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Progress Report #44: November, 2022

"A building is a man-made marvel- that is, until nature claims it. Then, it's a marvelous ruin."

VoidSeekers o/

With November on its last few days, we inch ever closer to the official countdown of the holiday season ticking towards the next year. But before we all go on vacation, a release is to be contended with, so lets tackle the weekly update first!

The much mysterious Sensual play, that we mentioned a few reports back, has now been confirmed finished! Well at least the art for it is. The writers are still being a bit cryptic about its status and have yet to give us any clear signs about its readiness to be inducted into the game proper yet or not. Still, artistic progress is an encouraging sign, and with that task out of the way, Doppel is now planning updates to older works in order to bring them up to his newer standards- that is until someone else springs new work upon him. maniacal cackling

Meanwhile, the writers might be playing coy about some things, but they can't keep the locks down on everything! Apart from the aforementioned scenario, and alongside the ongoing npc/lore dialogue overhauling, we're told that a brand new guild bounty quest has also been conceived! Especially excited for this one as we are looking into additional ideas to boost Voidbound's game-play content. The expansive lore at the moment tends to push player experience towards more Visual Novel-esque, and we're all for it, but we also want to provide more opportunities for the player to enjoy the RPG aspect as well.

Finally, coding and... well, we're told the tasks done are small but way too many to list without making it a head spinning wall of text. To compress it off, the week marks as the kickstart for patch testing. Though not all content has made into the game just yet, but that which has- is being optimized, while a variety of plugins are getting their codes synced, as well as cleaned up to make way for better compatibility. Additionally, new background music for Henosis ambient sounds have also been finished. These are still experimental and require a lot of tweaks, but we're hopeful that we'll capture the majority of goofs before the final thing reaches your hands!

And that is our November of 2022. Before we leave, a formal announcement of sorts regarding the upcoming patch. Though we still haven't finalized, "the release date" yet, we have however finalized a projection we're aiming for- that is anywhere between 8th and 12th of December, dependent on final polishing and content status. We're hopeful to get a clearer date out by the first December report so please bear with us as we scramble to get pieces in order. Till then, take care and enjoy the planning the upcoming vacation month to your heart's content

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

Progress Report #43: November, 2022

Hi folks, Back again with our weekly updates and... the team was neck deep in overhaul work, yet again. Not surprising given the rapidly approaching release of the next patch so, without further adieu, lets get to it.

In our last update we introduced to you, both Pixie's Hospital and Guild Bounty buildings. Though we laid the foundation down pretty sure of our intended vision, we're a bit embarrassed to admit that the beast called deadline got the best of us and eventually and we had to roll out a "functioning" architecture- one that wasn't entirely ready. Still, better late than never and the artist is now hard at work drawing out the sleek and intricate inner details to breathe new life into both zones. We're hopeful that this time, we'll make it in time _^

On the other end, the writers devoted themselves to revision work as well. This time the focus shifted towards improving the lore flow towards various game endings, both existing and planned. Additionally, extensive dialogue re-framing is underway as well with the idea to make interactions with NPCs less monotonous and as close to realistic as possible. Both involve thousands of words to peruse through but, our pen experts assure us the task is worth the herculean undertaking.

Finally, word from the tech crew is, "optimization". With every patch release we try to sneak some of it into the game in order to improve performance with systems of varying age. Especially challenging amongst those are hardware that have started to fall behind with the demands of latest technologies. Still, regardless of the rig, we consistently strive to implement performance maximization in order to extend compatibility as far as we possibly can and this week was spent doing just that before patch testing commences. 

And that is our third week of November. As we edge closer to December, work is ramping up again. We expect the team to tackle final polish on both art as well as the text with a fair amount of technical testing/bug fixing mixed into it. Until then though, we wish you well and will see you in the next one o/

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

Progress Report #42: November, 2022

Sensually she reaches in, whispering gently into Caly's ear, "Our next patch release is just weeks away.."

Hey everyone,

As much as we wish it, conceiving exciting new ideas is not always part of the VoidBound's development progression. In-fact a fair amount of time is spent realizing those ideas into a working reality and this past week was a fine example of just that. Lets quickly walk you through it.

Direct sexual encounters we've plenty in VoidBound- be it probed by an alien scientists or getting hot & sweaty with a bombshell Caly just came across at the bar. She isn't shy about jumping right into the deed. But, never has she explored something as subtle as the indirect feeling of someone’s fingers running through her hair, or the unique smell of a person she is attracted to. Sensual play emphasizing pleasure from an unexpected source is what sensual stimulation is all about, and that is making its way into VoidBound. The writers requested we keep the details as sparse as possible to avoid dulling the moment, though the image attached alongside should give you a fair idea of what we're aiming for.

Outside of that development, the writers spent the better half of the week tidying up loose ends on the existing content. Dialogue overhauls especially, were in the cross hairs in order to improve player immersion during story narration. As the approach is being applied to both old and future content, the effort and time required will take some time to materialize planned results, so we sincerely request your patience with our small team.

Finally, our coder picked up a new gauntlet: Dungeon extensions and enhanced lighting work. Similar to dialogue rehauls, maps are now being actively assessed as well. What was built a year+ ago necessarily didn't age as intended with the newer element upgrades like lightings and reflections. So, not only are revamps being planned to update the sprites/models, if need be, some section of the maps might be completely rebuilt from the ground up. Expect some things to change pretty radically on that front in the future.

And that is all to it. Next week, more rework work expected alongside new code related challenges. How it will all unfold, we'll report when the next week comes around. Till then, take good care of yourselves and we'll see you in the next one o/

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

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Progress Report #41: November, 2022

Hey everyone,

November already, huh? Man, Halloween sure came and went fast. But that just means the rest of the holidays are right around the corner, including the New Year!

But before that, let’s see what the teams have been up to, shall we?

One of the most suggested features, and something that has been at the top of our priority list for a while now, is the creation of an intuitive quest tracking interface that not only would let the player keep tabs on multiple quests simultaneously, but also help quickly find objective locations on the fly. Though the latter part of that goal will properly materialize only after galaxy mapping is finished but, the former however is something that we can create without waiting on any dependencies. In-fact, we are already in the process of building a few sample prototypes from the ground up so stay tuned as we'll be needing your feedback on that one!

Writers on the other hand kept themselves fairly occupied with their already set goals of divergent varieties. From drawing new story lines to Jem's next arc, to adding building blocks to the Caly's first major bounty hunt, all the way to engineering the core of the next new planet, Jae, there wasn't a moment to rest for the pen masters. You can read about it some more in the PR image attached alongside.

A somewhat similar scene was witnessed in the land of Code as well where back-end work was kicked off to prop the upcoming quest log interface. Though we'd love to bore you with the finer workings of how that is coming along but, we've been advised to refrain for the sake of our readers-, so refrain we shall. Just take a leap of faith and believe our word for it, as we intend to showcase our efforts to you soon enough. Aside from that, the usual fine tweaks ensued with maintenance work done on both battle logs and combat re-balance.

And that wraps up November’s first report! Next week we're told to expect some new naughty play, some extensive dialogue re-hauls and perhaps even a pleasantly euphonious update as well? We'll see how things go!

Till then, take care and we'll see you in the next one!

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team