Bonjour!
[ Side note before we start – I want to quickly apologise to everyone here on Steam. I often forget to check messages here, as whenever I post something ( like now ), it's normally right before I'm going to bed, and by the time I wake up in the morning, I forget Steam is even a thing :steamfacepalm:. I wish there was a way to receive notifications from the discussions of the game on my phone, but I don't believe it's possible ( or at least google says it's not... ). I'm gonna open a support ticket with Steam to see if there is any way to receive better notifications when people start threads of reply here. ]
Time for another developer update, and we have a few things to talk about this month, both with the cabin and outside of The Cabin. But, since you're here for The Cabin, I guess that would be a good place to start.
The Cabin -
The Writing! - Those who are in the Discord group probably know already, but Crab has finished all the writing for episode 10, and I've just finished putting it all together in the script, apart from music and sound effects, which I tend to do during the test phase. But, as far as I'm concerned, all the writing for episode 10 is done. Crab went a tiny little bit overboard with this one, and it is the biggest episode we've ever done, hence why it's taking so long.
The Art! - The art has been taking me a while to get through. As it starts now, I have 2 and a half scenes left to do. I expect to have 1 and a half done this month and finish the last one off at some point next month. So I hope to have a release at the end of March. My current expected release date is March 31st, but it could be sooner, but don't hold me to that :P I've also asked Crab to try and cut down the amount of art needed for future episodes in an attempt to stop the 6-month dev cycles. I really want to get down to 2-3 months per release.
New Guy? - While we're on the subject of art, I'm currently working with a new guy. I can't say 100% at the moment if it'll work out, as I still need to test his scenes in the game and against the dialogue to make sure they line up, but I tend to do that during the testing phase and don't plan to change now :P But he's done 1 scene so far, and looking over it, it looks great ( I'll leave some previews below ). He's also super freaking fast too. I think with him helping with art and smaller releases, I have no doubt we'll hit that 2-3 month target.
Emi - New game?
I've randomly had a few people messaging me and commenting in different places recently asking what the plans are for the next Emi game, and the truth is... I don't have any. I'm only mentioning it here since I've had such a weird amount of people ask, but truth be told, no plans at all. I do want to do another one, but not anytime soon. I think if I were to do another, it would either be tied into the ending of the cabin, or it'll just be an endgame for the Emi saga ( like Emi getting pregnant and they get married or something ). I would love to end it on a trilogy, so a 3rd game would be perfect for that, as I don't count the Christmas Special as a game; it is very much not canon.
Adverse Effects 2... And 3?...
Adverse Effects 2 - As I've said in previous updates, AE2 is no longer a priority. I am still actively working on it, but I'm not in some mad rush to get it done anymore, and I am focused a lot more on The Cabin. I actually haven't touched AE2 in over a month at this point, but I can say the brief is finished, and I have about 40% of the brief converted into script format. I have yet to touch the art, though.
Adverse Effects...3? - Alright, hear me out... I'm not actively working on plots for AE3, nor did I even plan to do one, but I was in bed last night, and I think a somewhat decent plot point came to me for a 3rd game. If you're not interested in hearing about any plot points for AE3, then skip past this point! -... They gone? Good! So as we all know, the main plot point of the first game is "Juidth can't sleep; she takes pills; pills have "adverse effects" and she fucks her s-... tenant..." Originally, I was planning on that just being it, and that's the story; however, the thought I had last night was, 'What if Judith stopped taking the tablets?' I don't really have anything planned out or well thought out, but I think if I was to do a 3rd game, it would centre around Judith stopping the pills, realising she's been fucking her tenant and being wrapped with guilt about doing it, just to eventually come to terms with it and realise even without the pills she still loves him and wants to be with him. I'm not sure about it yet, though; I'm still thinking some things out :P I was thinking there would need to be more women in it too, so either Judith's mom or sister could come to stay too... I don't know, just thinking out loud at this point :P