[~5th Year Anniversary Post #2~]

(Continuation of where we left off from the previous post with v0.03 screenshot/images! If you missed the previous post, here's a link to it: https://subscribestar.adult/posts/1464769)

~v0.04~

The date must’ve been around late October or early November with this update. This was when we officially shifted to releasing new content every month, instead of every 2 weeks since that was not going to work out long-term.

With v0.04, the main highlight was adding Chapter 2 into the game! Which focused on introducing a few school clubs, introducing Lola as a character and a big event towards the end referred as the “Diaper Exam”.

This was a huge update, consisting of over 50,000 word count and much of it was copying the big event’s writing and making changes to two other versions of it, but even still… It pushed us to the limit! As mentioned, Artie was writing and editing at this time, but this chapter was going to be too big for one person to handle. So, I helped out! I believe my help was mainly focusing on writing up how the diaper exam event would play out from start to finish, then Artie would help out on the other two versions of that.

The diaper exam itself didn’t actually make it into this build, it’d be the next one when it appeared, as this one went up to Lola’s introduction before ending.

Since Miki’s 2d sprite was now added to the game to replace her placeholder assets, it also affected my wishes to include 3d placeholder cg scenes from this point and beyond, since I didn’t want to waste time on creating those, only to replace them in the near future with how things could be heading by this point.

I believe much of this build had a lot of focus on Erika, Miki and Nova mostly, with Lola’s introduction at the end. I remember a scene that involved Miki, Nathan and Nova working together in class. It was a turning point with the story as we went into chapter 2, now that players were familiar with the foundation and main characters, we really wanted to expand into the interactions of these characters, see the setting bloom to life a bit more and let the mystery take a backseat for this chapter.

It was this build that also replaced the 3d background assets with 2d placeholder ones that would later be replaced with our very own assets. I think the reason for doing that, was with Miki’s 2d sprite being added, it was our next leap ahead in development visually and I got a head of myself in wanting to find some backgrounds that could be used for the time being, making it clear at the time that we didn’t own the rights to those assets either.

Here’s some early screenshots from v0.04 and behind the scenes assets to help paint a picture as we continue!

~v0.05~

This build was finished by late November, heading into December. This was also technically the last build we released before rebooting the game, as there was work done on a completely different v0.06 build that didn’t release and has been lost to time.

There are some remnants from the last days of this version of Messy Academy that have never surfaced before until now, but we’ll get to that after v0.05 is talked about!

With v0.05 it wrapped up Chapter 2 being added to the game, introduced Juliet as a character and of course the big diaper exam event!

It was also around this point or a little bit before, when I found our first cg artist, l4no-shiro who provided an early look into what cg scenes promised for supporters and fans of the game if we could receive more funding, as we still weren’t in a solid spot as we are today.

The first cg scene added to the game featured Nova during Chapter 1’s classroom punishment with John. This was before we even had the sprite for Nova fully ready yet and at the time, I was trying to do this odd thing within MA’s universe where black hair wasn’t a thing and instead if a character had dark hair like that, it’d be purple. (Yeah, I know… Makes very little sense.) Just some of the many visual changes and directions we went in with some characters.

Let’s move onto the diaper exam!

The diaper exam alone was something like 50,000 word count and much of it was copying the big event’s writing and making changes to two other versions of it, but even still… It pushed us to the limit! As mentioned, Artie was writing and editing at this time, but this chapter was going to be too big for one person to handle. So, I helped out! I believe my help was mainly focusing on writing up how the diaper exam event would play out from start to finish, then Artie would help out on the other two versions of that.

The diaper exam has yet to return to the modern version of the game and yes, it is returning! When exactly? Well, I can’t spoil it, but it’s closer than one might think and it might even explain how the diaper influence system comes into play! In case you aren’t aware, the diaper influence system is a modern addition that’ll involve allowing players to guide their girlfriend into three major branches with additional minor differences. The main thing visually is having your girlfriend embrace regular diapers fully, embrace potty-training with pull-up diapers or leaning into caregiver situations that involve cloth diapers!

I could go on about the modern diaper influence system, but this isn’t the place for it. Just understand that we have a lot planned for how it’ll function and wish to give freedom into the players hands as far as we can push it!

Back to the diaper exam itself, it consisted of a physical testing period where two girls were paired up with the protagonist. You’d get to choose which group to be a part of and help them test their diapers, trying to push them to their limits. That’s because the diaper exam happens every semester to make sure each student’s uniquely fitted diapers are still working as intended.

This ranges from scent-blockers, extra padding, sizing upgrades, improved leg-guards, etc. That should give you the basic idea though.

That about sums up the diaper exam, so besides that… The rest of Chapter 2 focused on players being split between tagging along with your buddies to the swimming club to hang out with Nova, or you go alone to check out a club after seeing a flyer in the hallway. I think the main thought during this chapter was to allow players more choices that were focused on characters they’d rather spend more time around as we moved further into the game.

