Awoo!
Still working on the newest build, but making good progress! As I said last time, it's basically a triple-sized update, but we'll get there one step at a time, and I hope you'll like it!
I had some free time for Christmas and New Year, and I've been back to work as soon as the holidays ended. I'm going to post some of the new assets in the next post(s) here on Patreon, so you can take a guess on some of the things that might be going on in the upcoming build.
The content of v47 concludes Alon's route.
I've been constantly thinking of the possibility of cutting this update into two, so you could play it sooner in smaller chunks with shorter wait time, but there are multiple reasons why I would prefer for you to experience all of it at once. Maybe I could potentially do a couple updates in short succession once I'm almost done with everything, but right now I'm still sticking to the plan of releasing it all at once. I apologize for the wait, and I wish it was faster too! I really want this build to be as good as it can be when I share it with you, though. It's an important update!
I might be able to release the soundless test build with in-progress assets and coding for the LVL3 test build patrons tier, in not too long. Right now, I feel I have almost all the assets I needed for that, so I should be able to focus on coding it all soon. Look forward to that, and in the meantime check out the WiPs I'm about to post next, as well as those I've been constantly sharing on Discord. Also, we've finalized the newest music piece for it with Hughhhh today, so I'd love you to hear that one too!
Talk to you soon! Happy New Year!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2026-01-08 14:48:31 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
I thought I would take a few minutes to get you updated on how the work on the upcoming Shelter build is going.
I'm happy to tell you that today I finally finished and polished the full script, and I'm ready to focus entirely on preparing the visual assets and coding. It turned out to be a basically triple-sized update, sitting at over 21.000 words!
It's chunky as heck. Ideally, I would prefer to give you smaller and more consistent updates, but this time we have an exceptional situation where that wouldn't be ideal. You'll see what I mean as you play it.
I can't tell you what's gonna happen, but at least I can tell you that, for better or worse, it concludes Alon's route. So if you've been holding off on starting his branch of Shelter story until it's finished, v47 is finally your time to dive into it.
I may take a few days of break during Christmas and New Year's time, but other than that I'll be working on this update to get it out for you as soon as it's nice and ready. It's a big chungus, though, so I ask for a bit more patience. On top of the usual audiovisual and coding work, it will also require more special coding than usual. I hope you'll like it when it's out!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you mates! Awoo you soon!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-12-18 15:25:39 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
I thought I'd let you know how the work on the next build is going!
Considering the way the last main story update ended, as well as knowing what the content of the followup/conclusion would be, I really appreciated the little break I had with the more lighthearted content of our Demons Within crossover. I hope you liked that one! The whole crossover will be concluded in just a few more chapters, but I'm enjoying it very much <3 And its latest chapter gave me an opportunity to work on some assets I'll be needing in the next main story update anyway, so I feel very good about the time I spent on it!
The update v47 is planned to conclude Alon's route. Knowing how things are in the story right now, I assume it's hard for you to predict how it's going to go in the end. After all, this path isn't following the blueprint of the other three.
I can't talk too much in detail about what to expect right now. I will share a lot of my thoughts in the ending credits in that update, though. The little I can say is, this is the update I've been the most intimidated to write since the very start of the project, because this is where the truth of the many wildest elements of this story and setting get laid bare. It's easy to endlessly lead the reader along with mysteries if there is no intention of ever giving any real answers, and I hope it's been pretty clear by now that I don't like playing it safe in Shelter. There are very specific things I always wanted to cover in this part of the project, and I think the best I can do is just commit to giving you the best I can.
In my mind, this has always been the second most important moment in the story, right behind the ending.
The third most important being Alon's NOT ADORABLE update, lol.
Because of that, there's a lot of work I'll need to go through, in order to give it to you in the best state I can. Remember the finale of Max's barkstory? In a very different way, this is the level of audiovisual work I want to give this upcoming update. After all, this is the finale for this fourth update, too.
Right now, I have half of the script written. This week, we're going to start working on the new music for it with Hughhhh.
Also, I already created a new section in the Gallery for replaying some of the more important scenes you've already seen in the game so, for example, you don't need to keep separate saves for any of the porn scenes anymore!
Speaking of Hughhhh, he's been working on some absolutely fantastic background art for us, and I'll share it with you soon. Come to think of it, I should share WiPs for a bunch of the other artwork from the previous update! I'll take care of that.
I think that's it. Just wanted to tell you, we're working on it and it's going to take a bunch of time, but all of the time you wait is going to translate into more awesomeness, so I hope you'll have a very memorable time by the time we finally share it! I'm extremely eager for that!
Awoo,
Raus Vuffski
2025-11-25 20:41:54 +0000 UTC
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此版本包含与《Demons Within》联动剧情的最新章节。详情请查看开发日志：
https://www.patreon.com/posts/shelter-build-5-143064962
您可以在 Discord 服务器的“#build-releases-下载”频道或 itch.io 下载文件：
https://rausmutt.itch.io/shelter-5-patreon-build-v46-5/patreon-access
感谢 Koshiro 的出色翻译！
祝大家游戏愉快！
2025-11-15 15:00:15 +0000 UTC
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https://rausmutt.itch.io/shelter-5-patreon-build-v46-5/patreon-access
Awoo!
I got you the promised new chapter of the crossover story with Demons Within!
I prepared quite a few nice new visual assets for it that will come in handy in the upcoming updates of the main story~
New stuff this build:
> about 10,000 words of new script
> a whole amazing set of Teak's new 3/4 angle body sprites, including naked, topless, and bottomless variants as well as a bunch of expressions and dongness!
> a set of CGs of a closeup on Resnick's dong and two of the Shelter dogs worshipping it
> a few extra visual assets for the foreground of the scene
> a full set of Thistle's sprites in a variant without his smoking pipe
> a full set of Resnick's sprites WITH the pipe
> a full set of Alon's naked sprites in his black fur and no eyepatch (since Alon wasn't even originally created for Shelter, his sprites are a bit of a mess and need extra work, making additions and adjustments. In comparison, Teak's new sprites set is so hecking smooth and clean~)
> updated UI elements in the EXTRA section in the Gallery
> fixed old bugs and typos
> added new bugs and typos
Download the build though the link on top of this post, or straight from Discord #build-releases channel (you need to get it from discord if you have access through a gift code, because itch doesn't support those)
To access the crossover content:
In Shelter, you unlock A Demon Within Shelter section in the gallery by completing at least one route in Shelter's story. Do Burry's first if you want the quickest way. After finishing the crossover's Prologue content on Shelter's side, the chapter selection on Demons Within side will be automatically unlocked for you…
…but only on PC. Android doesn't allow interactions between apps like that, so we implemented a passwords system for mobile device builds instead. The progression is pretty similar, where you're free to do the prologues in any order, but after that you need to play the chapters in order, discovering passwords that you need to input in the other game to unlock the next chapter to play.
Feel free to discuss the new content in #patreon-spoilers-v46-5 on Discord and please report bugs and typos to #patreon-bugs-typos
本次更新暂不包含中文翻译。翻译完成后，我会另发帖子重新上传文件。
Also, something for the next build that will concern only a handful of the oldest players: starting from the build v47, the old UI saving system from before v18 will finally be removed from the code, along with the saves made in it. That won't impact any of your permanent unlocks in any way, though.
I hope you'll enjoy this small little fun story and look forward to the continuation on Sleth's side!
Awoo,
Raus Vuffski
2025-11-07 17:41:01 +0000 UTC
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Awoo! Raus here!
I thought I'd give you a quick update on how things are going, regarding the upcoming update and in general.
After finishing the last update, I still worked for another week or so, and then took my first real vacation this whole year, with a nice trip to a nearby beach and visiting some friends in a nearby city. It was super nice and exactly what I needed to return to my Shelter work with eagerness!
This week, I've been making good progress on the next chapter of our crossover with Demons Within. The script is fully finished and already coded into the files.
I'm already half-done with the visuals. I have alternative sets of sprites for both Thistle and Resnick, where the old guy is without his pipe, and the Wolf smokes it instead. I already prepared a completely new set of sprites for Teak, showing him at 3/4 angle. I think he looks pretty cool, and you can already check him out on Discord. I think I'll make a separate post on Patreon with his sprites once I give him a few extra expressions and arm gestures. The samples on Discord already reveal a lot of new stuff, knot included, so take a look!
Teak will be heavily featured in the next main story update, so I think it's good to get those extra visuals for him done right away at this point. His main story update may not feature him in his nakes/bottomless/topless body sprite variants with multiple stages of erection, but that's something I personally always wanted to draw for him, and I'm happy I have an opportunity to do that in Resnick's crossover <3 I hope you'll like seeing it in action!
I hope you'll like the next crossover chapter. I'll get the beta build out as soon as I can. Look forward to that! I think it will be a nice naughty break before we return to the resolution on Alon route's story route in the update afterwards…
I hope you like it!
Awoo,
Raus Vuffski
2025-10-26 15:03:50 +0000 UTC
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In Shelter’s world, you have six basic mana types, each corresponding to a different species group and represented by a different color.
Red - Canine
Orange - Feline
Yellow - Avian
Green - Rodent
Purple - Ungulate
Blue - Saurian
This is the very basis for every worldbuilding decision I’ve made for this setting. A setting I wanted to populate with distinct factions of different species, where the presence of those differences feeds into every element of the story, rather than being just an aesthetic.
My inspiration for many things in Shelter was from the feeling of unfulfillment about some elements of others stories and settings I experienced before. If you enjoyed Luke as the protagonist in the VN, that’s exactly because I saw how disappointed people generally were with human protagonists in furry stories...
......and if you ever felt that in some stories a furry’s species serves no real purpose beside their looks, then I hope you noticed how important to me it is to make each species distinctly “them” in Shelter. For example, I want dogs to act like dogs and represent dog-like values associated with them. A strong sense of community and personal loyalty. It’s natural form represented in Shelter’s small and tight community, while the corruption of those virtues builds a medieval-like system of the Crimson Royal Grove.
I attribute a lot of human-like characteristics to those characters, but I ceaselessly look for ways to incorporate their animal nature whenever I can, in comedy or in the subtext of their decisionmaking. If we want a story about a world of animalpeople, then let them be their own animals, I say...
......and if we also want that world to be magic, then why not let them have their own magic too?
Of course, the idea for the magic system came even before the details of the world’s lore. The most important thing was to think out something that could be fun in a game, WHILE at the same time being tightly connected to the story, characters and lore. I always thought that, in games, mixing resources for varied effects was something fun. I have a bunch of ideas for utilizing our mana system in SheltRPG. Some of them are already implemented (mostly in the actual battle section), while many are still to be worked on (mostly in character progression).
I’ll definitely be talking more in depth about all of those mechanics and ideas as we go through the future devlogs, but just to briefly list out some of the more important ones:
- each mana type can be utilized for a different basic effect as one of the three action types. Each hero has a free use of their own innate mana guaranteed once per turn (assuming they don’t suffer from a restraining debuff), and while the availability of other types is never guaranteed, it can still be procured from enemies or by using allies in the front line. Whenever an ally or a foe gets hurt, they release their mana onto the field.
- to use stronger techniques, you need to have charges of specified mana types available to use. The enemies, similarly, have their moves determined by what mana is available in the “field”.
- whenever there’s too many charges of mana released into the field (currently we put the limit at 10), an Overload takes place, where all of the charges of the most numerous mana type get destroyed, and all creatures of that type get a buff while all the others get damaged and/or debuffed.
- Monsters always have multiple types, making it random which mana type you release when you hurt them. All heroes have one type only, making it much more predictable to get more of their mana into the field if you use them in the front line.
- After winning a battle, you accumulate various growth resources based on the types of the enemies and the mana types burned during the encounter. You’re able to use those to improve characters, unlock active and passive abilities, craft and recharge consumables, and so on. We’re still yet to reach the out-of-battle parts of the game in our development, so I have less solid details to talk about here, but I want the system of six mana types to feed into those parts just as much as in battle.
In the end, the whole idea about having six elements of magic isn’t anything new. However, it’s been rather rare for me to see those distinctions tied equally tightly into the mechanics, lore, and the characters’ very natures. I think that keeping that at the forefront of everything can make for a very fun gameplay-storytelling experience. Not separated, but together. Knotted into something really cool and engaging. Let’s see how it shapes up as we keep completing more!
