Hello, pirates! We're here with the 0.7.5 update. To begin with, we wanted to say that this was the most difficult update for us. And it's not entirely clear why. Everything that could go wrong - went wrong. We redesigned a lot and couldn't understand many things, we procrastinated because of translation problems, but in the end we managed. Yes, some of the details are already on the tests added to the list of the next patch, but the stable basis is there. In this update, you'll have to finally complete all of the Elders' tasks, help the three girls solve their problems in personal quests, engage in resource gathering, and explore locations around the city.

So, what awaits you in the update:

• 12 new artwork

• 7 NSFW scenes

• A redesigned trade window, which we'll put in the past content as well

• More than a dozen new backgrounds

• 2 original tunes

• 1 new sprite

• 5 new mini games

• Game time increased by +-2 hours

If you find any errors/bugs, please let us know and we will fix everything. We would like to thank everyone who supports us, because you are the force that moves the project forward! We hope you will like the update and we are already working on the continuation!

[ 2025-03-30 16:23:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings friends, the Likho Games team is here with you and let's tell you how things are going and when the update is coming. In January we had an unpleasant situation and had to find a new translator. At this time, the work on the story continuation has been suspended, but we have been busy editing the past content. For example, we added water to the hold during the storm before the island:
The last patch fixed a lot of issues and improved the NSFW part. Now everything is back to normal and we are continuing, or rather finishing the update work. The team thinks that we overestimated ourselves a bit and expanded the underwater part so much that the next update (the third of four) is similar in size to the whole first chapter. This is very good for the game and for you, but difficult for us. It just so happens that the competent division into releases led us to make the first underwater part small and the third one huge. This has taken its toll on the speed of development, but we're getting close to the finale.

What's in store for you in the upcoming update?

For starters, there are 5 mini-games that are woven into the narrative in the form of mandatory and side quests to gain some arts. There will also be another minor character sprite, a bunch of new backgrounds, 7 NSFW scenes and 3 loyalty quests with the main female characters (Ka, Hissara, Wytta). We're asking for a bit more time, as there were more challenges this time around than before.
WIP The mood in the team is normal, but as it usually happens, the closer we get to release, the more nervous we get. Some things we didn't do as well as we wanted, but we'll definitely fix them in the future. Along the way, the artists are drawing images for the next update and there shouldn't be fewer bugs and difficulties with it. One of the artists is working on old content and we decided to retroactively add 4 NSFW scenes with Sarah as we realized it was necessary. You'll see them somewhere in a patch after the next update.

What's next?

Already at this stage we have received feedback (and we notice it ourselves) that there is a lot of text in the game, but there is much less interactivity, as well as NSFW parts. We will try to fix it, but the main thing is that soon we will start to think how to optimize the story in the last chapter to give only what is necessary, not everything we want. So for now it turns out that after completing the chapter with Podwodje, you'll have loyalty quests available for the rest of the team who haven't had them yet, as well as one mandatory story quest and a finale where you can decide whether to summon the Elders into the world or do something else. Still planning on doing about 15 endings, some of which will be global and some of which will be personal, for each main character.
Since we had to put more effort into this update, we wrote and communicated with you less often. We will fix it. In the meantime, we're working hard to polish and finalize the update, which we want to release 100% in March. We hope for the first half of the month. Good luck to everyone and thanks for being with us, because only thanks to your support the game in development is... developing and improving.

[ 2025-02-27 17:31:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

• Fixed typos in all languages
• Fixed logic bugs
• Added 2 new items (folder with Olivia's documents and poison vial) that were missed earlier
• Animated 20 static frames
• NSFW scenes are cut with precise addition of sounds
• Added ability to name saves as you wish
• Added new missing sounds (sizzling fried chicken, knocking on the door, etc.)
• Optimized code and reduced weight

Hi friends, We are late with the release of the update, but there are reasons for that, which we wrote about earlier. But to make it up to you, we decided to prepare a patch in the form of a bunch of different fixes and improvements of past content. Let's tell you what's changed: First of all, the most important change - there are more animations. We animated 20 static images, including both 16+ scenes and regular images, which became more epic. In addition to these animations, we improved and updated ALL 18+ scenes, intelligently adding sounds so that visuals and sounds connect correctly. Initially there was a grand plan to improve NSFW scenes and everything almost worked out, but the catch was that we focused on the example of other games on another engine, but on RenPy it turned out to be more complicated and not so beautiful. But it is what it is! Among other things, we made a list of 53 edits (!) from typos to logic and from new sounds to adding missing items. Individually, these bugs were of little interest to anyone, but in total, fixing them has significantly transformed the game. We have changed the icons of hearts on the choices in the dialog so that the text correctly displayed and did not cover the number next to it; added the sound of preparing meat when Benno cooks and other rains, slaps, kisses, etc.; finally fixed the error in the logic when finding a folder with documents in the chest - now Fab takes it to himself and the item will appear in the inventory; the same will happen with the vial of poison, which he will take from Ordi; during Tovi's story about the past and artifacts now all items are named correctly (because before they were 1 more and instead of a blade were boots); in several dialogs added sprites, where they were implied, but we missed; fixed a bug where Benno was drawn in the background in old clothes after her quest. This small update is meant to improve old content, but don't think this is the only thing being done! The main update is in process and is being prepared! Due to some difficulties we're slowing down with it, but overall it's going well. The story sequel will be quite big, there will be mini games and 18+ scenes and personal character quests. We've even started drawing sprites and backgrounds for the last update in Podvodje, so everything is great! We may have something to show you, by the way:

[ 2025-02-11 18:17:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, dear players! How are you doing? We're doing okay (not good, but not bad either). Let's talk about the news that happened recently. There are a lot of them. Let's start with the sad one: one of the outsourced artists (that drew 18+ scenes) is leaving us for six months, but she drew all the necessary artwork for that time in advance. Also, the translator has found a full time job and will no longer be working with us. This is sad, as we'll have to find a new translator, bring her/him up to speed, and try to somehow match the past type of narration. We're already in the process of looking, but we're afraid we'll delay the update because of this situation. We'll see how it goes.

Well, then, on to the good stuff!

We recently took the time to get together at the bar and discussed a lot of things. Most importantly, we finally defined the scope of the game, the lenght. There was a funny situation when the scriptwriter was sure that version 1.0 was the final version of the game, but the programmer explained that in fact you can make even 2.6 or 5.7 versions. Thanks to this understanding we decided to do this:

• Release two more Podwodje updates and finish chapter 4;

• In chapter 5 we do one big mandatory quest, 7+ personal quests for characters and go to the finale with 12+ endings;

• All this is called version 1.0, but after that we make different edits (about which further on), expand the game with content if needed. Or make DLC.

What's with the different edits?

First, we decided to animate not only 18+ scenes, but also 16+ (where there is 1 character, most of the time). After playing a bunch of other games of our type and talking to other developers, we realized that it is worth it. And also decided that we will add 3-5 18+ scenes retroactively, and in the new ones we will emphasize several poses in a row. In terms of text - we also realized that it is too descriptive in these scenes and will dilute it with small conversations and descriptions of sounds. The scriptwriter is mastering video editing and we want to cut scenes so that they become much more weighty. Secondly, not counting pre-release testing, a tester goes through the game completely every six months and collects the bug file. Not to say that the file gets smaller every time, but in fact there are such amazing things that you think - How did I not notice it before?. There are a lot of errors and inconsistencies (just worth the treasure map on the island, which Fabian left in the books (no) and goes to the ship to get it, but he has it in his inventory). Everything will be fixed either as patches or attached to the regular updates. And thirdly, the biggest thing we've agreed on is the Extra section. It's 100% coming, but closer to the finals. What's that? No, well, you probably know what it is, but what it will be for us:

• There will be an EXTRA section in the main menu (instead of Gallery or Help), which will contain subsections

• In the first subsection will be in-game achievements (which are now available only in the Steam version), for which you will receive in-game currency, points. On them you will be able to open extras - in other sections. We make it so that everything can be opened when you get all the achievements

• In the second subsection will be alternative costumes, hairstyles for the main female characters (only sprites will be changed)

• The third will be music, all promo images (which we draw for Halloween, Christmas, etc.), images not included in the game

• In the fourth will be a gallery (if it will be replaced in the menu)

Tired of reading the text? We're sure you are! But there's not much to show us, except this (it's not the finale):
One last thing: we would like to ask you to leave in the comments your wishes about costumes: for example - vampire, nurse, etc. You can even specify which character. There are only two requests - suggest only the main female characters (not Lou or Werewolf) and that the theme of the costumes is not too much out of the setting (farmer's daughter, not office worker). We've come up with 43 options so far, but you might have some great ideas. Thanks so much for reading, everyone! All the best to you and we love you!

