Developer Blog - January 2025

Hello all!

Hold on to your butts. It's gonna be a long one.

Firstly, a warm welcome to all the new people since last month (and that's a whole lot of you). Thank you all for your support.

I've called it the Developer Blog, rather than Development Update as I wanted to do something slightly different with this month's update so I'll quickly touch on the usual stuff.

Chapter 7:

• Posing and rendering is now 100% complete. I rendered the final image from it yesterday. Render count is now officially 1465. I'm also roughly a third of the way through the post work already.

• I've already added all sfx and now working through the music.

• I've also revamped the special render galleries to make more use of the space and allow for more thumbnails without having to spill onto multiple pages... though no doubt that will still come eventually.

• Naturally, with two new side girls coming, I've also got their profiles and galleries ready too.

• Still a bunch of the writing to do for lewd scenes.

But now on to the other stuff.

Firstly, I want to talk about those member numbers. With a combination of winning that Rookie of the Year poll, putting the game on the Oppaiman Store and word of mouth from you guys, my subscriber numbers have more than doubled in the past two weeks alone.

To say I'm ecstatic at this is an understatement. Thank you everyone who is showing me your love. You don't understand what this means to me, both in terms of just being supported, and the pride in that I seem to be making something that most people enjoy. It's also a huge relief to me for another personal reason.

As you know, I also work full time in a high-stress managerial position. Recently, I had to take some time off from the job due to stress, and if I'm honest, part of that stress comes from also working on Origin Story at the same time, as much as I love it. Having now returned to work, I have made the decision to step down from the position. I was being overwhelmed with the workload, purposefully understaffed and having to deal with some serious HR issues that I was neither trained or mentally equipped to deal with. The main issue ultimately I was expected to be an asshole to my staff, which I am not. So I came back, told the senior management no more and stepped down to a lesser position.

In doing that, I will be taking a significant pay cut. I'm talking a fifth of my salary. So the huge relief in the increase in subscribers comes here, because this is more than making up the difference on what I'll be losing every month from work to save my sanity. Now if we can only keep going then I'll be able to drop out of work completely so I can solely focus on Origin Story. I can only cross my fingers. Until then, it should mean less stress overall in my life, so working on the game won't take as much out of me as it did until now.

And this brings me on to what I wanted to talk about. Naturally, as a developer you occasionally check up on other developers and projects to see how they're doing. I did a lot of this the past few days and it has frankly, upset me a little bit for a couple of reasons.

One of the big reason it upsets me is I see other developers, who I can only assume are in similar positions to me, having to work to a fulltime job alongside developing to make ends meet. These are developers who are delivering really great games, frequently updating and always engaging with their communities who deserve way more recognition and support than they are getting. Some of them, I was frankly taken aback by just how few supporters they have.

So I want to use my sudden surge in numbers to give back and spread some unprompted love to the lesser supported devs out there. So, here are some games I think you guys need should check out and throw some support at if you like them and are able.

As you would have already seen today, I did some cross promotion with Amomynous Games' Office Perks. That is a game which I really enjoy with a really awesome developer, so you still need to check out that (and if you're already an Office Perks fan, you'll have a nice surprise in the near future). Amomynous, however, is pulling in roughly the same numbers as me right now... I want to to spread some other love those with even fewer supporters.

You'll recognize some of them from my recommendations already, but some are not on there yet. And full disclosure, yes, some of them are from developers I am friendly with but they still deserve your eyes on their games. Some of them, are from developers I have had little to no contact at all with. I just love their games and it has bothered me showing how little support they have.

The following games are all ones that I have personally played and enjoyed, are being actively worked on and have nowhere near the support they deserve. To be clear, I'm picking games that have less subs than I do at the point of writing this. Between work and developing, I generally only play other AVNs on my lunch breaks, so I have very little time. As such, I'm sure there are even more out there that deserve support, but unfortunately I may not have played them yet.

Wild Cats by LopaPhi

Wild Cats is the story of a former volleyball star whose career trajectory has taken a turn for the worse after a devastating shoulder injury. He is accepted into a prestigious university under one condition, he coaches the university's troublesome girls volleyball team.

