CH05 Status Update #34
Hello, everybody!
This week we continued working on the spicy scenes. Blender has been in heavy use throughout the week for that extra oomph, and we like to think we're getting better at using Blender as well. Only time will tell! One thing that's been a bit frustrating is that Daz3D (the main rendering program used to create Summer Heat) locks high resolution imports for their own published artists only, and common peons such as ourselves must make do with base resolution morphs. It's only a minor inconvenience for now, but definitely something we'll look into solving in the future... somehow.
That being said, a bunch of morphs were created this week. For clothing, characters and breasts mostly. We've also learned some new tricks for animation that we're excited to try out more. We'll see if we get to make use of it in CH05, or specifically, if the rendering times allow us to.
We also spent some time on coding and SFX, which feels like a never-ending process at this point, mostly due to the size of the chapter. Luckily there's two of us and we work on multiple tasks at the same time, which means everything progresses smoothly and there are no nasty surprises for us to stumble upon later!

Last week's hot topic
Last week we talked about our struggle with the size of CH05 and told you the options we were considering. We were quite relieved that Option A was very favored among commenters on Patreon and elsewhere. It was our preferred option as well, despite how we've been feeling about it lately, and we're just happy that you agree.

Doing big releases wasn't our plan in the start, nor was it after the release of CH04, but at some point CH05 just became one big son of a bitch. At least by our definition! Speaking of size, we also spent some time working on the script for CH06 this week. This time we're making sure that it stays at a comfortable size... it'll be a medium son of a bitch, at most. And in this case, size does matter.

Other news
CH05 will introduce a couple of remaining characters that have supporting roles in Summer Heat, specifically the story that takes place at Club Freya. Some characters you already know will also be returning. There will be a preview of some of these girls this weekend. Maybe even two!

Cheers,
Robison & Npx

Hi, guys.
I've spent all of this week creating images and have gotten quite a few done, so I'll share three preview images with you this week.


The MC takes Emma to a familiar place.


Lucy gets emotional while talking to Charlotte.


Emma's feelings for her teddy bear cause confusion.​

Chapter 3 - Dev Log #13
Hello,

Sooo...
In the last SG Dev Log, I talked about the Workstation I wanted to get for both games.
I didn't get the loan, and all they told me was that it's probably because I moved and stuff...
And for transparency... I saw some speculation about the price of the Workstation. And to give you, the supporter, a better idea of the price and what I'm willing to invest in the future of the games.
It has two A6000 Ada and a Threadripper PRO WX5995 in it. (And the ability to house four A6000 Ada's on 100%.)
Alone the two A6000s come at around 10,000€ each.
So, I contacted my house bank to see if they would give me one, and they were ecstatic and said "Sure my boy!"
And well... I now found out why I didn't get it in the first place.
People that have been following me for a while might remember me bitching about my old tax office and the huge problems and sleepless nights they caused me...
And it's their fault again.
It's because they haven't submitted my 2021 tax papers yet. (The deadline is in two months.)
And my house bank and every other bank need said papers to get it approved. They can't do it any other way.
The old tax shits have all the papers since January 2022 and still haven't finished it, and it's blocking me from getting anything financed.
It doesn't matter how much money I have in my account or anything. Because I'm a business owner, only my annual financial statements are important.
And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even get the loan with my 2021 finances. (I had A LOT less support than I have now and made my first big upgrades, which lower the profit a lot.)
And I'm sure hell's frozen over before I get to see my 2022 annual financial statements.
The only way for me to ever finance the Workstation in the next year is through the SG Steam release.
Please spread the word about it, and wishlist it even if you don't want to buy it just to push some numbers.
WiAB depends on the success of SG's Steam release almost more than SG itself.
My current tax office (2023) is amazing... But I can't believe these old shits are still haunting me.
SG on STEAM

But besides that... Everything's going great. I have sent a new contract to late Kids (For "Run" and "Some Days" but haven't received an answer yet. (Besides them saying "Sure! Send over the contract!")
Progress is amazing, I'm now actively rendering the last WiAB scene. It's a big boy, and considering that I still have to do postwork, I'd say WiAB is 85% done.
I also mentioned in the SG Log, that I'm now limiting future previews to 2 per Dev Log.

