Hola,

First off, a massive thank you to everyone who has supported and played "Rivencliff: Sunbath" since its release. The feedback and love I've received have been incredibly heartwarming, and I am excited to share what I've been cooking on for possible next updates:

Classic Mode

Given some feedback I have received on the art of the game, and the fact that for a small like this I had to create over 110 unique images, I think it is worth considering how the game looks and feels with the art being implemented in a more traditional way. What does that mean?

• Characters & Backgrounds would be seperated. This allows for easier re-use of character images and they could be of nicer quality (see unedited render below), since they would be fewer in quantity, so more time can be spent on them, and also directly rendered in Blender, for which my material & shading setup is just a lot better than what I can do in Unreal Engine. (A longer, more technical post on how exactly I have implemented all of that will follow soon!)
• Given that separation, backgrounds could become animated more easily! I would not want to increase system requirements of playing Rivencliff, so I would just render out videos of the background that loop.

While this would significantly reduce production time, it would also eliminate the unique style that Rivencliff: Sunbath brings to the table, which I heard a lot of you like a lot! You can find an example of above described implementation below, please let me know what you think:

Auto-Updates

While this is not really important for this VN specifically, I would like to implement automatic updates in the future. This allows you to easily update to a newer version without having to download a new .zip file, which can be especially frustrating on mobile devices.

Animated Content

This is a big one. Eventually, I would like to create animated content.  Dangpa sent me this video the other day. I find the idea of the characters moving with some SFX very appealing, although for it to work the animations would have to be well-made as they not only communicate what the character is saying, but also part of their personality.

The Big Story

As mentioned in the game's description, Rivencliff: Sunbath really is just a short story that takes place in the story and world of Rivencliff. Rivencliff's main story has it's first chapter already fully written out (roughly 11k words, which should roughly translate to 60-80 minutes of gameplay). For those unaware, here a summary of the main story:

The story is about Buru, a compassionate bull with healing powers, who has found his place in the peaceful village nestled within a lush valley. The village, a melting pot of cultures and customs, is where he honed his abilities and forged his deep connections with the community.
However, the end of his relationship with Taro, his first boyfriend, has left Buru heartbroken and questioning the true nature of love.

Determined to find answers, Buru immerses himself in diverse cultures he finds in Rivencliff, learning about their unique perspectives on love, relationships, and commitment.
As he explores the village, Buru encounters a variety of captivating characters, including wise elders, passionate artists, and kind-hearted strangers. During this time, he also gains insight into the gay hookup culture, a lifestyle that focuses on easy, anonymous, and convenient encounters.

The first chapter already features a handful of new characters which have been started to be made, but as you can imagine, creating 3D characters is a lengthy process (will write another longer post explaining the entire creative process of making one if you are interested!) that is also expensive.

Expensive?

You might be thinking: What kinda bull is this bull talking about? Didn't he make all that himself and released a free game? Absolutely, 100% not.

A lot of people had their hands on this game. 2D Artists for Characters & Environments. 3D Artists for Characters, Environments, Animation Rigs. Writing, Engineering & Audio not to forget. I couldn't possibly do all of this myself to the degree I would like to. I wouldn't want to either. 

As much I am interested in making a good VN that is fun and interesting to play, I am interesting in having fun creating and also paying everyone I work with their fair share. Not everything I have paid for has made its way into this VN (yet), but I can assure that I have spent well beyond $10.000 of my own money "just to get things started".

Which gets to the boring part of making all of this happen: Money

Part of future developments will also be figuring out how I can make the money needed to keep paying everyone involved fairly for the work they do. I am honestly not too sure how this is going to look like (right now), especially with Patreon & Co. becoming more restrictive towards NSFW users (I was unable to get Patreon to publish my profile after 4 attempts, I have e-mailed them about it, but haven't heard back at the time of writing), it's difficult to raise the money.

Culture should not be paywalled, so I want what I create to remain freely available. If you can afford it and would like to support what's being made here, any donation helps! You can donate via itch.io here.
Otherwise you can support me by just sharing the VN with your friends and following me on Twitter.

This is it for now. I hope to announce more specific plans very soon. Any and all feedback is welcome! If you (don't) like what you see here, now is the best time to tell me, as the dough is fresh and still can be easily shaped.

Talk to you soon!

Sincerely,
Buru.