Wild Cats was put on my radar after it was one of the other top contenders for Rookie of the Year, and after playing it, it rightfully deserved it's place among those nominees. Full disclosure, I have only played the first chapter but that was enough for me to see the huge potential there. Chapter 2 was literally released for public a couple of days ago so I will be diving right back in soon.

Warning, it is a HS game, so if that's not your thing then... maybe you're like me who didn't rate HS games a few years back but now my top 3 AVNs are all HS. Check it out.

You can support LopaPhi here or download WildCats for free here

A Foreign World by Highborn Tiger

I was made aware of this game by one huge fan of invisible girls (if you know, you know) who was also a fan of one in this game too. It turns out, we share some other similar plot elements too.

It's the story of a retired agent who crosses paths with a group of superpowered women escaping their universe and the all-powerful tyrant pursuing them. After inviting them into his home and earning their trust, some easier than others, he is challenged to a battle with the villain chasing them.

The girls must get the agent ready for the fight, granting him their power... and sometimes their bodies.

This game is criminally under-supported so please, support the dev here or you can buy the game on steam here

Somewhere I Belong by Mr Baker

If you were to ask me to name the AVN with the most unique style, this might be the first to come to mind.

It's set in a post-apocalyptic South America, ravaged by a zombie apocalypse and follows a group of survivors trying to make do inside, and occasionally outside, of one of the last standing human strongholds.

The art style on this one is insane to me, and therefore it's insane that it doesn't get as much love as it deserves. Plus it has very unique and beautiful characters, and yes, some of them are curvy in all the right ways.

Support Somewhere I Belong here or download chapter one here

Game of Hearts by SparkHG

This is the one that really took me aback by how little support it had compared to how much I hear people talking about it and recommending it. Sure, it's doing better than the rest of the games on this list right now but I expected, given all the praise, for it to have way more support than it does.

You play a young guy thrust into a strange new life when he founds out he is a demon who can grow more powerful by seducing (and corrupting if so desired) various women to be his loyal followers.

It has a very different approach to the spicy scenes that's worth of taking a peek at.

Check out Game of Hearts here

Between Two Worlds by Drooskati

Another game that I find the lack of support for baffling. Granted, Between Two Worlds is also available on Steam, so I can only hope the earnings there are making up for the lack of support here (*update: I'm told they definitely are, still it needs your attention if you haven't played it).

Between Two Worlds is a story about a group of normal twenty-something friends who hold weekly DnD sessions. It alternates between a slice of life setting and a fantasy setting when they're playing their game... but then something happens that blurs the lines between the two settings.

Before I played this, someone told me Hannah, the MC's girlfriend, would get along very well with Evelyn. Upon playing it, it soon became clear why. Cute redhead potential harem queens? Yes please.

Experience in tabletop RPGs may enhance your enjoyment in the game, but honestly, that is something I have zero experience in and I still enjoyed it immensely.

The next chapter is the final chapter, so show Droosk some love here or buy the game on steam here

Fairwood Retreat 87 by Sakura Blossom Games

Another VN with a take on the style I've never seen before that currently is shockingly only supported by two dozen people. Fairwood Retreat 87 is an homage to 80s horror/slasher movies with a female lesbian MC. Aya promises the homage to the slasher genre doesn't just extend to its summer camp setting, but also in that there will be death within the cast and that is something I am very interested to see.

While there are only two chapters out so far, I enjoyed them immensely and I'm excited to see where this goes. Support the game at here or download for free from itch here

The Power of Truth by DogCat Studios

Another game by an awesome dev that I have become acquainted with recently.

The Power of Truth is the story of a college professor who is wrestling with the mysteries of his past while juggling numerous relationships with work colleagues and students alike.

It features some really great renders that make you question whether DogCat has done this before (I don't actually know the answer to that), comedic moments and one girl (pictured) who was right up my alley, especially when she restricted me to only one of her alleys, and not the usual one.

Support DogCat here and download for free on itch here

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Ok, that is it for this month. Just one last thing to cover off before I leave you.

There's something a little special planned next week. I've already made a small change that might clue you into what that might be, if you've spotted it.

See you next month all!