Progress Update (Patreon)

Awoo mates!

Sorry the new build still isn't ready yet! Usually, I'd just continue my work and release it when it's done without bothering you with devlog posts, but even after all this time I'm still a bit far from finishing it so I thought I better at least let you know what I've been up to this last month.

My current new script word count is at 7000. I had a pretty tricky scene to write and I went through one big rewrite, but I'm very satisfied now! Now I only have to write two more scenes and draw one CG for this build, and then I'll be happy to code and release. Usually, one month would be enough for me to get all of that done, but I had a bit too much on my paws.

In short, I've had a few extra things going on. One of them was the Alon dildo merch release. StreamToys and I were occupied with making sure that everything was as perfect as it could be. I contributed marketing artwork assets, wrote descriptions for the product page, and additionally wrote/coded that new "MERCH" section in Shelter itself, along with the new advertisement scene. You can see it in the newest public build and it'll also be visible in every Patreon build from now on for the foreseeable future. If you finished Alon's under-the-table scene, a small Dandelion will appear on the main menu screen. Click him to see the thing. It's pretty cool :3

Another even more important new thing was starting assembling a team for a side project, set in the same world and time period as the current events of Shelter. I always worked mostly alone, with a few commissions here and there. However, I always knew that the sooner I put the time into gathering other people for a joined consistent work, the more benefit will come to both our productivity/output and my mental health. There's been a very special type of game I wanted to make for the past like ten years and recently I managed to find a good coder for that. I prototyped, planned out, and created some placeholder assets before approaching him about it, and then we spent days together testing and noting down pages of instructions. I'm excited to get to a point when we can show you a first sneak-peek prototype build one day.

One of the main goals of that side thing is for me to get more practice managing a team of people. The more work I manage to delegate to other competent good boys, the more good boy content you'll consistently get. That's exactly what I always wanted to do with your generous Patreon support, but the lack of competent and dependable contacts for long-term work was always blocking me. Now I think I know enough people to finally start sorting it out.

Hence the birth of "Knotsoft", our new and totally legit game development studio. Right now consisting of two people, but once we get to the point in development when we can start applying real assets into it, I'll get more boys on board. I hope doing that will also help me hasten the final development of Shelter's current Skies Ablaze story as well, since I would have dependable people to assist me with that.

I'm going to keep creating and sharing assets for that project from time to time, alongside the usual Shelter assets. You'll get to see some familiar faces, some mentioned faces, as well as some still yet to be mentioned~
I'm gonna post the first visual now for LVL2 Patrons as usual, and more will come as soon as they get made.

In the meantime, I'm gonna get back to writing Max's route. I hope you'll like the next build when I have it ready :)

Awoo!
Raus Vuffski