When going through the checklist for 3.5, I added the achievements to the code for the Steam version of the game. But I never uncommented them in the code. It's not a big issues. If you want the achievements, replaying through Episode 3.5 should give you them. Most of you should have a save from Episode 3 in the autosave given how short the 3.5 was. There's also a variable snuck in there as well. I've also changed the define code for Renee's character from 're' to 'ren' as 're' was conflicting with RegEx. Shouldn't cause any conflicts unless you happen to save on Renee's dialogue line in Episode 1. Which should be fixed with rolling back a bit. Sorry for the all the little bugs in this update, and thanks for putting up with them! I'll be trying to limit them in all future updates! :) So, the short of it is that you'll need to replay 3.5 from an Episode 3 save. If you're just starting the game, it should be fine. Sorry for the inconvenience. For those that don't want to replay 3.5, I'll be adding them at the beginning of Episode 4 as well. Just to give some choice. :) This only applies to Steam, obviously. If you're playing a version from anywhere else (e.g. Patreon), then this isn't for you.

3.5, for those who weren't following very closely, is something of a QoL update for myself that also attempts to fix some of the longer running issues. Such as the gallery/scene replays and character page. While you can find it in the game in the extras menu, here's the changelog for 3.5: - Finished (mostly) the character menu. Likes/Interests to be added as you get closer to LIs. - Updated Music Room for faster attribution (for S01E03 and following, Episodes 1+2 will come later). - CG gallery and Animation/Scene Replays should work fully now (play through Episode 3.5) - Fixed Stats screen. - Fixed exit methods when returning from Main Menu and Quit screens. - Fixed some consistency issues, others remain and will addressed. The beef of this update was the character menu, obviously. Likes have been left blank as I felt it'd be better to add as the player gets closer. They won't have much of a role, but may play a role in choices later on. Nothing integral, though. The music room is more for me than it is the players, though it does offer some ease of use in that the buttons are a bit clearer. The reason for the change in method is due to the style of the previous format. First I had to make an idle and hover imagebutton, typing the song title and centering the album/song cover, saving each, and so forth. Which is easy enough for a few songs, but when you're using 50+ songs per update, it's gets real tedious real fast. This way, I change just type in the artist and song title and save. Previous updates will get the same treatment, but not a priority. The gallery/scene replay has been a pain. Should be working fine now. Triple checked both the Steam version and Steam version and didn't get any tracebacks. Also fixed Emily's CG traceback, even if there's nothing in it currently. Traceback when going into the stats screen should be fixed. The latter two changes are probably not very noticeable to anyone who wasn't bothered by them in first place, but were still addressed regardless. Episode 4 will now start going full Steam into development now that this is done. Thanks again for the patience and putting up with my stupid mistakes. :)

Sorry for the spam. Glossary bugfix should up and working now. As for everything else, please refer to the previous news post to this for more information.

Sorry for the (again) delayed update, even if it was out of my control. I've gone through a quick playthrough before posting this. Just to make it clear once more, you will need to restart for this update. However, with all the backend work, there should be no more restarting barring any catastrophic bug that I missed. A known bug at the moment:

Glossary definitions aren't working in S01E03. If you click on one, just rollback. I'm working to see what the fix is.

For anyone looking for the update on Steam tonight, it's totally out of my control right now:
Minutes prior, they told me to set up "Authenticator" before the build could go live. Then they say this once I do it. I've messaged support, but from my experience, Steam's support is slow to say the least. It'll probably be live before they actually get to it. The game is already uploaded. The moment I'm allowed to make the build live again, it'll be up. Hopefully they get back fairly quickly. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's kind of out of my hands.

