Introduction to "The Blind Date Game" & Roadmap

Hello again! Welcome to this month's devlog. 

Today, I wanted to share some of the progress I've been making on my next game, that blind date game I mentioned last month. Development has been coming along smoothly but I'll admit it has been a learning process. I'm not that experienced with 3D modeling or Godot's coding language yet but I think I'll be able to make something really fun. 

Anyhow, let's split this up to make it a bit more readable.

The raw debug values spit out by the current randomizer. The icons are just there for testing.

• What is this project?

The Blind Date Game (tentative title) is a expandable project that I've been planning for a bit. 

The basic concept is that the game will randomly generate a girl for the player to go on a series of dates with. If the player successfully romances the girl then you'll be rewarded with a h-scene with that girl.

At the bare minimum, that's the project. It's not a lot, but it's my first 3D game, so keeping the scope small will help me ensure I can get the project done. I most likely won't stop there, however. This project has been designed with a focus on expandability, so I'll be able to add a lot of extra features depending on how development goes.

Here's a couple of the potential stretch goals for this project:

• Mod support

Assuming I can make this work, some basic mod support will be included in the 1.0 version of the game. This will most likely come in the form of adding extra content for the generator (such as hairstyles or outfits). 

• Character creator

I'm most likely going to make a character creator in order to debug the randomizer to begin with, so I expect you'll see this before I even make any dates. In the final game, your finished character would be able to be brought on dates or into h-scenes. There's still a possibility this won't be in the game, however.

• Gallery

As you unlock h-scenes, those would show up here along with a jukebox. This would not be difficult to add in before 1.0, but don't be surprised if I focus on the main game functionality first.

• Girlfriend mode

While the main "Blind Date" game mode will be 3 dates and then a h-scene, Girlfriend mode would be this game's equivalent of an endless mode. In Girlfriend mode, the player would continue romancing their generated girl while also balancing their budget and energy. There would be potential random chance events (find a luck penny, get fired/promoted, etc) to shake things up. Ultimately, the main goal in this game mode would be marrying your girlfriend. 

If this game mode gets added to the game, that would be version 2.0.

• Potential minigames or other bonus content

Depending on how well the randomizer works, I could use the generated characters for fun side activities like simple sports minigames (likely with a lewd twist) or other bonus content. Do not expect these as part of the game for now, but just know the idea is in my mind and I think it'd be fun if this project goes well.

Keep in mind that these are only potential expansion and that they aren't guaranteed to be part of the final game, but are ideas that I'd love to add depending on how the project goes. The base game will most likely be very simple with some basic randomization and simple dates.

• When can we expect the game to be done?

I can't be sure this early into the project, so I don't want to set deadlines for myself just yet, but know that the current roadmap looks something like this: 

• Patreon Beta 0.1 (character generator)
• Patreon Beta 0.2 (date system OR h-scene system)
• Patreon Beta 0.3 (final beta - base game is feature complete)
• Version 1.0 (Character generator, date system, and h-scene system work and are polished)
• Patreon Beta 1.1 (Additional features)
• Patreon Beta 1.2 + Public Beta 1.1 (Very simple girlfriend mode)
• Patreon Beta 1.3 (complete girlfriend mode testing)
• Version 2.0 (Finished & polished girlfriend mode)
• Version 2.1+ (Additional features, bugfixes, etc)

Again, it's impossible to say how long it should take me to do each bullet point as I'm not experienced enough as a dev to be sure how long I'll take to develop everything. I hope to have the first beta (character generator, most likely with a character creator) out within a month or two, but we'll have to see how things play out.

• Other Projects?

I technically have two other ongoing projects: 

I'm in the planning stages of Date a Mink 3D and I hope that I can use some of the systems from The Blind Date Game to build the 3D visual novel systems. 

The collab project is still on hiatus, but it no longer seems indefinite. I'll hopefully know for sure what the future of the project will be by the end of the year. Ideally, I'll have an announcement or trailer out by November, but I can't promise that just yet.

Anyway, that was a long post! Thanks for reading!
I hope to have the next beta ready for you all soon. I really want to get some more cool projects out to you all! 

PS: I have a new character. Her name is Bingbing.