[ 2025-01-10 15:00:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, dear players! Merry Christmas to you! May this holiday bring joy, warmth and light into your homes. We apologize for the delay with congratulations, but we want you to know that we always think about you and appreciate your support, just something got carried away with the development :) And of course, Happy New Year to everyone! The year 2024 was successful and productive for us. We achieved many goals and overcame many difficulties thanks to your support and participation. We are grateful to each of you for being with us on this journey! We promise that there are more exciting events, updates and surprises ahead. We will keep working to make your gaming experience even better and brighter. And let's summarize the results together! For 2024 we:

• Released chapter 3 (and it's a big one!)

• Released 2 interim patches

• Released 2 parts out of the planned 4 for chapter 4.

• Met a bunch of interesting people among the players and started collaborations with a few of them

• Read a lot of inspiring and helpful feedback (the vast majority of which was positive!)

• Started writing our own soundtrack for the game, an example of which you can hear in the underwater part. Also, there is a plan to put the entire soundtrack album into the public when Wet Sand is finished

• Thanks to your support, we have been able to increase the quantity and quality of in-game content even more

• Despite the fact that this is our first project, the experience gained during development allowed us to better organize internal organizational processes, reduce downtime between team members

• And the most important thing is that someone became close to our game and loved it, and this is what creativity is all about: to share, to please, to fall in love!

We wish you all the best in the coming year! May every day bring you joy, success and new achievements. We love you very much! With best wishes, Likho Games team

[ 2024-12-26 12:22:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! We are here with a small patch. Here is what has changed in version 0.6.7

• A tutorial window has been added to the mini-game Steering

• A couple of new phrases have been added to the Shooting mini-game with Anna (never once missed or spent more ammo than necessary)

• Now during 18+ scenes play the same melody, the one that was in the scene with Sorna

• Animated 18+ scene with Aquanite on the beach on the island

• Fixed typos in the text specified by players

• Fixed a logic bug in the dialog with the Guides after the meeting with Lou (there they said the wrong number of artifacts left)

• Added an image of Fabian and Drowned Captain to the gallery, which we forgot to add in the last update

• Fixed a bug that when entering a cheat code to open the gallery, it didn't open everything

• Added characters to backgrounds where the text mentions them: Kvilleten Street, Dentwon Square, streets of Uvernon (Benno's quest), both taverns from Lauren and Olivia's quests

• In Kvilleten's Tavern (Chapter 1), the background has team members with hoverboards instead of text tiles

[ 2024-12-19 17:14:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, dear friends! It's been a long time since we wrote developer diaries, and why? Because we don't sit idle and have no time at all! But the scriptwriter has finished writing the last part of the underwater adventure and now he can do the news again.

Where are we?

Working on part 3. 70% of the images are ready. Text in progress (revisions, minor tweaks, translation). We plan to release it in February-March. It will be as big as the first two parts combined. But before the release of the update we want to release a patch that will fix some errors in the text and logic, add missing images in the gallery, fix the bug with the input of the cheat to open the gallery, add animation of the scene with Aquanite on the beach in the second chapter, add characters on the backgrounds where they are needed and some other minor fixes. All in all - everything is good and the mood in the team is fighting. We've been spending a lot of time on the game lately and that's a good thing. And since we managed to find another artist, the work is done faster and we can afford to create new content and fix something in the old content at the same time.

General timeline

Of course, things can change due to the fickleness of life, but this is how we see the plan so far: ... February-March 2025 - Part 3 of the Underwater Adventure June-July 2025 - Part 4 of the Underwater Adventure. Chapter 4 is complete. October-November 2025 - Part 1 of the last chapter. ... Final game 2026 Yes, streamlined and not very clear, but as it is. We have too many ideas for chapter 5 and if we implement everything, we'll be doing the finale for another five years. We'll have to choose, but we can guarantee a few things: 1. Each main character will have their own loyalty quest (like Benno, Olivia, Lauren). 2. The game will not chase you to the completion of everything and until the final decision will give you the opportunity to freely choose tasks and pirate in no hurry. 3. There will be a separate ending for each main character; a harem ending; multiple global endings.

What about the artwork? What about content?

Part 3 happens to be the most concentrated on Podwodje content. There will be 4-5 mini games, 4-5 18+ scenes, and stuff like that. We can't show much, because some of the artwork contains serious spoilers (and we want you to feel emotions while playing), and some of it is too racy :)
Several items (+-16) will be added, some of which will be mandatory, quest items, but the rest you can buy to give to your beloved who stayed on Drunken Dragonfly. Here's some of what we're talking about:

Thank you for your support and interest! We become better only because of you! Good luck to everyone!

[ 2024-12-11 16:49:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone and yo ho ho! Four months have passed since the last update and we are ready to present you the next update of the underwater part (2/4). Let's tell you what has been added.

What changed in version 0.6.6

• We continue to animate previous NSFW scenes and this time we got to Sorna. In this update we have animated two scenes with her.

• Added two new NSFW scenes that are also animated and both of them will take place in the most appropriate place for this - a brothel.

• Added 4 new character sprites, three of which are NOT human.

• Added 5 new items. Some of them are quest items, but there are also planned items for team members that will improve relationships, if you get out from underwater of course :)

• Added 2 changes to past character sprites. These are either minor changes, like changing the shape of the hat, or something that will stay with the character forever... such as on the face.

• Added 14 new backgrounds, and they are as marvelous as ever.

• Added 7 new full images that are sure to please your taste, as they are both cozy and spooky and romantic.

• Fixed various bugs from past updates. Typos, game crashes, logic problems. Many thanks to all the players who pointed out the bugs to us!

• The game time has been increased by ~2 hours. Of course, everything is individual again, but if you read the text carefully and look at the new images, you can get even 3 hours! And it's not just 'artificially dragging out gameplay', it's revealing characters and world!

Hurry up and try the new content and come back with feedback, criticism and suggestions!

[ 2024-11-10 19:12:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, dear players! We come to you with news. The development of the next update is already approaching the final stage. At the moment we have finished 90% of the images, the text is already being translated, achievements for steam are being implemented, and plans for further updates are being made.

What awaits you?

So, on average the update will take 2-3 hours to complete and will contain quite a lot of visual content:

• 6 new items
• 13 new backgrounds
• 4 new sprites
• 5 full images
• 2 animated NSFW scenes
• Several changes to past images and sprites

In this update, you'll progress through the story, start completing the Elders' tasks, meet a few new characters, and solve a quest or two. We've tried to add some cute moments, some funny moments, and some scary moments. We're eager to see how you'll take them! All in all, the update is not small, and the next one will be about the same size before we finish with the underwater world in update 4.

