State of the Game update March 2022 (Patreon)

A lot has happened in March, both exciting stuff and... not so exciting. Turns out the war effects small adult developers as well....

Let's get right into it.

State of the game

Things are looking better than ever. I've gotten stuck on writing and got myself a serious case of writers block, but after talking about it with some people, I got a whole new perspective on the game and it brought back all my inspiration.

At the beginning phase of the games there will, unfortunately, be a lot of placeholders. I know I said I didn't want that to happen, but due to some real life developments (read further down) it has become impossible to commission art.

That said, progress on the game is going well and is shooting forward with each passing day.

Poll

So we had another poll this month. This time asking... "Should futa be a thing?" And I'm happy with the results. Although the majority did vote 'No', there was a very large portion of you guys that said "Yes, as long as it's optional." and I completely agree.

So expect to see two things in the game. 1. The option to turn futa off/on and 2. Giving the player full control over who gets to be a (temporary) futa, so that there are no surprises! This will most likely come in the form of giving the player a spell or potion to create the effect.

Expect another poll again soon.

Re-writes and why that is a good thing

As mentioned above, I began suffering from writers block and here's why. Camp Mourning Wood is going to have a lot more characters than my previous games. However, I was writing a detailed and nuanced storyline for each character. This might sound great on paper, but reading entire storylines goes from the highlight of a game, to a chore real quick. Imagine having to read several books worth of story for every character you meet.

So I've made the difficult decision to cut down on personal story for each character and focus more on the main storyline. The personal stories will still be there, but will take the shape of character quests, instead of having to talk to characters every single day and finding out every little detail about their lives.

Don't get me wrong. I love well developed personalities, but once you have to start writing a detailed / interesting story for at least 12 characters then writers block will hit you fast and hard.

The new way allows me to keep interesting quests and short stories for characters without you having to read pages upon pages of their history, dreams, wishes and desires.

Art

This is probably going to be the last big art update for a few months (for reasons described below). However, it is a 'big' update.

The art used for the intro has been mostly finished. Including work from both Potchi (Paprika Trainer) and Octomush (Orange Trainer). I don't want to show off too much in fear of spoilers, but they have outdone themselves.

There will be a lot more "life" in the CGs, for lack of a better word. Meaning characters will be moving around more and there will simply be more variations on scenes, rather than just having 1 static picture.

War in Ukraine

Now for the big big BIG elephant in the room. The War. If you follow me on Twitter you will have already learned about this, but something that feels so far away from most of our beds is now coming to haunt us.

As of right now, I have two of my people stuck in Ukraine. One of them being Jodsy, my main artist. As you can imagine, drawing dirty pictures is on the bottom of their list of things to worry about right now. Both of them have confirmed to be in places that have been getting bombarded / air-striked, so they are in very real danger.

On the flip side, I also hire a lot of Russian artists for the game. Who, with the current sanctions, cannot be paid for their work. Resulting in:

• 1. Having to pile extra work on top of my artists that aren't part of the conflict and risking burn-out.
• 2. Having to go out and hire additional artists to pick up extra work. And I hate the process of hiring new people. Why? Cause finding someone who can match the artstyle exactly, so that it doesn't look out of place ingame, is an incredibly tedious, expensive and time consuming job.

Like I mentioned on twitter. I am not a political person. I don't really pick sides and I don't shout my opinion off of the rooftops any chance that I get. Honestly, I just want it to be over. I want my friends to be safe and I'd love for everyone to work on something more productive rather than destructive.

To all my Ukrainian and Russian patrons. Please stay healthy and safe and let's hope that this conflict will be resolved sooner rather than later.

Wrapping up

I hate to end on a sad note, but it's kind of where the world is at now. Please know that the game is still being developed and is getting better with each passing day. I'd like to thank you all for your patience and your continued supports. Seriously, you guys rule.

Take care and I'll talk to you soon.

-Ex