altosandherdone
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Development Update 46
🕑 Added 2023-06-08 16:25:30 +0000 UTCHey guys,
I hope everyone has had a chance to play through the new content. I normally avoid spoilers this close to a release, however, there was quite a bit I wanted to say about the fundraiser storyline while it's still fresh in people's minds. I've separated the spoilers out into a separate section at the bottom.
Maxine's fundraiser was quite a bit different from previous updates because of its linear nature. In terms of word count, it was the longest update I’ve written (It didn’t have the most images or animations, but it wasn’t far off). I know that compared to the rest of the game each update is relatively small, and six months or so between updates might feel like a long time, giving some the mistaken impression that development is slowing down. However, if you look back across the development process as a whole a very different picture emerges. I started working on this game back in early 2018, releasing day one as a demo in January 2019. Since that time I’ve written over 500,000 words of dialogue, made around 14,000 images and nearly 1,000 videos. Objectively, a colossal amount of work for a single writer/artist (whatever the internet’s trolls might say). Version 0.14 added another 50,000 words and 1000 renders, so it was fairly average in size compared to other recent game versions (12 and 13), and significantly larger than any game early version that came before that. If we also take into consideration the amount of time we’ve invested recently in improving the art, animations and code. The reality is that the amount of content we produce has been coming incrementally faster and with higher quality over time. I spoke already about my health problems at the end of last year and the disrupting effect this had on the last development cycle (with large parts of the fundraiser being written from my sick-bed). So, to have written and animated an entire 50K word screenplay from scratch, despite these setbacks, is an achievement that I can feel proud of, and it is a very positive sign for the future of the game's development.
Rachel: "Why are we up here, Master? Your bag is really heavy."
Headmaster: "We’re making an analogy, Rachel. Now, stay close, the most difficult part of our journey still lies ahead."
Looking back at how far the game has come over the last few years I feel like a climber halfway up a mountain, looking back down at the starting point in the distance below and feeling pride at my accomplishment so far. However, turning around to face the mountain’s peak ahead of me, I know that the most difficult part of my journey is still to come. As we get closer towards the end game I need to have a clear and carefully planned path to the summit, or risk becoming lost and stranded or even falling to my grisly demise. So, that brings me on to discuss what I feel went wrong with the last update. Because, despite producing a fun story under difficult circumstances, there are still lessons for me to learn and changes that need to be made to my creative process. The elephant in the room is the fact that the fundraiser was not what I initially planned to make. Version 0.14 was meant to be a quick update where I finished the staff training storyline so I could focus on Faye. Instead, I wrote a lengthy story about Maxine and Ada, and the staff training storyline remains incomplete. I explained in detail how this situation arose in a previous update so I won’t go into that again now. What I need to focus on is how to prevent the same thing happening again and how to turn the situation to my advantage.
As a writer I need a certain amount of creative freedom and generally speaking my best content is where I’ve let my imagination run wild. However, as a game developer I need to remain focused on the task of creating a finished product. With this in mind, I believe that Maxine’s fundraiser will make an excellent chapter break. All the girls now have a modified uniform, plus they all have lots of sexy outfits leftover from the fundraiser. Plus, by linking Maxine's story to a Main Quest (Who's pulling Mykock?), we've got all players roughly to the same point. Therefore, we are perfectly positioned to push the game into a new chapter. I initially only intended for there to be three chapters, however, Chapter 2 is already starting to feel quite bloated. So instead, I think it would be a good idea to put in a chapter break now and aim for four chapters. Chapter 3 will have a new antagonist (Zoe) and subjugating both her and Ruth will be the main story arc for Chapter 3. Chapter 4 will then comprise something of a free-for-all, with the headmaster having total control over the school, leading to several possible endings.
Ruth and new student Zoe will be the main antagonists for Chapter 3
So my medium term goal is, therefore, to wrap up Chapter 2 and start Chapter 3. Of course there are a lot of loose ends from chapter 2 I need to tie up first. Plus several storylines which have been neglected and need at least some advancement to keep them ticking over. This is the list of what I consider to be essential content to get done before starting Chapter 3:
- Completing the staff training storyline. This storyline will advance Debbie, Amy and Claire. It will have a new main quest and will ultimately lead to a rule allowing the headmaster to strip the girls naked for corporal punishment. Completing this and the other two main quests for Chapter 2 (Leave No Girl’s Behind, and Who’s Pulling Mykock?) will trigger chapter 3.
