Development update #183 | Chapter 7 + new preview

Hey everyone!

I had no public dev update in a long time, so here’s a big one. Lot's to talk about.

First, sorry I skipped last week too. I’ve said this before: weekly updates will probably become a thing of the past. From now on I’ll post only when I actually have something worth sharing. Most likely every two weeks. Why? Two reasons:

1) Progress per week is slower these days (more on that below).

2) 80 % of my time is posing + rendering, and honestly one week looks a lot like the previous one, not much exciting to report without spoiling stuff.

The situation

Power situation after daily attacks got way worse in the last 1-2 months. I’m now without electricity 12–18 hours a day. That obviously kills productivity. I’ve got a powerful battery that keeps the PC and monitors alive for several hours, so I prep scenes on battery and render when power finally shows up. Rendering on battery drains it pretty fast, and with only 3-4 hour windows of electricity I rarely manage a full charge. It usually requires up to 6 hours to fully charge it. I have to literally set alarms to wake up, flip everything on, start renders, set another alarm to shut it down before the battery dies… It’s exhausting to say the least... I also had to sacrifice quality a bit. Simply to render faster as I don't have much time with power.

Some of you who are with me for a while remember I rendered most of one of my previous updates on a generator, burning crazy amounts of fuel. Looks like this update will be the same. Generator helps, but it’s no magic fix. I'll probably use it for animations as they can take up to several days to render. Winter is going to be rough, so please don’t be shocked if this update will take long time to develop. I’m doing absolutely everything I can in current situation. And I want to do this right. I refuse to let the situation affect the quality or amount of content in the final chapter.

Progress

Still moving forward on several fronts:

- Actively working on a "special Christmas thing" - something totally different from my usual stuff. Really hope I finish it in time. I think a lot of you will love it. Currently my #1 focus.

- Finally added the music player you guys have been asking for forever. Found some silver lining in the blackouts - laptop + no power = perfect time to code :)

- Almost done updating old scripts for translations (only ~10 scenes left). Translations themselves will probably start next year.

- Work on Chapter 7 art is still happening, just slower because priorities shifted (First Steam page & marketing → Now special Christmas thing→ power hell). I still squeeze in a couple of scenes whenever situation with electricity allows. I can't work on everything at the same time. The Christmas surprise is getting my full focus now simply because time and electricity are so tight right now. I really want to finish it before the holidays. Normally I’d split my time 50/50 between it and the main update. And if anyone thinks this isn’t necessary and I should just focus on the final chapter - no. I don’t agree. I have solid reasons why I believe this Christmas surprise is absolutely necessary and worth it.

By the way, if you missed it, Steam page is live. Please add it to your wishlist and get a reward(7 NSFW renders with each main girl) by filling the form.

Plans

It's the last week of the month and I need to work on wallpapers, special & custom renders. Which may take a while... After that, I'll fully focus on the Christmas surprise and then the main story.

That’s it for now. Thanks for sticking with me through all this chaos and for your understanding. I appreciate your support! You’re the reason I keep going. Have a great week, and take care!

mr.moonmi