Free Team Sub
Free Team Sub
Thank you for contributing what you can to the development of Blue Swallow, or checking out what we're creating!
You get: Discord Access Polls to Guide Game Development
This role will be deprecated at the end of December, please switch to the new Origin role or the new $1 tier
Thank you for contributing what you can to the development of Blue Swallow, or checking out what we're creating!
You will have access to every version of the game around 3 weeks after release, input on our polls, as well as access to our Discord server.
(I don't know what the image is, ask AI)
Thanks for being integral to the continued success of Blue Swallow!
You will receive access every release around 2 weeks after release.
You will also be able to influence future development by taking part in polls, as well as benefits of previous tiers.
And access to our Discord.
We appreciate your substantial support and your belief in our product.
You will receive all releases around 1 week after release, alongside all benefits of previous tiers.
Wow. You flatter us!
With this kind of support, we can try to expand scope and size of our team over time.
You will have access to our private development Discord to see what we're working on and give direct comments and critique.
On-time access to every release.
And benefits of previous tiers.
We don't know what to say, honestly.
If you have ideas for what this tier should offer, please let us know, but in the meantime, it's just a way for you to show the love and help us move the needle.
Goal
What are we setting out to do here?
First and foremost: a game that's being developed towards a finite and clear end, rather than milking patrons.
I'm sick and tired of watching good games flounder because of feature bloat and a (natural?) desire for more monies. The subscription-style of patronage certainly influences the latter.
Vision
What is this game? A sex-pionage adventure game where our MC is thrust into the position of being the only option to go undercover and potentially save not just her estranged mother, but also the country. She has none of the requisite skills, none of the training or experience, but the agency has no other options and...well, you'll get there.
Time is of the essence.
The format of the game will be 'sandbox' where there will be mission lines that have gated parameters, so each release will allow the players to reach another checkpoint, each of which has options for what path they want to attempt.
Each path may lock or unlock others, may increase or decrease overall success, may increase or decrease skills and personality traits, and some may be time-gated.
Once the MC has completed the objective, yay! game over win. If she runs out of time or fails, uh-oh! super bad game over loss.
Frequent Responses
I don't want to create delays and fatten the product with bells and whistles that are unnecessary. If you, the patrons, want something strongly enough, we'll work on including it and developing it out. But that's because you think it'll make Blue Swallow better, and are willing to deal with the 'consequences'.
And what about the story? We've finished the Prologue, we're diving into the spy story.
I have a beat sheet of people that Claire could encounter and how they interrelate with the larger story, I have an arc of progression for where she needs to go to succeed. But do I have a full storyboard? No. Will there be multiple ways to achieve victory and loss? Absolutely. Are they perfectly defined? No.
There will be flex and give as you all influence the story, as it naturally evolves, and as collaborators add their touches, flair and guidance.
The development is as much a Choose Your Own Adventure as the game is.
Goal
What are we setting out to do here?
First and foremost: a game that's being developed towards a finite and clear end, rather than milking patrons.
I'm sick and tired of watching good games flounder because of feature bloat and a (natural?) desire for more monies. The subscription-style of patronage certainly influences the latter.
Vision
What is this game? A sex-pionage adventure game where our MC is thrust into the position of being the only option to go undercover and potentially save not just her estranged mother, but also the country. She has none of the requisite skills, none of the training or experience, but the agency has no other options and...well, you'll get there.
Time is of the essence.
The format of the game will be 'sandbox' where there will be mission lines that have gated parameters, so each release will allow the players to reach another checkpoint, each of which has options for what path they want to attempt.
Each path may lock or unlock others, may increase or decrease overall success, may increase or decrease skills and personality traits, and some may be time-gated.
Once the MC has completed the objective, yay! game over win. If she runs out of time or fails, uh-oh! super bad game over loss.
Frequent Responses
I don't want to create delays and fatten the product with bells and whistles that are unnecessary. If you, the patrons, want something strongly enough, we'll work on including it and developing it out. But that's because you think it'll make Blue Swallow better, and are willing to deal with the 'consequences'.
And what about the story? We've finished the Prologue, we're diving into the spy story.
I have a beat sheet of people that Claire could encounter and how they interrelate with the larger story, I have an arc of progression for where she needs to go to succeed. But do I have a full storyboard? No. Will there be multiple ways to achieve victory and loss? Absolutely. Are they perfectly defined? No.
There will be flex and give as you all influence the story, as it naturally evolves, and as collaborators add their touches, flair and guidance.
The development is as much a Choose Your Own Adventure as the game is.
Where do you find your version of Blue Swallow?
