Hi everyone! This is the first monthly devlog for Saint Ceri. I’ll be posting one of these every month to update you on how development is going.

First of all, I’ve uploaded a new fix! Version 0.1.1 does the following:

• Fixes a bug that made choices still interactable after they’re no longer visible
• Removes a test line

Now for my progress:

Writing:

The script for the extended demo is done! It’ll include over 8k new words and span your first day in the Duchess’s company (Bryn is there too!), a scene with Bryn (including an optional kiss), and a scene with Kyros (including his first sex scene! Which accidentally got much too long largely due to how much build-up he needs). You’ll get to know everyone a bit better (though Eira is still mostly mysterious haha) and can choose to push your romance with Bryn and/or Kyros further.

I hope the new content will shed more light on everyone’s dynamics and future character arcs! I know the first demo was short and things went quite fast.

Art:

I’ve finished the backgrounds that will be needed in the extended demo. I’m trying to keep the background list small (unlike THJ!) so there shouldn’t be too many to draw for the full game, which will save me time.

I have to draw a few CGs for the extended demo (Bryn/Eira SFW CG, Bryn kiss CG, Kyros NSFW CG). I’ve finished the Bryn/Eira CG already!

I’m also adding some additional arm poses, just to make everyone a little more expressive!

Each sprite now has one alternate arm pose per outfit (only Bryn's alt outfit shows up in the first demo, but they all have 2 outfits + a naked sprite + an underwear layer!), and another extra arm pose for their main outfit.

Music:

I decided, on a bit of a whim, to learn how to make simple loops to use in my VNs! I’ve made over a dozen of them so far (but they need a lot more work).

It may seem unnecessary but it’ll save me so much time looking for royalty free music I can use :’) I also hope it’ll contribute to making the story and characters feel unique! I still need to get a lot better at this so I'm not sure if the extended demo will include my own loops or keep the music in the current demo, but I'd really like to include them in the final game.

About the survey and future plans:

I’ve been receiving responses to the player survey and they’re super informative, thank you! The main things I’ve noted are 1. Several players would like the option to skip NSFW scenes/see a SFW alt version 2. Most players are fine with light bondage/light pain, but several would be put off by harder bondage 3: The opinions on adding VA tend towards “yes” but are quite split

So for point 1, SFW alt scenes:
I was already planning for the NSFW scenes pre-endings to be skippable without it locking you out of any routes. I’m considering how I’ll handle the endings; I’m planning for them to be fairly focused on the NSFW content, so I’m concerned players who choose to skip all of those scenes will feel they’re missing out on a lot of the game.

I did get a really good suggestion in the survey (thank you so much for that!); someone suggested that I add the option to only see a zoomed in version of the NSFW CG, which would only show SFW content. I think it makes a lot of sense, so I'll add an option in the settings screen and at the start of the game that lets you pick whether you’ll see the full NSFW CG or the SFW version, which will be smaller and focused on a SFW detail in the scene, like hands or a face. Here’s a little mockup for Bryn’s scene (which unfortunately reveals how messy my painting is when the background is taken away! I'll probably pick a less weird detail to focus on, or outright redraw something).
I'm aiming to add this option in the extended demo.

I'll also write an alt version of the scenes, where the sex will be implied and the narration will focus on emotions/romance (if you've played THJ, it would be like the implied sex scenes in the free version!).

As for 2, NSFW content:
I was planning for the content to be on the softer side, so that works fine! I’ll make the few scenes that contain bondage/light pain have a clear choice leading up to them so that you can choose to skip them (or I might just have an alt CG without bondage for some CGs I was thinking of, and have a choice that lets you pick either version). I’m also considering making a DLC with extra scenes that not everyone might like, like harder content (heavier bondage, light pain. Nothing too heavy as I'm not into that, just things not everyone would want to see), so that those who are interested can purchase it, and those who aren’t don’t feel like they’re missing out on content. That’s quite far off though, so I’ll see how things evolve!

I will note though (since some of the replies to the survey seemed a little concerned about this) that I’ll never include anything non-consensual, or where the consent is dubious, where things aren’t discussed ahead of time, where any participant is pushed beyond what they’re comfortable with, etc. Saint Ceri is all about negotiating your complex relationships, and that applies to physical intimacy too!

3, about voice acting:
The results to the question on partial VA are a little split but tend towards “Yes”; as of right now, 37% voted “Yes” to whether they’d enjoy the addition of partial VA, 29% voted “I’m not sure”, and 34% voted “No”.

Since adding VA would be a big investment of time and money (and I’ve never done it so I’m a little scared haha), I’ll wait until Saint Ceri is much further into development to make a final decision. At the moment I’m thinking I'd like to include VA in the final game, If I do that, I'll definitely include a separate slider for Voice volume so you can mute the voice acting if you want to!


That's it from me! This devlog ended up pretty long, mostly because the survey was so helpful and I had so much to say about it. Thanks again to everyone who took it (and you can still take it if you have anything to say)! And thank you for reading my devlog <3