studiocoattails

Important Update Regarding the Studio Coattails Patreon

Hey everyone, Syon here.

It's been quite a while since I've posted here. Which is my bad, entirely. If you've been supporting us, I sincerely appreciate you more than you could know.

With all that said (and on the off chance you don't already know), Studio Coattails has merged with Studio Elan. Or, at least, our visual novel division has. This was announced waaay back in October, but all the preparations are more or less in place now. All the details about this merger can be found here. 

So what does that mean for the Patreon? Well, put bluntly, this Patreon will be shut down. Going forward, I encourage everyone to pledge to the Studio Elan Patreon instead. All the monthly goodies and blog posts we've always posted will be moving there instead. As well as all the usual stuff Elan posts. We know there's a lot of overlap between our fanbases, but you can expect to see some highlights from this Patreon (such as the Marina short story) reposted there as well. Just for the folks who haven't gotten the chance to experience it.

If there's anything you wish to save from this Patreon, such as stories, illustrations, or comics, then I highly recommend you start saving them now. On January 31st I will be shutting down the Coattails Patreon. Anything you haven't saved will be inaccessible for you after that point, and I can't guarantee everything will be reposted on Elan's Patreon (I can tell you for a fact that none of the NSFW content will be). Of course, if there is anything you're still missing afterwards, you can always (respectfully) contact me on Discord or Patreon and I'll see what I can do. Our previous idea was that we would compile a zip file for our patrons, so that they could download everything in bulk, but frankly, I don't have the time to do that currently between NPG, Summer, TF, and other projects. That very well may happen still, but if the ambiguity scares you, then now's your chance to circumvent that. 

And so with that, this is the last Studio Coattails Patreon post. I'd like to once again thank everyone who has supported us these past five years. I wish I could have done something a little grander for this Great Merge, but after thinking about it, I don't think it's necessary. This isn't the ending of Coattails (or NPG), but rather the continuation of what we've always been doing. Our creative spirit lives on, and I hope you follow us there.

- Syon

MAJOR UPDATE: National Park Girls Episode 5

Hey everyone, Syon here! 

It’s been a long time coming, and I really appreciate your patience, so I’m very excited to be giving you all our first big National Park Girls episode 5 update in a long, long while! 

As you may or may not know, the writing for NPG 5 has been done for well over a year. I thought that would translate to a much quicker release time, since it was all drafted before the release of episode 4, but unfortunately we had some major roadblocks when it came to art. Satchel got extremely busy in this last year, and unfortunately that meant there was a solid 12 month period where art just didn’t get done. These were for reasons outside of our or Satchel’s control, and honestly just part of the hazards of running a small team. 

Thankfully, our friend Adirosa from Studio Elan stepped in. 

If you remember, sometime ago, I posted sketches for the new sprite outfits in episode 5. All we had were the sketches. But Adi, who is an absolute godsend, lined and colored those sketches, and ultimately, ended up completely finishing the new outfits. Check ‘em out!

We are so grateful for Adi’s help. We’d be in a lot worse of a position without her, and she has our deep thanks. 

That’s not all, however! Soon after Adi turned in the sprites, Satchel was able to return to working on CGs, and within a matter of days we had sketches for every single CG. I don’t want to spoil them all for you, but here’s a sneak peek of one of them!

And finally, we have all our VAs scheduled, or in the process of being scheduled for sessions. Yosemite has been recorded for a year, and as of the day I'm posting this, we just finished recording all of Zion's lines. 

So yeah, we suddenly went from not having a lot of progress to report, to a ton of it! And with all this progress, I feel comfortable in finally giving an estimate for NPG 5’s release date. 

Q1 2023. 

In fact, we there's a very, very good chance we'll be able to announce a proper release date later this month...

There’s a lot of things that could happen in the meantime, but with the boost of progress and resources (more on that in October), National Park Girls is looking to finally be reaching the end of its development cycle. 

I hope you’ll bear with us a little longer! The next few months are going to be extremely, extremely eventful. More than you know. 

- Syon

Olive Profile - Twofold

Sorry for posting this late, Caps. - Syon XOXO

XXX

Hello again, welcome to my second development post for Twofold. I have a talking point lined up for today, but first I wanted to provide a quick progress report: as of last month, we've entirely finalized our script! Everything is locked down and we're 100% committing to it. It's a bit scary to say that after so long of things in flux, but it's a giant milestone! This unblocks a lot of other aspects of development, especially in the planning department, so the ball should really start rolling now.

Happy Augus(-ish. This was written in August, at least!) Olive's birthday was the first of this month, and that's as good of an excuse as any to make this month's post about our protagonist. I'll be keeping this entirely spoiler-free for Twofold obviously, so this will end up being a little shorter than the previous post. Nevertheless, I feel like there's some interesting things to discuss.

Who is Olive? Olive is a pessimist, but isn't cynical. They're always quick to assume the worst case scenario, and constantly feels pressure from all aspects of their life. However, they recognize that this is a problem with themselves and doesn't pin the blame on the people around them.

Even if they think bad outcomes are the natural expectation, they still strive to overcome them regardless, due in part to not wanting to burden their mother, August (timely!), unnecessarily. In truth, things aren't as dire as Olive's outlook may imply, with a large amount of Olive's internal turmoil resulting from them not living up to the high standards they set for themselves.

