Update 61

tl;dr - I've made progress on the Iku sex scene, I've recast the part of Masami, and I chat about some other stuff too.

This week's image

This is Ai in the same beach scene that I showed a picture from a couple of weeks ago. I modeled this shot after the kind of idyllic beach shots you often see in animes of girls frolicking in the water. This is part of the same patron request that I'm still working on - I made some other progress on this scene but that will probably have to wait for the victory suite. :)

Programming Iku's sex scene

I've been working this week on programming the Iku sex scene. This is, I think, the most tangible thing I can do to get the next alpha version ready. I also think I'll actually be finished building the scene relatively soon, although it will then need some testing.

What I've been doing is creating the tasks within the game engine, then editing and coding the voice acting files. I'm not quite finished yet but I'm hoping to wrap that stage pretty soon - I actually planned to have it done today, so maybe I'll get it done later tonight, or if not then in the next couple of days. Then my next step will be to restructure some of the writing to fit the way I've programmed it - stage 1 of the sex scene is a little bit different to a normal sex scene interaction, even though it's different in a subtle way.

Recasting Masami's voice actor

I decided this week that I would bite the bullet and recast Masami a second time. This is a real shame because I was very happy with the second voice actor, but after going a long time with no contact from her I decided I just can't keep waiting. I need to have that voice acting so I can implement her sex scenes.

Charging first month upfront for new patrons

Patreon have given me early access to a new feature, which is to charge new patrons for their first month upfront. After that first month they are charged as normal. This doesn't change anything at all for people who are already patrons. The reason I've opted to do this is that it now prevents people from signing up, downloading the rewards and then cutting off their support before actually paying anything, effectively stealing from me (and you as well, if you think about it). This was becoming a real problem, so it's nice to be able to keep the piracy down this way. I'm happy to let people play my games for free, I just want to be able to finish them first.

One day, maybe I should try changing platforms?

I've thought a lot about trying another engine/platform for future game projects. Something that can make totally different types of games, like Game Maker Studio (which I own, but it's a hassle to learn) or RPG Maker. I wouldn't want to work in RPG Maker if I was just making the same kind of thing you can find around everywhere else, however. It would need to be something a bit more special and unique than that, so I would need to be working on it at a fairly advanced level. For example, I'd want to be using a lot of original graphics, a larger resolution than 640x480, and point-and-click controls. I do think there's far too much crappy, samey RPG Maker stuff out there, but as it happens I do have an idea for a future game that would fit RPG Maker very well.

What do you think? I don't know whether you guys would be interested in other types of games. I assume you would, but at the same time there's nobody out there doing quite what I'm doing now, so maybe I'm filling a niche? I don't know, there's no rush on this decision. I've got plenty of work to do on PAL and there's also no more appropriate platform for Let Me Out than ADRIFT, so it's not like I'd be shifting any time soon.

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