**UPDATE**
After talking to Kent, we feel that pushing the day one access to the Engineer Tier made no difference on how quickly our update leaked. Based on that, we'll be reversing that policy. This was always about reaching the largest possible audience, and excluding our $1 supporters or forcing them to download from pirate sites was not the a...
2021-05-07 17:39:03 +0000 UTC View Post
When Kentyrr and I started this, we never thought we'd devote so many more hours to it than we do our day jobs, but we do!
Chapter 2's art is finishing it's final render phase as I write this, and I have most of it already integrated with the script.
Tonight, Kent and I will do our first full play though the chapter frame-by-frame and try to identify any art gaps, continuity issues, plot ...
2021-04-27 18:12:39 +0000 UTC View Post
As promised in my last post, please find the above video detailing the chapter summary.
One of the things that bothers me as an avid VN player myself is that when a development cycle lasts months, it's easy to forget details of where I left off when new content is released..
A method of helping players re-acclimate to the story would be to allow the player to pull up the summary of the last update's playthrough at the beginning of a new chapter. It also felt like a goo...
2021-04-07 19:20:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy April, everyone!
Chapter 2 is moving along nicely with the last "difficult" scene from an art perspective fully rendered and complete. Remaining art is primarily conversational, and should go comparatively quickly.
We're gunning for a Chapter 2 release no later than May 7, which hits our 90-day development cycle goal.
With that said, we are going to make a minor ad...
2021-04-05 16:37:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Today is something of a milestone for us, as our most challenging scene of the update is behind us. It feels like a good time to break down our current progress level for the chapter.
As stated previously, the achievement system is ready to go, and the end-of chapter summary is looking pretty sweet as well. Hopefully we'll be able to share a preview video of that in the ...
2021-03-28 20:19:32 +0000 UTC View Post
While time is really flying for us at SFS, we know that this probably isn't the case for those of you waiting patiently for the next installment.
Kent is currently working his way through the most demanding scene he's had to do so far. Suffice it to say that low light, wet skin, and confined spaces where nearly everything deforms under pressure adds significantly to the challenge, and as such we're far from our peak number of renders per day at the moment. For th...
2021-03-21 00:36:48 +0000 UTC View PostHere is the final update to the Chapter 1 release, and the last revision until Chapter 2 is released. There is no new content, and this primarily correcting the few spelling/grammar errors that have been reported since 0.2a, a few code issues that caused the game not to execute properly after being decompiled, and it repairs two minor image issues in the scene/image galleries.
There is no reason to download this if you have a saved game in 0.2, or 0.2a t...
Spring is nearly here, and a month to the day after the release of Chapter 1, we are going strong on Chapter 2 development. Currently, the chapter sits at 70% written, with over 300 images rendered for the next installment.
The heart of Chapter 2 really centers on two scenes, and each of them will be challenging for different reasons. One will require rendering more diff...
2021-03-08 04:10:53 +0000 UTC View Post
**Updated to add links to 0.2a with Linux Distro and Bug Fixes**
Predictably, Kent and I did a pretty piss-poor job taking a week off after launching our first chapter. I immediately got to work writing Chapter 2, and Kent began pulling together the asset inventory to build our scenes right away.
While this was happening, we broke a threshold we never thought possible. B...
2021-02-13 04:55:11 +0000 UTC View Post
This week, Kent and I are going to take a bit of a rest before we dive into Chapter 2, which will be entitled "Truth and Consequences."
Remember, it has been five years since our MC left home, and he's been largely disconnected from the events that took place in Boston while he was away. By the same token, much of what the MC has experienced in those five years is a mystery to other...
2021-02-08 20:30:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Chapter 1 has arrived! Thank you all for your patience as Kentyrr and I refined our workflow and fed our Cyberpunk addiction.
Below, you will find the Mega links to the PC and MAC versions of Chasing Sunsets. Here are a list of feature improvements you can expect in this episode that opens up the main story branches we'll begin to explore in Chapter 2:
Our release date is rapidly approaching, and Kent and I are as tired as Alex is in the preview image above.
I promised a date on the last update, so our goal is Sunday February 7th. It may be sooner, but we want to be sure we have a little cushion in case beta finds something we can't fix super quick.
Kentyrr has two scenes left to pose art for, and there are a few ...
2021-01-31 09:39:04 +0000 UTC View PostAll,
The vast majority of Ren'Py VN's launch on the tried and true Ren'Py 7.3.5 framework. On the last day of 2020, Ren'Py 7.4.1 launched with significant improvements, including a model-based renderer and the correction of a number of bugs that can cause development headaches.
That said, 7.4.1 does come at a cost: It no longer supports Windows XP and requires a minimum MacOS version of 10.10.
Before making a decision on a framework change like this, we fig...
2021-01-26 00:45:13 +0000 UTC View Post
COVID strikes Stone Fox. Kentyrr was introduced to the pandemic a short while ago, they hit it off, and now they're a couple!
While this may seem like bad news, it's a mild case, and he's been quarantined. With his art rig, This means he's been tearing through scenes at a faster pace, though we try to make sure he doesn't overdo it and gets plenty of rest.
