Made Marion

Version 2.0EA, Will's Route, Released!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at 11:49:26 PM

Will's Route Has Been Released!

The Scarlet Blade is here!  Made Marion Early Access v. 2.0 is out and available on Steam and Itch.io. All backers should have received their game keys last year when Robin's route came out. If you never redeemed your key and cannot find it, message me on Kickstarter and I will send you a link to it.

Patch Notes:

Will's route has been added! Will is a Sherwood love interest and can be chosen from the Sherwood Common Route.

We now have a notification system when a new Love Interest PoV scene has been unlocked. Love Interest PoV scenes can be found in Extras off the Main Menu. When a new one has been unlocked, you will be notified upon your first return to the Main Menu.

Make sure to check the Misc. section in Love Interest PoVs after finishing one of Will's good endings. There's a secondary character with his own PoV scene now.

Will's route is complete except for a single CG (full-screen illustration) at the end of Will Chapter 4a, which is a placeholder (albeit an attractive one). The final CG will be uploaded in Early Access v. 2.1, which should be uploaded in the next couple weeks.

Changes Based on Feedback:

Along with adding the Love Interest PoV notifications, the biggest piece of feedback that we received from Robin's route was that readers wanted longer love scenes. I am happy to oblige! Will's scenes are longer and more detailed than Robin's were.

This means I will be revisiting Robin's love scenes for version 2.1, extending them in the interest of equal time.

You may also notice that Will's sexy cut-ins (only viewable to players who have explicit text turned on - the game's default) are more colorful and less shadowy than Robin's. We will also be revisiting Robin's cut-in at some point before launch, changing to the improved style and adding a second pose so there are separate cut-ins for each unique ending. This is not guaranteed for version 2.1.

Made Marion Mega-Guide:

As I've been focusing all my attention on getting Will's route complete, the Mega-Guide hasn't been fully updated yet. I will be giving it some nice shiny updates along with adding Will's content and route guide this week, and will send out a notification when it's ready.

I'm very proud of what we've done with Will's route. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to reach out on Kickstarter, Discord, or Tumblr anytime!

p.s. I do recommend the bad endings, particularly in Will's chapter 4s. There are some unique experiences there that hint at some deeper mysteries in the game. :D

Will's Final Beta Is Live
over 1 year ago – Sat, Oct 19, 2024 at 03:25:36 AM

Enter the Scarlet Blade, Beta Edition

Good morning, everyone!

92,000 words later, Will's route is complete, coded, and the final version of the beta test has been uploaded. That's only one full day to experience the chapter 4s before launch, but we made it!

Beta Patch Notes:

1. Will Chapter 4a and 4b have been added, completing his route
2. All art assets included except Sexy Silhouette 1 and CG 4 (Ending CG, Chapter 4a). They will be completed tomorrow and included at launch.
3. Love Interest PoV Scenes can be unlocked in beta testing but are not yet complete. They will hopefully be complete by launch (as many as I can get in there) or added in a patch very soon after launch.
4. Will's Route Launch confirmed for Sunday, October 20, Midnight Pacific (probably a bit before then).

The nitty gritty of beta patch notes can be found in our Beta Issues Tracker. There shouldn't be anything particularly spoilery in there if you're curious and want to take a look.

Hope our Beta Buddies enjoy, and for everyone else, look forward to Sunday!

Made Marion: Will Route Release Date
over 1 year ago – Sun, Oct 06, 2024 at 02:09:52 PM

Will Arrives October 20!

Hi everyone! We're now in Beta Phase 2 of Will's route, which contains Will Chapters 1-3. I'd love to hear more from our fine beta backers if any of you have the time to do a playthrough and visit us on Discord.

Will's release date will be October 20, a bit past the first-half-month release window, but I wanted to make sure our testers have enough time with the Chapter 4s once they're complete, as well as to get together the extra bits and bobs like the Mega-Guide content and the Love Interest Point of View scenes.

Speaking of which, from now on players will receive a notification when they return to the Main Menu after unlocking a Love Interest Point of View scene. We noticed that not everybody was aware they existed (I guess not everyone excitedly checks Extras menus like I do!), so now you can't miss it!

