This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on September 13, 2024.

Since the last dev log, Josselyn has been focused on renders and creating the remaining assets for Chapter 5 and the Murder Mystery Game. Sprites for all of the characters are now complete, and Josselyn is now working on the renders needed for the cut scenes. We'll include previews of all the sprites in this post!

Renders are also now complete for the Sara lewd scene, which means that her animations will be done next. TheOmega is currently putting the finishing touches on the Ashley animations, and then will get started on the animations for Sara. We'll include some NSFW previews in the next dev log!

Josselyn also got a bit of writing done while renders were rendering, and is almost done with the writing for the Murder Mystery Game. All that is left now is the last scene where the actual murderer is revealed (or are they?? :D). There are still plenty of lewd scenes left to write for Chapter 5, but those are more routine than the Murder Mystery Game has been so they should go faster.

The current render count is 2,509 and the current word count is around 44K, so Chapter 5 is definitely going to be a meaty update!

This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on August 16, 2024.

The past month has been a bit slower for us work-wise, which is pretty typical for us toward the end of the summer as we usually take our annual family vacation in late July or early August. This year we also welcomed a new baby nephew into our family, and had family staying with us for a while as a result. So, while that made it harder to get work done, it was wonderful and refreshing to spend time reconnecting and getting to know the newest member of our family!

Since the last dev log, Josselyn has been doing a lot of writing for the second half of the Murder Mystery Game which has ended up taking far longer to write than anticipated. The good news is that it's definitely nearing the end! The current word count for Chapter 5 is 37K words, and we are likely more than ~50% complete with the writing as far as word count goes. But since we aren't 100% sure on that, we are going with the more conservative estimate of 48% of scenes written.

As soon as parts are written, our coder Cosmic Mirage has been implementing them, and it's beginning to feel like a real game! He also has plans to implement some (optional) minigames that will fit with the theme of the game, and we are excited to see how they turn out.

Josselyn also finished the renders for the Ashley scenes for Chapter 5 and has started working on the Sara renders. The current render count is now 1,684, not including the current set of Mai sprites in the render queue that will render today and over the weekend.

TheOmega has been diligently working on the Ashley animations, taking his time to make them as good as possible. We know that players have been very patiently waiting for this scene and we want to make sure it was worth the wait! As promised in our last dev log, here are some previews of the NSFW Ashley scene in Chapter 5:

This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on July 20, 2024.

Same as last dev log, we've been plugging along on both the Murder Mystery Game and Chapter 5 content. And once again, our progress percentages are still rough estimates, since it's hard to say exactly how much work is left, especially in regards to the MMG. But it's all coming together even better than we expected, thanks to the hard work of m. (GUI) and CosmicMirage (coding)! Here are some previews of what they've been working on:

Josselyn has been doing a lot of writing for the Murder Mystery Game and it's getting close to done at this point. The writing for the MMG is about 80% done, while the writing for the regular Chapter 5 content is probably more like 30% done. The MMG writing has taken longer since it's a new type of writing that we haven't done before, so once it's finished the remaining (more routine) writing will go more quickly. The current word count for Chapter 5 is ~28,000 words.

Josselyn has also taken a break from making sprites for the MMG and has been working on renders for the regular Chapter 5 content. Unlike previous chapters where we typically go scene by scene to make renders, this time Josselyn has been working through them by character, so that also makes it a little harder to estimate how much work is finished vs. remaining.

The focus of the past few weeks has been the Ashley content, so we'll include some SFW previews of those below. The current render count is ~1,500, not including a few Ashley renders still in the render queue and a few renders that will need to be made after the animations are posed.

Speaking of animations, TheOmega is currently working on two Ashley animations for Chapter 5. We know that players have been waiting very patiently for more Ashley content, and we're excited for you to see what we've been working on! We'll include some more NSFW Ashley previews in a future dev log. ;)

This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on June 28, 2024.

A lot of work has been happening on Chapter 5 since the last dev log, but unfortunately a lot of it is not really well-captured by the progress percentages. Whereas we have "regular" development cycles basically down to a science now, we are doing many "new" things this update and that has made it hard to estimate how long things will take and what exactly is left to be done.

The novelty of working on something new and a little unpredictable has been really refreshing, which is exactly why we wanted to do the Murder Mystery Game this chapter. We've definitely learned after doing this for many years that keeping things fresh and fun is key to maintaining the longterm stamina required to finished a multi-year project, even if it isn't always the most efficient way to do things.

Most of the render work over the past few weeks has been making sprites, specifically for Ashley, Sara, Andre, Jazmin, and Kevon. Two sets of sprites (Sara and Kevon) had to be redone completely because of technical issues so some time was lost there. The good news is, of course, things continue to get faster as we learn from past mistakes and how to prevent them. Right now we have 1,380 new renders for the update, including all the sprite variations.

