It's been a while and I've got a lot to share, so let's get right into things. Starting with the project status and what's going on there, then into the blog post as that'll add more context behind everything, but that'll be longer than this. ^^"

Obviously the project has hit a brick wall and we've been working on development when possible, but I think being honest, we've bit off more than we can chew, when it comes to what amount of work was needed to overhaul and setup the common route (Episodes 1-5). 

I've mentioned it in the past, but we've got a 25+ page document that covers just the game's main story/lore history alone, that we've been adapting into the game in a better paced manner. We've always had these plans since early on, but we realize the pacing of events linked to the main story are too far and in-between. The path we were on, we'd be looking at the near mid-route episodes before the main story fully kicked into gear.. 

We've been adapting this better throughout Episodes 1-5, so that about the midway point of the game as routes begin, the first climax of the story hits, followed by the second portion of the story unfolding towards the ending. 

The pacing plays out much smoother, to where by the end of Episode 1, the events players walk away with is the core foundation of the mystery behind Pembroke Academy, we're not given all the answers right away, but it sets the stage for the mystery and unveiling more than rumors of a pink werewolf that roams the grounds at night..

In short, we've been hammering out a lot to do with the overarching story and laying out better methods to keep track of the new gameplay choices and paths players can lean into. Some of that gets pretty complex by Episode 5, so we've found a better method of keeping track of the variables and laying the groundwork set our path forward. 

We've been juggling around some ideas for how to handle new game content moving forward, and once we have Episode 1 out in full for supporters, we'll be leaning towards dropping smaller bite-sized game update/downloads continuing into Episode 2. (Expect at least 2-3 written scenes per update)

Our hope with doing it this way, is that it's more realistic with my personal schedule to keep content flowing consistently, without running into these periods of roadblocks slowing development down to a halt.

Regarding the next game's public and supporter download/updates. We've had some setbacks in the past 2 weeks, so we're a bit behind where I thought we would be and I'll get into why those setbacks happened in the blog further below. (Out of my control)

We're realistically looking at these updates for the game to be ready in November, but we'd like to get some early demos out before then and share how everything's coming along ahead, a bit more step by step during our process if possible. To make up for the brick wall in our path the past few months, we're going to provide Episode 1 in a manner that'd accelerated into phases.

Phase 1 - Demos leading up to the release, offered to active supporters for 5 days exclusively, followed by the previous demo being provided to the public / non-active supporters.

Phase 2 - Release of Episode 1 in full, offered to active supporters for 7 days exclusively, alongside the public having access to the first 3 scenes. After the 7 days of exclusiveness, the public will gain access to the next 2 scenes for free.

Phase 3 - Over the course of 2 weeks that follows, the public will have full access to Episode 1. (Roughly 3 weeks after it's first given to active supporters) At this time, we'd be offering demos for the content in Episode 2 for active supporters, keeping the balance between supporters and public access. 

We'd like to offer longtime supporters with bonuses as we head into 2027, but for now we hope the phases above sound fair enough as we get back into the race, and off our butts on the sideline. ^^"

We'll be doing two posts per week on Subscribestar & Twitter moving forward again, although plans for Miki's Monday's Q&A are still on hold, as we're figuring out a better method to handle those. 

Apologies for the lack of posts and general news for a while, sometimes life tests you and it spirals out of control. Which leads us into the blog post. 
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Where do I even begin? I should start by explaining that the park I, and my parents live in (Separate places) is a half RV park and mostly mobile homes with a enclosed lanai attached. It's not a bad park with the community, but the company that bought the park out in recent years is known throughout the US for other RV parks and lawsuits, etc.

In the past, management would get on our case at my parent's place for the tiniest thing. One too many outdoor chairs around your outdoor table? That's a complaint, old shed that's been there untouched for the past 20 years and is suddenly a problem? Yeah, that sort of stuff.. 

It's technically their job, but there's a lot of selective favoritism floating around the park, where the official rules state, "No more than 2 sheds per unit." and yet, when they demand that my parents have to tear one of their two sheds down and they claim its being applied to everyone else in the park, and still months later, it still looks like only my parent's lost a extra shed..

