Various Things - Like ALL the Various Things

Okay, well, maybe not ALL the things. But I wanted to take a moment to pause and address a bunch of different points. I normally try to keep updates on-topic for one game, story, poll, feedback request, or what have you. But several things have piled up. Therefore, this is sort of a clean-up post to clear the decks of various things that need addressing....

Chastity Quest:

Alright, there were a couple of things about Chastity Quest I wanted to say, related to Build 5, but didn't want to make the release post any longer than they already tend to be. First and foremost, I wanted to address Futa Content. Many or most of you will almost certainly remember the feedback poll I ran some time ago on that subject. The net result was such a dead-even split that I had to settle for the middle grown. Which...probably makes the people who wanted to see lots of futa content a bit ??? about where was in Build 5. Oh, there is a couple of new Futa scenes, but there were all of 2 of them out of 21. Build 4 was a lot better and Build 3 genuinely lived up to the balancing act, I think. But it was pretty absent in Build 5 and I wanted to address the reason for that. Put simply, there was supposed to be a new Major Character that is a futa. Unfortunately, that content was part of the secondary tier of stuff I was hoping to work on. And my gross underestimate of how much time and effort the mini-game would need meant I didn't get to it. Having said that, for various reasons, that content is now Priority 1 for Build 6. So you can expect to see a better balance next time (a BALANCE, of course, never fear if you're not into futas, there's always going to be other stuff in any given build :-p).

The second thing I wanted to mention for CQ is quicker, thankfully. I'm sure that some/many of you caught onto the fact that the mini-game has only a Easy and Medium set, right? Well, there IS a plan for a third set...but frankly I'm only going to actually do it if there's a pretty serious positive response to the mini-game. It was a HORRIBLE amount of work and stress and I don't really WANT to do a third set at this point. But, if people like it....maybe in a couple of builds wants the trauma has faded -_-....

Short Story Rewards:

Yep, I know I'm now horribly behind on last month's. Normally, I try to get it out just a few days late if it's late. But, and I'm going to be blunt here, I burned myself out horribly getting the Chastity Quest release done. I was basically pulling 12 hour work days for a week and half straight (that 7 days a week, so basically 84 hour weeks) in order to still hit my primary goal for the build. Something that was only even possible because of my quietly mentioned loss of day job work, leading to me spending more time to try and make my Patreon actually full-time. Which...so far isn't turning much result, but I also haven't released Haven's Port to the public yet, so I'm still hopeful.

Anyway, I had to try and take at least a little time off. I haven't actually stopped working on stuff, since frankly I can't afford to if I want to hit my self-appointed deadlines, but I chopped back my hours for a few days in order to recover a bit. Net result, I only just got started on the story outline last night. The good news is that, the little work I've done, means I should have a good few days of render-time mostly set up, so I can work on the story stuff while renders are happening for Haven's Port. The other good news is that, since the same story (the ME fanfic) won again, I'm actually planning on writing producing something like 15,000 words between the two story rewards. Essentially, increasing the size of both by 50% each as an apology for the delays!

Haven's Port:

Whew, finally got to what the post images are about! At this point, I've closed down the poll regarding what to focus on for Build 2 and begun to actually put together what I need to make the General Content winning result real. I've spent the last couple of days tracking down and buying another $60 or so in assets...and failing to find a couple I needed. One, I adjusted the story to remove, though I was a bit grumpy about doing so. The other, I basically had to make from pieces since it was REALLY needed. The results of that are the test render of the Magic Shop, featured above! That isn't even remotely a pre-made store, but rather the results of about 4 hours of hard work on my part trying to put a ton of different assets together into something that looks like a magic shop. I...think I succeed? The lighting is still giving me fits.. even after I spent ANOTHER 4 hours trying to make the lighting not suck T-T. Anyway, with a few more tweaks to the lighting, I think it will serve.

Oh, and the other render was more fun and easier...she a new Major Character for Haven's Port ;-). She also, I might add represents a fairly major behind-the-scenes decision that I hope people approve of. I almost ran a poll on the topic...but it would have cost more time and there were already multiple polls running when I was considering it....

Essentially, she represents the choice to go ahead and inject multiple-races into the Haven's Port world. I was a little reluctant to do that both because I wasn't sure how well that fit the setting...and it also wouldn't be as organic as I'd have liked it to be. Because I'm acquiring assets piecemeal, there are, for example, no other races wandering around Haven's Port in the main 'around town' image. Or in the bar, or shoving their cocks through the Gloryhole...or..,,well, you get the idea...

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and go for it. I'll probably make it so that the non-human population is low, to help explain how they pop up without being in crowd scenes early on. But I think including them helps variety a bit, as well as providing some more options for content types. And I hope everyone feels like they fit the world, rather than being tacked on...