Erisa's Summer v0.4.0 is LIVE!

 

Hi everybody!

As of this moment, v0.4.0 of Erisa's Summer is live and available for download!

Direct download from my itch.io page
Or, use one of the filesharing links from the F95zone page

All day 1 content from the RPGM version of the game has been remastered and added in to the Ren'Py client. Several new scenes have been added and existing scenes have been expanded to enhance gameflow in the new client. A few new scenes may have been added to the end as well...

An Android version has also been added. If it sucks and/or is broken, I do not intend to provide support for it beyond initial build. I apologize, but Android support is above my (free) paygrade. You'll have to start from the beginning to enjoy this update, but I hope you'll download and do so!

Support: As always, this game is released totally and entirely for free! Some folks have offered to support me through a Patreon or download fee in the past, but I'm simply not interested.

Instead, if you want to support and motivate my development efforts, I ask that you identify and donate to an animal shelter or charity of your choice. If you do and would like to share confirmation withme, it will definitely make me feel good and motivate me to keep going! Also, as further incentive, I'll gladly provide a 4K still of any existing game image for any confirmed charitable donation.

Of course, if you just want to play the game, that's fine too! Enjoy! If you do feel like leaving a few words of encouragement or a positive review, that's great too!

Ren'Py Day 1 & 2 - Coming this Friday!

 

That's right, you read correctly! Be prepared to get off your couch and run like Chrissy to grab the latest update to Erisa's Summer this Friday!

This update focuses on unifying the content previously only found in RPG Maker with the content for Day 2 released solely in the Ren'Py format. From now on, everything well be Ren'Py only - with everything all in one place!

The update also sees many (if not most) of the Day 1 images remastered or retouched to enhance quality. There have also been a handful of brand new scenes added to the game (starting with the intro!). These new scenes either add new information or optional information into the natural game flow, or fill the cracks that were previously open world gameplay in RPGM. I know, I know, you're all bummed that you can no longer find out about the stoner bros next door or read the Mitch Hedberg joke about Dufresne Hall, but the experience, I promise you, is both more seamless and better motivated.

I've finished proofreading and technical checks today and am upgrading just a few more renders that didn't pass my quality playtest. I'll continue to spot check and work on a few other odds and ends, but the full Erisa's Summer experience (through Day 2!) will be released on Ren'Py this Friday.

And from there - we head to Day 3!

Thanks as always for your support and enjoy!

-IM6

Houston we have an update - Version 0.3.0 is Live!

That's right, it's been less than a year and we have an update to Erisa's Summer!

Version 0.3.0 picks up in the midday of Day 2 and offers several paths to explore before bedtime.

Check it out here:

Win/Lin : MEGA - MEDIAFIRE - FILESUPLOAD
Mac : MEGA - MEDIAFIRE - FILESUPLOAD

I've been working on the update without much of a break since the last release (v0.2.1) and I'm glad to finally have it out in the wild!

The next update is where things get interesting - I'm still making a few decisions on how to model the mechanics for day 3+, but my intention is to currently move the game off rails and into free-roam.

Well, to a point. There would always be a dinner date and an evening event. But other events would fire off of conditional triggers based on where you go, who you meet, and how you treat them (and how they treat you!)

I'll be brainstorming, listening to feedback on v0.3.0 (and making bugfixes as needed!), and maybe even posting a few polls in the weeks to come! There's also consideration of integrating Day 1 into Ren'Py... Though I haven't started to explore this yet.

Anyway, nothing crazy to ramble about this time - I just hope you play and enjoy!

Ren'Py Client Now Available!

You can read a lot of the (lengthy) details below, but this post is just to say that the Ren'Py continuation of Erisa's Summer is now available!

Enjoy and, as usual, please leave me any feedback!

Links below:

Win/Lin : MEGA - MEDIAFIRE - FILESUPLOAD
Mac : MEGA - MEDIAFIRE - FILESUPLOAD

ALMOST HERE! Day 2: The Cruise & Some Monologuing

Bonjour! (No, I'm not French - I lack culture)

First off, I made a twitter and am making relatively frequent updates.
Whaaaaat? You can follow here: @erisasummer

We're getting ready for the release of the first edition of the Ren'Py client for what I'm terming "Erisa's Summer: The Cruise." Yep, you read right - after nearly A YEAR since I finished the RPGM Day 1 of Erisa's Summer, Ren'Py is about ready for prime time.

