Hi everyone, and welcome to this week's public update!

Development-wise, there isn't a lot to tell, rendering continues, with a couple more scenes completed over the weekend. Supporters are already being treated to regular previews, but for the time being, I'll have to post any public ones I want to share to Deviantart as there are currently almost no SFW ones! Once again, this is a very naked update! Up top is the one and only one Ive got, in which we see Abbie return to Jessica's house ready for the final battle!

So for today, I'm going to make a short lore post for any of you that are interested in the background fluff, and for today's subject, I have chosen Fivaviana's rulers, the Kisimi Noble Family.

Rise of the Nobility

In the first era, roughly 600 years ago, the Sapphorian "Citizens Council" was dissolved in disarray after a group of wealthy families, (that would go on to become the Nobility,) engineered its downfall. Having resolved to work together to take over Sapphory for themselves, they next needed to set up an alternative system of government to the one that they had just finished convincing the populace had failed.

The largest and most powerful of these families, the Schiede, (Shy-ae-da) put forward their Matriarch, Isabella, who became the first Queen of Sapphory, though not before there had been much wrangling between the families. While this was eventually obviated by Isabella's marriage to Princess Cecily of Okonrin, which united the two largest families and resulted in the birth of the Schiede-Rinta dynasty which endures to this day, the contributions of the Kisimi family, their closest allies were never forgotten.

The Kisimi Matriarch, Seraphina, a close friend of Queen Isabella, was granted the rule of the most important province outside of the capital, the port of Fivaviana, which even in that time was already hugely important to Sapphorian trade. Meanwhile, her daughter Mariella Kisimi, who would eventually go on to replace her, was the country's foremost diplomat, and having worked for the Citizens Council, immediately put her skills to work for the Nobility, negotiating with the outside world through the United Nations to prevent an invasion of Sapphory.

Today, Kisimi Mansion is the centre of Fivaviana's government. All important affairs of state, from tribute collection, to marriages, slave registrations and even licences for sex work are handled here.

The current Matriarch of the family is Clementine Kisimi. She is considered a middle-of-the-road tyrant by her subjects, neither as liberal as her grandmother nor as authoritarian as her mother. Like her ancient ancestor, she is also a close personal friend of the monarch, Princess Selina Schiede-Rinta, as they went to school together. (Nobles attend special private schools where all of the teachers are themselves members of the Nobility, as it would be unthinkable for Noble girls to be disciplined by commoners.)

The Governess has six daughters, Mercedes (29), Francesca (28), Meredith (26), Tabitha (23), Constance (21) and Cordelia (19) whom you've already met. Each of them is a vicious, highborn brat and must be handled extremely carefully if encountered. As is often the case with the younger generation of the Nobility, they are born-to-rule and see others as beneath them.

Like all of the Noble houses, the Kisimi clan own vast tracts of land and legions of slaves. They are the largest controller of ground rents in Fivaviana and a major shareholder in the Mulligan Corporation, Scarlett Raine's employer. Their true wealth is measured however, not in money but in power and influence: Their long-standing alliance with the Royal Family has ensured that the Governess of Fivaviana is always among the first of the Queen's Courtiers, and this is unlikely ever to change.

I hope you've enjoyed this snippet of the background lore of Missy, I'll see you next time!

Trinian

Hi everyone, and thanks for joining me for this week's... well... fortnight's public post. I've been having a very busy time in real life recently, so have had to cut down communication a little for now, but development on 0.8 is proceeding and supporters have already been treated to some previews of the delights that the new content has in store.

My new spoiler warning image at the top there denotes when a post is going to contain previews of new content. It's there for the benefit of people who want to avoid seeing anything at all of the new stuff before it's released.

I had hoped to do a few public previews today, but glancing through what I've made so far, there are actually almost no safe for work pictures! Our lovely girls spend a lot of time naked in this chapter, so instead, let's have a look at a few of the new maps. Chaper Six will open up more of Fivaviana for you to explore and find the clues you need. Let's take a look.

My supporters already saw the imposing Governess's Mansion a while ago, and now you get a peek at it too. Set in impeccably-maintained grounds, (you can see the slave girls there tending the gardens) and overlooking the Fivaviana-Saparos Canal, Governess Kisimi's home is also the state capital of Fivaviana province. It's like the Royal palace in miniature, and it's crawling with Nobles, so keep your head down!

Another new area you can check out is Old Town North. There are things here that you'll need to complete your quest and many quirky inhabitants to talk to. You're well away from the tourist areas of the city here, so keep your wits about you!

Weathersporks, (for you non-Brits, this name is a play on Weatherspoons, a large chain of pubs,) is a quaint little establishment in Old Town North where you might find a few clues if you ask around. The folk here are authentic Fivaviana girls and not as used to tourists.

Finally.... This. I'll leave you to wonder about this one, as Abbie finds herself lost in a maze of shipping crates. Well, Fivaviana is Sapphory's biggest port-city.

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse of the new content, and will be back next week hopefully if things have started to calm down by then!

Trinian

Did you all enjoy Monday's announcement of the Netflix adaptation? As usual, my post was intended to be so ridiculously over-the-top that most people would get the joke immediately, but I still got a few people with it!

