August Devlog - Introducing Catgirl Care + New Characters (Patreon)

Hello again! Welcome back to the devlog!

Last time I spoke a bit about the ongoing adult games issue on Itch as well as some experiments and future plans. Two of those future plans I mentioned will be the focus of this month's devlog: Catgirl Care and my new characters, Pam and Aziza.

Before we dive in, I'd like to say that I'm still planning a good time to release Catgirl Care Chibi. It's a bit awkward as an adult game dev to release a SFW game during a situation like Itch's. I'll figure something out soon but in the meantime, patrons can download and play Catgirl Care Chibi here. Patrons can also play Rockin' Resort's beta!

Catgirl Care: Some History

A bit of a primer for everyone since it's been a while: I initially planned Catgirl Care as a choice-focused visual novel similar to A Night With a Bat Girl. I did not get far when developing this concept as I felt it wasn't working as a visual novel. If you're interested, you can play the canceled VN's demo here.

At the time, I knew I had some good ideas but nowhere near enough gamedev experience to make the game, so I released the VN demo as a way to find people who might be interested in helping out. To my surprise, some people did join on the project and we even got a bit of now-scrapped development done.

Development with a team did not last very long, though. By the end of the year, everyone had already moved on to other projects - which is fine; it was all volunteer work after all. That said, I've always felt that Catgirl Care was too good of an idea to give up on.

In 2019, I decided I would take game development more seriously. Date a Mink and Ghost Love had been relatively small projects that were mostly made for fans on tumblr. Initially, I tried learning Unity and Unreal but I gave up on them very quickly. After losing my job early in 2020, I had more time than ever to focus on my art and gamedev (thank you by the way!). Since that point, every project I have made (especially after switching from Ren'Py to Godot) has been built with the intent to use the skills I was learning to create Catgirl Care as I envision it.

What is Catgirl Care?

Catgirl Care is a 3D raising sim that aims to give the experience of living with catgirls.

During gameplay, customizable catgirls will roam and relax in the environment, acting according to their stats and traits, allowing them to express simplistic, catlike personalities. As the player, you can spend time with the catgirls at the park, back at your place, or a number of other locations. In first person, you will be able to interact directly with the catgirls to pet them, play stat-raising games, listen to their opinions, and more.

The story takes place in Animeland (name not final), a city where most anime tropes are real occurrences. This means that a giant lizard may prevent you from going to the beach, magical girls may help you on occasion, and, of course, catgirls are real.

I want the game to be fairly open-ended, allowing players to not only focus on their in-lore duties training the catgirls but also romance, competition, and even just relaxing in the moment.

Catgirl Care Progress

I've planned out the entire first demo for Catgirl Care and it feels fairly achievable.

First, I'll need a 3D model to play with. That's where I've been putting in my effort so far this month. I have a full body modeled and I've started work on her cat ears and tail. I'm a bit happier with this model so far when compared to the Rockin' Resort base. I feel that the proportions are a bit nicer and that the lower vertex count should mean more catgirls can be rendered on screen. I'm looking forward to having this model rigged and ready soon!

After I finish the 3D model, I plan to make basic catgirl creation/customization, a simple catgirl AI, a test scene with a player controller, and a petting system. I don't plan to polish many of these features by the first update, but I think having these systems set up will allow me to build out with future updates.

New Characters

I've been working on two new characters! Their designs are done and they're ready to be drawn. I'm planning to draw a short comic with them to show how they act and how they fit in with the Stellar Fantasy crew. Anyhow, here they are:

First up is Pam!

She may seem cutesy and girly at first, but Pam is very mischievous. She has the magic ability to turn her body (just her body) invisible and she will readily use it to get into places she shouldn't, overhear things she shouldn't, and take things she shouldn't.

Pam is a princess and she's used to getting her way. She believes herself to be special in that rules don't apply to her. Her frequent mischief for her own amusement might make Pam seem cruel but she's an empathetic person and can be a very useful ally in a dungeon.

And here's Aziza!

Given Pam's general unpredictability, Aziza is the knight in charge of protecting the princess and keeping her in line. She's fiercely loyal, serious, and prefers to not ask for help. After joining the Stellar Fantasy crew, Aziza struggles a bit to adapt from being a knight.

She still takes her duty of keeping Pam safe seriously but learning how to do so as equals is going to be a long journey for her.

There's a lot more I could write about them, but for now:What do you think of Pam and Aziza?

Pam and Aziza are two of my oldest characters. I have notes relating to them dating back to at least January 2016 and I might have created them well before that. They predate my initial concepts for Stellar Fantasy and just happened to fit perfectly into the setting.

I actually wrote about Pam in 2021 for Weekly Art Poll 75. I was trying to keep her a little more tame at the time instead of leaning into her capriciousness which is funny to see. That was the poll that led to Alma being designed but it also has early info on Katie and Bingbing! Regarding Shiba and April, I may still design them in time. We'll see!

What's Next?

This devlog has gotten pretty big but to summarize: I'm planning to focus work on getting a beta for Catgirl Care built and I'm planning to release my two new characters, Pam and Aziza soon!

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Anyhow, thanks as always for your support! The fact that I'm actually at the point where I'm able to focus most of my day working on Catgirl Care is exciting for me and it's all thanks to your support. Expect more art this upcoming month and I'll keep you all updated on game development.