Planning

We are such planners! :) Actually, we try to do everything as planned, but sometimes something interesting comes to mind and we can't refuse to add it to the game. But it's not just about cool features, it's about harmonious gameplay. Here we have an underwater half of the chapter, which we divided into 4 parts. It's good to competently distribute 18+ scenes, mini games and so on, but because of the long development time this thin thread of understanding what and where it should be. So, the first update was short and introductory, where there was nothing at all (no choices, no games, no NSFW scenes), the second one will be much bigger, but still without mini games and a couple of 18+ scenes. The third release will be already with all the games and more NSFW scenes, and 4 again not very big and no mini-games. I guess if you play the completed version there won't be any weird feelings, but at the moment we feel it like this - crooked and inconsistent.

The plot, the images, the music

As previously stated, Fabian is growing as a person. Now he finds himself in a place unknown to him with no help from his crew or artifacts. To some extent, we realize that judging by the in-game time, Fab has only been captain for nothing - maybe since a month. But that's still a convention, so don't scold us for the fact that he transforms rather quickly. It's fantasy! :) It won't be long before he realizes what he really is and who he is without his suit. You will have to solve the problems of the sea inhabitants, but also do not forget about your goal - to find artifacts. Although... Fabian will have to face a different point of view on all these gods. Can anything shake his desire to achieve fame and fortune? The artists have done a fine job. Agree - the underwater world even in reality is enchanting and magical, and with the addition of the artist's imagination it turns into an unimaginable place! We studied a lot of references, read about sea creatures (yes, yes, the development of adventure NSFW game is also a study of the necessary topics), and we got these landscapes:


Also, we've been thinking about animating backgrounds and regular artwork. We will try, and if there will be no problems with the realization, then who knows, maybe we'll animate sprites as well? Or maybe it's better to make a movie right away? Ha-ha! But what is important, although sometimes underestimated in the task of content perception? Music! Completing the synergy of text and images is the right atmosphere, which is created by music and sound effects. We've written about 5 tunes that should evoke the right feeling and mood for you during the walkthrough. We will be very much waiting for your feedback! And traditionally a few spoilers:


Pirates, thank you very much for your support and attention to the game! You are our backbone! We do everything to make you enjoy and be happy! Kisses and goodbyes to the developer diaries until release!

[ 2024-10-03 16:53:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, pirates! Back to you with the developer diaries and want to share information on the Wet Sand project. So, as has been said many times before, we decided to break chapter 4 into several parts so you don't have to wait years for a new update. There are now 8 parts designated, the first of which has been released. The 0.6.4 update turned out to be a small one, but that's the way we planned it. Consider it an introduction to the underwater part of the adventure. What is waiting for you next? There will be 3 more updates of the underwater part, and after them 4 more in the familiar atmosphere of a pirate ship for you, drunken sailors. We will try to prepare the next update by mid-October, and it will be several times bigger than the previous one.

What are we doing?

Work! The important stage is now underway - the text is already written, it's being smoothly added to the game, there are some discussions on clarifications/scenes, and the artist is finalizing sketches of all the work for the chapter, to then work on them together with the outsourcer as if on an assembly line. But don't think it's been a month and we don't have anything finished at all! We started with sprites, and we can show one of them now:
Another Aquanite in the game? Yes! Unlike some previous articles, here we can't (or rather, we don't want to) give information about the plot, because we want you to see everything in the game. All we can say is that this adventure will be a momentous one for Fabian, because he will meet many (5-6) unusual characters, will go to the bottom in search of something important, will get into dangerous situations and as always will be surrounded by charming girls. In the end, Fabian will go through a peculiar way of realizing himself and his true goals. Well, to get a little imagination of the places you will visit, you can look at the sketches:


Thanks for your interest and support! Bye, everyone!

[ 2024-08-16 15:15:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Let's go underwater! Crew, we've prepared a small update in which you'll get to explore the underwater world. There is a big journey planned, which will not yield to the time spent on the island in the second chapter. We have divided the adventure into 4 parts of different sizes and now you can evaluate the first of them.

What has changed in version 0.6.4

• Fixed typos in the text of the past content(many thanks to those who sent us in Discord found errors - you helped us a lot!).

• Redrawn Dolores images from the beginning of the game. Over the course of development, we notice how skills grow and periodically revisit past content. It was decided to update the images from the beginning of the game to match the increased level.

• A dream scene with a flashback of Dolores was redrawn and animated. We are seamlessly transforming static NSFW images into animations. In this update, we've gone back and redrawn and animated Fabian's flashback scene of his time with Dolores.

• Four new sprites have been added. These are part of the characters you will interact with underwater.

• Fixed bugs in the readout of completed quests. There were a few bugs where quests didn't count under some conditions, or didn't disappear after completion.

• Added two full images + terrain map. We enjoyed drawing maps for the island, Quonter, the whole world, and here we decided to prepare a location map too.

• Added four new backgrounds. They are magical.

• The game time has increased by ~30 minutes. It's hard to estimate the volume - in what to count it? In the number of new images, text? We'll take the time in the game as a basis for now (though, of course, everything is individual).

Thank you for staying with us and supporting the project! All the best!

[ 2024-07-18 18:51:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, our dear pirates! We are hard at work on chapter four and continue to keep our developer diaries to share information about the game with you. Let's go?

Plans have changed

With the release of chapter three, interest and attention to the project has grown by leaps and bounds and we've had to revise some plans for future content. Initially we planned to send Fabian under water for a couple of hours, then provide a couple more side quests for the team members, then come to the last chapter and prepare two endings. Things are different now. We've heard quite a few different opinions from you, dear players, and decided to expand the story. There will still be 5 chapters, but the size has changed. We have started to develop the fourth part of the adventure (we remind you that the division into chapters - conditional) with the idea that it should be not less, and even more several times than the third chapter. We should also realize that the deadlines will be shifted. We realize that it is extremely boring to wait 7-8 months for some content, so we will release the fourth chapter in parts. So far we plan to make updates every 3 months.

Where do we dive?

The fourth chapter will start with an underwater journey, which will be a separate location with its own story and quests. According to our estimates, the underwater part should be a bit smaller than the third chapter, but how it will be in the final is a question.
The lead artist is working hard with references, proposing many different ideas and drawing concept arts. At the moment there are no finalized works, as the style of the whole journey is being laid down. Now we are working on backgrounds and sprites of new characters. We will offer you to find yourself in an ancient sunken city, where Fabian will have to solve many tasks and face mortal danger for the first time in his unlucky life. You will be waiting for the main tasks with new items, characters and mini-games, as well as side quests, the reward for which will be NSFW scenes or gold (which will be soon where to spend)!

Map and characters

Underwater City will be a separate location. Remember the island and the map? Here will be something similar, only bigger.
There will be more than ten different locations waiting for you to visit. For us, diving underwater is a big challenge, because we have to add new unique characters, new locations and story. Although, we're being a bit deceitful - not all characters will be new.
The Sea Maiden will finally get her own sprite and will be given more time in the game. In addition to this beauty, two other characters are planned that will have their own romance lines.

What's after?

After the underwater part you will be waiting for the continuation of the main story and a lot of side quests, such as tasks of the other team members, more content on the world map (we made it large for a reason), more freedom. We want to make sure that when you get to the last chapter, you enjoy the world enough and choose your path clearly. There will be more than two endings..... a lot more! Thank you for your interest and attention! We appreciate and love you very much! If you have questions and suggestions, want to report bugs or express your gratitude - write wherever you want. We will answer everywhere!

