April news post #1 (Patreon)

Hello everyone! ^^ Glad to see many of you decided to stick around, as we headed into April. Thank you and I hope you all stay safe! <3

We have some exciting things going on in April to look forward to, some are related to new content and other stuff a bit outside of that. Let's jump right into it! ^^

(1) Update 0.10 content. April 30th will bring us a new game update release labeled "update 0.10" with it, we should see at least 3 new days of content covering days 13, 14, 15. But based on the events that take place in the game on day 15, I'd like to push myself and hopefully get day 16 finished so that it's a good ending spot for this update, which would put us at 4 new days of content if it can be done. Without trying to spoil events, there is some foreshadowing in the previous updates that hint as to what is coming up in these new days added.

One thing that is planned is that with the 1st weekend in the game (days 6 & 7) we saw each of those days bring with it a split route choice in a sense. Where players had the option to hang out further with Nova or Bridget, or day 7 hang out further with Heather or Juliet. Letting players who might dislike certain characters to focus more on others instead and break up the linear style of things at times. Days 13 & 14 are no different! Now with Lola introduced, we will have 3 sections out of the 6 during those two days that have split route choices! I won't mention which girls and how these will be handled, but keep an eye out for our "behind the scenes: Day X section Y" posts through April. They will detail much of what will take place during these days and give you an idea what to expect.

With the news of Juliet taking over Bridget's spot as a main character, this means that day 5 section 3 will receive a small change, removing Bridget from the six choices and adding Juliet there instead.

Those of you who enjoyed the major unlock choices during day 12 will be happy to hear that at least one or two more characters will receive similar treatment that's fitting for them. This will help play up things as we move closer to the girlfriend routes, making it feel a bit more natural. I hope you all enjoy more possible unlocked content that fits this setup. :)

Outside of story, events for update 0.10, we're looking to really push bg's in April and the plan is to get 5 new one's done (day, sunset and night versions too). If there's enough time, we might begin to see the small variants of each girl's dorm rooms (9 in total for each girl). (These are small personal touches that fits their character, don't expect major huge changes) This does mean however, that we might not have a cg scene for April. The choice behind this was a big one to make in favor for trying to push and get the bg's finished asap, as we'll have about 40% of them done if not more after April is finished. We also have some fixing of previous cg's that is required, plus with the events going on in the world our cg artist is slowing down recently from this. Sprites will be interesting, as we now have all of them finished! (except for the adjustments to main girls) We're thinking of adding Joey & Nathan into the engine with this update, but it's possible if we have more time. We'll try to add Charlotte into the game too, leaving Allie & Rosa as the last ones to add.

I think that wraps up most of the actual content side of things, minus a few minor things for update 0.10

(2) Changes to main girls. I recently mentioned back in March that there's plans to make changes to some of the main girl's looks. You can check the most recent news about this on the last poll done related to it here. This is due to a few different factors, but after much thought behind it. I've decided this is how things will progress...

Miki & Bridget are not receiving any changes! Miki didn't seem like there was anything to really adjust or change about her sprite, anything that I did think of was very minor visual touch ups and isn't needed. I like how she turned out and I haven't had a feeling through the months of "She really could use some change to fit her character". Which is good! Bridget I've talked about plenty, there was a plan of pretty much scrapping the version of Bridget we know now and revamp her completely, making her a completely new character in personality, design and keeping a few key traits or elements like her interest of gaming. While it would've been neat to see a complete revamp for her, it would've also required more work for our sprite artist, myself and our editor. As I'd have to rewrite any sections with Bridget to adjust how her new revamped character would be seen, act, etc. We instead decided that she does have a very deep and interesting route story, but outside of that she doesn't have as much going on for her compared to other main girls. Which is why we decided to make Juliet take her place as a main character and let Bridget become a side character.

