Love is in the air at Pembroke Academy! While it's true that most students don't have a deeper meaning behind sharing chocolates or gifts with their fellow students.. There is one student who has taken a liking to a recently transferred student at the school and I think she's willing to fight tooth and nail for it!

Happy Valentine's Day, love from Lola! <3

We're back to posting at least 2 posts per week, varying based on what we have going on one month to the next! ^^

We'll be covering quite a bit about the next 4+ months of content and the estimated goals in mind with those, so there will be dates mentioned as personal goals listed in this post. Please understand that these dates aren't official dates for releases, rather they're a rough timeline to keep in mind, if we manage to hit these marks or fail slightly. It'll give a better idea of how things process into the coming months.

This post will be split up into sections indicated by "[~Text~]" and the section below it, we're going to try to keep these condensed, but the main points will be outlined early on before we move into recent development team related mentions.

[~Behind The Scenes: Next 2 Months~]

Highlighted in our New Years post last month, I mentioned that things are pretty chaotic. For short context: I'm moving across country and there's mixed feelings involved with that as a whole.

It'd require its own post just to explain everything and even then, it'd probably not make much sense.

The main thing to highlight about this is that I have three things I'm juggling on a weekly basis for the next 2 months give or take before this move happens. During the weekdays, it consists of my college classes in the mornings until early afternoon. Early evening, I work on the project writing needs for a few hours. What isn't listed is made-up of personal happenings, aka making food, enjoying a hour to read or watch something, etc.

So, weekdays are busy between classes and project work.

Besides that, on weekends recently. I've been making time to hangout with my best friend and some family that are staying here in the area, trying to make the most of what little time I have left in this region before our move, as there's no telling how long it'll be or if I'll find myself returning to this area anytime in the next few years. Which is rough for me, because I've spent the past 25 years of my life here.

We'll be in a completely new area long away from much of my friends or family, so it's been really difficult for me to process this.

There is still a lot to be done to include into the mix, as we have downsizing to do, packing what we're taking and planning out everything that needs done prior to moving day. I understand the past few months has been hectic for the project and I apologize deeply for that. I want to turn things around more than anyone else, but I list this section to hopefully give some better perspective into our shortcomings as we're preparing ahead.

For some this won't be a good enough excuse and that's fine, at the end of the day, you have to choose what works best for yourself. Take it or leave it, I have enough going on to sort out and with negative comments or remarks, I personally won't be spending even a second of consideration of replying to those or give those any attention.

I say that last part with as much respect and in the nicest way possible. Respect goes both ways. I can admit my shortcomings and I deeply do want to turn things around with the project moving forward, it'll take some proving to convince some and I completely get that.

[~Content Plans: Next 4 Months~]

February should finally deliver the rest of episode 5 content into the game for v0.22 (Supporter Build). This will include the following without major spoilers listed. V0.21 as it stands would become open to the public upon release of this.

-Free Roaming Scenario. (6 options)
-Nova Scene.
-Erika Scene.
-Miki Scene.
-Common Route Ending Sequence. (Kickstarts the driving force into the main story forward.)

My estimated goal with v0.22 to keep everything else in line, it has to be released no later than February 22nd. Behind the scenes, finishing up on v0.23 content would need to begin prior to that around February 14-15th.

v0.23 content itself would be Episode 1 QoL and additions, including the female protagonist.

March rolls around and behind the scenes for the first half of the month, we'd have to ensure v0.24 is ready before no later than March 14-15th. We'd probably release Episode 1 QoL around this point of March as well, even if it was finished earlier.

Then lastly, the second half of March behind the scenes would need to wrap up route content for Miki and Lola.

In short and easy to understand terms, below is the estimated time schedule for the above content and sorting it out.

-V0.22 release [Ep 5] = February 22nd. (No later to keep the rest in line.)
-V0.23 release [Ep 1 QoL] = March 14-15th. (No later to keep things in line.)
-V0.24 release [Ep 2 QoL] = April 12-15th. (Prior to moving day.)
-V0.25 release [Route Miki & Lola] = May 20-22nd. (After settling in and resuming work.)