Josselyn also did quite a bit of work setting up environments for later scenes which doesn't really get captured in the progress percentages, but it will save time later when it's time to actually make the renders.

Another time suck these past few weeks has been fleshing out the second half of the Murder Mystery Game. As we mentioned in previous dev logs, the Murder Mystery Game is integral to the main plot of the game, and Chapter 5 is particularly important as far as story goes. It's important to us to get this right, since we know players have invested a lot of time and energy into the story so far and we don't want to let them down!

Multiple days have been spent moving boxes around in Figma to make sure we have a good grasp of how the Murder Mystery Game will conclude and how it ties into the main plot of the game. Here's an example of what we've been working on:

More of the Murder Mystery Game itself is taking shape in terms of code, as well. Keep in mind we are still mostly using placeholders for the GUI, so it will look a lot more polished as time goes on and we add in custom GUI.

Lastly, here are examples of the sprites that have been made since last dev log!

This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on June 7, 2024.

Since our last dev log we've been making progress on both the Murder Mystery Game and the regular Chapter 5 content. We sat down and did the more extensive planning of the lewd scenes that we need in order to start on animations. Lewd scenes for both Ashley and Sara have been fully written and are now waiting on renders/animations. The current word count is around ~19K.

Implementation of the Murder Mystery Game is progressing nicely, and we decided to rework the art assets a bit after seeing a preliminary version of it all put together. So while the current render count is around ~450, that includes ~360 sprites (for Alexis and the MC, previews below) that Josselyn re-posed and re-rendered since the last dev log. She also posed ~180 brand new sprites (for Ashley's character) that are waiting to be rendered, so those aren't included in the count.

Cosmic Mirage (coder) and m. (GUI artist) have been working together to make new UX/UI for the Murder Mystery Game, here are some early mock ups of what they're working on.

This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on May 17, 2024.

Last week Josselyn and our coder, Cosmic Mirage, had a productive voice call going over plans for the Murder Mystery Game we'll be integrating into Chapter 5.

We have enough assets made (backgrounds, sprites, GUI) and enough dialogue written to start playing around with implementation. We also hope to get m. (who recently remade the GUI for both of our games) involved with some new GUI elements to give the Murder Mystery Game a unique feel, separate from the main story of the game.

We'll include some previews of how it's all coming together in future dev logs! To get a taste of what it will look like, you can check out our previous dev log for previews of the backgrounds and look for the outfit polls we'll be doing this month and next.

Other than that, Josselyn has been slowly chipping away at the writing and rendering, which is pretty typical for this phase of the development cycle. Currently, the written word count for Chapter 5 is around ~15K words and ~400 renders have been made (including the previously mentioned assets for the Murder Mystery Game).

Another thing we hope to achieve during this development cycle is translated builds of A Shot in the Dark through Chapter 4, which we know many of our Steam players are eagerly awaiting. Once we have builds they will still have to be tested thoroughly before they are released, but we're getting very close to having builds ready to test!

Lastly, we are excited to announce we are working with HaruLuna and other voice actresses to add more voice acting to the game (both to previous chapters and future ones)! We tried out voice acting for the first time with the Ashley scene in Chapter 4 (featuring Cinder) and we were super happy with the results, so we've decided to do more. We'll have more information about that as we get further into the process.

Here are some previews from the first scene of Chapter 5 which is fully written and rendered. Just in case you were worried we weren't going to resolve the cliffhanger from Chapter 4, let this be proof that we won't leave you hanging. ;)

This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on May 3, 2024.

Chapter 4 has now officially been released on all platforms, including Steam and Itch! The official release went smoothly and we are now working on getting Chapter 4 translated on Crowdin so that we can finally release some translated builds of the game!

If you are interested in helping improve translations for any of the following languages, check out our Crowdin page[crowdin.com] and reach out via the #translation-help channel on our Discord server[discord.gg]!

As mentioned in previous dev logs, Chapter 5 has been in development for a while now. We've also mentioned before that we are going to be doing something totally new and different with Chapter 5 that we can't wait to tell you about!

We're excited to announce that Chapter 5 will have a 1920s themed Murder Mystery Game within it featuring all of your favorite A Shot in the Dark characters (a mini visual novel within a visual novel, if you will!). This has been an idea we've had since the very beginning, and originally the plan was to include it in Chapter 3, but as the story progressed we ultimately decided it made more sense in Chapter 5.

The story for the 1920s Murder Mystery Game is already set, and about a third of the content is written already. We also have created all of the backgrounds for the various locations in the mini game, as well as hair and outfit options for all the love interests who will be participating so that players can vote on their favorites on Patreon and SubscribeStar (which we will start doing next week!).

Chapter 5 will have regular scenes that advance the story and lewd scenes with 8 out of the 10 love interests, so don't worry. This is not a gimmicky chapter that will take away from "real" development time or progression with your favorite characters. :) This game-within-a-game was always planned to tie in with the actual story of the main game.

