End of february progress

Originally we wanted to "finish" the test game by now.
But Cres arm started acting up about a week ago, so the only thing we've got done since then is that one webcomic page...


And no, it's nothing serious!
Technically we could have ignored it and still worked on, but we decided it's better to be cautious and take a week off, instead of risking making it worse and not being able to work for several months again.

So... more swimming in the upcoming weeks...
(I really dislike swimming...)

This also means we're a bit behind schedule with ordered commissions as well.
Sorry for the delay!


First we need to finish the commissions, and do a webcomic page each week as well.
We'll invest all our spare time into finishing this test game as soon as possible.
So hopefully releasing the test game works out in march.

Actually, I do have something that I could release right now...
But I really want to implement the few last things that are missing.
(by that I mean, the stuff I wanted to have in the test game once it's being released)

Debating about Patreon "prices"

First of all, two status announcements to two of our games! (yup, two of them)
The Patreon "debate" is down below in this post.

The test game: "Last Demon Hunter" goes along smoothly.
I'm talking about this game:

Last Demon Hunter (aka Test Game)

As you can see, it's a topdown shooter with minimal graphics.
The CGs are also sketch only, well, it's a test-game after all.


Current status:

I'll need some more time before the random generation is implemented, but I'm making progress.
Please keep in mind: this game will never be "finished" (by that I mean, polished etc.) it's just a testgame. Also this won't be sold at all.

The plan is still to give this game to our Patreons as "bonus", and then release it some time after that for free on the blog. Possibly the first free version will also be released to the public very soon.
But possible additions to the test game will be first handed to the Patreons, then later on, to the public.
(something along those lines, we haven't settled on the exact details yet, but probably we'll get to that later this day, or in the upcoming days)



Lets move on to our real game: "Deathblight Apocalypse"
It's this game here:

Deathblight Apocalypse

Anyone still remembers this one?
We worked on it around the time Cres got her arm injured etc.
Then we couldn't continue working on it for a long time.
Several months ago, we figured we should do the "Sion and Medusa" game.

Well, there's some important stuff I need to share with you guys and girls.

A couple days ago, I was thinking about the whole Patreon stuff, games etc...
Originally we wanted to do the "Sion and Medusa" game, because we could deliver this (probably!) faster than "Deathblight Apocalypse"...
But, why's that?

DA (Deathblight Apocalypse) already has graphics, it's already running, the combat is working, the only thing missing is more enemies, hentai content and possibly a world map (for the random generation).
So... why would SaM (Sion and Medusa game) be "faster" than this?

Well... animated CGs...
Anyone remember that one?

We originally wanted to include animated CGs, which is a lot of work.
On top of that, we have NO prior experience in this field.
We did several animations attempts, but we never made the "real thing".

And there's one more problem:
Even IF we prove to be capable of producing animated CGs, there's a high probability that those will eat up a shitload of resources, so the game could probably become unplayable...
(at least unplayable on older machines)
Which is not good...

Back then I also mentioned, "if" those concerns prove to be true, we would rather do animated hentai pixel sprite animations + CG scenes (consisting out of several pictures/variations per scene).



So, the conclusion is?

We were not able to "test" animated CGs and it's pro's and con's, because of Cres arm injury back then. (everything healed, no worries!)

And we figured, our "next game" (whatever this is) should be a game we're confident that we can 100% deliver what we promise.



In the end we decided to continue with DA, but use hentai pixel sprite animations + CG scenes.No animated CG's anymore... sorry for the disappointment everyone...
But this is probably our best bet right now.
And we should be able to deliver this game way sooner than any possible release of "SaM" would have been.

On top of that, most of you want to see Ferania in a game, right?
(at least that's what I get out of the popularity polls)


Finally... lets get to the:

Patreon debate!

The last couple days, I was looking again at other Patreon pages (well I do that all the time, actually), and I wondered if we would sell ourselves too short, if we do what we originally planned?

