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.]

I'll keep this short and sweet for everyone! :P We're trying to settle on a official last name for Erika, as very light adjustments are taking shape for the character. 

When I say very light, I mean really the main change will be her last name being officially changed and we'll be very open with what has changed for earlier content when we reach the QoL additions & fixes. We're keeping her mostly intact though, I think this is a simple solution without giving up too much in exchange for our original plans with her character story and events.

With that in mind, Erika (Insert name) is British and so we're trying to settle on a fitting name of origin. We wanted to open this up to fans and supporters of the game, considering it felt right to include everyone's input on this! <3

While we've been getting new content ready and should have a demo to share with everyone soon! We've also been increasing our efforts of being more engaging on our social media over on Twitter/Bsky! This will expand into similar engagement for Subscribestar as well! (Fanbox/KS too)

Something fun we've just begun doing a little over a week ago, is a in-game/world fitting Q&A style post every Monday morning called "Miki's Super Secret Fan Mail Monday!" The post lasts for around 24 hours, with Miki answering all of her fan's emails (your posts) in character! This happens in at least 2 batches during the day, trying to cover as many questions possible in one batch, then giving plenty of time before answering the 2nd batch of questions!

Any questions that are left after the 24 hour mark are set aside for the following Monday, to be addressed right away! So, don't feel left out if you're late to the party!

(Below is this yesterday's post for example of how engaging and fun these are!)

As you can see, we really want to capture a unique and fun feeling with these posts each week! The first one that took place on the 11th, only featured Miki and the idea was that, she was stuck in her dorm room on a rainy boring day. While bored, she decides to pass the time by reading fan mail and answering them!

The idea behind that is a slight spoiler for upcoming content in episode 5 coming soon.. But without ruining too much, let's just say Miki's club she's involved in just feels very suited with the idea that she'd also have a super secret fan mail setup alongside it. :P

Hence the entire concept is born!

In order to keep things fresh, for this week as highlighted above in the quoted section. Miki has her helper Bindy (Charlotte) who we'll meet in-game very, very, uhh.. very! Soon! She helped Miki answer fan mail this week, but each week the theme changes up a little bit. That doesn't mean the questions have to be set directly around what a given week's theme is, all questions are encouraged no matter how serious, silly, or awkward they may seem!

(Let's take a look at a few questions that were answered yesterday to give you all a better idea visually of how this looks! Just for extra safety, the accounts attached to questions have been censored just in case.)

(Followed up by the response by Miki and Bindy (Charlotte)! )

A key element with these posts is that we want it to be fun for everyone and encourage engagement all around! So, naturally when Miki and co-guests are answering questions, we wanted to make it feel as if the main headliner image isn't just for show. Miki and co-guest will appear along with their answer, displaying their reactions in real-time!

In certain cases, there's even outfit changes or other visuals that take place based on questions and what happens during the answering process! Let's just say.. One of these questions led Miki to stink up her dorm room, possibly hinting that next Monday, Bindy (Charlotte) might not appear as a result!

Fear not though! Bindy (Charlotte) will return once again and in a fitting manner!

Overall, we highly suggest if you haven't seen these posts until now, to take a look through them entirely! They're suuuuper fun!~ And hey! Why stop there? Come be apart of them! Questions left behind now won't be answered until the following Monday, but they're handled with the first batch of answers for that morning! ^^

You can view the previous Miki's Super Secret Fan Mail Monday posts below!

August 11th
https://x.com/MessyStudios1/status/1955056561379803303
https://bsky.app/profile/messystudios.bsky.social/post/3lw5yxf3jpk24

August 18th
https://x.com/MessyStudios1/status/1957446160618004846
https://bsky.app/profile/messystudios.bsky.social/post/3lwoll3kmjk2w

[Disclaimer: These social media posts are done outside of development hours during the weekdays. These do not impact the game's development process and done entirely for all you fans because I personally have fun doing these in my off-time from development! <3]

It's been a quiet, uh... *Checks calendar* week or so since our last post! ^^" Today's will be pretty short and sweet.

As many of you might be aware of by now, we announced that our first update was coming on the 25th of August. This would've worked out best for myself, since there's a lot of prep work that goes into releasing new content behind the scenes. Besides the content itself being ready, as silly as it might sound to some. It does take many hours to get the correct files hosted up online and prepare the posts with the correct links, ideally without running into major issues from rushing that process.

In the past, when I have tried to rush these steps. I have to correct multiple posts across all the websites we share not just our supporter exclusive releases with, but the public releases as well. (Hence why sometimes in the past, I've split the supporter & public releases up by a day to focus on one without having to spend more time on both at once.)

Overall, there's a lot of mentally keeping tabs on things with the releases when those days arrive. My main priority is to avoid rushing these steps and realizing shortly after, that there's a major issue that needs addressed, resulting in having to fix stuff in the engine last minute and re-host new links, fix all the posts with the updated links, etc. :S

With that said, let's get back on track.

Everything was looking solid for the release of this update yesterday, but while we were in the middle of getting stuff sorted out for it. My house lost power, along with about 600 other homes in our area. (Probably due to the intense heat?) This was around 7pm CST and it wasn't until around close to 10pm CST when power was restored.

I tried to update everyone in the Discord server from my phone, letting everyone know that even by the time power is restored. I'd have to delay the release, because I have classes in the morning.

While everything has been good so far today *Knock on wood* We're still sorting out some stuff from yesterday amongst the team in regards to the update. I don't say this lightly given our track record and it pains me to be open and honest about this, but I would like to push this update out for this upcoming weekend, ideally by Friday afternoon as soon as I wrap up my classes for the day and before my personal weekend begins.

I really don't want to do that, but with everything going on during the weekdays ahead. We're already sorting out the stuff we need to, that way come Friday, it's without a doubt up and out to everyone.

So, August 30th is our date for the update. I know some will understand, while others will roll their eyes and however you choose to approach this news is up to you. I just hope that a few more days of waiting isn't the end of the world. Our following update after this one is already being handled to avoid these issues as we awkwardly off the bumpy road and back to smooth sailing for our updates in general.

We'll post some teaser screenshots from the update this week, starting tomorrow and everyday leading up to Friday's release. We'll be doing this to hype up both our supporter content that's brand new and our public version of the game that'll feature the current Bridget scene in-game that has been supporter exclusive for a while.

Once again, we're deeply sorry for the inconvenience. Deep down, my hope is that despite how you feel about this news, upon seeing the new content... It'll make everything right as we continue our new approach to delivering content on a more steady basis. <3