Hopefully we've all made it into the new year, right? ^^" For supporters last month, you'll probably see me repeating myself a little here, but there should be some detailed plans and mentions that's new as well!

I'd like to first off say that the past is best left in the past, it's no secret that 2021 wasn't a very good year for development. I have expressed a few times or more through the year and struggled with it, so I won't repeat myself like a broken record. Just know that the failures of 2021 is behind us, it's a fresh new year, a time to begin anew!

I'm a bit nervous and still shaken up a bit with some details I have to share with everyone today, mainly the fans or supporters who didn't see our final news post on New Year's Eve.

The main thing to announce and repeating myself from that news post is that v0.20 will be delayed, still planned for January. But it's a bit of a decision that I feel is best with the upcoming news announcement, as there's a bit more going on behind the scenes for Messy Academy now as we head into 2022, but even with this in mind. I'm still very hopeful of keeping on track and making this happen smoothly for the transition.

Artie (Our engine programmer and editor) has shared the news with me early New Year's Eve that he's looking to leave the project for the time being, with the possibility of joining the team again for a future project. But as of right now, it seems like he'd be done for the near future involving MA's development and without going into too much detail on his behalf, it really seems like it wasn't a easy decision for him to make lightly with this news.

I'd like to express my thanks and I speak for Artie when I say that he's very happy with the well wishes and support shown in the past 2-3 days since the original announcement. It's very hard to come to this kind of decision and of course I'd want nothing more than to have him continue being part of MA in any shape or form, but I also know that this isn't any easier for him and rather than focusing on that. I would rather focus on just how much time investment he's put into MA, everything that he's had a helping hand in during the early days of the project onward.

It's been a good 2+ years since he's first joined me in development and I'd like to focus on just how thankful I am to have had the chance to work with him that long.

Honestly he's helped me grow behind the scenes as a mentor for myself, it's very possible that without his guidance and help in pushing me at times in directions. That I might've not been here today making this post, as MA could've just faded off into nothing without his help. There's no telling where or what state MA would be like.

Things were bumpy at times in early development, not to mention the reboots included to get MA on the right track where it sits today. Even then there's still a road ahead of us to get things moving along this year, but there's been many chances for this project to have resulted in a different path, there's really no telling if MA would be around still today if it weren't for his mentoring help.

For that, with my deepest emotions. I thank you Artie for everything you've taught me during development up to this point, I really can't thank you enough! I could keep going on, but I've made the main point already.

Simply put, Artie is departing from any future development for MA. The future is unknowing and anything is possible, but what I do know is this...

Artie will help with the editing and engine work during January in order to release v0.20, but this will be his send off, helping hand with MA. Now v0.20 was intended to be ready Jan 7th, but given the very sudden nature of this news. I simply wanted to give him some extra time needed with what's going on personally in his life, it's the least I can do for him as he helps give us all our biggest episode.

I know I've been really bad about delays in 2021 as a whole, but I hope that many of you can please understand that there's a lot more to consider besides this. If you do have ill feelings regarding this delay, all I ask is that you please direct them towards me.

January is here and with it, our plans for 2022 as Artie passes on the torch to the next programmer.

~2022 Schedule Plans~

This is going to be our most wild month in a long time... It's going to be heavy, but I believe we can do this!

During this month, while Artie is making his way through editing/engine work for episode 5. I'll be juggling writing for the future content of the game and also trying to find a new engine programmer. I'll have to help get this new person up to speed on how we do things behind the scenes, preparing them in a short period of time for a smooth transition.

Ideally this new programmer would be caught up on how we do things by early February, where they'll begin to tackle v0.21 on their very own as Artie takes his official leave.

V0.21 content has changed. It will now include quality of life content for ep 1-4 and the new episode 6 routes for 3 lucky girls at the very least. This release is still planned for March, roughly 45 days after we release v0.20 by the end of January. (Trying to keep to our 45 day release cycle plans like we've expressed in recent months leading to this.)

Once this happens, things should be considered stable again. My main thing is that even with this very sudden news, I want to ensure that not only will the transition between Artie to the new programmer goes smoothly, but also the development continues without much hiccup as well. I'll be honest, it's going to be crazy as it's a bit more than I had in mind originally to head into 2022 with for the project, but we've made it past bumps in the road before and this won't stop us from continuing to pour our hearts into this project either.

We're going to make it to the next New Year's and look back on one of MA's biggest year's of development yet! We can only hope that you'll be with us for the ride!

~Development Unaffected~

Some development that won't be affected by the above has some details below on what we're doing as we're waking up and getting right into development head strong!

