Development Update 58

Hey guys,

I hope everyone enjoyed the latest update. I've got a lot to say about it, however, I appreciate that a lot of people are still playing through so I'll separate out any major spoilers into a separate section at the end. I’d also recommend that those avoiding spoilers stay clear of the comments section. I also want to get people’s opinion on some test animations I made using a different piece of software, however, I will put those in a separate post to follow shortly.

Version 0.16 isn’t finished yet

As I said before the update, there were quite a few things that didn't make the cut for version 0.16. Most notably, the introduction of a new outfit for Sally as voted on in our last poll. I’d like to get that introduced before we do the next poll, which in turn needs to come before the next major update. Therefore, I plan to release a version 0.16.x sometime later this year. Which will add a new scene to introduce Sally’s dress, as well as another level for Liz in the punishment system. Plus, I have a bunch of other little bits and pieces ready to go, including some more lunch events in the cafeteria and some additional content for Lucy at the headmaster’s house. I am not going to start on version 0.16.x immediately though as I would like to get a head start on the writing for version 0.17. My rough plan at the moment is to aim to have version 0.16.x ready for the Christmas holidays, with our next poll coming early 2025 and the next major update sometime later next year.

The Next Poll

Our next major poll will be on the direction of the group medicals. As we learned in the latest update, the government will be sending new medical screening requirements for the school following a period of “expert consultations”, by which of course I mean asking you guys. I already have another Mykock's Manor special partially written and story-boarded which will take place in Mr Mykock's private spa. I won't do any more work on that though until I've wrapped everything up from the previous poll. So that means this will remain on hold until after version 0.16.x.

Plans for Version 0.17

After Maxine’s fundraiser I wrote a lengthy update talking about my plans to push the game into Chapter 3 as soon as possible, with Maxine’s fundraiser becoming part of a Chapter break. I wrote a list of essential storylines I needed to get finished before we could move on to Chapter 3. Here we are two updates later, so let’s revisit that list and see how we are doing:

This was the list after version 0.15:

• Completing the staff training storyline.

• Between one and three levels for the following girls.

  • Faye

  • The twins

  • Liz

  • Alice

• Second date with Samantha

• Advancement for the group medicals

• Introduction of new student antagonist, Zoe

So we've now ticked off most of this list. I would like to add a few more scenes to the staff training storyline before the end of Chapter 2. However, that will form part of the Chapter 2 ending, so I can effectively cross that off the list. I have also made the decision not to introduce Zoe until the beginning of Chapter 3. I learned my lesson with Jasmine and Olivia that introducing characters mid way through a chapter is a terrible idea, requiring me to add confusing extra steps into a lot of quest lines. So, I won't be making that mistake again and Zoe will not be appearing until Chapter 2 is completely over.

Therefore our list of goals for version 0.17 now looks like this:

• Between one and three levels for the following girls.

  • Faye

  • The twins

  • Alice

So, those are my primary goals for version 0.17. Once I've got those last few items off my list then we can have the Chapter 2 ending (with Ruth’s exam) and the storyline will continue from the point we left off after the fundraiser. Of course, I will probably need to write tens of thousands of words for each of these girls, as well as making dozens of animations of them being punished, so bear with me, it's going to take me a little while. That’s why I plan to get a head start on writing v17 now before I complete v16.x. I am going to need as much time as possible to overcome any creative hurdles.

In Summary

My plan of action is as follows:

• Spend a month or so planning and writing for version 0.17 to figure out any potential issues well in advance.

• Finish off the missing scenes for version 0.16 and release them in a smallish (0.16.x) update sometime around Christmas

• Release a Mykock's Manor Special and associated Patreon poll shortly after Christmas.

• Release version 0.17 sometime later next year. I'm not going to give a time estimate of that just yet though. It will need to be a substantial update.

Major Spoilers for Version 0.16 Ahead!!!!