Yeah, it smells like bullshit, and they've done this before with other things and sadly they've been targeting me lately. A few months back, the park left a letter at my door with 7 days to cure certain issues they saw with my lot, some were fair enough and others just felt like we were looking at two completely different units.. Because I couldn't find the magically hidden overgrowth of weeds around my unit.. ^^"

This has been a on-going battle, and I've been trying to gather anything to possibly get a investigation started on the park if there really is favoritism at play and unfair treatment going around, there's people and laws in place against that and I don't have high hopes with how corrupt things are.. But its worth a shot, even more if we're at risk of being kicked out with no backup plan until late next year.

The last time I had a letter was 2-3 months ago, and I did what was asked of us at that point, took photos and kept the letter aside with other stuff. Then nearly two weeks ago, they left another letter at my door, similar demands as last time that need cured on the lot within 7 days, or risk eviction notice of 30 days..

My main worry now, is that in the letter it states if they send a letter out again from now until a year from now for similar issues. They can simply skip the curing process, and just hand us a eviction notice to sell our place in 30 days (impossible) or pay thousands to get it moved to land that also doesn't exist, so they're really saying.. Lose your place, any investment, etc.

The lady in charge of management in the park is the core issue and I honestly suspect with them tearing out a ton of mobile home units in the past few months, along with overhearing two ladies discussing plans to get more ripped out by next Spring.. I fully believe the company that bought the park is looking to convert it fully into an RV only park.

It's the only thing that makes logical sense and aligns with everything else going on, they're selectively picking on people with these letters and once they have enough history on them for literately anything the lady deems out of place.. They can jump instantly to eviction notice, after the place doesn't sell in 30 days, the park claims the rights and soon after that, they tear the place apart and fill the lot with gravel so it's converted for RV's just like that.

We've seen it happen with a Brother and Sister duo in the park, their two places they had were torn down despite being really well maintained and not what you'd expect when you hear "mobile home" because there's some really fancy work put into a lot of these.. 

With the recent letter, I told my roommate I was done with this BS and if they're going to toss a letter at us every 3 months on the dot for overly picky stuff, simply to kick people out of the park and convert things into an RV park.. Then, I'm not giving her a reason to ever reasonably give me a letter while we're still here in the park for another year at most. Keep her off our back's entirely..

Weeds need cleared? Plants and excess pottery/plants hanging around outside? Say no more! All of it's been cut down to the root and all the greenery is gone. 2-3 outdoor decor items are "clutter"? No problem! We've bought those indoors, there's no yard decor, no greenery, it's very clean cut and boring looking. Paint touch-ups? I inspected our place multiple times and we must be on two different planes of existence, because outside of a very subtle tiny spot I saw that was chipping paint, mostly blocked by a tree in the way.. There's nothing even remotely needed to be painted.

The list goes on, and I basically want absolutely zero reason for a letter to appear on my door again while we're still in the park for a year. If they pester us with another letter in 3 months from now, and it has anything to do with what's listed in the previous ones and there's nothing that really needs done.. (Or they skip the next letter, straight into a eviction one) Then, I have photo proof of how my place looked in the past year, previous letters and demands, etc.

Ideally, I just want to be left alone and I think that's the motto for many people, especially when your "home" doesn't feel like home anymore. It's really sad to see how in such a short period of time, this park went from easygoing and everyone helping each other out to feeling more uptight, private and shut-off from each other. (Granted its the off-season, with the active season now starting in the coming weeks.)

Still, many people who have lived here for decades are trying to sell their places now, rent them out, get anything out of their investments and leave before it all crumbles. The sad part is how many places were up for sale nearly 2 years ago when we first moved in, many of those are still on the market unsold and the number of new listings in the park just keeps rising..

I'd be more shocked if we're still in this park a year from now today, because the rate of things going on here just seems full pedal to the metal for them and their plans.. 

Our plan right now is up in the air a bit, but we're possibly looking to at least put my place up for rent while trying to sell it. (Move back in with my parents awkwardly) Then, later do the same for their place if possible, put a down payment on a house nearby. (Ideally no HOA agreements) And you'd think the park suffers from HOA issues based on what I've mentioned, but as far as I'm aware.. We're not in a HOA zone, it's just management being sneaky and everything.

If all goes to rough plan, my parents plan on getting a house and putting my name down on it with them, since ideally that'd be their real retirement home and later I'd have ownership to decide what to do at that point in life. They're looking for a 3 bedroom, so if my roommate wants to stay here long-term or even visit for a month here and there, she can still have her own room, etc. 

