Hey folks, Whale here.

After a rocky start, we finally made it to the end of the Plataean arc. :o]

This is another lengthy build, with much more branching than the previous two. We hope you'll take some time to enjoy the four different possible outcomes of Thatcher's Beltane Eve. Danero has kindly granted us several new sprites, including the dark and mysterious bull Noire. It really feels like we've grown as a team over the past year of working together.

Moving forward, we're going to release early-access test builds on Danero's supporters' discord server at least a week before public release. As previously announced, any level of subscription to Danero's Patreon permit access.

NOTE: This build includes many patches to previously published content, mostly to clarify the rules of the magic system. (Nothing plot-relevant has been changed.) Because of this and other changes, saves from prior builds are borked and will probably not work as intended. If we're lucky, maybe I can manage not to break past content for Build 4. The "Memories" tab on the main menu will fast-forward you through the prior builds, so you can get into the new stuff quickly.

Unfortunately, Cobalt Studio is going on hiatus over the summer. We both have other projects that need doing, grindset mindset and etc.

Features to come:

• The most requested feature is CGs, particularly for certain scenes of special interest. Dan has several concepts fleshed out, and they're coming as soon as he can get to them.
• We still haven't had the time to provide properly flipped sprites for characters with noticeably asymmetric designs. Truth be told, I've forgotten which is Thatcher's bad ear. (A strange coincidence with real life: my father is also deaf in one ear, and after thirty-some years I still haven't figured out which. I'm not the most dutiful son.) Lucky for me, Dan is far better at keeping track of these details. This might be done in a v0.3.x patch over hiatus.
• After some discussion, we've committed to providing an opt-in human-genital option. While this will involve some rework of sprites and script, we've heard too many comments along the lines of, "I'd read this VN but I don't like <species> junk." And yeah, that's fair; I know it's not everyone's thing. If you follow our Twitter, you've probably seen Dan's redesign of the main male cast. This might be done by v0.4.0.
• "The Peripatetic's Guide to Aurelia" (i.e., the glossary/lore guide) is also TBD. I will try to get back on top of this during hiatus, but it involves writing a custom screen (and if you know anything about Ren'py, you know that screen language is the Scaled One's* work.) It'll be done when it's done.

Next Build: The Nickel-Plated Tower

The Thecan arc of Anamnesis is going to take a somewhat different tack from the Plataean arc.

Rather than a branching but continually progressing plot, Thatcher will have more opportunity to wander around and check out his new environment. We'll implement a kind of "hub exploration" style with a more episodic feel. Our template is, of course, Minotaur Hotel's rightfully praised "Hinterlands" sections--I will be quite pleased if I come within a hundred meters of their achievement. The arc is currently planned to stretch over builds 4 and 5.

Build 4 will introduce a new potential** love interest, the spotted hyena Andras. I think that's all I'm going to say about them for the time being. The other main arc character is Lateef, a Nile crocodile and Professor of Forgotten Antiquities. His design was originally teased several months ago on our Twitter.

Footnotes

*The Scaled One is the reptile god (of unknown species) with domain over Judgment, Time, and Death. Unlike the other gods, who sometimes have go by different names in different cultures, everyone pretty much agrees that he should be called "The Scaled One"--and that doing so may bring his unwanted attention. In short, he is the Aurelian pantheon's designated "adversary."

**I noted with some amusement that there is still a path through Anamnesis where Thatcher forms almost no relationships at all, and I think I'll keep that option open.