Previews:
"Yo Mon!"

"Me, Ma Girl, and Miru."

(Yes, the last scene begins in a bar and it has nothing to do with the old CH3 bar scenes.)

I think WiAB and SG will be finished more or less at the same time again. (SG is at around 80%)
I do plan on releasing WiAB Ch3 first, just because I then have some time to do the last part of SG's Chapter 2's rework.
Anyways, both games are about to reach their development climax.
I'll see you in the next log at 90%+.
- Ocean
Превьюшек мало, добавил Лею из твиттера

Фан: And don't forget about "A Certain Shade of Blue" by Paper Twins, that scene in the auditorium, when the camera shows us those beautiful girls, while the MC leans back and closes his eyes:
There are a lot of choices
Waiting to be made
Too many choices
Making me afraid
It's a damn 100% perfect hit on the bull's-eye.
Оушен: And I had at least 25 more songs that I carefully selected over the years... All of them had a 100% perfect fit...
That's why it hurts so much, but I had no choice but to remove them if I didn't want to end up in a prison cell and the games dead.
But the day will come when I'm a big enough fish for them to reconsider, and I'll bring everything back.
Everything I once envisioned.
Фан: [...] and Nami after finding out about Nick are two examples of emotion heavy scenes that for no apparent reason have Bella and Nami practically naked. In fact in the Nami one she removes her top the moment the MC comes in lol.
Оушен: Nami undressing in CH3 after finding out about Nick goes deeper than just sexualization. It has a meaning.
Draw your own conclusions on why she did that.
Фан: Very excited about the mention for the Ch 6 scenes with many people in a scene...I was re-playing Being A DIK recently and I was thinking about why that game feels so much different than other similar games, and I feel like a big part of it is the cast size - when most games only have a handful of people at most in scenes, they don't feel even remotely realistic when the setting is larger like a party / gathering,
Оушен: Absolutely this. This is why I'm going for the A6000 cards. Huge, realistic, and dynamically moving backgrounds and it's what most people who tell me to get 4x 4090 instead of one A6000 don't get.
Composition isn't just about what's in focus, it's every single thingy in the background.
Фан: I know I don't have the right to tell Ocean how he must spend his money, but I think he needs to think before spending it after all this and get trustworthy financial and legal advisors.
Оушен: Seven songs for both games, for 210€/month instead of 8750€ once was a good deal.
After Steam I would have changed it to a permanent deal.
I know how to spend the money to reach my goals.
And my goal isn't to maximize profits but to create the game I envisioned.
I don't care how much time it will take, or how much it's gonna cost.
I'm just gonna do it.
Фан:
That's a 2 year old post. I thought the sub and dom stuff have subsequently been thrown out the window?
Оушен: I'd say the sub route isn't a real submissive route anymore. It's equal.
So there's a Vanessa Dom route & a route where you're equals. (There are still lewd scenes where she acts submissive.)