As most of you will have figured out, the promotional shots from the "show" were actually done with AI. I had to go through a number of permutations before I landed on ones I liked. Let's take a look at a few of those that didn't make the cut, just for fun, shall we?

I discovered the Microsoft stable diffusion tool when I made the Missy Funko Pops I posted on Discord a while back. For those of you not in the Discord (or who missed it,) these are they:

I goofed with Jess and forgot her ribbons, but you get the idea. So anyway, this then got me thinking that I could create more sophisticated gags with AI, and while making an April Fools post that I was changing the game to AI CG would have been too close to the 2022 gag, I could certainly use it for something else!

Anyway, the first thing I needed was my splash image. A few permutations were tried before I landed on the great shot of "April Fhurst" up at the top there.

The hair is fine, the face needs some work and the uniform doesn't quite look right. Plus there's a bit of AI hands going on with that left hand. So I tried again.

Cute, shirt still wasn't great, and the pose didn't quite say splashy promo pic, but we were getting warmer.

I probably would have gone with this one if it had got the hair right. That bad girl in the background looks a little more happy and friendly than she should, but I guess that plays into the joke of the tone being entirely changed to mainstream-friendly high school drama.

Another near miss. Cute girl, acceptable hair and shirt, good background characters. But what is this pose? The decidedly AI-looking hand is just sort of up at the side like she's holding up an invisible tray.

Sadly fails the uncanny valley test.

This one again would have been great if Missy's hair was right. Sadly, it often randomly ignores prompts. How is that meant to be curled pigtails? And the pose wasn't quite right.

I also wanted a picture of Missy with Jess, but as people making AI CG games will tell you, it can be hard to make the character look the same in all the shots, so I had to abandon the idea after a few tries, since I couldn't get her looking the same as in the splash and Jess never looked right at all. Here's a few of the failures though.

Jess looks more bored than grumpy here!

Don't know why it gave Missy ribbons, and I'm not sure what Jess is doing to her here either!

"God, Missy, you're such an embarrassment!" Probably my favourite, as it captures the girls' relative personalities the best. Pity about Missy's lazy eye.

Also, for some reason it keeps insisting on giving Jess pigtails, and that's some pretty extreme AI hand on Missy there.

Lastly, I had to show you this alternate one of the dance number. I almost used it, but I just thought having the two boys front and centre would be a bridge too far.

Well, now I've only got 363 days left to think of next year's so I'd better get my twisted mind working! See you next week when maybe I'll actually get back to talking about the game!

Trinian

Scotts Valley, CA 04/01/2024
For immediate release.

My friends I have the biggest news imaginable! I can now reveal that today Trinian Games has signed a deal with Netflix for the rights to the live action Missy TV series!

That's right! Missy will soon be coming to your tablet, phone, laptop, smartwatch... maybe even TV if you're old enough to remember when that was a thing.

I am of course extremely excited to begin bringing the world of Missy to life on the big/tiny screen, but for full disclosure, I did have to make one or two teeny tiny barely noticeable little changes to the world and its characters to get the idea past Netflix's diversity and inclusion team. Let's take a look at those, shall we?

First up, they were very impressed that 100% of the characters are gay, but still felt that more representation was needed - after all, lesbians are all well and good, but what they really wanted to see was gay men, (plus the director needed a role for his nephew,) so I'm sure you'll love that in the upcoming adaptation, Ruby and Jennifer are now Rodney and Jebediah!

Although this does somewhat change the whole "no male has ever set foot on Sapphory" lore, I saw the wisdom in what they were saying when I noticed the size of the cheque they were wr...I mean when they made such a persuasive argument.

They also made a good point about how "hideously white" Sapphory is, with non-caucasians represented only by Annie, Samira, Miss Musumi, Miss Cuchucha, Sophia... oh and Leona, I guess. And I suppose several of the nurses and various NPCs. And some of the guards and most of the cities of Okonrin and Taiwhanga. Well anyway, again, they put another zero on that cheque, so we agreed to what is informally known as "The Disney Protocol" and all redheads in the game are now black instead. Check out the new incarnations of Abbie, Malia, Vicky, Katie, Allison, Kaitlyn and Hayley! This makes me particularly happy, because as we all know, people can't possibly enjoy something unless the cast looks exactly like

They're also rocking the new improved Alancia's uniform, which is much more conservative and inclusive, and less likely to stir impure thoughts in men, because that is immoral.

In the same vein, they also weren't super-happy with the main character getting repeatedly humiliated and abused, as they felt that a "girl boss" theme would be more empowering. So now, when the teachers tell her to get undressed, Missy instead throws them some shade and makes them see things her way. I don't want to say too much, but there may be a dance number in there, which quickly spreads from classroom to classroom and ends up with the entire school getting involved!

Oh, one last thing, Netflix felt that the use of lesbians for titilation was inappropriate, so the show will have no sex scenes or nudity and a U rating. The punishment plinth will be replaced with the hug chamber and uniform inspection will now be "talking about how we feel about uniform time." Oh and to make it more relateable to the target audience, it'll be set in California, not in Sapphory.