Next Devlog:
“Tagging and Bench Abilities”
2025-10-13 11:47:23 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
Remember years ago, when I used to sell shirts and Cooper pillow cases?
I was thinking about opening that shop again. After all, we have that MERCH Dandelion little head in the main menu, and it would be great to have more use of that!
I got a few new merch samples, and all of them turned out pretty great.
There is a new tshirt printing method that has more vibrant colors and should be more resistant to washing.
Embroidery is always amazing, and this time I made a sample of a hoodie with an embroidered Shelter logo, which I love very much. Right now it's my favorite thing.
The mug is super cool too, but I'm not sure if I'll offer it in the end, because shopping fragile things is always a gamble. At least I'm happy I got one for myself!
I was thinking about adding tank tops and caps too.
What kind of merch would you like to see?
Right now I'm limited with what kind of stuff we would be able to offer in the shop, because my print-on-demand service offers mostly clothes. Do you know some furry merch producers-distributers you would like me worth with? Let them know and tell them to contact me on Twitter/Discord if you do. I'd love to work with more people <3
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-10-02 20:26:43 +0000 UTC
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https://rausmutt.itch.io/shelter-5-patreon-build-v46/patreon-access
Awoo!
The second-to-last story update of Alon's route is here!
> around 8000 words of new script
> a set of sprites for a new character
> a new background by Jasper
> a gun, a crystal, and some more minor edits to old pics and sprites
> a new STATS section in the Gallery, unlockable after finishing Max's route
> progression on Russian translation
> fixed a bunch of bugs and typos, and added new ones
我们的中文翻译目前忙于大学考试，但他仍然抽出时间为我们进行了快速翻译<3我们稍后会上传完善的翻译:)
You can download this build by following the link to itch, or straight from our Discord server (for those who got access as a gift code).
Please report any bugs and typos on Discord's #patreon-bugs-typos channel.
I hope you find this update interesting :alonindeed:
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-09-26 18:12:05 +0000 UTC
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At around the age he was in Alon's childhood, but wielding his own weapon from SheltRPG.
There are still some details I'd like to add to his armor, add some shine to the metal, and probably work a bit more on his fluff and color patterns. I think we're on a good track, though!
2025-09-25 20:45:55 +0000 UTC
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SheltRPG features a turn-based battle system inspired by elements of various jRPGs I’ve played over years. I love Final Fantasy games and I liked multiple ideas in Breath of Fire 4, like the tagging mechanic which was pretty new at that time. Apparently Square liked it too, when they made FFX.
There are multiple unique mechanics in our system coming from the use of our Mana, but overall the flow of the game should still feel pretty intuitive. I’ll make sure you get to fully understand it through the well-paced introduction of mechanics through the tutorials and tooltips, and by slowly adding a new character after another, instead of all at of them at once.
I’m saying that because I just finished writing the second half of this devlog and I thought; “That sounds more confusing than it actually is...”. I guess that’s unavoidable when explaining a game with text only, without turning it into a full-on powerpoint presentation. So please, read it if you want, but don’t mind it if things aren’t clear just yet. Right now I’m giving you only the overall flow of the battle, and in the next devlogs we’ll dig deeper into each element.
Each round, the turn order of all units is randomized, with the more dexterous units having a higher chance of going sooner than the other ones, but not guaranteed.
When the turn of a player-controlled hero starts, we have three different actions available. Let’s call them Bonus, Main and Draw actions.
As a part of a Bonus action, the character can burn one of the available Mana charges for its minor effect. As an example, Sansun could burn a charge of Saurian Mana (blue) to recover 15% of his HP, a charge of Avian (yellow) to recover stamina, his own Feline Mana for increased damage on the next attack... small effects like that. The player has the option of using a Bonus action only before committing to the Main action.
As a part of the Main action, the hero can perform his basic attack, cast a special technique, use a consumable item, or guard. As a part of guarding, on top of taking reduced damage until his next turn, the hero recovers a portion of HP and stamina, and has an option of swapping places with any other hero. If he swaps with someone from the back row, the tagged hero enters with damage-reducing Guard effect instead of the original hero.
Most actions of the Main phase consume the hero’s stamina that can be recovered by resting in the back row, by guarding in the front, or through stamina-recovering skills and consumables.
After the hero uses his Main action, he still has one last phase available before ending his turn. During that Draw action, the player can choose one of the Mana charges from the Field to be absorbed by the hero. That way, that hero is guaranteed to have that Mana charge available for his next turn, ready to be used for any of the possible actions that may require it. While it is possible to burn Mana straight from the Field to cast most spells, some abilities may require specific Mana to be within the hero’s personal Drawn pool.
Basic attacks and certain abilities release Mana charges of affected units into the Field, turning the battlefield into a constantly changing pool of power, which is available to both heroes and the Monsters. As the Monsters need a presence of specific Mana types to perform specific attacks, the player has to strategize and constantly manipulate the battlefield to ensure that Mana flows in his favor, not against him.
The player loses when all of the heroes die. The player wins when all Monsters die.
At a win, a victory fanfare plays and the heroes perform their little poses/dances. That’s super important.
And of course we get the EXP, loot, and various progression resources.
------------
So yeah, a very much turn-based RPG. Fun fact, I almost settled on “SHELTER: Across the Borderlands” for the title but in the end I can’t do that, because the acronym would be misleading. I always liked ATB in Final Fantasy but we don’t have it here.
Still, I hope the battles will be exciting and unique even within the pure turn-based style. You can prepare as much as you can for most situations, but you still have to be flexible. After all you can never be 100% certain what Mana you’ll get at any given moment.
So...
Next Devlog:
“The Six Mana Types”
2025-09-03 16:21:08 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
The brand new collaboration between Shelter and Demons Within, A Demon Within Shelter, has JUST released on both Patreons! Though this initial release is Patreon-only, as it is also tied to the current Patreon-only versions of both games, it will be available to everyone as soon as the latest versions of both games also become public. In the meantime, we’re holding two special offers that are valid for both Shelter and Demons Within’s Patreons in order to make it easier for people to access all of the content!
