Captain's Log #23 - October2024

Welcome Seekers! ✨✨

It's high time for our monthly update, isn't it? Let's get straight to it!

🔼You read it right!! Art and Writing for Batch 3 are ready!! 😱😱😱

But what is really behind these numbers? 🤔 Let's have a look!

🔧 Technical Update

The code for Batch3 already contains what we wanted, but we are keeping the 1% contingency for unexpected bug fixes before the next delivery!

We have lots of stuff in coding to be done for the next batch, but we are holding off so as not to mess up right now. For example, we have two completely separate sex minigames mechanics (the current one, with skills and fireworks in Tutoria and Nova's scene) and a new one to be tested on a fresh Nova's scene - our Unity Master can't wait to get rid of one of them! We are having both in the upcoming build so that they can be compared, and so we make a decision on which one to keep :3

Also hope you will like our updated dialogue visuals! The new lights and shadows reaaally show! 👀👀👀

🔼Look at those rimlights and shadows!! They look so goood!! 😱😱😱

In the meantime some important news for mobile players: IT'S ALIVE!

At the moment, it is totally unoptimized, heavy and choppy, but it super works even like this, and we will be jumping right to it after we are done with the PC build of Batch3 📲

We need to find a better way to make sure the game is playable on mobile with one hand (if we go with new sex mechanics, that will be much easier) and that the dialogues are easy to interact with - on the gif above you can see our makeshift temporary UI for mobile 😅

And now, here are some important questions for mobile players!  

1. What is an acceptable size for a mobile game build? The current is around 1 GB, and though we believe we can chop-chop, we're wondering what your expectations would be! 🤔

2. What other mobile games with excellent interfaces would you recommend? We are doing our research, but if you know something that will inspire us, please share! 🙏

🎨Art Update

We don't know how, but somehow, we updated ALL the artwork in the current game :O

That is terrible news for the writers who have to hurry up now with writing more scenarios!! 🤣

From things we decided not to include in Batch 3: Mr Bow will hold onto his cardboard cutout for a while, and the new Moruga's sex scene, instead of being animated/interactive, will have a placeholder to make the story whole. Worry not; we will go back to this sex scene as soon as we know which system to keep!

So, when you check on the game next time, the visual novel slides should only include rendered images. If they don't, it's a good opportunity to report a bug! Captain will definitely want to revisit some of them in the future to polish the good stuff (if you know what I mean 👀), but so far, so good!

🎵 Sound and SFX

You will find some new custom tracks playing in the background, so it's not always the same dull track repeatedly! We also added some sound effects in the dialogues. We feel that they are not perfect, but they are just a first attempt at making the game more alive.

What else is cooking? Currently working on music for Nova's sex scene and waiting for the Voiceover for the same scene! Can't wait to have it ready, and at the same time, we are all really annoyed that it takes so long to get all these tiny things put together 🙈

Let us know if you want to hear the soundtrack mixtape, we can drop it here on Patreon earlier if you are curious! 🎷

📝 Writing

Now, the important stuff. Writers are writing A LOT. What we are adding in this batch will be a continuation of the romance path for Nova and Moruga, but not yet side quests or romances for other NPCs. We decided to go this way because we are getting lots of story continuity bugs and soft locks where the player has to 'go to your room to wait for something to happen', so we are now solely focusing on fixing those issues before delivery (and making the system more bulletproof for the future)!

But in the meantime, oh well. We are heavily brainstorming and planning the whole game 🧠. And when I say the entire game, this is what I mean - all the NPCs, all the storylines, all the endings, all the side quests, all the dates, all the side sexy stupid scenarios, all erotic content - just all of it.

We reworked the way we are approaching this, and it feels a lot like moving a plant to a new pot—you pour water, but it doesn't seem to grow, but it doesn't die either. It's because we couldn't see, that underneath it was still working and it was growing the roots. 🌱🪴🌴

And so, my Seekers, we are growing the roots of this story tree. And to avoid boring you, I will write a separate post on what exactly we are doing and why! Hope we will get more into your taste (especially ditching the overcomplicated minigames to have more sexy stuff instead, along with new minigames directly related to fostering your relationships!).

Once we pass trough this painful stage we will be able to better estimate delivery times and remaining scope!

Oh oh, and expect meeting a new sexy visitor to the island very soon! 👁️👄👁️

So, to sum up 🍕

What to expect in the upcoming update?

• As always you can start the game since beginning or since the Batch3!

• Updated visuals for all the locations and NPCs,

• New cinematic Nova's spicy scene for testing the new sex scene workflow!

• Romance progression for Nova and Moruga,

• Updated 100+ handpainted visual novel images,

• Minigames can be skipped now (skip button on top left),

• Fixed lots of minor bugs and locks!

WHEN - you might wonder? 🔎

At this stage it looks like we will need a week or two more. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Sending you all the good wibes ☕,
--Polly💌