Life After To Be A King (Patreon)

For the high tier patrons who got a glimpse at this earlier, I've got a few new things in here for you all too.

First, a disclaimer. Because I know the history of developers announcing new projects while supposedly finishing their current game is, charitably, a massive shitshow, I want to be very clear. To Be A King's development is not being put on hiatus, limited, or canceled. There is probably a year of development on it, possibly more. I am going to finish To Be A King and nothing about this next project will cause that to change. It wouldn't inspire a lot of confidence in my next project if I could not even finish my first. And while I'm ready to close out the To Be A King story, I am not close to the point where I am sick of it.

That being said, having a long runway for development time of the next project is needed. In an ideal world, I'd like to release the first episode of my next game a month or so after To Be A King's final chapter. Over the next few months, I need to finish fleshing out the story, get my assets created and checked, complete a full outline, experiment with new code, and write and render out the first episode.

My goal with the new project is to make my life a bit easier, and incorporate all the hard lessons I've learned while developing To Be A King. Everything from way too many love interests, having a completed outline with decision trees before you begin, and not making things too complex with a ton of different branches that have to be accounted for are just a few of these. Regular releases are the lifeblood of small visual novel developers, so everything in development needs to be biased towards that. I'm not a big (in the adult VN world) developer who can get away with months between releases (without seeing a drop off in support).

The next project is a departure from To Be A King in a lot of ways. Some of this is due to lessons I've learned, and some of it is because I want to do something different. To Be A King started off as a very different project, and this next project should stay the same, once everything is planned out. What comes after To Be A King is something I've been thinking about for nearly a year. What an adventure that has been, with a ton of ideas considered and then tossed. It seems fitting that the next project I've decided on came to me suddenly when I was asset shopping. I saw an environment, got an idea, and three days later had a rough story with characters, extensive notes, and a plot that should provide a good length without chaining me to something for 4-5 years. I know myself too well, and I'll be itching to do something new within about 24-30 months, at most, after this next project launches.

The big thing that needs to change with my next project is to pick a time period where there are plenty of 3D assets. I'm not the guy who can create custom stuff in Blender or Marvelous Designer, so it's time to go to the modern day for this next adventure.

What is this next game? Let's talk about it a bit.

Game Synopsis

Can a phone call change your life? Sure, but let’s hope this one changes your life for the better. Your car's warranty is just fine, thank you very much. The corporate suits at Sunshine Sports Broadcasting Network (SSBN) brought you down for an interview to guest co-host Flag On The Field with Rossi & Castle, a successful sports morning show on the mega sports network. With one of the hosts, Joe Rossi, making things difficult with his contract renewal, the bosses at the network are evaluating their options. Joe isn’t the easiest guy to get along with, and it’s pretty convenient for them that he is on vacation for a few weeks.

After a lot of crappy years you've spent in sports media since graduating from college, this is a big upgrade from your studio host duties for the North American Beer Pong League. The bosses at SSBN say they believe in you, but they sure did not prepare you for what happens next. It seems there are a lot more people than Joe who feel threatened by your sudden appearance. Do you have what it takes to stick around and secure a permanent role at SSBN?

Other Details

This next project is tentatively titled The Set. I suck at naming things like this, so who knows what it ends up being called on release. It's a comedy, so, while there will certainly be drama, I'm keeping this one lighthearted. To Be A King has its comedic moments, which seems to confuse some people who think I'm doing a Game of Thrones clone with less nudity and sex.

The Set is one lighthearted adventure (that can still end a bit depressing, but more on that in a moment). If you've seen an American comedy done in the last decade, you've got an idea for what I'm going for. Certain moments of tension and sadness, but ultimately it's meant to poke fun at things and not take itself too seriously. You read above where our MC is a studio host for the North American Beer Pong League (sadly not a real thing). That should give you all an idea of what to expect here. There will be plenty of mocking, jokes, and misunderstandings with hilarious results.

