Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Soviet Games’ February status update!

On the coding side of the project, this month was mostly (besides general improvements of the engine and features) spent catching and fixing the bugs that appeared in the NY demo — mostly those related to the character animation system. The problem here is that they seem to appear on very slow machines first and foremost or on very specific combinations of hardware and are thus very hard to catch with the resources we have available. Nevertheless, we’ve been in active contact with the Live2D customer support and seem to have pinpointed the problem.

The art is moving along smoothly; at this point, we are starting to shift focus to the secondary characters’ sprites and additional clothes for the main heroines while wrapping up the CGs. All in all, nothing remarkable on that front in either good or bad way.

Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Dreamtale, our head writer and project lead, look no further than this interview: https://vk.com/@letodigest-interview-dreamtale with ЛетоДайджест (“SummerDigest”). Currently only available in Russian.

Thank you for reading this report and have a great March, everyone!

You can still support us with a fistful of dollars or euro here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-money-rock-n-roll-animation !

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Soviet Games’ February status update!

On the coding side of the project, this month was mostly (besides general improvements of the engine and features) spent catching and fixing the bugs that appeared in the NY demo — mostly those related to the character animation system. The problem here is that they seem to appear on very slow machines first and foremost or on very specific combinations of hardware and are thus very hard to catch with the resources we have available. Nevertheless, we’ve been in active contact with the Live2D customer support and seem to have pinpointed the problem.

The art is moving along smoothly; at this point, we are starting to shift focus to the secondary characters’ sprites and additional clothes for the main heroines while wrapping up the CGs. All in all, nothing remarkable on that front in either good or bad way.

Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Dreamtale, our head writer and project lead, look no further than this interview: https://vk.com/@letodigest-interview-dreamtale with ЛетоДайджест (“SummerDigest”). Currently only available in Russian.

Thank you for reading this report and have a great March, everyone!

You can still support us with a fistful of dollars or euro here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-money-rock-n-roll-animation !

Hello dear friends! January was very intense month for us, which didn’t bring a lot of positive things or great accomplishments. Unfortunately, new demo version brought up a decent amount of new bags, reported by some users. It’s obvious that we don’t have hundreds of test PCs, so this bugs simply did not occurred to us during testing. And furthermore the main bag caused not by our programmers or Unity3D itself, but by some 3dparty plugin. We are dealing with it now.

Also, we almost finished coloring all the characters on the CGs, and we are ready to start drawing secondary characters’ sprites. There will be a lot of them – thanks to you!

All in all, nowadays is not the best period in life of some of our creators, so we are trying to stay positive and are hoping that things will get better. Answering the most important question: you shouldn’t expect the game this winter or even spring. No one wants to release an incomplete piece of bugs.

For some of you who liked Saya-chan in the new demo, here you go!

Hello dear friends! January was very intense month for us, which didn’t bring a lot of positive things or great accomplishments. Unfortunately, new demo version brought up a decent amount of new bags, reported by some users. It’s obvious that we don’t have hundreds of test PCs, so this bugs simply did not occurred to us during testing. And furthermore the main bag caused not by our programmers or Unity3D itself, but by some 3dparty plugin. We are dealing with it now.

Also, we almost finished coloring all the characters on the CGs, and we are ready to start drawing secondary characters’ sprites. There will be a lot of them – thanks to you!

All in all, nowadays is not the best period in life of some of our creators, so we are trying to stay positive and are hoping that things will get better. Answering the most important question: you shouldn’t expect the game this winter or even spring. No one wants to release an incomplete piece of bugs.

For some of you who liked Saya-chan in the new demo, here you go!

The new year's holiday is, traditionally, the time to reflect on the work done, but our project is not exactly ready for that; which is why we'd like to say a couple word about something else.

It is always interesting to watch an idea travel its way from the conception to the realization. It is a subject of biographies, novels, biopics, and fiction films. And at this time, it takes some effort to even remember the frosty November evening of 2012, when the idea of the then-nameless game was born. Yes, that was a year before the release of 'Everlasting Summer'! That is also when the synopsis of the first 6 days was written, and, due to the lack of time and resources, the idea was shoved into a far corner of the imagination's dusty attic. Several years had to pass before it got its chance. And since then, the idea grew and developed, acquiring new details, shifting the borders of its setting, accepting new characters, situations, events into its embrace. The only, perhaps, unchanging aspect were the personalities of its four heroines and their core backstories. And we, all of us, are watching 'Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll' mature out of a shy girl to become a mature woman as it approaches its graduation. We watch it with happiness, heart aflutter.

