CaramelCowboy

Update

Hey guys.

I'm officially moving and flying out in 12 days so my stuffs all packed up. Working on the VN from my old laptop now so render output is pretty crappy (it's a 2060). I'm at around 600 renders right now and I'm gonna keep rendering but I forgot how slow it was on the laptop. I meant to pause the previous months payment but it just slipped my mind while dealing with the official stuff here like closing my bank account, cancelling connections etc. So next months payment will be paused. I wanted to post the update before I flew out and I'll do what I can but to be honest I don't think i'll get too far with the laptop. Staying at a friends place until I have to fly out because I had to leave the apartment since my visa is cancelled so I do have free time in these 12days and the only thing holding me back is hardware. Once I'm back in my home country I just gotta buy a PC case and set it up again which shouldn't take too long. This episode will be the size of two episodes with close to 2000 renders instead of the usually 800. I have a lot I want to fit in this release because the episode numbers are getting up there. I'll post more previews as they get done. Thank you all for your support!

-CC

Weekly Update

Hi all,

 I finished writing the scenes for the next episode and have started with the renders. The last episode got a pretty good reaction so thank you all! Previews will start in the next post. I intentionally left out a free roam event in the previous episode because the free roam in the next one might be bigger than usual. I'll still keep it simple though. Thank you all again for being such an amazing supportive group.

-CC

Episode 11

Hey everyone,

You can find the links for episode 11 above. The render count was somewhere near 900 but I ended up taking a few more days and adding two more scenes. I played through without them and something felt 'missing'. Felt like it needed another scene or two so wanted to fill in the gaps. Sorry about the delay. As always, thank you for supporting what I do even when it's been a struggle and things get delayed. For those of you who missed the previous post, I'm moving back to my home country because it's less of a financial strain. And if I want to focus on doing this and making more VNs, it just makes more sense.

Few thoughts below that aren't spoilers but still episode related. Ignore if you don't give a shit.

-CC

Episode thoughts : This episode is very chill and casual to me. The episodes with action after action are not here yet but it's getting there. I wanted a flow that I liked and after the previous one, this chill episode felt right. An advanced apology to those who don't enjoy the chill parts of the story. More action is coming.

Links up in a few hours

Short post. I did a thing and added 60 more renders 🥲. Took a few days but I wanted those scenes in there. Bug testing done, sfx done, spell checks done. I’ll just do one more spell check since I’m prone to stupid errors then upload the links!

Links up in three days

Hey everyone. Been kinda mia for a while. Long story short. I had to start packing...again. Yes. Shit just hasn't worked out location wise and I've kind of reached my limit with trying to make it work here haha. Prices have gone higher and higher so i'm going to have to move back to my home country in around two months. Basically to where it all began. So I'm starting to pack all the stuff I won't need in these two months. It's unfortunate but it's the right call so it took me a while to get over it.

Anyway! The links for the episode will be up in three days. I'll be pausing payments for March just in case the links are up on the 1st of March instead of 28th February. I know a majority of you won't mind but I'm doing it for my own reasons. Just doesn't feel right. Attaching a few preview images. The render count is somewhere between 900-1000. Not entirely sure. I could've posted the links some time ago but man, finding out I had to move countries yet again took a toll on my will power for a while. I hope you're all doing great and thank you for supporting me for this long.

PS : I know some of you will message me to not pause payments like you usually do especially now if you read the post. The Swordbearer is my top priority and if I have to move again to finish it, I'm completely fine with that. So dont feel bad!

-CC

Update

Hey guys. Had a bit of downtime for a few days because of some dumb stuff. Wont turn this into a dear diary moment. I'll post the update asap. Renders need to reach 800-900 and are on 700 right now so shouldn't take too long. Release date announcement will be up in a few days

Weekly Update

Hey all!

Faced some animation issues with the software(Daz) where it would render images just fine but crashed every time I tried rendering an animation. (If any of you use daz and have faced this, feel free to weigh in). Couldn't find a fix for a few days so I just rendered the frames on their own and put them together.

Anyway! I'm 100% done with the script and the coding. A few scenes need to be worked on which I'll then throw in the code. I'm estimating 10-12 days for the release but I'll keep you posted if anything changes.

Hope you all had a great start of 2025.