Глава 5 - журнал разраба №7
Привет,
Сначала 2 плохие новости.
Если вы видели последний журнал о WiAB, вы можете пропустить часть о музыке.
Из последнего журнала о WiAB (цитата):
"Итак, примерно неделю назад я получил милое эл. письмо, в котором мне сообщили, что руководство Elijah Fords Management изменилось, и они порекомендовали ему отменить все предыдущие сделки по музыке.
"Но Оушен, развве ты не заключил договор?"
Да, но т.к. я был и есть бедный сучонок и не мог выполнить большую одноразовую оплату за каждую песню, то вместо этого я ежемеячно платил им выплаты..
Музыка Elijah Ford будет удалена из обеих игр. музыка Late Kids, скорее всего, останется.
Я сейчас договариваюсь о новом контракте с ними и они согласились на мое предложение (1250€ за каждую песню). С этим я решу вопрос с музыкой сезона 1 в SG и WiAB.
Они также собираются вскоре выпустить новую музыку, и если она мне понравится, я куплю больше лицензий у них.
Жаль, что я теряю одну из моих любимых песен... Every Night, которая не прнадлежит напрямую Late Kids, а принадлежит Elijah.
Раньше это было исключение, что мне разрешили месячные выплаты... Но я не могу позволить себе более надежный вариант и мне очень нужна музыка.
"Some Days" и "Run" останутся, если Late Kids подпишут контракт, который был профессионально подготовлен моим юристом.
Я не собираюсь снова покупать лицензию, это не вполне надежно.
WiAB пострадает сильнее от этого, т.к. WiAB полноценная игра для взрослых с порно контентом.
В то же время сезон 1 SG не такой, и это дает мне немного побольше вариантов.
Решить это можно личным обращением к музыкантам с предложением им контракта... Я сказал так в прошлом году и я хочу быть полностью честным сейчас..
Я обращался только к малой группе музыкантов...
Я реально ненавижу это. Я ненавижу тратить часы на переписку.
Я ненавижу переговоры с музыкантами, музыку которых никто не знает, а они полагают, что их песни заслуживают приличной 4-значной суммы.
Я должен также признать, что мне все еще очень горько, как это произошло с музыкой. Необходимость убрать песни, которые я подбирал годами, действительно оставит шрамы в моей душе.
Так много синематиков погибнет с ними."
--------------------------------Конец части о музыке

2. Рабочая станция.
Наконец, после месяцев ожидания немецких бюрократов, я получил все нужное для подачи заявки на кредит для рабочей станции.
Угадайте, что произошла? Немецкие бюрократы отымели меня еще раз... даже более сильно.
Я не получу кредита. Они сказали, что нет ни одного шанса...
И что забавнее всего? Причина этого.
Причина состоит в том, что не так давно я переехал, и также должен был закрыть и заново открыть свой бизнес (я должен сделать это, т.к. я переехал в другую землю ФРГ, и это требование закона).
И теперь я не получу кредит, который любой средний чувак в ФРГ получил бы, потому что я переехал в другую землю и был вынужден закрыть и вновь открыть мой бизнес (они сообщили мне это в эл. письме).
Все осталные требования выполнены на 10000% Моя кредитная история идельная.
У меня есть хорошие ресурсы (достаточно, что бы купить рабочую станцию с разовой оплатой. Но это поставило бы меня в очень неудобное положение... Так что этот вариант закрыт).
Есть достаточный ликвидный доход от вашей поддержки, чтобы выплатить весь кредит за 3-5 месяцев).
Германия снова подставила меня.
Моя последняя надежда сейчас - это хороший успех релиза на Стиме, чтобы купить рабочую станцию на свои деньги без привлечения дурацкого банка.
В противном случае я буду вынужден снять A6000 с раб. станции WiAB и вставить его в раб. станцию SG.
Глава 6 SG будет полна сцен с более чем 20 персонажами. И поэтому на SG ляжет вся тяжесть разработки.
WiAB должен будет отдать свой GPU, если я не смогу профинансировать раб. станцию к тому времени.
Но в результате обе игры будут страдать, если мне придется переставлять их GPU.
A6000 гораздо медленее, чем два 3090, но два 3090 не могут даже отрендерить сцены.
Тем временем я не смогу рендерить большие сцены в обнове WiAB на паре 3090.
Я очень разочарован, т.к. я думал, что все пройдет без заминки... Однако еще есть некоторое время до главы 6 SG.
Не так много, как вы можете подумать (;
Завтра я позвоню в свой банк и посмотрю, что они смогут сказать. У меня нет больших надежд и просьба альтернативного кредита испорит мою кредитную историю, но что же мне делать??

Теперь о хороших новостях. Я настолько производителен, что я сильно обогнал все GPU.
В SG сейчас около 1350 готовых рендеров и 310 заготовок рендеров в очереди, и я бы сказал, что осталось создать 450 рендеров для завершения обновы (главы 5).
Так что я подготовил 1610 статичных ренеров только для SG за 53 дня работы над SG (всего 107 дней после начала разработки главы 5, но надо делить на два, т.к. каждый второй день - работа над WiAB).
У WiAB также около 180 рендеров в очереди.
Синематика для главы 5 SG полностью готова (1:32 мин)
"Плоть сильна. Машины слабы."

