Maids & Masters (& Following Up On v0.19)

There haven't been a ton of bugs reported, and most of the reports are for v0.18, but I've still caught about half a dozen things with the help of bug reports. At least one of those things had been in the game for a while, so I'm glad to have that fixed. Just a friendly reminder that if you manage to find a bug, please find me and report it; my comment sections and DMs are open wherever you can find them. Just make sure the place you found them are actually me. I know there are a few websites out there that upload my game without my permission or knowledge and don't actually link back to me in any way. I don't use those websites, so finding myself on them to look for bug reports is difficult.

Other than that, if you've played v0.19 (or even if you haven't, really), I just want to put it out there again that I like feedback. In particular, if you have any thoughts about the books that can be found beneath the shed, I'd like to hear them. Those books are meant to feel like random notes that you're picking up and reading with little context, but part of me worries that they're confusing. A small amount of confusion is fine given the revelatory nature of them, but you should still understand what they're about without needing to go back and read them multiple times. Some of the information there is relevant for v0.20, so I want to make sure those are easy to digest, or at least exciting to read.

There is another bug in v0.19 that I have fixed for v0.20 already that no one has reported, and while I kinda want to talk about it, I also think it's for the best to just let it lie and see what people do with the bugged version. It's a big enough bug that part of me wants to pre-patch v0.19 for the public release, but it also isn't game-breaking (at least not in a way that will stop you from continuing to play the game). At risk of over-repeating myself, I like feedback, so if you find this particular bug and have thoughts on the system it's associated with after you've played with it, do let me know.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how v0.19 worked out. The bonus objective for June and Chloe (which yes, free hint - they share an event) seems like it's a little trickier than I'd like, since (another free hint, why not?) it involves having them both follow you, which is something you can't do with any other pair of Maids. I might expand the event trigger area a little so it's easier to find by accident, but hopefully both of their events being "go get the other one and take them somewhere" will lead enough people toward experimenting and figuring it out from there. If nothing else, there are enough optional Maids to more than make up for missing those two, so the trophy is still plenty obtainable for people who can't quite figure it out.

Now it's on to v0.20. I'm actually hoping to get the first test build that introduces the update out to VIPs this Friday on Patreon and Subscribestar. I still need to test some things and implement some other things, but this first little segment went quicker than I expected it to in terms of development time. Probably because I've been itching to tell this part of the story for close to a year now. I really hope you like what I've got coming, because the tone does take some rather sharp turns compared to the rest of the game.

Another Grain Through The Hourglass - 2024 Year In Review

Phew. That's 2024 done.

If you're new here and have no idea what I'm doing here, at the turn of the new year I like to take a moment to look back at the past year and celebrate all the good things that happened. A lot of not great things happened in 2024; financial support fell then stagnated, client work slowed way down, burnout hit me real hard, my grandmother passed, and so many other small things that made life harder and slowed down development.

Thankfully, there's still plenty of good that happened, too. There's still a lot that I'm incredibly thankful for and that I'm at least a little bit proud of. So, without any further ado:

Starting with the boring stuff, as much as my Patreon income hasn't reached the month-to-month peak that it hit at the end of 2023, I still had some good months thanks to those of you that signed up for the 1-year subscription that I'm now able to offer. Some of the other numbers also hit an all-time high, with paid members actually reaching 50 right at the end of December and total members being on the bleeding edge of 200. 

I also opened up a Subscribestar page, giving people who either don't like or can't use Patreon for whatever reason a new option to support me. While their payout rules mean I probably won't see a single cent from the support there for a long time yet (unless a whole bunch of you join all at once, anyway), I'm already over 20 members there.

Whether the money is where I want it to be or not, it still means a lot to me that anyone out there is showing me any kind of support. Especially in a year like 2024, it goes a long way toward keeping me going. Like I've said so many times already, and will continue to say as long as it continues to be true - whether you gave me a dollar and canceled immediately, joined one of those ridiculous expensive tiers and have stuck around for years, are somewhere in between, or have just been lurking in the "follow for free" section, thank you so much for being here.