I always thought that realism was harder than sci-fi or fantasy. Harder on the writer. You cannot cover yourself with elves and dragons or lightsabers and the Force. And every inconsistency will be all the more noticeable, revealing the rotting timber behind the scaffolds wrapped in pretty pictures. In that sense, the most 'dangerous' part of realism is the slice of life. Without getting too fixated on it but also acknowledging all of its importance, we come to a conclusion that the most important things for us in the genre are the heroes and their relationships. It is hard and sometimes impossible to put yourself in the shoes of even someone familiar to you. To try and understand what they think, feel, what drives their actions and makes them make the decisions they make. Now, what if that someone is a made-up girl? And what if there are more than one of these girls? Please, do not think that this is written as an excuse; on the contrary, I am trying to explain that the story had an enormous amount of work put into it, and the game should (I hope) come out to be much more serious and deep than a simple eroge, moege, or even a 'normal' visual novel (with school or anything else as the setting). Not to mention, in our case, the school and slice of life are deeply connected to the mystery and the drama!

Can we recognize 2017 as a great asset? To be honest, the answer is negative rather than positive... Nothing significant and noteworthy, besides the obvious shift of the release date, happened this year. That's where we'd like to note that we are, after all, not EA and, same as the vast majority of indie developers, make mistakes and move the release dates again and again. But such a note would have been fitting had it been an inescapable reality. Unfortunately, we have to admit that in the attempts to make the game better, at some point we lost sight of the project's scope. Which doesn't mean that the attention was completely shifted from the primary elements (the story, the art, the music) to the 'secondary', but it does mean what the project was somewhat stretched in time. On the other hand, it would also be foolish not to mention that in terms of the size and complexity, our game turns out to be, let's say, above the average level for the genre.

This is one of the reasons why we have prepared a new year's present for you — an extended demo-version! It long seemed to us that the first demo with its three days didn't allow to properly develop some of the heroines, and in this, five-days-long one, we have tried to fix the unfortunate situation. We would also like to calm the worries of those afraid of spoilers: there is nothing too critical to spoil here, we promise! Naturally, if you don't want to slacken the appetite before the food at all, it is your right. But if anything, the new demo is worth playing just to plunge yourself for extra two days into the atmosphere of the Eighties and rock'n'roll, to keep getting familiar with the story and the characters, to listen to the new tracks and to see the new art!

The way of handling sprites has been significantly changed — in this version, we tried to make use of everything Live2D has to offer, as well as of the talents of our artists and animators! Not to mention, every sprite is animated now, secondary characters included.

The new demo contains over 40000 words as well as two completely different endings!

The English translation of the first three days has been completely revamped (HUGE thanks to Antony — our voluntary contributor) and should now be much more pleasant to read.

It is a custom to make resolutions for the new year's, promises by yourself to yourself. In general, they don't really amount to anything, so we choose not to be unnecessarily pompous and will simply do our best to have 'Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll' see the light in 2018. As early as possible in 2018! And, returning to the beginning of this post, we'd like to say that the realization of this idea would have been impossible without you and your support. Thank you!

In the coming year, we would like to wish you all peace, well-being, happiness, not to lose your bitcoins, be careful, and always make the right decisions!

You can support us here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-money-rock-n-roll-animation/ 

Download the demo: http://store.steampowered.com/app/615530/ ('Download demo version' on the right)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The new year's holiday is, traditionally, the time to reflect on the work done, but our project is not exactly ready for that; which is why we'd like to say a couple word about something else.