Две этих сцены из главы 3 нужно было изменить. После переделки главы 2 Клара получила обновленную модель и отличные волосы.

Я уже закончил одну сцену в свой выходной.
Это действельно хорошо, что сцена была изменена. Потому что я ненавидел наряд Беллы. Он совсем не годился (учитывая, что у нее был небольшой срыв как раз перед этим).

Старая сцена:

Несколько новых:

Новая модель Клары (теперь ближе к Эмбер, чтобы подчеркнуть их родство).

Я не изменил никаких диалогов и только обновил рендеры.
Я также думаю, что я показываю слишком много превьюшек. В будущем я ограничу превьюшки до 2 на журнал.
Еще одно изображение из главы 5.

Мы опять встретимся со следующим журналом и я благодарю вас за вашу поддержку! Без вас я не мог бы даже подумать о финансировании этой могучей раб. станции.
- Ocean

Встреча ГГ и агента Фокс (наедине)
Эмма посетила колледж

The Entrepreneur Final episode - Less than a week delay

Hey everyone, I'd like to apologize for the delay with the update.
The beta has just been sent to the testers at the moment I'm writing this.
During the last three hell weeks, which is why I call the weeks leading to the release of an episode, I had many unexpected problems which I couldn't foresee.
One of them was the total suppression of a scene, I lost around 50 renders because of a mistake on my end.
The second was an issue with a few animations which required to be rerendered.
And finally, the last one was a lack of time.
The last 3 episodes and the Christmas special were all released when I was working 100% on the game.
I now have a full time job in a restaurant, and it made it really hard for me to keep up with the amount of work needed. I still did an amazing job in my opinion because the amount of work that I have provided on those last three hell weeks led to an amazing result.

It is by far the best out of all the episodes I've created up until now in my opinion.
We're looking at 1800 statics that made the cut, and 75 animations.

I'm really happy with this episode which marks the end of a +2 years journey for me.
I was really emotional when I completed it, after the thousands of hours of work, the health issues, the mental breakdowns, the stress, anxiety, joy, anger, frustration, doubt, achievements and so much more that I encountered during the development of this game.

I'll tell you more insights when the release starts, and that brings me to what you're all waiting for.

The game will be released as soon as possible.
It depends on my testers, but it will be in June.
Some of you have already upgraded their tier, and those with +20$ will be capable of downloading the game when it gets released next week.

Those who subscribed to a 10$ tier will get a DL link to the game a week after the early release to 20$ tiers and up. That way, if you're not subscribed anymore in July, you'll still get to DL the game.

I want to make sure I make this as right as possible.
I'll let you know more when the game gets actually released, but yes, finally, this is it.

Once again, I apologize and I'll see you soon.

MisterMaya

CH05 Status Update #32
Hello and happy Midsummer, everyone!
This week we made a lot of progress and eliminated a whole bunch of assignments from our to-do lists.
A ton of new renders, coding, SFX, and a ridiculous amount of render fixes! A long time ago, many of the render mistakes had to be "spot rendered", but nowadays most of them can be fixed in post-processing. This has been an amazing time saver. Small skin poke-throughs are incredibly common when you start posing and rendering, especially when it comes to breasts and clothing. One of these poke-throughs even slipped through into the CH04 release, somehow evading detection until it was pointed out by players!

Another large scene has been coming out of the render queue this week, and the feeling we were going for feels spot on. There are several render-heavy scenes in CH05, which we didn't anticipate early on since scripting only goes so far, but it's a pleasant surprise! The scenes are also starting to get more lewd and intimate, in many different ways...

Other news

There will be a preview of Eve this weekend. We're also contemplating who to feature in the next preview. It will most likely be Jenni the shop clerk, but it could also be someone else. Any wishes?
Until next week!
Cheers,
Robison & Npx

Белла Паллада (заготовка для тату)

А вот Мила была хороша

Chapter 3 - Dev Log #12
Hello,
So, what do we start with? The good or bad news?
Let's start with the bad news.