It's been a minute. First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for the wait and thank you for the patience. Had a lot going on near the end of the year (not an excuse) that delayed the release a bit, but we're here. Finally. Aside from fixing up some sfx and a final playthrough for bugs, we're ready to go. There was a lot of lessons learned with this update, and some things that'll be changed going forward. Specifically in the case of workflow. For this update, I basically prepped all 2100+ renders and then just rendered them all at once, then did all the writing, then did all the music, and so forth. Going forward, I'll likely be doing this on a per scene basis. So, for example, Scene #1 is going to be rendered, written, and postworked before moving on to Scene #2. This might extend the immediate development time a bit, but I think it'll overall be faster and cause less burnout this way. With less burnout, I'll be able to move faster I'd think. So, going into 2025, I'll be taking a short break. Nothing massive, likely just a week or so. This isn't just to step away from the game for a little bit. There's actually some stuff I need to do in relation to the game. While not all-encompassing, a general roadmap of the month following this update should look like this: One of those things is a NAS. Thanks to the help of some other developers, I'm gathering all the parts for it as I'm writing this. Still waiting for the PSU and Case, and will be buying the drives soon here. We're adding a 10gbe network in preparation for a second PC that'll hopefully see a second person helping out once they pick up the software(s). Not an immediate thing for the second person, but definitely a plan. I'll also be changing out my RAM kit as one of the sticks died. Along with that, I'll be changing out the Boot/OS drive for the main system. It's a shitty 500GB m.2 from Teamgroup whose health fell to 31% in just a couple years. It's been something I've been putting a bit too long, and not something I should be using in a system like this. Will be dropping in a SN850x I got on Black Friday. Following those, we'll be working on a website for easier and more transparent daily progress of each update. This won't be replacing Steam or Patreon, but simply more of a general hub for information and more BTS than what you'd find here. Progress reports and such will still be posted on here, SS, and Steam. As free as they've always been. Discord should soon follow this. Episode 3.5 (no new content) will feature the character page (finally) along with some minor updates to the UI of the music page. The attribution page will be removed and placed inside of a text document. Neither should take very long, a few days at most. However, this will be done alongside prepping renders for Episode 4. But it will be out fairly soon, though it won't necessarily demand a whole new download for anyone who's played Episode 3. That should be it in pure relation to the development of MTC. For something more personal, there's a real possibility I'll be moving again in March or April. No drama this time. The guy who hired me at my current job (here in Texas) is starting up his own place in Nevada and has offered me a pretty nice job there. Definitely a hard one to turn down, especially as I don't plan on doing development full time until it's been proven I can make a comfortable living off of it. So, there may be a gap somewhere at that point as well, but I'll post a more personal update about that later if I choose to accept. But I think that about covers everything I want to say here. More or less, at least. Could probably be forgetting something, but eh. I'll cross bridge when we get there. Anyways, once again, I'd like to thank everyone for waiting and the patience. Life can be tough for a solo dev sometimes. Hopefully the update is worth the wait. :) - MF

If you've read the community thread, you've already got a solid idea of what's going on. However, I'll share it to the general public (both here, obviously, and on Patreon/SS) who don't venture to those parts.

Why is the update late?

While it certainly didn't blow up, I'd call the launch of Move the Chains on Steam thus far a success. While I don't know if I'll be quitting my job just yet (I'll need to see what I'm making month to month before I start contemplating that.), this very much removes the financial burden of Daz assets and other purchases that need to be made (music/licenses, icons/svgs/etc., and things of that nature.). I've read all of the positive and negative reviews, and I've taken the criticism some have brought forward. All of it is appreciated, but it's nice to know many are enjoying it. Gives you that bit of extra motivation. So the basis behind this post is transparency, and something of a roadmap for what's going to happen in this release cycle.

Where are you now with progress?

What will be missing from Episode 3?

When will this 'mid-cycle' update be coming out and what will it include from the above?

Will I have to start from the beginning for Episode 3? Why?

When will Episode 3 be released exactly?

Will future updates take this long?

If you haven't read the Play Sheet posted on another site (that I can't mention here). I was unable to finish up Episode 3 in time for the release date. That being said, I'll be releasing the game today as planned with the already finished Episodes 1 and 2. Episode 3 will be out by near the end of November! 39 of the 40 scenes (2100+ renders) in Episode 3 are currently rendered and waiting for postwork. Of said 40 scenes, 12 are unwritten. Most of which are fairly short however. Should have them done in the next couple days and will send out for proofreading while I working on the music/postwork/etc. I hate to use work as an excuse for not hitting that deadline I set for myself, but the university > work transition into full time (especially during election season) was kind of brutal for me. Just trying to be transparent for the sake of transparency. I appreciate your patience and I'm super excited to get this update out to everyone as soon as possible. Super excited the for the game's launch today, and hopefully I can turn in this into a full time gig so I can get updates out to everyone that much faster. So, in short: Move the Chains will be released today with Episodes 1 & 2 with Episode 3 coming late November. While I'll likely be writing up a release post later on today (post-launch), it'll probably take a bit to write. If you end up buying Move the Chains before that and enjoyed (or have it enjoyed it previously elsewhere), leaving a review would be great as it would help Steam push Move the Chains. If not, that's totally fine too. :)

Sorry for the spam to anyone following this. After having several reaching out, along with a couple comments about holding off the release until Episode 3 is ready, I've decided to push back the release date to the 15th for now. We'll see where I am with progress in two weeks and decide from there. However, the release WILL be soon after that. if not right around it. We'll see. Again, thanks for the patience and for the understanding. Wouldn't be able to do this without you guys! - MF.

