A romantic visual novel inspired by the legends of Robin Hood. Step into the shoes of Lady Marion as she becomes entangled in a battle for the future of Nottingham. Fight for freedom and fall in love!
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Hi everyone! I've decided to check in early with a report on our development schedule and some straight talk on some tough stuff. I hope this will help us all get on the same page and be excited instead of worried about Made Marion's development process.
First of all, thank you all so much for your magnificent patience and concern! This is definitely not how I wanted Made Marion's development to go or how it would have gone if things were still the way they were for our team back when we ran our Kickstarter. We have been seriously kicked in the teeth repeatedly, and I'd like to offer a better explanation and our proposed solutions and revised schedule.
I'm also sorry for the lack of pretty pictures this month! There will be many available very soon when Robin's beta test is ready to go!
1. As of fall 2021, things were going pretty well! We'd just run a beta for Made Marion's prologue and my route outlines were shaping up nicely. Then things began to go wrong. I had some issues at home that took up my attention, and then my darn town flooded. Drat it, ok, lost a couple months, but we can get back on track in 2022...
2. Then 2022, for various reasons was a disaster for pretty much our entire team (I'm only going to talk about my problems here, because those are the ones it is mine to share). It ended up being basically a wash for development. Why wasn't that obvious from our development updates? Because of my brain. I contracted Covid in January of 2022 and a few weeks later, the Long Covid symptoms started. I was near-narcoleptic for several months. It was scary and embarrassing and I didn't know how to talk about it. So I was as positive as I could be. Around May, my body started to recover. I was able to live more normally and I figured that meant I could get back to development. What I didn't know and couldn't effectively communicate was that the brain fog was still there. I was writing, but not in a straight line. I wrote scenes for all the love interests here and there, scribbled a bunch in my notebooks, but a full, logical route for Robin wasn't happening. And the problem with your brain not working right is that it's very difficult to understand that your brain isn't working right. I thought things were cool! So it appeared that I wasn't being honest about the status of development without me realizing it did or even fully understanding that development wasn't going well. I'm very sorry about that.
2. Around November of 2022 my brain started working better again, but I was demoralized and felt like I'd forgotten how to write. I "eased" myself back into writing with a huge fic, along with finally getting back to putting words together for Robin. I wrote words! Lots of words! Good words! Yeah! We pulled together as a team and got our enhanced demo out, which was a lot of work but was super exciting.
3. Feeling guilty about the wash that was 2022 and excited because of how much verbiage I'd put out, I created an ambitious schedule toward an Early Access release of all the Sherwood routes this fall. It was based on the amount of words I'd been putting out, so I was convinced it was doable. Some of you wrote in to Tumblr with concerns that it was overly ambitious. You were wonderful and primarily concerned for my well-being. You were also correct.
1. I need to accept that I have a disabling condition that currently has no cure and that, although it has greatly improved since last year, means that I can't always work at my peak capacity. This is super tough for a high achiever with general anxiety. I hate even talking about it, but I want to be as transparent with y'all as I can be.
2. The schedule: I still wish to keep a relatively ambitious target schedule for the remainder of development. I think it is helping us all Get Shit Done(tm). I just need to be a little less ambitious. I still plan to release Early Access this fall and I'm still hoping for October (which was always tentative), but November may be more realistic. It depends on how well my body and mind cooperate over the summer, and on the individual situations of our artists. Early Access will launch with Robin and Will's routes. John is going to need to take more time. It will be worth it, because he will get the full attention and care that his wonderful self deserves.
3. The weekly mini-dev updates: I have started posting mini-dev updates on Mondays on Tumblr. This is the place to go if you want a more granular report of the progress we've been making, and I think they're going to be very helpful for maintaining clarity and helping keep us all on-task.
4. Beta: I will be using Steam's new beta testing system for those of you who requested Steam keys for the game. This sets up the Made Marion Beta as basically a separate game client, so once it comes out, you'll be able to play MM in Early Access and seamlessly access the Beta for the next upcoming route as well. We already have the Made Marion Beta Center for y'all who are Itch.io key folks. I will be opening up our beta test near the end of June or very early July at the latest (I have to get the beta client approved by Steam staff, so some of it isn't entirely in my hands). Once you have Beta access, you'll always have it, and I plan to keep the Beta client available on both storefronts until the game's final release. Robin's entire route will probably not be coded by the end of June, but you'll be able to play the first half of the route for sure, and Chapter 3 shouldn't take much longer. Chapter 4, aka the full RP choice split + endings, will take a bit longer than that.
Once Beta goes live I will include Beta Buddies updates about the current status of the Beta build in our KS updates and Monday Mini Updates, so our beta backers will be able to jump in whenever their desired amount of content is live. I'm envisioning our Beta client as a lovely playground where our Beta backers can drop in anytime to play our latest pre-launch updates and give us feedback. The Robin Beta will also include the current status of our lore intro (the audio and text are fully implemented, and we are slowly implementing the images as Lawri completes them between also doing cut-ins for the routes) and the game's full prologue, which I think a lot of you missed when we did a short beta test for it in 2021.
Looking back from here, our original release date estimate from Kickstarter was too ambitious even under ideal circumstances. That was my development inexperience speaking. The rest was a lot of IRL horribleness. However, the gang is back together now, and the game is now, actually, truly, progressing nicely once more. Going forward, I'll be able to post much more concrete progress and I think doing so as I write each route is a better choice than posting a bunch of specific completion dates that we may not meet. You'll be able to see our progress as it happens instead.
Robin's new expressions are in! I love the way he turned out and Arrapso (a fellow perfectionist, err, high achiever) seems happier with him now as well. Awesome! I will post some previews on Tumblr soon, once I have coded a few of the new expressions into the game client.