Much of active development will take place up until the last days of March, which if all goes to plan. It'll mean v0.24 and v0.25 are fully ready by that point, but those are purposely held off to spread content out during the moving process and settling in, sorting things out, etc. During much of April and May.

If that doesn't quite make sense.. Pretty much during April and May I personally won't be able to actively work on development, so the last two releases above are being sorted out before that to provide content regardless. Once settled in during the later half of May, regular development would resume on my behalf to ensure we get v0.26 out sometime during June.

Overall, it'll be a enduring test to get these things done in the next 2 months. But I wanted to be open and provide everyone with a sense of time we're working with in general. If you believe we can actually pull this off or not is up to you to reserve that right, we're simply sharing what my personal goals and timeline needs to look like in order to pull it off.

In other words, keep an eye on the first estimated date for v0.22 and if we hit the mark. Then see if we manage to get v0.23 out on time as estimated, so on in order to trust we're on schedule with this plan.

[~Content Plans: Summer and Beyond~]

After the hectic move, ideally we'll continue with monthly content without issues. The area we'll be relocated in is known for possible hurricane seasons yearly.

I'd personally like to work my butt off during July to set aside at least one update release for a rainy day in case of the event we're dealing with a natural disaster. It'll be unknown at that time what our situation would look like, how soon we'd be able to return to our home and what it would consist of with level of repairs needed, etc.

If I have any level of access to internet, we'd release this mentioned content as part of a rainy day. That way it gives myself time to sort out any troubles during the season without major delays for the project content being put out.

Ideally, we'd keep this plan in motion moving forward beyond that to ensure we always have at least one update release or two set aside for the following year, etc.

[~V0.22~]

As highlighted earlier, our first release update would be v0.22 and ideally we need to have this out no later than February 22nd. (Start the countdown!)

We're wrapping up some writing on this content still, mainly the free roaming scenarios. What I had originally just wasn't up to par for quality expectations and simply put, it wasn't enjoyable or meaningful from a player standpoint.

Players will get to choose between 5 additional clubs to scout out on their own briefly, but they only have enough time to spend time at one of these. Each club introduces some background and oc students at Pembroke Academy. While events take place, it'll lead into how each club has some light ties with each of the main girls as they retell past events as a story for the protagonist.

Before, this was going to be handled in a very plain and direct, less exciting manner. With the changes made, the way these visually appear will be much more exciting for players.

Without too much spoilers, one of these will be the retelling of how a few months prior, said club had a Christmas themed play put on during a visiting period. They were short a few reindeer for the play and it just so happens they'd offer Miki to help fill in one of these openings, but when opening night came.. It didn't quite go as planned when a hyperactive girl is given a lesser role in the play!

When the students of said club begin with the retelling of past events, the screen will fade and reappear showing players these stories taking place before their eyes, rather than through student's direct words.

Each of these should feel meaningful and much more enjoyable for players to experience! I list that there's 5 options earlier for clubs and that's because one club provides the option for the player to focus on one character or another that has light ties with both characters, but both characters have their own completely different past events making them unique.

Gameplay and player enjoyment is something MA really needs a boost in I feel like, each moment along the game should retain enjoyment no matter the level of purpose for it being there. Overall, if it's in-game, it should feel that there's something taking shape or gathering more information, but as a whole.. Fun is the key element!

Moving on, another part of episode 5 that has taken some time to sort out is the ending sequence. It has a lot of major spoilers involved for the main story at Pembroke Academy and so I can't speak too openly about it yet, but that's also why it has taken a while to sort that scene out.

There's custom assets that were made purely for this story moment to really signal just how important it is to the overarching story and mystery unfolding for the protagonist to come to terms with. By the end of the sequence, the protagonist will have a driving force burning behind them to get to the bottom of what kind of people are in control of Pembroke Academy with what's been uncovered during this sequence.