So, this is what we planned at first: (the following is "obsolete" I just figured I'd mention it anyway)
I figured, I'd give anyone who gave us 1$ via Patreon full access to every "early access" version there is. Including the full game on release day.

Why I thought like this?
Well, I figured, such a project would most likely need 6-12 months until it's finished.
Probably around 10 months, so that would be 10$, right?
(1$ each month)

But then again, wouldn't it be "too cheap" if I sell "early access" this cheap?
I'm NOT trying to be greedy here!
I'm just thinking about the fact, that everyone else is selling "early access" at a higher price.
(this includes other Patreon campaigns, Kickstarter etc... but it excludes Steam, Steam early access is usually cheaper than buying the full game <-- so that's the only reversal thing, but we're not on Steam, we're debating about Patreon here)

So, doing a cheap "early access" model is an interesting idea.
But at the same time we would miss out on a lot of funding, probably?
The funding is extremely important, as it would help us to scale down commissions and other stuff.
Plus, we could afford our own appartment at some time, which should also boost productivity.
(Living with other people... there's always stuff that gets in the way, especially when working on hentai games...)

Also, if we reach a high enough amount of money, we could hire a good pixel sprite artist, so we could boost developement speed.
We obviously can't afford someone like that right now.

This all mostly means:
More funds = faster progress
Of course there's some "limit" to as fast as things can possibly progress.
I hope this makes sense?
(we certainly won't hire ~20+ people, even if we have the funds to do so... it would just get out of hand at some point... I'm just feeling confident in successfully leading a team out of ~5-10 people for now <-- I have years of experience with this kind of thing)


So, with all these things in mind, we figured (for now) that the following "model" would be the best?


This is what we "now" have in mind:


1$ Tier:

Everyone who pledges 1$ gets access to the Patreon only informations, plus the FULL game if they pledge on the same month that the game gets released on.
Yes, this means the people on this tier get to "read" about the stuff we're currently working on, plus they'll get to know WHEN release day is, some time before release day.
Plus they'll get the game once it's out, even if they only paid 1-3$ for it, if they are subscribed on the month the game gets released!

And yes, there will be "public" demo versions, but they'll be cut down in scale compared to the "early access" versions that always include the newest stuff.
(the public demo is just to show what the game is about)

However, people on this tier will not get the "full" game if they're NOT subscribed on the month the game gets released. They have to be subscribed at least in the month the game is being released, in order to get the full version!
Also they don't get games that had been created in the past, they'll just get the currently released game.


5$ Tier and upwards:

This includes the stuff on the 1$ tier (obviously) plus:
The 5$ tier and all tiers above would get full access to early access builds.

This means, that people who are on the 5$ tier will most likely pay WAY more for the game, than I originally planned, provided they're subscribed for the whole developement cycle...
But then again, it's "voluntary" pledges, no one needs to do that.
If you just want the game once its released without paying more for early access, there is still the 1$ tier. Plus we'll sell DA and probably all our other future games on DLSite too, so you still have other options.
Also, I'd figured there could be another thing.
Once we released several games, we could offer a "bundle" on Patreon, where you pledge ~30$ or something for 1 month only.
And then you'd get all the "finished" games that we created up until that point or something like it?
It's just an idea, and it's not going to be included unless we have 2 or more games "done".
So there's quite a lot of time going to pass until we get to that.


Anyway, most likely we'll be joining the "Patreon hentai game developers" this month.
First with "Last Demon Hunter", and shortly after that (probably next month though?) with "Deathblight Apocalypse".
Even if it just increases our current Patreon campaign by a small amount, we should still be able to work MUCH more on our games.
And that's what everyone wants too, right?

Currently, thanks to our Patreons, we're able to pay ~50% of our monthly bills through the webcomic.
The other 50% are being paid via commissions.
If we raise that amount a bit more, we'll need to do 2 webcomic pages a week, but after that goal, we would be able to concentrate much more on the game stuff.
(currently we're only working on the game stuff "in between" so progress is slow, as you noticed, but we're making progress! don't worry)

I hope I didn't forget anything important.
If there are any questions, feel free to ask!