Special Discord raffle
In the Patreon section of both Shelter and Demons Within’s Discord servers, we will be running a new raffle giving away 10 codes for a free month of each other’s Patreon access. These raffles will be held this weekend, on Saturday, August 23rd, and Sunday, August 24th, on a special channel, and anyone who is a patron of either (or both!) can join for the chance of a free code!
To make it clear, in Demons Within’s Discord, Patrons of Demons Within will be able to join a raffle to earn free codes for Shelter Patreon access, and in Shelter’s Discord, we’ll be raffling codes for Demons Within Patreon access!
The first winner of each daily raffle will get a month of level 3 Patreon access ($15,) and the other four selected winners will get a month of level 1 Patreon access ($5)!
All Patrons are free to join the raffle on both days, and if you happen to already be a Patron of both Shelter and Demons Within, you can enter all FOUR raffles in their respective Discords without a problem!
Special cross-Patreon high-tier limited-time offer
Alongside the raffles, we’re happy to announce that we will also be giving FREE codes of level 1 access to each other’s Patreons to all current level 3 or higher ($15) patrons!
If you already are or choose to become a level 3 Patreon supporter of either Shelter or Demons Within, we’ll give away a free level 1 code to the other’s Patreon access as well, so you can get all of the content for both!
This offer will be valid until the end of the month, expiring on September 1st, 2025! If you really love Shelter or Demons Within and want to show one of them extra support, we’ll be happy to give you a glimpse of the other for free as well.
As a side note, this promotion will require us to manually generate and send codes to every current and new $15 or more supporter, and, as such, the codes will be sent over this weekend (August 22nd-23rd) and the start of next week. As we catch up, we’ll strive to give the free codes to new subscribers as fast as possible as well. They’ll be delivered through private messages on the Patreon platform.
We’re very happy to be able to use Patreon’s gifting feature to give people an easier time enjoying the contents of this new crossover and of both games as a whole! A huge thank you to all who support either Shelter, Demons Within or both on Patreon. Neither project would be able to keep going without your support!
Thank you!
Sincere awoo,
Raus Vuffski
2025-08-23 14:53:50 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
Finally, we're proud to present to you the first three installments of our crossover story with Demons Within, featuring our two beloved wolves getting isekaied across the FVNverse!
You have one prologue playable within Shelter build and one in Demons Within. You're free to play them in any order, and after that you have to follow the story by unlocking the chapters one after another between the two games (as new chapters get released).
On the PC build, those unlocks happen automatically, and you don't need to do anything extra. The chapter selection screen for the crossover will track and show you all of your unlocks in both Shelter and Demon Within, and it will also tell you what you need to complete to unlock the next chapter.
In Shelter, you unlock A Demon Within Shelter section in the gallery by completing at least one route in Shelter's story. Do Burry's first if you want the quickest way. After finishing the crossover's Prologue content on Shelter's side, the chapter selection on Demons Within side will be automatically unlocked for you…
…but only on PC. Android doesn't allow interactions between apps like that, so we implemented a passwords system for mobile device builds instead. The progression is pretty similar, where you're free to do the prologues in any order, but after that you need to play the chapters in order, discovering passwords that you need to input in the other game to unlock the next chapter to play.
The new content on Shelter's side:
> over 6000 words of new content
> a bunch of new illustrations
> a whole new section in the gallery dedicated to the crossover
> a whole new character sprites set
> edits of some of the old CGs and character sprites
Please report any bugs or typos in #patreon-bugs-typos channel on our discord.
I have Chapter 2 written already, but I'm going to finish the next usual update of Shelter first before I sit down to implement it into the game.
For both Sleth and me, the updates on our canon content take priority, so the new chapters of the crossover will come out without a strict schedule. We have them all pretty well planned out, though, and we're looking forward for you to experience this little fun story in full!
Enjoy!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
P.S.: Reminder that you can get the new build (version 45.5) right NOW, but not here on Patreon. You can find it in the #build-releases-下載 channel in Discord or on Itch’s Patreon page, as usual for Patreon builds!
2025-08-22 13:50:49 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
It's a pleasure for us to finally announce that the release date of A Demon Within Shelter, the special collaboration side story between Shelter and Demons Within, will be released on Patreon on...
next Friday, August 22nd!
This release will happen simultaneously between Shelter and Demons Within! As specified before and explained in the promo image, you will need to progress through this story on BOTH games to progress!
On release, we'll have the prologue on both sides and Chapter 1 on the Demons Within side for a total of three entire installments of the story playable right away! Playing the Prologue story on both games will be required to be able to continue Chapter 1 in Demons Within. It's also important to notice that, though the prologues are mild and story-focused, the first and subsequent chapters are quite spicy, saucy, and knotty...
I've already written Chapter 2 (Shelter's side), and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you after I finish the next regular Shelter update v46!
Your progress between the stories will be saved between games on the device you play them on! (e.g., After you play the Prologue in Shelter, your progress will be counted and seen inside Demons Within as well, and vice-versa)
Though both Shelter and Demons Within will continue prioritizing their regular story updates and releases, expect the next chapters of this side story to come out as a bonus between them as well! It's a relatively short story, but we hope it's going to be a fun introduction and twist to both games in the most fun of ways!
There are a few things left to polish and work on, but we're almost there and confident enough to give this release date! It's coming soon!
If you somehow haven't checked out Demons Within yet, now is the best time to do so and be prepared for the awesomeness!
Get ready and awoo!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-08-12 14:42:48 +0000 UTC
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The first installments of our little crossover side story with Demons Within is going to be ready for you very soon! This is how the chapter selection looks on Shelter's side. I hope you'll have fun with it~
Also, I'm almost done with chapter 2, which you'll be able to play after finishing both prologues and the first chapter from DW's side. We've been having a blast working on that <3
I'm gonna finish that, and then move on to borking on Shelter's canon v46 content, continuing Alon's night!
2025-07-28 13:38:23 +0000 UTC
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The first couple devlogs acted as a general introduction to the whole idea of SheltRPG as a game, but we haven’t actually covered any specifics yet, so I hope this entry will begin to give you a bit of a better idea of what kind of experience to expect. Let’s then take a look on the overview of the whole gameplay loop… which is still pretty general in a sense, but at least this is the first time we’re talking about the gameplay of our game. The further we go, the more I’ll be able to share about the details.
