April 2022 Monthly Update (Patreon)

Hello everyone!

Wow, first monthly update since TDS has released! There's a lot to talk about, and a lot to show off, so lets just right into it.

The Divine Speaker

With The Divine Speaker released, we'll have less updates to share about it (obviously!). Still, we have a couple of things to talk about.

Art

We've decided to add about 4 extra CGs to the game when we release the voice patch, as a thank you for being so patient. We'll be showing those four on our Patreon too for those that have already played and don't want to go hunting for the extra CGs.

Artbook and OST

The artbook was released just a couple of days ago! It includes a guide for all achievements and endings, too.

You can grab it here on Steam or here on Itch. 

The OST will be coming out some time this month, and also given as a gift to those on the Veritate tier and up.

Programming & Voice Acting

The scripts for the Fawn route are currently being completed, and soon we'll be wrapping up all the recordings on The Divine Speaker. Then it will be a HUGE job for our audio editor to trim, edit and insert each line into the game. 

She will also be doing a test to catch the various bugs to do with the voice acting - like the actors changing the lines to some degree. Don't worry too much if you've turned on the VA in TDS so far, it will all be adjusted for the official release.

We hope to have it released by the end of April or start of May. 

The Divine Speaker: The Sun and the Moon

Writing and editing

This is what we're currently focussing on the most. The writing for the prequel game, The Sun and the Moon, which follows a younger Aemyl is complete-however we're doing a second run through of editing now to add extra scenes and CGs.

Here's a little preview with some returning characters:

Art

Fuyuure is going to start work on the additional sprites (four needed) and CGs as soon as she's finished up with the additional CGs for TDS, as well as a couple of other bonus pieces of merch we're working on.

Here's another look at the main menu image, though:

Programming

We currently are also working on the rest of the programming for this game alongside my editing. Emma will be taking over the general scripting, giving me more time to devote to any rewrites that I deem needed.

We have a short beta up on Patreon for those on the correct tier which you can play now, too. We expect to have an update for it shortly!

I would personally wait until you finish the game at least once, so as to not spoil major sections of the main game.

Other news

We've made the decision to change this game to be paid, as posted about yesterday, due to us adding much more to the story as well as additional CGs. We think it's worth the extra effort and money to truly make the game the way we want it to be.

If you were a Kickstarter backer for the main game, no matter what level, you will receive a free key.

Dreambound

Writing and editing

Dreambound is our next large, major project that we'll run a Kickstarter for. I'm still in the process of writing, as well as outlining and editing. It's a big job!

The common route has been completely written, and one route completely outlined. The other two are still in the ideas stages though they are coming together.

We're also nearly complete writing the first route.

NSFW scenes will actually be a stretch goal this time around (pending approval from our artist), so hopefully we can reach that and add them, too!

Here's a totally out of context screenshot:

One of the things we want to focus on this time is asymmetrical storytelling and creating the routes quite different to each other. We're still working through how this will look because some scenes usually would be common between all three routes.

Art

Our lead artist this time is the amazing webcomic creator, Sinran! She will be focussing on everything Dreambound while Fuyuure focuses on everything TDS.

We currently have completed 7 sprites and 7 CGs. We're working on another side character sprite now. Once it's complete, all the character art for the demo will be finished!

As for background art, we're joined by Anybangchu, who we've worked with before on an old YaoiJam demo we created. We're excited to have them back!

For backgrounds, we currently have completed around 16 already. This is quite a large chunk of the ones we need, but we still have more to go.

We'll start posting these new artworks from this month. For now, how about a preview of a love interest?

Opening animation

We posted the WIP opening animation, featuring our original song, last month! Make sure you scroll down to check it out. It's being created by Mamiya Dev, Kokoroten! I'm SO happy to be working with them-I'm a huge fan of their games, so it's a dream come true.

We will have another update to the opening at the beginning of May, as Kokoroten is now working on the animation. It should be done by June or July, which is around the time we would like to run a Kickstarter, but we'll see how we go.

Programming

I'm personally programming this project, and finally finished with the prologue section of the game and well into chapter one. The demo will encompass both of these chapters.

This game's programming is made a little more challenging by the edition of the escape room style gameplay sections. There is one most chapters (which is common between each route, though with different dialogue).

We were inspired by games like Zero Escape in particular with them. We'll be posting some previews of it soon, though you can join our Discord ahead of time to see some of them.

Once the demo portion is complete, we will be releasing it first as a beta! It shouldn't take too long once I'm finished editing the prequel.

Other News

We released TWO BL games last month - The Divine Speaker, our main project, and start;again, our entry to NaNoRenO 2022. We'd love if you would check both of them out.

On another note, we've also been invited once again as guests to FujoCon. Not exactly sure what we'll be doing yet but make sure to grab your tickets. It's a digital event!

We also have a couple of interviews coming up, which we'll share on Twitter once we're able to, and a few events we've managed to get in to.

Lastly, on a more personal note, I wanted to truly thank you all for your support. I have just quit my job to work on creating games full time-which has been a dream of mine for years I never thought I would be able to realize. It's a great honor! 

Until next month!