I'd like to start this dev report off with apologies for the later half of April! Besides the very extremely hectic 1300+ mile move across country.. I had thought Subscribestar would automatically make a few posts I put together during much of the time I'd be in the midst of travel, but supposedly those didn't post for me automatically.. ^^"

So, expect some art previews and other goodies to come for this month! We'll most likely have a few voting polls, one to focus on the new content itself and a few that try to gauge interest in some additional content themes for MA generally.

In case you missed my personal blog post a few days ago, it requires being a $0 tier supporter on Subscribestar to view. But it's a giant post detailing how awful the moving process was in the past 2-3 weeks. >.< (Things are normal and seem fine now for over a week thankfully.)
https://subscribestar.adult/posts/1818473
 
Also if you missed it in last month's dev report, moving forward, we're avoiding the mention of estimated release dates for new content. The only exception to that rule, being if said content is fully ready in hand for actual release, then you'll see a date set and no further delays or other troubles getting in the way of development.

That said, let's dive into this month's report!~

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: Upcoming Content~]

{Recap: The move was hectic and awkward, but privacy and a sense of normalcy has returned in the past week. Content for v0.22 & v0.23 are shaping up nicely, the later update should follow very quickly after the first is delivered.}

To make this area short, I've checked with the programmer and others on the team recently about v0.22. I don't want to go against my own rule, but now that the moving process is behind me and things have been settled into a normalcy and regular routine once again.

I expect to get a lot done this month and I'll keep it at that for now. We'll toss out mini news posts, starting by this upcoming weekend to show off how v0.22 is looking visually and proceed from there!

Part of what took the moving in and settling period a bit longer than expected, is that for the first week here in the new place. We had to awkwardly live with my grandparents here, since it was their place originally and they sold it to my Dad. It was really not possible to get more than my laptop up and running, but even then.. I had zero privacy.

Since then, in the past week. I've ordered dividers and blackout curtains in a makeshift privacy space around my computer desk area. That way I can work on the project with peace of mind, but just in general, it gives me a small space for privacy when I need it.

Besides v0.22 (Rest of Episode 5 content), v0.23 is shaping up behind-the-scenes and that'll be our first chuck of content fixing up and adding stuff to earlier episodes 1 & 2. The biggest addition without a doubt, being Blythe (female protagonist) and so, we really want to get that content out very quickly after we deliver upon v0.22.

Between those two updates, it'll be a pretty solid foundation to keep the ball rolling. We'll continue to deliver on more QoL addition/fixes to other earlier episodes in order to get Blythe added to those, while also mixing in route content, since that's where things lead by the end of episode 5.

[~Team Developments~]

{Background Art Developments}

During April we shared previews for fixes made to dorm rooms and showing off the courtyard area! The bg artist was able to finish up their work last month, part of that being the courtyard area, while the other one is the festival courtyard. The later was meant to be shared in a preview post last month, so expect that this week!

Minor fixes for touching up these bg's are being made by our artist Lena, who has done the addition of clothes drawn onto dorms and minor visual fixes with painting over 3D textures to remove seams or other awkward visuals.

For the month of May, bg art status is on-hold. We have some catching up to do with finished work and payments for those before we order anymore. We're thinking bg art should continue sometime in June/July, but mainly we want to catch up on payments and let Lena adjust what's there currently.

{CG Art Developments}

Last month, we shared concept and finalized previews for a upcoming episode 5 cg scene featuring Erika! This was a existing cg scene, but we updated the style to match with the rest of the work being added to the game during QoL passes.

Marxe began work on yet another ep 5 cg scene, one we've seen in-game already with Bridget at the gaming club. Much of that work is done, besides Blythe's variant, but I saw previews of it in progress over a week ago and it was looking good! So, expect some concept previews of that and most likely finalized ones later this month!

Both cg scenes received some new variants, animations for wetting and messing, fart effect visuals, etc. 

On a less great note, it's been a little over 2 months, coming up on 3 months since I've last heard from Ajose personally. I was going to check with his friend Marxe here when he has the chance, since he's in the process of a move.. But I was going to talk with Marxe sometime during May if we don't hear back from Ajose during the month and figure out a plan of action to move forward possibly.

It's a sad situation because I don't doubt there's issues going on in Venezuela, I've chatted with another game dev who has worked with others from there and it's rough due to power outages and other issues that take place.

We'll keep everyone informed how this proceeds and see what the best course of action is.

During May, Marxe was paid to update episode 4's cg scene style for the Rachel's hiding art piece. That'll of course feature brand new animations for wetting, messing, fart effect visuals and more! Work hasn't started on this one yet, but I wanted to provide Marxe with some more work, since he's been doing great on the recent cg previews without Ajose for the time being.

{Sprite Art Developments}

In April, we shared previews for Miki's new casual outfit featuring her favorite cutesy mascot duo Fizzy and Fuzzy! Besides that, she also worked on some bg textures needed for the festival courtyard and those are complete, so we'll share those as a post on it's own to show the textures up close and personal! 

I've talked with Lisa not long ago and our plan for May is to ideally complete two sprite characters. Both are pretty spoiler heavy to talk about and showing them off visually, but we'll be seeing of these characters appear in v0.22 and so then we can post previews of their outfits and other stuff after that happens. We're very excited to share those and see how people react as things unfold!~

{Chibi CG Art Developments}

There was supposed to be previews for a chibi cg scene last month, featuring Blythe. <.< This will come sometime this week!

Things have been on the slow side for chibi art generally, but Bandy seems to be struggling with bills/rent and she actually just recently opened up a few commission slots! Soo.. If you're looking for fair priced commissions and want something ab/dl themed or possibly other elements, she isn't shy to it!

Check her Twitter post out below for more details, DM her on there if interested!~
https://x.com/Bandyrash_/status/1915347846775136756

Sadly we didn't order anything new from Bandy for May, but that's only because we've paid for a bit of art in advance, so we're holding off until a good chuck of that is finished before ordering more. (3 chibi cg scenes, with around 20-25 chibi sticker/emoji's fully paid for.)

{GUI Art Developments}

Recently heard from ds-sans and they're finishing up on the last gui needs! We easily should have this done by either this month or into June I suspect. There might be some minor work needed on some existing elements after that, but I'm pretty sure we'll be wrapping up gui work for MA this summer!

{SFX & Music Developments}

Yet another post that'll be made here soon, as we have another track finished to share! This track is meant to be heard in the background of the dorm room locations, one variant of possibly three in total being done for different moods.

I'm still talking with them for the month of May to possibly get a new track commissioned, so I'll keep you all updated further on that along the way!

[~Development Report Conclusion~]

We've reached the end for this report! With the extremely draining moving process that took place in the past 2-3 weeks out of the way, I'm fully diving back into a proper schedule for project work starting today and throughout the weekdays, so I hope to have some exciting stuff to share by this upcoming weekend!~

Expect posts for Wednesday and Friday for this week! The weekend will provide a news update, so keep your eyes peeled for that!

[~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!

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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! ~