~CG art~

MarxeDP and AjoseMp are starting work already on episode 6 route content. I can't say too much about this yet, but expect to see some previews for the cg art later this month! I can only say this without giving too much away... The first route episode being tackled is one of the following, but the other two won't be part of v0.21... Bridget, Lola, Zoey. :P

Besides that, MarxeDP is going to be working on improving visuals for the diapers. I think the keynote to this is not to expect massive changes, but subtle improvements rather. I have a feeling that with discoloring, there's some tips to share about fading and other tools. Once I start seeing some previews of these, I'll be sharing some comparison examples as these would be applied to existing cg art.

The main goal with cg art early on in 2022 is the focus of route episode content. While wallpapers were a fun bonus in 2021, we really want to hammer out and deliver more so on extra cg art that awaits ahead of us.

~Sprite art~

Lisa has been around since the very early days, similar to Artie and in many ways she's helped MA greatly. If it wasn't for her amazing sprite visuals early on in the project, it's hard to say if we'd have grabbed as much attention as we did for MA. It's hard to pinpoint just what factors helped MA succeed and grow early on, but I like to think everyone had a major role to play, just as big as my own role as lead creator/writing.

Lisa has been with us for 2+ years and in those years, she'd provided the game with so much art! That's why for sprite art in 2022 and forward, she's going to be focused on the 7 kickstarter oc's from our 2020 campaign at a relaxed pace. There will be very, very rarely a outfit addition for a existing character sprite, but she's earned herself this point in development to sit back and take things easy.

2022 will be the year of kickstarter oc's and a few outfit additions, so things are going to be slower in this field for previews, but it's to be expected as we move ever so slightly towards our finishing line. :P

~Music~

ComposerJF joined us pretty early on in 2021 and managed to provide us with a good mix of tracks already. So 2022 won't be too different in this regard! We can expect roughly a new track a little over one month as we move through the year.

My thoughts is that with route episodes being a main focus this year, we'll naturally want to hear character themes, right? :P Well! I think the next track after the one in progress will be Miki's theme and it'll be pretty fun to see how that turns out.

There's a good chance that new music will be added all throughout 2022 into 2023 up until MA is fully finished, but for now we can safely say that 2022 will be a fun year for new music coming to the game! ^^

~Gui~

Ds-san has been pretty busy lately, which isn't too shocking with the holidays. They're going to be delivering on the finalized gui elements for the game early on in 2022, which is going to be super exciting to see it realized in one of the releases coming up.

Sadly once the gui is finished, we might not see much else from Ds-san revolving around MA, but that's a hard one to say. It's pretty common for having some more one commission style help in projects, but her help in this regard is still very important for MA and won't go unnoticed!

~Extra Features~

I have some early concept plans for a mini game feature, I won't try to hype it up too much here. The general thing to take away from this is that it's interactive moments. (Check below)

Normal game choices - Typical choices, might affect variables or unlock later content, etc.

Interactive choices - Bit more involved, choices that feel a bit more in control of the protag or learning more fine details of the world setting. (Example: Being in Erika's room, you can choose to interact with some objects or focus on examining things, learning a bit more about Erika.)

Interactive moments - More like a mini game feature. You have full control of a given situation. (Example: Diaper changing your girlfriend, you'll see things in first person mode of the protag and by clicking and dragging your mouse on objects, you can move or interact with stuff on screen to preform a diaper change and possibly more. :P )

These are mainly the key bits of gameplay for MA to help break up all the reading at times, of course vn's are going to have a ton of reading regardless. But I do hope that between the above and some other meaningful ways to affect the story, that it'll help make the experience more fun.

Besides this concept idea, I would like to get in contact with the chibi artist to have them do another set of chibi's for the cast or possibly some supporting characters in chibi form. This isn't a huge priority, but rather a small bonus if it doesn't affect funding towards the main priority stuff like cg art. (Said chibi art would be seen and featured on the loading screens and episode splash screens.)

~Ending Notes~

A bit longer than I expected... >.<

I know there's a lot to take in with the news of Artie leaving the team and development, but the main thing I want to stress is that we're still pushing forward and Artie is helping ensure the transition goes smoothly.

Artie will still be part of the discord server and around as he's still very invested with MA, he wants to see it to the end in that fashion. I'm sure he'd even join in on some conversation at  times in the future! While Artie leaving development is saddening in a way, I really do hope things will look up in 2022 and he'll still be around as a good friend!

Here's to new beginnings, a fresh start and ever evolving in 2022!

~ From all of us at Messy Studios! ~