What is Olive? While Twofold takes place through the eyes of Olive, some readers may end up questioning whether or not they're the protagonist. While Twofold begins with Olive needing to take initiative to save themselves from failing, they end up taking a more passive role in the story as it progresses, becoming more of a more supportive role to either Caprice or Millie. This leads directly into the next point:

Why is Olive? We could have realistically made Twofold a single-path story with either Caprice or Millie acting as the protagonist and removing the romance element, but Olive's position is vitally important because of three things:

1: As an outsider to all of the characters, they don't have any preconceived notions about the people involved or what's going on. Even a "neutral" character like Hayley wouldn't be entirely free from this. Olive's position as an initial stranger is very important. This allows us to pace our information out to the reader better.

2: It allows us to maintain the two-path structure without any baggage using another character may bring. While both paths are (hopefully) enjoyable standalone, Twofold is really designed with the intention that people will eventually see EVERYTHING in it. TF focuses around one core conflict, and being able to explore that from two different angles was something we had in mind since day 1 of the project, which says... a lot, given the length of the development cycle.

3: Have you seen them? They're wonderful. Perfect. Without flaw. Who would want to read a Twofold where Olive doesn't exist? Absolutely no one.

How is Olive? Fine. They're fine.

Where is Olive? Our hearts. Happy belated birthday!

When is Olive? NEXT YEAR! Please consider wishlisting Twofold on Steam if you haven't already!

- caps

August Wallpaper and PFP - CAPRIIIIIIIICE SHIIIIIIFTEN

Hey everyone, Syon here! 

Sorry for the extended absence. Things have been shaping up on our end and I've been so busy with all the different projects that the Patreon just kinda right past me. Whoopsie. 

Here are the wallpaper and pfp goodies as usual! This month it's of Caprice, from First Snow and the upcoming visual novel Twofold!

What is she thinking about? The answer is nothing. Caprice doesn't think.

Stay tuned for an NPG update that will feature some important news, updates, brand new art, and yes, a release date. The last year has been long and difficult, but the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight! Just hang on a little longer!

July Twofold Update from Caps

Hi there! This is my first monthly blog post talking about Twofold and it's development. Since we're starting out fresh here, I figured it'd be appropriate to talk about how Twofold compares and contrasts with First Snow, since that's an easily accessible point of reference for everyone (because it's free and you should download it if you haven't already! This post will be spoiler free, just in case.)

So, I believe the first thing we outta go over is my role in Twofold compared to what I did in First Snow. In First Snow, I was in charge of the UI and helped make sure that the world was stylistically consistent (ie, avoiding real-world brands and references, to align with Twofold's aesthetic direction.) I also helped implement the VO update post-release. Largely though, direction of the story was left to Suriko and I was hands-off outside of a couple specific requests to set up some things in Twofold, such as dedicating time to showing how close Millie and Caprice were.

Twofold, in contrast, is an entirely different beast. I'm continuing my UI work of course, but I've also managed and organized core story elements and even chip in with some writing help here and there. The papercraft aesthetic that was present in First Snow was also something I directly helped cobble together, but since that was in the cards since before First Snow was even a thing, I'm lumping it into the Twofold responsibilities, especially as it's had some additional refinements since First Snow's release. In short, Twofold is my baby and I love it lots.

With that all out of the way, it's time to actually talk about the game itself! First, people may have noticed that our trailer at Élan Festival was a bit more somber and low-key than our more whimsical First Snow trailers. While Twofold definitely isn't a doom and gloom experience, I did want to use the trailer to show that it'd be at least a bit heavier than what people may expect coming from First Snow. While First Snow largely focused on Allison and her budding relationship with Eileen, Twofold has two different focal points: Olive's personal struggles and the ongoing conflict between Caprice and Millie. Both of these issues have several layers to them, some we're keeping intentionally under wraps, and while I sincerely hope everyone walks away from Twofold with a smile on their face I also don't personally believe it's as light of a read as First Snow was.

That isn't just true of the tone, either. When it comes to the total amount of content, Twofold is substantially larger than First Snow. There's two paths to go down, and each has a handful of alternate scenes you can access via choices you can make. While there's only one core story in each path with only one ending (there's a single, solid story we want to tell) you can choose to interact with various club members that'll add some additional context to the goings-ons in the main story. Internally we call these "friendship paths" but I don't know if they'll be given any official name on release.

I think if you see absolutely everything Twofold has to offer, it should amount to roughly 3x as much content as First Snow. I really hope people are interested enough to uncover it all!

I'll end my rambling there for now. While I could talk about Twofold til the end of time, it's best to save some things for the coming months. As I said in the reveal post last month, I’ve poured my everything into this project, and every day I hope against hope that I can do it justice. I really hope that comes through when you’re finally able to get your hands on it. Until next time!

- caps

Olive Wallpaper and PFP

Hey everyone!

A little late this month, but we still got our goodie for ya. 

Recently, we announced that the currently in-production visual novel, Twofold, will be joining the Studio Coattails family as a co-production. As such, you can expect a lot more Twofold content here on the Patreon now! Starting off with this wallpaper and pfp of it main character, Olive, designed by our GUI designer (and TF's lead developer), Caps! (formerly known as TopHat). 

Enjoy!

[ANNOUNCEMENT] Twofold Joins the Studio Coattails Family!