-CC

Weekly Update

Hey everyone. Sorry the update is a few days late. I had a bunch of family events to go to over the holidays. Too sleepy right now to count the renders but it should be around 600. I've also done some animations for this episode so that was fun. I'll have an ETA on the release date in the next weekly update. Shouldn't be too far away since the progress has been pretty good this time. I'll be celebrating new years chilling at home working on the VN. I need a break from social events. I hope all of you have a great week and a great new years!

-CC

Merry Christmas! 🎄

Hey everyone. I wanted to post these on Christmas but I just found out I might not be home. I tried avoiding going out to celebrate at a family dinner (like I always do) as much as possible but it looks like I'll be going for this one. I worked on some Christmas renders I wanted to share with you guys.

Merry Christmas!

I hope all of you have a great holiday.

-CC

Weekly Update

Hey everyone!

We're currently at 200 renders right now. Things are looking good progress wise. I expected to finish more but eh, 200 isn't bad. I don't have a preview for you this week because the only ones I've rendered as of now are the ones from the same scene as the previous preview. I'm pretty sure no one would care so I might just share it in the next update along with the new one. I'm feeling good about the progress streak and will have more updates for you next week. Hopefully bigger ones. I'm trying to aim for close to 400 by next week. It can be done. I believe. The usual episode has around 800 renders for reference. Some have had 1000. The script for this episode is more chill so far and is going to have some catching up with the other characters. Hope you all have a great week!

-CC

Friendly neighborhood baker 🍞

Episode 11 preview

Weekly Update

edit: attaching the preview in this post.

Hey everyone!

I've finished writing the script for the next episode which means I've also started working on the renders after which, I'll work on the code. Pretty excited and motivated and will keep this up and give you guys more updates. Currently working on an animation. I feel like I haven't added one in forever. Animating fight scenes didn't really work out in the last episode. They looked 'okay' but lacked some life so I didn't want to add them them just for the sake of having animated fights. I want to get better at those before putting them out there in an episode. I have a couple of renders queued which will run overnight and I'll post a preview tomorrow.

In case some of you didn't know, the discord server is up and running so feel free to join if you have any questions or just want to hang out. Have a great Sunday.

-CC

Episode 10

Hey everyone. You'll find the pc and mac downloads for episode 10 in the attached link. I've also created the new discord server. I'm guessing all of you got auto added somehow. No idea how that works. If you haven't been added yet, you can click on the discord logo in the main menu and it'll bring you to the server.

If you find bugs / typos, please post them in the bugreports channel on the discord server. I need to sleep now because I'm running on 5 hours of sleep in these past 48 hours. Sometimes I do stupid things like that. I'll check the bug reports channel as soon as I'm up and fix whatever needs fixing. If they're just typos, I'll wait for potentially worse bugs so they can all be patched together rather than giving you multiple links with tiny patches.

Thank you all for being patient as always.

-CC

Links up in a few hours!

Just a quick update to tell you guys links will be up in a few hours. Decided to add 30 more renders. The code is already written for them. Just need to wait for them to render and I’ll post the links! Hope you guys like it.

- CC

Release date + New server info!

Hey everyone. I finished with the episode two days ago but couldn't test for bugs / add audio until today. I'll finish with all that by tomorrow (the 28th) and upload the episode on the 29th or latest by the 30th. I need to set up the new discord server before posting the link here so I'll get that done too. I suck at managing discord so I'll have to learn how to setup channels with correct permissions etc. King boom (moderator on the old server) was a life saver for me and I don't know how to contact him again so I'll have to figure this out on my own for now.

Long story short, the new server and the episode link will be up by the 30th (latest).

I'm trying to learn how to animate better from someone I met on the daz reddit community so I hope that goes well and I can add a bunch of them in the next episode.

Reminder - Weekly updates will actually be 'weekly' updates from now. If you missed my previous post and have five hours to spare, give it a read.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys on the new server once it's setup.

As always, thank you all for being the best community I could ask for.

-CC

Release date | Happy Halloween! | Big changes

Hey everyone and Happy Halloween!

I personally haven't celebrated Halloween because it's never been a big thing wherever I've lived but I know its huge for a lot of you so I hope you enjoy yourselves.

I'm finishing up a few things before I can put the update out there and the next post will have the link. I won't give you an exact date yet because you and I both know that has never worked for me. I find that when I set a date and have some things to finish, I screw up more than I fix just thinking about the date. I know some of you have reached out telling me to take my time and have been nothing but supportive. More than I deserve and I appreciate all of you for it.

