#woxupdate

On my current run, my Xjena is aiming for more than three girlfriends, Liz. 

One of the reasons the game is taking so long: The poly options are woven into the narrative, so if you are dating more than one person, we take that information into account -- because we here at TeamWoX want your playthrough to feel like your choices influence a bit of everything.

I won’t date Culiver, though. (But you can~)

Large Women of Xal Update Coming February 2019~!

Hello, everyone~!

I'll keep things real for you all: We've all been healthier. Between us all, the team has endured a lot of sick family, business trips with tight deadlines, dealing with death & depression, injuries to our working hands, and a slew of other "How can all this happen to most of the team?!"

But we push on all the same. Writing is constantly given an aggressive push - health be darned some days - and the artists are doing their best to work their hearts out whenever they can. In fact, that's why we have so much new art to show to begin with!

First thing's first: All placeholder art has been finished or replaced with finished art. Example: In the demo we released 2 months back, this kitchen was only in its sketch form. Now it, and other sketches like the CGs that were in the demo, are also done!

We also have new BGs for new areas done! And in case you're worried whether or not the sprite artist is doing alright~

The answer is a big yes. New expressions for days!

And days!

As a note, if you missed the original update: We released an updated demo of the Kickstarter, which uses a the Renpy engine instead of the janky one we launched with, and an official canon demo that represents the full game. You can check it out here.

Now, we'd love to show some new screenshots with new lines, places, and situations, but at the moment, a Renpy update botched our method of coding a bit and we're trying to see what went wrong, why, and how to work around it before dropping new screenshots! It's definitely a temporary setback, but it does mess with the coding the demo proved to be fine previously, so please bear with us! (This is still nothing compared to the problems we were hit with during the Kickstarter demo arc.)

So have a few more pieces of art~!

Also this. Later, everyone~! <3

(Have an image of a tired Xjena, as thanks for putting up with this post. In advance.)

I suppose every creative project must pay its dues in setbacks. And golly-gee-biscuits have I and many members on staff been paying it. It’s been a journey that’s taking it’s absolute toll on me, so I figure it’s time to let supporters of “Women of Xal” know the current Don’t-Panic-The-Project-Is-Ongoing status for this title. It is as they say: transparency is incredibly important for all parties involved.

Firstly: After a healthy conversation with the animator we announced around a month ago, we decided it was best she stepped down from that role. According to her, things kept happening one after one after one and after another that prevented her from creating nearly any content -- and no content that could be used for WoX. (I believe work trips, studios, and a program that hates WoX enough to not render anything for us.) Then 3 months came and it became impossible for her to fulfill her part of the agreement before WoX launches. 15 minutes of animation is a lot to ask for in 9 months, after all. Part of the agreement was...an incredible amount of music, which I had already made around 3 months work, but she seemed determined to pay for the tracks I made for the animation. We wish her well.

That said, it did mean the script needed to be looked with a different light and the BG & CG artist, Geckos, now has double duty as animator as well. (And for those who don’t know her, she and I go way back with trade and client work. Back 2013, in fact. A very talented artist with beautiful works of art and the obvious choice for me to go to.) And if you’re thinking that’s way too much to put on one person to get done before the end of 2018 -- Ey-hey! I agree. 

Relatedly, hit me up if you’re an intensely talented animator/bg artist willing to trade for bucket-loads of orchestral/game music. I don’t like overworking anyone anymore than I have to!

And I absolutely must emphasize that an animator that might have had to inevitably step down is not something I blame her for. I proactively went for the least risky option, and the transition pains are, again, inevitable. And maybe the least of my problems.

Secondly: Something is mucking up my mental and physical health. I don’t know what it is, but food, especially sweets, are actively making me feel anxious and nauseous. It feels as though my body just flat out doesn’t want me to eat, and/or punishes me for eating. Example? The completely healthy yogurt I had this morning? Everything feels wrong. Yesterday’s dinner? Feels like I committed some sin. PB&J sandwich? Delicious, but my motivation just got shot by a dose of depression. Taking certain things out of my diet doesn’t seem to help, either. And annoyingly enough, veggies seem to suffer the most violent reactions. It’s like drinking (water/cran-grape/on rare occasion, soda) is the only thing my body consistently appreciates. And you just know it’s messing with my ability to write. Sometimes things don’t even taste quite right.

Thirdly: My inconsistent work schedule at my job is killing my creative workflow. I super appreciate the job (I need money too), and I’ll take the hours they give every time, but a 9-5 one part of the week and a 6-12 for the other, with the rest of my schedule all over the place is devastating, creatively speaking! It’s been like this for the past 6 months, and I can’t even begin to tell you what my next week schedule will be like. A natural thing to happen in retail, so my situation isn’t special at all. Just consider this -- all of this --context for the next part:

Sickness, moving, staff shakeups, overwork, and outright delays in schedule have been ongoing, and I feel like this isn’t quite the end of it, either. 2018 is obviously still fresh on my mind for when we want this game released, but I’m sure I’m not the only one on the team worrying that if creative-hemorrhages keep happening, Early 2019 might be the only sensible option if we want “Women of Xal” to retain the quality you all expect from the writing and art.

Is there anything you all can do to help, you ask? Well, by not socially burning me at the stake as we wrestle through all of this, you’ve already done more than enough! ‘ v’ 

Thanks for reading all of that. Here’s an updated CG for those who went the Ruthless Route for the new demo. Hoping the next update is filled with hype and hope.

-John

I’ve been doing my best to keep everyone in the loop for “Women of Xal”, but as past Kickstarters have shown, sometimes communication can be improved upon, and I want to make sure I’m on the right path for it. Do you all believe you’re receiving enough news and relevant updates for the game? Would you like to hear/see more content? Do I seem both approachable and available to speak with? Should I be bringing in some of the cast/staff via events?

The news continues!

(Part of Wallpaper 2. Kickstarter backers can expect the ‘full’ version when we release all 3 wallpapers)

Commissions still take a significant amount of my free time, so writing the script has been...slow.  But as long as things keep coming up (My poor van...), I have to keep taking commissions. Thankfully, art has been productive as ever! We have way more BGs now, character art is still happening, we’re down to one more wallpaper before we can release the first Kickstarter reward, and our graphic designer has a rough concept for the new WoX logo.

(He’s a bit of a perfectionist, so expect a few more transormations these next few weeks)

These next weeks will see a heavy focus on showing many of these assets working together to create the new demo that will soon become the full, official game. And, time permitted, maybe even some official tracks! But until then, please enjoy some of the environments you’ll be seeing in the full game.