Fate of the Squire - with demo! [BxB][Fantasy][Adult]

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MonsoonMushroom
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MAY SHOWCASE (a little bit late)

#31 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

A week late, but here’s the masterpost summarising May’s progress. As those who follow weekly may have noticed, May has been a little slow – this is 90% due to my day job eating up all my time and energy. I have switched jobs now, so hopefully June will be more fruitful! Even so, I have some stuff to show off.

The in-game month I’ve been working on is November, which involves a contest focusing on one skill in particular. 6 new CGs are planned (2 for each knight), here’s a preview…

Image


We’re also introduced to our first rival – the entire premise of the game (and a means of explaining the occasionally obsessive qualities of dating sim protagonists) is a competition to win over your knight, and this of course means there are other people standing in your way. Rivalry becomes a more important theme later on in the game as the competition heats up, but November is a good introduction.

Image
Image
(Bigger version here: https://i.imgur.com/IiX3YJn.jpg)


What it’s lacking is contact with the actual knight; in the first draft of the game, you weren’t even supposed to talk properly with your knight until December, but when it came to making the game properly I realised how unrewarding that was for the player. As a result Leith has stumbled across his knight a few times now. They’re not strangers anymore, and thus some extra scenes in November are warranted. This is something I’m still working on, and I’m wary of releasing something rushed and disappointing.

The date for the (patron only) November download is thus June 18th. I know this is later than anticipated, but I hope this will make the content release more worthwhile. I’ll use the rest of June to start on December’s content, which is a pretty big update and so will need quite a bit of work.

I’ll see you next week for further progress on November! Until then.

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Re: Fate of the Squire - with demo! [BxB][Fantasy][Adult]

#32 Post by Ertal77 »

Please add a Preorder button on itchio... I want to buy it asap!

I'm not fond of Patreon, but please know that I loved the demo and am looking eagerly forward to the full release!
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JUNE SHOWCASE

#33 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

Hello all, it’s time for your end of month masterpost! November’s content has taken me a while to complete (as already known by those on tumblr/patreon who get weekly updates, but perhaps not the people on itch.io etc). This is finally done and will be made available for patrons to download via Patreon (which I am having some issues with, but as soon as those clear up we should be fine).

I thought when I started work on November that it’d be a breeze, as I’d already done most of the writing. However the game has changed pretty significantly from the first draft (Leith originally had next to no contact with his knight until December, until I realised how unsatisfying that was for the player) and the scenes had to be heavily revisited. In addition now that Leith has picked a “route” the scenes themselves are all quite different without recycling much dialogue (which saves time). This is only likely to become more apparent as the game goes on and the three routes become increasingly diverse.

To digress however, let’s have a look at November’s content. You should already know that it centres around a mini-contest, in which it’s possible to not only do well enough to get through to the next stage, but actually come first and receive an extra prize as a result:

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It’s also possible to lose and be kicked out of the squire competition altogether. I was a little worried that, because the mini-contest focuses on one theme (e.g. horsemanship for Areli), that players would ostensibly focus on that skill to the exclusion of all others, and thus end up losing the game.

To avoid this there’s a mid-November date scene of sorts with the knight which as well as being more romantic content with them (always a good thing)…

Image


…Will also change depending on Leith’s skills and give the players a hint as to what they still need to focus on.

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This will hopefully save some frustration down the line! I hope to sprinkle this sort of dialogue throughout the game going forward.


Alright, what now?

December’s content of course! And hoo boy, there’s a lot of it. New costumes, new backgrounds, new scenes and perhaps most importantly, new rated scenes. I think December will take a little while to complete, but once that’s done I should be in a position to start releasing public content as well as patron-only, which I’m looking forward to. So I’d better get started!

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Re: Fate of the Squire - with demo! [BxB][Fantasy][Adult]

#34 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

Ertal77 wrote: Sat Jun 09, 2018 2:33 pm Please add a Preorder button on itchio... I want to buy it asap!

I'm not fond of Patreon, but please know that I loved the demo and am looking eagerly forward to the full release!

Also to reply to Ertal77, I've decided this game will be free to play once it's complete. I'm still treating it as a commercial project (trying to use music with the right CC license, etc...) because patrons have access to each new month of content as it comes out, but when the game is done (and I'm starting to realise that it's going to take a lot longer than I thought) I won't charge for it.

That doesn't mean you have to use patreon of course! I could look into alternate methods of letting people donate in exchange for early access, but it's finding sites that allow adult content, among other things.