Wrapping up the business side of things, the itch bundles didn't slow down even a little bit. From the smaller bundles to the giant mega-bundles, from the sales to the tips, the support on itch has gone a long way toward keeping me above water. As much as I still have a lot of room to grow before it really starts making a difference, the support I see there and the success of the bundles I've run still makes a little difference, and that still matters to me.

Seriously, just look at these things. The success of these bundles hasn't been life-changing for me, but they have made a difference for some of the devs in those bundles, and some of those differences have been life-changing. Getting to bring so many people together and seeing that show of support has been such an incredible experience (even if a few of those devs are a pain in my ass - you know who you are <3). If I end up failing out of indie game development and find myself unable to keep making games, I will still forever be humbled by the generosity of fans and the difference I've managed to make in my little corner of the community.

To talk about game development specifically, I really wish I'd gotten more of Precious Kouhai done, but at the moment, everyone seems to want my attention focused on Maids & Masters. Which is fair, because Maids & Masters is so, so close to the end of the story.

I'll probably still be spending most of 2025 working on Maids & Masters, because there's still a lot to do besides telling the rest of the story, and I have no idea what development is going to be like for these last few core updates. Like with basically every update to Maids & Masters, I'm tackling something I've never done before, but this time it's on a completely different scale. 

Once those last few updates are done, there's still other touch-ups on content that I want to add, too, with the biggest piece of that content being the remaining affection quests. It's incredibly exciting being this close to done, though. Having that first completed project as a notch in my belt is something I've looked forward to since starting Maids & Masters more than three years ago, and it's only gotten more important to me as the game grew in scope and scale. I continue to learn a lot about game development and storytelling through interactive media, and I'm feeling deeply impatient to put all of that experience to work into a future project.

Where Maids & Masters is a story I wanted to tell combined with an excuse to learn as much as I can about RPG Maker, and Precious Kouhai is almost entirely an excuse to get better at creating visuals and animating (with learning Ren'Py being a nice bonus), I'm really eager to put these metaphorical muscles to work instead of just - comparatively speaking, anyway - lifting weights for the sake of moving something heavy.

Back on the topic of future projects, I was finally able to make a demo that's near and dear to me, because it's the project I initially wanted to make first: Light Eternal: Dawnfall. It's the first project I pitched to someone else when I was looking to join a team rather than take on solo development, it's the oldest game design document I have in my ever-growing stockpile of GDDs, and it's a story I'd been working on for years before all that. Having both the tools and the skills to bring that project to life, even if it is just a demo, feels like a phenomenal step forward.

 

So, here's to 2025.

If everything pans out the way I want, I'll have Maids & Masters finished in a few months, spend the next few months after that following up on the end of the story with the rest of the side content I want to make while I finish Precious Kouhai, and I'll have you voting for my next project on Patreon and Subscribestar to have the first official update of that project in your hands before 2026.

There's also another thing I still can't quite talk about, but I'm very much looking forward to telling you about it as soon as I can. As much as there are a handful of things the future holds that I'm very much not looking forward to, 2025 still looks like it's going to be an incredibly exciting year. Here's to sharing it with you.

Stay cultured, you beautiful bastard, you.

Happy Lewd Year 2025 Bundle!

This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I didn't do a great job of paying attention to what day of the week it was.

Super quick general update - next week will be the 2024 year in review, then a follow-up on v0.19 so there's plenty of time to allow for feedback to come in.

For now - have another bundle!

This one is only available for a week to celebrate the new year. It's just a little over 40% off of 7 different games, most of which I've played myself. If you want something a little more than your standard AVN, the games here should keep you occupied for a good while.

Get it before it's gone! https://itch.io/b/2836/happy-lewd-year-2025-bundle

Maids & Masters v0.19 Release

The change log on this one is crazy short, but I think that's largely due to my being so focused on pushing forward and getting the update out while we're still in the vicinity of Christmas. I haven't heard much in the way of bug reports for v0.18 or v0.19, and I spent a lot more time than usual hammering out bugs on v0.19, so hopefully the change log is short because there's nothing to fix.