Hey, everyone! .

In a recent post here on Patreon, we alluded to us having a major announcement to drop this month. If you watch the recent Elan Con stream put on by our friends over at Studio Elan, then you might already have an idea…

Several months ago, we partnered with Salty Salty Studios to release a voice acting patch for their free-to-play visual novel, First Snow! Well now, we're taking that working relationship one step further.

Studio Coattails is proud to announce our involvement with First Snow's upcoming and long awaited sequel, Twofold!

Technically, this happened quite a while ago, but we've only now gone public with it. In that time, however, Twofold has made tremendous progress. Coattails has joined the production in both a producing and co-developer capacity, which makes Twofold an official member of the Studio Coattails family along with our other titles such as Highway Blossoms and National Park Girls.

If you haven't played First Snow, that's not a problem! Twofold shares certain members from the cast, but is otherwise an entirely new and original story that anyone can enjoy with no prior knowledge. But if you are interested in playing First Snow, it's available for free over on Steam.

Furthermore, much like with First Snow, Studio Coattails will be providing voice acting for Twofold. Except this time it will be fully voice acted and available upon launch. I hope you look forward to the returning cast and this new wrinkle to the overall experience!

Twofold has been in development for over ten years and was one of the projects that led to me pursuing visual novel development and, ultimately, the formation of Studio Coattails. Between this, and our close working relationship with its lead developer, TopHat, it was the most natural thing in the world to pursue such a union.

Over the coming months, we'll be giving you more updates on Twofold's status via our Patreon and Twitter. In the meanwhile, make sure to head over to head over to its store page on Steam and put it on your wishlist. That way you'll know as soon as it comes out!

We look forward to honoring Twofold's long and storied legacy as we work together with the developers to push it through the finish line. So much love and thought has been weaved into this story and characters, and in no one is that more obvious than in TopHat, the person pushing this project forward since the beginning.

So without further ado, I'm going to throw this over to them. Thank you for all your continued support. Twofold is a special project and I can't wait for it to be shared with all of you.

- Syon

Hello, I’m TopHat (feel free to call me Caps, though!), the UI artist for various Studio Coattails’ projects. I was responsible for the National Park Girls UI as well as the UI update that accompanied Highway Blossoms: Next Exit.

Today though, I'm here as the mouthpiece for Twofold, the visual novel recently announced as a Studio Coattails-produced and Bellhouse-published work. This is a project that I've been involved with for a long, long time, and it's exciting beyond words to have the opportunity to work with these two groups and to be able to put so much detail and polish into it that we would've otherwise never dreamed of.

To keep it somewhat brief: Twofold has been in development for ten years, as of 2022. Countless ideas and iterations and rewrites and redesigns exist, but even if it doesn't resemble the project it started as so long ago in the slightest, it's nevertheless been in active development for the entire span of time. Even when we were working on First Snow, we never really shelved it, as FS was built specifically with the idea that we'd be able to re-use most of the assets made for it for Twofold and we could take the feedback from it to make Twofold even better.

Twofold, being a story without any supernatural or bizarre elements, may feel somewhat out of place in the Coattails library when stacked up against something like National Park Girls, but I nevertheless hope that it's core will honor it's status as a Coattails game. Between NPG and Highway Blossoms, two wildly different titles, lies a common thread of a heartfelt, human and personal story. Even if it doesn't have personified parks or cross-country treasure hunts, I am hopeful that Twofold will feel right at home regardless. It's a story about families of all kinds, and learning to overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles. It's no exaggeration that I've put every ounce of my heart and soul into it!

Sorry for being so long-winded, but I promise I'm almost done: if you want more in-depth information about the actual story and characters, please check out our Steam page [link] and leave a wishlist if you can! Also: Syon's asked me to contribute monthly posts on Patreon for the next little while, going over some of my personal thoughts and feelings on the project and various aspects of it's development, so the first of those will be coming next month. I have a couple of ideas in mind for it already!

Okay, NOW we're done. Thank you for reading and I sincerely hope you enjoy Twofold once it releases!

Joseph Avatar and Wallpaper Pack

Hey everyone, Syon here! 

Been a bit since we've done a goody! Apologize for that! Here's a Joe that our GUI designer TopHat did. 

Joseph doesn't always get a lot of love, so we wanted to do something special for him. To the one Joe stan out there, I see you and you're valid. 

National Park Girls Update - Bear With Us A Little Longer

Hey everyone, Syon here. 

Sorry for going so long without an update. It's been a very quiet couple of months. 

Rest assured, National Park Girls Episode 5 is still in development, so let me put any concerns to rest. Unfortunately, development is stalled at the moment. This is mostly due to the art situation. Satchely, in addition to being the artist on the project, has a fulltime job that occupies a lot of her time. This has prevented her from working on NPG as much as she had in the past. The good news is, at the end of May, Satchely will be leaving her job and starting her journey as a fulltime artist! She's assured me that once this occurs she'll be diving back into National Park Girls. In the past, she's gotten her work done very quickly, so once she gets going, I'm sure she'll get the remaining work turned in quickly. 

As mentioned in previous posts, the writing is basically done. I had a whole first draft finished over a year ago. Since then, however, we've decided to make a few tweaks. Namely, to Yellowstone and Zion's subplot within the episode. These changes are being written by our programmer, Kari! It'll be the first time since Episode 2 that a writer other than me has written canon NPG material, and she's doing a great job! Kari has a firm grasp on the characters and loves them with all her art. I've been delighted by the material she's turned in. She has one more scene to go. And once that's done, I'll be continuing to record with the voice actors. 