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JULY SHOWCASE

#35 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

It's already the end of the month! Where did the time go?

The heat has been a bit of progress killer this month, but I do have a little bit to share with you all. Firstly I've created new winter costumes for each of the knights, and winter variants for Leith and his family. Plus Leith in an undershirt, because I realised I'd need him in a state of semi-undress for upcoming scenes wink wink nudge nudge ;)

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I have three CGs to show off... sort of. They're the three knights' variants on the same scene and share a background, but the foreground is completely different for each one.

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We also have three wintry background variants:

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Full size here: https://i.imgur.com/VqvpDDh.jpg

Next month I'll be working on scenes for the Yuletide festival (Squire's equivalent of Christmas, obviously) and an adult scene with the knight. December is supposed to mark when the adult scenes become a more regular occurrence, so I need to start working on the first few, at least...

Anyway, there's still quite a lot to do before December is finished but I'm hoping next month's update will have significant progress, if not a finished version.

In other news my patron is doing well – which is to say I get $27 a month but I mean, that's still $27 worth of people who like my work so I'm flattered. Because I now have enough patrons that making polls is actually worthwhile, I'm hoping to give supporters more influence over CG poses, sprite costumes and other future content.

For those not following weekly updates over at tumblr or Patreon, I'll see you next month!

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AUGUST SHOWCASE

#36 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

It's the end of the month, and time for a progress update! I was hoping to have a new release ready for now, but hot weather and family visits have intervened a little, so it isn't finished just yet. I'm hoping the end of next month I'll actually have a new public release available.

In the meantime I've been working on December's racier content, as it marks the start of regular visits to your particular knight to... service their needs, as it were. I won't lie, while I put a lot of effort into the story and world building, the explicit content is one of the major focuses of this game for me. I think it's fair to say it's why a lot of people are quite invested in this game as well (though I've had a few comments that applaud squire specifically -because- it has story as well as sex, which was very nice to hear).

So! You meet the knight at their holdings and you canoodle a bit (just a bit though). This means drawing a bunch of new backgrounds. Garaile's is pretty much done, a desolate castle far from Somalaire's civilised folk:
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Since it's home to one rather uncivilised knight:
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I've also made good progress with Lyall's castle. Like most things related to Lyall (full plate armour, long hair, large fluffy dogs) it's a pain in the rear to paint, but the end result is pretty nice:
Image

...Yes, Lyall's adult scene does involve some lap-sitting. He may be an ice prince, but he's also a papa wolf (how far I take that theme remains to be seen...)


There's a few other scenes that are half-done but I don't really want to show them off yet because I'm likely to rewrite them. I can't show off anything for Areli yet, sorry Areli fans! So that's about all for now. I'll keep chugging away at work – if you didn't already know, you can follow weekly updates at my tumblr or patreon. See you next time!

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SEPTEMBER SHOWCASE

#37 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

…Strictly speaking this is a little late, given the last Monday in September was last week. But nonetheless!

Demo update… it’s still not done. Sorry! This is taking a lot longer than I thought it would :/ Real life has gotten in the way but even finding the time to work I feel like I’ve made quite slow progress. Perhaps because it’s been mostly backgrounds this past month? I do feel my environment art has gotten better, but I’m still pretty slow at making something that actually looks good. I’ve been working on Lyall and Areli’s castles:

Image
Full size here.

Image
Full size here.

I’ve also worked on the steward sprites. They’re fairly key NPCs, particularly in the second half of the game where Leith can visit the knight’s castle more often, so it’s important that their design was good. Most of them will double as yet more nameless NPC sprites via costume/hair change as well, which is good. You need quite a big roster of characters when a whole year of in-game time passes!

I’ve been working on the knight’s H-scenes as well, but only patrons can access those… for now ;)

That about wraps it up. The demo won’t be ready by next week but, perhaps the week after? I’ll definitely post a link across all the game sites (tumblr, patreon, itch, renpy forums) when it’s ready so don’t worry about missing it. Until next time!

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OCTOBER SHOWCASE

#38 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

It’s a (slightly late) end of the month post! December is finally finished (boy, that took a while) and is now available to download for patrons. Never fear, it will become public eventually! My plan is to always keep the patron release 2 months ahead of the public one. This also means…

~*~ October is now available for public release! ~*~
PC download: MEGA
Mac download: MEGA
You can also check the Itch.io page for downloads if MEGA is giving you any trouble.