Remember that if you do find a bug, I do ask that you reach out. I leave comments enabled in places like Patreon and Subscribestar (where you can also find both the free and early access releases), my DMs are open on Twitter and BlueSky, and there are comment sections on the itch game pages, too. The way I find most bugs is from people reporting them, so if you see a bug that's been in the game for a while without getting fixed, tell me about it.

If you've already tried to tell me about it and it's still broken, tell me again. The burnout has been a bear to deal with this year, so I haven't gone out of my way to look for complaints/bug reports/feedback in general in the last few months like I have for the couple years before that. I know I've still got a few things in my notes to address, so we might end up with a v0.19.1 anyway, but that all depends on what needs fixing and how badly it's broken. 

For now, the change log:

v0.19
Added the next story segment - the third Freeze. Including:
- Freeze events for Vicky, June, Chloe, and Iris, all with bonus objectives.
- A new Estate feature, available after (finally) opening the shed.
Fixed a bug that caused some objectives in A Long Time Coming to not complete correctly.
Various other minor dialogue and event updates.

(I told you it was short)

Winter Adult Games Bundle

Looking for someone to keep you warm during these winter months?
Perhaps a snow-dusted fling forgotten with the melting snow?
Or just a good story to help you forget the cold?


The Winter Adult Games mega-bundle has 73 games from 57 developers, ranging from engrossing stories and unforgettable romances all the way to nights that leave your legs aching in the morning, all completely for free!

For those that contribute to the bundle, you'll also get nearly $30 worth of projects you'd otherwise need to pay full price for!

And if that isn't enough for you, the first stretch goal has already been met, so there are bonus renders available, also for free, right on the bundle page.

Come on in, get cozy, and enjoy, cuz baby, it's cold outside.

 

Maids & Masters (& More Progress on v0.19)

Despite my best efforts, reality seems to be conspiring against me to push the release of v0.19 back.

While all of the usual Freeze things are very likely going to be complete by Friday - Freeze events, chat options, special interactions, bonus events, all the new renders and animations, etc. - it's looking like the new story bit won't be. It'd be too much of a scramble trying to force it to happen, and it'd leave next to no time to do any kind of polishing or bug hunting.

 

A part of me wants to push the story bit into v0.20, or even v0.19.1, so that I can include the cult segment and end the Freeze in tandem with the story segment, but that would make for an extremely small update if I didn't also include something like the next round of affection quests. Doing that feels like asking for more delays between now and the end of the story, so I think it's in my best interest to swallow my pride and deal with the delay on v0.19.

I'm still not going to put an official release date on anything, because June and Chloe's bonus objectives are really unique, which of course is leading to some design difficulty. It isn't an insurmountable amount of difficulty by any means, but it's still enough that it's slowing me down more than I'd like. I also haven't really touched Cumhaill yet, and there are a few mechanics I'd like to finally include alongside the story revelations, so it's hard to say how much work is actually left to do. I still would really prefer to get v0.19 into early access before the end of the year, so that's still the goal, but we'll see how it goes.

The silver lining to all of this is that I don't need to go reaching for a lore post or anything for Friday's Patreon (and Subscribestar) post. As counter-intuitive as it is, it really feels like the best course of action is to take things however they come and putting out a near-complete test build. If all goes well, I'll then be able to get v0.19 complete and even have some time to go bug hunting. I've been less active in places other than Patreon and Discord than I'd really like to be lately, so I'm sure there are a number of bug reports out there that I haven't seen yet.

I just hope the last two posts of the year will be a little more positive. Or, failing that, that 2025 goes a little better. I'm still excited about finishing the story of Maids & Masters and then fully completing the game, and there are still cool things that I'm a part of happening that I want to talk about, but these past few weeks have been a little heavy on burnout for my liking. I really want to go back to being constantly flabbergasted that I get to do this at all, because I still love doing it and I still think it's extremely cool.

Maids & Masters (& Some Real Progress On v0.19)

Right when I was on track to have basically everything except the new story bit done in time for a test build on Friday, I get sick. I am still aiming to have a test build for Patrons on Friday, but this head cold has still slowed me down just enough that I'm not sure when a full early access release will actually become available. I really want to get it to Patrons before Christmas, but I'm not in a place where I can make that promise.

