Development Update 43 (Patreon)

Hey guys,

In my last development update, I explained that I was dealing with some post-surgery complications. I'm pleased to report that I'm basically fully recovered now. I'm still dealing with a few lingering issues, but nothing that slows my work. I had a couple more setbacks to deal with over Christmas, with a computer meltdown and then a nasty case of the flu. However, my run of bad luck finally seems to be over and for the last few weeks I've been firing on all cylinders.

My apologies for being quiet this month, this was because I wanted to wait until I had some concrete progress to report on before doing this development update. After getting back to work with renewed vigor in the new year, I quickly managed to get the vast majority of renders done for Maxine's fundraiser. Meaning the update is now roughly halfway finished. Not where I hoped to be by the end of January, however, after everything that happened over the last few months I feel pretty good about where we are at the moment.

Maxine's fundraiser was initially intended to be a relatively short storyline, however, it kept expanding. I even ended up adding quite a bit to the script while I was stuck in bed recuperating. It wasn't what I planned to work on, but that's often the nature of creative inspiration. I am certain people will enjoy it though and will forgive me for my creative detour. The completed storyline has somewhere around 35,000 words and over 500 images. Maxine is the main star, however, almost all of the named students get screen time. With notable performances from Ada, Priti, Lucy, Alice, Liz and Debbie. I think people will like Maxine a lot more after this update, as her character gets fully fleshed out and her relationship with the headmaster softens significantly. It's a long and linear storyline, where the headmaster mostly takes a backseat. There will be a few choices, however, they are more for comedic effect rather than affecting the story outcome. I've already shown some image previews of how the fundraiser will look. However, I won't show any more just yet because there are some dramatic twists toward the end and I don't want to spoil it for you guys.

My next big task is to finally complete the staff training storyline (starring Claire, Amy and Debbie) which I started work on for version 0.13 but had to put to the side to focus on the final stages of Rachel's punishment system. The staff training storyline is composed of lots of small events spread out in a lot of different locations. I also intend to include some major choices which will affect the nature of the headmaster's relationship with Claire and others. So hopefully it should balance out the long and linear event for Maxine. It's hard to talk too much about this storyline at the moment, as the script is still a little rough and there might be some major changes before I finalize it.

I didn't talk about this in my last development update as I was a little too distracted with my health issues. However, thanks to my team, quite a bit of work was being done even as I was incapacitated. With Kthunda's expert knowledge, there have been numerous improvements to the game's code. The new easy mode toggle is now complete and will be included in the next update. A quick shout-out to our walkthrough writer Phil5k for his collaboration on that project. The punishment auto-complete feature is working as a proof of concept, however, it might not make an appearance in the game until v15. The guys have also fixed dozens of minor bugs (e.g. issues for some players completing Amy's quest line) and continuity errors (e.g. seeing Faye in the nurse's office after she's been told off, Liz wearing her top in her bedroom after the start of chapter 2). Our animator, Gegecucu, has made some hot and steamy lesbian threesome animations for the dorms, plus some cute and sexy ones for Rachel and the headmaster having sex during their alone time. Plus he's story-boarding some new patrol events, along the lines of the lost lens and the stretching events from the last update.

In summary, after slowing down due to my health problems we are now back working at full speed and I'd say the update is roughly halfway done. I can confidently say that the new update is shaping up to be one of our best yet, but quality takes time and there's still a lot left to do. I am not ready to set a release date just yet because there are too many unknowns with the remaining workload. However, I should be in a position to give a firm release schedule in a few weeks' time. I am also aiming to have the next batch of image previews for the staff training storyline as soon as possible.

Altos