John's role-playing choice has been re-configured a bit. I was previously calling it "conflict or compromise," but I was getting stuck on the "conflict" part because I didn't want Marion and John to be fighting all the time if you made those choices. It didn't seem like fun, or particularly in-character for John. I am now calling it "challenge or compromise." Because John is kind and wonderful and protective but is also traumatized and stubborn and overprotective. Sometimes he needs to be challenged, and it won't always lead to an argument. I think this makes for more interesting choices and for John to have more room to be John.
I coded in Will's first use of his genuine smile expression (you get to confront him about his attitude early on in Robin's route) and am happy to report that it is SUPER EFFECTIVE.
For any of you Ren'py devs out there, I continue to evangelize matrixcolor. It's relatively new, but you should absolutely check out what it can do. Previously, I used it to tint our characters a bit so they blended in better with evening and night backgrounds. I also used it to sepia-tone memory sequences. I've now used it to make images slowly disappear via transparency and turn our blood animation green instead of red for... spoiler purposes. It is so easy and flexible, you should absolutely play with it!
I'll be reporting in later this month on our Beta test status!
Hey everyone! I'm writing from the midst of Robinpalooza 2023 as I embark on a big writing sprint to finish the route ASAP. Currently the route is over halfway scripted at 34,280 words. The next three weeks will be nothing but writing (and hopefully some coding) for me as I buckle down to get 'er done.
That means our Robin beta should begin in mid-late June. I may put up the first two chapters for beta before the rest of the route, which gives everyone a bit less to go through at a time if you're interested in providing direct feedback.
Beyond everything always taking longer than I hoped it would, a reason Robin's beta is a bit delayed from the original May estimate is because I looked over all our sprites during the Enhanced Demo process and decided that Robin didn't quite have the same SQ (Sexy Quotient) as the rest of the cast. So his sprite (and only his sprite) is getting one final makeover.
Here's a preview of Robin's final look, which I absolutely adore:
Robin's new sprite isn't massively different from the old one, but the lines on his face have been smoothed and his base feel is closer to "romantic hero with a hint of a trickster to him" than "comedic lead." That's more accurate to his characterization in his route (and no shade to Arrapso here, because the darn man purposefully acts the fool until you get to know him better in his route, which wasn't available to her when she designed the sprite). So we'll need to wait for his new expressions to be complete before I can start coding the first half of his route. It'll be worth it!
As a reminder, backers needed to pledge specifically for beta access in order to receive it (it was an add-on). You can check your Backerkit profile to see if you have beta access (message me with your backer email if you need another link to your Backerkit info). Unlike the Enhanced Demo beta, future betas will be available either on itch.io or Steam. I will send beta backers a code based on their favored platform.
We had a cut-in graphic that wasn't quite ready in time for the Enhanced Demo launch, but is now in our development code. It probably won't land in the demo because I've fully split off that code base from the in-development game, so I posted a video of the updated scene as it will appear in the final game. Except without that typo where I didn't capitalize Layton's name once. That's been fixed already.
I recommend watching directly on Youtube for the best quality, though of course the quality is even better in the actual game!
That's what we have for this month. And now it's writing go time!
Hello everyone! We just have a mini-update for April since we're spinning development back up after releasing the Enhanced Demo last month.
Robin's route is due to be script-complete in May, and hopefully I'll be able to do a decent amount of the coding then, as well.
I thought it might be fun to take a peek into our sprite development process. Made Marion's sprites are layered sprites, which means they have a base pose and we layer expressions, outfits, hairstyles, etc. on top of it. Some of our sprites (WILL) are rather complex due to multiple outfits, poses, and hat stuff, but with some help from our coding guru Shawna, I have them set up so they're still easy to code into the game.
We're currently completing the poses for Geoffrey and Gui, who made it into the Enhanced Demo but still need more poses and outfits for their role in the main game. Arrapso often sends me little clips of sprite possibilities and asks me to choose what I like.
Here's an example from this past week - draft images for Geoffrey's "less cranky" sprite pose (to be used when Geoffrey actually starts opening up) and his combat pose. I chose the first "less cranky" pose because I thought it looked better for romantic scenes. And I think we can all agree that the combat pose is going to look hot.
And here are the possibilities for Gui's combat pose. I chose the second one because I thought it looked most in-character for him. "I'd prefer not to hurt you, but I will if I must." I did note that I liked the way he'd smuggled Thing from the Addams Family in his shirt. ;)
I wanted to take a moment to introduce y'all to Imperial Grace, which is running its Kickstarter as we speak. I'm not personally involved in this project but I consider it a sister project of a sort. It's a fellow Medieval-themed romantic visual novel, I'm friends with the lead dev, and we share a lead artist and editor/first reader. It's also looking so very gorgeous and fun to play!
Become a powerful empress in Imperial Grace, making tough choices that will steer your empire into prosperity, or perhaps into ruin! The main character is customizable, as you can see from the above gif, and has three sexy and interesting possible love interests. Click away on the link or the image to learn more!
See you all in May!
Hi everyone! I am so, so sorry. In my sleepless state last weekend after posting in a zillion places, I completely forgot that I hadn't posted a Kickstarter update. So here it is!
Here's your chance to see all the awesome things we've been able to add to the game thanks to all of your assistance!
Download the Enhanced Demo on Steam
Download the Enhanced Demo on Itch
Major Enhancements:
Known Issues:
Got a friend who missed the Kickstarter and wants to pre-order Made Marion at a discount? We have pre-orders available at 10% off the final price!
Pre-Order Itch Keys, Steam Keys, and the Mega-Guide Here
In April I'll be focusing 100% on the main routes, preparing for a hopeful Early Access release of the three Sherwood routes in October! See you next month!