Buckle up folks! Things are about to get interesting! :P

This has been a long time coming and the main story details have been planned out for over 3 years now, so while the mystery and some aspects will come across as a shock at first. Trust me, we have a entire document that spans 30+ pages just to keep track of the main story and these details. Not all of it will be answered to the players during this one sequence, but you can bet on it, that we already know how the timeline of other story scenes in-game will play out and how it all connects together in explaining the situations and those involved!

More on point, this scene has had a few rewrites to ensure we get it just right. There's a lot being uncovered to the player for the first time during this sequence and it's important that we don't accidentally spoil more or rush things to damper this key experience to the playerbase.

It'll no doubt spark some level of theories and I'm prepared to bite my tongue to let everyone discuss things amongst themselves without too much input in fear I'd mention something not in-game yet even after that sequence.

In short, we're sorting out these two areas for episode 5 mainly still and we have about 2 weeks, work on the editing and programming are coming along. We'll have previews leading up to the estimated release date to show off some content, only excluding the story sequence as anything involved with that is too much for spoilers until you experience it in-game.

[~Team Developments: Art Corner~]

{Background Art Developments}

Let's begin with bg art as it's probably the big highlight during January's developments.

We've been getting a few additional key locations for Pembroke Academy done for bg art recently! While it saddens me to say this, our previous artist who provided much of the bg art seen in-game currently has stepped down from the project. This is due to personal issues going on for her and I don't feel too comfortable sharing too much. It doesn't seem like a personal thing against myself or the project, but rather she doesn't foresee herself being able to work on art in general for the foreseeable future.

Since her announcement of this, I have found another bg artist to take over luckily.

Our new bg artist is Voloshenko and he's been hard at work in the past 2 weeks since starting! We have 5 completed bg's already, with more on the way! Below is what has been completed and is ready.

-Club Room. (Reworked.)
-Sport's Club Room.
-Student Council Room.
-In-door Play Area.
-Diaper Testing Room.

The original club room bg as you've probably noticed during much of episode 5 so far, it's really running its course visually speaking. ^^" It's hard to go from one scene where Lola's in the same visual bg space that's meant to be the "Cosplay Club" and see that same visual used for meeting Bridget in the "Gaming Club" too.

So, we had Voloshenko remake the existing bg art for the club room. This way we could expand on that with variants for a few standout clubs that will be featured during route content often enough to make it worth doing this. Below is a few variants we'd like to include.

-Cosplay Club.
-Gaming Club.
-Animal & Cooking Lover's Club.
-Super Happy Fun Time Club.

Certain clubs excluded would be Nova's Kickboxing Club, given they'll use the new Sport's Club variant setup, since much of their time doing activities is more outside of the club space anyways. Erika's involvement with the Literature Club will be using the default new Club Room, as it fits generally already.

We hope these variants will help spice things up visually for what's to be seen moving forward ahead in-game! Along with helping improve how episode 5 visually comes across too for new players or those looking to play through again.

The Sports Club variant is a general space to feel as if it would work for any club that's involved in a given sport. We tried to keep in mind what sort of sports exist in reality for the game's location set in Wales, UK. But some fiction rules are applied as well, given the school has students from other parts of Europe as a majority.

The Student Council receiving its own visual space will be very special, as Heather is the President and Juliet is known as the Vice President. Knowing that, much of the items in the room are Juliet's personal items taken from her royal home that are no longer being used by her Mother. So, it'll give the space a personal feeling that should come across in that manner.

The In-door Play Area is a new location that technically exists. The best way to explain this space is that it's the main room leading to the diaper exam areas, a general play area that's pretty childish looking and might appear a bit similar to a daycare visually with how colorful it is, along with the number of play equipment for students to enjoy.. If they wish to hangout there in general that is. ^^"

The Diaper Exam Area, originally called "Diaper Training Room" is similar to how it appears in-game currently, but it's been remade by the new artist. One major difference is the diaper disposal and retrieval device being seen, which was hinted in descriptive text for the nurse's office in-game, but we never shown a visual for what that looks like. Those are located naturally in the nurse's office, locker room area and here as they make the most sense.

We've sorted out requests for February payments, that we'll have them cover two new bg's during the month as part of our monthly budget in funding for what we can cover amongst the other team's costs and shares.

