Hello folks. Today is the very last 24 hours for the Shark Dating XL+ crowdfunder over on IndieGogo! There's still merch left to claim - at this point, we reached 87% of the goal (that's £2,639 out of £3,000, math fans) which isn't too bad at all. It'll keep me going over Christmas anyway, as Indiegogo pay out even if the goal falls short. But if you haven't pitched in and would still like to, here's your last chance!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/shark-dating-simulator-xl-plus#/

The game plan is to release another special sometime during December (Christmas themed, naturally) and with that next release everything should be in place, including custom player avatar and gender options as well as endless bugfixes, etc. at which point I will take the game out of early access and request Steam to increase the price of the game to reflect the work put into it and the forthcoming additional content.

Then in early 2022, I'll start rolling out the 'proper' chapters, beginning at the start of the sharky story with what will be essentially a reboot of the original game with Shark Chan and moving on from there with a new chapter every couple of months or so until the game is complete.

As I've always stated, additional content will not be DLC - if you own it you own it, and any new chapters will be added in updates to the game.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the fundraiser, your names will appear in the credits in the next update and I hope to start sending out backer rewards starting early next year.

Until next time!

- Catfood

Why hello there. SDSXL+ 1.0.4 has just dropped into your Steam tray. New features include:

Text to Speech option added.

It sounds much as you'd expect, depending on which TTS languages you have installed on Windows, but the game can now read out the dialogue for you. It makes the odd curious goof, but it tries its very best.

Save/Load game functionality added.

Access this from the options menu in-game. There's a strange bug which I think may be more the doing of AGK than me where it deletes stored images if used from the main menu, so that's a no-go at the moment. Due to this it's pretty basic while I bugfix it, but it appears to work otherwise. Now you can save at any point where the game is waiting for you to click the mouse after a line of dialogue so you can go back and make different choices without having to go through the entire story.

Steam achievements added.

There are now six Steam achievements you can win. One of them is a big ol' secret!

Trading cards etc. enabled.

The game should now drop you badges, trading cards and stuff like that. There are seven cards in all.

Right mouse button on options screen enabled.

For things like music volume, etc. you can now click with the right mouse button to turn things down as well as turn them up with the left button. It's the little things, right?

nb: As there are quite a few more options on the options screen, your previously saved options will have been reset. Sorry about that! NSFW images are now censored by default, so switch that off if you want to see nasty things.

Cheers, fin-fanciers. With this build I'm getting confident I can soon get started on the next shark tale. If you discover any bugs or whatnot, please flag them up in the game's Steam forums, mail me directly at mail@catsmeat.com or bug me on twitter (@catfood_mcphee).

Bye!

Catfood

Another hotfix!

• Fixed the original game being corrupted in the download.
  
• Some minor spelling errors, etc. corrected.
  
• The menu screen has been reverted to regular colours as we're past Halloween at this point.
  
• Minor bits and piece.
  
  Trading cards, backgrounds, badges etc. are currently in review so hopefully these will go live next week.
  
  - Catfood

Hello. Here's another hotfix which addresses the following issues:

• Added chapter titles
  
• Added overlay effect for pick mode, so it's more obvious that's what you're doing
  
• Implemented new packing system that should hopefully throw up less false positive virus alerts
  
• Made pick mode more accurate
  
• Fixed error where you might get a repeated successful crafting mess

Party on.

- Catfood

Hello Shark fans. The game has had a quick hotfix that addresses the following issues:

• Fixed non-respawning objects bug when you started a second playthrough.
  
• Fixed pick mode not working on graveyard while Angel fish was present.
  
• Added loading progress shark, so you're not staring at your hideous reflection in a black screen so much.
  
• Added a little more text regarding why objects wouldn't craft together.

If you discover any other bugs or have suggestions, please drop them in on the forum or email me direct at mail@catsmeat.com

At some point this week, I'm aiming to finally release some shark Steam Trading Cards. Stay on the edge of your seats!

Cheers

- Catfood

nb: I use AppGameKit Studio to write this stuff. This is fairly uncommon software, so don't be surprised if your virus detector springs up like a dog hearing the paper boy. However, it should go through fine!

You may notice it's updated. After all these years!

This is a special short game to play through, which showcases some on the new dynamics. I hope you get some laughs out of it.

Your aim to is remove Ghost Chan from Baculum manor. Reading words, solving not especially taxing puzzles, heck, it should be a walk in the park for someone like you!

The next stage is to release another story in time for Christmas, if not sooner now I've knocked most of it into shape. There will probably be a hotfix or two as bugs will surely come to light.

By the way, if you miss the original game or you just haven't played it yet, it's tucked away in the game's folder in Steam.

Go, fin fans!

- Catfood

Hello.

To celebrate the crowdfunder for SDSXL+ hitting the 62% mark, I'm going to put out a special update for this very Halloween!

Now to be fair this also means the new engine gets a good going-over before I put out the bigger update later on, but it's more sharks right? Especially GHOST CHAN, the creepy shark girl who is inhabiting the submerged Baculum Manor. Your job is to root her! Out!

It'll only be a shorty but hopefully you'll some laughs out of it. It'll update over the old game when it does appear, but don't worry - the old one will still be accessible in the game's folder.

After that, it'll be all go to get Chapter One of the main game out in time for Xmas. If you would like to pitch in with the crowdfunder so I can focus on that I have a link for you! I did have reports that for some reason Steam didn't care for the last link - maybe because it used a URL shortner. So the whole thing is:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/shark-dating-simulator-xl-plus#/

If it doesn't like that either, for who can predict, you can also find details on my twitter at @catsmeatstudios

Godspeed to you all.

- Catfood

OK, stop bullying me over the internet. I WANT to finish it! The trouble is I have to live at the same time and this keeps going on the backburner.

The point of the crowdfunder is to provide me with just enough backing to be able to put SDSXL+ in a priority position for once! If it succeeds, I pledge this first chapter will be out of early access and in time for Christmas! Ho ho freakin' ho. And I won't have to stack cabbages in Lidl. Lidl can stack their own cabbages.

Hell's bells, if it goes above and beyond maybe I can even make a Mac version! For both you Shark lovin' Mac owners.

With your help, maybe we can embarrass JackSepticEye once again. He has it coming for appearing in that terrible movie about the GTA NPC who worked in a bank, or whatever the heck was going on with that.

More laffs, more saucy shark girls! There's merch for the higher tiers if that floats your boat!

It's over on IndieGogo: {LINK REMOVED}http://igg.me/at/sharkdating

My deeply felt and probably premature thanks,

Your pal Catfood x

Hello, Finatics. While you await the next update, here's another shark-orientated treat for you - a game inspired by Shark Dating XL. It's rather more wholesome than my efforts, has some great artwork and music and it's free to play over at https://cloudnovel.net/callmedoc/novel/shark-dating-simulator-xs-edition

A little preview of one of the new things you get to do in Shark Dating Simulator X(X)L