After that, we’d dive into the diaper exam itself! Where the pairings were: Heather and Nova, Miki and Rachel, Erika and Bridget. This was pretty unique, because at the time, the plan was to still allow your buddies Nathan and Joey to end up with girls that you’re not interested in.

So, for example. If you chose Miki and Rachel as your group, Nathan would go with Heather and Nova, while Joey went with Erika and Bridget. This would change based on who Brandon picks for a group. I remember fondly how Nathan had a thing for Nova and Joey had a thing for Erika, but only if the player wasn’t purposely focusing on them. It was a pretty unique setup for how stuff would’ve been affected later into the game.

After the exam was Juliet’s introduction, but at the time, Juliet’s personality and role was a bit different than the modern version of the game. The original plan with Juliet was to be a direct copy of Heather that was just a bit more elegant, but this version of Juliet wasn’t shy in the slightest. The two were going to be direct rivals and it was a driving force for the two fighting over who would have Brandon to themselves.

It was an interesting concept for her character, but it felt like Juliet was too similar to Heather. While the idea of the two being rivals was the highlight, it’s still something that hasn’t been completely lost to time either as the modern version of the game will soon showcase that these two have something brewing inside them.

I believe the end of this build featured a little sleepover moment with Miki and Erika to further showcase their friendship. We never did officially introduce Zoey as a character before the reboot happened, which will bring us into a mini section up next!

Before that, here’s some screenshots from v0.05 and behind the scenes assets to help paint a picture of things!

~Pre-Reboot~

This time period took place shortly after v0.05 had been released. There was quite a bit going on behind the scenes at the time, but the biggest highlight was that I wasn’t happy with the direction the story was heading in for Messy Academy. I felt that while it was a step up compared to the comic’s faults, it wasn’t going to do the world, setting or characters enough justice in this form if we had continued in this direction.

With this news about wanting to reboot the game, trying to keep some ideas intact and expand into new plans, it was sadly the timing when Artie chose to step down as the writer. His mentality was similar to sports, with replacing a couch to a degree.

Despite his wishes to step down fully, I begged him to stick around as our editor and I’d take over on the writing once more. While there was a brief moment where I tried bringing another writer onto the team, it didn’t go as expected and only reminded me of the new direction for the game as a whole… It’d also be best for me as the creator to maintain the writing position, but it also meant I’d have to juggle writing and programming once again.

It was a very difficult and low point in my life with a lot of personal things going on, stresses from my day job and it really did affect how I’d approach the idea of rebooting Messy Academy and reveal this information at the time to any supporters and fans.

Oddly enough, I feel like the reboot or the holiday season’s timing had something to do with our support funding. It was during December and into January of 2020 that really saw our first jump in support for the game, enough to really begin seeing the project as a long-term project we could bring to life as envisioned!

Now, before we get into the reboot which is technically v0.06, there was for a short period of time a different version of v0.06 that I believe consisted of a little bit of free day 2’s content we had created prior to the reboot being discussed. Sadly, I don’t have this long-lost version of v0.06 that isn’t the rebooted content… But, I do have old scripts from late 2019 that have never been seen or talked about before! These will give you all a general sense of what the 2nd free day content would’ve been like and how Chapter 3 would’ve proceeded.

Let’s begin with the 2nd free day!

Firstly, the side girls: Lola, Juliet and Zoey were unique for free day content. Instead of being able to hang out with them three times throughout the day like the main cast, you could only hang out with them at one point in the day and if you missed out, that was that!

Now, Zoey never actually made it into the game at the time before the reboot and the reason for this was simply that she would’ve shown up in Chapter 3 for one. The other reason was that the original plan for her character was kind of risky and we didn’t know how to approach it correctly without it leaning into some grey-zone areas…

Zoey originally had a story-line that involved how she fell into a coma after nearly drowning when she was younger. She did make it out of the coma years later and ended up at the academy, but mentally she would’ve acted very much like a young teen, while physically being an adult. It was an odd concept and one that clearly didn’t make it into the game, because how do you even attempt to pull that off and showcase a romantic relationship with said character without it feeling wrong?

Hence, we never went with that concept of Zoey. Even Lola and Juliet’s original plans changed drastically into the reboot, from their intended story-lines, personalities and visual appearances. Many in the cast for the game look different in modern day compared to these early days in the project, but those three girls underwent a lot of changes and we’d even swap Bridget out as a main character in favor of Juliet.

Focusing on the 2nd free day content directly, below is what I had written up and never seen before until now! I wish I had more details of what the plans were for what scenarios would have appeared… But here we go!