It is always interesting to watch an idea travel its way from the conception to the realization. It is a subject of biographies, novels, biopics, and fiction films. And at this time, it takes some effort to even remember the frosty November evening of 2012, when the idea of the then-nameless game was born. Yes, that was a year before the release of 'Everlasting Summer'! That is also when the synopsis of the first 6 days was written, and, due to the lack of time and resources, the idea was shoved into a far corner of the imagination's dusty attic. Several years had to pass before it got its chance. And since then, the idea grew and developed, acquiring new details, shifting the borders of its setting, accepting new characters, situations, events into its embrace. The only, perhaps, unchanging aspect were the personalities of its four heroines and their core backstories. And we, all of us, are watching 'Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll' mature out of a shy girl to become a mature woman as it approaches its graduation. We watch it with happiness, heart aflutter.

I always thought that realism was harder than sci-fi or fantasy. Harder on the writer. You cannot cover yourself with elves and dragons or lightsabers and the Force. And every inconsistency will be all the more noticeable, revealing the rotting timber behind the scaffolds wrapped in pretty pictures. In that sense, the most 'dangerous' part of realism is the slice of life. Without getting too fixated on it but also acknowledging all of its importance, we come to a conclusion that the most important things for us in the genre are the heroes and their relationships. It is hard and sometimes impossible to put yourself in the shoes of even someone familiar to you. To try and understand what they think, feel, what drives their actions and makes them make the decisions they make. Now, what if that someone is a made-up girl? And what if there are more than one of these girls? Please, do not think that this is written as an excuse; on the contrary, I am trying to explain that the story had an enormous amount of work put into it, and the game should (I hope) come out to be much more serious and deep than a simple eroge, moege, or even a 'normal' visual novel (with school or anything else as the setting). Not to mention, in our case, the school and slice of life are deeply connected to the mystery and the drama!

Can we recognize 2017 as a great asset? To be honest, the answer is negative rather than positive... Nothing significant and noteworthy, besides the obvious shift of the release date, happened this year. That's where we'd like to note that we are, after all, not EA and, same as the vast majority of indie developers, make mistakes and move the release dates again and again. But such a note would have been fitting had it been an inescapable reality. Unfortunately, we have to admit that in the attempts to make the game better, at some point we lost sight of the project's scope. Which doesn't mean that the attention was completely shifted from the primary elements (the story, the art, the music) to the 'secondary', but it does mean what the project was somewhat stretched in time. On the other hand, it would also be foolish not to mention that in terms of the size and complexity, our game turns out to be, let's say, above the average level for the genre.

This is one of the reasons why we have prepared a new year's present for you — an extended demo-version! It long seemed to us that the first demo with its three days didn't allow to properly develop some of the heroines, and in this, five-days-long one, we have tried to fix the unfortunate situation. We would also like to calm the worries of those afraid of spoilers: there is nothing too critical to spoil here, we promise! Naturally, if you don't want to slacken the appetite before the food at all, it is your right. But if anything, the new demo is worth playing just to plunge yourself for extra two days into the atmosphere of the Eighties and rock'n'roll, to keep getting familiar with the story and the characters, to listen to the new tracks and to see the new art!

The way of handling sprites has been significantly changed — in this version, we tried to make use of everything Live2D has to offer, as well as of the talents of our artists and animators! Not to mention, every sprite is animated now, secondary characters included.

The new demo contains over 40000 words as well as two completely different endings!

The English translation of the first three days has been completely revamped (HUGE thanks to Antony — our voluntary contributor) and should now be much more pleasant to read.

It is a custom to make resolutions for the new year's, promises by yourself to yourself. In general, they don't really amount to anything, so we choose not to be unnecessarily pompous and will simply do our best to have 'Love, Money, Rock'n'Roll' see the light in 2018. As early as possible in 2018! And, returning to the beginning of this post, we'd like to say that the realization of this idea would have been impossible without you and your support. Thank you!

In the coming year, we would like to wish you all peace, well-being, happiness, not to lose your bitcoins, be careful, and always make the right decisions!

You can support us here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-money-rock-n-roll-animation/ 

Download the demo: http://store.steampowered.com/app/615530/ ('Download demo version' on the right)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It’s the first day of winter, which means it’s time for yet another update!

