[EN] Monthly Report: June 2026 & Event Winners

Tl;dr M13 is in the works with the earlier Mark Days being reworked! Possible update coming for some fixes and changes.

Good timezone, everyone, it’s Z here posting on Andy’s behalf. Coming in hot with the Monthly Report.

Here’s a message from Andy:

"Hello, I won’t be actively working on AFCL until I’m finished with my moving paperworks which I’ll be occupied with this month and the upcoming one, but I’ve done some extra work before this, and Z may upload it sometime this month. It’s a short Monthly Report, but anyway, here’s what I’ve accomplished so far:"

//Updated to After Class 0.13.31p (Internal dev version):

I’ve updated it to 0.13.31 because it includes some earlier day reworks, mostly Day 2 and M2. There isn’t a lot to fix this time due to the lack of error reports, but there were some minor fixes that I’ve included in this version. As usual, this will be listed in detail later. This update is supposed to be an internal dev version (meaning it won’t make it to public), but tbd may choose to upload it as a housekeeping update.

//Day 2 Rework and M2 Rework:

Since I’m not working on the newest M13 for the time being, I’ve decided to revisit earlier Days. Currently, on v0.13.30, we had only the morning part of Day 2 reworked. The newest version has it reworked until you arrive at the university. This also includes the interaction with Lars before you head to school.

You may have noticed an interesting addition in the above pictures, this will be explained in the next section

//Gameplay Gimmick:

I know, I know. It’s a visual novel and you usually don’t have to press anything else other than the space button (or left click) to advance the dialogues. 

It’s been a thing I’ve been planning since the start of development, but since the AFCL Twilight arc is reaching its final act, I now have to start including the next act in the current and upcoming builds. The gameplay gimmicks that I’ve shown in this post are...

Choices that you can see but not pick due to unmet conditions:

Previously, this may manifest itself as glitched OTEs and/or choices you can pick but make no difference to the story or ones that force you to pick the other option, like the one in D13. This has been part of the AFCL gameplay gimmick that I kept private, and now it’s out for public. These options will pop up starting Day 2 and will be added to later Days as I rework them.

A Return button in title screen:

Some of you may have figured this out, but I’ll keep it a secret for those who haven’t. 

//Soundtrack:

One more soundtrack finished! This new track is now available in-game and the music room. We’re working on Track 8 now, and you’ll probably be able to get the preview next month as usual. Here’s a preview for Track 7! With the obvious title, you should already know whose theme this track belongs to.

//Minor UI change:

Since this update isn’t a housekeeping update, there won’t be any major changes...I said that but I reworked the entire music room.

This is largely the same thing as the previous music room with most of the UI buttons moved around; the only major difference here is now you can click on the progress bar to skip to any specific timestamp. Major thanks to Feniks for the logic of the code.

For the updated music room, AFCL original soundtracks will get their own track information. Think of it as metadata. It shows the description of the track and other things. You can click on the red triangle on the corner to hide it.

//WIP/Finished assets:

Since I’m not working on AFCL this month, there’s no update for a new BG, but Mr.Bear has made some progress on the ongoing M13 CG!

//Error Report:

Most of the errors I fixed this update came from the UI change.

Error Fixes:

Fixed a KeyError when visiting the music room with the 7th Year Anniversary title screen. 

Fixed Ross’ character sprite error/missing in M8.

Fixed missing G13 CG in CG gallery.

Known issues (from previous update):

G13 checks will be incorrect due to missing variables in early Days due to the rework.

Continuity issues due to G13’s check might be present in certain scenarios.

//What’s next?

I’m still not going to be available to do M13, but I’ll get back to it as soon as I’m able! Other than that...lifetime access will be updated soon! Don’t forget to check if your name is in the list!

Now don’t leave yet! That’s not everything I’m announcing today. With the 8th Year Events finishing, I’m about to announce the winners!

//8th Year Event Fan Artwork Winner:

Oh, wow, so many great artworks! Didn’t know our readers are so skilled! 

...That made it hard to pick the winner.

Of course, everyone who participated is a winner, but we have a favorite! 

Everyone's Celebrating by Kaikai

Congratulations to kaikai! We’ll contact you soon about the prize.

Here are the other artworks that have been submitted by the participants! Some of them are spoilers, so be careful! Full resolution available on the server.

Edgar's Ultimate by ryoulen

Caged Bull by Cookiedoh2

The World Moves On by XanDearmer

Stop by Grifes

Our Thread by Yuishiro89

Gilbert by Cookiehuge

Practice After Cla Hours by fenomenalen

Dusk to Dawn by zepherado

The Legend by viridian_and_violet

Mark in Fire by bajkowe

Surprise Kiss by KadenWolfe

The Moon Goddess by Dogdawoug

Invisible Threads by 1NKmakunase

Lockscreen by melancholywolf

Bread Time with Lars by RexDoggo

Let’s Start by the_bard_24

//8th Year Event - Erebus’ Finest:

This year, we received about 2130 cumulative votes, and the winner is...Andrew

...with 288 votes! Congratulations to Zepherado for winning this event! You’re the only winner!

This was a heated battle, especially between Lars and Edgar! 

Since Andrew wins, he’ll receive a special episode at one point, but no spoiler here!

