Cheerios!!
Well... if June was slow, July somehow managed to be even slower. 😂
Moving, renovations, and various family commitments kept pulling me away from the project throughout the month. On top of that, this never-ending European heatwave certainly didn't make things any easier. I genuinely don't know how anyone is expected to stay productive when it's constantly pushing 40°C outside.
Even so, Love Atlas did move forward whenever I managed to steal a few hours at my PC.
Episode 1 Progress
Most of the visual work this month went into the Izzy Office sequence and the game's opening scene.
At the moment, the Izzy Office sequence sits at around 120 static renders, while the Intro sequence has grown to roughly 30 renders.
To give you an idea of the scale, I currently estimate the Izzy Office scene alone will end somewhere between 200 and 250 renders, after which the story immediately transitions into a night-out sequence that continues directly from that office event.
The Carter Office follows a similar philosophy. That section is currently planned for roughly 200 renders, although it will be interrupted by another important location — Elara's Office — which I expect to contain around 150 renders of its own.
Assuming everything goes according to plan (and life finally gives me a break 😄), August will probably be dedicated to finishing those sequences.
Dialogue writing and overall scene construction remained fairly static this month, so there isn't much to report on that front just yet.
Music
If the visual side slowed down...
...the soundtrack certainly didn't.
This month turned out to be one of the most productive periods since I started composing music for Love Atlas.
In fact, I now have enough material for two full albums, each containing somewhere between 15 and 20 tracks.
After thinking about it for a while, I decided to stop letting the songs sit on my hard drive and simply release them.
One of the albums is titled Afterhours.
As the name suggests, it leans toward slower, more intimate songs revolving around late nights, attraction, friendship, emotions, and relationships. There are a few more energetic tracks hidden in there as well, but the overall atmosphere is exactly what I wanted for the project.
If I had to pick a few personal favourites, I'd probably go with:
- 2AM
- Borrowed Love
- Hold Me Like That
- Côte à Côte
- Seasons
- Between Us
...although, admittedly, I like all of them for different reasons.
One thing I'd like to point out is that these songs weren't written randomly.
Almost every track was composed with specific scenes, characters, or emotional moments already in mind. Both the lyrics and the melodies were intentionally crafted to support those future moments in the story.
Right now, they may not mean anything to you, but hopefully, one day they'll feel like memories.
If you decide to give them a listen, I'd genuinely love to hear what you think.
Summer Fun
A few weeks ago, RenderHub announced their "Summer Fun" rendering contest.
I thought...
"Why not?"
😂
So I ended up creating two entries:
- Summer Atlas
- Right Where I Wanna Be
Both are inspired by Love Atlas and feature characters from the project.
They certainly stole a bit of development time from Episode 1, but competitions like these are always a fun creative break, and who knows...
Maybe Love Atlas will bring home a prize. 😄
Patreon
I've also been thinking quite a lot about Patreon recently.
Originally, I planned to separate development updates into different membership tiers.
After giving it a lot of thought, I've decided to simplify things for now.
Love Atlas is still far from Episode 1's release, and I realized I was creating unnecessary work and stress by worrying about tier-exclusive posts before there's even a playable game.
So, until Episode 1 is released, all development updates and devlogs will remain public.
If you'd like to support the project, it will always be greatly appreciated, but right now I'd rather focus on building the game and sharing that journey with everyone than on deciding which paragraph belongs in which tier.
It simply feels like the right decision at this stage.
Looking Ahead
Hopefully August will finally be the month where things settle down again.
I genuinely miss those days where I could spend hours at my PC and completely disappear into Love Atlas. I'm looking forward to getting back to that rhythm and pushing Episode 1 forward properly.
Until then...
Stay safe.
Stay hydrated.
And enjoy the hell out of BaDIK Episode 12.
I'm pretty sure I will. 😄
Cheerio!
Muffin
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