Dev Log #52 - Plans in motion!

Hi all, welcome back to this week's dev log! There are a few topics to sink our teeth into so let's get it going!

The resignation notice is in!
As discussed at the trailing end of the last dev log, I have mentioned that I will be taking a leap to resign from my full-time job in order to pursue the development of Cara in Creekmaw (and other follow-up games) full-time! I'm here to update this by saying that I have tendered my resignation just this Thursday (although I will still need to work for 1 more month and will be officially released in early November)!

It has been a bumpy 2nd half of 2023 for me, to put it into a few words, with my mood and overall emotions dampened by a mix of real-life affairs as well as work-related events (in my full-time job). This resulted in a long and protracted development of Episode 2 during its planning and story-writing phases, which I'm thankfully back on track with!

It is hard to juggle the requirements and demands of my full-time job with Cara in Creekmaw's development and it resulted in me depriving myself of sleep for a good month or two. Overall it's just not feasible for my mental health to just "keep it going", and deep down I'm grateful that I even have the option to back out of my full-time job knowing that many of you here support that idea because it only means a swifter release and more vore content!

Actual game development news!
Alright, back to the saddle! Render-wise, Day 3 is mostly scene complete and is awaiting stitching together with the dialogue.

In the meantime, Day 4 rendering has started and I'm super ecstatic to have started (and finished) on a scene that I was quite doubtful that I would be able to pull off, but with a few visual tricks and post-render edits, I think many of you will be pleased with the outcome of this scene, which involves this beautiful creature here...

With regards to the cow scene that the majority of you have voted on, that will be worked on as well, with the scene happening sometime later in the episode! So stay tuned!

Overall progress
Currently, with Day 4 in development, I am satisfied with the current progress and development state of the game, as I fully intend to develop Days 3, 4, 5, and half of 6 throughout this month of October, and take the time I need in early November to finish off the rest of development and do extensive proofreading and bug testing.

The two free roams (the big and small ones) are also in the works and will be planned concurrently when the in-game day's development kicks off!

The road to release is still a ways away but I think with the amount of renders and development progress I can accomplish with every passing week, Episode 2 is shaping up to expand on Episode 1's story and characters in every possible way!

------------------------------------------- PROGRESS BREAKDOWN -------------------------------
Story: 95% done. No change.

Renders: 45% done. Day 3 is scene complete, Day 4 is underway. Up 5% from last week. The total render count sits at 1854 (+340 from last week) renders.

Dialogue: 42.5% done. Day 3 dialogue is currently being written and is currently halfway done. Up 2.5% from last week.

Gameplay: 25% done. No change.
------------------------------------------- END OF BREAKDOWN ----------------------------------

A two-week absence and a release window announcement!
As some of you may recall, I had an absence window sometime early this year in January which I cited as something unavoidable and uncancellable. I do have unfortunate news on that front as I will be away from 20th November 2023 to 1st December 2023 for this same matter. However, I will be available on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of November during these two weeks (i.e. the weekend in between the two weeks) and will be continuing development of the game during these free pockets of time. The weekly preview updates during this time will still continue without the weekly dev logs, which will resume on the 3rd of December.

I understand that the above is bad news but do be assured that I will use this time away effectively by preparing and leaving scenes to render (which will most likely be the finishing touches/few missing renders). The above absence is also the reason why I'm pushing for the game to finish its development before mid-November rolls along, and if all goes to plan, this absence should not have such a big impact on the overall pace of development, but it is a notice of my absence regardless to keep everyone informed and updated.

Switching gears, It has been a long while since I've discussed the release window and I believe now that things have settled in terms of me picking back up on the pace and consistency of the game's development, I can give a 2-week release window of Episode 2's release, which will be between 8th December 2023 and 15th December 2023. This is to account for my absence above and to give enough breathing room to tie up all loose ends before the release week begins.

Phew! It's a big dev log this week but I believe with me taking the first step towards full-time development, things should start to move faster as the weeks go by!

Stay safe and healthy, and I'll see you all next week!