nearnfar

How often to update?

I didn't post an update yesterday as it was another day of minor progress on the 1.1.1 update.

Going forward, how would you prefer I do my development updates?

7/7 Update

Not much to report today. Work is continuing on V1.1.1. It seems to be going quite smoothly, but I won't know for sure until I dive into testing/debugging before release.

It would probably be best to debug after every small change, but honestly, my work flow just goes better if I do all the testing in a big rush at the end. Jumping between writing the code and testing back and forth really breaks my flow.

V1.1.1 Underway!

Hello, Patrons!

With Version 1.1.0 released here and a few days of decompression for the holiday done, work has now started on V1.1.1. This will hopefully be a pretty quick turnaround, as the main goal of this small update is to integrate the wife's new mood more fully into previous areas.

If you've played the new version a bit, you may have noticed that the wife can end up rather frightened as you explore the manor. Well, my aim is to have her actually convey that emotion if you ...

Version 1.1.0 Patreon Release!

Alright, here we go! It took a good bit of debugging today to get this ready for release, but I've gotten to a point that I no longer encounter bugs when I run through any path. That said, I'm certain I haven't tried some less obvious sequences, so it's entirely possible there are some bugs hiding in it still, but the average run through should be squeaky clean.

With the results of the poll in, I've decided that each Patreon release will remain exclusive to $3 Patrons for 6 weeks. At th...

Release later today!

Alright, I've finished what I set out to finish, despite the universe deciding to really just throw a buttload of problems at me in an attempt to destroy my free time.

IRL issues are starting to settle down now, and all that's left to do is run through the new stuff and some of the old stuff that's been tweaked and make sure the game doesn't rip itself apart under the new code.

If there's no major issues to take care of, we're looking at a release this afternoon! If there are some...

Midday Progress Report!

Without going into a ton of detail, an emergency came up and I lost several hours of work time today...

However, it's still been a super productive day so far. I've finished the other ending, and I've gotten one of the 3 rooms finished. I've also come across a way to work in a new expansion sequence that might be pretty tough to unlock, but will be there. That's going to add about another 1.5-2 hours of work to write a fourth expansion sequence and plug it in, but shouldn't delay the re...

New Cover Art!

I've finally gotten the files from Rennuxx, and here's the new cover art for the game, featuring Olga, Meloni, and two other characters you might be able to meet!

Some will be friendly! Some, less so. They all have some role to play in the mysteries of the manor (and in growing boobs to crazy sizes), but you'll have to find out more when you play future builds of the game!

Day of Dev!

I was unable to get much done yesterday due to some IRL stuff that popped up all of a sudden and ate of a lot of time.

However, that same thing has left today almost entirely wide open for me to work on the game, so I fully expect to finish the 2nd new ending, add in the 3 rooms, and do some debugging to prep for V1.1.0 releasing tomorrow for $3 Patrons!

It won't be long, now!

How to handle Patreon exclusivity

My plan has been to release in progress builds to $3 Patrons, with the eventual complete build being exclusive to patrons for at least 30 days before a public release on itch.io.

But I'm curious how my patrons feel about it.

Would you prefer intermediate builds remain Patreon exclusive? Timed exclusive (only for Patrons for a set time)? Or do you not care as long as you get them first?

6/29 Update

Almost done with the second new ending.

Development continues smoothly despite the project's increasing complexity.

I also just discovered that I'll have some unexpected free time on Saturday, so the Sunday release keeps looking to be right on target!

6/28 Update

Still working on new character interactions. It's taking a bit more work than I initially planned, as every possible path you take causes exponentially more variations to account for in the story.

The real bad news is that much of what I'm working on right now will not be visible in the 1.1.0 build, as plenty of it is dependent on what may or may not happen in as-yet-unfinished areas of the game. Still, adding that in now means that future builds should go pretty smoothly.

I'm not...

Meet Meloni!

I won't say much about the character until she's introduced in the game (not in this coming build, sadly), but I'd like to go ahead and show off Rennuxx's art of Meloni the Harvest Nymph.

Where does she fit into the strange puzzle of the Branson Hill Manor? Where is she hiding in the creepy house?

You'll have to wait to find out!

6/27 Update

Real life ended up taking a big bite out of my day today, so I've only had about an hour to work on the game, unfortunately. That's consisted of adding more of the initial interaction with the new character and adding a bit more prose onto one of the two endings I'm putting into this build.

All of these will take more time tomorrow to finish up, but the rest of the work should be pretty easy to knock out this week once these more involved items are finished.

A final note: once I r...

6/26 Update

I have felt like absolute crap today. Very little sleep, moderate illness, etc. Most likely side effects from last week's medical procedure.

That said, I've still managed to stay productive on the game.

Most of what I've accomplished today will sadly not be visible in the next build, just because it's more groundwork for later areas, but it's some seriously important stuff for the overall story of the game.

I'm finalizing that and moving onto the three new rooms I mentioned ...

5,000 Plays!

In just one week, the demo version 1.0.0 of Enter the Expansion Mansion has achieved 5,000 browser plays!

I honestly hadn't dreamed of even 100 plays within the week. But here we are at over 5,000!

Thanks so much to you guys who support me as Patrons! Your support and enthusiasm for this project really gives me the drive and determination to keep up the work and make this game into what I envisioned!

I hope you continue to enjoy the game as it develops.

Roadmap for the week

With the framework in place for the second floor, I want to take a moment and lay out my plans for the coming week. These are the concrete goals I hope to reach in order to ensure a timely release of V1.1.0 next Sunday.