The way we’re making SheltRPG right now, we’re dividing the development into three main parts, or modes.
1 - Customization and Exploration
2 - Battle
3 - Visual Novel
It is an ambitious project for us, with a lot of stuff we’re learning and figuring out as we go through the development, so I approached it with a very strict resolution that we would make the first iteration of our game with a focus on its most vital elements first and foremost, while smoothly simplifying whatever is not crucial. We are all full of grand ideas and the time for them will come one day, but the most important thing is to make something coherent, manageable and fun in its relative simplicity first, exactly so we can build on top of it in the future.
================
1 - CUSTOMIZATION AND EXPLORATION
This is the part of the project I want to streamline in some ways, focusing mostly on the parts that tie the most closely to the battle system, while simplifying the parts that can wait to be expanded on in the future iterations of the game.
Basically, this part of the gameplay loop is the bulk of what the player will do in-between battles. Imagine a camp where you can talk to your allies, access menus for crafting, skills progression and other mechanics of preparing your team for the next leg of your journey. That’s the customization part.
The exploration part is what I want to simplify the most right now, by settling on a simple map of unlockable nodes that the player can click on to explore, progressing the story. In the far future I’d love to get a more involved exploration mode where you would run around with your avatar and check every corner of the map like in most rpgs, but that’s an endeavor that doesn’t seem as crucial until we get the more important parts of the game properly covered.
2 - BATTLE
This is where all of the work has been focused on so far, and the one element that I consider the most important to get right, because it’s the centerpiece of what I think makes this project unique.
In short, it’s a turn-based battle system with heroes on one side of the screen and the enemies on the other, jrpg-style. The unique part is in the integration of the six mana types that everything in the system revolves around. Just like in Shelter’s story you know, mana can be released and absorbed during the battle to cast special abilities. I’ll be delving into all of the tiny details of the battle system in the future devlogs.
3 - VISUAL NOVEL
With my experience in Shelter the VN, it felt pretty natural to default to that medium as our main method of presenting the story.
The plan in regards to that is about what you would expect. You select a node on the map to explore and, if it’s not a simple grinding spot encounter, a VN-style scene will play. If a battle is a part of the event, you’ll go through the battle, and then probably have another VN scene afterwards. Some of those may be integrated into the camp events. I’d love to look into a possibility of injecting short scenes overlaying the battle for scripted triggers (like the boss entering the second phase of the battle), but we’ll see what we can do with the tools we get.
There are some Unity assets for VN-making already available (like Naninovel) so we’ll look through our option of integrating one of those.
===============
Making the game has been an equally lengthy and meaningful process, as we’ve been building literally everything from scratch. I know, however, that putting all this extra time and care will keep paying off in the future. The goal is to build tools that allow us smooth and flexible creation of units, abilities, mechanics, encounters and (still to be implemented) storytelling gimmicks.
As I’ve been focusing most of my energy on Shelter the VN all this time, I haven’t been able to have as much hands-on involvement in SheltRPG as I’d like yet. Most of my time on our RPG project has been put into designing everything and giving specific instructions/direction. To be honest, that is what I wanted to do in the first place, since I need to learn delegating more work to my team mates in a project like this, and yet I can’t wait to be able to do more. Fortunately, that’s slowly changing as we’re getting more of the battle customization elements in our engine finished and I’m able to spend some time filling them up (like new units and abilities).
Since the battle mode has been the one element we’ve spent the most time on so far, I think it will be good for me to share more about that next, so…
Next Devlog:
"Battle - Overview"
2025-07-13 18:05:21 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
It's here! A nice and chunky new build of Shelter, concluding Alon's bath time story and thrusting knot-deep into a night like none that came before!
Download straight from our Discord server's #build-releases-下載 channel (do that if you got your access through a gift code) or follow the link below to connect through your itch.io account:
https://rausmutt.itch.io/shelter-5-patreon-build-v45
The new content includes:
> over 15000 words of new script
> an insane amount of accompanying visuals, including a bunch of action silhouettes, more detailed CG, and a few new surprise character sprites
> a new, mindblowing music piece by Hughhhh! Oh my dog, so amazing! Such a good job, mate!
> extra little easter egg content for the previous build, at the moment where Zerek asks you to stay quiet for ten seconds (available only the first time you go through that scene)
> fixed a bunch of bugs and typos and added new ones!
I hope you enjoy it! Let me know on Discord about any bugs and typos.
Also, look forward to release date announcements for the crossover with Demons Within soon!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-07-10 18:23:57 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
I set the newest build's release date to next Friday, 11th July! That will give me more than enough time to polish everything, and also give extra room to work with for the translators. I hope you'll enjoy it!
See you soon!
Your dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-07-05 19:28:52 +0000 UTC
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One of the drawings for the upcoming update!
I'm excited to share it all with you as soon as I can!
2025-06-22 17:48:39 +0000 UTC
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After quite a bit of time and secretive work, I'm excited to finally announce a crossover story between Demons Within and Shelter!
In this special, non-canonical side project, we'll follow a special story involving a pair of beloved wolves as they get thrown into different worlds where things work quite differently from what they're used to. Connected by an entity, they'll work... "together" to set things right, but also not really.
This special project will be released in chapters, and as illustrated in the poster, the chapters continuing the story of either character will be released one by one on both Shelter and Demons Within! You'll have to progress the story within one game to continue the next chapter in the other, as it advances on both sides!
Demons Within Shelter is a fun project that both Shelter and Demons Within are developing together, but as a side story, its development will be happening between regular main updates from both novels. As such, the release of new chapters for this project will be sporadic and unpredictable, but rest assured that we'll be keeping everyone updated on its progress and announcing each release as it comes on both projects!
The prologue for both stories is already finished and will be released alongside the first chapter (Demons Within side) in order to showcase the cross-project mechanic. The release date will be announced soon when the first chapter is complete! We'll be sharing news and tidbits from the development of both sides in Shelter and Demons Within's respective Patreon, Discord server, etc. Stay tuned!
For now, have a small preview of what to expect from both in the announcement banner and, if you haven't yet, make sure to check out Demons Within in order to be prepared for the awesomeness that will follow!
