May news post #1 (Public) (Patreon)

Before it gets any later into May, it might be time to do a little news post to kick things off before v0.18 (public) & v0.19 (supporter) releases.

We're finishing up the last little bit of stuff for v0.19 to get things ready, double checking to make sure the other content being added in this release is all there and everything is fine. The good news for everyone is that even though v0.19 isn't out yet, we're already a step ahead with v0.20

We have cg art for episode 5 already coming along and pre-planning stages for writing is laid out for that future episode, so we'll be looking at releasing episode 5 (v0.20) early into June and get back on track with our 30-35 day schedule for releases once again.

I'd like to just mention once again, I'm sorry about how long the delay with v0.19 has been and I'd like to make up for it for the rest of this year with some very good progress, as by the end of this year we should have a good start seen for the first half of route episodes being released. (Something I know many of you have been waiting for.)

I do have a very good feeling that everyone will be very happy with the content and what is taking place during episodes 4 & 5 though. The cg art has been trying to do some new things for adding more expressions and visual variants to really help deliver on the events taking place when they pop up. This is something we'll be looking to focus on touching up some older cg scenes in ep 1-3 during June, during out quality of life style update for the game shortly after ep 5 releases.

Mainly older cg art will receive some extra variants that add expressions for the most part, but some will include other aspects. *wink wink* :P

Of course during said quality of life update, we'll add bg oc sprites into ep 1-5 and also add some new choices, some with minor outcomes or results seen, while some will help see additional content.

How do you plan on doing the route episodes monthly? That's 9 girls to make unique episodes for.

The plan is to have these route episodes somewhere around 5-8k word count, but it's possible they could be a bit more closer to 7-10k. length episodes. With that in mind, I'm thinking we'll be able to release 3 route episodes every release once we get to that point. (So something like below as a rough timeline)

v0.20 - episode 5 releases early June
v0.21 - quality of life update releases late June
v0.22 - episode 6 for Erika, Rachel and Juliet releases late July or early Aug
v0.23 - episode 6 for Miki, Nova and Heather releases early Sept
v0.24 - episode 6 for Bridget, Lola and Zoey releases early Oct
v0.25 - episode 7 for Erika, Rachel and Juliet releases early Nov

Repeating roughly something like that so that, which we think should be a fair way about doing it. Mainly since it'd be unfair if we tried to focus purely on one character for a while and I get the feeling it might feel a bit like how some people didn't quite care for Miki's Dream possibly? <.<

This way we try to do our best with providing consist enough route episodes for all girls within a timely manner. Some might only like Nova and that's fine, we'll try to get a good idea of who's the most popular character across the cast as we get closer to the route episodes. That way we can make a proper list of which 3 characters would be tackled first in one month, then the next and lastly before repeating the order.

What if I just care about Miki only? That won't be enough content if I only focus on her route episodes that come every 3 months roughly!

That is true, but this is the most balanced and fair way about doing this. I've had people mention that having extra writers would be good to have myself focus on say Nova, Miki and Juliet's routes purely. Then have another writer at the same time tackle Erika, Rachel and Heather's stuff.

I don't feel comfortable doing that honestly, as it'll very clearly give off a weird vibe for MA overall that some people will pick up on when playing through the early episodes and going into one of those routes, they'll suddenly find themselves puzzled at why the writing or dialogue with characters shifted differently.

My advice is to try and enjoy other characters, all of them if possible and just experience all the content released when it comes along as it'll give you the most out of it. <.< But it'll be up to you all to choose how you wish to handle things when we focus on the route episodes.

Hold on... Your rough timeline further above makes it sound like you'll just begin getting into episode 7 routes by the end of this year? I thought MA was supposed to be finished early 2022?

I won't try to cover up my claims, yes... Originally the goal was to have MA finished by early 2022, but it's always easier to guess early on when starting a project in this scale. I think it's fair to say even big name video games tend to be in development for roughly 2-4 years depending on how much needs to go into them.

Long as there's consist updates to show that there's progress and news about things going on, with a clear view that the road map of progress is actually on point and the end goal that needs to be reached is clearly mentioned. Then it should be okay, as the main concern is when game companies or teams show off early looks at their game and then leave you hanging for a year or two with little to no news.

With that said, clearly with our rough road map in mind. We'd be foolish to think MA will be finished by early 2022. I'd say it's possible we'll be very close to the end of progress by late 2022 and very possibly have the base game finished in 2023. The main point is to continue providing news, updates and of course content along the way to see for yourselves the progress reaching closer to the finish line.

The last thing people or myself would want is to not have a clear ending point laid out for MA and simply see us drag people along for a far off future, etc.

~Conclusion~

A little different news post than normal, as we're in an awkward timing still. Once we release v0.19, we'll have our 2nd news post for May go over more details on what to expect next with v0.20 (ep 5).

We'll be sharing some early and finished cg art for episode 5 already in the mean time. So just a little heads up for spoilers on that.

Anyways! I know we're sounding like a broken record, but I ensure you all. We're on the tip of episode 4 being ready and moving on. We hope it'll be well worth the wait. ^^