Monthly Update: Brushy Brushy Edition

Another month, another monthly update! As hinted in a few previous updates I have been mostly holed up in a company-owned apartment, gently tending hardware at my workplace so it doesn't get too lonely and self-destruct. Still, things might ease up in May and I can probably start working from home at some point, hopefully in a few weeks, depending on how the COVID restrictions are updated. Until then, I'm using my laptop and playing with the new rendering system (Blender EEVEE) that I will be using for renders after 0.4 is out. Some screenshots are available on Discord (and I'll post a bunch here too eventually once I'm happy with the results).

And as I mentioned before, I won't take any Patreon payments until 0.4 is out (I'll temporarily suspend my Patreon at the end of each month until then). This gives me some extra time and takes off some pressure so I can hopefully finish things properly.

The next sections are pretty similar to my previous update post and I'll probably make slow progress until things calm down.

When I had any free time, I mostly spent it polishing the story, adding scripting and other related stuff. I also worked on the new (experimental) interactive 3D system and more traditional pre-rendered videos.

So, what's the roadmap? Before the real 0.4 release, I will publish a beta test release (or two), so I can fix any bugs or other issues related to those features. Once those work and all other possible bugs and typos are fixed, I should be able to make the full release to my patrons and then later to the general public.

Also beginning at some point in the future is the exclusive series (Jane+Helen) for $10 patrons. I plan to use new rendering tech for this, this should be a good time to experiment a bit.

So, TL;DR:

* Global pandemic apocalypse and economic meltdown make things a bit more challenging than usual, let's hope things calm down as fast a possible.

* New tech in 0.4: interactive 3D and pre-rendered movies, at least a few of each. When I get the pipeline (and my skills) working smoothly, next releases should have more.

* Test release planned at some point, the final release in May/June if everything goes well.

* After 0.4 I will try out a bit faster release schedule with partial updates instead of releasing large, complete routes that take ages to finish. We'll see how it goes.

* Steam release at some point after 0.4 is out. Steam has been pretty random with adult games, so who knows what can happen.

Again, thanks for everyone for your support and especially patience! Stay healthy!