Please forgive the slow development cycle of Episode 5. It really was my intention to get this out early in the year, but situations outside my control kept pushing it back. I'm sorry. I'm confident that it's going to be released. I just can't give you an exact estimate on it yet. National Park Girls is made by a small team where every moving part is vital. And while we could hire other artists or scale back our plans for Episode 5, I really want to finish it with the team we have and the ideas we've planned. It is by far the biggest episode (twice as long as most episodes!) and is paying off everything the story has been building up to for the last three years. I want it to be as special as it can possibly be and send off the characters I love so much on a high note. Thank you for your pateince. Please just wait a little longer. I promise it will be worth it. 

But just because National Park Girls is stalled, doesn't mean Coattails is! In fact, we have three projects currently in development! 

One of them is a completely new and original story I'm writing. It's something that's been kicking around in my head for a while, so I'm happy to finally be getting around to it. Not only that, but I'm happy to be writing again after taking a break. We have a logo designed (not revealing it yet) and I'm about 25k words into the first draft. Maybe we'll announce it once we have some finished art and a draft of the story that's closer to finished. But until then, you'll have to wait a 

I can't talk about any of them just yet, but you'll be hearing about one of them later this month. In fact, you might already be familiar with it... 

National Park Girls - New Outfits Revealed

Hey everyone! Syon here!

While since you've gotten an art update, so we figured it's time to smarten you up on the haps lately. 

As mentioned in the past, the entire cast (except for Jessie, sorry Jessie stans) will be getting a new outfit for Episode 5! Well, now we can show you the first glimpses of those outfits!

As you can see, our cast are dressing to suit the new weather and biome they're about to encounter in this episode. If you look closely, you can even guess some of the biggest forthcoming plot points in Episode 5!

We would love to hear your thoughts and speculation! So come join the conversation in our Discord server over at https://discord.gg/ktEHsb6TUU

Hope to have more for you soon!

NEW YEAR, NEW BATCH OF GOODIES! NO I DIDN'T FORGET, BE QUIET! - January Goodies

Howdy-O, everyone! Syon here, coming at you with a brand new batch of goodies. Usually we're supposed to upload these every month, but the truth is... I FORGOT! Much apologies, folks. Just been a very busy year here at Studio Coattails, but I promise we haven't forgotten about ya. In fact, we've even been discussing how we could improve this Patreon too. The idea of doing more short stories has come up, seeing as how many of you liked the Highway Blossoms Pitstop from a few months back. 

Regardless, we'll have some more updates on NPG 5 for y'all soon. We're aiming for a spring 2022 release, so fingers crossed and full speed aheeeead!

National Park Girls: Episode 5 - Sneak Peek + Update

Hey, everyone. Been a little bit since we've had an update on Episode 5 for ya. Wish there was more I could show you, but rest assured, things are coming along. The first draft has been written for ages now and we've been spending some time polishing it up. 

We've started recording with the VAs, as well. Yosemite has officially wrapped (big props to Rachael Messer for an amazing performance, you're gonna love it). We'll be moving on to the others pretty soon. I've just been busy with other VA projects lately (keep an eye out on the Studio Coattails twitter for that). Also, we should have an announcement about who Death Valley's voice actress is soon. But yes, she's been cast, and yes, she's amazing. 

Art is a little slow right now. Death Valley's sprites are done, as are the backgrounds. However, the main cast are all getting new outfits for this episode, so that's taking some time. CGs are a work in progress too. Once we have more, I'll show you. 

In the meanwhile, please enjoy a special sneak preview at the first scene of Episode 5: Eternal Evergreen Part 2. As always, it's the first draft version and hasn't been edited, so might not reflect the final version. Actually, if I'm being completely honest, this is only the second half of the first scene. The first half is from Eve's perspective, but you're gonna have to wait for the full release to read that (:

Catch ya on the flip!

SCENE 01 PREVIEW 

#One Month Later

Yellowstone "Alrighty, gals! Out of the car! Stretch those legs so you can stay limber and timber!"

Zion "Please don't forget your hat this time, Yellowstone."

Yosemite "You nearly gave that man in Techapachi a heart attack."

Yellowstone "It ain't my fault my head is this way! Besides, Zion gets to go struttin' around with her wings out."

Yosemite "Because Zion looks like a tiny child costuming as a fairy princess. {i}You{/i} look like the herald of Tribulation."

Zion "I look like a tiny child?"

Yellowstone "My name's not Harold, Yoesemite!"

Yosemite "Just put on the hat! Look, even Zion and I have to wear one."

"I tip my ranger hat. She left it at the cabin before she ran off. Along with nearly everything else. In truth, it causes my scalp to itch like it's a nest for insects, but I don't quite feel like taking it off, even in the car."

"Zion leans in from the back seat and plants a kiss on Yellowstone's puffed out cheeks, then rests the baseball cap on top of Yellowstone's volcano."

Zion "It'll keep the sun out of your eyes. Come on."