Stay tuned! 🤙

//8th Year Event - Dev’s Queries featured questions:

We’ve received some interesting questions this time around, and here are two of the questions that I really liked!

けもさんです（建聰）:

“After Class creates such a vivid and interesting world for its characters to live in, and the soundtrack for me always feels uniquely calming and immersive. Could you share what inspired your approach to world-building, what guided your choice of the bgm selection, and how Morenatsu influenced your creative vision for After Class?”

Andy Peng:

“The world building is heavily inspired by the places I've lived in, visited, and saw on the internet! I blended many of them together and that's why Highwell feels like a mix of everything at once. I used East Asia as its main inspiration, and I took a lot of reference from Makoto Shinkai's artworks.

Now about the BGM...it helps that I play some instruments, so I know what sort of music that I want to include into the VN. 

Besides, I've always been nitpicky about the music I listen to.

When choosing the BGM for AFCL, I'd read the script over and feel the vibes and the feelings associated with it, then I'd imagine it in my head thinking "what sort of music would fit the scene and how it would affect me?" 

...Growing up, I've always played games with many awesome tracks, like Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 8, Suikoden 2, Brave Fencer Musashi, etc. These games had great soundtracks, and they were good at picking ones that suit the scenes. Give them a go sometime if you haven't!

Okay, a little bit of insider info, before it was out for public, way way before it was a thing, AFCL was supposed to set in the same universe/setting as Morenatsu, and it was supposed to be a Summer themed mystery/slice-of-life, autobiographical fiction VN that focuses on post-graduation activities. It was a mix of Morenatsu (Summer Break) and DDLC, they share the same theme of "something that happens after school period", hence why it's called "After Class".

But then it felt too similar to both of these, so it was changed to Spring and was set in its own universe. Imagine if I went with that, the allegations of being a Morenatsu clone wouldn't stop! Even back then, AFCL was labeled as "another Morenatsu clone." 

”

Xan:

“Before I expound, allow me to offer my heartfelt congratulations and gratitude to this entire project from start to finish. We, the readers, know that since the very start, this project has always been a passion project, and to keep going after 8 whole years is extremely commendable, and hopefully to many more years to come as well. It's not an understatement to say that this project changed a lot of people's lives (for the better I hope), and some of us has "grown" alongside the project as well. So there is nothing more I can say except congratulations, and keep moving forward, always.

But now to the questions. I thought about what kind of interesting questions you all would like to hear and answer. And I know I'm going to be asking 2 because it's so hard to combine them into one question. You may answer all or just one, either is fine.

- What ideas or themes of the story scare you the most in writing them? Like what implications inside your story really unsettles you but you have to write it to deliver the message. For example: a story about immortality might have themes about losing their humanity and morality. And imagining yourself in their show frightens you.

- What criticism has affected you the most? This one is self-explanatory.

Once again, congrats on 8 years. And may the stars carry us on.”

Andy Peng:

“I'm especially afraid of writing emotional scenes. Not because I'm afraid of being emotional, but as a person, I have a dulled...sense(?) of feeling certain emotions, and I don't understand them for the most part. 

This is not me saying that I'm edgy, emo or adjacent...what I'm saying is that I'm emotionally dull, and I'm afraid that my understanding and interpretation of them would affect the way I write these scenes in a bad way. 

So, whenever I need to write an emotional scene, I always consult Rex: gauge his reaction, ask if this would be an effective way of showing [emotion], and if it would affect the readers.

I'd say it's my biggest weakness right now, and I'm worried that the way I wrote it would feel artificial/inauthentic, because that's how I feel when it comes to feeling things.

You can't get affected if you don't care about them in the first place :D

...Jokes aside, being a perfectionist, I have some sort of complex about getting criticized and honestly, I'm quite scared of reading the reviews, but I take all criticism seriously, good and bad.

That's the reason I don't really talk about AFCL outside of the server or read anything about it. 

But being told that AFCL is "boring", "not worth reading", and "it won't go anywhere because the author is holding off finishing it for more Patreon cash" has affected me the most, and I think about them often. I guess there's a part of me that agrees with them. 

I do get especially worried about having people thinking that I'm dragging it out to get more Patreon money. Which isn't the case at all because more than half of the funds I get from the project goes towards AFCL-related assets commissions.”

Rex:

“For me, I'm the most afraid of emotional scenes. Not because of a lack of empathy (altho I do struggle with that at times) but with all the buildup that goes into it. I'm worried about making sure what I write does justice to what expectations I set for those singular moments. It's a lot of thinking and rethinking and planning and replanning, and it feels very easy to both undercook and overcook at the same time. But at the end of it all, I just do my best and hope it's received well.

For criticism, I don't really engage with it. I heard a lot that Anders just isn't interesting, or the other end where he's too emotionally intense to handle, and it all boils down to personal standards for what kind of story someone wants to read. Even if I let it get to me, I wouldn't have any other choice but to shrug it off and trust my sensibilities for what best to do for his route lol”

That’s all for this month, thank you so much for participating in our silly events. I really appreciate it, and I’m forever thankful. I’ll do my best for many years to come. Okay I’ll sign off now before I get emotional. 

With love,

Thanks for reading!

That is all from us. Thank you for your attention. Share with your friends, like the post, and give us your thoughts. We will see you next time. If you have any questions, feel free to ask us anything on the Discord server.

— tbd // Z