A few people have asked how the beta updates work, so I thought I should give you all a run down of roughly how updates work and why they mostly appear over the weekend.

Currently I have set the development of the game in the following stages:

• Artwork & Scripting
• Game Coding
• Bugfixes & animation
• Voice Acting & Music

Stage 1 Artwork and Scripting is now complete (mostly) we have a full script from start to finish and 80% of the artwork, those missing pieces are gradually being added as we move into stage 2.

Stage 2 is Game coding, which is what we are on now. Essentially this means taking the artwork and script and coding it into the game.
I do this by the following method:

Monday-Friday = I spend a lot of time each day coding the script into game code, usually in notebook or other editor programs, my aim is to get about 15-25% of the script into code each week.

On Friday I upload this code to steam;
This includes the script, backgrounds, some CG scenes variables and choices, as well as some character artwork.

On Saturday and Sunday I then go through all of the code I uploaded and fix bugs, some based on what is reported to me, others based on what I find, I also make sure all backgrounds and character sprites are appearing correctly.
N.b. I however don't include animations or worry about sprite overlaps.

On Sunday I upload the new version of the game, which should be a stable bug free release of the current content. When satisfied this is also uploaded DRM free to AJTilley.com (if not satisifed the DRM free version will wait till the following week as needed)

And then the process starts over with the next chunk of script.

Stage 3 is Bugfixing & animations, once the entire script is in the game I then most focus on ensuring all the routes are working, which is tantamount to fixing coding bugs. Once that is done I will focus entirely on animations, importing all the CG scenes I can or making space for them and animating all the characters as much as possible. Essentially to make the game look as good as possible. Any final character art will be updated at this stage as well.

Finally Stage 4, Is where all that is left to add is the voiceacting, final sound effects and of course the new musical score. Most of this will be uploaded during January 2015 in preparation for the steam release. Chances are we will also put he games updates on hold during this phase, and then release an update with the full and final game 1 week prior to its official release, to find any last minute bugs and to give beta backers the game one week before everyone else.

So that in a nutshell is how development works and what it involves. I am very happy with this process and expect it to continue through the next three months until we release the game. So expect large content updates weekly for now and into December.