Welcome to another of my monthly devlogs ~ Despite last month being art fight, I managed to get a surprising amount of work done for a couple of my visual novels. Well ... more than I thought I would anyway.

Dragon Roommates
    I did some writing, but more so programming needed for the new chapter. Including doing a fix for some of the scenes with Ignis and Griffin in chapter 2 in order to accommodate the new outfits, similar to what I had to do for Nixie and Wisteria a while back. Not to get into too much technical detail, but this was my first time doing the layered image sprites and I found a much easier way of doing it as I was working on Nixie and Wisteria's chapter two route. However these "fixes" may also lead to new bugs and issues. If I missed any of the old codes, the new outfits aren't going to load properly or some sprites may appear larger than usual and you'll see nothing a but a giant shoe on the screen. ^^; Of course I'll do my best to playtest as much as I can before the chapter three release, but I'm only one person, so I'm bound to miss a hiccup here or there given the complexity of Dragon Roommates, with many branching and remerging routes ... it's hard to playtest everything myself. But as always, if you ever run into any strange or especially game-breaking issues when playing, just leave a comment and I'll fix it ASAP.
    In addition to these fixes, I also designed and added a handful of new clothes for Griffin. In total, for Griffin I added: 3 t-shirts, 1 tank top, 1 athletic shirt and shorts combo, and a cat costume consisting of a top, bottom, cat ears, and a collar. Now the cat costume is unique in that you have to purchase it (in-game currency of course) as a set. However, if you select the "change clothes" option at Home, you can put on or remove the pieces of the set individually. For example if you want Griffin to wear the cat ears and/or cat collar with a t-shirt and jeans, you can definitely do so. I'll probably post a reminder for this when version 1.4 is released.
    I also finished one of the nsfw CGs. Although, as expected, I did more writing/programming than art this time. But the good news is we're getting close to the half-way point. So I'm feeling pretty confident I'll be able to finish 1.4 before the end of the year. Then, if all goes according to plan, in 2025 we can do Nixie and Wisteria's final route and finally finish this project, so we can move onto the sequel. Which yes, I do already have a sequel in mind. But I don't want to share too much on that just yet, as it's still very much in the early stages of development, as most of my time is focused on finishing my current projects before delving into a brand new ambitious one. All I'll say is it'll feature new dragon characters in the same modern day earth AU, but in another part of the world. So something to look forward to in the distant future ~ ^_^

Honkai: Star Rail Otome
    Yes! I finally found the motivation to make some substantial progress on this one. AT LAST! Don't ask me where my motivation comes from, it just comes and go at random. But seeing people download my games, commenting, and rating does help, so please keep showing your favorite vns some love, as it really helps motivate devs like me ~ ♥
    As for specifically what I did: I finished writing the scripts for all four of the dates as well as Dan Heng's confession scene which will only trigger if certain conditions are met and the player got the "Friends Forever" ending in Part 1. So what's left? Writing wise I have to do all four endings and Jing Yuan's confession scene. However, the majority of what I have left will be art related, as I want to include at least 5 new CGs. Maybe more depending on my motivation levels. And then of course lots of playtesting of various routes and combinations to make sure everything goes smoothly.
    But things are looking good. And Part 2 is going to be about twice as long as Part 1 with plenty new art to unlock, at least one per ending so the player has more incentive to experience them all should they choose. As I feel that's something I kind of skimped on in Part 1. Maybe someday I'll go back and add more artwork to Part 1. But we'll see how it goes. For now I'm pleased with the amount of work I've accomplished and confident this new update will be ready for uploading sometime in the next couple months. So long as my motivation levels stay on track. As a side note, I also went ahead and wrote a Walkthrough for all the possible routes and endings, so that'll be ready for publishing as soon as version 1.2 is released.
    As for the distant future ... who knows? Maybe I'll find the inspiration to do a Part 3. Even though I'm not actively playing HSR right now, it's always a possibility. While I was researching Dan Heng and Jing Yuan's history, I kind of have a better idea of Dan Heng and Blade's relationship now as well. So I could potentially use that as inspiration for a Part 3 where we add Blade as a new love interest. But 1. Yanderes aren't really something I'm experienced with in writing (and Blade definitely gives me the yandere vibe). In case it's not obvious, I tend to lean more towards the lovey dovey / wholesome side of romance. And 2. I don't want to make promises I can't keep, so don't hold me accountable if it doesn't happen. I do admit, writing Blade as a love interest would be an interesting challenge for myself though. ;)

Wisteria by LUC1GO7CH1

Wayward by Arkhan

The Red Queen Calamity by mulbunnie

Post Art Fight 2024
     I did get a total of 9 defences on Art Fight (of course I made sure to revenge everyone who attacked me first), but I'm only going to share the three that are relevant to my current VNs. But feel free to go to my art fight and check out all the others. Everyone did a great job and I love them all so much and I'm already looking forward to participating again next year, too! ~
    For the attacks I did, I also made a whole bunch of Speedpaints on my Youtube Channel, so be sure to check them out if you wanna see me draw other peoples' characters ~

That's all I have to share for this month's Dev Log. For August I plan on continuing to focus on both Dragon Roommates and HSR Otome. I hope everyone reading this is doing well. Let's all keep on working hard towards our own personal goals and have another wonderfully productive month ~ ♥