As a reminder of what October contains…

Image
(Full size here)

Samhain Approaches...
* The spooky season of Samhain arrives… though it has some distinctly more intimate connotations in Somalaire
* Influence how Samhain day itself plays out by choosing how Leith dances at the parade (as in with wild abandon, measured elegance, or like an awkward penguin).
* Knights will react differently for each choice, for better or worse
* Family scenes and discussion about Leith’s upcoming duties as a squire
* Samhain-themed costumes for Leith and the knights!
* Remember, there’s no bad end at the end of October, so if you hate stat-raising feel free to skip through the boring content and get right to the new scenes.


I’ve also created this handy roadmap to show you where we are, how far we have to go, and where the patreon release is vs. the public one.

Image
(Full size here)

As you can see the game lasts one year and content is released episodically month by month, so we have some way to go still!


Now what happens?

Onto the next month of course! January is approaching and with it the start of a new plot arc that will take up several in-game months. Be warned, depending on your choices things might take a dark turn. Stay tuned...

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Re: Fate of the Squire - with demo! [BxB][Fantasy][Adult]

#39 Post by Ertal77 »

OMG, I'm really enjoying this game! I've finally caved in and used Patreon, hahaha!

I can only say Samhain and Yuletide events are top ten, both family-related affairs and with the ice prince! Please keep up the good work!
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NOVEMBER SHOWCASE

#40 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

Hello everyone, it’s technically an end of the month post, but since it’s been 3 weeks since the last release I haven’t really gotten enough done to show off, to be honest. Mostly I’ve been planning and writing for January’s content.

I’ve found a composer, and you can listen to a song they’ve done here! I won’t name them just yet (Squire’s content rating being what it is…) but they have a pseudonym I can use in the credits. This the music that will play while raising stats and while – realistically – you’re not paying too much attention to the game itself. Soft, soothing and low-key.

In further news, I’ve gotten good feedback about the new October and December content from public and patrons respectively, which is always great to hear.

Quite a few players are struggling with the game’s bad ends. Doing the maths I don’t think the game is -that- difficult in terms of how much time you have to reach the stat numbers you need (though obviously biased here though, since I know exactly which stats you need to get). I do think the game could be more helpful about where exactly a player has fallen short so that next time they’ll know what to focus on, rather than getting frustrated with numerous game overs. The guide is always available of course, but it’s nice to not have to resort to it. I was thinking something like…

Unfortunately you got the bad end for Sir Lyall…
Your armouring skill was higher than it needed to be.
Your combat skill was a little bit too low.
Your literacy skill was just right.
Your tactics skill was much too low.


What do you think? I feel like that could be helpful. My plan is to code that in for the January (patreon) and November (public) release, if not before.

Lastly, a special thanks to Aeolia this month, who pledged $20! As thanks they get a sketch of their choosing, and they requested Garaile posing with a snake – and gave permission for it to be shared for all to enjoy. Unfortunately you public folks get the censored version so I don’t get banned from any websites (again):

https://66.media.tumblr.com/71859b82b4c ... fm_540.jpg NSFW!

That’s all for this month. Next month does not look wholly exciting as I’ll just be writing and working on extra CGs and backgrounds, but I’ll keep you posted.

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DECEMBER SHOWCASE

#41 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

Happy 2019 everyone! I meant to post this yesterday but ended up roped into some New Year's celebrations instead. But here we are at the start of a new year!

So this past month has largely been spent on writing and drawing the explicit scenes for Squire's January content. I'm still not 100% happy with the writing to be honest, so I'd still consider that a work in progress, but I do have some finished CGs for you to look at.

Anyone on tumblr and patreon will have seen these already – as I said to you weekly followers, I've been away from my pc for most of the last week and a half, so not much more progress than you've already seen! I'm hoping next week will have more to show. But for those on itch and the renpy forums you won't have seen these, so here you go. These scenes are censored, obviously:

https://66.media.tumblr.com/aaf47834e18 ... fm_540.jpg [NSFW!]

So above you can see the sketches that the folks over at patreon voted for, choosing from a few different sketch options. Once I had a winner for each knight I turned that into the fully-coloured CG you see below. I always find it kinda neat to look at the first sketch and final artwork side by side, personally.

A total of four original songs have been commissioned for the game using the funds from patreon, and you can listen to another one over here! I'll see if I can get a few more once the funds have built up a little bit again. Music is pretty expensive (I mean not that this is a surprise, a lot of work goes into it) so I'll have to look at making my own in the future. I will admit though that while I can write, draw and (just about) code, music is something that's always eluded me, so this may be more of a pipe dream.