[ 2024-05-13 15:47:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello dear friends, finally the fix is ready. Let's see what is fixed:

• Standardized all dialog options - now when leaving a dialog, if there is nothing more to ask, a selection box with a Cancel button will be shown so you know there is nothing more to discuss with the character;
• In the first chapter, fixed Lauren's sprite when she had the emotion of being scared before attacking the Dealer's Hand, even though she was calm in the text;
• After the battle with the Dealer's Hand and Ethan's wounding, when Fabian rushes back to the cabin, added the sharp sound of the door closing, which was missing;
• Fixed the description of the item "Wanted paper" from the tavern;
• While searching for the key to the Tovenaar's room, there was a logic error where if you had already gotten the key from Bill's hammock, there was an option to "ask where the key is" in the dialog with Phil - fixed;
• Checked a rule that now prevents going further if Fabian has an item in his inventory that needs to be used now;
• Fixed animations with Anna before the island (face is not as wide in the final shot) and with the hole in the wall (added missing animation for rough start);
• Added sprite movements across the screen in all the necessary places in chapter 2, according to the text;
• Slightly updated Ethan's drawn in background (when he cleans up with the broom) and added a hat option if you gave him one;
• After Benno gets new clothes, she was drawn into the daytime kitchen background in the old form - fixed. It now matches the sprite;
• Additional sounds have been added to some 18+ scenes. Also added sounds to the scene with Aquanite on the island, as they were missing before;
• There was a break in logic in the scene with Lauren handing over the clothes - if there was no masturbation scene before, she still said she saw Fabian's dignity. Now the bug has been fixed and she doesn't say anything if there was no previous scene;
• Fixed typos throughout the game in Russian and English;
• Fixed a bug that was causing the hole-in-the-wall scene to not be added to the gallery;
• In Chapter 3 (starting with the encounter with Sorna), all relationship checks have been lowered by 2 points (test);
• Fixed the presence of the ship crackling sound in Dentwon Night and the entire scene with Vetra in the library;
• Corrected some sprites (for example, the sprite of Vetra in the med cabin has been changed to match how she looks drawn into the background);
• Added the ability to enter cheat codes in the game (in options). Present codes for money, opening the entire gallery, maximize relationships with all characters;
• Added a tutorial window before the mini game "capture the city" in the quest Lauren.

We have done a fairly serious check of past errors and hope that no new ones will appear. Now all the focus is on further content! In confidence, we'll tell you that the scriptwriter has already planned everything for 4th chapter, the artist has already started making sketches and there are a lot of exciting stories ahead of you!

[ 2024-04-28 13:47:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey! Hello, dear players! Finally we and you have waited for the release of chapter 3! The winds are blowing the sails and swiftly sending Drunken Dragonfly on her way for bounty and good stories! Let's get right to it. Here's what's in store for you in this update:

• Remember the mini-games "shooting", "hole-patching", "steering", "Tailwind"? We are adding 3 more mini-games to them, which will immerse you in the world of the game even deeper. One of them will be with our pointy-eared beauty, the second one will be with Anna and an unnamed character, and the third one will be in one of the side quests, where you will have to take command of... but not the ship (so be sure to try them all!).

• We realize that the numbers don't really convey the volume, but still we have to say how much has been added. There are 10 new sprites, including both important main characters and minor ones. About 13 changes in old sprites: new clothes, recycling of emotions, hairstyles, poses and much more.

• With a total of about 38 wonderful new backgrounds and full images, you'll visit new cities, meet old acquaintances and go on the world map, where you'll sail the seas on your glorious ship! Also 9 new NSFW scenes are waiting for you, including 7 animations! Yes, yes, there are animations in the game now and we are very proud of them. We also animated all the NSFW scenes from chapters 1 and 2 and now the game looks and feels even more cohesive and consistent. We made sure not to offend anyone, so this chapter will have racy scenes with all the main characters.

• The story has been greatly expanded and 3 full-fledged side quests with Benno, Lauren and Olivia have been added. The chapter turned out to be quite extensive (to be exact, it is 2 times bigger than the first chapter!) and if you go through it thoughtfully and try all three side quests, you will get about 6 hours of gameplay. We want to warn you - it's better to start the game again to avoid mistakes and bugs (we fixed the previous chapters too), but most importantly - to see the NSFW scenes for sure, as they will require a certain amount of relationship points and it's better to start collecting them from the beginning. Choose wisely!

• Made a few changes to past content based on your requests: added training for the card game Tailwind; in the gallery, all images will now be numbered and titled; fixed a couple backgrounds from past chapters; removed blank pages from the inventory (one is enough for everything); added pages to the relationship book (team grows); changed the final window.

• In response to requests from players who didn't like the card game Tailwind, we've added it to the list of those mini-games that can be skipped with a checkmark in the settings. Now, if you have no desire to break away from the text narrative, you can avoid all mini games completely. But the immersion in the game is much better with them ;)

In addition to in-game content, we've finally gone through all the circles of hell and added items to Steam! 4 levels of badges (+ metal one) 5 emotions 5 profile backgrounds 6 cards
And also chapter 3 brought 20 more new achievements! Among other things, we corrected typos in previous chapters, added dots at the end of sentences where there were none, added sounds where they were intended but not present, and added or corrected emotions on sprites where they were displayed incorrectly or not changed. For us, this chapter was quite difficult and brought a lot of challenges. We tried very hard and would like to hear from you - how did we do? Once again we would like to thank you sincerely for your interest, for waiting and supporting us! There are two more chapters to come and we are looking forward to your feedback to make the game better!

[ 2024-03-16 14:10:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone! We'd like to say at once - this is the last diary for chapter 3! Yes, we're at the finish line, but there are some problems. Let's talk about them.

Animations

If you've read past diaries, you'll remember how worried we were that there would be problems with animations. Firstly, we had never done them before, and secondly, back at the beginning of development, we focused on another project that had animations, and decided for ourselves that it was an indicator of quality and high skill that we didn't possess. But it turned out to be quite simple. And after all the animations for chapter 3 were inserted, it was decided to update the NSFW scenes from the first and second parts. And that's where the problems happened. Before, there were just static images in NSFW scenes and we could afford to draw 5-8 different frames. Along with that we wrote text for the scene and everything was more or less harmonious. Animations turned out to be more expensive and that's why we limited ourselves to 4-5 loops. Here came the question - how to be if the text describes something that is not in the animation? Gather the necessary footage and animate it now and increase the development time of the chapter because of it (we didn't count on that), or postpone, release the chapter only with animations in the last part, and finish the past ones in the hotfix later? We also thought about animating not only NSFW scenes, but also some ordinary ones. We tried it on the example of water in this frame:
But it didn't work out very well, and it was hard to come to an agreement in the team about which shots should be animated and which should not. So this idea is on hold for later.

Deadlines and tests

We're big fans of computer games ourselves and, just like you, sometimes waited for releases that were constantly delayed. Then, being players, we were very angry with the developers and didn't understand why they delayed games. Now everything is clear to us :) We formed the roadmap as soon as the first chapter was released, giving ourselves 6 months for each new chapter. Things change during the development process. Our appetite has increased and now the third chapter is almost twice the size of the first chapter! We're still targeting a February release, but we admit that polishing can take longer. This is primarily so that you don't have a negative experience during the walkthrough and we don't have to go back with tons of fixes. There are different situations during tests. Sometimes, only a couple questions come up after passing (and that's stylistic), and sometimes there are more than a hundred of them and the programmer starts looking for reasons not to fix them :) Especially many disputes are related to artistic vision - music, blackouts, sounds, time of objects' appearance, etc. Here's an example - we went through five iterations of this table for one of the mini games, even though it's not such an important part of the game:

New stage

We (and you too, probably) have noticed that with each chapter the game becomes more and more complex and qualitative. It's normal, because we also learn in the process and can afford more and more new features. We've already cited the development time of the chapters, where the first part we did a year and a half and it turned out to be 2 hours, and the third chapter we do half a year and it is two or three times longer. The quantity and quality of images has increased. Look at how, for example, the marvelous backgrounds are brought to the general style:

If before we looked at other representatives of the genre with awe, not even hoping to reach their level, now we can compare Wet Sand with them in some moments. It seems to us that the addition of animations, expansion of the story, new costumes for characters and the addition of side quests will raise the game one more step up!

