I know that release dates have been timey-wimey lately, and we're going to get better at that. An idea is just to not give a release date at all, just a release month.
New RenPy updates
Next week, we'll be systematically patching all our games again with the new engine updates. Nothing major.
Another sale? Really? (and news, i guess)
LUNAR NEW YEARS SALE
STEAM'S LUNAR NEW YEAR SALE! NOW UNTIL JAN. 27th!
Another official Steam Sale? Already? Okay, uh, sure, I guess.....
FURRY SHAKESPEARE: 10% OFF
DASHING DINOSAURS & SEXY CENTAURS: 10% OFF
FURRIES & SCALIES & BEARS OH MY!: 10% OFF
VARIOUS ARMY OF TENTACLES GAMES: 10 - 70% OFF!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082700/Dinosaur_Shakespeare_To_Date_or_Not_To_Date This one has been hard to crack. How do you end a trilogy, let alone one that is about dating sims? I rewrote the structure to this one, primarily because I was getting too angry and cynical about what this game is a metaphor for: climate change. It's a very different game in tone from our previous dating sims. We do hope you enjoy it. It's still the same style game, but it's also a bit different.
Our third, unannounced game....
We'll most likely be putting up the store page for this bad mamma-jamma after Friendswood launches.
Paper Shakespeare 2 (re)announced!
For a variety of reasons, Dragongate's name is now changing to....
We feel that this name better suits the content of the game as it has evolved in the development cycle, as well as where it fits in the Paper Shakespeare timeline.
We will be changing the rest of the storefront in the coming days, with new screenshots and a new trailer that reflect where the game now sits.
It is still the game that we set out to make in Dragongate and it is still the game that you wishlisted, so don't be worried about that.
We cannot wait to show more.
Oh, and there should be more game announcements for the rest of 2020 *nervously looks at calendar* end of neeeeeeeeeeeeext weeeeeeeeeeek? Don't hold us to that.
End of the year patches
We're sprucing up the audio on all of our games. Taking out some artifacts.
Also.
Happy holidays from all of us to all of you.
Steam Winter Sale 2019!
Well, actually, it ends on January 2nd.
WINTER'S TALE + Game Announcement!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1152210/Dashing_Dinosaurs__Sexy_Centaurs_Winters_Tale Our first(?) free game is out! I had the hankering to make a holiday game while waiting for 2020 art assets, and so here we are. Using mostly pre-existing assets, it was a learning experience. Mainly, if I were to do a free game again, it would be less characters.
It primarily utilizes the format set up in Dashing Dinosaurs & Sexy Centaurs, but with more of an evolved gameplay set-up.
With that, our 2019 product list is all but done, except for the Furry Shakespeare DLC out sometime next week. Just in time for Friday the 13th.
Had to move Dinosaur Shakespeare to April(?) of next year for a few reasons:
1) Keep in line with the Elsinore Academy release dates 2) We got a new investor and they would rather that we focus on known factors
So, in place of Dinosaur Shakespeare, we decided to spin together a freebie for you all.
Is it really free? Yes. There will be a Donation DLC that launches alongside it. This will include a small new scene and a chance to interact more with the characters of the game.
Investor? The Next Year
So, a while after Furries & Scalies & Bears OH MY!, we caught of the eye of a new investor. This is also the reason why Paper Shakespeare RPG has been pushed back. Instead of telling us what game they wanted us to make, they simply wanted:
1) That we make four games in the next two years based on our best known titles, which are furry dating sims and Army of Tentacles 2) They get a percentage from the monthly revenue of each title
The next year of titles will be announced in time, but right now the schedule for 2020 - 2021 looks like this:
1) Investor Game: New Fantasy Genre "Fire Emblem-type" dating sim 2) Investor Game: Mythos Ever After: A Cthulhu Dating Sim 3) Dinosaur Shakespeare: To Date or Not To Date? 4) Investor Game: New Furries & Scalies title (the F&S franchise going forward will exist outside the F&S&BOM! game as those characters are owned by Stefan Klaus) 5) The Ghost of Joe Papp 2 6) Investor Game: Super Army of Tentacles: (Not) A Cthulhu Dating Sim
It's not as impressive as a Marvel Movie Timeline, we know.
Do we really need to tell you this information? No, not really. Do we want to keep people informed of what we are doing? Yes.
Argument System 3.0 and YOU!
We at the office have been working on the new foundation code for Super Army of Tentacles: (Not) A Cthulhu Dating Sim, and are so happy with its progress that we have decided to tear out the combat system for Paper Shakespeare RPG and replace it with the new update to the Army of Tentacles series' Argument System. Honestly? It works better with the theme of the game, and means that we can get it out sooner.
We are still hard at work on a combat system for a later RPG.
What will be included in the new system?
A much more code-friendly system means that stats will greatly affect the word battles, as well as giving us the the opportunity to make much cooler skills that affect the battles in much deeper ways.
Will you be putting Argument System 3.0 in the previous two Army of Tentacles games? Say, before the new Army of Tentacles comes out?
I would love to say yes. Let's get into why it might not happen, or might take a while to happen.
Because of the way the original Utahraptor framework (the thing that holds all our systems together in RenPy) was written, it would require a complete code overhaul, and that means an overhaul of two separate games. In that case, we're basically redoing Army of Tentacles: (Not) A Cthulhu Dating Sim and Super Army of Tentacles 3: The Search for Army of Tentacles 2 from the ground up.
Even with an existing script to work off of, we're also talking all of the DLC, the works. Everything would be redone. Every scene, every quest, every Argument, every mechanic. Then we'd need to actually take the copy-pasted Argument System 3.0 and make sure it would have the things required for that specific game.
We're also talking about doing this at no cost to the user, just a simple, free patch. Sadly, we have to weigh that in as a factor, as we do have other games on the slate. We're talking about a 2016 game and a 2017 game, after all. Would we improve the art and resolution for Army 1, to put it in line with the other two games in the trilogy? Would we do art but just leave the resolution the same?
Is it unfair to any new or existing players to leave Army 1 and Army 3 as is if the new one is going to be, for lack of any other term, badass?
The Summary
Paper Shakespeare RPG is getting a cooler combat system. Dunno yet if the previous Army of Tentacles game will get a facelift.
