0.6 Mid-Week Progress Report

Wait. Mid-week? Multiple progress reports? What's going on, Blue Swallow?

There's a reason, rest assured. We'll get there. In the meantime...

We're trucking along with our timeline. I won't delineate all the improvements and changes until the 0.6 sneak release, but as an overview: new art assets, I'm on pace for completing the sections I expected for this release, inclusion of Tattoos in college (as a random, specific example of expansions we hadn't planned on but are doing anyway), and a LOT of fixes to the code thanks to call-outs and people digging into the code.

So that's really exciting and fun. We're looking forward to releasing it and seeing what you think!

We're also going to see what we can put together for a roadmap and are targeting the end of the 0.6 cycle for that. It'll be light and more of a sketch since there didn't seem to be a ton of interest or response about it. Still, we'll do it, just put less focus on it and more onto actual development rather than reporting.

Right, reporting. Like this one that's taking me away from writing and coding. Why, right? Should you expect these happening often? No. Certainly not. I prefer putting more into the game rather than more posts on these platforms.

But! This is unique because we want you in the Discord. I'm looking for your hottest, spiciest, funnest ideas for additions to our 'bodies list' that is used as the random generator at the end of HS and Uni, etc.

There's a thread open on the Discord under #game-suggestions and I can't wait to see your ideas and the ones I like best will be added to the game. I hope you enjoy seeing your creations being added to the game.

And in line with the above...we'll be doing a little lottery/competition during a later stage of the 0.6 cycle with a prize that might mean your stuff being in the game during 0.7. More to reveal on that around Beta time.

Til the Sneak Release, give us your ideas!

0.6 Progress Update

So today we released the final hotfix for 0.5, which is exciting because that means we're already moving into the 0.6 cycle!

Where are we at?

We've another dozen or so new passage images that have been added throughout the existing game.

We've coded in the check for if Claire gets pregnant during High School.

I've begun writing in the options and paths that come out of that 'complication'.

I've restructured the Prologue a bit. I've moved where Claire decides on her 'rep' in HS to be before we get to it, and at that same point I've added the choice for who her significant other -- rather than right before Prom. So all y'all cheating fans, enjoy ;). There's an additional scene of heavy petting there just, ya know, as a bonus.

Also, High School begins before the HSVs. We've coded in checks throughout HS to see if Claire loses her V-Card at some point during it. So all you peeps who want her first time to be with Adam, Adonis, Chet, etc? Enjoy.

I've also done a bit of slight improvements to writing here and there along the way.

So when can we expect 0.6 Sneak to drop? We're aiming for April 28th.

I've also heard there's some desire for a Roadmap. If that's something you want, comment below with what you'd want to see in it. The more specific and clear you are, the better we'll be able to deliver on it!

One Year!

Holy shit. We're at a year of development. That's crazy.

Given the monumental milestone (how many of these type of games last a year?), we wanted to do a little retrospective. Where have we been, where are we going?

Why did this project start? I was sick and tired of good ideas going to waste either because of abandonment, milking, or just lack of project management. I’d tried to get involved with other projects as a writer, but was always kicked aside due to lack of leaderships and PM-ing skills.

I also wanted to see a story that had lots and lots of choices, variations and things that mattered. I hated sandboxes where you were constantly clicking around trying to advance story and so, so many of the games out there that just should have been VNs – essentially single path forward, so don’t make your players do work for it.

I enjoyed corruption stories and female protagonist MCs (all of my writing is essentially female-first) and grew up on CYOAs (those white-backed books are so nostalgic for me). So, after trying to get a team together to do an adult version of “Growing Up” to no avail, I decided to take a pass at the concept that I’ve seen so many times that just never goes anywhere: secret agent girl…who never wanted or expected to be a honeytrap. Yet, she needs to be.

And so, Blue Swallow was born. A little twist on the Red Sparrow idea, begin with a character creation prologue (because I always enjoyed deciding who my MC was), and utilizing Twine because of its facility and ease of use [for a non-programmer like me]. And as it grew, so did the team.

What about our team? What are their perspectives on the past year?