As for what I have gotten done - all the existing Maids have all their chat options for the new Maids, the new Maids all have Freeze versions, and the vast majority of that type of smaller interaction is done. There's still a little more left to do, but I've been working at it from multiple angles. Vicky, for example, is almost entirely done, only needing renders and animations for her event, but some non-characters (like the snowman and teddy bear) I haven't touched and still need updating.

That, unfortunately, is really as much as I can say about that. Everything being as in-progress as it is, there's not a lot for me to talk about.

In the interest of full transparency, I'm honestly not even totally sure I'll have a test build worth sharing come Friday. I might be able to manage it, but it's certainly not going to be as complete as I want. Plus, it is the holidays, so I'm busy with things besides work, which really only leaves me tomorrow to try and get more done before Friday.

I won't say anything else about possible release dates in the hope that I can still manage something reasonable.

Hopefully this cold passes quickly and I'm able to pick up the pace. It's frustrating wanting to get work done and not having the energy to actually be productive.

Maids & Masters (& A Little Progress On v0.19)

It still isn't a lot of details, but I think I've made enough progress that I'm comfortable talking about the cult segment leading into the Freeze. This one is a little more complicated than I'd have really liked it to be, and at the same time not as complicated as I really want it to be. I know that's contradictory, so bear with me.

This cult segment needs two versions. One where you won the election and are now leader of the cult, and one where you lost and are not. The trouble with that is that if you're the leader of the election, you should probably have some agency in what you do with that position. So, I set up the usual four choices plus the hidden choice, but if I'm going to do it right, that should be four completely different paths, giving you the option to do the most obvious things that the story might have led you to believe you'd be able to do once you finally got here. The trouble with that being that the story still has somewhere to go, so I need to find a way to somehow collapse all these different outcomes into the same conclusion so I don't entirely derail the story.

This is why this has taken me so long to reconcile. As burnt out as I've been, my brain just refused to process what I needed to do to make this any kind of coherent, much less as satisfying as I want it to be regardless of the direction you choose to move in.

I've finally reached a version that I think I'm happy with, though I haven't tested it very thoroughly. That'll come during the week, hopefully along with some meaningful progress on the Freeze events for the relevant Maids.

Because on top of this cult segment being unusual, this Freeze is also unusual, because it has some narrative that needs to happen during the Freeze to move the story into Act 3. 

Exactly none of which I'm ready to talk about in any more detail just yet.

Though one thing I am ready to talk about are the results of the winter bonus render poll. All those renders are done, but you'll have to wait until Friday to see them all. If you want to know the results (and see a preview), head over to Patreon (or Subscribestar). Also keep in mind that Patrons (and Subscribers) get bonus sets that I can't post publicly. Look forward to those on Friday.

Maids & Masters (& A Winter Poll)

There's still not much in the way of development news that I can actually share, but I'm slowly making something I think I can call progress. It's a bit slower than I'd like, but I'm taking it as a sign that I need the rest I'm letting myself have.

To help get the engine running (and because I'll have need of some promotional renders in the near future), I've decided to make a batch of bonus renders, and you get to vote on which Maids are in those bonus renders. 

You have to join, because I'm a jerk, but if you join for free (no, you don't have to give me money to participate), you can vote on Patreon (or Subscribestar) for any number of Maids you want to see in these vaguely Christmas-themed bonus renders. There's even a little twist you can read about in the posts I've linked.

Each render will have variants with and without the game/developer information, as well as lewd variants. The lewd variants have to go behind the paywall, though. The platform makes those rules, I can't have too much skin in public-facing posts. Sorry. If you want those (and early access and a Discord invite and everything else that comes with supporting me), you'll need to join a paid tier.

The poll results will be announced this Friday, with the renders going up the following Friday. And hopefully by the end of that, I'll have a test build worth sharing and you'll have v0.19 either just before or just after Christmas.

In other news, I've picked up a new client. The project is still pre-v0.1, so there isn't anything to share yet, but I'm excited to be joining it. Client work has been incredibly slow this year, and considering how much I rely on it to support myself, it's probably one of the biggest reasons I've felt so burnt out for so long. It feels good to be actively working alongside someone again. I'm not sure how long it will take to reach v0.1, but I'll definitely be sharing what it is and where you can find it as soon as there's something to share.