And... I just realized I wrote WAY too much again... ugh...
Well, at least you all know what's going through my head now.

Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments!

January progress

Phew, the new year started very troublesome.
But I'm happy to tell all of you, that we've managed to overcome everything!
Thank you very much for your kind words and support!

In the last couple days, I've been able to get back into programming.
I just need to fix one AI code, and then I need to include another enemy type.
After that I'll really get into some random-generation stuff.
And then we'll be able to show what we've been working on.
Even if it just is a "test game" (so don't expect too much!).

Crescentia just needs to make 2 sketched CG scenes and 1 tileset.
So that probably takes her around 3 days work.
Well, Cres also has her hands full with commissions and the webcomic right now.
So this will happen somewhere "inbetween" of all of that stuff.
But I'm confident that we should be able to get this done within the next 2 weeks.
Of course stuff can always be delayed... but I do hope this will not be the case...

Btw. lets name this test game "Last Demon Hunter".
Maybe I'll post some screenshots once the tileset is done.
(otherwise it would just be characters and... grey boxes...)
That's all for now, see ya next time!

Current status report

RL issues have been sorted out so far.
This month will be very commission heavy, but we'll also work on games as much as possible.

That being said, I decided on releasing the "test game" I've been working on to the public sooner or later. This is because it will need some time until we get the Sion and Medusa game working.
By "some time" I mean, it will certainly take longer than january, probably longer than february...
(can't say how much longer, but we certainly won't make any progress on it this month)


Why the "test game" then?
Well, the test game consist out of a lot of placeholder graphics and stuff.
But it has a decent amount of hentai sketches.
It's clearly nothing polished, but it should be fun to some people.
Also, I experimented a lot with the combat system, some other form of dealing with being "grabbed" etc. etc.
It's highly experimental, and sketchy... but it's still a game.
It was never meant to become a full game though, so keep that in mind.
If I release this, it's like... some sort of "present", you could say.
(obviously, this "test game" won't be sold, as it's far away from being a fleshed out game)

Time consumption wise, this game was a lot of programming work so far.
But it helped me to learn a couple new things.
Graphically it consumed nearly no time at all.
(maybe a weeks worth of work? probably a bit more than that, but nothing major)


I decided on doing things this way, since I get the feeling that we need to deliver some new game (whatever game) in order to make this whole blog more interesting again.
Also, you could say it's a way to give something back to all the people that supported us thus far.
Thank you very much!

And yes, that being said, I think we'll give the test game to our Patrons on Patreon first.
It's a natural thing to do since they support us quite a lot.
After a while, we'll release the test game on the blog as well.
At least that's the idea so far, and probably this is the best possible solution, giving the fact that we won't be able to make much progress on the Sion and Medusa game this month.

I'll write about this a bit more detailed in the upcoming days.
Or probably next week or something.
Just thought I'd make a small update and tell you about the stuff I decided on.

No idea how I should name this post

Well, I guess I'll do this as game progress status report and personal life report all together?


Personal stuff:

Anyway, lets first get the ugly things out of the way.
Originally I wanted to get right back to working again after a couple of work free holidays.
That's when my mom called me, she's been in hospital the last couple days and... it looks like she's going to die soon...
The short version is:
She has blood cancer for more than 18 years now (with chemotherapy and everything that goes along with it). It's quite impressive that she made it this far, but it really looks like this is as far as things are going.

Of course I was well aware that this day might be coming soon.
But still...

At any rate, don't worry about me!
I've gone through a lot of worse things throughout my entire life (like almost everyone else does, right?).
So I'll be fine.

It's just a bit difficult for me to concentrate on programming, so stuff will take a bit longer than expected. But I'll do it, I can do it, and I will do it!
I'm also responsible for the webcomics script and stuff, and all of those things should be fine as well.