- Between one and three levels for the following girls. Ideally in this priority order, but I might need some flexibility so I can work as efficiently as possible. We can finish off each storyline in Chapter 3:
- Faye
- The twins
- Liz
- Alice
- Second date with Samantha
- Advancement for the group medicals
- Introduction of new student antagonist, Zoe. (Zoe will be the last of the named students, however, we’ll still see plenty more unnamed extras).
Now, some of you may recognise some of the items on that list from previous development updates. I’ve been trying to add many of these things for a very long time (e.g. second date with Samantha). However, our recent updates have now all followed the same predictable pattern. I’ll start off planning to make one major story arc and to advance a few minor (but important) ones. However, once I start writing a big storyline (e.g. Priti or Rachel’s story arcs or the fundraiser) I tend to get sucked in. I’ll end up doing something elaborate and complicated and, before I know it, I'll have to cut out everything else I had planned and focus all my effort and attention on completing the main story arc. It has led to some memorable storylines, but I’m not achieving the overall pace of progress that I would like.
Normally, at this point in the new development cycle I would start writing the next big storyline, which in this case would be Faye (and Nina’s) story arc. However, I need to avoid repeating my mistakes. Instead, I am going to write all the key scenes for the list above. That's a lot of writing. Even with just the first few levels for those girls, we are still probably looking at around hundred thousand words of dialogue. Much of which won't actually appear in the game until version 0.16, or even version 0.17. I have to start taking this long term approach though, otherwise we risk wandering off course and never reaching that summit. Plus, if I am not going into each update with a blank page I'll have a much easier time managing my work loads, estimating how long everything will take, and making sure I am not leaving loose ends.
Normally, I wouldn't have the luxury of being able to dedicate so much time to writing ahead. However, since I have had to cut so much half finished content from the last few updates, I currently have a significant number of scenes that are already written and ready to render. The staff training storylines and class punishments are at an advanced stage in terms of the writing, storyboarding and setting up the animations. So, if I divide my time equally between writing ahead to the end of chapter 2, and capturing all the scenes that are half finished; I should be able to produce a decent sized update relatively quickly, while also buying myself time to write ahead and get all the other storylines moving again.
The staff training storyline and the class punishments are at an advanced stage of development
So what does this all mean for the next update? Well, it's hard to say just now. We might be moving into a temporary phase of smaller, more frequent updates. Mainly composed of lots of small scenes, as I clear my backlog of unfinished content in the order of closest to completion. This should buy me the time I need to write my way through my list of essentials and push us into a new chapter as quickly as possible. The staff training storyline will form the bulk of version 0.15. However, there will also be a lot of standalone scenes featuring all the characters in my wish list above. I also have a ton of random cut content for the last few updates, all of which I can add relatively easily while my main attention is on writing ahead. There was a bunch of stuff that got cut from Rachel's storyline including; more sex animations, showing a random extra how to give a handjob, plus (most scandalously of all) some public hand holding. There was a cut blowjob scene for Lucy in the headmaster’s office. Plus I have a funny scene written with a masked streaker in the cafeteria and subsequent nude line-up (designed specifically to show off our new technical capabilities with body physics).
So, all in all, the game is in a really great position at the moment. I've got a golden opportunity to write ahead to the end of Chapter 2, whilst also clearing my backlog of half finished scenes. Give me a few weeks to formulate a more exact plan and then I’ll try to set out some time-frames.
MAJOR SPOILERS FOR v0.14 AHEAD:
I said in my release notes that there was a lot of hidden meaning in the fundraiser storyline. Some of it was fairly explicit, some was quite subtle so I am going to clarify a few things now.
The fundraiser storyline started when Mr Mykock contacted the school’s owners.
The fundraiser storyline started off as an in-character patron poll where Mr Mykock messaged the school’s owners. To be clear, I don’t see my patrons as literally being the school's owners, that wouldn’t make any logical sense. However, there are undeniable parallels between the two groups and therefore that is a role which you guys get to take within the story. Mr Mykock refers to the school's owners as; "a loose conglomerate of forward-thinking and like-minded philanthropists" which from my perspective sums you guys up quite well. Who better to decide how a group of anonymous like-minded patrons would behave than a group of anonymous like-minded patrons.