PS: As for the main story, Shelter v45's script is all finished, I'm currently in the process of drawing assets and coding. I'm focusing 100% of my effort on releasing it for you as soon as I can! I think you'll like it <3
2025-06-19 21:49:44 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
How are you doing? I thought I'd let you know about the current progress on Shelter stuff, since I haven't posted for a while despite constantly working in the background.
The first draft of the script for Shelter build v45 is finished, sitting at around 14000 words. I want to dedicate one day this week to review and polish it before I put it into the code. It concludes Alon's storytime in the baths and brings us back into the present, progressing the night and finishing at a super exciting moment that I've been looking forward to reaching for a long time.
As soon as I'm done writing devlogs, I'll get to drawing a CG and a new character sprite set. I hope the CG will do justice to the absolutely amazing new music piece Hughhhh made for us! It's a four-minute-long composition, and we're nearly done polishing it. Check out the smol sample I attached to this post, and I wonder if you can guess what kind of context it's prepared for!
From other Shelter news, my friend Vigil found me a background artist who fits Shelter's tricky sci-fi setting very well. We finished a test background today, and we decided to continue working together more long-term. His name is Jasper, and you can follow him on:
https://bsky.app/profile/jaspersartvault.bsky.social
KnotSoft grows bigger!
We plan to have two or more new pictures made byJasper every month, prioritizing the more important scenes in new builds' content, and at the same time replacing placeholders I had in the old content. I'll still be using new ones on less important assets if that can help release builds faster, but the idea is to eventually have everything in Shelter custom-crafted by hand. I'm happy we can start on that already.
In other news, my SheltRPG coder set me up on Unity on my PC, so I can start playing around with the game's assets, UI, and other audiovisual stuff in the project itself. I'll wait with that until I release Shelter's new build, though, because right now it takes the top priority. I want you to see how Alon's and Zerek's night in the Grove ends!
And I guess the last thing to remind you of is that I already have a nice chunky extra content of something special ready to be released any time, and we're going to announce it probably within this week. Look forward to that!
Awoo,
Raus Vuffski
2025-06-17 17:03:46 +0000 UTC
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The known world of Shelter is split into six countries, each hosting people or different species groups. There is a country of Felines, Canines, Rodents, Saurians, Ungulates and Avians. Traveling between the countries is made difficult by all of them being separated by stretches of land people call Corrupted Borderlands, a home to the Monsters.
As it stands now, the plan for SheltRPG is to contain the story almost entirely in the Borderlands. Those are mysterious, uncharted lands, with death lurking around every corner, and that seems like a great setting for regular battles and the sense of wonder of exploration.
The “life-sucking” aspect of the Borderlands is the one thing in particular that stops people from more thoroughly exploring those lands. Every trip through them is a race against time and the land itself. Only the most narrow parts of the Borderlands are chosen for travel, and even those change as the areas of Corruption constantly fluctuate and expand year by year.
People fear that their World will eventually succumb to the sickness of Corruption in full, and every soul will join the ranks of the immortal Monsters. But how can you fix something you don’t understand? How can you understand the Corrupted Borderlands when any contact with those lands sucks life out of you?
The Supreme Crimson Scholar Burry Tangleroot might not be there anymore to push the limits of understanding of the Corruption, but the Crimson Royal Grove is going to keep the research running til the last dog standing. For the sake of their World, they shall find a way to unravel the secrets of the Borderlands, no matter the cost.
And they might have just done it. With the blood of thousands, the first promising tool for prolonged exploration of the Corrupted Borderlands leaves the capital of the Crimson Royal Grove. Now, by the stroke or chance or fate, it finds its way into the hands of adventurers trapped in the cradle of the Monsters, giving them one unexpected hope of escape.
Or at least that’s our current idea. As always, everything I’m sharing with you is subject to change.
It would be amazing to explore each country of Shelter’s World and get to learn about the wild quirks of their unique animal-like cultures, but I want the first iteration of SheltRPG to be as limited in scope as possible. First, we want to make sure the battle system and character customization are fun to play. That’s the highest priority.
Because of the nature of the Borderlands, the chance of encountering non-Monster enemies is unlikely. That simultaneously simplifies some things for us and ensures that each battle can be designed to utilize that fun rng element of never being sure what mana charge you release when attacking a Monster. We’ll get into the details of the battle system in another devlog, though. That’s the most fun part to me!
That’s it from me for now on the setting. To summarize, the current plan is to contain SheltRPG within the Corrupted Borderlands, fighting a bunch of Monsters and doing the story things that have to be done. Mostly, escaping alive and hopefully uncorrupted.
I hope we’ll manage to create a setting that captivates you!
Next Devlog:
"The Three Modes - Exploration, Battle, VN"
Awoo,
Raus Vuffski
2025-05-24 19:23:40 +0000 UTC
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Awoo mates!
How are you? I've been doing pretty amazing! My half-a-year long chain of intense irl businesses, hospitals, and bureaucracy ended last month and I've finally been able to return to my normal, calm, productive life. Being able to add regular exercise to my weekly routine has been an important element I missed very much, and it makes a lot of difference in my energy levels, focus, creativity, and overall joy of life. Highly recommended!
I was hard at work making something really cool and I finished it yesterday, but for reasons you will find out in a couple of weeks I can't share too much about it right now. However, I wanted to at least share what I could. That edit of Teak's fighting CG in his expedition clothes is a part of it. The thing is over 6000 words long, full of cool visuals, gimmicks, and a few experimental bits. It utilizes a kinda wild renpy function I personally haven't seen used in any of the games I played.
Sorry I can't show it yet, but I wanted at least to tell you that I've been working and finished a nice piece or something. It's there, waiting, ready to be dropped sometime in June🐶
In the meantime, I'm back to writing the continuation of Alon's story. The culmination of the escape night. There's one specific point I would love to reach once we get back to the present time, and oh my dog I hope I'll be able to do it in v45, because that would be pretty epic. Either way, one thing I can guarantee for sure is that v45 is finishing that bath time flashback and we're going to progress Alon's night.
The next devlog I share will be about SheltRPG. A lot of stuff to talk about with you on that topic!