Warning : Long read

I can't speak for anyone else but for me personally, the urgency keeps me going. The fact that I know I have a lot riding on something makes me work harder. A week ago, I finished serving my last day at the company I worked at briefly. I couldn't just leave because of the contract and had to stay for a bit so that's done now. No matter how much working a 9-5 job would help me, I can't help but feel something gnawing at me telling me that all I need to do is focus on this VN and focus on it hard. I just know I'm supposed to do this and it isn't about how much money I can make but how much I'm enjoying whatever I make with this VN.

I sat down with someone for a while and planned things out. My biggest problem is procrastination. I was supposed to have completed a much bigger chunk of the VN by now. I have plans for more VNs that I've written before I even started this one. Over the past few weeks I've realized that I got too comfortable with what little success and luck I've had thanks to you guys and the people who support the game on other platforms. I was someone who replied to every comment. Praise or even criticism. And now I still haven't created the new discord server. I don't even know when it got away from me and started snowballing. The truth is I got too comfortable. It's something I'm ashamed of because I let things slip away. After multiple talks with this person, I've decided to just push myself over this speedbump I'm facing and give you guys and anyone else supporting the game what you deserve - me being honest about the shortcomings I've had for a while and a commitment that I'll turn things around back to how they used to be. I've always known I had this problem but I was never able to overcome it. I'm changing that this month and I apologize for treating this page like a diary but I feel like you guys who have been supporting me for so long deserve transparency. After this episode goes live, I'm going to start implementing this plan I've made. The gap between updates is upsetting to me and is something I can and will change. I know some of you don't mind the payments but I can't in good faith take your money right now so November payments are paused. On time weekly updates will be back, I'll be back on discord to answer any questions you might have and the VN will be updated more frequently. Again, I apologize for the long read. Thank you for sticking around if you made it this far.

I hope you've all been well and have had a great week so far.

-CC

Update!

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know I've been working on the next episode a lot and I aim to release it by the end of October. This is tentative so it could be off by a few days but I've made a good amount of progress so I'm confident.

Currently siting at 400 renders and I'm assuming I should hit the usual 800-1000 with some animations too. The discord server hasn't been created yet but I'll get on it before the release. I know I'll struggle keeping up with questions people might have and I don't want to slack off responding to them which is what happened last time. So I want to get a chunk of work out of the way so I can give the server some attention too. I'm also contacting discord to try and see if I can get the old account back that I cant access. If that works then I wont have to bother creating a new one.

Payments are paused again until the episode is out as a thank you for sticking with me during the last update that got delayed.

Hope you're all having a great week and are healthy and safe.

• CC

Episode 9 links!

Hey everyone.

Just got done doing all my tests looking for bugs etc and everything seems fine. I'm still having discord problems so I'm probably going to create a new server soon. I'm going to have to pack my
PC up as soon as I post this link so if you find bugs (there shouldn't be any), please give me a few days. I'm moving my things to the new place in literally 8 hours. It'll take a day or two to get a new wifi connection once I'm there.

The Steam and itch version will be uploaded as soon as I get wifi at the new place. The only reason for the delayed Steam upload is I need to add the achievements and the itch version, well I'm pretty low on time haha I have a lot of packing to do in these 8 hours.

The episode was a lot of fun to make as usual. Working my 9-5 and also working on this VN isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I figured I'd be burnt out but the only constraint is time. I still enjoy doing what I do and hopefully the community grows so I can quit that damned 9-5. I'm only doing it because I have to right now for a few months at least until I get comfortable again.

For those of you who joined my Patreon in the past few days, Welcome! I wish there was a way I could tell you guys to hold on joining because you'll get charged on the 1st of next month (my billing cycle) and we're in the last week of this month already. I just feel bad for you guys. I'm not sure if Patreon gives you a warning before you subscribe to someone. But anyway thanks a lot for supporting me.

I hope you enjoy the episode and I hope all of you have a great weekend. Enjoy your weekend on my behalf because I'll be busy unpacking for a few days 😅.

Thank you all for sticking around even when I struggle to keep up with my own deadlines and allowing me to do what I love.

-CC🤠

Release date! (Real one this time, I promise)

Hey everyone,

The links will be up in 3-4 days tops. After I got back from my work trip, I started working on finishing some code and then ended up creating 300 new renders that weren't part of the episode 9 plan so I had to code those too. The render count jumped from the original 800 to close to 1200.

