Major Announcement: Progress Update + Game Release Update (Patreon)

Hey there, buddies! We're back with our promised Major Update at the end of month of August to let everyone know how the final stages of game development are coming!

We ask that everyone please take the time to read through this post as it contains a lot of information and answers to the questions that most of you have!

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RELEASE DATE UPDATED

Unfortunately, like we warned in our previous Major Update, we will have to update the release of Camp Buddy in order to completely finish everything. We sincerely apologize for this delay, but we want to assure everyone that we are very near the completion of the game, and will detail what work is left to do below for all of you to see! 

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STORY/SCRIPTWRITING

As we've discussed in almost all of our Major Updates, Story/Scriptwriting has been the team's main goal for the entirety of the development, as we wanted to make sure that everything is up to an equal, high standard split between each of the four main character routes. 

We are happy to announce that Natsumi's Route, the final route for the initial release of the game, has been fully drafted! Our team is still currently reviewing the route to check any inconsistencies in the story, and to ensure that everything in it matches up to the standards we have set in Hiro, Hunter and Yoichi's route, but once this review is finished we are happy to say that all story for the main game release will be completed!

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PROGRAMMING

As we continue to finalize the review of Natsumi's route, our programmer, Jey, has been following close behind and coding every script we prepare in the same day he's received it! Since our last update, he has managed to completely finish coding Hunter's route, and has already coded half of Natsumi's route! We expect his progress to continue at a steady rate, and to be moving into the Beta Testing phase shortly!

Speaking of Beta Testing, last time we announced our new team member, Corbs, who is assisting Jey with the miscellaneous programming tasks! He has made great progress in finishing both minigames, as well as fully completing an initial Beta Test of Hiro and Yoichi's route! He will begin Beta Testing Hunter's route soon, and Natsumi's will follow shortly after!

To give everyone a little taste, here are some in-game previews Jey has shared on his twitter, including a never-before seen preview!

Hiro Route:

Yoichi Route:

Hunter Route:

Natsumi Route:

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ART

Throughout the story progress, Mikkoukun and Zael have been working hard to draft and line the various new Sprite Costumes, FX Scenes, CG's, Sex scenes, and backgrounds in the game! We can happily announce that all of Hiro, Yoichi and Hunter's CG and Sex scenes, as well as additional sprite costumes and backgrounds have been drafted, and are in the process of being lined and colored! Once our final review of Natsumi's route has been completed, Mikkoukun and Zael will move onto this task full time, and complete the remaining artworks!

In the meantime, here's a look at some of the FX art you'll see in the game - these are the various badges Keitaro and friends will earn!

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ANIMATION

As we continue to push towards the release,  our animators have been working around the clock for the 41 Sex Scenes that will receive animation in the full game! They are making great progress , and are expected to reach their goal of completing all animation before the release date!

Here's another little animation snippet, this time featuring Natsumi in the foreplay minigame!

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VOICE ACTING

In order to allow our previous Voice Acting Director, Kiba Walker - voice of Keitaro and Yoshinori - more time to focus on the large amount of lines we've given him, we have re-delegated the position of Voice Acting Manager to our new team member,  Mapotofu! Mapotofu has been working hard with our voice actors to ensure that all of the recordings are completed and ready to be implemented into the game, and we are happy to report that all of Hiro Route scenes have been recorded, and both Hunter and Yoichi Route's recording has already begun as well! We expect Natsumi's route to be ready to follow soon, and we can't wait for you to hear the amazing job our voice actors have done!

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ABOUT THE TEAM

BLits is now a team, who work 10-12 hours a day and 6 days a week to make sure the game development always moves forward, and below is the distribution of the workload:

Mikkoukun + Zael (Zamius)

Storywriting (Plot / Dialogues)

Scriptwriting for Programmer (Used for Coding)

Art (CGs, Sprites, Backgrounds)

Animation Assets

Interface Design

Overall Quality Control

Jey

Coding / Programming and Beta Testing 

Programming Management

Storywriting (Plot)

Customer Service

Wade

Storywriting (Plot / Dialogues) 

Proofreading

Outsourcing Management

Customer Service

PooDay

Sprite and Voice Cue Placement

Merchandise / Physical Items Production

Corbs

Coding/Programming and Beta Testing

Proofreading

Sorashu

Animation Direction & Animation

Ziel

Animation

KitHawking

FX Scene Art

Hailace

Technical Work (Cue Prepwork)

Mapotofu

Voice Acting Management

Kenta

Website Management

Outsource (Commissioned Contributors)

Voice Acting

Music

Sound Effects

Opening Animation

Accounting

Supervision

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WHEN IS THE RELEASE DATE?

As we mentioned at the start of this Major Update, we will unfortunately have to move the game from its August 31st release date. Our team would like to apologize once again for this delay, but we hope that everyone can see how close we really are to releasing the game for everyone to enjoy! The game is so close to completion, so we ask that you bear with us a little longer!

Our team has taken the time to examine our levels of productivity during the days, as well as how many tasks are left in the project.  This analysis included every aspect of the project, ranging from art, story, programming, voice acting, and all aforementioned departments, which allowed us to set a rigid schedule of deadlines for the remaining work. With that in mind, we have determined that our release will be on October 28th, 2018 at the very latest,  but we will provide another Major Announcement to let everyone know when we have begun the Beta Testing Phase. We also want to let everyone know that October 28th is the worst case scenario, and we are trying our hardest to make sure that you will all be playing the game much sooner! We hope everyone will understand, and bear with us on this last push!

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PATREON REWARDS

As you all know, we had temporarily dropped Patreon Rewards down to one single solo set with no background for the past two months, in order to give us time to develop the game.  Unfortunately, as much as much as we want to readjust the rewards back to normal next month, we firmly believe that the extra time we will save on rewards will allow us to push into releasing the game on or before its final, projected release date.  We will be maintaining the single, solo set reward for the Month of September, and will announce closer to the end of September whether October Rewards will return to normal or not! 

In addition, we want to remind everyone that this is the last month for Patrons to be eligible for a free digital copy of the game by accumulated pledges. That means that anyone who achieves a total pledge value of $50 USD over the history of the campaign, from October 2016 - August 2018, is entitled to a free digital copy of the game on the release date! Please check and adjust your pledges accordingly! We will also post on a separate update all the patrons who are qualified for a free copy of the game, once August pledges have been processed!

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CLOSING MESSAGE

Thank you very much for reading through this announcement, buddies. We hope we that we answered any questions you might have had regarding the game in this update.  

If you have any other inquiries, please refer to our updated FAQ page, linked below: 

https://www.patreon.com/posts/19016502

Once again, thank you so much for all of your constant support and love, and we really appreciate everyone's patience and kind words of support! We are so excited to share Camp Buddy with you all, and we know it will be very soon!

Lots of love <3,

-BLits Team