September Dev Update #1 (Patreon)

I'm a bit delayed on putting this one out! >.< But I've got some details to share, firstly.. Let me start off by saying our next Dev Update towards the end of this month will be full of surprises and good news all around for many who have been patiently waiting. That's all I can say for now. (Promised Artie I'd keep my lips sealed tightly.)

Take that as you will... Doesn't quite confirm anything, but it also doesn't dismiss anything either.

Let me at least mention that there's been a lot of time and work going into MA this month. I think I've mentioned it earlier this month, but with the extra free time I have before I begin my college classes. I've made it my mission to take full advantage of this time to sink it into the project. There's a good bit of behind the scenes sort of work involved with that, but a lot of prepping and getting everything sorted for future updates.

I'll be frank with everyone. My goal to end this year, is to release 4 nice quality updates to MA. It won't make up in full for our awkward period of development, but it'll be a start as we move into 2023 and really go full power house on the game!

These 4 updates ideally will include...

Episode 5
Episode 6 (Nova, Heather & Lola route related)
Episode 6 (Miki, Rachel & Bridget route related)
Episode 6 (Erika, Juliet & Zoey route related)

That should give a big look into what to expect from MA as we move into 2023, not only quality wise with new improvements to animated cg art being added into the game, along with light sprite animation effects and other minor improvements visually as a whole. But it'll also give us a idea of how the route content and gameplay systems involved with that will be handled along the way.

I'll be holding off on talking about a major gameplay system that's introduced during the start of the routes, until episode 5 is out first. So expect that to be covered in our Development Report for October most likely. I'm very excited to share those details and for those who want a bit more interactive gameplay or impact made during the game. You'll be happy to learn of these details! ^^

A lot of prep work is being done even now that has to do with content related to the updates beyond episode 5 related to these gameplay systems and art wise. We want to be sure that as we get updates rolling along once again, we won't get delayed or run into major issues with having to halt releases by any means! So.. That's a little bit of what we're doing behind the scenes right now to explain things taking a bit longer than expected.. ^^"

That all said and done.. Let's move into what stuff has been progressing along so far this month to discuss!

~Recent Work~

Starting off, ComposerJF finished the romance track this month! It took quite a while to get things just right.. But I think they're happy that we're done with it, as I'm just as happy to have it finished and moving into character themes again for a while. ^^

ComposerJF is currently working on Juliet's Theme, which has already had a preview handed to me so far. Sooo.. I'm thinking maybe early or mid October will bring us another music preview for that. :P

If you missed our post, you can listen to the romance track "Tender Sweet Memories" below!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/music-preview-71952297

Lisa has been doing quite a bit here recently! The main thing being worked on this month is one of the Kickstarter oc's from our campaign rewards. That character is nearly finished though and so we'll be seeing previews related to that, later this month into October. (Lisa is also working on a minor addition to the main cast, so those previews will come as well sometime in late October or early November when the time is right.)

For stuff that Lisa finished, that we've shared this month so far. You can check out Charlotte's outfit additions and some casual outfit adjustment comparisons to the main cast below!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/sprite-preview-71680248
https://www.patreon.com/posts/sprite-preview-72006281

MarxeDP and Ajose were tasked with a cg scene related to Rachel's route and without saying too much.. It came out to be around 37 variants, much of that being animated frames in pairs of 4 variants = animation frame/loops. That cg scene has been finished up and we'll be sharing the finished preview in another day from now!

They're now working on a cg scene related to Juliet's route and with the progress made.. I'd say they're nearly finished with that one. So we might see concept previews for that later this month into early October. There will also be a cg scene related to episode 1 that was made possible thanks to our max Patreon Tier! Previews of that will be coming sometime after the Juliet ones by the looks of it.

If you missed the recent Rachel concept previews, you can check those out below!
https://www.patreon.com/posts/cg-concept-v0-22-71858321

~Closing Statements~

That about wraps this one up! Our next Dev Update for this month as hinted at, will be a bit more visual and possibly it'll include some exciting mentions and news, far more exciting than what we've shared here today.. ^^"