Without further ado, here are previews of the locations for the 1920s Murder Mystery Game coming in Chapter 5!

Official Public Release for players who own the game on Steam and Itch is here! This final version of Chapter 4 includes achievements for players on all platforms, not just Steam.

WARNING!!! SAVES WILL BE BROKEN THIS UPDATE! Opening old saves will introduce bugs. Please plan to start a new game or use the Entry Points feature to avoid opening old saves. To be safe, please consider deleting your old saves.

We know broken saves are a huge inconvenience for players, but unfortunately we made too many changes to the foundation of the codebase for it to be avoided.

If you run into issues with downloading or accessing the Chapter 4 update, please try the "Verify integrity of game files" option in the Steam settings, in the Installed Files tab.
If you encounter any bugs or issues with the game, please reach out to us directly so we can help you! You can post in our Discussion forum here on Steam, reach out to us on our Discord server[discord.com], or contact our support email vimstudios.vns@gmail.com. If you report problems in a review, we may not see the report immediately.

With this update we are adding: 16 scenes (9 lewd), ~55K+ words, 2,226 renders, 97 animations, 28 songs, and 21 sfx.

This update we upgraded from Ren'Py 7.4.11 to Ren'Py 8+ which allows us to take advantage of the newer optimization features Ren'Py has to offer! We also took this opportunity to refactor our code to integrate well with Crowdin and help automate the translation process.

We've now added Achievements (which were previously only available via the Steam platform) to the game itself so that players on all platforms can access them! All players will get notifications when achievements are completed and can check in-game to see which achievements they have completed or not. If you have the Walkthrough features purchased and enabled, you can also get hints for the achievements in-game.

We added the ability to Unlock All Memories with a toggle in the settings. We already had the feature that allows you Reset All Memories. These are quality of life features to help players who get stuck in bugged states, are playing on multiple platforms/devices that can't share saves, etc. Both can be found in the Options menu in the More tab.

Thank you to m. of Tsundere Studio for the complete GUI overhaul! We couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. Be sure to add their game to your Steam wish list:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1703610/I_Just_Want_to_be_Single/

Development of Chapter 5 is currently in progress and planned to release later in 2024! The base price of A Shot in the Dark may increase with the Chapter 5 update, but we will give the community advance notice about any prices changes.

As a reminder, we also have NO plans to split the game into Books or Seasons. When you purchase A Shot in the Dark, you will have access to all future updates until the game is complete (we have approx. 5 more updates planned). The same is true for the Walkthrough & Guide DLC.

Currently only the English version of the game is available for purchase. Translations to the following languages are in progress: Chinese (Simplified), French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish. We plan to release the translated versions to Steam in the next few months!

You can find more information in this post. Volunteers who help translate the game can request a Steam key. We have additional incentives for volunteers who make significant contributions to the translations.

We appreciate all of our fans and players! If you enjoyed the game, please consider leaving a review.

We hope you enjoy playing Chapter 4 of A Shot in the Dark as much as we've enjoyed making it. :)

The BETA/Early Release schedule for Patreon and SubscribeStar is now available on those platforms.

Official Public Release for players who own the game on Steam and Itch will happen in mid to late April, once we have had time to add Steam achievements and do further testing once those are added.

WARNING!!! SAVES WILL BE BROKEN THIS UPDATE! Opening old saves will introduce bugs. Please plan to start a new game or use the Entry Points feature to avoid opening old saves. To be safe, please consider deleting your old save files: https://savelocation.net/renpy


We know broken saves are a huge inconvenience for players, but unfortunately we made too many changes to the foundation of the codebase for it to be avoided.

With this update we are adding:

• 16 scenes, 9 lewd
  
• ~55K+ words
  
• 2,226 renders
  
• 97 animations
  
• 28 songs, 21 sfx

This update we upgraded from Ren'Py 7.4.11 to Ren'Py 8+ which allows us to take advantage of the newer optimization features Ren'Py has to offer! We also took this opportunity to refactor our code to integrate well with Crowdin and help automate the translation process.

We've now added Achievements (which were previously only available via the Steam platform) to the game itself so that players on all platforms can access them! All players will get notifications when achievements are completed and can check in-game to see which achievements they have completed or not. If you have the Walkthrough features purchased and enabled, you can also get hints for the achievements in-game.

We added the ability to Unlock All Memories with a toggle in the settings. We already had the feature that allows you Reset All Memories. These are quality of life features to help players who get stuck in bugged states, are playing on multiple platforms/devices that can't share saves, etc. Both can be found in the Options menu in the More tab.

Thank you to m. of Tsundere Studio for the complete GUI overhaul! We couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. Be sure to add their game to your Steam wish list:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1703610/I_Just_Want_to_be_Single/