Made Marion Development Update, August 2024
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Aug 16, 2024 at 06:15:01 PM
Official Will Route Release Window
I've checked in with the team and we aren't quite ready to release Will's route in (what remains of) the summer, but we're far enough that I have team buy-in on an official release window of the first half of October.
I'll have a more specific date once we begin our beta test in September, which usually lasts two weeks. I may release the first three chapters early for testers while I finish coding the chapters 4.
Will Chapter 3 will be fully written within a week from now. It turned out to be quite a beast. That means that Will's chapter 4s may be a bit shorter each than Robin's were, however, they will also be more different from each other than Robin's were. In fact, the love scenes and the climactic Chapter 4 action scenes are in completely different locations.
I'm going half-tilt on coding while I finish the script, and should have Chapter 1 fully coded soon, as well.
World Name Thoughts
Although the world in which Made Marion is set has three named countries: Avalon, Sunjata, and Nibiru, the world as a whole does not yet have a name.
I probably won't give it an in-universe name because its inhabitants primarily identify with their country of birth and don't really have a view of themselves as being on a planet in a system full of other planets. But still, since I'm planning to create multiple tales in this world (one for each country), I could use a name to call it for marketing purposes.
I've been putting this off for a while, but I'd like something with a historical/folkloric connection that deals with the number three OR that has something to say about the kingdom's themes - Sunjata, the Sun Lands; Avalon, the Middle Kingdom (light and shadow); and Nibiru, the Twilight Realm.
Right now I'm thinking perhaps "Triskelion," named after the Celtic triple spiral pattern. But I'm not 100% satisfied with that since I have two other countries that do not have Celtic inspiration (Sunjata is inspired by Medieval North and West Africa, while Nibiru is very loosely inspired by Ancient Babylon and the Indus Valley Civilization). It's probably not a big deal since it'd be difficult to encompass all three and this entire world began with my desire to thread Celtic elements into the Robin Hood tales, but still. Any thoughts or ideas?
Here's a reward for everyone who made it to the end. Arrapso didn't make those shirtless combat sprites for nothing!
Made Marion Development Update - July 2024
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Jul 17, 2024 at 02:59:43 PM
Hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying the summer, and my best wishes to all of you on the eastern half of North America who have been dealing with hurricanes.
Project Status
Unfortunately, my fatigue and other medical stuff prevented me from finishing Will Chap 3 this month. To give you an overview of where we are on the route as a whole:
Writing: Will Chapter 3/4, close to 50k words out of about 80k
Coding: Half of Chapter 1, waiting on editorial
Editing: Writer edits complete on Chapters 1-2, waiting on reader edits.
Backgrounds: 100% complete.
Sprites: 3 NPC sprites needed (can launch without but hope to have).
CGs: 2/5 complete.
Cut-Ins: 1 of 3 nearly complete (the most complex one).
So we still have a ways to go, unfortunately. After many many tests, I'm officially being referred to an internal medicine specialist to see if we can improve my fatigue. I don't know how long it will take me to get in to see them, but hopefully not too long!
Thanks as always for all of your patience as our team navigates the challenges of complex illness!
Here's Will's intro CG that will show near the beginning of Sherwood Common:
And a set of new facial expressions made specifically for this route (though I will add some rolling eye Will to the other routes as well).
And finally, a silly "Happy Canada Day" pic I did for the first of July. The background is an alpine meadow in Manning Park, BC, taken by me.
See you next month!
Made Marion Development Update, June 2024
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, Jun 18, 2024 at 03:40:13 PM
Just a quick one this month!
My goal is to finish writing Will Chapter 3 by the end of the month. I'm just getting into an exciting scene that has been one of the central parts of Will's plot since very early in development. One version of Marion will execute the mission far more smoothly than the other version, but there's a special achievement in it for the less-smooth version, so it's worthwhile to try both!
We have a sketch of the Temple of Shadow. As I've tried to underline, the concept of shadow isn't evil, it's more chaos-aligned, and traditionally Avalons value a balance between order and chaos. Thus the Temple of Shadow isn't sinister, but a cool, woodsy, forested place that welcomes a variety of woodland creatures (thanks to the Beast Druids).
There is also a library in the temple. Shadow Temple libraries collect forbidden, secret, and politically "inconvenient" knowledge and allow access to locals who they have determined walk sufficiently in shadow. Marion has always wanted to peruse a Shadow Temple library but has never been given permission before. Hmm, does she know any shadow-walkers in this route? ;)
Excited to see the final version; I love Sandra's background work so much!
See y'all in July!
Made Marion Development Update: May 2024
almost 2 years ago
– Fri, May 17, 2024 at 01:59:37 PM
The Halfway Mark
Will's route is now halfway written, which is when my writing speed really picks up steam. As of the end of chapter 2 we're at 37.5k words. There's a lot happening in chapter 3 and of course the two chapter 4s, so Will's route may be slightly shorter than Robins, but not by much. And I believe the main culprit is the fact that Robin just spits out so many more words than Will. As for who spits out the most meaningful content, well.
Our script and coding should be ready in time to launch Will's route during the summer. I will give more specific dates once I'm more sure of the exact completion time and the readiness of our visual assets.
And in good news, my new doctor is doing a great job helping to narrow down the exact causes of my long Covid symptoms. I should also be referred to a specialist by the summer. Future route production will definitely be faster if I can manage Normal and Necessary Human Activities(tm) without spending the next day dead asleep.
Patch Incoming
Having received the graphical assets I've been waiting for, I have completed a small patch to the existing game client. We were very proud to see that Robin's route launched relatively bug-free! There were a few dialogue tag issues that we missed during Beta (no wonder, with so much dialogue in there!) and some other minor typos and anachronism issues.
The patch is ready to go but since I'll be out of town this weekend, I'm going to launch it on Monday just in case anything catastrophic happens. That's highly unlikely considering the changes made, but never say never in game dev. :-p You should see the patch announcement on Itch (if you're following us) and Steam when it happens.
I also replaced the enchanted arrow graphic with an improvement and replaced Alvin's sexy silhouette with our new style. The new style better matches the game's overall style and IMO it's a fair bit sexier, as well. Here's the new image!
Will is getting two sexy silhouettes (this should be our number for every route going forward; we'll get a second one for Robin at some point as well), and one of them contains a neat scenario that will let Lawrichai do something a little different with the silhouette forms. I'm excited about it.
See y'all next month!
Made Marion Development Update: March 2024
almost 2 years ago
– Fri, Mar 22, 2024 at 01:09:14 PM
Hello everyone!
We're continuing writing Will's Chapter 2 this month. I went back this past week and wrote the final action scene in Will Chapter 1, so now that chapter is entirely complete.
Writing isn't going as quickly as I'd hoped, but I'm doing as best I can with my health limitations. I have a new lap desk so I can write on the couch more often, and I have a new doctor who is being much more attentive in trying to get me help for my lingering long Covid symptoms.
Since we're largely just writing and sketching art right now, I'm going to take April off from major development updates and send out the next big one in May. I will still be posting our weekly mini-updates on Tumblr if you're interested in more granular progress.
In the meantime, enjoy this sketch I approved of Will's common route CG (I approved two Will CG sketches, but the other one is spoilers), and my silly little contribution to Tumblr's Ides of March-o-Rama.