I haven't posted about this because it's been chaotic here - I complete a year of being in the new place next week. But when I got back from my work trip, I found out my landlord is almost doubling my rent... (It's not entirely his fault from a business pov because he had new clients who were willing to pay that much). So yes, I have to move AGAIN. I'm just moving 20 mins away from this place but finding a decent place and bargaining with landlords was a nightmare because the market is a joke here. People knew I was desperate for a place since my contract ends soon and were abusing that. I finally found a decent place that's locked in for a year so hopefully the new landlord doesn't do the same thing next year.

So after finding the new place, paying for it etc, I've been packing one box a day while rendering and coding. I'm almost done packing though so that's great. My PC gets packed last. I'll post the links here and pack up the PC immediately. On top of that, my discord won't let me login and even 'forgot password' is giving me issues when I try to reset. I definitely haven't been hacked or anything because I have 2FA everywhere so I'm safe-ish. I think it's just a discord issue with the country I'm in (They block some discord features so maybe something new is going on.) If it's an account issue, I'm gonna have to make a new server if it comes to that so I can track bugs etc.

My post sounds like I'm living in a telenovela 😂 but it's not horrible. Just chaotic and I'm trying to manage. Anyway, back to packing for me.

I hope all of you are happy and healthy.

As always, thank you for being a part of my little community.

-CC 🤠

Release date up in a few days!

Hey everyone. This is going to be a short post to keep you guys updated.

I got back a little later than I thought I would but I continued working as soon as I could. Few more scenes left to render and then some coding and bug testing and I'll post the release date here.

Update

Hey everyone. I waited until the last minute to post this because I wanted to see if I could squeeze in the last bits but I couldn't. I'm done with 800 renders but free-roam event code and the music is still pending. I'll be unavailable for 8-9 days because of work and I leave in 6 hours. I tried to code as much as I could before I had to leave so I could post the update but I didn't make it in time.

The update is going to have to be out in the first week of August unfortunately. There's really not much left which is the sad part and I can't even code from work because my work will be live on stage (I'm doing live motion graphics for a show which will go on for a week.)

I paused July payments before and I'm pausing August payments again. As always, I'm not gonna take payments until the episode is out. Sorry for the delay! Here are some previews. See you all in the first week of August!

Release date

Visual representation of me trying to work at the office + work on the Swordbearer

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all doing well. I wish I had the energy to post more often and juggle work but I'll try harder. It's not as bad as I make it sound but I'm still getting used to the whole coming back from work and using my 'me time' to work on the game. I love working on it so no complaints here but I'm only now realizing how much free time I had before. I guess you only realize when it's gone haha.

 The next episode will be out before the 20th of July. I don't want to give an exact earlier date because it's usually off and I hate when that happens. I'm gonna pause payments again as a thank you for supporting me even when I struggle to stay in touch. I haven't looked at discord since the release of the last episode and that's just upsetting to me tbh. I did think of shutting down the server because I don't want to leave people disappointed but then I realized I just need to get over this slump and get back to it eventually. So if you're reading this and are on my discord server, sorry for the absence 🙏

I'll give you guys a render count in the next post since I'm not really counting at the moment and I still have a lot to do but it's safe to assume it'll be the usual 800~ ish or close to that. Been messing with some fight animations because I've always wanted those and I don't see those in any VNs except maybe one? But it's hard to get the movements look 'human'. Daz users will understand what I mean. I'll keep trying though because I really want to have fight animations in the future.

I hope all of you have a great week!

-CC

PS : Sorry if the image is a spoiler for those who haven't played the latest episode. I couldn't find an option to mark it as a spoiler sadly.

Episode 8 links!

Hi everyone!

Here are the links to episode 8. There were some issues with the drive and it wasn't renewing my subscription so I had to make space to upload the files. It looks like it's working fine but let me know if there are any issues.

Random life update - So I haven't posted about it because I didn't want to bore you guys with stuff irrelevant to the game. I recently started working part-time since the new country isn't as cheap to live in and things aren't as smooth as I thought they would be. Shit's expensive as hell haha. BUT I'm hopeful that it'll get easier. I hope you're all having a good week so far and I hope you like the episode!

-CC

Links up in a few days!

Just finishing on the music and proof reading + bugs + last minute changes if any

Release date!