The influence of my patrons can be found throughout this story in subtle ways. As Maxine correctly deduces, just seeing her naked wasn't what the school's owners really cared about. They were taking pleasure in putting her in humiliating situations and it was her discomfort that was the source of their arousal. This mirrors the reality of my job in writing this kind of erotic fiction. Understanding the characters and what they are feeling is much more important to creating arousing situations than simply showing some boobs. A picture of a random naked girl is arousing, a picture of a known respectable character pressured to expose herself on camera is much more so. Maxine realised she was being used as a sexual pawn, but was still willing to sacrifice her dignity for her cause. In this way, her nudity throughout the week was even more humiliating than it would have been for a girl who didn’t understand what was happening or didn’t care about being seen nude.
Ada took the role of villain during the fundraiser, but she was only doing what she thought the school’s owners wanted.
Of course, not everyone enjoys the game for such nuanced character motivations and there has always been a portion of my audience who are primarily focused on getting to have sex with the girls as quickly as possible. A pressure I have felt fairly constantly since I started this project and something that was playing on my mind as I was writing this story. When Ada spoke with Mr Mykock over the phone, he told her to “think hard about what the school's owners want to see." Ada believes that they must want to see Maxine being fucked, and so she attempts to blackmail the headmaster and Maxine into having sex on camera. When Ada says the school's owners “will be expecting a lot more than this for their money." and that "they'll be hoping this goes all the way”, Ada became the voice of that part of my audience who wanted sex more quickly. In many ways that part of the story was written as a direct counter to those people by demonstrating exactly why it isn’t necessarily a good idea, whilst also attempting to appease those very same people by letting them see what fucking Maxine would have looked like (in the headmaster’s head) with some nice animations. The headmaster comes to the right decision in the end and is rewarded with a group blowjob from Maxine and the others, showing that slow and steady progress at corrupting the girls is much more enjoyable and satisfying than immediately fucking them.
Reilly’s character was introduced to act as liaison between the school’s owners and the school board
My audience’s influence can be felt again towards the end of the story, as I realised I was getting off track and needed a better ending to drive the story forward. The character of Reilly Goodhead was initially only intended as a cheap one-liner joke. However, I soon realised that Reilly is more pleasing to the eye than Mr Mykock and would make a far better liaison between the school's owners and the school board for future interactions. When Reilly shows up she tells the headmaster that “her employers dislike loose ends”.That was very much in anticipation of what I felt the main backlash would have been if I had not included Ada’s punishment. She also told him that he was doing a good job, but that the school’s owners “only wished things were moving along a little faster”. An acknowledgement of the most frequent criticism I face as a creator. The headmaster’s response was much the same as mine, in that “I am making progress as quickly as I can.” Throughout the discussions at the subsequent board meeting Reilly became the voice of my patrons speaking within the game itself.
In summary then, this update was meant as a way to draw parallels between the school’s owners in the game and their real world counterparts in my patrons, as well as demonstrating just how much of an influence you guys have on the game’s developing story. It also set up for more in-character polls in the future, providing a way for my patrons to interact with the story in an engaging and meaningful way. At some point relatively soon, those of you in the Teacher tier will receive a message from Reilly. I want to stress again that these polls are "canon", any patron post that is in character can be thought of as happening in the game’s world. Obviously, I can't take on any more major storylines like the fundraiser again for some time, at least until I’ve caught up with my list of essentials above. However, there are plenty of important details that we should clear up before moving into chapter 3. Including details about the girls uniform changes, the direction for the group medicals among other things.
Altos
Comments
TravelingT72
Very well written and informative. The game has now taken a whole new meaning for me and I appreciate more of what it takes to create a quality game that keeps your players around for the long run. I am glad I took the time to read your explanation of the story process and will be your supporter for as long as you continue. I add my thanks along with the rest of your supporters!
Steve Manus
Thanks for the great work and very detailed explanation of the storyline development! I would just like to put in a vote that, in finishing Liz's storyline, you introduce the discipline and humiliation in front of boy students that you have hinted at during her classroom discipline. I think by introducing visitation from a boy's school, you could really add another level of humiliation to the girls punishments and some additional sexual tension to the storyline. Thanks again!
I have absolutely loved your work so far and I have no doubt that your future updates will be just as amazing. It has been a long time since I have played a game that got me as invested in it as this one. Thank you for all your hard work.