1. Finalize access points to all 2nd floor areas

2. Complete 3 new rooms.

3. Add new character and initial interactions.

4. Add new ending.

5. Debug new version.

6. Release V1.1.0 to $3 Patrons.

If all goes well, in one week, there'll ...

Already smashed today's goals!

Growth sequence 3 is written and plugged in.

The first batch of explorable areas have been added (they still need to be fully written up and coded).

The second batch will go super quickly, as it's a similar setup to the first batch, so I can copy paste a ton of code.

I'm hopeful that I'll at least have the areas off this branch all drawn up by the end of today, and I can possibly start in on the next character introduction!

Also, there's a fun detail in this area that ...

6/24 Update

I finished the growth sequence framework, but unfortunately did not get the 3rd sequence prior prose written. That's because that time went toward reworking the Wife's mood variables so that she behaves consistently in the new areas and there's more ways to affect her mood going forward.

I've also integrated a lactation sequence with the new growth sequence.

Today will focus on that 3rd growth sequence and adding in the next couple of areas to explore.

I've also been working...

6/23 Update

My medical apt went fine yesterday, but has left me feeling petty drained today with a nasty headache.

But I'm not letting that stand in the way of progress!

That said, I'm setting small goals for today. Specifically, I'm finishing up the coding rework on how growth sequence are accessed, and I'm adding in a 3rd growth sequence.

If I'm up for more after those, I'll be moving on to a new set of passages for new areas to explore, including at least one new character. Work on t...

Second floor work continues, plus seeking suggestions!

I've got a bit of extra time today, so I'm hopeful that I can achieve a good amount on the second floor.

So far, I've already written up the passage to actually climb the stairs (complete with a few alternate versions depending on what you've done so far, including some future proofing for other variables that will be introduced later on the first floor).

Today, I hope to knock out passages for the first few areas accessible from the stairs, including a new character introduction ...

To the Second Floor!

Welp, I asked and you guys answered. The second floor was easily the most popular selection in the poll, so that's where I'll be starting my expansion of the game today!

Once you make it to the foyer, you'll be able to head up the grand staircase and dive deeper into both the mansion's secrets and expanding breasts!

You may even meet one or two more inhabitants of the manor...

Now, time to get to work!

Meet Olga!

Thanks to the awesome Rennuxx (deviantart.com/rennuxx), I can share with you the first official character art for Enter the Expansion Mansion!

If you've tried different things in the demo, it's very possible you've already met the insanely proportioned android maid Olga.

Well, here's her official character art!

I've got three more pieces of art coming for other NPCs you may or may not encounter in future playthroughs, so stay tuned!

A productive day off

Today was my second "breather" day after publishing the demo, so no direct writing/coding on the game today.

However, that doesn't mean nothing got done. I've spent some time sketching up rough character art for a few not-yet-introduced characters to send to the artist I've commissioned.

I've already seen one piece of character art for Olga that is turning out pretty great. I'll be sharing some art here once it's finished

I've also spent some time today drawing up plans for ...

What next?

Well, now that I've got the demo out, I'm taking a day or two to catch my breath and get ready to dive back into the project.

I'm the meantime, though, my question to you is, when I jump back in, which area should I start expanding on first? If you played the demo, you likely know that the foyer is sort of the end point of the game right . From there, I can start on 3 separate areas to explore. So which one are you most excited to check out?

Game Art Incoming!

I've started working with an artist in the BE community to commission a piece of art for a cover art for the game.

I'll be sharing it here as soon as it is completed! It's going to have a few surprises and teases for yet unrevealed characters.

It's ALIVE!!!

I'm sure I missed some issues somewhere along the way, but I got multiple consecutive varied runthroughs with no real problems, so she's going live!

Thanks again to those of you who have already become Patrons. Your interest and support have helped me find the drive to get this out so quickly.

As I mentioned before, from this point on, update posts will be for $1+ Patrons only, and future build releases will be for $3+ Patrons only. The game will get a full public release at least...

Debugging One Last Passage!

I feel like everything is pretty much coming together now.

I had a few bugs crop up that were much less obvious. The big one was a misunderstanding on my part about how datasets work in Harlowe, so adding an item to inventory removed any previous items from your inventory. That's fixed now.

I've got one final passage that is giving me a ton of issues. Rightfully so, as it's one of the two most complex passages in the demo (a lot of things are dependent on variables and paths you'v...

Dawn of the Final Day

Woohoo! It's release day!

I'm spending the next couple hours doing some final polishing before going public.

It'll never be "perfect" to me, as I could tweak stuff forever, but it's reaching a state that I'm happy with. So after a given myself a bit more time to work, it's getting released this afternoon/evening.

Kinda excited.

Fewer and Fewer Bugs!

I'm still just running through the demo over and over. With every play, I find fewer issues! Gamebreaking bugs are pretty much gone as far as I've found. Spacing issues are likewise becoming rarer with each play. At this rate, I'll have several hours tomorrow to test and clean a bit more. Sunday will be focused on getting the demo up on itch.io and shared here.

Once the demo goes live, I'll likely take a day or two off to collect my thoughts and establish a firm direction for the next b...

6/16 Progress Report

Fixed numerous issues with gapping or condensing of text.

Fixed issue causing an expansion sequence to not display.

Fixed numerous errors with variables not reading correctly.

Cleaned up repetitive text in multiple passages.

Overall, still on track for Sunday release. It may not be 100% where I would ideally like it to be for that, but it's going to be super close and definitely good enough for release.