February News post #1 (Public) (Patreon)

Welcome everyone to our first news post for the month! I know we had some rather let down news to share regarding v0.20 and I can't confirm the exact date expected until I see how quickly the engine work comes along, but the moment I see how fast it's coming along. I'll make a post about it, letting everyone have a 48 hour heads up before we release!

Once again, we're sorry with how that turned out and we can beat ourselves up over more than that. But let's at least focus on a few things coming that's already in planning stages for v0.21 content to focus on some neat stuff coming as we get this thing called development on track, set sail full blown ahead! (Seriously though, thank you everyone that's been super amazingly understanding with stuff. We'll be making it up to many of you and those on the fence for a bit, but we hope each month can offer something considered as being engaging and giving back to the community! <3 )

Let's jump right into it!

~February's Dev plans!~

We've getting v0.20 put into the engine so it'll hopefully be out by mid February. We really hope the content included is well worth it, but I know we'll still have quite a bit to do in order to deliver on other planned content.

While episode 5 content is being put into the engine and play tested in the next week, I'll be starting my week er actually making use of this weekend a little too in order to start writing for the very first route episode content for v0.21! This will also ensure that planned content is ready right on time for mid March (every 45 days).

If you wish to go completely blind in v0.21 or any light spoilers we might post about it... <.< Please scroll past the incoming text until you reach ~Voting Poll Plans!~


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Light Spoilers below~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

V0.21 will feature 3 girl's route episode 6 being added, in case you aren't aware how we're handling route content for our releases in development. We're looking to offer 3 route episodes per release, but as we get going this Spring. We'll begin to have extra content completed and set aside in writing form, so there's a good chance some releases will include 4 route episodes.

The plan is to focus on splitting up characters so that each release feels pretty equal in terms of how interesting it is and not trying to have one really good release, followed by 2 subpar ones before it's good again. ^^"

I can confirm... When it comes to the side girls. (Bridget, Lola, Zoey) We will see Lola as of of three girl's planned for v0.21! I know there isn't as much information right now for some newer fans about who Lola or Bridget are in comparison to the rest of the cast until you get to check out episode 5 soon. But that's why I wanted to choose and confirm at least a side girl so far, plus I think Lola's start should make many pretty happy with the direction of how things lead into her personal story. Some might be a bit surprised to learn just how quickly it's moving into a certain aspect known from long ago with her character events. :P (No, not NTR)

We're looking to have the other two girl's figured out here very soon, which brings me to my next talking point below! A voting poll is coming up in another day or two, it'll be public given the nature and purpose of the poll. But it's to simply vote on your favorite main character's based on episodes 1-3, but episode 4 as well for supporters as it adds a little extra time spent with some characters.

Let's jump down to that next!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~Light Spoilers above~~^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Voting Poll Plans!~

Within the next day or two, we're going to put out a public voting poll. It's simply going to be asking which character's are your favorites, trying to get a popularity kind of poll since it's been quite some time since we've done one and it'll help greatly towards our decision making for choosing and balancing which girl's are featured in which releases to be equal. :P

The main rule about voting is that you're voting on the characters based on their events seen in-game so far and possibly being hyped about possible future leads for their story based on what's built up so far, be it more mystery to unfold on a character or if a character just generally has more fun events you like, etc.

I think voting on this purely based on adult content related to a given character won't give us a full picture, of course it does matter. Just that we're asking to please consider the character personality wise, if they interest you, one you might avoid or what makes them more exciting to look forward to seeing their routes unfold!

Again, this poll will be posted in another day or two and will last for about 5 days. So we encourage everyone to share their thoughts even in the comment section on the voting poll post as to why you like certain characters too!

~Development Team!~

~CG art~

Some good news! MarxeDP's friend AjoseMp was sick during January with what they think was covid. Unlucky timing >.< But the good news is that they've made it through in one piece! They've started working on the first cg scene planned for v0.21, which if you read above in the light spoilers section. You can guess who it'll involve seeing featured in it. :P

Naturally we'll share previews for the cg art for v0.21 once v0.20 has been released, we're looking to make it so we find a fitting way to spoiler/hide the images involved with those posts, just in case anyone wishes to avoid certain spoilers at times and want a more fresh, blind experience going in. ^^

Besides that, adjustments are being made to some visuals. Some we shared last month, but we still have another good post of previews for those coming up sometime later this next week hopefully!

~Sprite art~

Lisa finished up our first kickstarter main oc being added to the game sometime in the future. That's a huge relief to begin, as we have a good 5 requests to tackle with those from our kickstarter campaign.

The next sprite focus seems to be on the other main oc character which is referred to as "Hana". Besides that simple name drop, we'll have to wait until we see the academy's student reports to learn more about them. :P

At some point after that, we'll probably see a extra outfit added for the protag's sprite for moments when it'll show him on screen. (Otherwise we're in his pov) I think many have been waiting for this moment for a long time since it's been teased long ago, so once we have previews for it. That should be fun to share with everyone and get some reactions out of it too!

~Music~

ComposerJF has our first track being requested to kick off 2022 is within the theme of this year focusing on route episode content! Miki's Theme will be updated and added as our first character theme being tackled.

Each character theme should play greatly into their story and fit who they are, so I hope you're all ready for some energetic noise coming through soon! :P

~Gui~

Ds-san is hoping to provide us with the finalized gui elements sometime this Spring I hope! We're hanging in there tight for it, but based on the recent logos done by them. I'm thinking it'll be well worth the wait!

We're hoping the differences in the gui from current game to the future won't be so alienating either for many. We're trying to take what works for MA now, but make it feel a bit more polished and even better for the ui.

~Ending Notes~

That about sums up our first news post this month! We'll have another one out right before v0.20 releases around mid February, which will have some details about the content being added upon release and some reminders to check your personal inboxes on here for when the content is ready!

As many of you know by now, Artie is officially stepped down from the project and I'd like to once again thank everyone for the best wishes towards him! ^^ I'm happy that he was willing to help stick around last month, even if we didn't quite get our expected plans fully done in time. We still managed to get our new programmer fully caught up on how we do things and what to expect, generally trying to ensure they have a smooth start with us on the team and enjoy being part of the project for the future!

If you haven't noticed yet, our new programmer goes by "thegamegirl" in discord or you could refer to her as madi. If you wish to welcome her on the project as well! ^^ Very excited to see how they do here in the next week!

~ From all of us at Messy Studios! ~