This time, it's all about the side project. I've spent an immense amount of time with it and have an equally immense amount of progress to show for it. Let us get into it.

Reporting Progress:

When I'm developing an entirely new and unreleased project, it can be difficult to keep track of my progress. There are so many little mechanics and systems needed to make things run smoothly that I lose track of what I've done and what should be mentioned to you.

AN EXAMPLE:

The game features a stamina mechanic. Certain actions deplete stamina; others restore it. A simple mechanic, but its roots go very far. First, I need the UI to reflect this mechanic, so I add a stamina bar to the UI and style it.
Now you have the bar, but it doesn't change. Next, I add code snippets to every action that either reduce or restore stamina. That also means the actions that cost stamina now need a piece of code that makes them unavailable when the stamina is too low. I also need little sound effects (which I have to find first) so restoring stamina feels more interesting and noticeable.
But I'm in the prologue, where player actions are a little restricted, so I need to check if the amount of stamina is enough so the player isn't soft-locked, and while I'm at it, I need to balance the stamina—make sure the cost of actions and the amount replenished are fair and interesting. I also want a little event for replenishing the stamina.
So I build a small minigame on the player character's in-game PC where you can relax. That minigame has its own code entirely and—oops—has suddenly become a huge project that was (and is) incredibly fun to develop but took me about a week to get nearly done!

I think you get it by now, and I know I'm repeating myself. It felt right to give an actual example :D But now let's get into the actual new stuff.

A List of New Things:

• I added more MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS to the game.
• Added more details to the CHARACTER MODELS and gave them the finishing touches.
• IMPROVED THE LIGHTING for previously built areas to be a bit more realistic.
• Implemented a STAMINA MECHANIC, including a minigame to replenish it.
  • The minigame got really out of hand—I built a full FANTASY TEXT ADVENTURE on the player character's PC in the living room. You can skip it if that's not your thing.
• Added HANGOUT EVENTS to learn more about the characters and deepen their connection, including TWO ANIMATIONS with day- and night-time variations.
• ANIMATED a CREDIT SCREEN that plays after the prologue.
• Put the FINISHING TOUCHES on the game's CORE MINIGAME that is used to earn money.
• Added the first few HIDDEN PINUP IMAGES throughout the game and created the screen where you can unlock and view them, including hints for where to find them.
• Wrote and ANIMATED the first SEX SCENE of the game.
• COMPLETED WRITING the PROLOGUE of the game.
• Added a screen where you can CHANGE THE GIRL'S OUTFIT.
• Finished the QUEST LOG in the game. It's not really necessary and most people will never need it, but if you ever get stuck, it's nice to have.
• Added a STATUS SCREEN where you can see the girl's stats and your progress with her.
• Created a small CUSTOM MENU that was needed for the text adventure and additionally adjusted it for navigating hangout and sex events with the girl.
• Implemented a mechanic that tracks the days and requires REGULAR RENT PAYMENT. It tells you how much money you need and when.
• Added functionality to CHANGE YOUR AND THE GIRL'S NAME if you're not satisfied with your initial choices, plus a way to add a PATREON-EXCLUSIVE CODE for a few extra pinups.
• Added another mechanic tied to the girl's stats that I'm not fully disclosing right now—simply because it might still change (although I doubt it will).
• Created a small TRANSITION ANIMATION when leaving the house for work.
• Added an option in the living room to PASS TIME OR SLEEP if you don't want to or can't do anything else (though I doubt it'll ever be really useful).
• Started on the logic for how SEX SCENES progress and are UNLOCKED in the game. This is obviously the core mechanic of it all, and while I always had an idea of how I wanted to do it, I now have it pretty much locked down.
• Did a bunch of TESTING AND BUG FIXES.
• Completed a SECOND PASS ON ALL THE WRITING (except for the text adventure) to make it prettier, smoother, and overall better.
• Added a nicely looking and functioning GALLERY screen.

Leftovers:

As you might be able to tell, I'm making incredible progress. There are only a few elements still missing in the game—namely an in-game shop where you can buy certain items, more hangout events, and first and foremost, more sex scenes.

I'm developing the side project a little differently from how I've done it before. If we think of my games as a house, I've always built from the basement upwards—I built each floor and fully furnished it before moving to the next. This time, I'm building the entire house, but all the rooms are still unfurnished.

When the first update for the side project comes, all the core mechanics of the game will already be in place and only the content to fill them will be missing. That means I've been building a base this entire time so I can then focus on the content: hangouts, sex scenes, pinups, story progression, maybe more minigames. Whatever it is, I'll be able to generate content much more quickly than usual—all because I really kept the scope for the game small and contained.

All of that said, I still want to take my time. If I really were to push myself now, I could probably promise a release at the end of next month, but I don't want to do that. I want to give myself the time to bring this project to a point where I feel it's ready to be released—with all the content, polish, and testing that I want for it. So when will the side project be announced and I'll give my love to CoM again?

We'll see :D

That's all for now—thanks for reading, and have a great week! I'll be working on the next sex scene now.