(Heather) [morning: Swimming pool] [noon: Messy room] [afternoon: Nurses office]
(Miki) [morning: Other class] [noon: Locker room] [afternoon: Swimming pool]
(Erika) [morning: Girl dorm] [noon: Swimming pool] [afternoon: Other class]
(Nova) [morning: Main class] [noon: Back of school] [afternoon: Girls restroom]
(Rachel) [morning: Club room] [noon: Nurses office] [afternoon: Main class]
(Bridget) [morning: Messy room] [noon: Girls restroom] [afternoon: Girls dorm]
(Juliet) [morning: Baby room] [noon: none] [afternoon: none]
(Lola) [morning: none] [noon: Cosplay Club] [afternoon: none]

I believe we did have Nova and Erika’s scenarios sorted out, but I can’t locate any history of these scenarios written up. Based on the locations above, I can make a rough guess though!

For Erika, the morning would’ve possibly involved peeking on her or possibly hanging out generally? By noon, it would be a general moment at the swimming pool. Then by the afternoon, my guess is a studying moment with her.

For Nova, the morning I believe would’ve involved her cleaning the class for extra credits. By noon, it would’ve been at the track field and having a heart to heart with her. Then by the afternoon, without a doubt, peeking on her while she’s using the toilet.

I could probably take random guesses for the rest, but it’d be off-the-wall and just as good as your guess. 

There’s some unique locations that stuck around with the game and others that fell to the wayside. The “messy room” is one that never saw the light of day in-game thankfully, despite it sounding enticing to some. It was a location for the dumping ground of dirty diapers pretty much, which not only made any logical sense for the school to just have a random room dedicated to being filled up like that… But also the general idea wasn’t too appealing, so I’m glad we never added it into the game.

The “baby room” is actually just the training room that exists in the modern version of the game. Which is why in the game today, the training room has a daycare sort of feeling to it with toys and a diaper changing station, big cribs and other oddities.

Not exactly a location that sticks out, but some might forget that even in the modern day version of the game. There are restrooms at the academy, but back at this point in the game, there weren't locks or any real explanation as to why students couldn’t just go to the restroom instead of their diaper. It’s why after the reboot, I really hammered down on the world setting details a ton and wanted to make the place feel as if it made sense in reality.

Now that helps fill in a void missing for the long-lost 2nd free day content before the reboot, but what about Chapter 3? Well, let’s take a look at that as well since I have more information about what Chapter 3 would’ve consisted of!

The three main highlights for Chapter 3 were focused on the school festival as an event, big focus on the mystery story and Zoey’s introduction. I do have to be careful since the modern version of the game does have a spring festival planned and there are some similarities and differences.

During the festival students don’t have any classes to worry about, allowing them to hang out freely and focus on enjoying the spring festival. This would include clubs setting up their unique booths and activities for students to enjoy for a few days. It was also planned back at this time, that this event was open to the public and that’d be a highlight for why even the public wasn’t questioning the fact that students at the academy wore diapers openly.

There was going to be a big focus on learning who was actually running the school and getting a taste for their reasoning behind their actions.

During the major highlight of the festival, it would’ve featured tons of choices appearing, along with affection choices throughout the festival leading up to this highlight moment. 

Zoey would’ve been introduced in this chapter, where Brandon and Nathan would’ve ditched Joey to check out the festival without him for a bit. During this, Nathan would notice a familiar girl, but he wouldn’t realize yet that it’s his cousin. They try chatting with Zoey and she acts like she’s in a daze, almost daydreaming and doesn’t really make much sense to the two guys. Just as the two are about to give up, she brings up a mystery man and it rekindles interest, but she quickly goes back to her bizarre self again.

The original intent for the chapter was to be kind of punishing on players as well, since this version of the game involved gaining or losing affection status with characters based on your choices. In my own writing, it was the turning point in which the game would’ve become really difficult, furthering you to be careful as you have to narrow your options down to a select two or three girls to focus on.

The gameplay concept for the chapter would’ve begun with Brandon having the option to go into two branching paths, both leading into the general ending outcome. One of these would be hanging out with Miki, Erika and Rachel, while the other path would be to hang out with Heather, Bridget and Nova. Either path would’ve had you hanging out with them in a group during the festival activities.

This would also be where the choices come into play, where all choices would boost affection with one given character, while losing affection with the other two within the group in varying degrees. (I really wanted to punish the player I guess.)

Beyond Chapter 3, there isn’t anything else that existed from back then. The above is only presented here, thanks to very old documents I have saved and discovered recently. The only content from above that would’ve made it into the long-lost v0.06 that isn’t the reboot version of v0.06 that came to light, would’ve been some of the 2nd free day content.

With Artie taking a backseat as our editor, Lisa continuing the sprites and l4no-shiro pumping out cg scenes in preparation. I mentally prepared myself to fully take back the writing position, all while doing the game’s coding for nearly all of 2020… But there’s still much in-store ahead to reflect back upon as Messy Academy’s reboot to kick off 2020 was going to be our biggest year as a whole!

To be continued in our 5th year anniversary celebration series of posts during September!