 

I hope something in here gave you something to look forward to. And if you're in the northern hemisphere, stay warm. It's cold outside.

Maids & Masters (& Starting on v0.19)

I did not intend for this to go up so late in the day, but, well...

For context, there's a post over on Patreon (and Subscribestar) that you can read. You don't even have to join as a free member to get access to the post. It is kind of a long one, though, so here's a quick tl;dr: 

I'm worn the hell out. 

I'm definitely not calling it quits, but development news is likely going to be pretty slow over the next few weeks while I work on v0.19. I'm doing my best to recuperate so I can get back into development in earnest, but trying to "relax harder" feels like trying to incite either anxiety or depression, so I just have to accept that it'll take some time. Once I've managed to catch my breath, I'll get back to it.

Though I do want to be clear - I am still working on v0.19. I'm organizing notes, brainstorming events, and trying to keep myself caught up on other background work (and non-development work) that I've been neglecting. There's just not a lot to say about completing that stuff, even for someone like me who has a talent for using a lot of words to say very little.

The silver lining to all this is that I have a very solid plan for what's going into v0.19, and there isn't a lot of non-development work that needs to be done on it short of renders and animations for the new lewds that'll be coming with the new Freeze events for the new characters. 

As a bit more summary from the post linked above, since there are only four new Maids for this Freeze compared to the last two averaging out at 8 each, the new content shouldn't take me a ton of time to get made and tested. That'll leave me more room than usual to bugfix and playtest, which is a very good thing, because the last few updates haven't gotten as much bugfixing as I'd have liked to give them. I've still got a list of things to address that I haven't had the time to give any attention to. All before the end of the year.

The last thing worth mentioning if you didn't read the post above is that after v0.19, it's hard to say how long individual updates will take to make from a sheer content perspective. v0.18 is the end of Act 2, with v0.19 acting as a sort of interlude before v0.20 kicks off Act 3. With what I want to do in Act 3, it would be bordering on impossible to cleanly split the arcs into smaller updates, so what's left of the story is likely to come out in as few as three updates. Obviously that's going to take me more time than usual to develop, so news may continue to be sparse as I move forward.

If you want to keep up with development news, both Patreon and Subscribestar have free options so you get notifications (even if you don't pay for access to all the juicy details), and I announce when posts go up in places like Bluesky, so you can also follow me there if you want to know when updates become available even when news is sparse.

And one last thing to mention from that post linked up top - thanks for being here. I really do appreciate it.

Maids & Masters v0.18 Release

I was hoping things would've gone a little more smoothly than they did, but that's life for you. v0.18 still entered early access and v0.17 still went public on Patreon, Subscribestar, and itch, but not having the time to work as I usually do, it wasn't exactly on time. I've only got a few hours today, which is why you're only just now seeing the change log. Sorry if this is confusing or frustrating. I've been a little frustrated, too.

I'll continue to be out of town through the rest of this week, with the posts on Patreon and Subscribestar likely being a bit late again, and since I won't have been able to get anything done between now and then, I won't have much (if anything) to post here next week, so if there's no news when you come back, that's why. Hopefully (with the exception of holidays) everything will be back to normal in the last week of November and I can dig into v0.19.

For now, here's the surprisingly short change log that goes with the recent update:

v0.18
Added the next story segment - the third Haunt. Including:
- A new region, the North Desert, with 3 new Estates and 3 new wilds segments to explore.
- A new trophy, awarded for fighting off a seemingly unkillable shadow.
Added missing Estate Info entries for the South Desert Estates.
Added a bugfix feature to address visiting Evdokia causing an incorrect transfer.
Fixed a bug that prevented teleporting from being used after completing the Wickham Estate.
Fixed a bug that left the player in the wrong costume after completing the Wickham Estate.
Fixed a bug that sent the player to the wrong map when attempting an audience with Evdokia.
Fixed a bug that allowed a gift to be purchased multiple times.
Fixed a bug that caused the South Desert Estate Info entry to have the wrong map.
Removed the “end of content” message from v0.16.
Various other minor dialogue updates.