"Yellowstone sighs and hops out of the driver's seat, Zion following closely behind. I stay in the sweltering car for a moment, staring out the window at the giant thermometer outside. A colossus of a roadside attraction, currently peaking at a dry 102 and degrees. Desert's are just as intense as the books say they are."

"Exiting the vehicle is further proof of this. The water dries from my hair in seconds."

"Whatever. A/C is a hedonistic sham. I've existed without it for who knows how long, and I will continue to exist without it for the next 15 minutes."

"The number on the thermometer raises to 103."

"I will continue to exist without it for the next 10 minutes."

Yellowstone "{i}Golly!{/i} It's hotter than H-E double hockey sticks out here."

Yosemite "And it will only get worse the lower in elevation we go."

Zion "It's not so bad. Utah can get rather hot as well."

Yellowstone "How much longer 'til we get there, anyhow? I'm beat from all this driving."

Yosemite "We would have been there by now if you hadn't choked and taken us onto the I-14 instead of the 15."

Yellowstone "So I zigged when I shoulda zagged! At least I actually know how to drive, Ms. Start and Stop."

Yosemite "I'm a defensive driver."

Yellowstone "What's the 'N' on the shift stand for."

Yosemite "N... Na... Ne.... N..."

Yosemite "N-Nevermind..."

Yellowstone "Uh-huh. Yeah. That's what I thought."

Zion "I know we're all cranky from the drive, but please, let's not fight! Remember who we're doing this for."

"Yellowstone and I go from glaring at each other to both of us shifting our gaze down to the film of dust layered on top of the parking lot."

"Zion always manages to find a way to be right. Always."

Yosemite "Sorry. I suppose I'm just getting impatient."

"There's a long as the three of us stand there, simmering in the sun. The only relief is the cool breeze from cars passing on the I-15."

Yellowstone "I'm sorry too, Yosemite."

"Yellowstone steps forward to hug me. I don't stop her."

Yellowstone "It's been hard. The last month has knocked us all on our hinies."

Yellowstone "But soon we're all gonna be together again. Like before."

Zion "Not all of us..."

"Zion sniffs. All the tears have dried up. But as we know all too well by now, there are some things we can never get back. That won't ever get easier."

Yosemite "You're right..."

"I pull Zion into mine and Yellowstone's embrace, and the three of us huddle together in an awkward hug."

Yosemite "But we can be grateful for what we still have."

Yosemite "And what we're going to get back."

Zion "Y-Yosemite..."

Yellowstone "Look at you, gettin' me all misty-eyed and junk."

"Yellowstone wipes away a tear from the corner of her eye. Water from her volcano begins to seep through her hat."

Yosemite "Save it for later. We still have a ways to go."

Yellowstone and Zion "Right!"

"Yellowstone and Zion start for the convenience store, Zion already fretting over whether or not they'll have fresh produce as Yellowstone nearly walks into a light post while staring at the thermometer."

"I stay behind, staring across the street, at the sign that designates the road we'll soon be going down."

{i}"Gateway to Death Valley{/i}"

Yosemite "Just you wait, Ranger. You won't get away from me a second time."

Yosemite "I'm coming for you, Eve."

#National Park Girls: Eternal Evergreen Part 2

Highway Blossoms - Pitstop 1

This is the first draft of a Highway Blossoms s

September 2021 Patreon Goodies - Jessie!

Take her with you to make sure you get the job done! She'll praise you if you do.

As ever, by the marvelous TopHat!

National Park Girls Episode 4 Preview

Now with video! Transcript:

"Howdy-O, Yellowstone here!

"Just do me a solid and stick with me for this one, because I got a whole lotta questions and not a whole lotta answers."

"Like, why are me, Zion, and Yosemite having these shared visions? And why are they rubbing off on Eve-O? She's human, right? Unlike us! We definitely AIN'T human, unless it's by some wacko technicality that I can't wrap my noggin around."

"It just makes me wonder -- are we real? Is this real? Is anything real? Is this all a dream and I'm just snoozin' through all the REAL experiential experiences that I ain't experiencing? If I pinch myself, will I wake up-- OW! -- nope not gonna work. And oh geez. Cheese and crackers. Jiminy Cricket. What about the official rules of Uno? Can ya use multiple reverse cards in a row? Can ya? ZION! CAN YA USE MULTIPLE REVERSE CARDS IN A ROW?"

"National Park Girls - Episode 4: Eternal Evergreen Part 1"

"Catch ya on the flipside!"

National Park Girls Episode 4 Preview - Audio

A whole lotta questions and not a whole lotta answers.

Version with visuals coming soon!

June 2021 Patreon Goodies - Five Year Anniversary of Highway Blossoms

Here's to five years with our girls! There's so much road behind us, and it stretches onward ahead.

Avatar and wallpaper by TopHat!

May 2021 - National Park Girls Episode 4 Sneak Peek

Hey everyone, Syon here! Been a minute since we had an update for you, and honestly there's not much else to say except that Episode 4's production is coming along reasonably well. All the art is done (save for one minor variation to Yosemite's outfit) and I've been recording with the voice actors and choosing takes. You'll most likely see it released during the summer!

In the meantime, we have an exclusive sneak peek of Episode 4 for you. It doesn't reveal toooo much, but it might give you an idea of what Eve and the girls are in store for this time around. As always when it comes to sneak peeks and the like, the script might not be 100% polished yet just due to the nature of our workflow. Still, I hope you enjoy reading this little glimpse and speculating on just what might be going on.