Rachel is the biggest change out of the main girls being done, the idea is to go with a early concept for her character that wasn't seen before. She will continue to act how she does, and looks wise there are some changes to her body type, height, bust, hairstyle. But she will still retain her hair and eye color and I think once we can share a early concept preview for her new design, many of you will see that she won't completely look like a new character in a sense. I know there's some concern that with the suggested changes to her, that she might be too similar to Erika in terms of height, bust, body type. But she will still stand out as having a bit more of a frail figure and some key differences that set her apart.

Heather is the next biggest changes, except she won't be exactly receiving new changes like a new hairstyle or color changes, etc. She has two sprites currently, the one that is seen in the game and a older one that used to be used. The idea is that each of her two sprites have their pros and cons, with the way things are for the game. I don't feel that showing both her sprites during the game will really work as both seem pretty different in their styles and really makes it stand out completely. So the idea is that a brand new sprite from the ground up is being made that does a mix of how her other sprites look, she will have a new pose that's fitting for her less intense emotions and also work well for her tense stuff. I think with early concept previews for her, many fans of Heather won't have much to worry about. She will still act and look the same, just trying to fit a more general use for her sprite, so there isn't extra sprites to be used for her.

Nova isn't going to change too much. The major change for her will come in the form of a new hairstyle, hair color (back to her natural brunette) and her skin tan/tone is going to be a bit lighter, as it's just a little too dark currently. Her face will receive a lift, making it not as round as it's seen currently and making the jawline/chin a bit more defined, without making her look manly either. That covers what will change for her and for newer supporters who are confused, Nova used to have light/medium brown hair naturally. So this will go back towards that design in a sense.

Erika is the least of the changes. She is receiving a new hairstyle that isn't very different to her current one, just a bit longer on the back of her hair and her bangs are longer/parted in a more fitting way. She might have her eye color change to a light/medium purple tone, this will be seen in early concept previews and compared to see which eye color (current) or purple will be more fitting for her. She might lose her hat completely, it depends on if it'll be fitting or not. (it might still be worn sometimes)

More details will be shared with these adjustments to the mentioned characters during April or May, depending on when I begin receiving the concepts for them. Expect a few polls related to these to share how you feel with the changes being made.

(3) Kickstarter. If you're new, we're looking to launch a kickstarter for Messy Academy sometime in May or June. We have more details to share with this and how it might affect your rewards as patreon supporters. First off we have an artist who handles kickstarter assets lined up to begin working on headers, icons, character profiles, pie charts, etc. Anything needed for our page on the kickstarter will be done by them before the end of April hopefully, some of these things might be used over here on the patreon in the "about/info section" such as the character profiles, giving everyone some details that the team knows behind the scenes, but isn't exactly public. (full names, age, height, birth date, bust, bio, etc.)

How does this affect patreon supporters and rewards?

This is all still pretty rough, but it's closer to the final set in stone idea for how things will work for patreon supporter tiers and what kickstarter backers would receive. (some changes can still be made, we're trying to balance things for either side you decide to support, or both.)

-Patreon tiers & Rewards-

$1
-Exclusive patreon news posts, behind the scenes posts and voting polls.
-Access to Discord Server.

$5
-Previous rewards.
-Art previews (cg, bg and sprites).
-Access to newest monthly patreon exclusive game update.

$10
-Previous rewards.
-God mode versions.
-Content suggestions. (not confirmed to be added to the game, but there's a chance.)
-Visual map guide.
-Name in credits as patreon supporter. (any existing or previous supporters will receive this)

$25
-Previous rewards.
-Design your own background female student or male/female staff OC character. (1 outfit, basic expressions and will show up at least 1-2 times in the game.)

With the recent changes to patreon support tiers and how the discord works now in April, the above is nearly how things are working currently. There might be some info above that isn't added to the support tier rewards seen yet, but these will be shown soon to prepare.

-Kickstarter tiers & Rewards-

$3 or more
-Personal voice thank you from X character’s voice actor.
-Kickstarter exclusive news posts. (similar to patreon $1 support but with tiny bit of art included, not to the extent seen on patreon that $5 supporters see.)
-Access to Discord Server (there will be a special channel made that hosts all kickstarter related news post links there)

$10 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Kickstarter exlcusive news posts plus. (same as above, but it's more along the lines of $5 patreon supporters, they'll get to see all art preview stuff.)
-Receive this month’s patreon exclusive game update.


