Dev Diary #5 (Patreon)

Hello there, everybody.

It's me, Lone Wanderer, the lead designer of this project. We did mention previously that we are changing our internal working structure behind the scenes both here in posts and also on Discord.

The main issue we have had lately isn't actually the work loads or the progress on the game itself, but more the PR, or rather keeping in touch and contact with you. While it is wishful thinking to only get in touch whenever we have something to present, it brings with itself the issue that… we just lose touch with you in this case.

Our goal for now is to make a post at least monthly, even if we don't necessarily have fully refined content yet. And, behind the scenes our hierarchy is horizontal; while I am the lead designer, I do rather prefer to work with everybody else on the team on an equal level. This has the advantage that everybody else can also take a bit more of an active approach as well in the direction of the entire project.

So, from now, we are also experimenting with a new way of handling Patreon. Following my little passages, you will see an entry from most of us directly talking about their work. Before diving into that, however, it may be worth it to browse through the selection of artwork (and music, in attachments) we have created since our previous dev diary.

Team entries

I personally have been working on refining the future plans, the lore and overall structure of the game. From the perspective of writing content itself, I have myself been working further on adding more Corvolin content to day 4 and reworking their existing content.

Corvolin has the problem that, at the moment, they are more of a McGuffin character. They exist to relay exposition to you, and at the moment they are quite impersonable. The intent for this rework is to show a bit more what their personality is like, but also to make their exposition more natural without having them cut you off whenever Nyrok might ask a question too many.

Cedrik's second date is still in the works and will be finished by myself. He will also be the first character to receive an alternate set of clothing in his own content.

While I am personally excited about what we have in store for the future, I have already talked for quite a long while, and I'll let Gherod take over.

- Lone Wanderer, lead writer

Greetings everyone, Gherod here!

As we continued to work on developing this game, I personally took an ever increasing interest in character interactions and relationships, thus I have offered to contribute to dates more actively.

In these last few months, I've been working on the first date with our fuzzy detective dragon, Azorin, but the process was not exactly smooth. Azorin has a great potential as a character, but it seemed to me that he was lacking something to hook players to him. Then, it came to my mind that Azorin did not really seem to have a goal of his own nor an anchor to the main plot.

Thus, I had to plan out several things revolving around the character and bring answers to certain questions regarding his place in the story. In short, I had to come up with a motive for Azorin to be in the resort and develop his personality around the role he is undertaking, to then be able to create a possible romance with him. Needless to say, it took a while! But we are very happy with the results.

And so, by the time of this post, I would have finished Azorin's first date, which takes place on Day 6. However, there are some fundamental differences in the character that still need to be addressed in the events taking place on Day 5. So, while this bit of content is mostly playable, these changes really need to be done to properly introduce our current version of Azorin into the game.

His core is still as you know him, a lone detective with a fair bit of mystery enveloping him, but I am confident to say he is now a more solid character. We also had to take into account our patron's preferences for him, which are now, hopefully, respected in their fullest.

All that remains on my part before the next release is to rework some of the events of day 5. I will be editing some of Azorin's dialogue and actions, and completely overhaul the scene with Berac, a character that also no longer has a place in the future of the game, nor does that scene make sense anymore with the plans we have. Other than that, the day itself is going to receive a much needed overall polish that I am sure will certainly be welcome.

I will hopefully have more insights to share with you once I am finished with my current task, so stay tuned as we will make efforts to communicate more frequently :)

- Gherod, writer

Hi! Rauch is here.

In these few past months I've been working on new backgrounds for the most recently released content, such as a library area that you can find on Day 8. I also took some time to go through the earlier content of the game and mark down all the places which could use an additional CG for both, main story and dates, so you can expect even more new art in the upcoming builds.

I'm planning to focus next on creating NSFW illustrations for Garreth's and Lucra's dates, which are already implemented in game but still lacking visuals. For now you can look forward to the new illustrations of Yarin which are coming out with the next release.

- WeisserRauch, concept and CG artist

Samples says Hi!

Brym has a date! A second one, anyways, and this time you can HEAR things! Also, a new song has been created for a scene, called "Rockin' Oldie" along with a new forest... well, ambience. You can listen to them in the attachments of this post. Keep your ears open, and in some cases fluffy, for more songs coming soon to you!

- Samples, sound designer

Hello, it's Folsky!

So, Azorin sprites were done in 2019, which is a long time! I think I've come a little farther now and I feel I can give him better treatment and hopefully charm him up, so that's what I'll be doing next!

And, eventually, Cedrik will receive the same attention as his sprites are also looking a bit dated, but I'll keep you guys updated on that.

- Folsky, character artist