{CG Art Developments}

Moving onto cg art next! We have some good news!

In case you aren't aware, Marxe and Ajose are our cg artists. With the later having gone MIA for a while, leaving us in a odd spot for continuing developments on cg art for the game. I even had to resort to having Marxe take on a cg scene by themselves during January until we could hear back from Ajose about his situation.

The behind the scenes explanation is that we have about 8 cg scenes fully paid for that are in the works, but Ajose handles the drawing phases and Marxe does the bg and coloring for these. The payments are split between them and it's awkward, since Marxe wasn't paid to do what is expected from Ajose without further payment on his behalf and time naturally.

So, during January. I provided Marxe with full payment to update a existing cg scene that hasn't been done yet, all on his own until we figured things out further.

Ajose recently, as in a day ago, reached out and explained his MIA disappearance. Part of the reason is lack of motivation with updating existing cg art vs brand new commissions, but that isn't limited to just our project either. Which I completely understood and naturally for the game development as a whole.. We have to better balance new cg art vs updating what remains for existing cg art.

That said, what remains to be paid off for existing cg art that needs updated consists of only 8 total cg scenes left! But.. Again, we'll be balancing this out slowly throughout 2025 into 2026 with more focus on brand new cg scenes. It'll be a juggling act.

Overall, it sounds like Ajose is going to work through what is already paid off during much of February and Marxe will be sorting through a lot of that stuff to wrap it up too. Either way, expect more brand new cg art coming pretty soon!

We've already sorted out details enough to confirm that we'll at least have Marxe take on one more existing cg scene for February with full payment to him, only because Ajose has some work to catch up on and Marxe personally wants a existing cg to update when I presented the options.

{Sprite Art Developments}

Onto the next! Sprite art has slowed down quite a bit, but we're at a point where Lisa is nearly done with what's needed for the game as a whole.

She finished up some stuff during January and I can't speak much on that due to spoilers, but once those assets are seen in-game, we'll share full previews of that stuff. Besides this, some visual outfits and aspects for the main cast is coming along for episode 5 to pair up with the free roaming scenario.

In my earlier mention, I lightly mentioned how one free roaming scenario involves retelling and visually showing a Christmas themed play that involves Miki as a backup reindeer role. Well, naturally one can expect to see Miki dressed up for this role and that's one of these sprite additions that's being wrapped up currently behind the scenes.

I suspect for sprite work, we'll have February wrap up what's needed in the coming week or two for the free roaming scenario content, along with possibly some remaining outfits for a certain character sprite appearing as well.

Overall, we should expect February to pay off the few sprite additions for the main girls being seen in the free roaming scenario content for ep 5 soon in the next week or two at max. Along with wrapping up outfits on for this mystery character sprite.

{Chibi CG Art Developments}

Bandyrash has recently finished up 12 of the 30+ chibi sticker emoji's paid for and you might've noticed these were quietly added into the Discord server to make use of. They'll also be used in-game with the new phone interface coming to the game with v0.23 and beyond, used during text conversations the protagonist receives at random from friends.

Besides those, she's also been progressing on the chibi cg scene expected to be added to episode 1 for a new mini scene that'll introduce players to one key character who runs Pembroke Academy. She's nearly finished with that, but we only have the male protagonist version seen so far, but ideally we'll have the female protagonist version ready before v0.23 comes.

Which brings me to our next mention! In case we don't have certain content added to the game for the future of development. We'll be adding a new splash screen being done by Bandy that features Miki in chibi form working on construction, with the quote "Sorry everyone!! This content is still under construction, but it should be added later! Check the dev reports or release notes for additional details!"

Just something cute that fits during our on-going development and hopefully helps avoid any confusion if there's missing content, showing this splash screen in-game during those moments until later when they're officially replaced with the finalized content.

More chibi cg scenes should be appearing as well, but currently behind the scenes. We have 3 total scenes paid for and so we're waiting on some of that to be finished before requesting more.

We're thinking for February, the construction splash screen will be requested and possibly a Valentines Day related chibi animation that'll find it's way in-game, but we're still sorting out the budget and details on the later half for priorities. For sure without a doubt, the construction splash screen will be paid for.

