Ch5 devblog 01/05/2025

Happy new year! 2025 started and I just finished Naomi!

I gave her a new set of 'school' sprites where she wears her lab coat and isn't using the serum. These sprites will replace the ones used in previous chapters as well.

Naomi will be teaching some classes too, so we will see her around school a bit.

More screenshots from Naomi:

 Hayley is here. She has a whole set of sprites and reactions as well - all redone.

So is the game ready for release? Not quite yet! Yes the content is complete (for the most part) but I still have a task list to get through:

• Chapter select

  • Icons,

  • Naming,

  • Unlock triggers,

• Playtest to make sure all scenes trigger correctly,

• Proofreading,

• Teacher scenes,

• Art for Virgin Route,

  • This is the route where you do not date Saya, Manami, Yuka.

• Update art on special serum scenes

I will clarify the task list one by one.

Chapter select

The screen right now looks like this:

Meaning I need to still add the new scenes to it, setup the unlock trigger, and make a title and icon for them.

Playtesting

This is fairly self explanatory, I will run through all the scenes and make sure everything works as intended. When developing the scenes I jump into them without having to 'trigger' them properly. So this task involves me going through the game like a regular playthrough (but with the fast forward button).

Proofreading / editing

I rely on Beriya for proofreading. He is the gentleman who wrote Episode Megumi. He's doing life-saving work behind the scenes. He makes sure to check typos but also addresses any inconsistencies he comes across. Sometimes it involves me having to rewrite something or even rephrase things. Hopefully I've been consistent in my storytelling so that no major reworks need to be done.

Teacher scenes

These are the scenes that trigger with a chance to answer some question. I have some of them written, but I need to update the sprites of the girls sitting at desks. I also need to do alternative sprites depending on if Miyu is using serum or if Hino is using serum.

Art for virgin route

In this case, better show than tell. This screenshot below is what I shared in a previous devblog:

 This is the new art:

The explanation is that when I first wrote the virgin route, I was using an early iteration of the model to make the art. The current model is far more vibrant with a lot more training data, trained on the art of the girls I had from ep4. As such the new sprites you are looking at now of Saya and Manami are consistent with their new muscle sprites in chapter 5 (comparison below)

 This doesn't mean I will update all the art for episode 1, that's something I will do for a future release. But the main girls will look far better for their regular sprites.

Special Serum

For the last part of the task list, the special serum scenes. Not all of them are complete and the ones I did suffer from outdated designs. I want to make sure they look and play with the level of quality that is consistent with the rest of chapter 5.

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So where does that leave us for a release date? I shared in the Super Supporter discord channel that I am aiming for mid January.

I want to honor this aim. As such I will tackle the remaining tasks in order of importance, making sure that chapter 5 is fully polished. If there are any tasks remaining I may ship a chapter '5.1' later. But hopefully I won't have to. I want this release to be it.

One final note:

Please do not message me about testing the game.

I know I've been keeping everyone waiting a long time and it completely valid for a supporter to want to playtest. I appreciate it. But asking me privately is just going to take my time and energy away from working on the game. These Sunday posts are here to update everyone on the development.

All releases will be made via a patreon post :) I will not make a surprise release. You won't miss it. I will let you know with a week's notice before I release it.

Okay I'm done, Now I will go back to work! Thank you for your patience. Your support makes the game possible. I hope I covered everything. If you have questions let me know in the comments below.

-Jon