Mind Drop #42 (02/18/2022) (Patreon)

Yo!
Yet another solid week that has gone smoothly.
In this mind drop I want to update you guys on what's left and what could change with the upcoming update as well as some more info on the Weeks 1-3 redo and when you may can expect it to be released.


  Renders made this prior week:
New - 98 renders and 1 animation
Weeks 1-3 redo - 88 renders and 1 animation
Renders per day - 26.5 (Back to back 26 renders a day weeks. I'm definitely in a flow right now and it's awesome.)


  What's left for the update?
Last week I said there were a total of 4 scenes left to make. Of those I finished 1 and am almost finished with the 2nd. I also edited a chunk of images and made some progress on the re-compiling animations bit.
One thing I'm struggling with slightly is this urge to split Day 10's events over Days 10 and 11.
Since I've been restructuring all of the earlier days to span more time I'm realizing that Day 10 might need to be split as well but it would add more development time as I'd have to change the clothes in some scenes as well as add a night time scene on top of changing a ton of dialogue.

To be honest if it wasn't such a long time since the last update I'd likely take the additional time to restructure and I still might but right now it isn't likely... I've been flip flopping between leaving it as it is for now and changing it for a bit.
What happens is the same either way and can always be altered later on.

Just be aware that Day 10 is a little too long (Especially compared to days 11-14) and will likely have some scenes moved in the future.


  So when can we expect it?
I was really racing to have it out before the end of February but the closer we come to it the quicker I realize it isn't very feasible since I want to send the update to testers before releasing it.
So right now my expectation is early March if everything goes right and mid March if there are any hiccups between now and then.


  How long will the wait between Days 10-14 and Days 15-21 be?
The very early expectation I have is around 2-2.5 months.
A big reason Days 10-14 has taken as long as it has is that I've made many scenes that have been moved to later in the story. So I have a pretty substantial head start on days 15-21 and a similar head start on days 22-28


  Weeks 1-3 redo
I've mentioned a lot about this over the past year and a half or so but to quickly recap some of it. I'm redoing the first 7 days of the game, one of those changes is the timetable, the first 7 days are being split into the first 21 days. With that comes many story tweaks, though the main plot beats are similar.

The redo will also include an intro that will recap the MC's life from between the moment he moves in with Azel to the moment he wakes up on Day 1.
The intro will feature many choices so you can shape the past of the MC to more of your liking.

The redo will include many new features such as a gallery to replay scenes as well as a calendar, and a character viewer for if you ever forget someone's name or if you forget who someone is referencing.
(And maybe even sounds 'n shit)

I have completed large chunks of the redo though it is hard to say exactly how much I have left. It's definitely not close to being done.
I have considered re-releasing them in chunks but I haven't given it enough thought to talk specifics.

This game is already pretty long so redoing the majority of it while also making new content takes some time.
I would love to have it finished this year but I don't know how achievable that is. If I do manage it, it would be December at the earliest.

I've also had many people ask me if I'd ever release WVM on Steam.
It's not something I'm very favorable of right now but it could be a thing after the redo is finished. Ask me again then. 😁


  Other Stuff:
January-February Birthday renders will be released on February 21st. (For Tiers 1-4)
Next Client poll will be for Ingrid's bone structure on February 22nd
"Monthly render set" will be released on February 26th. (For Tiers 2-4)



And that's it for this week!
Another boring and mundane week and I couldn't be happier about it. As always thank you all so much.
You've believed in me when I wasn't really able to believe in myself and I couldn't thank you guys enough for helping me through some dark times in my life.
It feels amazing to be back in such a flow now even with how busy my life is outside of working on the game and I hope to keep this momentum up for all of 2022 and beyond. 😁
I'll see you all soon.
Thanks again, love you guys <3