Let's Try This Again...

Hello again!

So... you guys probably noticed a post from me earlier. In a moment of  ridiculousness, I decided to have a little fun at your expense. I spent a few minutes writing up a bullshit post, complete with a bull taking a shit on a toilet, talking about how I was switching to RPG Maker YT Extreme and whatnot. I made sure to leave plenty of not-so-subtle hints along the way that I was just messing with you--didn't want to be responsible for any rage violence :-).

Anyways, got done with the post, laughed to myself, and clicked the "post now" button. Funny thing, right before I clicked the post now button, I meant to switch the post from "visible to everyone" to "patron only." I decided that with my luck, some potential supporter would start to read, take it seriously, and move on. Of course, instead of switching it from public to patron-only, I accidentally clicked the wrong area and switched it from "free post" to "pledged post." I saw this literally as I clicked the "post now" button and practically crapped my pants. Visions of trying to manually cancel pledges, refund money, and all kinds of other pain-in-the-ass fixes danced through my head.

I immediately deleted the post, message Patreon to verify that no one would be charged, and silently cursed myself for trying to be funny. Of course, the message did go out, and it did fool a couple people. Some of the messages to me were quite comical. The best part is, like 2 minutes later, every message was followed up with another saying, "You got me!" Little did you know, that I got myself much worse. Damn you, karma. Damn you.

So, that was my mishap of the day. Self-created of course. Lesson learned, don't mess with my patrons. They will telepathically get revenge... you guys are scary.

On the game itself. I've got all the standing portrait additions done. Aylia now have 5 expressions to go with her facial portraits (which there are more). Most of the sprites are good enough. I'm planning on commissioning sprites for all Zalran people this month (they will be in chapter 2). All the faces for major characters are done. Some even have multiple expressions. In chapter 2, I believe all key Zalran people will have a 3 expression face set. minor characters will have a single face, and cosmetic characters will be faceless with just a simple named description.

I also finished Aylia's pride changes to her standing portrait for the peasant dress. Good idea Puffi, it really adds to the corruption I think. You won't be able to see them all at this point, but they are there. Sometimes, these little cosmetic additions can really add a lot. I've mentioned in the past that I messed with Ren'Py back in the day, man, I wish I could get a reasonable way to having blinking eyes in RPG Maker. Quite easy to draw a closed eye and that little cosmetic addition is another one that kind of brings things to life. Oh well, maybe something to try and add at the very end.

As I was finalizing the battle system, I added a little quirk. I'll be quite interested to see if anyone finds it :-). Anyways, battle system is looking good. I've got monster graphics done, I've got everything programmed in the database. I've tested a lot of it, and feel it is balanced. I've got the simple h-attack graphics done. I'm working tomorrow on the unique h-attack graphics. I think you'll really like how it works. I'm not totally in love with the cut-in background, but that also may change in chapter 2. I am really liking how the H stuff is setup though. It is exciting, will make new outfits incredibly cool to experience how things change, and it is not too annoying by getting you in battles every 3 steps. Took a shitload of planning, but it is paying off.

As I mentioned, I'm really digging in on drawing right now. I've still got a number of CGs to finish. I'd like to get some more Bogwort/Aylia banter events input (these I spread out, as my ability to come up with interesting, funny banter comes and goes). I've got to get the night events finalized, and a few other minor additions. As I said in the pledged post. I'm shooting for mid-May to release chapter 1, and then late May for Hunter's Quest. The translation is completely finish for Hunter's Quest, it is just waiting on my additional graphics and quests. I anticipate a week to a week-and-a-half to finish Hunter's Quest after Chapter 1 is released.

So, that's the scoop. I actually wrote this up and tried to post it last night, but Patreon was doing maintenance. Oh well, no biggie. I'll be finishing up the Patreon bonus pic first thing today. I've also got a lore post I want to put up later this week. I'm going to steal an idea from another Patreon, and create an index post for all the lore posts, teasers, etc. That way, new patrons can find these posts and enjoy the material. Great idea, credit goes to the developers of the "Chronicles of Lonvenholm." Which, by the way, is a game worth watching.