Game Update #14 (Patreon)

It's mid-August and time for a progress report! 

The big news of the past few weeks is the early access release of Day Two, Part 3 to patrons at Sophomore level and above. I've received such great feedback about the writing and art for this sequence. After working in solitude on something like this for a month and a half, seeing the likes and comments for the finished product is so encouraging. Your kind words definitely keep me going!

If you're a Freshman patron, you're only a few weeks away from getting to play the next release yourself! Connor's evening at Matt & Leo's apartment is certainly eventful, and I'm excited for everyone to get to play soon :)

I'm now in the midst of creating the next release, which will be the frat party. Like the last release, I've dividing the work into two "sprints": first working towards a dev build to share with Senior & Graduate patrons, and then completing the full early access release. Let's take a look at how things are shaping up.

Script

I've begun scripting the party itself, focusing on one character's storyline at a time. For the dev build, I'm planning to share the complete party, a sequence which involves a lot of writing to cover the storylines of all the main guys who are present.

One of the interesting challenges of this section is making sure the characters that don't have a hookup opportunity still have opportunities for alluring content. These story beats have all been outlined in the flowchart from the last update, but they're really coming alive now that I'm in the writing stage. I was writing Dominic's story path earlier today, in fact, and some of the stuff I'm coming up with if you made certain choices will be frustrating in a very exciting way ;) I want to leave you hotly anticipating more!

Once the dev build is completed, I'll be working on two hookup opportunities to close out the evening. This section of the next release is the opposite of the party in that it will involve far, far more art than writing. I have a feeling the writing part of these hookup sequences will come without much issue!

The flowchart for one of these hookups was in a prior update, but the second hookup hasn't been charted out yet. I did, however, plan out all the CGs for this hookup, so I have a pretty solid idea of the shape of the chart I'll be making when I reach the point of writing these scenes.

Art

I've planned out what CGs I'll need for this next release, and the final total of new CGs is 48. Like with this most recent early access release, the bulk of those images will be for the hookups. Much like the writing will limit how quickly I can put out the dev build, it's the creation of the hookup CGs that will determine when the final release will be ready for early access.

Of these 48, 11 CGs are unlockable during the frat party itself. These CGs are primarily focused on the guys who aren't involved in a hookup sequence. I want to make sure with each release that you still get several full images of the featured guys even if they don't end up in a sex scene! 

I haven't yet created any of these CGs as I was waiting to finalize some parts of the script to make sure I'm showing what needs to be shown. But with some of the scripting now in place, I plan to begin creating the art today so I can have the pieces rendering while I continue scripting.

This next release will also feature 14 new side characters, which meant designing and creating the base sprites for all of them. I shared a sneak peek yesterday with Junior patrons and above that showed off a large number of the new characters, and the response has been very positive! Since then, I've already finalized the design & sprite for one character, have base models for two others that now just need clothes & hair, and sourced figure assets for two others. 

I think this expanded cast will start to make 21CA feel more full and not quite as guy-heavy as we've been up until now. My aim in the writing is to make these characters come off as unique and memorable as their art! 

Looking Ahead

The immediate future will be focusing on reaching the the dev build milestone. I'll be living and breathing the frat party for a while! But I'm always thinking ahead to the later story beats, and I've been making notes and planning out future sequences as I go. 

Although the club sequence is coming up after the frat party release, I'm very excited for some of the fun and hot content coming up as we move past day two. I'll start sharing some more info on Week One in the coming months. For now, I'll share what I'm calling Week One in my outline—The Morning After / Getting To Know You. In the wake of the events of this second day, there's potential for a lot of relationships to change in interesting ways, and I'm going to work hard to make sure all of your choices are accounted for!

That's all for this time! Thank you again for all the very kind words I've been receiving and for your ongoing support!