Since I'm driving to my parents place to visit her one last time, (~1000 km throughout the country) there's a chance that webcomic pages might be delayed by a day or two!
We should be able to pull it off to release them always on time.
But just so you guys know:
There "might" be delays!
In case there are delays, we will definitelly deliver those missing pages afterwards!

 I just figured I'll inform you about those"possible" delays and the reasons behind it.
(but as I said, we should be able to release them on time!)
And yes, don't worry, I'm fine!
I'm really grateful to have everyones support, and there really isn't anything I need right now.
Thank you very much, everyone!


Game Status:

I was able to program the basic combat stuff of the "test game" before Christmas.
All that's left to do is add some enemies (Cres already provided me with the graphics) and then add the random generation stuff.
Depending on how things are looking, I'll might throw this testing game out to the public sometime in january.
(I'm not sure about this though, maybe I'll do it, maybe not)

But please keep in mind, that this game just consists out of simple graphics and placeholder graphics.
As well as a lot of sketchy stuff.
It's pretty clear that this is a "test game", never intended to be a full-game.
The games main purpose is to figure some programming stuff out.
And it greatly helped me in understanding how dynamic lighting as well as random generation works.
(well, I haven't programmed random generation stuff yet! Just read a bunch of tutorials about it. It's the next point on my list of stuff I'm about to do, so as soon as I'm able to focus on this complicated stuff, I'll get to it right away!)

Hopefully we're able to get a lot more work done on the Sion and Medusa game in january.
That one will be a "full game", and we're intending to speed developement up as much as possible.
Originally I wanted to do a blogpost on some of the game mechanics I had in mind for that one.
But I'll get to that some other time.
It will mainly be a post about "how" I intend to use the random generation, and stuff like that.

Aside from that, I wish everyone of you a happy new year!
I hope each one of you guys and girls will have a wonderful new year, with a lot of good stuff that happens to you!

See ya in 2015!

Merry X-Mas!

We all wish you a merry christmas!


And here's a little present for you guys and girls:

Ferania: "I'm absolutely not doing this for you guys!"

Other than that, small status report:

I managed to get dynamic lighting to work as intended.
And I also improved some performance issues and other things that existed before.
(dynamic lighting is actually NOT needed for the Sion and Medusa game, I just did this because I was curious and wanted to learn stuff about it)

And I did several other things, which I experimented with in a "test game".
However, since this test game just consists out of place holders and some sketches, it's not really something I want to show.
Or rather, there's not really anything noteworthy to see.
(not sure if I release it at some point or not, it's really nothing important and I'd rather speed along work on the Sion and Medusa game)

The last couple days this year, we'll be most likely celebrating christmas, finishing webcomic pages... and... well, it's unlikely that there will be any major things happening this year.
Though I planned to do another blogpost about some game mechanic stuff this year.
But I guess that's it.

Other than that, I need to learn how to "randomly generate" some stuff.
Not entire levels!
But at least the content of each level.
That will be my goal for the next couple weeks, and yup, this is going to be used in the Sion and Medusa game.

Status Report

I'll keep this post simple and short:
We're still working on the game, but progress is slow.
(well, it's christmas time, and things get really busy at this time of year)

And yeah, we're also working on the webcomic and other stuff (commissions) as well.


However, I've spend the last couple weeks with getting back into programming.
I've optimized and finished some of the stuff for the upcoming game with Sion and Medusa.
Mainly the CG script thingy (difficult to explain, but it's the script that is responsible for displaying CGs, effects, and text etc.) and some other stuff.

Lately I've been throwing all those things into a testing-game for testing purposes.
But since this only consists out of place holders and stuff, there's not really anything to "show".

Anyway, things are working as intended.
I'm going to do some testing and programming on dynamic lighting and random generation in the next couple days/weeks.
(dynamic lighting just for the lulz, while random generation is needed for the Sion and Medusa game)

So, don't expect any demo release in december.
But we're still working on it!


P.S:
Please tell me if you're interested in my thoughts about the stuff I'm programming and about the progress I make.
It's not much to write blogposts about.
But I might consider writing more often on Twitter about those things!