***********************************************************************************************

Eve “Come… on! You can’t be eating people’s… trash!”

Pup “Mmm… Grrrr…. Mmmm....”

“Gripping the scruff of his neck, I drag Pup onto the cabin porch, his paws scratching and sliding on the wooden planks.”

“He’s growing so fast I don’t even believe it until I try to carry him for myself. There’s an old saying, that if you pick a calf up every day from the time it’s born to the time it’s an adult, you’ll be able to hoist it up when it’s fully grown. Clearly I missed a few days with Pup.”

Pup “Grrrrrrr— YAP!”

“He rolls his head to my arm and nips at my wrist.”

Eve “OW! Why you little…”

“The sharp pain dulls as I check my wrist. No major damage, just a scrape etched down my arm.”

“Pup gallops across the field then spins in circles like he has a chance of finding the end of infinity.”

Eve “I am NOT having this lack of cooperation!”

“He sniffs at a dead bird, so decomposed that its remaining mass has flattened into the ground. Then he rolls around in it.”

Eve “Ugh…”

“It’s not like he ever listened to me to begin with, but lately it’s felt like he’s untamable. He won’t dare nip at Zion, but me, Yosemite, and even Yellowstone have gotten snapped at by him recently. He’s a sweet boy, but it’s almost becoming an issue.”

“I’ll just have to spend more time training him, I guess. Maybe the weekends. Since I’ve started going on regular hikes with Yellowstone and Zion, they’ve begun feeling a little more open. Can’t explain it. It’s like a psychological light switch.”

“But I guess I’m not unhappy to have it flipped on.”

“The sudden crack of shattering glass yelps from inside the cabin.”

“My furrowed brow blocks half of my vision. In less than a second, I’m inside.”

Eve “Somebody better have a replacement!”

“At least a hundred shards of ceramic and glass are scattered at the base of her feet. The tray she was carrying is upside down and several feet away, water sliding behind it.”

“We go through teapots like some families go through sourdough.”

“Yellowstone doesn’t react. Not even as much as a head turn. She stares up at the corner, eyes stretched wide. Mouth open.”

“Leaning forward in her chair, Zion’s jaw is slouched on the table. She’s looking at me, but she’s staring right through me. Maybe through the wall behind me.”

Eve “Uh… can someone say something?”

“A bolt of energy sizzles from the tip of my head to deep into my calves, deadbolting me to the floor. My entire body is held down by the weight. Not because I can’t move, but because I know I shouldn’t.”

“Yosemite is sitting in lotus over on my bed. Don’t know when I gave her permission to do that, but there she is. Her back is turned to me. She faces the window. On the nightstand, a lit candle sways with the breeze that spirals through the cabin. The sweet scent of burning pine is brushed over to me.”

“The candle flickers out.”

Yellowstone “G-G-Girls!”

"The tension in my body lifts and I'm finally allowed to exhale. There's a moment of clarity. Empty stillness. Where all the questions I have right now feel like they have obvious answers. But as I inhale, the fog comes rolling back in, and I'm as confused as ever."

Zion "Yellowstone! I saw it, too!"

Yellowstone "What the Sam Hill was that?"

Eve "I don't know!"

Zion "Did you see the girl?!"

Yellowstone "Yeah! She was kinda hot!"

Zion "Not what I meant but I get what you mea--"

"Zion scrunches up her tiny face. Yellowstone looks at her, and she looks at Yellowstone. They both twist their heads and look at me."

"I've had lots of eyes on me today, but the primal part of my lizard brain is scared enough for me to take a few steps back."

Zion "Ms. Eve...?

Yellowstone "Did you see that vision, too?! Like, in your noggin?"

Eve "Vision? I... No. Nothing like that..."

"The smoke from the incense is thick. It feels tangible. Like I could hop on it and ride it into the aether."

Eve "But as soon as I walked in here, I could feel something."

Zion "Feel something? Like what?"

Eve "Tension? Fear? I don't know. It just felt... oppressive, I guess."

Yellowstone "Spooky..."

"Zion gasps and jumps out of her seat, hovering there for a moment before floating back down."

Zion "Yosemite! What about you?"

"Yosemite doesn't speak. Yosemite doesn't turn around. Yosemite doesn't do anything."

"She just sits there. Back turned. Legs still crossed. Unflinching. Braving whatever little world she's in all by herself."

Yellowstone "Yo, Slowsemite! You catching some Z's over there or what?"

Zion "Slowsemite..."

"Zion's eyes widen and her mouth stretches into a giant O."

Zion "Oh! I get it! That's very clever, Yellowstone!"

"She claps her hands together to congratulate her friend, but Yellowstone is too busy chewing on her nails to bask in it. Whatever they saw must have shaken her."

"Hard to blame her, though. Whatever it was I felt has me shook, too. It wasn't just a passing feeling, like light-headedness or vertigo. It was something real enough that it could bury itself deep under my skin."

Eve "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you shut up for this long."

Eve "What's the deal?"

"Marching over to my little nook of the cabin, I step between Yosemite and the wall. I stare down at her. For the first time since getting to know each other, I feel like the tall one."

Yosemite "E-Eve?"

"Trembling, Yosemite stares up at me, spots of tears dabbing at the corner of her eyes. Six feet of ego and superiority contorted into a vulnerable ball."