I think that's all I wanted to say, just keeping you up-to-date. It's my gym day today so I'm gonna go quickly, get bara-buff, and continue writing Alon's update~
Stay safe! Awoo!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
PS: Oh yeah, btw, I'd like to take a few days off in the first half of June to play through Chapter 3 and 4 of Deltarune, please… uwu
2025-05-20 16:35:13 +0000 UTC
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Awoo, mates.
Raus Vuffski here. The founder and CEO of Knotsoft, the videogame studio.
Long ago, long before Knotsoft grew into the massive furry business conglomerate employing literally a number of people as you know it today, I started my journey with big dreams and humble goals.
Like many of us, I loved stories and videogames growing up. What a life it would be to make one for a living, I thought! To create characters, worlds, and moments that touch people the same way I was touched by the stories I fell in love with when I was a child. To invent engaging, unique mechanics that will entertain others and fill them with the joy of discovery, the same way my favorite RPGs did for me.
When you grow up in a poor and secluded small village environment with a slave mentality systematically taught from an early age, you are expected to eventually grow out of dreams like that. However, a chain of extreme circumstances in my life, some turning to be blessings in very dark disguises, made it possible for me to shelter those dreams long enough to finally let them blossom. Now, I built my life around being able to keep working on my dreams, because I love it.
Because I think those characters and those ideas deserve to exist.
Through comics, I learned to draw just well enough to show those characters in ways words fall short.
Through Shelter the VN, I got my first real exposure to writing prose, in a foreign language no less! In case you didn't know, I'm Polish, and I never visited an English-speaking country until I was 25. English language wasn't a free perk for me.
At the same time as I practiced English prose on Shelter, I had my fun with music, audiovisuals in a videogame environment, and I coded a bunch of random stuff into the game, just because I found all of that fun, and also to gain some programming exposure for the future.
There's still a bunch of work left on Shelter the VN before I can put the final THE END on it, but we're slowly getting there. In the meantime, we've already been working on the next step. The next dream.
A turn-based RPG. We gave it a work-in-progress title of "SheltRPG". We've been building an engine for it from scratch in Unity for over a year now, and I waited to share details about it until we had a bit more work ready to show. I believe we're finally far enough in the development of the battle system that I can finally start talking about our game. Both about the elements we already have, and everything that's still being worked on.
You saw the magic system of Shelter and the comic INU. In both of those stories, I used that magic in preparation for actually putting it into a turn-based RPG-style game. I thought it all up for that purpose specifically. I wanted a JRPG magic system in a furry setting where differences between species play a role as much in lore as they do in magic. With an element of randomness encouraging flexibility and experimentation, both during battle as well as during character customization.
I'll start going into more details of the game in the future devlogs. For now, I just wanted to at least tell you what kind of game it is. Since a bunch of the future devlogs will contain WiP assets, those will be available to LVL2 Patrons, with WiP tier, at least initially.
I'm particularly inspired by the PSX-era Final Fantasy games, and I always found the tagging mechanics in Breath of Fire IV super cool (FFX took it later, but it also discarded one important element from the original that I really love, and decided to expand on). I hope you like those kinds of games. They are my favorite!
It is a huge project. I'm trying to keep the scope as small as possible for the first iteration of it, but both my coder friend and I are still learning as we go. As much passion as we have for it, it is definitely going to be longer and more challenging than any estimations, and even then there's no guarantee that the final product will be without its problems. Right now it's going amazing and I truly believe that we're turning it into something really special, but only time will tell. I'll continue working on Shelter the VN until it's finished, and then join my team on SheltRPG fully. I hope that, as we recruit more good people into our team, we'll get closer and sooner towards that ideal vision of the game.
I hope you will love it even more than Shelter the VN.
Next Devlog:
"Story: The Setting"
For Shelter!(pg)
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-05-10 15:13:12 +0000 UTC
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Awoo...
Here's a small, mysterious tease. It's such small and mysterious that I'm sharing it with all of Patreon, not just the previews tier!
What could it be... It's drawn by me, but it isn't...?
Some people that happen to know some things will know immediately, others will never guess! Can YOU guess who this is?
Still, what does it mean? Who knows!
This is just a small tease of one of the special extra side content things I have planned to come soon! I hope you all will enjoy it! ;)
P.S.: Actually this is a SUPER special tease because even in new sprites, we usually don't see their feetsies in-game, so...
2025-04-29 20:18:14 +0000 UTC
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https://rausmutt.itch.io/shelter-5-patreon-build-v44/patreon-access
Awoo mates!
The new build is finally out! And it's the biggest one yet, ever, with both exciting and useful content!
> 21000 words of new script
> four CG sets with a bunch of variations
> a few battles, one illustrated with silhouettes and motion kinda like in Max's climax
> updated Censor Dong, automatically applying blur to fanarts in ending credits and Fanarts gallery
> Updated support for Chinese and Russian language translation
> a bunch of fixed bugs and typos
> a bunch of new ones
> and, something I'm personally extra excited about - finished PATHS section!
Or at least all the current nodes. I thoughts I would need to split this work into two builds, but I dedicated a few extra days of bork to get it all done for you already!
I'll still be upgrading it later on. Making it look prettier, and also adding details to the code that decide what sections of the PATHS are visible to the player. You may see that during the night events all of the nodes from the routes you haven't started yet are hidden by default. I think that's gonna increase the player's curiosity and satisfaction with exploration, and I want to implement that feature in all the other bigger sections of the story.
An important new feature is the freedom of zooming in and out with your mouse or touchpad. You unlock it by finishing at least one story route, and you should get a notification about that unlock the next time you enter PATHS after doing so.
TO GET THE BUILD, USE THE ITCH LINK ON TOP OR JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER AND DOWNLOAD IT FROM THE #build-releases CHANNEL.
In case you joined the server but don't have access to the Patreon channels, make sure you have your Discord account linked on Patreon in Settings > Apps.
Usually, you should be connected automatically when you use the Discord invitation link you get in your email after subscribing.
If you're still having trouble, check this article: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/212052266-Getting-Discord-access
I hope you find this build interesting uwu
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-04-25 14:10:06 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
Just wanted to let you know that I finally finished the story script for Shelter's next update. It took some time, but it's an actual double-sized update at 21.000 words of new script, and I'm super glad I gave it as much attention and effort as it needed to get it to that point.
