Game Status Update #61 (Patreon)

Hey, friends! I know it's only been a few days since the last game status update, but I figured it was about time I went back to a consistent schedule of posting them at the beginning and middle of the month.

The cover boy is once again Isaiah, joined this time by Jordi and Lachlan. This is the only image I made for last month's Guy Gallery before I delayed it to this month. I wanted to give more guys a moment in the spotlight, so much like I featured Julian in May, this upcoming gallery will focus on Isaiah.

I'm sharing it because I've got some comments about Isaiah's model and art below. Plus I just like the CG and wanted everyone to see!

Obviously I didn't get the dev build done prior to July's end, and I'll touch on what's left in this post. One reason for not finishing might be especially forgivable if you're a fan of Matt or Leo.

Writing

When writing on a deadline, you can't really wait for inspiration to strike if you want to get anything done. But sometimes it does strike, and I've learned when that happens to immediately get everything down on digital paper before I lose that burst of enthusiasm.

The inspiration this time was for a huge chunk of a Matt scene. It takes place during the first hangout/date that will be entirely dedicated to Matt, which will be included in the story update following the Morning After Update. And it can get pretty... well, let's just say explicit 🥵

Writing the scene took up basically an entire working day, but it is so good that I think once you play it in a few months you'll see why I let it temporarily supersede working on the dev build.

The other guy who'll be featured in this particular story update is Evan, and a little while back the exact same thing happened with him—I got a flood of really hot ideas for his scene that I made sure to put down for posterity. So hey, that means a large portion of that upcoming update's writing is already done. Now I just need to finish everything leading up to it...

Writing this Matt scene made me consider what exactly you'll see based on your prior choices—specifically because of some interesting ways Leo can end up being involved. This aspect of the game—what will be gated via choices—has always been a bit nebulous even though I do generally have a decent idea of what you need to achieve to unlock certain CGs.

I decided I should actually organize my many, many hookup ideas so there's a more specific progression path through the game. The way that was easiest for me to conceptualize this was to consider you "leveling up" as you reach certain relationship milestones. Very game-y... but this is a game, after all.

I haven't spent much time on this yet since a lot of it isn't immediately relevant, but I did chart out the level-up events from Day 2.

I decided on six levels you can reach with each one expanding what all you can do with someone the deeper you get into the game (and each other...). Each cell within the chart lists what choice(s) can be made at that level to progress or finalize your level for the day/week.

Level 0 - For a few guys you automatically jump to Level 1. Others you have to invest a little time into.

Level 1 - You spent some time with a guy or made other choices that have unlocked their hookup path.

Level 2 - This is the level you could advance to after, say, propositioning Riley—hence his making out scene. A tease involves a character arousing but perhaps frustrating you. Cheekily flashing you, sending you scandalous texts, handsy flirtation—things of that nature. Dominic's erotic hug is a good example.

Level 3 - This is the farthest you can go on Day 2, and only with Alex, Griffin, Julian, Leo, Marco, or Mafia & NC17. If you go through with a hookup at this point, you've reached Level 4 with that character, and that will carry on through Week 1.

Level 4 - More options become available during a hookup beyond just giving and receiving head. You'll also unlock some opportunities to have quickies with the leveled up guy.

Level 5 - This is primarily reached if the game decides your focus is mainly hooking up, though that's not the only way. Additional hookup scenes may become available as a way to fill the void left by few or no romances being pursued.

Level 6 - The endgame in which a hookup-focused Connor gets even more opportunities to have fun with the leveled up guys—and perhaps some of the supporting cast will join in.

In some cases it's possible to advance through levels during the same scene. Alex, for instance, can go from 0 to 4 if you hang out with him at the club. Other progressions are more gradual and require a series of choices across multiple scenes in order to level.

Like I said, I haven't taken the time to chart down anything except what's completely relevant right now. One such relevant path is Riley's, who can end up at Level 3 if you made out at the end of the party. If instead the furthest you got was cuddling, that got you to Level 2.

During the morning after sequence, being at either Level 2 or Level 3 lets you can unlock a CG I previewed in Sneak Peek #31 (viewable by Junior patrons and up). Entering this situation at Level 3, however, automatically extends the scene beyond that tease while at Level 2 you'll need to work a little bit to see everything. If you manage to view the full scene, it'll be possible to reach Level 4 pretty quickly... which opens up a later event Riley fans have been waiting a long time to experience.

