State of the Shoujo

"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated"
- Mark Twain

Words to live and (not) die by. With midyear approaching and around 18 months having gone by since the project started, it's time for a status update.

Writing:
Hanako's path is in post-production. This is a process wherein, after the entire first draft of the path is completed, the path writer and all staff have a look at the script - from the lowest levels of sentence structures and wordings to character roles and overall plot. Large swaths of the paths will be rewritten during this time, with close contact between all staff members as to what should be changed.

Lilly's path is a hair's breath away from having the first-draft complete and going into post-production.

Rin's path is trundling along, and is almost over as far as the first-draft goes.

Shizune and Emi's paths are also moving ahead, with the ends in sight for both.

Overall, the writing's coming to the end of first-draft path creation for all the paths, and into post-production as a whole.

Art:
Well.
That's coming along quite nicely.

With regards to sprites, Emi's are advancing fastest as far as the main heroines go, with Misha surging ahead in the side-character stakes. The good nurse is entirely done, with all his sprites lined, coloured and inserted, with Muto's sprites not far behind.

Backgrounds are proceeding faster than ever before. Which is to say, they're moving at all. With photos for many of the needed locales found and shopped, they're being inserted as they're done. That isn't to say we have photos for all needed placed, though. Several areas have become a sticking point, with photos for them being badly needed. As such, if you think you have, or can take, photos for these places, please pop on over to the forums and post them. As per the last background call, any submitted photos will need to be in the public domain. The list is as follows:

• The girl's dormitories (that is, Lilly, Hanako, Shizune, Rin and Emi)
• The school roof (Western-styled)
• Inside various types of stores (a convenience store, an antiques store and an art store)
  

Photos without any people in them would be best, and preferably taken at eye-height. Any submissions are welcome, though.

CGs will begin production when the sprites required for Act 1 are finished, with an eye to finishing a demo for release before organising art assets for the paths proper. Yes, a demo. No, it won't be here tomorrow, nor next week. Yes, we're working on it.

An official website will be going up at an as-of-yet uncertain point in the future, serving as a first point of information about what the game is like.

Rumours:
Let's kill a few of these:

• Yes, there is sex. In every route. I can't say it much more clearly than that.
• No, we don't think this is The Best Goddamn Finger-Licking Piece of God-Given Asskicking Awesomeness Ever. We think it might be a good bit of fun to play once it's released. We hope we achieve this goal.
• No, this project won't self-destruct if an artist leaves (again). We currently have six dedicated artists on the project. Redundancy is a wonderful thing.
• No, the public forums aren't exactly a masterpiece of well-updated information. The best way to check progress is by joining out IRC channel, #zettai-shoujou on irc.rizon.net.
• Yes, there is more than consensual sex in the missionary position with the lights turned off in the game. Not to say there isn't a scene like that though. Maybe.
• Yes, lesbianism is in the game. In a couple of forms. Forms which will not be given in away this blog post.
• No, this game isn't just about having sex with disabled people. Every character has a plot, with varying amounts of integration between them.
• No, we don't all hate 4chan. This project was largely born there, and many of our members visit there. We hear your complaints and criticisms, and when we can, work to address them.
  

To conclude:
Things are moving forwards. Are we ahead of where we were six months ago? Very much so. Every week a scene is posted and/or more art comes in. Despite fitting this project around all our own lives, we've managed to come this far and have no intention of giving up when this project is at it's strongest point. We hope that, despite our problems, the end result will be more than worth the wait. Nobody wants it to be more than we do.

Good night, and good luck.