I left this version with both a massive tease and a dramatic cliff hanger, for which I apologise. It would have been nice to include a sex scene with Samantha at the end, however, I didn't want to rush it and unfortunately, I ran out of time. With Samantha's storyline, I really wanted to avoid the ‘standard’ sexual progression that we've seen with the students i.e. from handjobs to blowjobs, then sex. That might make sense with the punishment system and the training mechanics. However, it makes a lot less sense with a normal adult relationship where, generally speaking, things progress straight to sex. That was how I saw things playing out with Samantha, I just didn't have the time to get that far this update. I didn't feel like I could justify spending months on a storyline without at least some action, plus I also felt like the player needed some sort of ‘reward’ after spanking Lily. I felt that a cheeky handjob actually fit well in the end, so I added that in at the last minute. Fortunately, Samantha is 100% ready for sex now and I expect we’ll see that relatively soon once I get back to working on her storyline. Of course, how that scene plays out will depend on what the headmaster wants his relationship with Samantha to be.

I am sure plenty of people saw it coming when Lily was revealed to be the source of weed on campus. The questions now remaining are; who had been buying the cannabis off of her and what should we do with her once she is confronted. Although I already know who the drug users are, I might ask a poll question to get people's preferred preference for dealing with Lily. As the headmaster said, it will be up to the school’s owners whether or not to deal with her crimes as an internal school matter. So, I may put that question to a vote.

With a sample of the drugs now in his possession, the headmaster will be able to have the groundskeeper's dog, Beast, sniff out the users. First though, he will need to ensure he has all the necessary investigative powers in place. That will mean unlocking a new rule, allowing him to perform full cavity searches on any suspected drug carriers. I haven't exactly figured out how that new rule will fit into the game's overall progression, whether that's a very late Chapter 2 or beginning of Chapter 3 event. However, in any case, there will likely be a lot of young (and not quite so young) women caught up in the aftermath of this discovery.

I hope people approve of my intermediary step with the cafeteria uniforms. It was decided in the Mykock's Manor Poll that the girls will eventually be wearing just the tiny apron and high heels with nothing else. Jumping straight to that outfit wouldn't have made much sense with where we are at the moment in the games overall meta-progression. Adding see-through disposable tops and leggings neatly fills the gap between where we are in the story currently (in terms of how accepted nudity is on campus) and where we hope to get to in Chapter 3. Plus, it’s not hard to see how we move from the current outfit to the final version.

The scene I added for Lucy I originally wrote at the same time as Maxine’s fundraiser. I felt like the blow job from Lucy (and others) at the end of the fundraiser would make more sense if Lucy had sucked the headmaster’s penis before. I also wanted her to have at least some experience being naked at school. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to include that scene at the time. I am glad I was able to eventually come back to it. Although there are technically four different paths through Lucy’s content, there are actually only two binary choices, meaning I only have to write two sets of dialogue. One choice affects how the headmaster and Lucy feel about each other (transactional or romantic) and the other affects how the headmaster treats Lucy (kind or dominant). Although the dialogue is very different for each route the same thing happened in this scene either way. Things will branch a bit more in the next set of scenes I have planned for Lucy. I already have two very different animations made for when she performs this new special service at the headmaster’s house.

I included a little detail in the emails regarding the new medical procedures from Mr Mykock where he copied in the Headmistress of the nearby boys' school. The government's mandate also listed the health screening required for boys and we saw the Headmistresses reply saying she already had these measures in place. Now, I know the boys' school is a controversial topic. However, it is my intention to increase the girls' embarrassment in the late game by having certain public punishments at the boys' school. I also wanted to write some scenes involving female anatomy lessons for the boys (plus male anatomy lessons for the girls from the headmistress). My intention is to have the boys as a passive (possibly unseen) male audience for the girls' embarrassment with no physical contact between the male and female students. We will be meeting the headmistress in the next Mykock's Manor special and people can give me their opinions then as to whether or not they would like to see more of her.

I think my main takeaway from version 0.16 is that Chapter 2 is full to bursting. With so many storylines happening at the same time, adding any scenes now takes an enormous amount of careful thought and planning in order to maintain story continuity. Writing this update was a huge challenge and writing the remaining Chapter 2 content will be even more so. The sooner we can get all the storylines to the same position (after the fundraiser) and move on to Chapter 3 the better. However, rushing storylines is not an option, so please bear with me while I figure out the most efficient way to tie everything together.

Altos