CyberScherzo
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LBB Mini: My Sweet Margarita (A NSFW digital picture book)
🕑 Added 2021-04-25 21:29:03 +0000 UTC
So, here it is. Ya'll get to try it out first and then I'm planning a public release on Newgrounds for Cinco De Mayo. This is a windows build. I can make linux or android ones if the demand is there. Mac builds never. HTML build will be the public release next week. Let me know if you catch any bugs or typos so I can fix them for the public release.
It's kind of funny how this came about; when I tried doing a character popularity poll, Margarita ranked *bottom* and Noire ranked top; which prompted me to plan out this really cool elaborate episode for Noire, and then I commissioned a little colored sketch of Rita from Nerdbayne as a sort of 'consolation prize' since at the time I knew I wasn't going to get into doing any content for her anytime soon, if ever.
Then later on, when I was trialing a new writer (Sandcastles) I asked him to write a short story to go with that picture as a test job. He knocked it out of the park, of course.
And now that Noire's episode is taking *forever* to get done (miiiiiiight have bitten off a little more than I can chew, but it's still progressing!) I decided to figure out something I can whip up quickly using resources I already have to help ease this content drought. So I looked at last year's Margarita story, and that sketch and decided to build something out of them. Then I got a few more pictures to round those out and turned the story into this digital picture book. Since the original story only got a little over a thousand views on Hentaifoundry, I'm hoping being able to post it as a web game on Newgrounds and Itch.io will broaden it's appeal a bit and encourage more people to read it.
So ironically... losing that poll meant she got content first. (But hey, Noire's episode is going to have straight up 3d expiration maps and a playable casino so... she still comes out ahead!)
Since I already had half the content on hand I didn't have to invest much into making this, but I'd estimate making another thing like this from scratch would cost around $500. (a 3000-5000 word script with 4-5 original pictures at colored sketch quality) This same scope but with higher production values could cost up to $2000 (More polished art, voice/sounds, animations)
Something this short and simple could easily be made on a monthly basis if the money were there, assuming ya'll would be interested in more bite sized chunks of content like this on a more regular basis. The picture book idea was easy to make but I might be able to make these mini-episodes in a more traditional VN format or something a *little* bit more interactive. But once I start adding more features it turns into something more like the Amaryllis and Noire episodes that have gotten bogged down in development time, which would defeat the point.
Since Patreon is more ideal for regular releases, I'm considering pivoting to a strategy where I focus on more regular small content like this on Patreon, while also making bigger/longer games at the same time as Steam releases. Again, weather or not I go that route will depend a bit on how people respond to the mini-episodes. I'm going to try that out this year and see how it goes.
The next two releases on the schedule are a mini episode featuring Carthaginia, (aiming for a late may, early June release) and the full sized one featuring Amaryllis. (Aiming for an August/September release)
Anyway, let me know what you think of this. Weather you enjoyed it and would want more content like it, or if you're not really feeling it and would prefer something longer and more interactive.
Update: Link at top updated to V 1.1.
Improved scaling so the game should work on most aspect ratios and screens now.
As such the window is also now freely re-sizable in windowed mode. (Alt+enter to toggle it)
