Development update #189 | Chapter 7 + New preview

Hello everyone!

This dev update turned out pretty long, just a heads-up.

You haven't heard from me in a while, but the good news is winter is finally over, and the power situation has stabilized(hopefully). If everything stays like this, there shouldn’t be any major blackouts until summer. I’m finally working in a stable, normal rhythm again. Progress is moving much faster, and dev updates should become regular once more.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been working hard on posing and rendering. Yesterday I started the third scene of the next update. I’m also getting back to working on bonus patron content. You can vote for this month’s wallpapers and special renders by the links. As usual, I’ll work on them and post everything at the end of the month.

I know a lot of time was lost, first on the Christmas special episode (which I had to cancel), then the whole process basically froze because of massive attacks and blackouts. Plus, quite a bit of time went into preparing a partially reworked demo version for the Steam Next Fest. That effort paid off btw, the game performed really well during the festival, got great visibility, tons of wishlists, and positive feedback. More than 10 000 people added it to their library, and more than 7 000 launched it at least once. Still, more time was lost than I would have liked during this winter. But as you understand, it wasn’t my choice. We work with what we have. The main thing is that development continues, and I’m finally back at full strength on the next update. Fingers crossed nothing interrupts me and everything goes smoothly and quickly from now on.

We’ll return to the Christmas special episode later this year, but for now, you can forget about it. Right now, 100% focus is on Chapter 7 and its art. I already have full dialogues written for 5 scenes, and I plan to keep writing more while preparing code for them in parallel with art. I try to write only when inspiration strikes, that way, it goes faster and better than forcing every word out. I also did some code work, improved the choice-tracking logic (big thanks to one attentive fan who suggested a great improvement), and finally finished polishing the music player.

I’m also planning to start translations soon. Code adaptation for old scenes is almost complete. Last month, I did research on localization services, translation methods, and costs. Still haven’t made a final decision. Planned languages (not final, can still change):

• - Chinese

• - French

• - German

• - Brazilian Portuguese

• - Portuguese (Portugal)

• - Spanish (Spain)

• - Spanish (Latin America)

• - Turkish

• - Polish

• - Ukrainian

• - Italian

• - Greek

Even with fairly budget-friendly translators, localizing into most of these languages would cost me around $10,000–15,000. That’s actually low for the amount of text in the game, but still a lot for me personally. So I’m still exploring options. Most likely, the more popular languages will be done by human translators, and the less common ones with AI. I may ask you for volunteer proofreading later. As soon as I have any news or need help, I’ll let you know.

P.S. I’m still looking for good translators for French, German, Polish, Italian, and Greek. If you are one or know someone reliable, feel free to message me here or on Discord. I’d really appreciate it.

And of course... new preview!

Not much I can show yet… You will have to wait a little longer for booties ;-)

That’s all for now. Thank you again for your understanding, support, patience, and for staying with me. I’m back at work on full power now!

Have a great week, and take care!🤍

mr.moonmi