Well... a pilot with prime time ambitions, maybe.

What will be set initially as version 0.2.0 will comprise the following:

• Prologue recapping, but not completely rehashing day 1 (from a new perspective)
• Introduction to the cruise
• One set of branching sex scenes depending on day one choices
• An introduction to the expanded cast of The Cruise
• An introduction to the environments of The Cruise
• Establishment of the general cadence of the game

I think this probably reads a little more sparse than it actually is. I've tested the game a few times and I think the combination of images and text comes together pretty strong. I've played a lot of other games, including many in initial versions, and I feel like this is a healthy offering. Of course, you, the player, will ultimately tell me.

I gave some consideration to putting in the next set of events I have in mind before launching, but it's been almost a fucking year since I released something. So, with that in mind, I'm trying to take the alternative approach of putting things out in chunks. This is a big bite, and I want to make each of the next bites at least a bit sizable, but also doable on my end.

Development-wise, I think things will go pretty quickly with adding that next bite, though. I have the ideas in mind and am starting to storyboard them. It'll probably be a few weeks (at least) after the release of 0.2.0 (and any subsequent bugfix releases), but here's what I'll be considering for the next update:

• Branching event immediately following 0.2.0
• First dinner (number of different choices available)
• Group event in the evening (with a few smaller choices)
• An ending to the evening (maybe some options depending on girls you've spent time with)

From there, we'll lead into the meat of the game. I'm still wrestling with making it more or less stat grind-y or just offering different sequences of events/choosing who to spend time with at different intervals. This is where the dev gears are turning at high speed! I've got ideas and those ideas will come out to sexy fruition sooner or later!

So anyway, I'll make a post in a few days once there's been a liiiiitle bit more testing of the initial version. Look forward to it!

***

I also just wanted to take a minute to reflect on why I'm still working on this game and how long it really took me to get modern. I really like adult games and have played a ton of them - starting primarily with Chaotic's vdategames, Lesson of Passion, and the games put together by Tlaero and Mortze.

But my inspiration to create a game was first the "more simple" Tesliss Equation by Goblinboy. I'd always had a soft spot for text adventures and this one made me feel like I could create something cool in that space.

Unfortunately, TADS/RAGS/ADRIFT are all showing their age. And most are stupid hard to code in.

I worked on an ADRIFT version of the project initially. ADRIFT was the most user-friendly of the bunch, but still, it was a pain in the ass for me to just create a simple loop attribute. How BBen designed a (very!) functional combat system in Pervert Action: Legacy, I have no idea, but he deserves incredible credit.

Around this time, I was playing a number of games in RPGM systems - most notably The Humbling Experience, The Coceter Chronicles, and DanielsK's games (in particular, Zoe's Temptations and My Girlfriend's Amnesia). So, naturally, the next jump was to RPGM.

In hindsight, RPGM is both wayyyyy too resource intensive (having to build every map environment, sprite, etc.) as well as too code-limiting (constructing logic trees and declaring variables in RPGM is infuriating). RPGM burned me out for a long time, but unfortunately, it was already the system I'd adopted. And I wasn't able to make a release until well after any sort of prime RPGM enjoyed, as other devs were already moving onto Ren'py or Unity.

And now...

Well, honestly, Ren'py is great so far. It's built for this. But it's also built on python and built around python, so there's a simple, common code denominator that can be invoked relatively easily to accomplish other game functions. I know I've talked a lot about my foray into another game called "EveL" which I silently created and toyed with while keeping Erisa on the backburner. Here's a shot from that client:

I made the above in relatively short order, compared to any of the complicated variable changes in RPGM for Erisa's Summer. And the custom buttons, clocks, menus - they all work. It's like a new day. Seeing this made it obvious I had to move to Ren'py.

So what am I saying here?

Not too much! Just indulging myself in the journey I've taken to get to this place, from a system standpoint, but also paying homage to the games that got me here along the way. That said, there's an obvious thread in Erisa's Summer that I've found lacking in (most) other games: the female only/lesbian only angle.

I get it, devs are working to acquire the largest crowd possible and lesbian content probably works best as a supplement to straight m/f content. That's cool! I totally support that! There are great m/f focused games! But... I wanted to make something focused exclusively on girl-girl stuff.