Essentially everything is the same on the player-facing end—you're not suddenly going to have an XP bar or anything. This system is primarily a way for me to be very specific about tracking how much you invest in certain characters so I can reward you accordingly. It also helps me spread the love, as it were, by seeing gaps where you could have a bigger encounter but I haven't planned one yet, as well as find places where I may have made it too difficult to reach a scene.

Anyway, this is all long term stuff that I'll talk more about another time. That will include revealing my plans for how you can level up an entire group—like influencing just how wild Dorm Wilde can get...

Returning to the Morning After Update, there are some writing gaps I'm scrambling to fill that came about due to all the menu condensing and reorganization I talked about in Game Status Update #60. These are smaller bits smoothing out—or adding—transitions between different scenes and menus. Basically, I'm filling in places where cuts made moving through the game feel jarringly inorganic—and making sure I address situations I somehow missed entirely.

This is all tied in with wrapping up coding and doing testing of the additions and changes. This is pretty much all that remains, and while it always feels like it's an easy enough task, the actual time it takes is always longer than I expect... even when I make guesstimates already knowing that. But I am still working nonstop to get this done ASAP!

Art

This part of development isn't super art-focused, though it'll become that way once I'm finally done with the dev build. But I have been getting some stuff created that's necessary for this section of the game, which brings us back to Isaiah.

At the end of the dev build you can run into him, Alex, Dominic, or Riley before reaching the showers, dependent on your relationships with any of them. For Isaiah specifically, there were some model issues I wanted to fix before making any new sprites for his scenes.

During the initial round of revising character models, I changed his body to use one that was actually sculpted to be muscular rather than the original version, which used a leaner body that I awkwardly adjusted with muscle morphs. I also fixed his dick rigging, as talked about in the novel-length Game Status Update #59.

At some point I adjusted his skin materials, and whatever I did made his skin look very flat, dry almost, which prevented him from reflecting light as he should. Since defining a darker-skinned model's features is done primarily with highlights, that was leading to his face being too shrouded in shadows in various CGs—especially when he's alongside paler characters who need less light or else they'll be washed out.

I figured out how to adjust his skin materials so they more naturally reflect light, and now I consider the model completely finalized. The cover CG had an earlier version with the non-finalized model, so I can give a comparison. The scene was already lit to get highlights on him, but you can see in the right image how he's shinier in places—the man is moisturized!

With the model done, I made the sprites I needed for the end of the dev build. When doing so I decided to change his pose so the light could better highlight his musculature, and I also toned down a few of his more cartoon-y expressions. Here's a version of him from an earlier build of the game next to how he looks now.

I often need to take mental breaks from stuff like coding but still want to be productive, so I'll fill that time with making less-involved art. I want all the boys to put their best foot forward right at the start of the game, and I figured since I already had Isaiah's new poses made, I could use a time like that to quickly create new Day 1 sprites for him.

I've always hated his Day 1 outfit—I had very limited assets at the time, and the clothes I used ultimately didn't match the style I now see for him. The clothes also had weird issues like the textures stretching under the armpits when his arms were raised.

I gave him a new outfit that shows off more skin and is in colors I more associate with him. Here are the old and new Day 1 smiling sprites for comparison:

Unless I'm completely blanking as I write this, these sprites were the last bits of art I wanted to finish prior to sharing the dev build. Primarily because I needed his full range of expressions while he's only in his underwear—I didn't even have a standard/default expression for him. This aspect should be all wrapped up for now.

So that's the game itself, which is on its way soon. This month also brings one of my favorite Patreon events.

Grind'm Voting

The first Grind'm vote winner, Jordi, is already in the game, and the second winner, Trevor, is having his scene made right after the Morning After Update is done. As I already announced, that means it's time to pick the third guy getting an unlockable hookup.

I've finalized the list of candidates, settling on 16 guys in total. I bumped off some guys that were previously eligible, like the club bouncer, since they were unlikely to get enough votes to be relevant.

Round 1 of voting begins 16 August and will last until the end of the month. The top 8 guys will move on to the semi-finals taking place during the first half of September, and then the final two will go head to head during the last half of the month.

There have been some new guys added since the last vote, like Professor Zeno and twink Kaleb, so I'm really curious to see how things shake out this time!

Anyway, that's it for right now! I hope to be back very soon with the dev build announcement. Until then, I hope your August is off to a good start!