Dev Update! 3/10/26

Hey hey, folks! Hope you’re all well this week.

First, just a quick FYI: The Chapter 14 test build is currently available to all supporter tiers. This contains the full chapter, save for Gabby’s endings. There are some minor bugs and typos, but it can be played beginning-to-end, giving you chapter endings for Nicki, Ashe, Mason, Jun, and Indigo. I don’t typically release these incomplete builds for general consumption, preferring to keep them exclusive to the $15+ tier. But, I felt lousy about how long it was taking me to finish Gabby’s content, so I wanted to give everyone something to play while they waited.

Speaking of the Gabby content, the million dollar question right now is: “Neon, you said you’re almost done. What’s the hold-up, my good dude?”

And the answer is straightforward and stupid. So, I did Gabby’s love path, and felt good. It’s the whole thing from her showing up, to the usual multi-position, multi-finish ero scene, to her talking to the player and going to bed beside him. That’s like 210 images.

Then, for Gabby’s friends-to-lovers path, I went through the love path ero scene and made some changes here and there, swapping out props, facial expressions, etc. Then I re-rendered those to reflect the different dynamic present in the scene. That’s like 140+ images. Then I went back and did the stuff where Gabby shows up at the player’s place. That was another 90+ images. Then I said, “Wahoo, I’m done!” and started plugging in images.

.. if you noticed I forgot something, congratulations, you’re more attentive than me. I didn’t do the part where Gabby leaves. See, I do this thing when I’m writing/coding and planning renders. In order to keep scene alternates of a similar length/rhythm, I’ll just copy the text wholesale and then go through it making changes line-by-line to dialogue and narration. So, Gabby leaping into your arms on the lover path becomes Gabby needling you on the friend path. Gabby saying sweet romantic things becomes Gabby snarking. You get the idea.

So, I copied the romance path, and the ending, and then didn’t edit/pose the ending, because all I saw was a Ren’py label I’d marked # DONE, and started plugging in images. It wasn’t until I got to that point that I realized I’d screwed up, put my head on my desk, and had a minor mental breakdown.

But, I’ve been working on it, plugging in images, and even doing a little Chapter 15 setup on my mini-PC, while my main PC renders. I’ve been working on character/set design, key shots, etc. You can see a little of that in the attached images.

I’m pretty excited about getting into Chapter 15, since I wrote it to be kind of an easy lay-up after Chapter 14. Small cast, limited sets, and the only main love interest to feature is Pepper, which reduces how much time I’ll have to spend checking my coding and writing multiple paths. Hopefully I’ll have this remaining Ch14 work wrapped up soon, and I can be well into Ch15 before the end of the month.

I also did a few Brittani renders, just as a little personal pick-me-up. I’ve been wanting to put Brittani in that MILK shirt forever, and finally spent a little time customizing an existing prop to include the text. Some retro anime fans might get the reference.

Thanks for letting me ramble. As always, take care of yourselves – and thank you for your support!