{GUI Art Developments}

In regards to ds-sans and their gui updates for the game, I can confirm that the phone interface is officially completed! Below is roughly what remains for gui needs for the game, unless feedback provides us with any additional needs along the way!

-Extras ui screen.
-DLC ui screen. 
-Student profile template screen ui for Yearbook. (Character's details, sprite visual seen, etc.)

So, we'll probably see one of these 3 things started up here during February. As mentioned, v0.23 should include the new phone gui elements with that update. We'll slowly roll out the rest amongst future updates, but if there's missing ui elements that you feel would improve MA. Please let us know and we'll look further into those!

We're not sure yet which of these ui elements will be started on during February at this time, but I would place my bets on the student profile to finish up the yearbook screen.

{SFX & Music Developments}

Lastly we have Apocalyptic Universe's progress on recent music needs for the game! Below is a behind the scenes for what we've got finished so far in recent times for new music being added to the game for v0.22 and beyond.

-Flora Scented Corridor. (Heard during hallway scenes.)
-Halcyon Days. (Heard during club room scenes.)
-Shared Bond Amongst The Class. (Heard during classroom scenes.)

One thing to note is that the club and classroom locations having longer scenes in-game, we're expecting to include 2 more variant's for background music that fits those areas besides these completed ones so far.

There is also a fourth track completed that is yet to be paid off later this month, but that one will be shared after v0.22's release to avoid spoilers.

We expect to get at least one new music track started during February, which will be heard during dorm room scenes generally. Payment for this will take place in another week or so.

[~Development Report Conclusion~]

Hopefully the new approach feels visually better to highlight the sections of information better for everyone! Mainly in order to jump to sections that cover more important details than others. We'd like to continue dev reports in this fashion moving forward, but ideally a bit more condensed or offer at the start of each section a "tldr" version to shave off time for some.

There's a lot of pressure on myself at the turn of the new year already and it's only going to increase as moving day fast approaches, so please bear with me as I'm trying to do my best amongst the chaotic situation presented before me.

I'd like to complete my personal timeline of goals in the next two months on time and I know it requires nearly 2 more weeks of waiting before we have our first sign of how this plan is going to unfold, but trust me or don't. Just please have a tiny bit more patience. <3

I tried to be as open as possible and plan to keep this up with our monthly dev reports on behind the scenes for the team involved and why certain things are unfolding in the matter that they are, spending and so on, etc.

[~Disclaimers & Project Information~]

If this is your time with us and you enjoy the game project, please consider supporting us at the low cost of our $5 tier on Subscribestar! Besides the public versions of the game we release, supporters can expect a number of exclusive posts up to 2 posts per week ranging from news updates, art previews, voting polls and much more! Some months do vary based on our development, but should be expected each month is the benefit of supporter exclusive versions of the game.

Those versions are always one update ahead of what we provide for the public for free to give thanks for your support! The support is what provides our team with covering the costs to add new assets into the game and keep development active.

Keep yourself informed and updated on development by following Subscribestar notifications or bookmarking our >Guide Post< You can also continue to keep updated through our Itch.io page or Twitter as well!

Be alert! The only websites officially ran by myself (Princess Bridget) and Messy Studios working on development of Messy Academy are from the following list below. Any place otherwise is unofficial and they might be impersonating us for their own gain. Avoid payments/donating to other sources as it won't be helping fund further development into our game!

>Subscribestar<
>Pixiv Fanbox<
>Kickstarter<
>Twitter<
>Itch.io<
>Pixiv<

(You can also find our official posts/account on these sites, but due to their nature we won't include links directly.)
>F95zone< (Username: Messy Studios)
>omorashi< (Username: Bridget1999)
>tapatalk< (Username: Messy Studios)

The one and only official Discord server for following the Messy Studios team development is this one. >>Discord<<

If you've come across any other server impersonating us, be sure to report your findings with me directly and steer other's interested in our video game project away from possible scam attempts.

~ From all of us at Messy Studios! ~