Game Update #46 (Patreon)

Mid-December is here, which means it's time for a new game status update!

Today's cover image features new renders of Connor's big brother, Fane, that I made for Instagram (you guys get the higher res versions!). Every now and again I get a hankering to make thirst traps of the guys that usually end up only on Insta, so feel free to follow me if you'd like to see more of those.

We'll get back to Fane, but first, let's talk about the next release.

Dev Build Status

If you're unfamiliar, while I make a large story update, I often release early, in-development builds for Senior & Graduate patrons that feature a chunk of new content to play. These "dev builds" act as milestones to give me—and everyone following the game—a solid sense of progression.

The first of these dev builds is coming in about a week or so. It'll be following up on the evening spent at Matt's apartment, and man am I excited to share it!

I am spending this next week not just finishing the continuation of the Matt's apartment story, but also working on what happens if you wake up at the frat house, which will follow up with Owen, Julian, and Evan. I'm not entirely certain I'll get enough done to include the frat house portion in the first dev build for the Morning After Update, but I'm feeling pretty confident. Regardless, the Matt content is definitely coming very soon.

December is a very busy month just in general, so this dev build sneak peek for Seniors & Graduates will be the last game release for this month. Work will continue on in January to follow up with all the other characters—plus go further in the day to get to Will content I know some of you are heavily anticipating.

I'll also be delivering the usual monthly Patreon content, so keep an eye out over the coming few weeks for more fun stuff. 

Mini Behind-the-Scenes - Character Adjustments

I've mentioned in other posts that I've made or will make some adjustments to character models, but I want to clarify it won't be anything drastic like the Connor overhaul. Just general improvements like fixing proportions and adjusting shaders. If you played the New You Update and didn't notice Isaiah got a new body, then you won't need to worry about not recognizing your favs. All planned adjustments are just as subtle!

However, characters that haven't been introduced in the game yet are fair game for deeper redesigns. One such character is this update's cover boy. Fane is Connor's older brother, who's been mentioned in various storylines and who you'll briefly speak with in the Morning After Update. But he won't physically appear for a little while yet.

I talked in Behind-the-Scenes #1 about creating a character model, which goes in-depth on my process. But in brief for Fane, I've been striving to meet a certain look that I narrowed down to a hybrid of actors Ian Somerhalder and Jeff Ward, but with a clear family resemblance to Connor. Fane is scruffy to Connor's clean-cut, which visually represents some of their dynamic.

For this version of Fane, I used a different base for his body while keeping the proportions the same, adjusted the face to remove some cartooniness, edited the face texture a little bit, and switched back to the hair I originally chose for him. The messiness just suits my vision of him better, plus the other hair I was using 'til now has a hairline I'm not a fan of.

If you want to see the evolution of Fane, check out his tag to see all the other posts & galleries he's appeared in (some of which may be locked depending on your patron level). There may yet be more changes, but those will be saved for another time when I don't have more pressing game work to do.

Anyway, that diversion aside—great progress is being made on the next story update, and based on what's done so far, I think many of you will be pleased with the new content. In fact, I have a CG rendering as I write this that has me like 🥵 The Morning After Update is getting closer every day!

Now, back to work for me. I hope everyone is having a good holiday season!