General Update: The Cat You'll Never Forget

Meowdy folks! I hate keeping y'all in the dark-- I announced in the discord that I released a new project for Strawberry Jam 9, an annual kink-focused game jam, but it took all my spoons (and the integrity of my sleep schedule) for that entire month to finish it at all, and immediately after THAT I came down with a pretty bad cold! I'm already feeling a lot better, but that's why I didn't say anything here on patreon. Apologies for that!

The Cat You'll Never Forget is what I've posted about in the dev channel since early February: a dating simulator in which you bump into a certain pink cat in the market, and he decides to whisk you away for dates! Due to the nature of game jams, I was only able to finish two areas of it, but that's roughly 28k words of scenes altogether, with incredible compositions by a new friend of mine, Dozzyrok, and equally stunning art from my friend Kint... so I HOPE that makes up for the lack of Perfect Home updates! It's also freely available to anyone, and could not have been made without support from y'all!

I really feel like I learned a lot while developing it-- for one, I know how to better work with composers and manage a team, I learned a ton about renpy in practically zero time, and I have SUCH a vision for the story I want to tell with Felicity too. One that might be really good for folks in kink-spaces, while also being cute and sweet. I'm excited!

(Also, the name of the game is a direct reference to The Cat Opened The Door, which was my twine game that focused dominantly on Citrine! Please play it if you get the chance, I'm proud of it even today!)

Amidst all of that, I took some time to develop the beginning phases of something I KNOW everyone's going to enjoy: Julian's dating arc! I mostly only drew up the sprites and some complimentary art, but although I've alluded to working on revising the kitsune mansion as a major focus several times now, I intend to make this one of my next primary updates for Perfect Home itself in addition, simply because I've HEAVILY enjoyed writing it.

I dunno! I think part of why I've been so excited to work on visual novels lately is because I REALLY enjoy writing little character interactions and exploring their personalities. I've been developing PH for years and likewise have been writing similar batches of content for a long time, so getting to do more fascinating stuff like this has just lit a bit of a fire under me.

I think sometimes about what the future of this patreon and my career as a horny little dev will look like after I inevitably complete Perfect Home. I'd be thrilled to turn to a wide variety of projects, while also working with more talented creators in the furry community... or maybe I can just pool resources towards helping others get their start, since the biggest boon I had when starting PH was not having to worry about rent or food in the beginning.

That's a LONGGGG ways off though. I have too many ideas to stop now, and I just need a little time and a little more energy to get 'em all square!

IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:

• I need a bit of a break, gamers!!!!! I was super sleep-deprived and stressed while working on the jam this month. I need time to get some medical, dental and mental health appointments scheduled, I need time to organize the writing team I keep yapping about, and I need to be able to work on my projects in a more unstructured way without worrying about meeting a deadline. In that sense it's less of a break and more just, I need time to decompress and go at my own pace. I know I've been slow to develop things lately, but these small issues have been why. If you'd bear with me, I'm sure I can work much more efficiently if I'm not worrying for a month-- you'll still get updates in the dev chat in the discord, of course! I just can't make promises or release an update for the game this month.

• The other visual novel I discussed, title being Catboy In The Dungeon, is still slated to release soon! It's something I'll likely work on this month... however, having done what I've done for The Cat You'll Never Forget makes me kind of want to go back and overhaul some things. It's frustrating because I feel like it's fully done and I really need to recoup the money I put into its development, but now it feels more like a rough draft that could be thoroughly improved upon if I just took some extra time. It's a game I want to sell, and if the game I put out for free is objectively BETTER than I'll feel like some kind of sham. Or God forbid a charlatan.

That's about it for now! I ended up writing a little more than I thought I might here, but I hope you found it insightful! I'll keep you all updated on what I'm doing in the dev channel in the discord, and as always, seriously, thank you SO MUCH for the support. I'm really going to need it, especially after taxes Do What Taxes Do and completely hecking shaft me. xwx;;

See you all next month, meow! 🧡