From LewdPirate- I joined because I thought there was somewhere I could add a lot of value, getting in from the get go and build a good foundation was really appealing to me.

I did play three separate versions of FA, and never understood why it warranted being rewritten (at such a late stage) so many times!

I have played a lot of interactive fiction smut, and I’m trying to write my own, so working with someone who actually writes was also immensely interesting to me, as most other projects I worked on, the story was a second thought.

The last year for me has been fun, I’ve enjoyed extending the wardrobe, and getting to know Goof, who I send smut to once in a while.

I’m hoping to find time to actually play the game in its current state, since it has been ages since I played.

Personally I got very overwhelmed by the many different options, but I do have to give it a go again soon.

Finally it’s exciting to get animations in, despite the initial technical difficulties.

And speaking of Goof- My journey in this world began as I played so many games in this erotic arena where the story, characters, and dialogue was either disjointed, off, or didn't make sense so I thought I'd volunteer my time and limited expertise in helping developers make their games better.

Enter Blue Swallow.

Well, this game already had a stellar writer so I have just done my best to support the writer and build my skills while supplying any other help or hindrance I can.

Now a year later, this project from a spark that Cass wanted to make has turned into a game. It's deep in writing, building to a full on art filled spy thriller.

The game has grown leaps and bounds thanks to the community and the team as it's been so fulfilling.

In the next year, I hope the game reaches larger audiences and we can just keep expanding endlessly with different areas of the world needing a good/bad spy to save the day or not.

One day if we get big enough perhaps we do a contest to insert a player as a stable character for a certain Act. —-----------------------------------

We've just finished the Final release of 0.5. With that, Claire, our protagonist:

• Can experience a full Prologue of character creation.

⋅⋅* Physical Identity (what does she look like? how does she identify herself?)

⋅⋅* Growing Up (where is she from, what is her family life, what does she enjoy?)

⋅⋅* High School (what clique does she join? who does she take to Prom? how does she experience her sexual awakening?)

⋅⋅* An optional Gap Year (African volunteer? Backpacking in Europe? Swiss Finishing School?)

⋅⋅* College (Does she get in? Does she rush? What does she study?)

• Engage in 73 (yep, nearly 100) sex scenes, each with their variations, alternative text and options based on the Claire you’ve built

..* Innumerable options, playthrough paths and choices with meaningful, content and character-altering effects

• Can get to and experience places around the globe!

⋅⋅* Bangkok!

⋅⋅* Tallinn

⋅⋅* Manila

• Can begin her experience as a Secret Agent, where her mission means saving her missing mother and hopefully saving the world.

And from a technical standpoint:

• 20 content-expanding releases

• Customized Paper Doll and dozens of outfits

• Three animations

• Passage and background art

• Implementation of more than 8 integrated systems:

⋅⋅* Semi-Open World Exploration

⋅⋅* Stats and level-up mechanic

⋅⋅* Dossier

⋅⋅* Wardrobe, Clothing Purchasing, and Outfit selection

⋅⋅* Relationships

⋅⋅* Corruption and Bad Ends

⋅⋅* Arousal, Tired, Hungover States

⋅⋅* Fertility and Impregnation

• 311 Individual Passages, each with multiple arcs and variations

• Nearly 50,000 lines of code

What does the next year look like?

We'll be expanding the existing content:

• More Prologue content!

⋅⋅* Fleshed out Cliques!

⋅⋅* Fleshed out Vignettes!

⋅⋅* HS Pregnancy Arc!

⋅⋅* Fleshed out College Arcs!

⋅⋅* Additional Gap Year Arc(s?)!

• More Main Game Arcs!

⋅⋅* Make friends/boyfriends/get training!

• Continuation of Existing Main Game Arcs!

⋅⋅* Investigating the Club!

⋅⋅* Infiltrating Manila Underworld!

• HD Art toggle!

• More animations, clothes, and art!

What am I most excited about? All that’s coming. The past year was a proof-of-concept to myself and the community that the game can exist, can be developed as I envisioned it. Now it’s taking that PoC and expanding it, seeing where we can take Claire!