That's the main issues in the past months, where the park has been relentless and trying to juggle helping my parents, getting day to day things done, chores, etc. Often, I'm lucky when I get more than 2 hours at my computer to sit down, settle on the sofa before bed, and so on. >.< 

There was also electrical issues with the place a while back, about a month or so ago.. Not as important, but just more costs sunk into this place that's on rocky waters as it is.. Basically the short of my electrical issues is that randomly one night, power went out in the lanai and turning lights on caused them to blow instantly, the ceiling fan speeding at double the speed, etc. (Was a open neutral issue)

The guy who came to fix the issue had to replace a very old J box that was no longer the original guts and its a surprise the thing hasn't combusted.. $750 down the drain to get that J box replaced entirely with a solution that should last a year or so, ideally with one inspection next year to be safe.. But the original J box didn't even have outdoor rated outlets for the main power traveling into the home.. Like, I'm not a expert with electrical work.. But even I'm aware that outdoor rated outlets exist for a reason. (Especially in a high humid and wet climate)

Honestly a investigation on the park would probably do everyone some good, because I'm afraid of what other oddities the park allows to exist. (Their maintenance workers normally do light repairs on things, or old timers with skills.) Just never know if there's another 2-3 decade old J box situation just laying around in the park or worse issues that I'd imagine falls on the park's duties to maintain.

(Even more when past lawsuits in other park grounds the company owns were for similar issues and fines, etc.)

I could go on and on, but it's just been stressful lately with juggling a lot of things at once, and simply not enough time in a day to realistically get everything done. I'd like to stay hopeful it'd be quiet in the park for me and my parents after this, but I'm sure they'll find other ways to pester people. I'm curious how the snowbirds react, or if the park even attempts to go after any of them in the coming months, or if they bend the rules during the active season. (Including bending the rules against burn ban periods, security guy being told by upper management not to pester some snowbirds who had a active fire going during burn bans..)

Just really insanity lately and I can only hope for some peace from it all for a while, I'd much rather get lost in my writing and project work than what's going on in the park, etc. :S

Hiya everyone!~ Sorry it's been a bit quiet here lately, we've been extremely busy trying to get everything ready to presented for our newsletter soon. 

The newsletter will cover a range of screenshot previews for the upcoming content, new features and systems added to the game in action, highlighting exactly how much work has been going into Episode 1's content to give a better idea of what to expect for the rest of the game.

Once again, we'd like to remind everyone that the improvements and additions to earlier content doesn't mean we're scrapping existing content or starting over, limiting fans/supporters in any way. This isn't a reboot or starting fresh, etc.

We are doing improvements to existing content to better the pacing and of course the addition of new gameplay systems and features included, adjusting those to fit with existing moments and in-between them.

It has taken us far more time than we would've liked personally to have Episode 1 ready, but there was a lot of foundation building needed for these new systems and gameplay, not so much the time it takes to get it into the engine and functioning.. But rather, we have to lay out exactly how the timeline of events take place. 

That's typical for the story content & writing, ensuring there's no major plot holes or the pacing ruins the experience. There's a story/lore document we've been refining and improving for over 5 years, that alone has taken time to dig through everything, cross-reference and make sure nothing clashes or doesn't work, etc. Once players get their hands on Episode 1, it'll begin to open up the story majorly as we have the outline of how the pacing improvements and additions there pan out.

It'll make a lot more sense, trust the process! 

Basically, there's a lot of moving gears in setting up these new systems, not all of them obviously.. Like new player choices isn't suddenly a new concept or anything crazy at it's core.. ^^" 

But we are leaning more into meaningful choices that are paced out, and trying to ensure these choices either impact CG content, possibly unlocking new future written scene/moments, or changing the direction of how events play out during a given scene itself.

There's a early choice shortly after the protag and their buddies come across a teacher (Tara), where there's a lot of processing taking place with the sudden news of diapers being a thing, let alone the other rules, and their shock leads into a player moment that splits into 3 paths that differ from each other.

One choice leans a bit more into erotic focus early on, totally changing up how the scene proceeds and plays out, while the other two feel similar in how those play out vs that choice, but one choice leans a bit more into the oddity of it all, a bit more mystery vibe. While the other choice leans more into comedy, etc.

On paper it sounds easy "Well, I'm going with the erotic path choice!" XD but we're keeping that in mind, trying to ensure whenever player choices appear, it isn't going to default to one really fun or rewarding choice, while the other two feel lack luster. That'll really shine as Episode 1 gets into the 2nd half and how the game tracks things into Episode 2 forward, really starting to open the doors a bit more and play more into the protagonist (player) making choices based on what seems best, or possibly how you'd react in that moment, etc.

