May News Post #1 (Public) (Patreon)

It's been a suuuuuperrr busy week, as I had hoped to get this news post out for everyone about a day ago or so.. ^^" Between work, allergies and MA preparations.. It's been a bit wild and I'm sure this weekend will flash before my very eyes too. <.<

But that's besides the point! We have some news to share as we're moving further into May to share with everyone. The first thing is that in case you missed it last month, we're releasing v0.20 by May 15th!

I'm pretty happy with where things sit with the content so far that I've seen and I'm really excited to be getting closer to sharing this content after such an awkward period of development in much of 2021, but even a little bit with 2022 as we got things sorted out with a new programmer and so we're very grateful to everyone that's been super understanding of our awkward situation.

Most importantly though, it's time to get the hype train moving along again and this applies for after v0.20 is released asap! So let's dive into things below!  

~May Dev plans!~

As mentioned above, we're releasing v0.20 by May 15th. Which features episode 5 being added. This episode is considered the finale of the common route, but the main story begins to kick in, along with relationship focus with a selected girl beyond this!

We'll dive into more details about exactly what to expect with route episodes and how the main story fits into everything for future development later this month. It's a bit hard to explain with words when we don't have a example of just how things will visually look and having episode 5 out will help majorly with this. :P

Anyways! Not to spoil too much regarding episode 5, but to help hype things up and based on what everyone knows about episodes 1-4. Episode 5 has a big focus revolving around checking out many clubs offered at the academy after the long awaited waiting period for the guys before the school knew how to handle the situation. Of course some clubs might not be exclusive to the guys for their own good reasoning, but perhaps there will be roles that the guys can fill to still help behind the scenes for some clubs. :P

More or less, we'll be doing a deep dive into the clubs at the academy and coming to terms with the hard decision... Which club will you want to join? (This will act as your decision into a selected girl's route, so without major spoilers. Since we know Bridget is part of the gaming club, deciding to join that club will lead you into Bridget's route episodes.) Don't worry though! I believe we've done a good job in-game to ensure when the decision pops up, it'll be clear enough that this is leading into X route without confusing anyone.

One other mention! With v0.20 we're trying to make sure support for Android will be fixed, unlike v0.19.5, which had problems that we couldn't quite figure out regarding the old ui causing issues. But we really want to have this released on the same day with Windows and Mac versions, more so as the new gui elements should help phone users when it comes to cg moments with the new hide gui button being featured. ^^

Moving on into v0.21 mentions.. <.< All I can say for now is that I'd like to have this released by mid June as my personal rough goal. This would actually be less than our 45 day release cycle plan, but work for this content has already started in April and May, with how it's coming along.. I'd say it'll be possible to get it out quicker than expected.

V0.21 will feature Nova, Heather and Lola's route episode 6 and give us our first real taste of routes for MA. ^^

~Development Team!~

[~CG art~]

MarxeDP and AjoseMp, along with the help of their friend Bandy Rash have finished up our first cg scene from the $200-275 support tier on Patreon! This takes place in episode 3, when Heather takes Brandon to the storage closet to punish him for upsetting her.

We'll be sharing previews of this cg scene in the coming week, but this cg scene might've not been possible without the special support tier! I would do a shout out to the supporter, but you know who you are and you're welcome to comment if you'd like to let everyone know. :P Otherwise I respect everyone's privacy.

If you haven't any clue what the $200-275 support tier is, it's mainly to help pick a cg worthy moment from the game to receive cg art for it. Of course there's a dedicated list to see what worthy moments we feel would make the most of having a cg scene added, but mainly this is for those who really, reaaaallly like what we're doing and might have a little extra they're willing to part with to help out in development. (We don't expect many will do this often or in general, but it's there from some demand and requests.)

If you're curious, check the list below. ^^
https://www.patreon.com/posts/200-support-tier-64506865

Besides this cg scene being finished up recently.. They've been working on v0.22 content, which sadly I can't talk too much about right now due to spoilers. ^^" But I will say that v0.22 is known that it'll feature Miki, Rachel and Bridget route episode 6 content.. Take your guesses with that for now.. :P

We'll probably see some spoiler tagged image previews for this cg scene shared during May.

Besides that, one thing that should be seen in episode 5 and content beyond is the use of animated cg scenes. It's something we'd like to look back on at episodes 1-4 in the far future for existing cg art and see if there's some that could make good use of it, but episode 5 should give a taste of just how these animated cg scenes will feel. If we gain more support as we continue development, it's something we could expand on further, but what little animation to be seen should be pretty exciting still! ^^

[~Sprite art~]

Lisa has started off May with some exciting previews being shared with me so far! I'm happy with the last addition for Brandon's sprite and there's still finishing touches being done to it. :P

Sadly I can't say much as to what this addition is, but some of you will already know from older development what this last addition being hinted at is. All I'll say is that I'm super excited with how it's turning out and I really, really hope those who like the aspect will enjoy it when seen in-game during a set route. ^^

Along with this, I've been seeing some additions for Miki! Not too much yet, but with how things are progressing. I'd say sometime mid May, we'll have a nice little preview for Brandon's final addition and at least 2 additional outfits for Miki shared. One of these for Miki might even surprise some fans for context behind it, but maybe not as well! ^^

If things progress through May at a decent rate, we might even see additions for one other character that has 2 outfits needed. Then we'll try shifting gears back to doing 2 kickstarter oc's in June/July hopefully.

[~Music~]

ComposerJF finished Nova's Theme last month! You can listen to it in full at the post below and check it out on youtube on their channel, among other music they've done for other games and MA!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/music-preview-di-65732247

The next track being worked on is taking a break from character themes in favor of doing the main theme for MA! This has been something I've been dying to tackle for a loooong time! It's been many months of planning it out story wise and gathering together the right details to help paint the idea to the composer for how this main theme should possibly sound like and what the ideas are behind it, etc.

Needless to say.. There's been a lot of references and details shared to help them tackle it just right. I feel like they'll do it perfect justice and I'm excited to hear that first behind the scenes preview for how its sounding. ^^

This main theme of course will be expected to play on the title screen and during main story key moments, possibly at the end credits of the game as well. I'm sure there's some who aren't very big fans of the current title screen theme used.. (Headphone users? ^^") But I'm happy to say that shouldn't be a problem with this theme.

[~Gui~]

Ds-sans has replied back and it sounds like we'll be seeing some more gui previews very soon! :P I can't say the route selection screen will be ready for v0.20, but that isn't an issue since we can always add it in for v0.21 if it's ready by then and have it be the first screen that the game jumps to after finishing episode 5.

~Ending Notes~

That ends things for this news post! But don't worry, we'll have quite a bit to share along next week in preparations of hyping up v0.20 content! I was hoping to get some play test builds put together recently and I still plan on doing something here if I can related to that in May, but I had some troubles with files.. >.<

Regardless of this, I hope the hype is very real and of course for some.. Hang on tight with caution from our past months when talking about v0.20 ^^" Once it's here, it'll be enough and that's all that matters for the time being I hope!

Now.. To hopefully rest up this weekend in preparing for a loooong next weekend of getting everything ready. :P

~ From all of us at Messy Studios! ~