Game Update #47 (Patreon)

Happy New Year, everyone! Today I have the first game status update of 2024.

First, let's talk about the cover image for this post. This isn't a CG from the game; rather, it's a test render I did to experiment with the first custom prop made for the game. I needed this and a few other toys for... reasons... and it so happened that a new 3D modeler reached out to ask me if I needed anything for the game that he could make as practice.

There's a lot of detail in this that's hard to see—I'm still experimenting with different materials and how to light it. But I'm super happy with the work he did. Check him out @aroused_robot on X/Twitter. He's also on Discord as @arousedrobot.

Now, to the update!

Writing

I was aiming to release the first dev build for the Morning After Update last month, but the busy holiday season prevented me from doing so. (Dev builds, for the uninitiated, are early, unfinished releases that I share with Seniors & Graduates when a chunk of the update is done.)

I finished writing most of the morning after at Matt's apartment and am now going through all the varying paths to make sure it all makes sense. This is a not insignificant scene in the Matt path, if that's a route you're going on, so I want it as good as I can get it. The night ended with Matt passed out before switching focus to Leo—this is a chance to focus back on your now very hungover best friend.

Beyond that I've tooled around with the morning after at the frat house. Something I've decided to do is add a new option for ending the evening at the party. Much like I didn't want to force players to have their Connor get drunk or hook up with Leo to see the new Matt scene, I don't want to force you to hook up with both Julian and Owen to see a new Evan scene.

Evan is in an interesting spot where he may or may not end up as a romance, and to service that, I'm going to let you choose to stay and watch over Evan when he passes out. (Just watch over—nothing sexual.) I already shared an image of one way to run into Evan in the last Sneak Peek post for Juniors, Seniors, & Graduates. This new scene would put you there in a different context.

So, all that to say—things are coming together, and I'm heavily focused on not just making things sexy (which they definitely are) but emotionally consistent as well. 

Coding

The Matt sequence is pretty much entirely coded and being tested. As I put this together, I've been working on improving my organization. Anyone who has looked at the files will have seen that the Day 2 portion is one massively long script, which by the end became difficult to navigate. I'm now going to do a bunch of different, smaller script files focusing on either a person or a location. For instance, a file that has just Matt scenes or one that has just group scenarios. Something to make it easier for me to find what I need when connecting different scenes—which means the game gets coded faster and hopefully with less errors.

Art

Finally, I've been continually working on the new CGs, though that work was briefly set aside to make the monthly Patreon galleries. I already shared some of the CGs with Juniors, Seniors, & Graduates via Sneak Peek #28, but there's many others made that you won't see until your playthrough. 

Any time there's revealing clothing showing off a VPL or something, I have to use a dedicated clothing program called Marvelous Designer, which can be tricky to use as an amateur. I've gotten better and better at getting clothing draped how I want, and I'm especially loving the images I've made for Matt. Here's one of his new sprites:

All of the morning Matt CGs are done and a number are created for the frat house portion. I'm adding a few new ones for Evan that weren't originally planned, so there's still a fair amount of Evan, Julian, & Owen content to make, but nothing so extensive that it'll take me a lot of time. I also need a bunch of new sprites for guys in various states of undress—including some of the other frat house boys who might not find it necessary to walk around their house wearing much—if they're wearing anything at all... 😏

Lastly, there are a few new minor characters coming up, so I've worked on designing them. One is another student who you won't really interact with but will certainly encounter since he appears in a game sequence you'll follow regardless of what other paths you've taken.

The second character is another of Connor's professors—yes, he does have other classes! I couldn't resist making at least one of the new professors a hot 30-something man, because why wouldn't I? I'll share a first look at these two newbies in an upcoming Sneak Peek. 

Looking Ahead

The immediate work is still the same as last month's goal—complete the Matt and frat house portions of the Morning After Update to share as a dev build. I'm hoping to get that out to Senior & Graduate patrons within the next few weeks, and I will of course announce it to everyone once I do.

I'm going to do what I probably shouldn't do, based on historical precedent, and give a very tentative schedule for the dev builds leading up to the full Morning After Update release. Why not aim high in the new year?

Ideally, this month will have two dev builds—the first focusing on Matt & the frat house, the second focusing on waking up at Griffin's place or in your own dorm room. 

Next month I would like to do one last dev build that includes the rest of the morning, beginning with some shower shenanigans and carrying on through classes. And then the final, full update will have one last portion which is an optional sequence, but one that I'll highly recommend you give a spin. That toy up above might be involved.... 😏

This isn't a set in stone release schedule—just the goal, with content chunks divided in two week timespans. I'll keep all of you appraised of where I'm at with the next few game status updates.

That's what I've got today! I'm going to do my best to have a more steady stream of Patreon content as well so it's not all at the end of the month, so you can look forward to that, too!