Be...
2021-01-23 20:14:24 +0000 UTC View PostAs Chapter 1 approaches release, the current plan is to add all Patron names to the closing credits crawl. I typically do this by scraping the Patron list and adding the names I see there.
We will NOT add names which appear to be personally identifying - Meaning, a real name or some other detail by which you could potentially be identified.
If you do not want your name in the credits, or wish to have it appear differently than your Patreon name, either send us a messag...
2021-01-16 03:01:12 +0000 UTC View PostAs Kentyrr and I barrel into the home stretch for Chapter 1, I just wanted to announce that the fully-scripted beta is out to select testers for feedback and focus testing.
The story is somewhat denser than the average Adult Visual Novel, and we've seen from previous feedback that this is somewhat polarizing, particularly for people who feel let down that there's as much story as sex. As such, we do try to walk the line and we view the feedback phase as our last chance to modify t...
2021-01-15 07:08:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Wew, what a marathon!
Chapter 1 is now playable beginning to end with all choices, consequences, point tabulations, and dialogue fully scripted.
Kentyrr's been going nuts on the art, and upped his quality game by an order of magnitude. Seeing the art in screenshots is one thing, but seeing it play out in context with dialogue is a whole other experience.
...
2021-01-11 18:00:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Well, Cyberpunk 2077 came and went. When Kent and I started this project, we figured we'd take a month off for development to play a game we've both really looked forward to. The good news for all of you patiently waiting for Chapter 1 is that we only took a week.
Even with the "time off," Kent has generated another 150+ renders for Chapter 1...
2020-12-22 04:58:00 +0000 UTC View PostThis last weekend, Kentyrr was prolific, generating almost 80 renders for Chapter 1! I'll be folding these into the game tonight and looking for image gaps that would require supplemental art. Then we'll start working on the first of this episode's "big scenes."
My intent is to have to chapter playable up to the current art either tonight or tomorrow AM so we can release our first beta after this next scene is complete.
While the DAZ Studio bug that is caus...
2020-11-30 23:52:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy Sunday everyone!
Work is proceeding apace on the chapter 1 update. Kentyrr and I have been focused on the middle section of the update with a ton of progress, especially in art as our render factories have begun kicking out images at an amazing rate.
We have two more scenes to complete before our beta 1 is released to testers!
There does remain a bug in the current...
2020-11-23 04:28:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy November everyone!
It's been an eventful month for Kentyrr and I as we drive forward on delivering Chapter 1. This has been a very different experience for us since when we were developing the Prologue, we were doing so without a deadline.
On that front, we've had a series of setbacks and victories which have kind of balanced each other out.
First of all, Ken and I would like to thank everyone who attended our Livestream last Saturday! We had some really good questions, a few really bad ones, and a few we just can't answer without spoiling some plot elements.
That said, the pressure's on now! At 180 patrons and growing, Ken and I feel like we've made a little ripple in a very big pond with the Prologue. &nbs...
2020-10-15 03:56:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Happy October, everyone!
Here we are nearly two weeks after the release of 0.1 and Stone Fox is already hard at work on Chapter 1.
Please join us this Saturday for a Livestream where the developers will answer any non-spoilery questions you may have, as well as briefly introduce some new characters and discuss development progress on the next update!
Speaking of introdu...
2020-10-08 01:26:40 +0000 UTC View PostThis is a bugfix build.
All, since the game has released, there have been a number of issues identified. v0.1a addresses the following:
It's been a pretty crazy weekend for Ken and I. Thursday night we released the Patron build of 0.1, and three hours later it had leaked to the pirate sites.
Ken and I apologize that the patron period of exclusivity was so short. We believe we understand how this happened and how to prevent it from happening next time.
It seems like reaction to our initial release was gen...
2020-09-28 21:29:46 +0000 UTC View PostEnjoy! and don't forget to use the #bug-reports channel on discord to report anything that isn't working properly.
Mac Version
Well, to say that we underestimated the amount of work a 0.1 release would require is an huge unders...
Kentyrr and I been burning the midnight oil daily to hit our September deliverable on schedule, and things are lining up well!
If all goes well, we will have two scenes left to complete before the end of the month: One of them is relatively short and already partially rendered, and the other is somewhat longer, but critically important to the story and may require up to 60 re...
2020-09-12 17:13:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Great news! Last week, as promised Beta 0.1h was released to beta testers, and the response has been very positive!
Kentyrr and I are working diligently on the final content update for the 0.1 release with one of three scenes fully rendered and dialogue written through to the end.
Music and sound has been layered in through the existing content, and that's surprisi...
2020-09-05 22:42:47 +0000 UTC View Post
I try to make a daily update in the Discord #general channel, but will likely limit Patreon update posts to once every week or two to spare you email spam.
Work is moving ahead on schedule, with no setbacks (knock on wood) in the past two weeks.
We are still shooting to launch in September, barring any surprises.
As of September 1st, Patreon will be set to "Bill Ahead" mode. &...
2020-08-25 20:05:08 +0000 UTC View Post