Otherwise it's been a bit of a quiet month. I'm going to keep chipping away and hope to have most of January's content done over the course of the coming month, so I guess I'll see you then!

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Re: Fate of the Squire - with demo! [BxB][Fantasy][Adult]

#42 Post by PyTom »

(De-embeded the adult pics - censored adult pics are still adult pics.)
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Re: Fate of the Squire - with demo! [BxB][Fantasy][Adult]

#43 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

Fair enough I guess!

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JANUARY SHOWCASE

#44 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

It’s the end of the month! This is what I’ve been working on for January…

New date scenes for the knights. I realised that outside of evening visits (read: explicit content) you don’t actually interact with your chosen love interest at all in January, which is obviously no good. Here’s a sneak peek of Areli’s date:

Image
Full version here.

The start of a darker story arc. The events in January can lead to some darker explicit content (which is opt-in and clearly flagged) involving Gray, a physician involved with Leith’s family. I’ve made a post explaining this more clearly here (tw for discussion of non-con).

Sprite improvements. Since Dr Gray stops being just a background character in January, I figured he was due a facelift. I honestly hadn’t realised how wonky (and weirdly coloured) that old sprite looked until I redid it! I’ve redone all his facial expressions as well and I’m pretty happy with the improvements.

Image
Full version here.

Writing. I… can’t really show that one off, but I haven’t been happy with January’s writing so it’s still being reworked. I’ve yet to write those new date scenes too, which are a little complex due to multiple dialogue trees, depending on how Leith is faring in various skills.

Patron gifts! Aeolia has donated very generously for the second month in a row – for month one they got a sketch of their choosing, and for month two they’ve requested it was turned into a full CG. This won’t be in the game, but it did turn out pretty nicely, so I figured I’d share! Well, share a censored version (sorry!)

Image
Full version here.

I’m making steady progress but I feel there’s still more to do, so next week doesn’t look likely for new content. Maybe week after? So long as I can get it done before NaNoRenO in March anyway (still debating whether to use NaNoRenO to get a chunk of Squire done, or do another side project…) Tumblr/patreon folks, I’ll see you then.

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FEBRUARY SHOWCASE

#45 Post by MonsoonMushroom »

Hello everyone, I’m very pleased to announce that January is finally finished and is now available to download for patrons. This means there’s a new public release too!

~*~ November! ~*~
PC download: MEGA
Mac download: MEGA

As a reminder of what November contains…

Image

A Contest of Skill
Each of the knight’s is holding a mini-contest in November to see who really has the talent to become their squire. An equestrian course for Areli, an armouring challenge for Lyall, and an obstacle course for Garaile!

A new date scene with the knight, with changing dialogue depending on Leith’s stat levels – this should hopefully act as a guide to what to focus on next.


Other things that were done:
Gray’s sprite is now much nicer
While creating some new clothes for Errol (just an undershirt, nothing fancy) I realised his sprite proportions could use improvement so I’ve tweaked him a little bit
I have linked the game guide in the credits to help people frustrated with game overs, but you can also find it here
The Love stat has been tweaked from increasing +2 from every visit to +4, to get those new explicit scenes all the sooner and allow a little more leeway for missed visits (although there’s not a lot of leeway in January, so be careful).


Things that were not done (because I ran out of time):
I haven’t added the new music just yet
The music that plays during some of Gray’s scenes isn’t entirely fitting but I don’t have anything suitable to put in there, so I’m going to hunt down some more free music in the future
I wasn’t able to add that fancy new ending that told you where you needed improvement, because it kept breaking and I ran out of patience. I’m going to come back to that when I have more time and probably do a general non-new-content update soon to improve game quality


I’ve updated the roadmap, which shows where the patreon release is vs. the public one:
Image
Bigger version here.

We’re half way done! But there’s still a lot further to go…


Now what happens?
Now I’m on vacation for a week ^^ I’ll be away from my computer but if there are any problems with the upload, game bugs to squash or questions to answer, I’ll handle them when I’m back.

It’s also March, which is NaNoRenO month! I will not be starting a new quick project like Corrupter. I know this will disappoint some who want to see more Corrupter-like content, but truthfully it really slowed down my progress on Squire. Aside from not working on it for a month, I was so tired by the end of it that April wasn’t overly productive either.

Instead, I’d rather take the manic energy of NaNoRenO and put that into Squire. We have a lot to do before February content will be ready for release so my plan is to get a chunk of that out of the way – and the sooner February is done the sooner we can do March, and April, etc until Squire is finally complete. And I have some pretty good plans for my next project when Squire is complete…

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