And it's always the same fucking topic...
Music.
So, I got a lovely E-Mail around a week ago, where I was informed that Elijah Fords Management has changed, and they advised him to pull out all the music from previous deals.
"But Ocean, didn't you make a contract?"
Yes, but I was/am a poor bitch and couldn't afford to make a big one-time payment for each song, and instead paid them a monthly fee...
Elijah Ford's music is going to be removed from both games. Late Kids music will most likely stay.
I'm currently negotiating a new contract with them and they agreed to my offer. (1250€ for each song). With this, I'll cover SG and WiAB season 1.
They're also about to release new music soon, and if I like their new stuff, I'll license more from them.

Sadly, I'm losing one of my favorite songs... Every Night, which isn't directly owned by Late Kids, but by Elijah.
It was an exception back then, that I went for the monthly fee thingy... But I just couldn't afford a more secure option & desperately needed music.
"Some Days" & "Run" will stay if Late Kids agrees to the contract, which was professionally made by my lawyer.
I'm not ever going to buy a license again, that isn't completely safe.
WiAB will be hit much harder by this, as WiAB is a full-fledged adult game with pornographic content.
While SG Season 1 isn't and this gives me a lot more options.

The way to move forward is by contacting artists personally and offering them a contract... I said that last year, and I'm going to be totally honest here.
I only contacted a handful of artists...
I absolutely hate it. I hate spending hours writing back and forth.
I hate negotiating with artists whose music nobody knows, and they think that their song is worth a good 4-digit sum.
I must also admit that I'm still bitter when it comes to music. Having to remove songs that I had prepared for years really left a scar on me.
So many cinematics died with them.

Right now, WiAB certainly isn't in the financial position to acquire good music on its own, but whenever I contact someone, I always ask them to license it to both SG and WiAB.
A lot depends on how well SG hits Steam in the upcoming months... And if it goes well, I'll hire someone whose only job it is to contact and negotiate music contracts for SG and WiAB.
But until then, not a lot of music will be added to the new WiAB releases.
Before I add copyright-free crap music, I'd rather add none at all. I still have some sources of music, but WiAB pays out of its own pocket, and that pocket isn't deep.

Those were the bad news.
Let's get to some good news.
1.
I have reached new highs in productivity. The last two weeks have been the most productive weeks since I started developing. Slowly but surely.
In one day, I managed to do one rather big animation for SG, and 84 WiAB renders. (Took me 17h to set up & will take about a week to render out.)
Even though I worked that long, I just feel amazing thanks to the small adjustments I made over the past years. (Diet, daily workouts, meditation, etc.)
All the fine-tuned details are finally starting to add up and take effect & I'd say the aftermath of moving across the country has vanished.
I've also discovered a very impressive strength of the A6000. I'll reveal said strength after the Chapter 3 release... And I'm sure you'll love it. ;)

I've finished another two scenes & built another three Environments. (Lots of new environments will be introduced in Chapter 3, and will play a role for most of WiAB's story.)
Here's an example:



2. I've also found a way to increase the fine details (Skin, etc.) by about 5%-30% depending on the render. (You won't see it in the previews, as I figured it out afterward.)

3. I'm now finally registered in Berlin, and there's only one thing left (It should come via. post in the next few days) until I can finally contact the Workstation boys again.
As you might remember, I couldn't even ask for it because of Berlin's failed bureaucracy.
But now almost all the puzzle pieces are in place. (The workstation would have 1x A6000 Ada + 1x A6000 (WiABs.) and would be used for both games as the main setup station. (All other PCs become render nodes.)
A lot of it depends on the Steam release of Summer's Gone.
Even if you don't play it/like it, spreading the word about SG's Steam release (Non-Adult also available in Germany, etc.) will tremendously help WiAB too.

SG on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2240150/Summers_Gone__Season_1/

If it goes very well, I might even be able to put 4x A6000 Ada into the workstation. Long rendering times would be a thing of the past.








I'll see you in the next Log with probably the first spoiler-free previews of the big, last scene.
- Ocea