First off, today is my sister’s birthday--HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!--and tomorrow is my mom’s birthday--HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! <3

Summer is over. The air is brisk. I have a Band Camp Boyfriend fan on my porch (aka a skeleton). The season went so fast, but we must forge on into the future! Are you all still with me? No one left behind yet? Excellent. Then let’s have our End-of-Q3 Progress Update!

This always reminds me of Mufasa. “Remember...where...your dots are...”

Don’t forget to follow us on Itch.io or wishlist us on Steam so you don’t miss the release! Also if you’re hoping for something more specific than “Spring,” I will say that we are eyeing a late April or early May release so long as everything goes smoothly.

Anyways, let’s have a look at that checklist I introduced last time.

“It looks exactly the same,” you say, to which I say, “It’s not! I added a single pink pixel under “Cleaning.” Looking at this list, it may seem like we didn’t get anything done, but i assure you that we did.

Alex has made incredible progress on the soundtrack. I finished up another test of the game and then some. I would like to think all major mistakes have been found though I still find continuity errors occasionally. All voice/sfx clips are in and my SFX masterlist is complete. I’ve done a lot of cleaning and adding details such as transition screens, ambience, and phone call effects.

But we still have some major hurdles to overcome. So what does the final quarter of 2022 look like?

Soundtrack: Alex will continue her work on the soundtrack. She says she is about 80% of the way there and plans to finish in Q1 of 2023.

GUI: I enlisted a friend to help with GUI programming because it has proved to be difficult. The biggest task is getting the Extras menu together. He’s a very busy guy, but I’m hoping we’ll find some time in October to tackle it. Our goal is to get it done by Thanksgiving, but I’ll be happy if we can get it done by the end of the year.

Video Editing: The credits are basically done, but I just need the finished song. Alex is on the cusp of finishing, perhaps in another week or two. Then I’ll be able to export and drop them into the game to see how they look. In the meantime, I’ll keep making fun promotional videos. I hope to show our followers a fun time until the game comes out. I’ve got around 40 videos sitting in my TikTok drafts and I want them OUT.

Beta Testing: Our initial aim was to get the game out to beta testers before Thanksgiving, Christmas at the latest. But we’ve adjusted our timeline so now it’s looking like beta testing will fall around February.

Finally, if you’re an otome fan, join us for our Otometober celebration this month!

You don’t have to be a gifted artist or anything. I’m certainly not. It’s just a chance to spread our love for 2D men and talk about our favorites!

See you at the start of the New Year for our next progress update! 2022 was very difficult. I hope 2023 will be kinder and filled with light. Stay warm, safe, and healthy this fall and winter, Bandits!

(In Felicity’s voice) Love ya~!

-Taylor