There are some games I have to give it up to: from the above LOP have a lot of games where you can take a female protagonist on a lesbian route, and vdategames have a number of games where you can play as a female (and, of course, you're dating women). Zoe's Temptations, The Coceter Chronicles, and The Humbling Experience also all have prolific lesbian content and some more modern favorites include VULVA and CLIT by yahotzp (full-lesbian games! sexy, well thought out content!) and Healslut by Davie Zwei (lots of choices, great story, and f/f-only route possible!)

But even with the modern efforts listed above, I still feel like there's not enough wholesome girl-meets-girl, girl-fucks-girl content, so I'm continuing to do my part to rectify it. That's all! Sorry for rambling, but I just wanted to do a little riff on why I'm still here after 3 years of sporadic development and platform changes! Hopefully we all find that things are a little more routine from now on!

Day Two and Beyond: Progress & Expectation

It's been a hell of a long time since I've updated the blog - apologies to anyone who reads the blog!
For more frequent update, I have been keeping the handful of folks checking in at f95zone.to posted and am generally active there (but don't post much) in case anyone checks in with questions.

Since it's been a while since I commented on the status of this game, I wanted to put out an official word on where we are in the post-RPGM world:

As you can see in the post image, I put in some decent time developing additional models and outfitting them with swimwear and other clothing options. They're all ready to go and there are actually even more models than pictured above! (yes, I want to include an orgy scene eventually...)

Once I finished updating my models, I set up most of the environments for the game. There will probably still be few here and there that may need adding/updating, but the environments are mostly done.

Following that, I moved my code from EveL to a new Ren'Py game and built out my recap of day one. Your choices in Day 1 will have an impact on Day 2 thanks to the recap section!

Finally, I started work on storyboarding and setting up renders for D2. I have a relatively solid path to the end of Day 2 and an idea for the structure of the game beyond that, so I'm feeling good about the vision for the game.

Development has, however, been somewhat slow at this point. A lot of this is due to rendering troubleshooting and changes in my process. When I initially started this game, I knew next to nothing about Daz and was thrilled just to get a character out. Over the past few months I've updated my understanding of lighting and am paying greater attention to posing, shaping, morphs, etc. (including creating some custom clothing morphs which have turned out quite nicely, I think).

I'm certainly still not perfect at all of these things, but I think the quality of images in ES2+ will be strong, and a solid leap over D1. It is taking a bit longer, though, as I'm finding that setting up initial scenes is taking me well over an hour (though subsequent shots in the same scene with same characters are usually shorter).

Original Render - As seen in RPGM

A "remaster" using new lighting techniques

I'm still working on setting up scenes for the introduction for D2, but so far I'm at 81 renders and 3 animations. Of the completed work, there are a few straightforward scenes, followed by a split path that will follow your choices from the end of D1 (including two options for Amanda depending on how you handled her if you chose to go to her place). Amanda's path is done, Chrissy's is a few scenes from done, and once I finish Abby's path, we'll be back on the linear path until dinner.

Once Erisa is introduced to the rest of the girls, I'll open the ship exploration and character interaction mechanics, which will be the primary gameplay drivers. My goal is to have quests which encourage you to build stats to compete at certain events and complete some fun objectives... I don't want to spoil too much, but I think it'll be fun. Of course, you'll also want to get to know the girls you have and haven't yet met and find out what fun you can have with them, too!

Every night will have an arranged dinner opportunity in the place of a "dating" mechanism - Erisa will have a 1 on 1 dinner with another girl and you'll have to navigate it however makes best sense to you. Sometimes you'll get to pick the girl, sometimes you'll get picked by a girl! Plotwise, this will be one of the few enforced manners of the schools fostering the intended cross-curricular exchange. So much about this cruise will otherwise be... ahem... non-academic.

Then, there will be whatever opportunities present themselves at night (ship entertainment/theme nights/options presented by characters!), followed by the next day. I want to mix in a good amount of events at nighttime, but we'll see how that works itself out. Once I get the linear stuff done and the dinner options kicked off, that's where the game will have a real foundation. I may release a toe in the water edition/demo at that point, which I hope is not too far off. From there, version updates should be possible and not too intrusive.

I had been hopeful of getting something out early this year, but between longer development time and having less time to dedicate to development, sometime closer to mid-year seems realistic for an initial version as mentioned above. I will continue working as hard as I can without burning myself out to see if I can push the envelope, but time required and time available are what they are. I'm still having fun making the game, though, and can't wait to share with you all when it's ready! Hopefully it will be worth waiting for!