Devlog - Year One

Hello Again!

Last week we realized that, despite posting weekly status updates about Summer Heat for a whole year, we haven't really talked much about what happens behind the scenes. And seeing as February 2nd was the anniversary of our first release, why not do it now? So, let's talk about the first release and some set design!

First, some quick fun facts to distract you from the length of this post:

• Sophie was originally blonde.
• Mia was the first character.
• Eve and Sophie used to look completely different.
• There are 146 choices in the game, some small and some big.
• "Oh" is said roughly 35 times per chapter.
• We've consumed about 1400 cups of coffee/energy drinks since starting.
• The save directory for Summer Heat is called "no" because when Ren'Py asked if we wanted to name it, Robison answered no. And we kept it ever since.

The First Release

On February 2nd, 2022, we released the first chapter of Summer Heat. But the development didn't start then. It had started earlier, all the way back in 2021. And oh boy, did we have to learn a lot before that first release was finally ready!

The characters. The environment. The story. The renders! Naturally, we started by trying to animate the entire train scene. This... didn't go well. Branching was also something we had to cut back on, especially so early. The first scene after Player wakes up on the train can break into 6 separate branches. Why so many, you might ask? And that's a good question. Moving on...

By the time we arrived at the train station, it was time for Freeplay. We had a very clear idea of how we wanted to tackle it: sandbox, but not really. We also wanted the player to be able to access his phone during these moments. Ember was one of our first ideas for the game—a dating app that we could easily add content to and build on along side the main story. After all, what could be better than some guilt-free sexting and nudes?

We built the phone, Ember, and even a small phone game. Ember wasn't going to have any content in the very beginning, so we opted for a small joke instead. When the player goes to select Women as his dating preference, the game pulls the cursor towards Men instead, and he misclicks. Haha, right? No. This did NOT play out well. Many people thought the app was bugged and unplayable. That's our bad. We've since made it more clear by adding hints and even a customer service button to help reinforce the joke.

Player was then introduced to the rest of the main characters, as well as the lodge, and the demo was concluded shortly after. 

Now it's exactly one year later and we've released another two short updates and one bigger update. Not to mention CH05, which is well underway. One massive difference between now and then is the update size. CH04 was as large as the previous two chapters, and CH05 will be even bigger!

Set Design

The train station was the first set we worked on. It took the longest to create and turned out very laggy in the end, mostly due to our inexperience. Regardless, we truly enjoyed the process of designing and building our own sets! Knowing that most aspects of the world were designed by us made it all feel so much more real. That feeling was the "gateway drug" which led to us creating all of our own sets.

We also have a couple of time-lapse pictures saved up! Starting with...

The lodge. Destination of Art Summer and Kate's home. There's not much to say about it except that it's a house... with a garage!

The backyard. The backyard will be more relevant to the story than the front yard. Many activities will occur here, such as the team exercise in CH04. Most of the area has already been seen, but there's still plenty to explore—such as the Jacuzzi and the small, private shed.

The strip mall. We got a little bit carried away... The GPU did not like this one. The strip mall from CH02 will also be a reoccurring location in Summer Heat.

Bill's grocer. It was fun to build, but a major pain in the ass to work with. There are just too many objects on the shelves. Some tears may have been shed while working with this set.

Forest path. We created several forest sets for CH04 and future chapters. This is one of them. Unlike the train station and strip mall, the forest sets don't lag at all! This set was also used for the Halloween render with Eve. 

The field. This is where the class goes with Mr. Miller in CH04. It's a bit worn down, as you might have noticed.

The glade. Don't mind the creepy doll! Sophie and Player have a private conversation here in CH04. Another likely reoccurring location, along with the other forest sets. 

Abandoned school. We've also been slowly building this abandoned school, which can be seen in the distance in CH04. It's a work in progress, as you can see. We won't visit there yet but it will play a role in the future. 

...And there are many more sets to come!

Year One

We've reached all our Patreon goals so far thanks to your support, but we've been holding off on creating a new one. This is because our next goal will be a major one. 2023 will be an interesting year for Summer Heat... and for us!

We feel incredibly lucky and grateful to be able to work on Summer Heat. We hope to continue learning and growing as developers and we're super happy to have you along with us on this journey. The feedback in our surveys and elsewhere has been tremendously helpful as well, and we hope you'll always continue giving us your honest opinions!

And to finish things off, here's the first preview of CH05! Full size version attached below.

Thank you for an amazing year!

Robison & Npx