Oh, and barely worth mentioning, but Miss Paris will be a 75-year-old man. We're sticking with the red dress and heels though. I mean, it is current year. I know that some of you may be a little uncomfortable with some of the changes made, but on the flipside, I'm now so rich that I don't need to make the game any more, and at least we're still closer to the source material than the Witcher. Later, peasants!

I hope you're all as excited as I am for Missy: School of Sass coming this fall!

Also don't forget to swing by Netflix Official and check out the full trailer!

Hello, and welcome to this week's public check-in.

There isn't really a great lot to tell, other than that rendering has started, mapmaking is 99% done and writing isn't far behind. Chapter 6 proceeds smoothly.

So since I can't remember what information I've let out of the paywall so far, let's have a roundup today of everything we know about 0.8 so far. Some of this may even be new to my supporters, IDK, I guess I've reached that age when I can't remember what I've told to whom.

At least I'm still young enough to use IDK unironically though. But I digress...

The meat of 0.8 is the conclusion of the Reign of Jess story. Abbie has one day left and must now throw caution to the wind if she's to find the answers she's looking for. With Elizabeth Paris in the outside world, her only hope is the mysterious and beautiful Scarlett Raine. But what's her deal? And why is she helping us? And will she try and seduce us again?

In this update, you'll see even more of Fivaviana. Travel to the imposing capital building of Fivaviana, the Governess's Mansion. Poke your nose around the port and meet the quirky (and somehow strangely familiar) inhabitants of Old Town North. You'll need all your wits to survive this second, more dangerous day, and a number of faces from Chapter Five will be returning.

Meanwhile, back in Sapphory City, the other bad girls arrive to join Jessica in playing with a broken and compliant Missy. Is all hope lost? Could she really not resist without your protection? And just what IS Miss Paris's secret?

The answers finally come in the amazing conclusion to the Reign of Jess!

The main storyline of Missy takes place as we know across a number of chapters. Chapters One to Six constitute "Act One" which will of course end with the conclusion of this story. I'm hoping that I will have time to include the opening scene for this second act in the timeframe I have in mind for 0.8 (Otherwise it'll be in another mini-update similar to the one that followed Avenging Angel.)

I obviously can't go into too much detail, as doing so would reveal elements of how Chapter Six will end, but in the second act, things will be changing at the school as the staff respond to what has happened so far. The teachers are on the warpath, and we'll also finally be meeting Miss Gloria Whorle, the headmistress. 

I mean... you didn't think you'd be able to get away with smuggling drugs into school, pulling down the teacher's top, fighting, wearing the wrong underwear, coming to school hung over and all of the other things we've seen at a school this strict forever, did you?

This is starting to run on, so I may return to it another week, but these things will be joined by some other great new events in this update. Get in on the ground floor of a budding business venture and begin Emma's progression in which Missy's past friendship with the bad girl comes back to haunt her!

I hope you're excited for 0.8 as it draws closer. It's been really enjoyable to make thus far!

Until next week.

Trinian

Hi everyone, welcome to this week's public update.

Progress in Chapter six is good, mapmaking and coding is proceeding on schedule and rendering will start soon.

Last week, I asked you to participate in the public consultation for the first round of the combat overhaul. As is traditional with these kinds of larger surveys, we'll go through it section by section. I haven't weeded out votes by people that selected "I play narrative mode" if there are any, but most of the responses are fairly unambiguous anyway, so there doesn't seem to be much to be gained there. So let's get into it.

The headline here is that nearly 3/4 of players do not play combat at all, which helps inform me on how much priority to give to this particular project. I would like to get combat working properly, creating something that simulates girly scraps and feels different to classic stand-in-a-line turn-based combat, but with so many players ignoring it altogether, it's not as high a priority as it could be. For those of you that don't play combat, I have a follow-up question for you at the end of today's piece.

On the question of RNG, the majority think I'm going in the wrong direction. Interesting, to say the least, though nearly as many believe that it's better or still not far enough the other way. This is an impossible circle to square, so I'm going to have to think about how I respond to this one.

Here, however, all respondents expressing any opinion are in complete agreement. A change intended to rebalance grapple actually made it too powerful. The sample size is small, but the unanimity of it makes me think that perhaps the grapple changes should be reversed in the next stage and something else tried instead.

On a more positive note, half of respondents did think that the changes created a greater diversity of strategies, while the other half think grapple/guard spam is still the best. It could be that those second half didn't find the same things as the first half, or it could just be a matter of opinion. It's possible for both to be right, of course, but there's still clearly work to be done.

Balance-wise, most players are agreed that combat is fine. This is the result I'd expect here, as it's likely that players who found combat boringly easy or frustratingly hard would have just turned on Narrative mode instead, so I'm not reading too much into this one.

And the same is true to a lesser extent here. I would expect players bored of slogging through overly long combats would stop playing them. So for this reason, players who have turned on Narrative mode, I have a follow-up question: Did you do that because you just don't want to play combat at all and prefer a more narrative experience, or did something about combat put you off and you'd turn it off again if that was fixed? This again is all for my own research and to help me gauge how much of my valuable development time should go into this particular area.

Thank you all for reading!

Trinian