EPF Dating Sim

I'm a bit belated, but April 23rd marked five years since the release of EPF Dating Sim.

I debated letting it lie, as I did with the fourth anniversary. The fandom has shifted, has changed—honestly—for the better. I see fans making their own projects, whether it be comics, blogs, or even other games, and I'm glad that Club Penguin still drives people to create to their heart's content. The torch has been passed. I can quietly move on.

But then I had a dream last night. A short, simple dream.

Fi turns towards Mack, his calm smile always in place, and he asks "What's up?"

Mack, wordlessly, goes in for a hug.

And after a moment of surprise, Fi reciprocates.

I woke up with a heavy feeling in my chest. I had to say something.

This heavy feeling, as I know too well, is guilt. The guilt of not working on the project, the guilt of not providing updates, the guilt of still having people hope for something that isn't coming. I feel it every July when wonderful people draw Mack and Fi for Art Fight, because my anxiety-riddled brain is convinced that people only like them under false pretenses. And, of course, I feel it around this time of year, when I reflect on perhaps the biggest project I ever undertook.

Five years have gone by where I've felt this way. Half a decade.

It's time now to turn this heavy feeling from guilt into acceptance.

EPF Dating Sim, in its game form, will almost certainly not be completed. Most of you may see this as a foregone conclusion, but if this is a surprise, I apologize.

I do eventually want to share what I planned, though. I don't know when it will come out, if ever, but one day I hope to release a BIG document detailing every route and their various endings, main and secret. I don't want to hide all my lore away forever (lol). You're also free to ask any questions over on my Club Penguin blog @o-berriesandhotsauce or on my main blog @bagel-lox.

I have pipe dreams of picking up RenPy again and making more visual novels, and whether they end up being original or fanwork, I hope you support me. You've all been very kind and gracious over the years, and I love every message I receive. Each one is like a warm hug.

Thank you for everything,

Will this mythical first route ever come out?

...Who knows.

The trajectory of my progress can be summed up like this:

Basically, life sucks! When I want to work, I have no time, and when I have the time, I’m neck-deep in other interests. Club Penguin is probably one of those fandoms I’ll be in forever, but interest ebbs and flows over the years, y’know.

I’ve only been able to work on the first main route here and there, like once a month if I’m lucky. I'm only a little farther ahead than where I was last time I posted in November. I’ve tried setting deadlines for myself (it worked for Chapter 1!), but it just makes me feel awful when I inevitably miss it.

So, it comes out when it comes out. I feared this kind of slowdown would happen back when I first started, but such is life. I ain’t living with guilt no more 😤.

One final thing: I originally kept whose route I was working on hidden since I was going to drum up hype close to release. But now that I don’t have an estimate of when the next update is gonna come out, I’ll just reveal it right here right now. I hope it gets to see the light of day!

1 year ago today, EPF Dating Sim Chapter 1 was released!

That was one of the most stressful days of my life, but also one of the most rewarding! Seeing everyone enjoy the game was both overwhelming and elating.

Even if I haven't released much of substance since (I was hoping to have released another update by now but life goes on), I want to thank you all for your continued support. <3

The first route is a little under halfway done. A main route is longer than Chapter 1, plus branching pathways.

Main thing that needs to be worked on is the script. That's a little tricky to publicly show, which is partly why I haven't updated this blog in a bit.

The other reason I haven't posted in a bit is because progress has slowed significantly due to IRL commitments. College has been kicking my butt, to put it simply. Lack of free time = lack of dev time.

Because of last point, projected release on the first route will probably be early 2022? I'm keeping it vague-- might come earlier, might come later.

Despite slowdowns, I want to stress that this isn't cancelled or on hiatus or anything! Game development takes time, especially if it's just a passion project. I also, selfishly, wanna have something complete under my name lmao

Anywho, as a thanks for your patience, have a preview for a CG :)c

👀👀👀

See this post. Not revealing much else-- they're supposed to be secrets :)

Yep!

Hi gang, it’s been a while since I've done a devpost! When was the last one? ...5 months ago? 😬 Meh, I've seen longer breaks.

Imagine only being able to talk to the characters you saw in Chapter 1. How sad. How lonely. Club Penguin is a populated island-- having you interact with so few penguins sounds terrible. So who else lives on the island?

(In layman’s terms: this is an excuse to show off some sprites of new, not spoilery characters.)

Go ahead! You have my blessing. Just be prepared for my haphazard, amateurish code lmao

I love writing.

(quotes in text format under cut)

Maybe, but not from me! I don’t know Spanish, so the translation would have to be done by someone else.

RenPy does have built-in translation tools, but they work best when the game is fully complete-- which this game isn't and won't be for a while-- and when it’s done by the creator of the project. People can try to translate without either, but their work might be really challenging or get messed up during an update.

Or any translators could work with me in tandem, but I’d rather finish the English parts first before even looking at other languages.