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all having a good week. The workflow has been steady and the episode should be out by the end of the first week of May. I haven't counted renders for a while now so I'll post another update before the release with a few more details. It's 6 am here so I'm going to get some sleep. Been staying up at night and sleeping during the day this past month. Somehow works better for me and I can focus more on work when it's quiet outside and I know I'm the only one awake around this place. (Weird, I know.)

Thank you all for being awesome. Payments for next month will be paused too. They'll resume only after I release the episode like I said in the previous post.

Stay healthy, stay safe.

• CC

Update

Hey everyone!

After 50 hours of training and spending around 3k USD, I finally got my drivers license here. (Yes it's that expensive).

Currently at 120 renders now and based on the script I have so far, I'm predicting about 800 total render count with some animations. There might be some extra bonus images this time because I didn't get to add them in the previous free roam so I want to make up for that. Payments will stay paused until this new update is out. I had a whole month with my fiancé and didn't get a lot done when she was here so I want to make up for that lost time which is why I won't feel right taking payments. I have a few emails from you guys which I've seen but haven't opened yet and I'll reply to those today. I'll also update discord and get back on it later today.

tldr : 120 renders so far, payments will remain paused until the update is out.

Thank you for your patience and support.

-CC

Life/work update!

Hey everyone!

My fiancé just left last night so I'll start working on renders now. I spent this month working on ideas and the script because I wanted to spend as much time as I could with her. Our situation is complicated and we have to go through a lot of paperwork before I can move to where she is so we only get to meet once a year :/  I really wanted to work on renders too but to be honest I couldn't focus because as of now we just get to see each other for 30 days every year so my heart wasn't fully in render work because all I could think about is how our time together is so limited. We're hopeful though and if the paperwork is all good, I'll move to her by next year and if that doesn't work out then she'll move to me.

I've written up a couple of scenes so I'll start render previews and weekly updates from the next post. I've paused payments for this month and might pause them for the next one too depending on how I'm feeling progress wise. The game and you guys are an important part of my life too so I don't want to feel like I'm taking any of it for granted. You support me by subscribing and I'll always make sure I don't misuse that. Please know that pausing payments won't impact me too negatively so it's all good. I'd rather have a clear conscience than the extra money.

I also haven't been on discord while she was here because I just wanted to focus on us so if any of you are on my discord, please let the people there know that I'll be back on discord for the next weekly update if anyone asks.

Thank you all for sticking around and I'll update you guys in a few days with renders etc.

Have a good week!

- CC

Episode 7

Hey everyone. Sorry the link got a little delayed. I've been pretty busy and will continue being busy this month with future planning and stuff. I won't bore you with the details.

The episode ended up with 940 renders instead of 1000 because I moved a big scene from this episode to the next one.  This is the same scene with combat animations. 

If you encounter any bugs, please post them on my discord which I'll look at as soon as I can. I'm going to be pretty busy this month because of personal life but I'll of course check the bug channel every now and then to make sure things are running fine. There shouldn't be major bugs that crash the game etc so we should be good. 

Thank you for your continued support and I hope you stick around.

- CC


MEGA LINK : https://mega.nz/folder/8Ocw0TjY#4fRaw4Mnw-LJiQWfYhc0gQ
key : 4fRaw4Mnw-LJiQWfYhc0gQ

Release date

Hi everyone!

Before I get into the release date, I want to let you all know that I haven't been posting here and mostly only been on discord because my fiance surprised me with a visit and we're meeting after a long long time so of course I was very happy and just had to live life for a while. I didn't stop working on the game though and the new episode will be here on Patreon on February 1st.

The render count is at around 1000 give or take and 14 animations. Some animations didn't make it because they didn't look fluid enough for me and while I know many don't care about that, I just want to try and do my best when it comes to animations so they'll be worked on and I'll add them in when I feel like they look better.

I hope all of you have been doing well.

- CC

Merry Christmas! (Well, almost)

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. I personally won't really be doing much since I usually like being on my own (just a preference). 

In regards to the episode, I'd say I'm about halfway done with the renders. I'll give you a count in the next post. My goal is to have the episode out in January and as per how things are going right now, that seems very doable.

Sorry for missing out the previous post. I've been a little busy with getting my driving license sorted out. I have to go through the entire process in the new country and it's pretty tedious. If all goes well, I'll be able to drive in about 2-3 months so I just want to get this over with asap. 

I hope all of you have a great Christmas or a great holiday. Thank you all for sticking around and helping me do do what I love doing, writing a story and turning it into a game. The next post will have a preview or two with more details like render count for those interested.

- CC