Complex Relations

Devlog

• Complex Relations currently live on Kickstarter!
  December 24, 2021 by Desertopa

  8

  #Visual Novel, #Kickstarter, #Complex Relations, #Crowdfunding, #Campaign

  ...And has been for about a week. If you're getting all your updates through Itch.io though, this is the first notice that the Kickstarter campaign is currently up ! We're off to a strong start, and h... Continue reading

  
• Kickstarter Launch Date Set
  December 15, 2021 by Desertopa

  10

  #Complex Relations, #Visual Novel, #Kickstarter

  It's been a lot longer getting here than I'd hoped, but we finally have a Kickstarter launch date set, and it's coming up soon! The Kickstarter is scheduled to go live in just a few days, on Dec 17. h... Continue reading
• Variable sex scenes
  October 02, 2021 by Desertopa

  13

  #Visual novel, #Choices, #Writing, #Sex, #Complex Relations

  With things moving ahead towards a kickstarter launch, I thought it'd be good to start up the devlog again, so this time, I'm going to be expanding on something a reader asked about on the discord. In... Continue reading
• Back on track for launch
  September 26, 2021 by Desertopa

  13

  #Kickstarter, #Backer Tiers, #Complex Relations

  Hey everyone, it's been a long time since I put out an update, so I'm glad to be back with good news. Although the departure of Hoshiineko, the original character artist, left a hard gap to fill in th... Continue reading

  
• Delay to Kickstarter Launch
  June 01, 2021 by Desertopa

  7

  #Visual Nove, #Complex Relations, #Kickstarter

  Hey everyone, this isn't a message I was looking forward to putting out, but unfortunately it looks like it's unavoidable. In my last update, I said we were looking forward to a KS launch in June. Tha... Continue reading
• Moving towards KS launch
  May 10, 2021 by Desertopa

  9

  #Complex Relations, #Visual Novel

  Hey everyone, just another short update. The game's promotional trailer is now finished , meaning we're heading into the final stretch before the kickstarter. Although we actually have the pieces in p... Continue reading
• Writing Sex
  May 02, 2021 by Desertopa

  9

  #Visual Novels, #Complex Relations, #Sex, #Sex Scenes, #Writing

  It's been longer than I planned to go without an update, so to give a quick progress report, the promotional video is almost complete now, but still needs some final adjustments. Since I can't share t... Continue reading

  
• Update: KS video now in development
  April 15, 2021 by Desertopa

  7

  #Complex Relations, #Visual Novel, #Kickstarter, #Video

  Just putting this out to keep people following the game updated, but since switching video editors, development of the KS trailer video is progressing smoothly. Once the video is complete, the KS camp... Continue reading
• Choices and Multiple Protagonists
  April 07, 2021 by Desertopa

  7

  #Visual Novels, #Choices, #Multiple Protagonists, #Complex Relations

  I already discussed the subject of choices and branching in Complex Relations a while back, but a reader recently asked me if I could expand a bit on how this plays out with the game's multiple charac... Continue reading

  
• Status Update
  April 06, 2021 by Desertopa

  5

  #Complex Relations, #Update

  Hey everyone, just a short update this time. I've been quiet for a while because I wasn't able to report the progress I was hoping to; development of the promotional video for Kickstarter was badly de... Continue reading
• Character Depth
  March 01, 2021 by Desertopa

  5

  In my last devlog, I brought up the subject of character depth as deserving its own discussion. To be honest, since it's already been the subject of countless discussions by other writers, I'd origina... Continue reading

  
• Realism and surprising familiarity
  February 19, 2021 by Desertopa

  5

  #Visual novels, #Characterization, #Realism, #Writing

  It's been a while since I last wrote one of these up, but I wanted to delve a bit deeper into a subject related to the last couple of devlogs. What does it mean for characters to feel believable or re... Continue reading

  
• New QoL Update
  February 02, 2021 by Desertopa

  3

  #UI, #Visual Novel

  Hey everyone, this is potentially a very minor update, but could be a significant quality-of-life adjustment for some players. No content has been changed or added to the demo, but the key mapping has... Continue reading
• Character Design: Style focus vs. Character focus
  January 30, 2021 by Desertopa

  5

  #Characters, #Character Design, #Art, #Visual Novels, #Complex Relations

  I hope people haven’t been missing these devlogs too much in their recent absence. Although I could definitely think of things to write about every week, by default I don’t feel like everything I... Continue reading

  
• Seeking input: Preparations for Kickstarter
  January 20, 2021 by Desertopa

  8

  #Complex Relations, #Kickstarter, #Rewards

  Hey everyone. It's been a while since we put out the final demo version of Complex Relations, so I wanted to give a brief update on the progress towards the Kickstarter campaign. Currently, the scrip... Continue reading

