Hey Loopers! Welcome back to Lampy's monthly devlog! I know we are behind on a few things, such as my side girl showcase, but I should have that out by like tomorrow. It'll be featuring Faye, so keep an eye out for that, as well as monthlies. I also realized that I never put out a message that we moved Summer's monthly patreon exclusives because we ran out of time; they'll be out for January instead.

Progress

I feel like I should open this up about transparency when it comes to how close we are to the next release; but I want to refrain from setting expectations. Last month, we had a lot of tech issues, so that slowed us down a bit, and with Christmas and the holidays, that slowed us down more. That won't stop us, though! We're working harder than ever this month and communicating better than ever in order to make sure we can catch these issues before they overwhelm us. Content Gatherer and Daz have been our biggest ops, followed by our mall. That shit is brokey.

We haven't had a lot of questions otherwise, so I don't have a lot to say on that end. Our workflow has been plagued with bugs, but we hope it won't be an issue in the future, and we can continue to work at a steady, strong pace. Rest be assured, we don't want to rush this update to the point that the quality is damaged! Quality is first. We want to make sure we can push a great update out to you that was worth the wait.

Update length/size/contents

I've talked about the size before, but as we grow closer, I can be more transparent about it! The previous release was 12 scenes, including the intro, which was only like 11 renders. This release will be 15 main scenes (with most being longer than most of the scenes in release one), 5 optional scenes (I will explain a little later), and a couple scenes we haven't truly defined yet. Almost all of the planning is done for the release, with most of the changes coming from me saying, "buttttt wouldn't it be cool if it was like this?" My intrusive thoughts are probably going to kill Krash someday.

For the gameplay loop, the game takes over the course of 4 days, with MC being introduced to a new class at ELU each day as a form of orientation. Each day will start with an event, the school day will happen, and then the player will be able to go on optional "dates" with the side characters. These are optional in the sense you cannot go on all of them, and not only that, you can skip all of them if you want. The characters you can go on a date with will also not be listed, instead only the place you can go. We thought this would be a fun way to give choice and add a bit of character, as well as reasons for why the MC is going to these places.

While we wish we had the time and money to put out a lot of animations, this update won't have many. We aren't skipping out on animation; if a scene truly needed it, we will do it, but fun and random animations are not in the cards for this release. That doesn't mean we won't use them in the future! We also have an animator working for us now, Lovorko, instead of us working on it on our own, so we have an expert around instead of just winging it.

The Future

I've discussed it before, but release 3 is actually supposed to be chapter 1.5. I know the counting doesn't make sense, but I hate the idea of going 0.1, 0.2, etc. especially if we have more than 1 releases. 

Release 3 is supposed to take place the day after release 2, and over the course of the day. There are a few events that happen, including a major story beat, followed by the choice of an event between 2 of the main girls. After that comes the main event; a nighttime pool party! 

While we don't have the entire details lined up yet, this is supposed to be akin to a freeroam event, but without the confusing navigation. You will be able to go through optional events with both side girls AND main girls. The optional event choices are tied to time, as most events are tied to a single time slot, and more events later on in the night can only be unlocked through specific means, such as past choices. While it sounds pretty complicated, it will be easier to understand when the time comes. I think it's going to be a fun challenge when it comes to writing.

Lastly, I've had questions about our game on Steam. We don't plan on releasing the game on steam until the first season is done. We don't have the amount of episodes for season 1 set in stone yet; we want to end it at a very specific moment. We have a lot planned up until that moment, but the specifics will come in time, and we don't want to rush it. We don't plan on padding, though; if there's one thing I want to caution about this game, it's that everything has a purpose.

Lampy shuts up

For those wondering why these devlogs are so damn long, it's because a lot happens in between each devlog. A lot of choices are made, information is discussed, ideas are created, and progress is made. I also hate the feeling that some fans may feel like we aren't making any progress. Stay with us! We won't disappoint you! The game will take a lot of twists and turns, so my advice is: hold onto the ride!

-Lampy