Approx list of innovations

- What we can say for sure is that there are 3 new mini-games waiting for you. They won't be as big as Tailwind, but they will be quite interesting too. - Naturally, as it was already said many times - animated scenes will appear in the game. - If you believe the tester, the chapter takes about 5-6 hours with a quiet passage. - You will be waiting for three side quests with three female characters from the team, each for 20-30 minutes. Here's the background from one of them:
- There will be a second page in the relationship book ;) - We listened to your feedback on the second chapter and decided to add the ability to skip the card game Tailwind like other mini games. - Numbering will be added to the Gallery to make it easier to find unopened scenes. By the way! The Pirates vs. Ninjas festival was recently held and you, dear players, did a great job supporting our team of corsairs! Many thanks to everyone who is waiting and supporting Wet Sand! We rarely release updates (but what updates!) and we realize that we can only keep things interesting with news. But we are thinking of releasing chapter 4 in installments so that we can have content every month. We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, we are back in development and will try to do everything at the highest level!

[ 2024-02-04 17:00:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, hello, hello! The new year has begun and we want it to be as good as the previous one. Let us remind you that 2023 was very fruitful and active for the project. So, let's get to the news about the game.

Tests, tests, tests!

During the tests one not very pleasant thing appeared. The programmer unloaded the build, but there were no "special" saves in it. The tester started to go through everything from scratch and tried to get the maximum relationship points with everyone. And here, an important moment - NSFW scenes in chapter 3, but it turned out that it wasn't possible to get the right amount of points with any of the girls! It was a horror! A second playthrough followed and still managed to score for two scenes. What a result: to get a scene with your favorite character in chapter 3, you need to choose all the answers correctly from the very first chapter and only then you can admire the racy scenes. On the one hand, it encourages you to replay, but on the other hand it's insanely annoying! Let's just say that we decided to lower the score threshold by 1 point for some characters and by 3 points for others. We try to balance between the logic of the relationship and the convenience of the game. But still be warned - if you want to see 18+ content with crew girls, try to choose 1-2 ladies and try to do everything to please them from the very beginning. This, of course, does not apply to characters that appear as the story progresses - with them it's a different conversation.
Something seems to have changed in the captain's quarters

When to wait?

Also we met and started discussing timelines and future chapters. We came to this conclusion: we are incredibly frustrated by games that come out unfinished and then take years to fix with patches. We're old-school supporters, when a game comes out complete. So, for now, we're aiming for a chapter 3 release in February, but we'd like to give you some advance warning and ask you to wait a little longer if it turns out that we're running out of time. It's a really big chapter and it may take longer to fix bugs. The fourth chapter seems to be big too.... because there will be a new location (which you'll find out about at the end of chapter 3) and more side quests with other characters...
WIP background Unfortunately (or fortunately) we have almost all the images ready and we can't show more so as not to spoiler too much. We want you to see everything in the game! But we can show Fan Art of the shark from the end of the second chapter. You do realize that the story with her will continue right from the beginning of chapter 3, right?
By the way, you may not have seen a little comic for New Year's Eve! We're correcting that misunderstanding:
Thank you very much for staying with us! In the new year we will please you with quality content and we will get closer to the finale. We will think about further actions on the game closer to the end of chapter 4, but for now let's wait for the release of chapter 3 together. We appreciate and love you very much! Thank you very much for playing and waiting for the next chapters!

[ 2024-01-02 17:00:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Ahoy, pirates! The biting winter winds have brought news and we are ready to share it with you. A lot has passed since the last developer diary, so we'll try not to miss anything. There will be a lot of text and a lot of images, so let's go! Let's start with the sad part - we have reduced the number of artists. This happened for a variety of reasons. Now we are coping with fewer workers. We assure you that this situation will not affect the timing or quality of images in the game, because most of them are already ready.

And then there's the good stuff!

Have you ever been worried about not getting things done in time? We sometimes feel like we're behind schedule, but if you look at the time spent on the previous chapters, everything falls into place. Chapter 3 is being done quickly, despite the larger volume. Even the tests have already started! Yes, preliminary, but the text is already "felt". The story turned out to be interesting and even multifaceted. It is expected that with full coverage of all the content (we remind you that there will be optional tasks in the chapter) the passage will take you about 6 hours of quite intense story! Since the game is in development, we are changing some things from past chapters. One of the edits will be a simplification in the gallery - the titles will change to a numbers. This way it will be easier to understand what is not yet open and ask questions to us or other players. And let's move smoothly to the images. Perhaps some of them have already been shown, but there is something new.

Maps

Remember the island map from chapter two? We enjoyed drawing one of those and will have two more in chapter three.
One of the side quests will have a story related to a specific city. We don't want to reveal all the cards, so it's enough to know that a mini-game will be connected with this place.
The story expands and you can finally see the map of the game world. By the icons you can understand that there will be several cities waiting for you with the possibility to visit them in side quests. In the third chapter there will be two such cities, but in the following chapters their number will increase.

Backgrounds

That's how we thought - we will make a lot of backgrounds inside the ship in the first chapter, and then they will be less. NO. Only after a while we realized that we were making an adventure game, and this implies frequent changes of locations. In this chapter, there turned out to be quite a lot of them too.
The place looks like a library. Fabian won't be here alone. Who on the crew might like to read? Besides Phil, of course...
This background is still in the works, but you can already understand what the mood will be. We tried to balance between bright, warm art and gloomy ones.

Artworks

While writing a story, you should always have an understanding in your head of how many images you will get from the written scenes. But sometimes it is very hard and at the stage of testing there is a feeling that here it was necessary to have a separate art, and here it is more. So, the boundary of adequacy is smoothly erased and you want to illustrate almost every word. Unfortunately, this is impossible. But we make sure that the most important points are shown.
Another blonde on the ship!? Ms. Brown has a rival. Or not on the ship?
In any good story there is room for something cozy and warm. If you've built the right relationship, that "warmth" will be the hug of sweet Benno. We so enjoy showing you scrappy artwork without telling you what follows what and in what exact situation it will be shown! It's not cheating, it's just a flirtation to make you feel genuine feelings during the walkthrough. But always remember that any news, is potential spoilers. A couple words about the animations - there will be 6 of them in the past chapters and 6 in the third, they are marvelous and enhance the game in an incredible way! The animator is a wizard. Ah, we almost forgot! In this chapter we decided to try such a thing as horizontal art, aka "long", multi-screen art. Again, we won't say why or how it will happen, but we can share a sketch.
Thank you so much for your interest! We are incredibly happy with every comment and warm feedback. We read everything, send you rays of goodwill and discuss it in the team. You, dear players, are our greatest value! The next diary will be published after the New Year, and then it will be just a short walk to the release ;)

[ 2023-12-04 17:00:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Good day, dear friends!

Today we will share progress and thoughts about chapter 3, as well as talk about third-party quests. First and most importantly, we want to make chapter 3 the most stable of all: to go through the problems thoroughly, fix all the bugs of the past parts and polish this one; add everything we wanted to the previous chapters (emotions in the right places, sounds where we forgot, etc.). Since this will be the middle of the game, we wanted to reach a certain "plateau" so that we don't go back and devote all the time to adding new content. We really hope that this desire will not lead to a delayed release date, but we are all human, so anything can happen. In this chapter, as we mentioned, there will be a few new characters. Fabian and crew will try to solve the issue with that shark pirate, will definitely visit a new town, get into some more trouble and the power of artifacts will start to affect the captain. In this update we decided to add side quests.