The phone interface system is another thing, where in theory it isn't like it takes us months to get that one system into Ren'py and working. It's more so, figuring out how the system will hold up throughout the entirety of the game, basically everything being worked on can be seen as the foundation of these new systems and gameplay added, where once we have these sorted. (Which we do now!)

Episodes 2 and beyond shouldn't take us more than 30-35 days ideally to deliver new game content. Can things still popup out of the blue from one day to the next? Sure! But, in the event we find that we're not going to make a given release date window for new content.. We're looking at ensuring we get any level of content in your hands regardless.

We're trying to find that balance between quality content vs rushing to get everything ready and out all at once, having to slow down and return to already released content to fix it fully, delaying new content development because we pushed content out when it wasn't in a 95% finalized state. :S

So, our solution moving forward is that if Episode 2 in full isn't ready and we know it won't happen realistically within that 30-35 day window.. We'll do smaller release chucks of content to keep things steady. What we mean by that is, say September comes along and halfway through the month, we realize only the first 2-3 scenes are fully ready by then and the rest of the episode is easily going to need 20+ more days to get it all sorted out entirely..

We'll make a game build that contains those first 2-3 scenes to provide a steady flow of content for players. 

(The only issue there that we see, is if it happens regularly, some people might not want to download new builds bi-weekly or so. Ideally this is more of a last effort if we really can't hit that 30-35 day window.)

We don't want this news post to be too long, but we needed to break the silence and let everyone know that new content is underway still! Our newsletter will be shared around on Twitter and openly when it's ready, all the previews and highlights, etc. 

I don't want to toss a exact or estimated time window for when to expect the newsletter, much like we're feeling awkward about listing dates for releases of new content.. <.< But, the chances of seeing the newsletter by next week with some other goodies that same day is fairly high. 
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We'll probably mention this last tidbit in our newsletter as a highlight as well, but simply put. Our game development that's on-going/active has reached a point, where there just isn't nearly as much stuff to share with new posts. We still have art previews, mainly for CG art needed all the way until the game is fully finished. 

But I think we've come to realize that we're just simply at a far enough point with game development that the only kind of posts we can make will be news/game related talks for the project itself (like this post and newsletters) along with some similar stuff like a voting poll for the month, a few things like that..

But when it comes to more exciting visual related posts, honestly... We have all the game's BG art completed, the sprite art needs are wrapping up in the next few months (most of those are heavily story spoilers, so it's hard to share those yet without huge questions for us). Which kinda leaves us in a spot where for visual previews of stuff to expect from month to month for posts, it'll most likely be CG art previews & game screenshot/video previews. 

Sometimes we'll have an odd post for chibi related art asset previews or similar smaller tasks, but overall what we're getting at with these mentions is firstly addressing the lack of posts lately. <.<

The other thing is that quite simply, we're probably looking at a more relaxed posting schedule. I'd like to get back into tossing out at least two posts on Subscribestar each week, expecting 7-8 posts in a month, quality posts.. But, we just wanted to address what the expectations for regular posts and exclusive content for supporters will be like moving forward.

(I think this point of development naturally hits anyone, where at first, a brand new project will have tons of stuff to share and show off as it's getting a lot of visual stuff done. But as those assets are taken care of one by one, it shifts into a more auto-pilot mode. For example: Our main team after Lisa finishes sprite work will consist of myself (writing/editing/lead director/etc) Our programmer, CG artists (two of them), and our composer/sfx person mainly. Once in a rare while our chibi artist, but even those needs are dwindling as we have the assets needed mostly.)

In short, it's nothing to fear about the project as a whole.. ^^" We're actively developing new content and we'll showcase that here shortly, moving forward again with regular releases. But.. We just wanted to address our post schedule and expectations, explaining why that's slowing down a bit.

With that, I think this post has gone on long enough for a "mini news" post. :S But hopefully everyone's been doing okay lately!~ It's been extremely busy this summer, both the project and personal stuff going on, but it seems to be settling down too. <3

[Next post will come for supporters by Wednesday/Thursday, featuring CG art previews for some upcoming additions for Episode 1 and Episode 2! Double feature!~ Post after that should be next week early on for the newsletter, then trying to keep with a Sun/Mon post + Wed/Thurs post weekly.]