Maids & Masters (& A Release Date For v0.20, Finally)

I'm probably putting in way too much effort for a part of the update that people are probably only going to dislike because it involves consequences, but it should be done now, and is the only part of v0.20 that isn't the actual end of the update that needs doing before it's ready to release. I'm probably also pushing my luck trying to get this update out this Friday, but I think the only thing I'm going to accomplish by giving myself another week is giving myself more time to playtest, so I think it's for the best if I just commit to this Friday, February 28th, as the early access release date for v0.20.

 

Giving myself a deadline like that should also help me focus in a little bit, too. There's so much going on with this update that it's going to be impossible to polish out all of the bugs, even when I've already put in a ton of effort to make this segment of game as bug-free as possible. Now that I'm finished with everything except the actual conclusion, I'm up to 46 switches and 42 variables used in this segment. That are new. There's a double handful of old switches and variables being used as new versions of old quests have gotten implemented as well, though there aren't a ton of those - the Nithercott Estate and Ventire/Beauregard Estate are the two that are most likely to actually be noticed.

 

This update is also likely to be the first to take multiple hours just to get through the critical path. Most updates seem to round out to 20-45 minutes of gameplay, but based on the amount of time it takes me to playtest, I can see this update taking more than two hours to get through, especially if you go out of your way to do everything you possibly can. Aside from the 3 or 4 mandatory story events (depending on what you consider an event), you're given a side quest to do, and there are 9 more optional events to do. 

If you want to get your hands on this update on release day, go check out my Patreon (or Subscribestar (or itch if you're extra naughty)).

Maids & Masters (& Progress on v0.20, Part 3)

Like I told supporters on Friday, I'm estimating the meat of the update is roughly halfway done at this point. The major story events are done, which just leaves all the minor and optional events and the ending. Unlike what I told supporters, that's about as much as I'm telling you, because I don't want to say anything more until we actually hit early access release day. If you want my secrets anyway, go to Patreon or Subscribestar and they'll be all yours.

 

If you're content to read the rest of this blog post and wait, maybe I could tempt you with a discount? The Valentine's Adult Gaming bundle has a whole boatload of discounts going now that the final stretch goal has been reached, which includes not only discounts on early access for permanent early access through itch, but 30% off my Gratitude and Supporter tiers on Patreon. 

My shilling out of the way, I would like to say that my progress on v0.20 means I can actually give you a release date, but I kinda can't. I'm still hopeful I'll be able to get the release done and published during February, but there's a non-zero chance that won't happen, so I'm not going to commit to any numbers just yet. I've got everything planned out pretty specifically except how the update ends. There are a few things I want to do, a few things I could do, and a few things I'm unsure of, and I won't be able to dedicate much brain power to figuring out how I want to handle it until everything else is finished and it's time to actually handle it.

 

Everything else is going pretty smoothly, though. I'm very happy with how the update plays from a gameplay perspective. Even if there's a little jank to it, it was really easy for me to get lost in just playing the game when I was playtesting things. I've also already gone through and fixed a slew of outstanding bugs and found a few other things to update, which has made this update's change log the largest it's been in a while. Now I just have to find a groove to settle into and get a bunch of work done, which will hopefully lead to the next test build including basically everything except the conclusion, and then I can talk about a release date.

Valentines Adult Gaming Bundle

Instead of being cryptic for another week, how about a big ol' bundle?

 

You can get this thing right here: https://itch.io/b/2881/valentines-adult-games-bundle

If you aren't already sold on clicking that link,  here's some stats for you:

There's 56 developers that put up 73 games, completely for free, including almost $30 worth of games that are normally paid.

We've already hit the bonus render stretch goal, so on top of all the other Valentine's cards I mentioned making available on Patreon and Subscribestar, there's about 50 more renders you're not likely to see anywhere else.

And we're already two thirds of the way to our final stretch goal, so if all of this isn't enough stuff for you, there's even more coming in the not-too-distant future.

Don't want to spend Single's Awareness Day alone? Go click that link.

Maids & Masters (& Progress on v0.20, Part 2)

I think I've reached a point where all of the base infrastructure to make this update function is in place and working as well as it possibly could be. There's still a few more things to add, but they shouldn't interfere too much with anything else. The test build with these bare bones is in the hands of testers and I'm starting to get feedback, so now it's time to start fitting in all of the story events and other things to find along the way.

To that end, Viridius' part is almost done. I still need to make a sprite sheet and face sheet and finish writing the dialogue so I can test it all and move on to what's left for the other events. Right now I'm estimating 8 optional events and two or three more mandatory story events before the final confrontation that ends this segment of the story. 

The big thing I'm having trouble balancing out right now are the consequences. How to earn the trophy is pretty obvious - do all the things and avoid all the consequences - so all that's really left to do there is what to make the trophy and what to have the trophy do, and that can wait until I'm closer to implementing it. The consequences, though... I don't want to spoil anything about it so I'm going to continue being cagey on the blog posts, but given how upset some people seem to be about there even being a potential way to lock yourself out of recruiting Iris despite having many chances to both recruit her before then and avoid that scenario, I'm expecting people to also be very upset about some of these consequences.

Which is all there really is to say for now. This Friday's Patreon/Subsribestar post is going to be the Valentine's cards that were voted on last week, which gives me another week to put these events together before a (hopefully final) test build goes out, and then I can start talking about a release date.