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!