You know how much I love blueballing you, but I always prefer to do it in a positive way, and I think the cutoff point I reached is perfect. I hope you'll have a good time reading through it all.
Right now I'm coding it into the engine, I'll probably share it with my translators once the text is in the code, and then I'll share a soundless test build with LVL3 patrons once I get the visuals in as well.
In the meantime, for those of you who really can't wait, you can read through the first couple thousand words as a teaser. I'll share the file in the attachments. It may be tricky to follow without the visuals and stuff, so feel free to wait for the actual thing, coming as soon as I can make it happen.
Can't wait to have you play it!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-04-04 20:36:46 +0000 UTC
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Awoo, mates!
I thought it would be cool to let you know how my work on the upcoming update is going!
The new script is nearing its completion. I'm at about 13000 words right now, but there are still a few scenes I'd like to cover to reach a nice cutoff point. I would prefer not to cut corners on that, so I think I'll just let it grow as much as it needs. I hope that will make it a much more enjoyable read for you.
I have a new CG for it already prepared with a bunch of alternative pieces, a piece of new amazing music from Hughhh (althought I'm 95% sure that will need to wait for v45's content), the PATHS cover ALL the nodes now, I changed a whole bunch of code to make it easier to implement alternative language options into the game, and now we have Chinese and Russian language option in the startup. More languages may be added later, after we make sure everything runs smoothly.
Completing PATHS was what took the most extra time, and the main reason why I doubt I'll manage to finish the build in March. I knew I should have spread that expansion over v44 and v45, but I got too excited and really wanted to see all of it in its full glory. I think it was worth it! I'll still tweak it a little in the future, make it prettier, add extra info in the nodes, and fix up all the bugs you guys will surely report, but all of that will be just small work. The biggest part is already over, and I'm super happy with how it turned out.
Other than that, I spent a few of my less busy evenings learning about shaders in Unity, to make sure our side RPG project is as visually pleasing as possible before we finally start sharing screenshots, clips, and such. I'm really excited to finish Shelter the VN one day to finally join my coder friend in building our Unity game full-time. It's turning out really special and the battles are fun already (at least to me uwu). Since I already officially shared all of the character teasers on Patreon, the next devlogs I share about SheltRPG will finally start covering the details of the actual game, the gameplay mechanics, and also our WiP assets, so look forward to that!
I think that's it. I'll take the rest of this Sunday evening off to relax a little, and I'll get back to writing and drawing as soon as I wake up. I hope you'll enjoy the night adventures of Alon and the Rat <3
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-03-23 20:41:50 +0000 UTC
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For the upcoming update, the continuation of Alon's story!
It will have more poses, expressions and maybe some extra light effect in the actual game.
I'm looking forward to sharing it with you soon <3
Awoo!
2025-03-19 19:44:15 +0000 UTC
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Awoo!
I thought I'd finally post the concept for the sixth and final party member of the side project we've been working on. Soon(ish) to become the main project, after we bring Shelter the VN to its conclusion.
His name is Falos, he's a big Cock, and a Bardbarian. He uses the power of music to overwhelm his enemies. He bashes them with his reinforced accordion and intimidates with his loud voice.
In the current concept of the story, he is Sansun's close friend and his travelling companion. He was either the reason why Sansun left banditry or someone he met soon after he did.
At first, he used Sansun as a useful fool for protection and as a muscle on the path to realizing the cock's dreams. However, Sansun's innocence, good heart, and downright unsettling disregard for his own well-being awakened the sense of shame and empathy in Falos he never thought he had. The first time Falos put a dent on his accordion was when he bashed it on someone's head to save Sansun.
They continue their travels, but this time it was for the sake of supporting each others' dreams, Sansun's and Falos's both. Protecting each other from whatever stands in their way.
Eventually, Falos learned of the existence of a new settlement at the far North edge of the Canine country and its powerful warlord, which Sansun recognized from descriptions as his lost brother, Lucas Mossmane. They sent a gift of foreign snacks to the warlord, announcing imminent arrival, and set out towards the dangerous Canine lands.
Unfortunately, Falos gets captured by the Crimson Royal Grove's soldiers right before they could reach the Corrupted Borderlands between the countries. Now Sansun embarks on the mission to rescue his Rooster friend from under General Gunner's nose…
……but things get freaky, and not in a sexy way.
But of course this is just a simplified version of the current vague concept of the story, and it can change multiple times before we even release the first build. Whatever we settle on, I'm sure it'll be super cool!
Now that I look at their pictures, I see that both Falos and Sansun have faces and manes in orange and red, which is accidentally fitting! Like attracts like!
I like to talk about the origins of character creation, and there is kinda a past source to Falos, too.
Remember how I said Noon Moon was my first even DnD character? Well, technically, Falos was my first one even before Noon, but I never really counted him as one. He was from my very first time of trying a DnD and it was a bit of a disaster. I barely remember the details from that anymore, but the DM was kinda grumpy through the game, and I was killed in one hit by some overpowered monster when I was still getting the hang of the rules. Well over double my max HP hit. I wasn't even allowed last words as a character.
Thank dog I didn't give up on DnD forever after a crazy first-time experience like that! It's a wonderful pastime when done in a good environment, with good people, and all the future experiences with DnD after that were fun and enriching. Turned out that the first Falos game was just an exceptionally weird one, and at the very least it taught me a lot about what not to do when hosting my own games in the future haha.
So yeah, it's your turn at redemption, Falos, you beautiful Bird Bard Barbarian boy.
To finish at a high note, I can mention his dong too.
As an Avian, he has a cloaca hiding a long, thick, flexible yet rigid shaft he can wiggle and flex with full freedom, enabling a kind of sexual pleasure that no man of any other species can replicate.
I'm thinking I should maybe just draw a page of dicks of all six species groups and explain their anatomy in more detail sometime… There's a bunch of really important lore there, tying to the qualities of each Mana and all that. Each one of them has something special going for them…
So yeah, that's the Cock. I'm still gonna post a size comparison of all the current designs, and after that, I'll start sharing details of the current development of the game's engine, sprites, and stuff. Look forward to that!
Awoo!
Your Dog,
Raus Vuffski
2025-03-16 16:59:47 +0000 UTC
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