  
• Self-Insertion vs. Relatability
  January 10, 2021 by Desertopa

  8

  #Relationships, #Self-Insertion, #Visual Novels, #Characters, #Complex Relations

  So, I should make clear to begin with that the subject I’m covering today is not an issue of objectively good vs. bad writing. This is a matter of personal preference for me, which influences the ap... Continue reading

  
• Choices part 2: Exploration
  January 03, 2021 by Desertopa

  7

  #Choices, #Visual Novels, #Complex Relations, #Game Design

  This subject is actually one that someone else suggested I write about, and I’m building here on some things I’ve written on this topic earlier. I’m going to be branching out from visual novels... Continue reading

  
• Intimacy part 2: Flaws and Closeness
  December 28, 2020 by Desertopa

  5

  #Writing, #Intimacy, #Characters, #Visual Novels, #Complex Relations

  I already addressed the issue of intimacy in an earlier devlog, but I thought there was enough left to say about the subject to make it worth revisiting. While the previous post focused mostly on inti... Continue reading

  
• CGs and visual beats
  December 20, 2020 by Desertopa

  7

  #CGs, #Visual Novels, #Complex Relations, #Sex scenes, #Art

  This is a similar subject to the previous post I made on sprite dynamics, and a lot of the same points apply. Interplay between the text and visuals in a CG can convey information which isn’t access... Continue reading

  
• Choices and Branching
  December 11, 2020 by Desertopa

  4

  #Complex Relations, #Choices, #Branching, #Visual Novels, #Endings, #Sex

  Hey everyone. The final version of the demo’s been released now, but we’re still a ways off from launching the kickstarter, partly for planning/budgeting reasons (we want to make sure we can accou... Continue reading

  
• Final Demo Release
  December 09, 2020 by Desertopa

  4

  #Complex Relations, #Release, #Romance, #Sex, #Visual Novel

  Hey everyone! This update to the demo release isn't the largest, but it should be the last. With the newest additions to the game's music and sound effects, the demo is now complete, or at least, in t... Continue reading

  
• Sprite Dynamics
  December 03, 2020 by Desertopa

  4

  #Sprites, #Art, #Writing, #Sprite Dynamics, #Complex Relations

  This really isn’t a subject I can claim to be an expert on (Complex Relations is my first visual novel.) But, I’m trying to develop expertise in this as I go, so hopefully you can look forward to... Continue reading

  
• UI + Audio update
  December 02, 2020 by Desertopa

  1

  #UI, #Textbox, #Music, #Sound Effects, #Complex Relations

  Hey everyone! As promised, we've listened to your feedback on the style options for the new textboxes to differentiate between character perspectives. But by now, we've had more than enough time to im... Continue reading

  
• Sexual Chemistry
  November 24, 2020 by Desertopa

  7

  #sex, #relationships, #romance, #chemistry, #Complex Relations

  Did the title grab your attention? This is actually the subject I originally planned to write about last week, but I thought it would be better to start broad and narrow in. Complex Relations isn’t... Continue reading
• Character dynamics
  November 15, 2020 by Desertopa

  6

  #Characters, #Relationships, #Romance

  Another devlog, another opening question. This one is a matter particularly close to my heart. What game characters have your favorite dynamic or interpersonal chemistry? Any couples which particularl... Continue reading
• New textbox options- seeking audience feedback
  November 12, 2020 by Desertopa

  2

  #Complex Relations, #UI, #Textbox, #Vote

  Hey everyone, as promised in the QoL update a few days ago, we've been working on new textbox art to make it easier to visually distinguish whose perspective is showing in each scene. Each character i... Continue reading

  
• Intimacy and relationship progression
  November 08, 2020 by Desertopa

  6

  #sex, #intimacy, #writing

  Hey everyone. I’m really glad Complex Relations has managed to reach a lot of people so far, and that people have been enjoying the game, but the fact that we didn’t go public with the demo until... Continue reading
• New QoL update
  November 07, 2020 by Amai Works

  3

  Hey everyone, we've just updated the uploads of the game with a tweak which should be very minor for anyone who's already played through the game, but possibly very significant to anyone who's coming... Continue reading
• Final scene bugfix
  November 03, 2020 by Amai Works

  2

  Hey everyone, just a minor update to the existing demo files. The latest version fixes a bug which would prevent the final CG image from changing during the last scene from Vani's perspective. If you... Continue reading
• First public demo!
  October 27, 2020 by Amai Works

  4

  #Demo, #Release

  We're pleased to announce the first demo release of Complex Relations! Our team has been plugging along quietly on this game for a while now, and we're proud to finally have it in a state ready to sha... Continue reading