End of TCFM

With that clickbait title out of the way, I actually have a big announcement to make. For some time now I am not satisfied with the visual side of TCFM. I know that many of you like Alice just the way it is, but I find the 3D both limiting for me and more importantly, not fun for me anymore. So, with Chapter 5 (which concludes Arc I) TCFM indeed ends as you know it. Or, almost. As I've mentioned before, I will release (in the near future) "Arc I Release" which is essentially Chapter1-5 content with a few extras (I will be more specific about that later) but only for some tiers (and unless you are not in those tiers already, I would suggest not upgrading, as I don't think it would be worth it).

So, what is the future of TCFM? The game will consist of three arcs total, and with the first one finished, there are two ahead of us. And as you might have guessed already, I want to completely switch to 2D (meaning illustrations). Same game engine and everything, just different visuals. You can check two pseudoscreenshots (UI will be new as well and that part is not ready yet, so it's not from the actual game) with both some old and one new characters down below. 

Now, for you, my two remaining patrons, I will get to more technical details about how this is gonna work. First of all, while I plan to remake earlier chapters, my priority is to finish the game first, so the next release will be chapter 6, released as a new standalone game (with compatible saves). And don't worry, you won't have to wait super long for that, I think it is like halfway done and generally speaking, I think this change will in fact speed up releases. It's not that it's any less work, but since chapter 5 I have been already co-writing with Zhuang Zi Hu Die, who was previously doing a great job as my "editor", and now I am able to "outsource" some parts of the art as well (which is the majority of the work).

Speaking of the art, I've promised you more regular status updates and this is part of that - apart from sneak peeks I will be also sometimes sharing sketches and concept art, as well as other development-related stuff and for the near future I will be sharing more information about the "new" TCFM.

To conclude this already lengthy post, this change does not affect my open/on hold projects and potential future projects, and by that, I mean mostly Unfortunate Bet, which is still on my TODO list.