Howdy! Here’s what’s up:
We’re safe and alive, apologies for not posting anything last month - I had a legal issue due to one of my relatives being a Moscovian and folded under pressure. It was resolved, and I kept working on both games, just reverted to my natural Hermit mindset for a bit there.
I told Moana to wrap it up, regardless of how much text she coded in. She’s still Moaning all over the place, but I’m not writing this as an excuse, I just like how it sounds. I could write that I’m Mulaning, but it just doesn’t have the same ring to it (big sad).
To be completely honest, I keep forgetting that Moana has a pigeon brain just like I do. I mistakenly assumed that at least one of us is a sane and well adjusted human-person, but nope. By that I mean that she wouldn't stop me from doing something dumb, for she’s equally as stubborn. And while my stubbornness has served me well over the years, in this particular case I should’ve pulled the plug half a year ago.
There were plenty of external issues as well, and we are under fire in every meaning of the word, but I still think it was a bad call on my end. I will talk more about it after the update is out, hopefully this month it will finally be over.
Meanwhile, I continued working on things that will come after, I’d love to post previews and teasers for Moana’s quest, and the new artwork for our in-game interface, but I want to wait until the pole update is out.
So, in this post I will continue our conversation about Kira’s hair and show you another preview of a character from my second project (with other princesses).
First thing first, here’s the winner of the last poll and the final Hair option Kira will have:
We still need to pick colors for the two new hairstyles, but now we have all 5 of the planned and promised ones.
I’d love to have more, but we already have too much art to deal with and can’t add in even more variability.
I’m personally extremely happy that a ponytail (hair 4) and now pigtails (hair 5) have won. Because I now can do something very interesting with them - scrunchies! We can add cute ones and lewd ones (like condoms for example) and we already have a “headwear layer” reserved for the occasion.
Above are the four colors I made for the new hairs. We will have two separate polls to determine which ones will be implemented. But there can only be one for each hair.
I just made 4 options that I think look good for those hairstyles, with a ponytail being more “serious” and pigtails more “cute”, but I’m not starting those polls yet (for at least two weeks).
I really need and want your color suggestions for them before I start the polls. Please do write them in the comments, dm me directly here or on discord, or email me.
After some time (to give enough time to everyone who wishes to suggest a color), I will start two back-to-back hair color polls and then start replacing Kira’s head images all over the game.
And now I’d like to talk for a bit about the second game:
I’ve mentioned in the past couple of posts that I will tell you everything about this second project in a separate post and I will. But I do want to show you that I wasn’t just sitting idly, so I’ll talk for a little bit about this particular character here.
“Bean” is one of the four main, transformable and romanceable NPCs in a second game called Pioneer Plaque that I’m developing with two other princesses (PP, for short). Defenestration will always be my main priority, which is why I’ve decided to work with another writer for PP instead of writing everything myself.
Originally Bean was meant to be “Olga” from Defen, literally just her, the exact same character. But one thing has led to another and we went in a different direction, with two games being two separate things. Some cross-overs are still on the table, so Bean could be added to Defen at a much later date, but she was made for PP specifically.
With her character and art I went with a Splatoon “Goth” direction, a kind of colorful goth vibe. I’ve made plenty of versions of her make-up, outfits and hair for the two new princesses to pick from, because I want them to also like our characters - so that they would love them as much as I do. We ended up picking this punk leotard costume and to justify her wearing it, I proposed making her a regular attendant of “Cybergoth dance parties” for comedy and overall “vibe”.
While I love democracy, be it an internal one or external with a community involvement (like polls), her Thicc thighs were none-negotiable, because that’s clearly an “executive-level” decision that called for me to step-up and be firm!
I’d also like to mention that I’m still new to a software called “Spine” that lets people animate images, so I’m sure I’m making a lot of things in a wrong way, but her outfit was a bit of a challenge due to it having some many “rigid” parts (like chains, spikes and buckles). I ended up placing them on separate layers so that they wouldn't look like they’re made from doe when Bean breathes and jiggles around.
All in all, PP is coming along nicely, it’s much smaller in scope (compared to Defen), and I now have finished all of the love interests and even a couple of random NPCs.
Once again - I will make a more formal announcement of this second project and explain more in detail what it even is at a later date. I simply wanted to show you a part of what I’ve been doing for the last two months.
That’s pretty much all I can say at the moment. I asked Moana to stop and continued working on both projects while she’s still Moaning all over the code.
Right now, hands down, is the worst time of our lives, but I personally am neither sad nor upset. I do believe that we will get over this, and end up even better in the end. Like I’ve said, I have big plans for this year and I can’t wait for you to see what we’re making. It’s just that from time to time, I do unfortunately tend to let things get to me, but always snap out of it which is what I’m doing today.
Thank you all for your patience and support! Please do let me know if you have any suggestions for the colors of Kira’s two new hairstyles and I’ll make it happen!