Side quests

What are they? During adventures, sometimes it's time for a "hub". In it, you can move freely around the ship and communicate with the crew. In one of these hubs you will be asked to perform loyalty quests from the crew members. There will be 3 such quests in chapter 3: The first one you'll get from Lauren Finn Remember how warmly she spoke of her sister? Maybe it's time to look for that hottie. The second will be from Benno The little girl's been hiding on a pirate ship from her relatives. It seems like it's time to find out exactly what happened there. The third will come from Ms. Brown The enigmatic Olivia has gotten herself into a complicated situation with one Exan in the past. With those documents, it's about time something was resolved! By completing their quests, you'll get: - A fairly lengthy story and even more revealing of the characters' personalities; - New backgrounds and sprites (specific to the quest); - The ability to improve or worsen your relationship with the heroines; - With sufficient relationship level, animated NSFW scenes. We already said that these quests will be optional, but we have no doubt that you will complete them all :) The same side quests for other characters will be in the next chapters. We thought that such loyalty missions are necessary for all team members, but in this case we will have to spend much more time than if there are only quests from girls. What do you think about it? By the way, look who's back from chapter one

How about we release updates more often?

We see other developers release updates to their games. Quite often, especially compared to us. But, unfortunately or fortunately, we chose a slightly different path. After talking to the team, we considered different options, but we decided to release updates "rarely but a big chunk". The development pipline we have built over the years has become rather clumsy, but it is very stable and allows us to avoid various problems. We would like to convey such thoughts to you: - The game is divided into chapters - "conventionally", as there are no chapters in the game itself. We mark the versions of the game in this way. Now version 0.4+ is available and it is the second chapter (and 0.2+ was the first chapter). So the third chapter will be version 0.6+. All intermediate versions we try out within the team and bring to a decent level to show you a solid piece of the story; - We will release a chapter every 6-7 months. Yes, it's a long wait, but at the end you will not get 20 minutes of new content, but a solid story of 3+ hours (each next chapter so far is bigger than the previous one); - Your support is incredibly motivating and helps us to expand the world, increase the number of images, add new ideas, and maybe additions in the future (DLC).

Animations

Thanks to your interest and support, dear players, we were able to find an animator who is already working hard on updating old scenes and animating new ones. We are sure you will love the result! We can't wait to show you how much it improves the game! But that's probably for next time. In the meantime, hold the image that you'll encounter in Chapter 3.
Once again, thank you very much for your interest in the game and for your support! The project is developing only thanks to you! All the best!

[ 2023-11-04 17:00:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey, everybody!

It's time to share a few more features about the development of Wet Sand. Today we'll talk about the third chapter, show a couple of interesting things and touch on plans.

Chapter 3 and the duration

It so happened that during the development process we changed the approach to the length of chapters several times. Initially it was planned something about 9 chapters for dozens of hours, but over time we realized that it is better to concentrate the story and execute it qualitatively. Thus, the course is now set for the release of 5 chapters. In the third one we wanted to add something new, and among other things, this new thing was third-party quests. You won't be forced to go through them, because, roughly speaking, they are "loyalty" tasks with team members, and if you don't like any of them, you can skip this part of the content (but we recommend trying everything). Thanks to these side tasks, the game has grown and will be 10-15% bigger than the second part. In the next developer diary we'll talk more about them and reveal the number of quests and the girls who will give them to us.
A ship that you will definitely encounter in this chapter There's no denying that the story is evolving and maturing. There were a lot of debates and opinions on how best to proceed - to create a kind and pleasant world or a more realistic and gloomy one. We chose the golden mean and will show very exciting events in this chapter. The scriptwriter tried to create emotional swings, the artists create authentic atmosphere, and the programmer puts everything together and will not leave you without new mini-games! In this chapter you will meet some new characters, make some hard choices and prepare for a big decision to be made towards the end of the game. Once again, we'd like to say about the chapter release date - we're targeting January-February 2024, so everything is on the roadmap.

Cards, badges, etc.

- The designer is working hard on content for the Steam. Before the release of chapter 3 we will try to please you with backgrounds, avatars, cards and badges; - Prepared new achievements (it seems that by the release there will be about a hundred of them); - Approved and already started drawing more than 5 new animations and even more adult content, but also keep a balance between exciting story and racy scenes; - Always looking back, fixing the mistakes of past chapters.

What's there to look at?

We really want you to experience the emotions directly in the game when you are immersed in the story. Therefore, many things we can't show you. Sorry, it's for your own good :) But we can do this: in this chapter, some characters will appear to you in a new light, clothes, hairstyle.
Fabian is wearing a cape... wonder why? We would like to thank you, the players, for your interest in the game! Please ask any questions, write suggestions and feedback - it is incredibly motivating and helps the project to develop!
Anna will teach you how to hold a saber!

[ 2023-10-03 18:16:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello to all pirates! We have started working on chapter 3 and are ready to share details and other development information. Since we've just started, we can't say much. But something is already in place:

• The script is written! Yes, that's right, already. Compared to the previous chapter, this one will be a bit longer, but it is important to take into account that in chapter 3 we will add side quests that are optional (but highly recommended)

• We have prepared sketches for all scenes, so work on them is already boiling

• There will be minigames, and there will be new ones. We have decided that the card game Tailwind will be used as a minigame for any battle. To everyone who liked it - congratulations, the rest - we sympathize

• In this chapter there will be several new female characters, but these will be the last "unique" characters for the game. There is no sense to make dozens of different heroines, because to reveal them to the end of the story is not possible. We remind you that 5 chapters are planned

• The third chapter will be a little more dark and mystical. You will have to make difficult choices, just like in real life

• The level of epicness has been tweaked a bit and we expect you to be pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns of the protagonist's fate

• We wanted to release the chapter in time for the winter sale, but its volume and the desire to make it as good as possible overrode the plans. We now expect the chapter to be available to you in January-February 2024

• There will be more adult content, so we're starting to justify the 18+ tags :)

And so that you don't fall asleep from reading the canvas of text, here are some sketches of some of the scenes:
What do you think this place is and what awaits you there?

Thanks for staying with us and playing Wet Sand! Feel free to write your questions, suggestions and feedback - we are very glad to hear from you and will answer everything!

[ 2023-09-11 17:14:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've done some bug work and, as we prepare to work on chapter three, we're releasing the fixes. What's changed?

• On players' advice, added a variant sprite of Fabian with Ordi on his shoulder

• Added tutorial before playing the game in Tailwind

Other fixes:

• Added more emotion changes on sprites in dialogues

• Slightly changed the text of the disclaimer

• Fixed a large number of typos and spelling errors in both the first and second chapter

• Fixed logic errors in the game with Olivia in "Ive Never"

• Made the sound of Ordi's voice quieter in some places; added to scenes where it was present in the text

• Made smoother transitions and blackouts in some places

• Art #22 obtaining has been fixed in the Gallery

• Removed the unnecessary extra button to launch the game in Steam that didn't work in Mac and Linux versions

And now, we dive into the work and will delight you with monthly Developers' Diaries about the progress of creating the third chapter. Set sails!

[ 2023-08-23 15:27:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello to all sea wolves, land rats, high society ladies, constables and everyone else! We are pleased to present you the continuation of Captain Fabian's story aboard a pirate ship. We would like to thank you, the players, for your interest in the game and suggest you read the news and then try the new chapter sooner rather than later!

What awaits you inside?

