out with a web version instead of an app, that way Android or iOS people can access the game without a desktop. I made a new itch page for that and it can be found here: https://rell02.itch.io/bloombound-webmobile

Please note, saves between the web/mobile version and desktop are not currently transferable. Probably in a future update, but not at the moment.

If you end up testing it out, let me know how it goes! I tested it as much as I could on my own device, but I'm sure there may be bugs I haven't caught.

As for the next month, I'm already exploring and working on a huge update. Admittedly, the breast expansion and ass expansion in it's current state, in my eyes, is kind of in a rough state and could be better. There's a couple different options to consider.

Option A: Less Dyanmic ExpansionThis means having drawn stages for each level of expansion. Meaning you would have to have like enough growth or EXP to reach the next level, triggering the next change of image. Admittedly, this is the easiest but not my favorite. I would like to be a little more ambitious and have all the growth be dynamic, so even if you grow by 1%, you see it.

Option B: The way I've been doing it alreadyI posted this image a while ago

This is how the system is currently implemented, with a base layer, then clothes layer, then resizable bust layer, and then resizable bust clothing layer on top of that. This method is really really hard. For each piece of clothing, I have to create a separate bust layer to fit over, and have it still look good and consistent when scaled up. This is a lot of overhead work. It fits in with the VN style and theme, but if it isn't perfect, it kind of looks cheap and low quality.

Option C: Try something new in the world of 3DI've been spending the past 2 weeks exploring some options in generating 3D models that are much more easily manipulatable. It took a long time to get there but I may be getting close:

If it actually works out, this opens up a lot of possibilities. I don't want to get hype totally up yet but I am working to see what I can do to provide the best quality and experience. For me and you. Can you tell I'm kind of a perfectionist? lol

Anyway, October there may not be a weekly update but I will share progress as I have it and hopefully by the end of the month it will all be done. I want to have a system and workflow in place that allows easily working within the system, adding new clothing, and new characters?

That's all I have for Bloombound for now. Admittedly, during my hiatus, I didn't work on Bloombound at all. That's not to say I didn't tinker around with some other personal projects just for myself every now and then. And those are things I would like to share and expand upon with only patrons. I will say that they involve 4x games, and Baldur's Gate 3. Those will come in a separate post extremely soon :)