The release date of Move the Chains is now firm. It will be November 7th. However, progress on the status of Episode 3 has been slower than expected. While it's still early, and I'm working my ass off, I fear I won't hit the deadline for Episode 3 meeting the Steam release. I'm currently writing quite quickly, but I still have 2000 made-render waiting to be rendered + music + graphic assets + postwork + proofreading + editing. So, while I'm working hard to meet the November 7th deadline, I might not meet it. I won't be pushing the release any further, however. Meaning, it'll be the game as-is. Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2. That all being said, even if I miss the deadline/release for Episode 3, it won't be long until comes. No promises. No hard dates. I just wanted to post this for the sake of transparency. I'm working at a pace that retains quality, so I won't sacrifice quality for a slightly late update. So, to clarify, the game will be released on the 7th. Just possibly without Episode 3. Thanks for understanding! :) - MF.

So, I've been going back and forth with Steam since June getting things right. Between the week-long wait times for each issue/message/etc. between us and working on the game, it's taken a bit longer to get to this point than I would've liked. That being said, the current build is finally approved. I've started reaching out to curators already and hope to gain at least some momentum from that before the October NextFest. I've had a fair bit of IRL drama the past couple weeks, but I'll spare you all from that since it's basically over with now. Below you can find the current process for Episode 3.

• We are at nearly 1600 renders. Leaving us about 200 more to go for the main story. Will still have an unspecified number left for the fundraiser game, but wanted to save that for last. Episode 3 is going to be in the ballpark of 2000 renders, give or take. The renders are rendered yet, as previously mentioned, but they're ready to go into batch rendering right away.
• We've still got lewd animations to do, but that should take no longer than a few days. Further, writing will start as soon as the renders are finished.
• Most of the minor tasks are finished. The Superstar traits should be fairly quick as far as image placement goes. Will be done during the writing process, most likely. The big task left is the character menu. It'll be worked on soon here. Will get the major characters done, at the very least. But the goal is to get it finished for good. Been working on it too long lol.
• Episode 3 should be up well before the new release date (see below). Key word here being should. Plans never go as they should. But the goal is sooner than later.
• Achievements and Cloud saves have been added.

I'm aware I'm probably a little late in posting this, but better late than never, eh?
For those that don't/can't/won't follow outside of Steam, I generally post Play Sheets, which are generally just progress reports with current progress and what's in the pipeline. For the sake of not making you read an entire book, I'm just going to post the progress chart I update daily on my Patreon page (which is free to see, along with said Play Sheets.), along with some quick notes on a couple of the more vague parts (Note, if you can't see the full image, then Right Click > Open Image in New Tab should bring up the full image in another tab).

• We are currently at 627 renders (approximately 20-ish more after today, but not entirely done yet.). They currently aren't rendered yet, to be clear. They, however, are all posed, lit, and ready to be rendered in batches. Likely not overnight due to the heat and shitty air conditioning here.
• Currently, we have 4 short, SFW animations ready to go. These mostly act as pseudo-transitions to other scenes. There's currently one lewd scene prepped so far (though these will be actively done once all other rendering is done for the sake of time.). While there will be scenes to (largely) fill the lewd quota, the next couple of Episodes will be fairly story-heavy and lacking in consistent adult activity with most of the main LIs. This is due to MC-kun getting to know the LIs better. Most of them aren't just going to spread their legs for him.
• Move The Chains is currently going through a full, sweeping edit that's (thankfully) being made a lot, lost faster by volunteers reaching out to help with the typos/grammar. This leads directly into Steam, but more on that below!
• Music will be getting a facelift with Episode 3 as I'm finally able to afford some paid music. Hopefully with Steam, something like Universal Productions Music will become more plausible. This will coincide with the renormalization of the current music in Episode 1 along with the removal of Share Alike licensed (I plan to reach out to some of the artists with SA licenses to see if they're willing to work something out) songs as they kind of go against Steam's nature as a business. Move The Chains isn't Share Alike, nor will it ever be. Depending on the success of the release, MTC will be seeing a fair number of improvements. From translations into other languages, possible animators (to move things along while I'm rendering.), and potentially voice acting if the userbase is up for it. All of that hinges on support, though.
• As a side note, the UI's been updated a bit more than what's represented in the UI tour video on the main store page. I'll likely be reuploading that as soon as I fix the character menu!

• - 1,860 FHD, high-end still renders downscaled from 4K.
  
• 42 Animations through 3 scenes.
  
• Approx. 4 hours of content.
  
• A fresh, unique UI that tears itself away from the Ren'py standard.

• OS: Steam OS or Ubuntu 16.04
• Processor: 2.0 GHz Core 2 DuoMemory: 2 GB RAM
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GT 750 (AMD equiv.) or better
• Storage: 4 GB available spaceAdditional Notes: OpenGL 2 and/or DirectX 9