Image Gallery You asked - we listened! There is now a gallery section in the game menu, where you can see open artwork in multiple poses (double click and if the scene was with a change, the next pose will open). There will also be animated images inside! Now it will be possible to control the process of getting scenes, to understand what has been opened and what is not yet. Each scene has an original name for easy search. 10+ new backgrounds The story continues and you will find yourself in brand new locations (of course, not counting our "base" in the form of a ship.... although there will be something new in it too). We tried to hide the location of the second chapter throughout the previous news. I wonder if we succeeded? 25 new full art and 18+ art The chapter turned out to be bigger than the first and the number of both 18+ and regular artwork has increased. There are now a lot more horny moments in the game (and more to come!) 5 minigames and puzzles, as well as new game elements We could have kept the mini-games from the first chapter, but we thought that would be too boring, so we made something completely different for you! We tried to tie the gameplay of the minigames to the story and logic of the game, so try it out and see how we did it. 2 to 3 times more text and content than chapter 1 This wasn't originally planned, but a flight of fancy and a desire to add as much interesting stuff as possible did the trick. The second chapter has twice as much text as the first chapter. As we have already written, it doesn't mean that we tried to stretch the gameplay in this way - there are more artworks and different situations! New mystery characters to interact with In the past we've had little contact with anyone other than the crew, so we need to make up for lost time! You will meet other creatures on your journey to treasure and glory! New Music Background music is meant to emphasize and direct the mood of the scene, and since you'll have to go to new places, the music will be new! Sprite Update We have expanded the number of emotions for the characters, redesigned Ms. Brown and our elf prisoner. You will also see visual changes in the appearance of the rest of the girls ;) Easter eggs We are big fans of movie-book-game geek culture and have scattered for you various references to our favorite (and probably you too!) movies, TV series, games and books. Try to find them all! Achievements The volume of the story is growing and with it new achievements. As we said in previous developer diaries, some of them will be compulsory - to record progress, some of them will be tied to relationships with characters (friendship and romance), and some of them will be not so easy to get.... Some bugs were reported from players, but the difficulty was that we couldn't reproduce these bugs on any device. Still, we made a lot of efforts and fixed the bugs of the inventory crash, fixed a couple of logic bugs and we hope that you will continue to point out the bugs so that we can fix them together and the final result will be a quality game! We recommend to start a new game to study all the content - it will allow you to remember what was in the beginning, build relationships with characters and avoid possible bugs. We are still working and trying to stick to the roadmap, but after the release we will have to think about the size of the third chapter and the term may increase in proportion to the new content (or stay the same, but the chapter size will decrease). We really need feedback from you - the players. Please leave feedback, write what you liked and what you didn't like. There are three more chapters to go and maybe your suggestion or criticism will make the game much better! Have a tailwind and enjoy the game!

[ 2023-08-06 13:08:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, everyone!

Are you waiting for news? We just brought you something.

Labyrinth

One of the new features in the chapter will be a labyrinth location. How will we get there and what will be there? And that's a secret, for now.

We're quite thorough, even the little things like the look of the tunnels

Inspiration

We really wanted to share our sources of inspiration with you. We've gathered for you music, movies, books and games about pirates (and adventures!) that we were inspired by. Maybe some of you will discover something new! Music: Alestorm Ye Banished Privateers Movies: LOST series Castaway Blue Lagoon Pirates Of The Carribean Terror Games: Sea Dogs The Secret of Monkey Island Space Rangers 1&2 Books: Treasure Island Robinson Crusoe

What can we say already?

• We've started tests and after a few playthroughs we've found the average time per chapter. Of course, each player has his own pace and it's hard to say in what time you will pass it, but we can say that our tester, knowing "where to go and what to press", passed the chapter in 2.5-3 hours.

• Every female character on the team will have at least one 16+ and 18+ scene.

• Our ginger beast (not Philipp) will get a name in this chapter.

• The plot with the supernatural characters will continue

A little bit of history

When the idea to make a game like Wet Sand first appeared, we thought it would be a 9 chapter project and we planned to invest 1-1.5 years into each chapter. During the development, we realized that not only would we, the developers, get bored with the long project, but the players would get bored waiting 10 years :) Naturally, it was necessary to decide what to do. We are a small indie team and don't have big financial resources to expand the staff, which meant that there was only one way out - to mercilessly cut the content. We got together, discussed ideas and came to the conclusion that the game would have 5 chapters and that was it. Now, one year and 9 months had passed since the start of development. The first chapter was hard because it was the first experience, but now everything is going faster. See for yourself, the second chapter is already half the time, and it's twice the size! Magic? No - experience and optimization. We are very motivated and delighted by the interest and confidence in the game. We are big fans of the games ourselves and we are incredibly grateful to you for supporting the project at the early access. We promise we will not disappoint you!

A couple of images

WIP What a soft and juicy sunset!
Let's learn carpentry skills!

Progress

We're having troubles with the images and translation so far, but don't worry - these processes are bouncing around, so things will look better in the next, last chapter 2 news.

[ 2023-06-17 09:41:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi all, we sailed into port and brought you information about the game! Let's start the countdown - the content is already in the game and testing will start soon! In this developer's diary we'd like to share with you a nice present from our artist, show some more images, tell what changes have happened during the month and warm up the interest to the game a bit.

Let's begin

To start with, we would like to say that you, our dear players, make us happy by supporting us by buying the game! We are incredibly inspired that the project is interesting and evokes your emotions. This allows us to think bigger and more imaginative, to add more and more diverse content to the game! The story evolves, and who knows what we'll encounter on the path of dashing piracy? We burn and live the project, and our artist decided to please the team with a nice gift related to the game:
These are stickers and prints of images from the game on cardboard. You know, it's an incredible feeling when something from your fantasy takes on a tangible form!

Content

New items will be added in chapter two.
What do you think it is? A clock and a bag? Well yes... but they are special ;) We really want to show how much the image changes from the idea to the final version! It might be silly, but we feel warm when we see our first sketches, even if they don't compare to what you see in the game :)
We're also continuing to correct the faces of the characters, correcting some of the things that don't seem very appealing.

Achievements

Not to boast, but we've already prepared the achievements for chapter two! It was decided that each chapter would add a certain number of new achievements. We know that many players like to get them, but here it is important not to get carried away - only those achievements that are really hard to get are valuable. We decided to stick to a simple principle. There should be: - Achievements for progress fixing (you get them necessarily, after completing a certain part of the chapter); - achievements for 18+ scenes (it's clear why); - "moral" achievements, which are obtained by making important decisions.

Starting a new game?

We are curious to know how you feel about starting the game over with every update? Most of us don't like this approach, but the game is still in development and we can go back and change things. For example, it was only during the development of the second chapter that we realized that the game lacked animation in the racy scenes. We tried to add it - it worked! But here's the trouble, the first chapter also has a scene for potential animation. So that it doesn't look weird, we can go back and redo the scene, add vulgar and lewd sounds (finally) and things like that. There are times when mistakes pop up even after careful testing. Textual ones are easy to fix, but what to do if at the moment of an important choice the game didn't remember your decision? Unfortunately, in this case we have to correct the misunderstanding and ask you to pass again. It's sad, but we're all human. But there is a good side to it all! We are trying to follow the roadmap and if you pay attention to the roadmap, you will see that chapters are published every 6 months. That's probably plenty of time to forget what happened in the previous chapter. Also, the logic and atmosphere will be more coherent if you go through the chapters in a row without such a long break. Please tell us what you think of this!

Internal kitchen and numbers

The mood in the team is good, no one is skimping, everyone is doing their job. So far, everything is on schedule, some small changes to the Steam page, preparing pictures for advertising, thinking over the third chapter are planned at the same time. Every week we share what we've done with each other, give each other feedback, praise and criticism, and then set goals for the next week and so on. The image chart changes colors depending on status:
There's nothing to make out and that's on purpose so no one will see any spoilers here ;) Also, if you thought that each box means one art, you'll be wrong - some hide multiple art (sometimes two or three). We listened to players who would be interested in seeing development progress in the form of percentages. It's a pretty convenient type of communication for you.
Don't be scared, by Images we mean the final processing. At this point, we have all the artwork prepared for the chapter and are putting the finishing touches on it.
Anna thanks you for your support of the game! That's all for now. The whole team thanks you along with Anna! Your interest in the game is priceless, as well as your feedback and comments! Thank you so much for being with us! Next time we'll be in port in June and bring you even more news! Anchor up!