I'll also be adding our first "Misc." point of view scene from the PoV of one of our minor characters. It will be unlocked upon finishing either of Will's good endings. There won't be one of these on every route, but they're another way for me to show what some of our characters have been doing behind the scenes.

The final change I'm making based on feedback from our first Early Access release is that the love scenes in Will's route will be longer than the ones in Robin's were. I heard y'all loud and clear, you want a lil' more smut and I'm happy to provide!  I will go back and (ahem) lengthen the scenes in Robin's route as well.

I'll be sending out one more notification when the full Beta is available for Will's route, and after that, we'll see you October 20!

Will's Beta: Phase 1 is Live!
over 1 year ago – Sat, Sep 21, 2024 at 01:36:06 PM

Attention All Beta Backers!

Phase 1 of Will's beta test is now live on Steam (Made Marion Playtest App) and Itch.io (Made Marion Beta Centre)!  Everything is looking stable on my end, so please ping me on Kickstarter or Discord if you have any trouble downloading or running the clients.

Note that Mac users may have issues with the Itch client as it is unsigned (we as a company cannot afford to pay the Apple bribe, I fear). I believe most of our Mac players know how to get around this but I can try to help if you're having trouble.

Here are our patch notes for Beta Phase 1:

Will's Beta Phase 1 includes the first two of four chapters in Will's story.

Additions:
Will's common route CG (start of Sherwood Chapter 1)
Notification when a new Love Interest PoV scene is unlocked
Will Chapters 1 & 2
1 new achievement possible in Will Chapter 2. Can you find it?

Missing (to be added before route launch):
CG 2 (Chapter 2)
Marion peasant disguise for tavern scene in Chapter 2
Sprites: Edith, Hugh
Cut in: Will traversing the rope (Chapter 1)
Will Chapters 3 & 4
Carriage background in Will Chap 2 needs alternative, non-Glastonbury version

Missing (not to be added before route launch):
No new additions to Lore Intro yet.
Unfinished common route CGs besides Will
John, Meissa, Alanna, Geoff/Gui routes

Please feel free to join us on the Made Marion Discord to provide Beta feedback!

Phase 2 will go live once Chapter 3 is fully coded.

Made Marion Development Update, September 2024
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 18, 2024 at 06:21:33 PM

Will's Beta Starts This Weekend!

Heya, Beta Backers!  We're starting a 3ish-week beta for Will this weekend! It will start off with Chapters 1-2, with Chapters 3-4 added when complete. I recommend that those of you who enjoy giving in-depth feedback (we love you!) start off with this weekend's release because as you know, our routes are pretty long! Release date should be Saturday unless something catastrophic happens (like Steam's back-end going down or my hard drive eating the Ren'py client again).

Quick Beta reminders/FAQ:

1. Not all backers are beta backers!  Beta was an add-on in our KS campaign.
2. If you've previously participated in Beta, you should have the Made Marion Playtest in your Steam library and/or have access to the Made Marion Beta Center on Itch.io. If you have not yet participated in Beta, you can find your beta key in your Backerkit download section.
3. If you can't find/access your Backerkit download section, please send me a message on Kickstarter or contact me via Discord. If you contact me via Discord, please provide the email that you used to back Made Marion so I can locate your Backerkit link.
4. The best way to give us beta feedback is by joining our Discord and posting in the i-need-beta-access topic so I can give you access to the Beta Chat. Those of you who are already in Beta Chat will be getting notified about Beta soon.
5. There is also a discussion forum on itch.io in the Beta Center, but so far not a single person has posted there.  Feel free to start it off if you're allergic to Discord!
6. As always, Beta is feature- and story-complete but may be missing a few minor character sprites and CGs. As of this writing, we have 3/5 complete CGs for Will's route and there are three minor character sprites that are close to completion but are not yet available in the game.
7. I will send out another Kickstarter message as soon as the beta clients are available, so keep an eye on your inboxes!

Talk to you all soon!