To tell you the truth, they (the updates) don’t always come easy to us, especially now, when the project is in the stage of development that doesn’t exactly allow for any groundbreaking announcements. Many of you already know that instead of this year (as we initially planned) “Love, Money, Rock’n’Roll” will see the light in 2018. To be honest, we don’t want to beat the wind and come up with excuses; game development is a hard, creative process, its exact measurements are useless, etc. We are working. The project is moving forward. It will most certainly be finished. We are determined to see it to the end.

Recently, we have held a voting in our VK community to find out if the fans would like to see a new demo version (something closer to the one we’re preparing for the first backer release) that would demonstrate — better than any numbers — the fruits of our labor. The results turned out to be quite interesting, so we just may treat you guys with a gift for the New Year!

As for the details of the progress, we have made great improvements to the mobile versions: everything works fine at first approximation, and we have started the initial testing process. The final number of CGs has somewhat exceeded one hundred (and don’t forget, a single CG can have 2-5 variations that can take up to a third of any given picture), but about 90% of them already have the lineart and a bit fewer have been completely colored. Additionally, at the moment we are finishing the animations for the main heroines’ sprites (several new poses and clothes for them).

And finally, we still appreciate your help! The game can be supported financially at the old address: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-money-rock-n-roll-animation/ . The new stretch goal is just around the corner!

It’s the first day of winter, which means it’s time for yet another update!

To tell you the truth, they (the updates) don’t always come easy to us, especially now, when the project is in the stage of development that doesn’t exactly allow for any groundbreaking announcements. Many of you already know that instead of this year (as we initially planned) “Love, Money, Rock’n’Roll” will see the light in 2018. To be honest, we don’t want to beat the wind and come up with excuses; game development is a hard, creative process, its exact measurements are useless, etc. We are working. The project is moving forward. It will most certainly be finished. We are determined to see it to the end.

Recently, we have held a voting in our VK community to find out if the fans would like to see a new demo version (something closer to the one we’re preparing for the first backer release) that would demonstrate — better than any numbers — the fruits of our labor. The results turned out to be quite interesting, so we just may treat you guys with a gift for the New Year!

As for the details of the progress, we have made great improvements to the mobile versions: everything works fine at first approximation, and we have started the initial testing process. The final number of CGs has somewhat exceeded one hundred (and don’t forget, a single CG can have 2-5 variations that can take up to a third of any given picture), but about 90% of them already have the lineart and a bit fewer have been completely colored. Additionally, at the moment we are finishing the animations for the main heroines’ sprites (several new poses and clothes for them).

And finally, we still appreciate your help! The game can be supported financially at the old address: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/love-money-rock-n-roll-animation/ . The new stretch goal is just around the corner!

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! The days grow shorter, the leaves start to fall, the air grows chilly, and the October update arrives!

To be honest, this month we don’t have too much to talk about or announce. We’re still hard at work at the first backer beta version; there’s much to change and optimize in it compared to the demo (including a completely new, for us, way to store and display textures) and we want to finish everything before we release it. This is important both for the backer convenience (the build size should decrease drastically) and for testing purposes. Overall, every part of the development process is progressing steadily.

As always, we do have something to show you today! Meet Kobayashi Jun, the head of the Kobayashi Corporation and Ellie’s grandfather! Not yet animated, but we hope you like it :)



Additionally, at the end of the last month, we’ve visited Igromir 2017! You can see the most interesting photos we’ve managed to take in this album: https://vk.com/everlasting.summer.official?z=album-62816733_250264834

Live long and prosper.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! The days grow shorter, the leaves start to fall, the air grows chilly, and the October update arrives!

To be honest, this month we don’t have too much to talk about or announce. We’re still hard at work at the first backer beta version; there’s much to change and optimize in it compared to the demo (including a completely new, for us, way to store and display textures) and we want to finish everything before we release it. This is important both for the backer convenience (the build size should decrease drastically) and for testing purposes. Overall, every part of the development process is progressing steadily.

As always, we do have something to show you today! Meet Kobayashi Jun, the head of the Kobayashi Corporation and Ellie’s grandfather! Not yet animated, but we hope you like it :)



Additionally, at the end of the last month, we’ve visited Igromir 2017! You can see the most interesting photos we’ve managed to take in this album: https://vk.com/everlasting.summer.official?z=album-62816733_250264834

Live long and prosper.