Gii posts
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Sailor Pluto
I've had this idea in my head for a while of Sailor Pluto with Louboutin-style heels, the ones with red soles on the back. Plouboutin? Pluboutin? yeah I can't make that pun work lolAnyways, I finally drew it out to experiment further with making my digital art look traditional, specifically by coloring as if I was sketching in the colors with a pencil (hence why the colors have little white marks). Unfortunately, I don't think this wa...
Sugarplum Devlog: QoL improvements
UPDATE: A new version of the game has been uploaded with the changes below! You will need to start a new file for this new version to work, but since most of these changes are related to guiding a new player, I think that makes sense anyway. I appreciate if you could help me playtest and see if any errors occur! (The expanded pantry art may look wonky when switching between extended and single row, please ignore this for now)I have a couple of we...
Lady Pandan Thumbnails + IRL updates
Fair warning - she might not be canon. Pandan is one of my favorite dessert flavors, but I wasn't planning to have Lady Pandan in Sugarplum Cafe because I had no idea how I'd design her. But a friend wants to commission me to draw a Sugarplum Ladies-style illustration for his OC as a Lady Pandan, so I thought I'd take a shot!For those of you who are unfamiliar with pandan, it is a leaf that, when infused with rice or desserts, gives o...
55 MADELEINES
Thought about adding a drive thru to Sugarplum Cafe. Decided against it for some reason...(A shitpost referencing this videoto celebrate reaching 550 followers on Bluesky. I'm traveling this week so I will try to have a more sizeable update in my second post of the month!)
Sugarplum Devlog: Bug fixes, GDC postmortem, fanart
Hello! A new version of Sugarplum Cafe is now available in the Google Drive folder. Thanks to your help with debugging, I was able to fix some bugs! I still haven't found THE bug I've been stuck on, so continuing to debug this new build would be much appreciated!If you want to play the new build, you will need to visit the Google Drive link previously sent to you and download Sugarplum Cafe.exe again. You can delete the previous .exe file...
Commission WIP: Constantine (Pt. 2 + final)
Check out Part 1here!We left off right when I was about to start the lineart, so here are the initial lines and flats!I say "initial" because I recently discovered some new brushes I wanted to experiment with. As some of you know, I'm fascinated with the idea of making my digital art look traditional. I miss creating traditional art, but I like that digital requires less materials to purchase and carry around, and also allows you to e...
Sugarplum Devlog: IRL stuff, bugs, concept art
IRL ThingsI'm going to GDC in March! I bought a weekend pass before the layoffs, and I can't get a refund 😅 Might as well try to meet some gamedev mutuals and idols in person. I'll bring a demo for playtesting too, if anyone will be in SF for the week of March 17 I'd love to meet up - don't need to have a GDC pass, we can meet at a cafe or something!On a less bright note, most of this month was spent job hunting and studyin...
Commission WIP: Constantine (Pt. 1)
In January, a Patreon supporter commissioned me to draw an updated reference sheet for their OC, Constantine. Here's the original ref!While it would have been pretty easy to draw a straightforward ref sheet, I've been wanting to expand my commission options to be more ~aesthetic~ and not just limit myself to the tarot card layout. One commission style I've been wanting to offer is those paper doll style illustrations like I drew for t...
Sugarplum Devlog: Photos, newsletter announcement, controls, tooltips
First, following up on Ursa Major feedback...I've only received 9 responses out of the 47-ish copies I sent out. So that said, if you've played the Patreon build, I'd really appreciate your feedback as well! You can fill out the feedback survey here to stay anonymous, or you can message me your feedback directly.If you've already sent me feedback, thank you! And if you have not yet received access to the build, please comment here...
For the free members
Hey, thank you so much for the support! Just FYI, I don't plan on posting for free Patreon members at this time. I do have a free mailing list and my mailing list members receive monthly emails with Sugarplum Cafe updates, so I feel like this will cover the same purpose. You can sign up here.You can also read past emails at thelettergii.kit.com, so feel free to check there from time to time. Thanks again, and hope to see you on the other side...
