July 2025 Devlog

Happy Friday, Apollo Patrons, Adam here!

This will be a behind-the-scenes update / devlog combined.

First off, if you’ve seen our posts and messages over this past week, you know that we’re grappling with a lot of different hurdles right now. In addition to the financial difficulties that Blayke elaborated on, we also received news that itch.io has de-listed and shadow-banned all adult category projects at present while conducting a “comprehensive audit.” This news isn’t world-ending, BUT it does hurt. Itch was the only place we had “marketplace” type exposure, where new customers could find our stuff when they’re in the mood to browse for a new game to play. Losing that for now will make it more important than ever for us to try to get the word out about our projects and updates through any other available channel. We rely on all of you a lot to help with that. If you enjoy playing something, are excited to see an update, or have any reactions to our content, please continue to like, comment, share, and repost. Every little thing you can do to help us increase visibility right now will help keep this work afloat!

All that being said, I also want to assure everyone that Blayke and I aren’t approaching any of this with a defeatist attitude. We are having multiple conversations every single day and are strategizing new approaches, production roadmaps, and some changes to the way we do things.

One of the things we are both crystal clear about is that we want to add more transparency to this process. We’ve received a lot of comments in the past week regarding the things y’all wish we could improve upon. One answer that has frequently been mentioned is the “delay” between project releases. The truth is that what actually feels or seems like a “delay” is literally the production time and process for putting the next game update together. This process is not quick or easy. There are LOTS of moving pieces. To mitigate that, we want to start being more transparent about the type of work that’s occurring. 

Currently, we’re planning on doing that a couple of ways:

1. By trying to share some devlog-type posts (or at least behind-the-scenes looks) more consistently - at least every few weeks. That will give you a chance to know what’s coming next, be reassured that the work is continuing, and help you get excited with us about when the next game update is going to drop.

2. We’re going to experiment with adding a new channel to the Discord - “bts-and-progress”. Patrons will be able to see daily updates on what’s being worked on. We’ll pop in and share little anecdotes about the work we’re doing, our creative process, and maybe give y’all a few screenshots and teasers along the way.  *If you’re not already in our Discord, please consider this a great invitation to join us! It’s an awesome way to hear more from us, learn more about the characters and content, and connect with the community we’re building here!*

Ok, now that I’ve gotten all of that out of the way, let’s do a short rough devlog!

What are we currently working on?

New Hope baby!!! Following the success of the last update, we have decided to maintain the momentum in our effort to bring the remaster up to the original game’s content. We are in a rhythm, and we are trying to ride that wave.

Where are we in the process this week?

We are working on Chapter 5, Scene 2—the morning when everyone wakes up at Rachael’s house. Writing is done for that scene. Core scenery images are mostly done. Sprite work is in progress now. Sprites require outfit changes, posing, expressions, and potential variations to account for lighting differences in a scene - They still save us a lot of work from a production standpoint, but they’re not a one-and-done thing. We constantly update them with every new chapter and sometimes multiple times per chapter.

Once the spritework is done, Blayke can properly code the scene, and then we’ll be moving onto the next scene in chapter 5 🙂

What about Hollow? Why isn’t it getting the next update?

I promise we haven’t forgotten about our MGU boys (if you know me, then you know by now that I could literally never). A little personal honesty here is that our work on the next Hollow update was significantly interrupted by the death of my grandfather. Hollow’s writing is collaborative, and I wasn’t available both mentally or physically to work on that. As a result, Blayke shifted to working on New Hope writing, which put us ahead on that project. So, when I was able to return to work, it made sense to begin producing the New Hope updates that were ready to go.

The rough drafts for most of Hollow’s next update scenes are ready. We are currently revising those and completing any remaining scenes that need to be added. 

There is at least some set work that will need to be done for the next update, as well as for some different location shoots. The construction of those is underway, and in fact, I have purchased new assets just this week that will be part of that.

“If only you’d stop wasting time on short stories…”

I want to make a note to address this comment really quickly, as we’ve already discussed this in the Discord. The creation and publishing of our short stories, or the new novel Camp Hollow Pines, does not impact the time it takes to produce the game updates. The writing for those is primarily done when Blayke is away from home and doesn’t have access to his desktop - usually 1 day a week - sometimes even writing these stories on his phone.

Blayke has never shied away from letting y’all know he considers himself a writer first and foremost. It is his greatest passion in life (aside from the pups). The short stories provide another opportunity for him to showcase his passion and continue the work he loves. Even if he stopped sharing them here tomorrow, it would not decrease the time it takes for us to produce an update. These games require not just writing but an EXTENSIVE amount of image work, coding, sound editing, etc. All of that takes time, and we are literally producing them as fast as humanly possible for a two-person team, using the best hardware available on the market to do it.

The short stories are an added benefit for y’all as patrons. It’s more content, just like the art sets. We hope you’ll continue to enjoy them - especially since lots of them help build on the lore for the worlds you’re already excited about. But even if they’re not your thing, that’s ok too - but it was important to share that context.

I think that covers everything I wanted to say. Sorry this update was so long, future devlog-style updates won’t be like this because there won’t be so much behind-the-scenes stuff to address.

As always, thank you for being here, for showing us the support and enthusiasm you do, and for helping us continue this work that is so important to us!

- Adam