September 2021 Monthly Update (Patreon)

Hi everyone!

It's already time for another update! It's been a really busy month for us, with voice recordings, additional programming, a Patreon refresh, art and more.

Lets jump right into an update on art!

Art

Artwise, we're currently working on 8 CGs. These are mostly Fawn route, plus 3 NSFW scenes. We'll have some sketch previews to show of these soon.

Lets start with a finished CG we posted a little earlier in the month...

These two are just so sweet.

Next, some crops of spoilery CGs:

In particular, the third CG is one of my favourites!

As a treat, here's a crop of an in-progress CG, too:

This is actually the first Fawn route CG so far! Actually, compared to Leos and Cyne's CGs, Fawn's feel very soft and sweet.

Programming

Programming wise we've been working on a few things in particular:

Translate lines

Our voice acting relies on a feature in ren'py called auto voicing. This requires each line of dialogue to have a unique code associated with it. Then, all we need to do to play our voice acting is have the file with the same name as the line code! Easy, right?

Well, mostly. We've fine-tuned the way we add the line identifiers, but there's still a little manual checking involved. Our Audio Editor, Cats on a Lilypad, has now taken over this task after a short training session from us, leaving us with more time to work on other aspects of the programming.

Gallery Coding

As we add in new CGs, we also have to make sure they're added to the gallery correctly and unlock at the right time. Since we've been inserting some of the new CGs into the build lately, we've spent a little time updating the gallery.

Prequel Base Code

As promised in a stretch goal, we're still working on the prequel! We actually created the build for the prequel quite some time ago, based on old TDS code, and when we revisited it we found everything a little out of date. So, we've been spending some time recoding all aspects of the game base, as well as reformatting the sprites.

We're now finally at the point where we can begin adding the script to the game. However, I've now made the fantastic decision to change the game from first person to third person, so I'm midway through my editing. Still, I think the story is much better off with the additions we're working on!

Voice Acting

We actually just wrapped up our session only a few hours ago!

As you can see from this rainbow of colours, we're currently at script 9/14 on Cyne's route. It's been a huge undertaking from all involved, and I can't even begin to say how appreciative I am of our director, Amanda, and our audio editor, Cats on a Lilypad. They've made my job much, much easier!

We hope to finish the Cyne route recording in our next session in October.

We've also added a lot of extra audio to the current build, so we'll be showing some previews on social media during the month.

Merch Update

All physical rewards have been sent! We'd love to see photos on Twitter once you receive them <3

Patreon Refresh

We have a free post on Patreon that goes over this, but I wanted to quickly touch on it here, too.

We've updated the tiers and graphics on our Patreon to come more into line with our branding! At the same time, we've also changed up a few things... namely, we're now holding a monthly NSFW art poll! 

Beta Build

A new beta build has been released! We posted about it a couple of days ago, so have a look!

In general, we've added new sprites, CGs, journal entries and voice acting to this build. We're so excited seeing everything come together.

The beta build is now available on the Solaris ($15) tier, too, so lots of new people have access to it! Please check it out :)

CuriousCat + Game Design Tips and Tricks

We can answer any questions you have about the game or game development through our blog and Curiouscat.

You can leave your questions here!

Focus for the next month

Here's our focus for the next month:

• CG creation - 6-8 CGs finished is the goal
• Prequel programming
• Audio editing

Thanks again for your support, and we'll talk again next month!