October news post #3 (Patreon)

In case you haven't seen it >>news post #2<<

Well, Happy Halloween! :P we're sharing our final news post for the month. We'll begin with some confirmation of what to 100% expect with update 0.16 expected to release on Nov 4th! ^^

Update 0.16 content.

-Episode 2 added.

It's safe to say this is going to make it for the update, it's writing is 100% done. Sitting at 18,000 word count. Our engine/programmer just has to get it into the engine now and we'll possibly see some early screenshots in the next few days leading up to release.

-Music added to Episode 2.

Same as the above, it's save to assume music will be in the game for episode 2.

-3+ cg scenes added. (4 scenes!)

3? Let's make that 4 confirmed cg scenes being added on Nov 4th! To begin our promise of pushing for more cg art every month for the game as we move into the new year.

This has been done as a huge thanks to our new cg artist MarxeDP, which consists of two artists who are friends. One handles the drawing and the other tackles the coloring, making for a well done speedy workflow that we very much needed.

We could've had more than 4 scenes done, but we didn't have the funding yet this month to handle more than 4+ sadly. >.< The good news is our ks is right now at 144%, so with 4 days remaining, we hope that'll big a huge boost in helping us supply more art.

The 4 scenes have a few variations as well based on choices/outcomes, so we hope you'll enjoy these. ^^

-Bridget redesign sprite added.

We won't see Bridget in episode 2, not because she isn't ready. <.< She's very much ready! She just isn't part of episode 2 and we can't quite say if she'll show up in either episode 3? 4? or if it might be 5 before we come face to face with her.

All part of the pacing of things for how episodes 1-5 (common route) is being handled, ensuring the characters all are introduced to the player in very fitting ways and that the time needed to be spent with these characters is done right before choosing your path.

I know from the polls it seemed like there was a bit of mixed feelings on the votes, some wanting to see her hair be more red, brighter green eyes, curvier/bustier, etc.

We did do some combinations of these things as quick fixes to see how she would look and I can admit some of the above might've seemed to fit well enough, but ultimately the final preview for her is what we felt will fit very well for her personality.

Remember, her personality is changing a bit alongside the redesign. So we can't fully expect the same exact tone felt before, but some similarities will be felt at times.

-New sprite expressions added.

I was hoping to have these in the game with update 0.16, but it also includes having to adjust the expressions a bit in episode 1 for these to look right. Plus we're trying to take our time with these, given the nature of how we want these to be the finalized expressions for characters.

So we don't want to have any regret when we see Miki's "fear" face, we want players to feel like it matches her personality very well, but also generally be fitting across all of her expressions.

I'd say expect to see the new expressions added in update 0.17 (Dec 5th) as we'll have more time with a fresh month and our engine/programmer can tackle this while I'm getting a head start on episode 3 for them.

Final note, every character has received at least 2 new expression pieces. (aka new eyes/eyebrows/mouth pieces) These should help make sure some expressions that were lacking before, feel much more unique.

Huge thanks to our sprite artist on both the Bridget redesign and expression work this month! LisadiKaprio ^^

-Splash art screen for Episodes begin added. (gui)

We did manage to get these done, although we don't have chibi art added to them like we want. But this will be something small we slowly add, not as high priority as cg art right now so we hope you'll understand.

On the plus side, even without the chibi art. These screens should feel nice to look at when the episode begins to help visually separate each episode.

So, with that said. Expect to see these on Nov 4th as well! (Just minus the chibi stuff for now)

What about the Ren'py thing, how is that all being handled?

We already have episode 1 in the engine, it's been tested and we believe it's 98% bug free of issues.

Episode 2 is in the middle of being added and still seems on time with release.

We'll see 200+ save slot support right away. We would've had cg/music gallery added in time for Nov 4th, but there's a gui element issue as to why we can't right now. (The gui art assets we had for tyrano don't fully work with ren'py. Some stuff missing like the buttons to said galleries, etc.)

So the hope is that in November, we'll have some gui assets made for the game in Ren'py and this will cover the two galleries.

We're also looking at offering mobile support for the game and this could be expected by Dec 5th. (have to make sure the gui for the game will work well on phone)

I'm not the best person to ask about mod/patching support for games in general... <.< But many have told me that for some reason Ren'py games offer better modding support for those dedicated fans who wish to add unofficial mods or patches to the game. So if you're one of these people and you have any questions about making anything, you can contact us and we'd love to help see fans offering stuff for MA we aren't tackling.

(A good example of this and forgive me if you dislike the game, but doki doki literature club seems to have a decent list of unofficial mods or patches made by fans of the game.)

If there is any features or something that you feel we don't offer once Nov 4th comes along, do let us know and we'll look into adding some. ^^

(Jump buttons will be removed for update 0.16, we're testing if this is a bad move on our part and we should add them back or continue without them.)

The reason for no jump buttons is that Ren'py offers support for save data unlike how we couldn't with Tyrano. So if you play through the game for update 0.16, make it to the end of episode 2. You save before the end a little bit and then when update 0.17 releases, you can take your saved data and transfer it to pick up from where you left off and into the new content.

This is a test, we'll be asking in polls if you all feel like this is a welcomed change or if we should simply offer a button at the title screen labeled "Jump to content" where you can jump straight to episode 2 or episode 3, so forth.

What is happening to all the existing content that's being reworked into Ren'py as episodes? You know... Days 1-19+ & route parts?

On Nov 4th, we're going to offer update 0.14 open to the public in it's current form. We'll never get rid of this version, as a showcase of what content has been written up and tackled with the game, but being adjusted and fine tuned into the episode format and moved over to Ren'py.

Then the other two updates are always going to continue moving forward, with one being for the public for roughly 30 days and the other being exclusive for our supporters for 30 days. (Nov 4th will be update 0.15 (public) and update 0.16 (exclusive) )

We've covered our plan before, but below is a quick summary.

Episodes 1-5 (common route) (based around events seen from days 1-5)

>choose a path.

Episodes 6-8 (focused path) (based around events during days 6-19+) (This is focused on X character of your choosing.)

Episode 9-12 (X character's deep route) (based on the route parts) (even deeper relationship, story with X character)

Our rough roadmap is that we'll have the common route done by Jan/Feb 2021. From there the other episodes are of course smaller than episodes 1-5 being focused on 6-9 characters to choose from. So we're looking at 3-4 character episodes each month after that and this still keeps us on track with a late 2021 or early 2022 finish date.

~Conclusion~

Everything has been mainly covered before release on Nov 4th. Our ks is still going well, while slowed down since it's start. Just seeing it being funded at all is very much a blessing and we hope our preview of cg art this month has been a nice treat of what we can do moving forward without any funding limitations on the cg art.

From all of us at Messy Studios.
Have a safe and Happy Halloween! We hope to see many of you heading into Novemeber. <3