[ 2023-05-15 17:54:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone and yo-ho-ho!

The development of the second chapter is in full swing and we've taken with us so many ideas that it's even getting a little cramped on one ship :) In this development diary we'd like to share with you some new elements in the game, show you some more sketches and tell you about the plans.

A question for our fans!

In the visual novel it is very difficult to show something new without showing a spoiler. Many of you would probably prefer to see the whole story by playing it yourself. But for sure there are extremely curious players who will be happy to know any detail of the plot right now. So we decided to ask you a question - would you like to receive details from future chapters in our diaries, or not? Write in a comment section here (or wherever you like)!

Current status

The story is already written, all the images are almost ready and currently being processed. We are very excited that this chapter is going to be larger than the last one, and we want to share that excitement with you. Right now we're working on the scene with the fantastic creature from the first chapter. It's a girl who lives in water and, despite her seeming plainness, knows quite a lot about the world she lives in. Under certain circumstances, the player will be able to get to know her better.

New game elements

We have several new mini-games planned. Some of them have already been implemented, some of them are still under development or discussion. Also, we've added new buttons - guess what they're for?

As we already mentioned before, we reworked some of the sprites, and added variation to the appearance of the characters.

What else

We try to be inspired by something new all the time. Life stories, books, other games, good movies and TV series accompany our creative process. For example, in the next chapter you can find some allusions to the immortal novel by Defoe or to the excellent Lost series. There will be a few more references that you can find inside, and a few more secrets you can discover. The story evolves and all the characters on the ship eventually get used to the new captain. By the way, in this chapter, Benno finally cooks his signature dish for us! And here are a few more sneak peaks from WIP stuff:
Some mysterious lady... Is that her tail or are there snakes here!?
The room from one of the previous spoilers. It looks like a wealthy man lives here.

That's how we do the storyboarding, to see which angle will be more advantageous for the story.
Fabian was frightened of something... he seemed to be lost in the dark! Thank you for staying with us! Write your questions and suggestions. Don't forget that for an indie project, the community is the most important and valuable thing. Your impressions, ideas, and criticism make the game better. We wish you a fair wind!

[ 2023-04-13 19:33:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone!

Here we are again and we want to share information about the progress of chapter two! In this developer diary we want to share figures and concrete facts about the development process, as well as show you some sketches, so you have an idea of what can be expected in chapter two. For starters, how much more new stuff is coming in chapter two: - 12 new backgrounds - 7 new full-fledged art - 15 NSFW art - Lots of text and engaging dialogue - 15+ new achievements - 3 new minigames That's a lot, isn't it? Don't worry, we've planned it so we'll make it in time for the deadline (summer 2023).

And now for more details

When the game was first planned, we understood that the pirate setting implies adventure, and adventure implies movement, and quite active! The second chapter features completely new locations, not unlike those in the first part. Fabian and his crew will encounter something bigger than a smuggler's ship.
We'll visit the "past" a little bit and, of course, see other locations in this world. It's hard to judge how big the new chapter will be, but it's definitely more text than the first chapter (and the fact that we've increased the number of artists might hint that there will be more images, too). We should clarify that the division into chapters is more our convention at the time of development, the game itself will be seamless. Although, the game will give signs that you've passed some important stage and moved on to the next one. As for the NSFW images, we've found a way to improve on what was drawn in the first chapter and make the new art more juicy and exhilarating. It's been a long and difficult process, but we're proud of the result and look forward to hearing your reactions!
During the work, it turned out that some of the body/face/clothing elements on the sprites were not satisfactory, so we reworked them. We added a lot of emotion to the characters to show the full range of feelings.
Olivia's face has changed and she's even cuter! In the last blog we wrote about a card minigame that is in development, but not yet ready to show elements of it ;)

How is the development going?

It's going great! Really. We've reconfigured a bit within the team to streamline processes and get things running smoothly (thanks to the experience of developing the first chapter!). Always the biggest part of the time is spent polishing - endless tests of the game (so you meet fewer bugs), correcting images, tweaking text in several languages, checking the game logic, preparing announcements and news texts for the release, and so on and so forth. That's why it's hard to give a specific release date.
Some arts undergo big changes during the sketching phase. For various reasons, we have to adjust some things and give them up. This scene had to be abandoned :) We would like to express our gratitude to those who play the game, leave reviews, wait and love Wet Sand! Thanks to your interest, the project lives and grows. Thank you and stay tuned!
Cheers with Miss Brown!

[ 2023-03-16 17:47:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

First, we want to thank everyone who purchased our game. You guys are great! Thanks to your interest, we aim to finish as soon as possible the second chapter, which by the duration will be no less than the first, and the number of arts will pleasantly surprise you!

Discount

A month has passed since the launch of Early Access and we decided to launch this discount so that those who have planned to play our game but are limited in funds will also be able to buy it. Games with a large number of reviews are considered more popular and Steam raises them in its lists. We certainly do not want to use any sorts of cheats, as some unscrupulous publishers. That's why we could really use your help! We would appreciate honesty, so even negative reviews with constructive criticism are welcome. Now, let's talk about what we're currently working on.

New female character

We're developing a new character. It's going to be a feisty pirate girl that we're going to encounter more than once on our travels.
This concept art can show how we choose the appearance of the heroine - who will she be? An elven, a ghost, or a shark? Or maybe all at once? In fact, such choices are not easy, but were doing our best! Some players may think at this point, "why are you adding another female character when even with the current ones there are no full NSFW scenes?" Indeed, we have received feedback that we don't have enough explicit scenes. The whole point is that we don't want the 18+ content in this game to break the logic of the narrative. We try to build relationships with romantic characters gradually, we reveal all the twists and turns of human relationships, and the most delicious things will come a little further. You have to agree, you wouldn't believe it if Fabian slept with every girl on the ship the first time, he got on it. So, just trust that the erotic scenes with characters you've known and longed for will be incredibly delicious and juicy!

New gallery

But the new character is not all that we can please you with. We also listened to the comments of the players and introduced a gallery in the game, so you can enjoy the images that you liked, as well as understand what art has not opened yet.

What about relationships?

We have a menu where you can see what your relationship level is with team members, but what does it affect? You may have noticed that some of the choices in the dialogs aren't highlighted - you can't click on them. This is exactly the choice for which you haven't scored the right number of points. But how do you know how many you need? Just like with the gallery, players wrote that they want to understand which choice would lead to an 18+ scene or just a romantic image. We have added an additional icon with the relationship number necessary for this choice.

And when is the update?

We promised to give some specifics, but so far, it's only been a month since release and we can't give a more exact date than summer 2023. Ironically, your support motivates us to add as much stuff to the game as possible, which takes time :) In order to meet the deadline, we have found two more artists and the work is going on non-stop. One last thing I'd like to say: besides an exciting story, lots of images and text mini-games, we're developing a really interesting card game, but more on that later! For now, we're offering a discount on the game for those who haven't yet decided to support us with their gold! Stay tuned, feel free to comment, write feedback and ask questions! We really enjoy communicating with the players! Raise Your Sails!

[ 2023-02-07 19:48:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Wet Sand is officially released on Steam Early Access! Your interest in the game, your feedback and support gave us the energy to move forward with a vengeance. At first, we planned to spend the first weeks fixing the bugs and problems encountered by the players, but fortunately, no serious problems were identified by anyone. This confirms that our testers and programmer did a great job! It also means that we will most likely not release minor patches and will immediately move on to the development of Chapter 2.
This is what our preliminary release plan looks like A little later, we plan to share some development news with you. But for now - anchors away!

[ 2023-01-10 17:36:00 CET ] [ Original post ]