The Summer of Growth
We talked about the new release schedule a little while ago, but I want to dig into the specific schedule for v0.15 and why we are doing things the way we are.
One big thing we talked about was that not every update will be a gigantic one. Do not expect us to release a novel every month; we don't make Gen AI slop, we make artisanal, hand-made romance and porn. So stuff is going to take a while.
We have someone dedicated to animation, backgrounds, key visuals, writing, code, and music. Six people are working hard, all the time, to create this game. We cannot summon things from the ether. Everything needs to be made. Obviously, once we've made something, we can reuse it. But for Episode 1, every update has new characters and new locations that will then become recurring. This is when we need to make those things.
Another reason it takes time is that not everyone is working full-time. The only reason is that we don't have the money. I like to be transparent and honest with you. This game requires work and monetary compensation for said work. Hopefully by now you've played or at least seen v0.15.0.4, so you can understand this isn't a lazy production.
This isn't a game where the background is a blurry photograph from Google and the sprites have one pose, two outfits, and three emotions. Where the lewd scenes are one image for the whole scene, with barely any dialogue. All to the tune of Kevin MacLeod's royalty-free jazz. It sure as hell isn't Gen AI slop like most of my competitors.
We are busting our ass to make the best game ever. In terms of dialogue, characters, presentation, etc. But it is also work done by professionals who expect a living wage. The idea of releasing monthly is two-fold, where everyone wins.
You get new content every month. We (hopefully) get fewer sub cancellations, and then we can pay people to work more. More content, more often, means growth, which means we can do our jobs. We want to snowball, but if we stall, the whole game could die, and then we'd need to find other work.
We are an indie studio, and you are our lifeline. We live and die by your hands. I'd like to think we've proved that we're willing to put in the effort, but I'm never going to stop trying, just in case.
With that said, let's get into what the release schedule for the rest of episode 1 will look like.
v0.15.1 - 4/7/26
Est. Word Count - 2,489
Newhaven Office scene with Dave and Greg.
v0.15.2 - 5/5/26
Est. Word Count - 6,499
Hazel Reintroduction with Lewd scene.
v0.15.3 - 6/2/26
Est. Word Count - 1,778
Important Jade City meeting.
v0.15.4 - 7/6/26
Est. Word Count - 5,282
Love Interest Introduction with Lewd scene + End of Episode 1.
v0.15.5 - 8/4/26
Post Ep 1 catch up.
So, some of you might be saying, "Wait, all that for Episode 1?" and yeah! The original Episode 1 from Ren'Py was only 7,678 words, whereas the first update, v0.15.0.4, was 12,258 words. We wanted a big first showing to fully immerse you in the new engine and systems. But that update had more content than our old Episode 1.
At the moment, Episode 1 is 25,817 words, so it's a bit bigger.
We are staggering the updates into Big Updates and Small Updates. We work on a Small Update, maybe adding a short scene and a few other things, while we ramp up for a Big Update next month.
The Big Updates are the length of a short story, but really move the plot along and might feature a lewd scene. They might include a new location, a new sprite, or other changes.
Small Updates might also have new stuff, but less, as we want to focus on the big scenes. For Episode 1, these two Small Updates are transition scenes that aren't as long as a conversation with a cute character but are important for pacing and the story.
Small Updates, like the next one, also give us a chance to go back and add things we didn't have time to include. (If you remember, when Charlene reveals her, uh, cage, we wanted that animated but ran out of time. Now, we can go back and animate it.)
Then we have a post-episode catch-up update. The first episode will end with v0.15.4, but we decided to include another update for anything we didn't have time to include. It will also be a good chance for the team to wind down from Episode 1 and wind up for Episode 2.
It also gives us one more update to put a ribbon on the build and call it done. Then we can figure out how we want to release that as a demo. It is also time to take action if there are any major issues players have found or criticisms people have that we need to address. I'd rather take care of Episode 1 before moving on entirely. I want to finalize an episode and only go back if something really pulls me to tweak an older episode. (This will make translations easier once we start doing those.)
The Future
So, a whole summer to do Episode 1. It may sound like it's not a lot, but it's more than double the original Episode 1, and we're laying the groundwork. Plus, our new Episode 1 has so much more insane stuff. Moving sprites and a character creator?
Once we make Cafe Estro, we don't need to make it again. Once we fully rig Hazel's sprite and give him all the animations, we don't need to do it again. We have to set everything up so it's easier in the future.
For example, in Episode 2, you'll be able to go back to The Galli. Those are sprites, backgrounds, and music we've made. All that is new is the dialogue. This gives everyone time to make new things. You go back to Cafe Estro, the Office, and ū̵̜̅ͅn̴̛̮̍d̵̹̂́ì̸̹̭s̴̳̲̽̿c̷͎͕̕l̸̨͇̐̿ȍ̸̤s̶̱̦͝ḙ̶͐ď̷̡̩̈́ ̵̮̅͜l̸̰̙̾o̵̻̅č̸̠́a̴̠̐t̴̢͛i̸͖̽o̶͚̍͠n̸̺͌. You talk to Dave, Hazel, and n̸̟̘̲͆͐̚e̴͔͑͠w̴̨͙͈̱̟͗̀̄̈́͝ ̷̡̗̆̅͑c̴̨̲͙͙̫̓̎h̵̢̊ͅa̷̞̩̞̰̅̑̈̑̌r̴̖͈̣͔̦̾̆̾a̸͙̾̉͘̕c̶̢̥̹̆̋̇̍̃ṭ̷̛̰̟̭͐̈́̔͘ë̶̛̗̖̐͆͜r̶͈̈́̓̔̈́ again.
The same goes for coding; we only need to make how dialogue works once. We only need to figure out the save/load once. There are all these things we are introducing and refining that, once we figure out, won't need to be touched again. Character Creator is solved; now we can add to and refine it. Episode 1 is where these things get made and will be used for the rest of the game.
Hopefully, if this pays off, we will have more funds to bring our current team up to full-time and even start hiring more people. I'd love to have money to clone Koth, but I'll take hiring someone equally talented to help.
Our cautionary goal is for Episode 2 to have no Small Updates, but we'll have to see when we get there. We would rather aim high and compromise later than aim low and not try to hit a home run.
Wrap Up
So, that's the next Five Months of releases! I think it's sort of beautiful. Look at how professional we've become. I prefer this to months of people asking me "When Update?" and me going "I don't even know where I am." We have clear goals and deadlines to hit.
If you have questions, comments, concerns, or clarifications, I urge you to leave a comment either down below or on our Discord. Either Lotus or I will be happy to answer you.
That is all for now! I need to go back to figuring out my taxes, which are due soon, but I've been too busy moving to focus on them.
We appreciate all of you, be kind to one another, and Stay Rad!
-Rad