Hey guys it's Joy! I'm alive, I've been pretty silent on my socials and skipped last month's devlog because I did nothing in April outside of managing teams and communicating in servers. Thanks to my good ol' friend burnout.
General Recap Luckily, May was night and day comparatively. I had an exceptionally productive month.
I shipped out more merch, and generally just kept up with development. I was able to get over my burnout in the first week of May and find a pretty decent work life balance again. My job is thankfully very stress free and easy, as well as part time, so I have plenty of time off to work on dev stuff. Just as long as I schedule it out properly.
Nothing especially noteworthy happened outside of specific dev cycles, so let's just get into that.
Let's start with Criminally Yours this time! Specifically the development of "Criminally Yours Part 2" aka "Criminally Mine" set to release August 1st 2025.
Criminally Yours Part 2 is nearly complete totalling at 53k words at the time of writing this, I have 3 ½ scenes left, I'm halfway through scene 15/18 and I estimate the final word count to be anywhere from 60-65k. Totalling for 6/6.5 hours of gameplay.
It's quite large. I originally only anticipated for it to be 40k at most, to be double the length of Part 1 which is 23k for reference.
It'll probably be 3 times the original length almost, but hey, what can you do? Friends of mine have joked that it's basically Part 2 and 3 at that length, and I can't disagree with that. With an extra love interest alone I knew it was going to be sizeable, but not like this.
However, I am extremely proud of it so far. I honestly expected it to be better than Part 1 just from the outline, but it has only gotten better and better as time has gone on and I think it's going to make a lot of fans happy.
Our VA's have started recording their lines, our artists have plenty of sketched CG's and finalizing of sprites left, programming is in the works, and everything is moving very smoothly! (Not to jinx anything)
I have our wonderful community of "Criminals" (Criminally Yours fanbase) for that! It's been so motivating for me to share my progress, and hear theories, and receiving messages telling me how much they loved the first part and how much more excited they are for the 2nd!
I just want to say, y'all are not even a little ready for what's in store, it truly is the emotional rollercoaster I planned for it to be and more. Buckle up, we've got 2 more months. (I'm sure they will fly by). When I've finished drafting I'll be posting an announcement on the "Criminally Yours" Tumblr which you can follow here.
Speaking of Tumblr! I'd like to plug the Skywrite Studios tumblr page, there is not a tumblr for Meant to Bee Studios. To be honest, Skywrite is my replacement for Meant to Bee, but since M2B has a large following, it'll be awhile before I can stick to only Skywrite.
Anyway follow Skywrite Studios Tumblr here.
Fanart for Criminally Yours opening scene by iveu
Okay, I know it's been like 3 months of TPK is coming, it's coming guys I swear. But it really is. It's literally a finished game, the only thing missing is 2 finished CG's. We've had some setbacks in regards to our CG artist this time around. Luckily, we have remedied this and will have a release as soon as those CG's are finalized. I hope you still look forward to playing once it's out. Its something truly special and deserves attention. Unfortunately it fell into a bit of a dev hell.
CG concept for The Prince's Keeper- art by anonymous
So unlike TPK. We've had a lot of luck with our artists and have made substantial progress, however, remember that burn out I'd mentioned earlier, well I was responsible for the last half of the script and completely dropped the ball. I had legit no motivation to work on the project or really anything at all. Even still, May I could have worked on it in time to get it done for Blossom Jam, however I have been hyper focused and stressed about Rectifier: In Bloom and Criminally Yours releases as they are commercial projects. Not free jam ones.
So I made a tough decision, we decided to roll development over to next year and to release for Blossom Jam 2026. It hurts me a little to have to, but it was just not the right time, and I don't want to spread myself too thin as it can harm the quality of all projects involved and harm myself which is something I've learned not to do if I can help it.
Next year will be here before we know it, and this way no team member who volunteered will be forced to crunch.
As my cofounder and best friend, Grey said. I'm not getting rid of the balls being juggled, just setting them to the side for when I can juggle them. (We love our silly analogies) but they're right. I'll happily pick up where we left off with fresh eyes and renewed spirit and produce the best project we can.
I hope you'll look forward to MSF! When it does eventually release, it's a super sweet romantic comedy with so much style and love put into it.
CG concept for My Sweet Fairy! Art by Zac/Jamkats
Strength's development like My Sweet Fairy! Is going very well, we have all sprites finished and finalized, and our OST. However, for the same reasons as before I had to roll this project over to next year as well, for next years Otome Jam.
I was very excited to release at least chapter 1/7 for the jam, but I think it's for the best to hold off so I can properly commission my artist for the project. I also would love to do an additional chapter for next year's release so 2/7.
Image: Verona from Starfallen: Strength- art by Pinachos
Rectifier: In Bloom Update
And last, but certainly not least, especially in my heart. We have the Rectifier: In Bloom update, as some of you may recall. Rectifier: In Bloom was my project for Otome Jam 2024, and what a time it was. Despite everything, I am still very proud of what I accomplished with a team of 4.
However, it's clear from the current build (which you can find in the March devlog btw- only for Windows users though), what's clear from that build is that it's fundamentally flawed. Not only was the game made in RPG Maker MV meaning it lacks all the standard quality of life features and functionalities of a standard Renpy VN. It also was programmed by me, and lol it's not great. The routes are pretty good, however we had very little time for playtesting, and by little time I mean practically none. Art is stunning, though I wished I could've had more, soundtrack is very hodgepodge, some being original tracks with others being royalty free.
And don't get me started on the GUI or lack thereof and the abhorrent game page for Itch.
The whole thing felt like it was being held together by tape and child's glue.
This time around, I wanted to polish the entire experience and add what was missing before.
So this time, we have a brand new game, completely reprogrammed into Renpy with all the QOL features that come with it, as well as a few more. A stunning GUI, more CG art, a fully edited script, as well as brand new extra scenes for each of the 7 routes! Extra tracks, and so much more!
We are set to release the update here on itch June 30th 2025 in time for Otome Jam 2025.
I want to say that despite all the flaws the original build came with, so many players were so supportive and saw something to love in the project despite its hang ups. This time around, I hope there is less focus on what holds the game back, and instead focus on all the little things that came together to make it so wonderful.
I've said it before, but Rectifier is my favorite project I've ever done. It has my whole heart and has so much content more to come, In Bloom was a way to sell people on the greater universe while still getting a complete experience. I think we accomplished that last year, but I want to cement it for those who liked it, and bring on new fans.
Next year, I want to work on the main game, and In Bloom's success will help fund it.
The game will be commercial with 1 free route for the demo- Greer's, and 6 that will have to be paid for. The price will be $5.99 USD. However, you can donate $5 now to my Kofi now as a way to "preorder" the game. You'll get a key as soon as the game releases if you donate.
Thanks to all those that have donated so generously and bought one of our stunning keychains! (Mainly the Percy ones, but HEY lol) I am eternally grateful, I advise that even if you played the game last year you consider doing so again when it releases, I promise it'll be worth your time.
CG concept for Rectifier: In Bloom Greer's Route art by Gisselle
Thank you so much for reading and, even more so, for following and supporting my work! If you want to keep up with what we do, following Skywrite Studios on Itch.io) , Bluesky, and even me on Twitch are the best ways to do so!
We've got a lot more exciting things happening coming in the next 3 months, so please stay tuned! This time next month, Rectifier: In Bloom we available to purchase and play!
