Let Her Cook!

Hey everyone, I've got another progress update for you all today! Last preview I gave a preview of the new living room. With the art for that done I shifted my focus to the last unfinished room between the MCILF's bedroom and the (already mostly finished) backyard: the kitchen!

First, a reminder for what the old version looked like:
Functional, maybe, but not very pretty!

And then the new version (spoilers, of course!):
I'll replace that backyard image at some point, but this update has already had too side projects already.

As you can see, the core concept of the room is pretty much identical, but I was able to squeeze in some details to make the space feel more comfy and lived-in. Most obvious is probably the counter color and design. The shared eggshell and brown palette helps make the whole house feel more cohesive while you move around, and the new design lets me show more character art while people are standing at the sink.

I've left the schedule board blank for now since there's no game mechanic tied to it, but I'll be changing that in the near future.

The only thing I slightly regret about this new kitchen is the placement of the fume hood. Logically there should be a whole exhaust system connected to it, and that interior wall is waaaaay  too skinny to fit that hardware into it. It would have made more physical sense if I switched the position of the sink and the stove, but that gives less space for character art when people are standing at the sink - a much more common event!

In addition to renovating the kitchen I've done some touchups in the backyard. I've smoothed out the excessively turbulent pool water, as well as replaced the placeholder door with a proper one with a proper interior view. Lastly, I've added some basic shadows for standing NPCs. I'll see about putting up a preview of that in my next update post.

So what's next? I'm going to be taking a few days to create tidier looking UI elements, particularly the corruption heart, arousal flame, and control handcuffs (which might become a bell; I'll be experimenting with a few different icons). I've also had inspiration for a few minor events while working on this art, so I'm going to get those added in while they're fresh in my mind.

That's all for today! This marks the end of the big art improvements I wanted to finish for v0.37, so we're getting close to being release ready. I'm still not quite ready to commit to a date - I'd rather be slow and mysterious than slow and disappointing - but I feel like we're getting close!