For those who aren't sports fans, fear not. This is not a "sports game." Of course there will be dialogue about sports, given the story, but this is more about the growth that is needed for our MC to reach his dream job. Ultimately, it's all about the characters, and certainly isn't going to require you to know anything sports related to still enjoy the story. Big sports fans will pick up on some special things in the dialogue, but you aren't going to miss out on a key point because you have no idea who Michael Jordan is.

Our protagonist is once again a male, this time 29. I promise you all that you will never see an MC under the age of 21 in an IT Roy VN. Even that would be pushing it for me. I will do my best to make him somewhat attractive, but not GQ model levels of attractive. You will be seeing his face, as sadly I can't find an excuse to use the PhillyGames method where you put your MC in a fancy gas mask for the entire game.

I'm intentionally being vague on a few things, as this is still very much in the planning stages. Yes, I've finally learned the hard lesson about announcing things before they are ready.

The story will stand on its own, without romance being the key driver of it. Your love interest choice will affect the story a bit, but I'm not planning on it being in a significant way. There is the main story (game) that you play through to achieve the best ending (and yes, you'll be able to reach a bad ending, if your choices don't work out). Then there is the romance side of things that is a nice little detour with some eye candy, a bit of a challenge, and some other things that people expect in an adult VN.

As for the love interests, they are diverse, but you will ultimately have to choose one. There is a MILF (divorced by the time you meet her, of course), and some other lovely ladies. The plan is for four love interests (yes, high tier patrons, I got it down to four!!!). This next one isn't a harem game. You'll need to make a choice on which love interest to pursue. When this choice comes depends on the love interest, and how much attention you pay to them. There is no wonderful goddess to do you a solid this time.

While To Be A King is very much a "harem simulator" (by design), The Set will not be. These love interests will be introduced very early in the game, and you will have to work a bit to date some of them. You are not a famous general anymore, so no more having ladies throw themselves at you. Though some may take more of an interest in you initially than others. I'll be doing everyone a favor and revealing all the love interests before the game launches, so you don't despair wondering if getting constantly rebuffed is because the woman you desire isn't a love interest in the game. I have some other plans to make things more interesting there, but it is too soon to talk about that.

In addition to the love interests, there are several other characters who can help you or hinder you in your ultimate goal. Some will be antagonists throughout, while others may start out not particularly pleased you are at SSBN, but can come around. You do start out with some friends, so fear not. This is not being dumped into a shark tank.

The Set occurs in the present day in a real area of the United States. An area of the United States that I intend to throw in a few lighthearted jokes about. We finally have fucking cell phones in an IT Roy original game! Jet travel is possible, along with a functioning Internet for our characters to use to email, text, do research and get next day Prime shipping (until the internet in the game inevitably gets DDOSed by angry Russian hackers). Let me tell you, after Googling Roman mail and foot travel transit times, this is a massive relief.

I've been spending a lot of time since I conceived of this just working on cutting things from the game. Games have enough of a habit of expanding "on their own" during development. I want to start out with as little extra as possible. There is still going to be plenty of story here, especially with my own self-imposed deadline to wrap this up in a time frame that isn't half a decade. Maybe it does well, I really love it, and it keeps going.

When Previews, Roy?

At some point much closer to release, I'll have renders to share. I really want to ensure I'm not having to backtrack on anything that I publicly talk about. High tier patrons who got a heads up about this a few weeks ago will already know that I changed a few things. I wish I had something visual to show off, but still too early for that. I've already made many changes to this idea, so I want to get as much locked down as I can before the 3D work starts.

Work on this new project will be going on during my break between To Be A King releases. My audacious goal is to have the first couple of episodes written and a first episode completed before To Be A King's final chapter is released. With a metric fuckton of luck, our first episode of The Set (or whatever the final name is) will be out in about a year, right around the time I finish To Be A King.

Oh, and I've opened up a special Discord channel to discuss this next game, such as it is. Have a great Sunday/Monday (for those already in the future).