Hey all!  We've got tons to share with you this month.

The Writing Department

The prologue script is complete and will be edited later this month. I'm currently finishing up the second half of Sherwood Common, Chapter 2, and next week I'm moving on to Robin's route.

I'm sure everyone will enjoy seeing what happens after the end of the current Sherwood demo. Marion gets to know Tuck a little better, but she may not like what she learns. She's able to prove herself to the rebel leaders through some fun sparring matches (can she beat Will?  Prooooobably not.) And she even gets to meet a changeling (one of our backer-designed NPCs!) and acquire a new... pet?

Of course, at the end of the Sherwood Common Route, Marion will have to decide with whom she wishes to work most closely in the Rebellion. Will it be Leader Robin, who can teach her to up her archery game and acquaint her with the needs of Nottingham's commoners? Second John, who can teach self-defense and is investigating the corruption in Nottingham's guard? Or Scarlet Blade Will, who will help her improve her swordsmanship and is getting to the bottom of the Sheriff's program of indentures servitude? OK, fine, I know a lot of you will be choosing based on whom you most wish to smooch (absolutely nothin' wrong with that!), but perhaps Marion has more practical considerations - at first.

The Art Department

We have a big art announcement, which those of you on our Discord channel have already heard. Our existing sprites were created with a lovely shading style that is, unfortunately, extremely time-consuming. While working on our CGs, our lead artist Anna found a style that is still gorgeous but will allow her the time to create more poses and more NPC sprites for the project.

Here's our friend Alanna demonstrating the new style:

I think it matches our backgrounds even better than the previous style!  This will be our final sprite redo, and it's going to be really exciting to see the new poses we get out of it (Alanna is getting a lute-playing pose, for instance, and Will is now able to un-cross his arms when needed).

Many of the prologue art assets are complete. Here are some backgrounds that show the look of Marion's hometown of Glastonbury during the spring:

And here's a sneak peek at Lord Glastonbury.  Marion got her mother's eyes, but most everything else, including her character, comes from dear old dad.

Of course, this means they get along perfectly, and there's absolutely no conflict in the prologue that causes Marion to end up in a carriage hurtling through Sherwood Forest, right?

The Sound Department

I've purchased several ambient sound packs thanks to our Beyond Stretch: Art and Sound budget. They should give our scenes a nice added dimension. Ambience will also have its own volume slider separate from music and sound effects, so you can turn it up or down at will.

And our Original Music stretch goal is complete!  I was able to commission three original pieces from our main composer, Alexander Nakarada, and fill some important holes in our soundtrack. I'm attaching two of them here, and the third is one of Alanna's songs, so it'll be complete this fall when I record our vocals. I've found a highly-rated local studio with very reasonable prices, so I'll be able to fit that into our budget and get a more professional sound to Alanna's lyrics.

Anyway, here are John's theme and a song for romantic moments called Heartbeat: