Reckless Updates: The Overdue Edition

Hello folks!

Fuck. Has I really not posted on here since I released Reckless Sympathy Part 1?

Ah well, nevertheless.

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The good news is that Part 2 will be wrapping up in the next couple months. The Absolute Deadline is the end of the year, but I'm hoping to have a little lead time on it. It comes down to a few things; how many more art assets I decide to make, how long it takes to integrate new music, how smoothly the last couple editing passes go.

So what have I been doing all this time? If you follow me on Twitter or Cohost (Rip Cohost, you'll be missed), you've probably seen glimpses here and there, but I’m gonna do a little rundown just in case.

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THE WRITING

The script for Part 2’s been done for a while. It needs some tweaking and editing to make it flow better as it’s inserted into Ren’py, but the bones are excellent. It was originally a transitional section to get us to the status quo required for the more bombastic Part 3.

But! Thanks to some new characters I absolutely adore, Part 2 is now more than double the length of Part 1.

I won’t post much of the writing until I can take good screenshots, but trust me, I’m cookin’ some big stuff. Beta readers are saying Part 2 is ‘So good, I want to be beaten to death with a hammer.’ (No one said that)

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THE BACKGROUNDS

This has been a big timesink. See, I’ve been playing way too much of the gorgeous Tsukihime Remake, so my brain has been in overdrive coming up with new ways to make my life difficult. All the backgrounds have been drawn bigger, and there’s a new category of interstitial shot/close ups that I’ll be using to break up the monotony a bit.

I’m still not totally happy with some of the BG art, but I’m getting closer to what I want. Some of the old BGs may find themselves reworked in the future, but that wouldn’t be until a consistency pass at the eve of the final release.

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THE SPRITES

New characters, new outfits, reworked expressions… All sorts of stuff! I’ve been focusing on faces, trying to get to a place I’m happier with. Emilla has gotten a ground up… eh, face up…? refresh, and I think Glory's older sprites will also get some tweaks before Part 2 goes out. She's very important! And her expressions are the oldest of the cast! Not a good combo for consistency.

Like BGS and CGS, this is an ongoing process. The problem with being the artist writer and main scripter is that every scene you get playable reveals some new assets that would make it better, and there’s no one to tell you to stop.

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THE SCRIPTING

This is the bulk of what I have left, especially since I want to integrate more fun sprite animation bits like the ‘Kon shows Anmarie around’ scene in Part 1. Not much to say besides there’s a lot of busywork.

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THE MENUS

They need a lot of work to give the game a unique identity from the start. Luckily my partner in life and in pod, fen fox, will be lending faer technical knowledge to help me get there in a reasonable timescale. I’m not sure the full menu rework will make it for Part 2, but it’s in the works! It’ll be cool!

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THE SOUND

If all goes well, the excellent Jamie Paige will be returning for some more tracks for Part 2 once her schedule clears up a bit. Exciting stuff! I can’t wait!

In the meantime I’ve been working on some ways to fill in the soundscape a bit. We’ll see how that turns out. Might not make it in time for Part 2, but there’s definitely a full audio overhaul coming sometime in the future. I almost lost by trusty field recorder to the ocean while getting waves audio, so look forward to that.

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OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Besides Reckless work, I’ve had some extraneous projects keeping me busy!

First is my ongoing podcast, Fate/moon archive. We’ve worked our way through a solid decade of Type-Moon’s works already, and we’re still kicking. This pod is a real labor of love, and we talk about truly stunning amount of interesting works in addition to the main subject matter. If you want to hear me and fen talk about the steller Witch on the Holy Night VN, now’s the perfect time to jump on! You can even support us on our other Patreon, if you want access to our bonus seasonal anime wrap-up episodes!

Second, I helped out doing background work and supplementary writing for Yes, And So Our Hollow Hearts Called For Love, a short visual novel made for the 2024 Menhera VN Jam. I’m not head writer, and I ended up not being able to do even half of the cool shit I was planning for the scripting. I recommend checking it out regardless! It’s free and all that!

(Note: I didn't draw the above sprite! That was our talented sprite artist, koto! I did the rest of the art in that scene though!

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AND ALSO

Last up, I finally released the long sought-after collection of everything I made under the Doomgender banner prior to Reckless Sympathy. ‘Doomgender: The Golden Age’ is currently $5, and it has every Patreon poll story, every Twitter microfic, all the games and novellas I cleaned off my itch page, digital copies of the postcards… It even has some postmortem thoughts that I whipped up while putting it all together.

It’s not a very fancy collection. Really just a folder full of old stuff. But, I did my best to include everything anyone might want to look back on.

All that said, I don’t recommend buying it. Right now, at least. Early next year the collection is going to be in a bundle of queer erotica works. Honestly, I only made it live this early for clerical purposes.

Wait a few months, then buy the bundle! Or buy Doomgender: The Golden Age now, and then buy the bundle later anyway! That works too!

Ah, but also, if you’re a patron above the $5 level, you should be able to just grab the collection free through Patreon integration. So that renders the whole thing moot for a chunk of you.

And don’t forget you can also pick up Reckless Sympathy that way if you’re a paid member! Check it out if you haven't!

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Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’m gonna go back to drawing now.

See you soon for the release of Part 2!

~ Benn {Doomgender} Ends