Commission: Princess Serenity
A commission for a client on IG, who asked for Princess Serenity from Sailor Moonlooking over the Moon Palace! You can find my walkthrough of this piece here: Part 1| Part 2The client was originally inspired by previous commissionswhere I had this elaborate filigree background with a tarot-inspired title, but I found it hard to fit this composition onto the square bg, so I decided to extend it into a rectangular layout instead. And I think I like...
Commission WIP: Princess Serenity (Part 2)
For my art post this month, I'll be continuing my progress on this commission of Princess Serenity from Sailor Moon! Here's Part 1.Oh, and before anything - I think I'll tentatively open for commissions now that I don't have a job and I'm waiting on Sugarplum Cafe feedback before continuing work on the game. I'll still take them on a case by case basis (i.e. it depends on the subject), but I'm more likely to accept com...
Sugarplum Devlog: announcement/Ursa Major postmortem
So, Sugarplum Cafe has finally been revealed to the public! To announce the game, I updated the tea party illustration I drew last year. Vanilla's sleeves were bothering me, and so was the lack of contrast between the foreground and the background. (Old on left, new on right)Since there was no Steam page or trailer, I consider this a soft launch - this announcement was less directed at the general public and more at my current followers, for ...
First post of the month delayed
Hello! I have been trying to post every 1st and 3rd week each month. I was going to post something about the announcement of Sugarplum Cafethis weekend, but this will be postponed to next weekend.The studio where I worked fulltime (Ubisoft San Francisco) has been shut down, and I was laid off earlier this week. It's been a really terrible week even before all of that, so I need some more time to process.Since the playtest at Ursa Major is als...
I'm announcing my game tomorrow!
After my last postwhere I'd finally gotten the game loop to a point where I felt good about it, I started to think, "Hmm...I think it's time?" Tomorrow, I will be finally sharing Sugarplum Cafe on my socials: Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, and Tumblr!It's not an officialofficial announcement, because I've got no trailer video or even a Steam page. So I consider this a very soft launch. Just want to tell everyone that I'v...
Sugarplum Updates: New build for paid members + first in-person playtest!
I have amazing news: After several months of toil and trouble, the latest version of Sugarplum Cafe is playable for all paid members! There's around three hours of content in this one.I've had many doubts while working on this over the past few years, being the perfectionist that I am, but while playing it a couple weeks ago I found myself thinking for the first time, "Huh. It's coming together actually..." So I'm really e...
Commission WIP: Princess Serenity (Part 1)
This month I wanted to share a commission I've been working on! I'm not actively advertising commissions at the moment, but occasionally someone slides into my DMs and asks me to draw something very much up my alley. In this case someone asked me to draw Sailor Moon fanart, and how could I say no?She requested Princess Serenity at the Moon Castle, looking over the Planet Earth. Started with some very rough sketching...Then I fleshed out t...
Sugarplum Updates: Gossip, Teasets, Cameos
Alright, going over some other changes that have been made since the summer hiatus!GossipIn this postI had introduced a hints system where customers would share Gossip with you that would help you figure out flavor pairings and tea party flavors.At the time I didn't want players to have to keep clicking through dialogue, so I had made a separate menu where you would exchange hint points to buy new Gossip. But I've since decided to go for ...
Y2K Faeries
A rough thumbnail I drafted up for Illusen and Jhudora from Neopets. Tried to redesign their outfits to look more fashionable and ended up with these Y2K-inspired getups, so I thought of doing a web browser-inspired composition for both of them.I didn't finish these because I think I want to take a more high fashion approach! Y2K is a good fit for the style of Neopets but I think I want to brand my art to be more "pretty" and aestheti...
Sugarplum Updates: design changes, un-changes, and re-changes
Given that my Patreon break was dedicated to working on Sugarplum, I should probably fill you in on where the game is currently at!Where we left off, I had some doubts about the game design due to some feedback from some players that the gameplay was tedious. The game loop at the time was something like: tap baskets to get ingredients -> merge ingredients into desserts -> find dessert combinations -> collect customers who like the combinations ->...