"Before I can even process what she's feeling or how that makes me feel, she pounces off the bed and wraps her long, tree branch arms around me."

Eve "Woooah okay. Forgot you were a hugger, but sure."

"Her weight almost drags us both down onto the bed, but my calves are strong enough to keep us anchored to the floor. She tightly clings to my uniform, stretching the fabric as she does the bare minimum to keep herself held up."

"There's not any sobbing, but the tears are there and I can feel them bleeding through my shirt. The quiet part of me says to push her away and tell her to suck it up. But the louder part of me cuts through all the nastiness and tells me Yosemite is worthy of pity."

"My hand, awkwardly hovering over the back of her head, goes limp. I stroke her hair until I reach her back, then I just ride out the embrace."

Zion "What's wrong with Yosemite?"

Yellowstone "Does she know what that was? 'Cause I don't know jack-diddly! Tell me what the jack is, Yosemite! Tell me about the diddly!"

"The two of them rush over, not giving a single second of extra thought to the idea of crowding a crying girl."

Eve "Oh no you don't."

"Dragging Yosemite's mass with me, I step over to the curtain and slide it closed, cutting off Zion and Yellowstone's stampede."

Yellowstone "Peel back this veil, missy! I need answers!"

Zion "Yes! This is extremely unfair, Ms. Eve!"

"Yellowstone, seemingly unaware that she has the power to 'peel back the veil,' presses herself against the curtain, the outline of her body coming at us through the fabric like bad 3D effects."

Eve "Tough. The adults need to talk."

"Careful to dodge Yosemite, I kick Yellowstone back using the center of my foot. She stumbles back, and although I can't see it, I hear the crash landing."

Zion "We are much older than you, I'll have you know!"

Eve "Whatever you say, squirt. Come back to me once you sprout up a few inches."

Yosemite "Please, you two."

"Yosemite manages to choke back her tears long enough to plead with them between sniffles."

Yosemite "Just a few minutes, okay?"

"The other side of the curtain goes quiet, enough time for Yosemite to take another dance with hysterics as she tries (and fails) to compose herself."

"Zion floats to the top of the curtain rail to peer down at us."

Zion "PpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp!"

"She blows me a ripe, juicy raspberry, then drops back down with a defiant 'Hmph!"

"With those two out of the way, I tug Yosemite back towards the bed and have to shove her onto it to get her to stop clinging to me."

Eve "Alright, let's take a few seconds to breathe."

"Yosemite nods her head up and down, covering her mouth with her hand, like that'll actually keep me from seeing her tears. Or shame. Whichever makes her the most embarrassed, and I'm positive that one, or the other, or both does."

"I climb into bed and do the criss-cross-applesauce thing, which in these khakis and in this uniform is no easy task."

"The comforter is soft and warm, retaining Yosemite's body heat. We both sink into the bed, the frame struggling beneath our collective weight."

Eve "Alright. Tell me what happened."

"She nods and takes a steadying breath."

Yosemite "Well... It's hard to put into words. Nearly unexplainable."

Eve "Just pretend you're smart and have to dumb everything down for me. Should be easy for you."

CONTINUED IN EPISODE 4

April 2020 Avatar and Wallpaper Pack - Henry!

It's Henry! Our mascot. This pack as always is brought to you by TopHat.

Some news as well: we mentioned we were doing this last post, but as of today, all posts are now available to every patron, regardless of tier. Please enjoy!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - The Great Patreon Reboot

Hey, everyone. Syon here.

This isn't a developer diary, NPG update, or anything like that. This is (and get ready for this) a State of the Patreon blog post. Ominous, I know. But it's actually not all bad, so if you read through it, I think you'll find that this is a very reasonable update. Or rather, adjustment.

We've been running the Studio Coattails Patreon for quite some time now, and we are very grateful for all the support and feedback we have gotten since we've launched. However, as you may have noticed, updates and posts aren't coming as much as they used to, or at least not as consistently. This is due to a variety of reasons, but the biggest factor is this: we are a small group who are very busy developing and working on our titles, and consistently creating content for the Patreon is a task that is about as time consuming as creating visual novels. So, what does this mean? Well let me put any concerns to rest -- we will not be phasing out the Patreon or shutting it down. Quite the opposite. We actually plan on consolidating the tiers. Let me go a little more in depth.

Since we've launched this, we've had four tiers: $1 tier, $5 tier, $10 tier, and $15 tier. The more you donate, the more content you get. However, due to how busy we've been, some people aren't getting their money's worth. That doesn't feel right to us. So to make things fair and even, we're giving everyone access to every single update, piece of art, short story, poll, dev diary, etc. we post on Patreon. No matter how much you donate, you're going to get everything. For the sake of not booting anyone from their tiers, we're going to keep the tier dollar amounts as they are, but going forward, you will have access to everything, no matter how much you pledge. Pretty simple, right?

We think this is the best route to go for many, many reasons. Not only will you have more of a say in how much you want to give, but this will also help to avoid the feeling of neglect. Furthermore, without the content being separated, this will encourage us to post things on here more often without worrying about fairness. That means more draft 1 scenes, more dev updates, doodles, comics, and anything else that comes to mind. So, basically, everything we've been posting before, but now it's for everyone and you'll also get a net increase in content.