$15 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Receive this month’s patreon exclusive game update and the next month’s! (2 total exclusive updates)

$20 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Name in credits as kickstarter backer.
-Receive this month’s patreon exclusive game update and the next month’s, along with the month after that as well! (3 total exclusive updates)

$35 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Digital artbook & Ost.

$45 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Official digital guide book. (different compared to visual map guide, more detailed)

$60 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Gain all monthly patreon exclusive game updates until the game is finished! (summer 2021) (This seems fair enough, but might need adjusted a bit more. The idea is a $5 patreon supporter who supports us for 1 year straight will pay about $60 and by the time the kickstarter launches, the game should be finished about 1 year after that date.)

$150 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Acrylic charms (your choice of 3 characters) (chibi style or similar to their sprites, unsure still.)

$300 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Acrylic charms (your choice of all main characters)

Or

-Design a supporting/side character. (3 outfits, more than basic expressions and seen at least 4 times in the game if not more.) (limited reward) (this is different compared to $25 patreon supporters, but if someone continues to pay $25 per month on patreon and reaches close to this amount. I will upgrade their character to the above.)

$400 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Body pillow sheet (choose 1 girl from main girls. One side has them clothed, the other side in their diaper/bra.)

$500 or more
-Previous rewards.
-Design a unique story character. (4-5 outfits, all expressions range and seen through the game as much as the main characters. Important to events, etc.)

There can still be changes made to the above and other rewards added or adjusted, but this is just to help give you supporters an idea of how things will be handled. This is partly based on how other patreon creators run their patreon and kickstarter together.

-Kickstarter Goals-

-$5500- Base game funded! (important story cg’s and base game costs covered.)
-$6500- More art funded! (extra cg scenes can be added.)
-$8000- More art funded & Addon stories dlc added! (extra cg scenes can be added & past/current/after story addons for main girls are added) (these addon stories expand on a character's past events growing up that's related to their route, how they led to base game MA and some of their future seen after the end of the base game.)
-$10000- Addon stories dlc added for Bridget, Lola & Zoey! (past/current/after story addons for side girls are added) (same as the above)
-$12000- Charlotte, Allie & Rosa routes added! (no addon stories) (actual routes similar to main characters.)
-$14000- Evelynne, Sylvia, Freya routes added! (no addon stories) (No spoilers for these characters, but same as above.)
-$16000- Routes expanded further! (will add an extra 3 days for each girl’s routes.) (easily explained, little extra focus expanded on their routes and story.)
-$18000- Beach & Vacation addon dlc! (roughly 5 days in length, focuses on the cast during a beach & vacation side story that takes place before the end of the game.)
-$20000- Fully voiced! (game will be fully voiced)

The above goals are rough still and things can be adjusted or changed before the kickstarter launch. These are some ideas and just to explain, $5500 goal would mean that the cg's added are purely important ones. Many of the placeholder areas for cg's seen currently in the game aren't exactly important and considered extras. (routes and big choices would mostly be covered and key scenes that relate to routes, cg scenes are very costly)

Again everything above is subject to change, be adjusted or removed. This is our earliest preview at how patreon support, kickstarter support and goals related might look like.

-Conclusion-

There's a lot happening behind the scenes, as we get closer to major events in the game related to girlfriend routes, some sprites receiving changes and kickstarter details being seen and put together.

We hope that as we move forward after April, our major goal for May is to have a game trailer made by someone (out of my pocket) for the kickstarter and to be hosted here on patreon. This is exciting times for us, as things slowly but surely continue to move towards being more polished in a sense. Time moves by quick and before I know it, we'll be right at the end of updates for the game, figuring out details for the future projects. <.<

I know this was a long post, but with every new month. There's always a lot of new news to cover. I hope that many of you will continue to enjoy the updates each month and look forward to being part of what makes MA stand out in the genre! ^^ <3

Thank you all and stay safe! <3