What should the next post be about?
Prepping my biweekly post for the month - since it's been a while since I last posted, curious what you would like to see first!
Back from hiatus! Free stickers for all paid members!
Hello! Thank you for letting me take a summer break. I hope you all had a good summer too.What I've been up toI was able to spend these past three months continuing to code and develop the game, but there is still plenty of coding I need to work on, so unfortunately posts will still be every other week at this time. The good news is I did work on some art over the summer as well, so my plan is to alternate between one gamedev post and one art...
Jammy Desserts + summer hiatus announcement
Last month I shared the latest art for desserts, but those won't be the only sweets you can make. Introducing a line of jam-themed desserts below!To make these desserts, you'll need to convert your ingredients into jams. Jams are made by combining any ingredient with Sugar. (I wrote a little more about it in this post)You can then merge these jams into Jam Cookies,which then merge into Scones,which finally merge into Tarts.These are more ...
Meet Lady Blackberry!
About time I design a Gothic Lolita character!Well, she's mytake on Gothic Lolita, anyway. In my head traditional Gothic Lolita is more femme and frilly and doesn't have any white accents; I think she will be more modern and I want to have a second character who will be her friend and represent that aesthetic more. Maybe Lady Blackcurrant?Not sure if it's very clear but for the detail I was inspired by stained glass windows! Except in...
Meet Lady Marshmallow!
The next Sugarplum ladies will have less polished rendering - I like to tweak designs frequently and this is definitely one of the designs I don't feel very final on, so I definitely see myself changing her design in the future. Because of that, it makes sense to treat all art as placeholders at this time.But that said, the concept of BIG FUZZY MARSHMALLOWS here is gonna stay. I just really want to give her a fur muff. I couldn't figure o...
Desserts 2.0
Desserts are getting a visual overhaul in Sugarplum Cafe! I wanted the cafe's aesthetic to come across more in its desserts, so now the designs are more streamlined across flavors.It's not my favorite decision that I'm making, but I was getting overwhelmed by having to draw unique desserts for every new flavor. I will be including little ingredients in the corner so colorblind folks can tell them apart.To recap, from top to bottom we ...
Meet Lady Apple!
Lady Apple works at Shortcake Farms, the same farm where Lady Milk also works - both of them are intended to give off cottagecore vibes. With the produce grown at Shortcake Farms, she bakes pies and other rustic treats to sell at farmer's markets.Lady Apple also has a passion for teaching (because teachers + apples y'know) but she's definitely not as strict as the professors at the academy they attend. I guess maybe she's like the...
Meet Lady Sakura!
Work has been rough so I only had time to put together one new character this week, but I'm excited to introduce the latest character in the next batch of Sugarplum Ladies coming soon!Lady Sakura is your stereotypical shoujo protagonist, a clumsy girl consistently late for school 😝 I originally wanted to give her a more standard sailor school uniform but I dunno...I kind of wanted to use this opportunity to design something prettier? So I ...
New Sugarplum Ladies!
Meet some of the new characters for Sugarplum Cafe!Lady Cherry is a fashionable friend of Lady Strawberry. Like her bestie, she adores aesthetically pleasing desserts and clothing.Lady Peach...tbh I haven't figured out her story yet, I just wanted to draw a big fuzzy coat. Because Peach Fuzz? Like 2024's Color of the Year? Is this totally a sneak peek at 2024's Color of the Year design, yes it isLady Raspberry is a theater student and...
Angel Aura Commission
The client whom I recently redrew Citrine for commissioned me to draw Citrine's lover, Angel Aura. It was a very fun exercise in drawing curly hair - I usually go for larger waves than this but I actually do love the smaller curls and how they turned out. I also thought it would be fun to make the gold parts of the outfit look like it would be the glittery part of a sticker or print!And I specifically posed her so the two match :)I had anothe...