For some of our previous content posted on here, it may take a few days before you're able to access it again. The thumbnails for the more risque images we've posted will be blurred with the full, unblurred image offered as an attached download instead. This is basically so people who don't want to see that kind of stuff won't have to when scrolling.

While we recognize that this will likely impact our income, we strongly believe that you should pay what you think is fair to give. True, it may be an adjustment for us, but it's all part of the long-term goal of providing more content for you and growing Coattails while expanding our presence.

Onwards to the future~

- Syon

February 2021 NSFW - Getting Hot

Hi again!

Here's another heated moment between our favorite treasure hunters, by Umujacha!

National Park Girls Episode 4 Update - CG Preview

Happy Februarymas, friends and foes! We're back at ya with another NPG dev diary/blog/update/whatever this is.

Progress on Episode 4 is going scarily well. Writing has been done for quite some time now. We're putting stuff in the build. Backgrounds are being turned in. And I'm sure you'll also be very excited to hear that CGs are nearly done. Suffice to say, the gap between Episode 3 and 4 isn't going to be nearly as severe as the gap between 2 and 3. I hesitate to give an estimation of a release date -- especially since we still need to record the voice acting -- but I'm extremely happy with the progress.

Episode 4 marks a shift in the overarching plot of National Park Girls. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's the most important episode so far. Not only are we learning more about Yosemite and getting scenes from her PoV, but we're also taking a dive into her past.

I'll keep my mouth shut for now, but here's one of the completed CGs for Episode 4. Perhaps it seems familiar to you?

Let us know what you think in the comments and don't be afraid to speculate in our Discord server!

February 2021 Avatar and Wallpaper Pack - Struck by Zion's Arrow

Happy belated Valentine's Day everyone! Our hearts are full of love--for you!!

Zion is here to spread love and joy, courtesy of TopHat!

January 2021 NSFW - Marked

It's time again for this month's lovely piece, brought to you by Umajacha!

Marina!! Be careful where you leave those.

A New National Park Girl in the Main Cast? A Brief Introduction to Death Valley (Potential Spoilers Ahead)

Hey everyone, Syon here! I wanted to do a special NPG update today. One that's not quite relevant yet, but will be upon Episode 5's release. If you're the kind of person who likes going into their fiction completely blind, this may not be the post for you. NATIONAL PARK GIRLS SPOILERS AHEAD.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Every few months, we vomit a new National Park Girl into existence and stick her up on here and Twitter for you (and us tbh) to gaze and admire. But out of all the ones we've introduced so far, none of them have made it into the mainline National Park Girls visual novel. This is mostly due to the fact that the story for National Park Girls was outlined going on four years ago. Now, we've made some changes and tweaks to the story over the years (with the upcoming Episode 4 serving as one of the biggest deviations from the game plan), but generally, they've stuck to the planned structure of the plot. And I'm sorry to say it, but the original outline for National Park Girls did not, in fact, include plans to add additional Park Girls to the main cast. Mostly for budgetary reasons.

Well, that's changing in Episode 5.

If you've already guessed it (or the name of this post spoiled it), then you know what's coming. Episode 5 will be including a brand new character, complete with sprites, CGs, and voice acting! Her name? Death Valley.

The idea of Death Valley being turned into a Park Girl is nothing new for us internally. Umujacha (who designed her) and I have been kicking it around for quite some time, long ago settling on the idea of "gothic lolita cowboy" as the direction of her design, if we ever got around to it. But about six months ago, as I was nearing the end of writing Episode 4, I could feel that the story was about to take a drastic turn. I'll spare you the details for the time being, but it became increasingly obvious to me that adding a new Park Girl was a no-brainer. So much so that I would call her inclusion necessary for the growing scope of the plot and Eve's character arc.

Usually, we would pull out all the stops for the introduction of a new Park Girl (as you've seen with Joshua Tree, Redwoods, and so on). And we'll still do that -- when Episode 5 is closer. Also, when we have more in-game art of her. Episode 5 is still in pre-production, so there's not a whole lot we can show off yet. I will say this though -- Death Valley is loud, she has a revolver that goes pew pew, and she's a little bit chuuni.

Also, she's in a constant battle with Sailing Stones.

The world of National Park Girls is growing! It's still a ways off, but I hope you're as excited to meet Val as I am.

December 2020 NSFW - In the Moment

It says December, yes, since we missed that one. Expect more to come! 

Once again this piece comes from Umujacha!! 

January 2021 Avatar and Wallpaper Pack - Yosemite

Happy New Year everyone! Hope things have been well for you all. Let's look forward to more cute girls in 2021!

Here's a start: a Yosemite wallpaper and avatar pack by TopHat!

December 2020 Avatar and Wallpaper - Christmas Eve!

It's that time of the year! Eve is in the joyous spirit with this pack by TopHat!!!

Hope you're all having a wonderful winter season as we fast approach the end of the year!

November 2020 NSFW - Socks On

Hope you've all had a good November! We end the month with another wonderful NSFW piece by Umujacha!!! Give her a follow if you haven't already.

Marina is returning the favor from last month!

November 2020 Avatar and Wallpaper Pack - Zion!

Hello again! National Park Girls Episode 3: Daughter of Zion has released! I hope you're all enjoying it!! This time, Zion gets a major focus. So we're focusing on her here too!

For you, another avatar and wallpaper pack by TopHat!!!!