You can always find your current release dependent on what tier supporter you are in the following posts:
0.8.2.1 has been released to Sudden Agent tiers and up.
0.8.1.1 has been released to Origin tiers.
For 0.8.3, in the past week we've:
Speaking of which, what kind of goals would you like to see in the Loser arc? The Nerds have their Cosplay and TwitchCon competitions, the Jocks have their Varsity championships, the Alphas have their popularity contest and Prom...but what might define a successful/unsuccessful time as a Loser in HS? Put your comments, ideas and thoughts in the comments!
We're also in the first stages of planning the restructuring of character creation. No longer will you choose Claire's parental traits and have those decide Claire. Now there will be a character creation sheet at the beginning of the game where you will customize much of Claire and then dive into the prologue to define her history, skills and traits. That will be coming in 0.8.4!
We're also working on a couple infographics to help visualize release timelines and what's included/offered in supporter tiers as well as what is not included with the public releases.
Thank you again and enjoy!
0.8.2 is releasing for our Handler and Chiefs; 0.8.1.1 for Dossier tiers.
What's in 0.8.2? It's a big one.
More interludes each morning in Home Base reflecting what Claire did the previous day.
Each Club Arc has a choice for Claire to be passive or active in her investigation.
Two of the three Club Arcs are nearing the end of the first 'phase'.
Identifying features has been added to the Dossier -- and the Legendary tattoo is now reflected!
Modeling in high school is no longer an arc, but a possible additional vignette path!
New random 'bodies' for HS and College models.
The opportunity for trying out modeling in College! -- four new outfits!!
(HD in future release)
85 more HD-ified assets for the doll on top of the hundreds already in-game.
A toggle to turn off the 'hometown' accessory on the doll.
'Final Form' is fully new and improved. Better responsiveness, hovering over choices to see them reflected on the doll before choosing!
Claire's measurements are now in the Dossier
MORE passage art!
In other news, I got a little curious the other day and wanted to do a side-by-side comparison against...another...game in the space.
This version of Blue Swallow has 188,600 more words.
That's comparing our 0.8.2 against the other's 1.20.1.
That's 26.7% more content.
1.5 years against SEVEN+ years.
No reboots here. If things need to be changed/updated/improved, we do it during our dev cycles alongside additional content with every release.
That's not counting sheer number of options, choices mattering, stats and skills being affected.
And lots, lots more sex.
Thank //you// for being a part of this project. Thank you for being a part of the community and guiding its development.
What's up next for (0.8.3)?
We're going to be shifting the character creator forward. That means picking many of the aesthetic and some of the skills/traits for Claire right out of the gate. Claire's parents will now be reflected in the choices you make for her rather than the other way around.
Setting up the first big event for the Working Girl and Dancing arcs in Act I (Bargirl to catch up in 0.9)
Creation of a new HS Arc -- the Loser Claire!and Loser Quick-Start Claire
MORE HD Art!
Even more new outfits!
Origin gets 0.8.0.1! Sudden Agents get 0.8.1.1!In the meanwhile, we're also rounding out the stat and trait gifs for the non-sex skills.
As I'm working on the modeling content, I'm moving the high school portion out of the main 'arcs'. It will be a possibility for all clique Claires depending on their stats and choices. This is more reflective of reality and how it's structured in College as well. This is requiring some restructuring to the flow of the earlier portion of the game, but that was going to be needed in different places to allow for a vignette or two with Mom and Dad as planned.
I'm also looking forward to the Loser Arc and curious what ideas you have for the basic outfit for Claire. Post pics with your visualizations for Loser Claire in the #image-inspiration channel on Discord. The favorite one will be what we use for our art assets!
I'm on the mend, which is great, so I've begun work on:
Expanding the Dancer and Working Girl Mission arcs (and a little expansion of the Bargirl arc). Each of them is getting a moment where Claire can decide on being an active or more passive investigator at the Club.
Claire's Modeling Arc in College (new!)
Additional HS content /flavor with Claire's parents
Meanwhile the rest of the team:
Has 150 more HD assets complete and more on the way!
A toggle is being implemented for Claire's accessory -- don't like the cowboy hat or something? You no longer need to 'move' Claire. Just turn it off!
The Final Form widget has been seriously improved with hover-implementations that should make choices in character creation more responsive and intuitive.
We're beginning work on outfits being mix-and-match. This will allow for more customization in Claire's outfits in the main game. Like a certain top to go with a different bottom? It'll be up to you!
In the background, we're continuing on a longer-term project where we're visualizing all the different versions of Claire's mom based on the choices you make in the Prologue (its a LOT of assets).
The above is what we're aiming to release with 0.8.2.
Thanks and have a great end of October!