New PC obtained and set up! I have to transfer Doki Doki Dollmaker’s contents over and test to make sure everything’s working correctly on the new OS. Production should resume around the end of next week!

Kickstarter Backers can expect this month’s update sometime tomorrow. Thank you for your patience! I hope you’re looking forward to it. 🤗

Originally posted by ur-bi-southern-queen

Well, it finally happened. The last few weeks (months, really) have been a struggle for my laptop and it can’t go on. I knew it was coming - it was a miracle it had lasted this long. I tried to delay the inevitable, but it’s time to say goodbye. Thank you for roughly 7 years of service, laptop. 🙏

Thankfully, it’s tax season, so I’m able to use my return on a much needed upgrade. Progress will be temporarily stalled on Doki Doki Dollmaker while I place orders, wait for parts to arrive, and get things set up. Everything will have to be reinstalled and transferred over. Don’t worry - I’ve got backups and backups! As soon as the PC is ready, I’ll be able to pick up right where I left off before the laptop said “okay, I’m done.” 😋

Thank you for your patience and understanding! I will keep everyone updated on Twitter/Tumblr. Art production will continue during this time - I’m able to work with bemicat on my phone. She has finished all 5 dakimakura/body pillowcase designs for project backers (they look INCREDIBLE, by the way - y’all are gonna love them 😍) and is starting the worst ending CG tomorrow. She’s doing the bad ending CGs first, followed by the good ending CGs, and then the stretch goal CGs!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the project, don’t hesitate to reach out via Twitter DM @DokiDollmaker or email me at: dokidokidollmaker@gmail.com

This information was already provided to backers in last month’s Kickstarter update, but I wanted to make an official announcement here as well.

Since I have been unable to establish a firm production schedule/timeline with Deji, I have made the decision to bring on another artist to the team. With the amount of remaining artwork and Doki Doki Dollmaker’s release approaching, I felt this was the best option for the project, its backers, and for Deji as well, since she has a lot on her plate right now. I’d like to thank Deji for all the time and energy she has devoted to the project and wish her well! She brought Doki Doki Dollmaker’s characters to life with her colorful sprites and stunning CGs - I’m so grateful! She plans to finish the current batch of CGs she was working on before moving on from the project. Thanks for everything, Deji! ♥

Moving forward, bemicat will be illustrating the remaining Doki Doki Dollmaker CGs and promotional/reward art. As a visual novel player, I understand how a drastic change in art style mid-game can be jarring and significantly impact immersion, so I commissioned a sample piece of Lyle (at my own cost - this was not taken from the Kickstarter budget) to see if it would be a good fit for the project. Needless to say, I was very pleased with the results!

bemicat’s style honors the original art while still having its own unique flair. I appreciate her attention to detail and her commitment to the project. I’ve asked her to start with the body pillow reward artwork, which is about 70% finished. Welcome to the Doki Doki Dollmaker team, bemicat!

February’s backer-exclusive update is now available on Kickstarter. Packed with programming progress, teasers, reward information, and announcements too - you won’t want to miss it! 💙

Click here to head over to Doki Doki Dollmaker’s page on Kickstarter!

Doki Doki Dollmaker’s backer-exclusive keychains are here! 💙💛🧡❤️💚💜

Doki Doki Dollmaker Update: February 12th, 2022

My last public update here on Tumblr was way back in November. I’m embarrassed! 😳 As mentioned in previous posts, I prioritize backer-exclusive updates on Kickstarter and unfortunately, Tumblr gets put on the back-burner. I’m hoping to change this though! After today’s post, I will try to share short updates here more regularly. I’d like to make a habit of sharing whatever I post to Twitter on this blog as well for those of you who aren’t on both platforms. Anyway, let’s move forward with a summary of the last few months!

I’ve been working very hard on the script and am happy to announce that all endings have been programmed and polished! 🎉 I implemented a warning screen and age prompt to allow/block mature content, made sprite masks for lighting changes, got the custom game icon working, wrote and implemented alt text for self-voicing, and even managed to rework the bus CG segments I’ve been meaning to tackle for what feels like forever. It’s been a productive few months and I hope this steady pace continues!

Our editor, Maddy, is currently working on the latest build, which covers over half of the entire visual novel! Once I get her edits back, I’ll spend a week or so applying the changes and then prepare another build for testers. If you are not a tester but would like to play more, an extended demo will be available for free alongside the game’s commercial release, so keep an eye out for that!

I still have quite a few things on my to-do list, including designing/implementing the end credits sequence, writing/coding the 18+ epilogues, and updating the Kickstarter/itch.io/VNDB pages with updated warnings/word count/screenshots etc. I’ll be working on all of these things and more while artwork is in-production.

Speaking of art, since November we have received two new custom backgrounds from kjkjmulo: an ice cream shop and a kitchen! Another is currently in-production, but hasn’t been announced on Kickstarter yet, so I will hold off on sharing that for the moment! 😋

Physical rewards are also in-production! Some of these backer-exclusive items will be available for purchase at in-person promotional events after the game’s release. With enough stock and enough interest, they will be available for purchase online as well, but this is currently pending - it’s too early to say for certain!

Lastly, the original Doki Doki Dollmaker demo has been downloaded over 810 times on itch.io! 💗 Thank you for your interest in the project!

That’s all for now. I’ll try to keep this blog active by posting smaller updates more regularly. Thank you for your patience and I hope you are looking forward to more Doki Doki Dollmaker content in the future!

Doki Doki Dollmaker Update: September 14th, 2021

Hello and apologies for the radio silence. I shared an extensive update on Kickstarter, but it’s backer-exclusive, so I wanted to post a summary here on Tumblr as well. Sorry for the delay!

August was rough. I had a breakthrough infection with lingering symptoms for the first half of the month, and just when I was preparing an update at the end of it, Hurricane Ida approached. Ida rapidly developed from a tropical storm to a category 4 hurricane in just a few days and my home in southern Louisiana was in its direct path. I won’t go into details here, but the city’s damage was devastating and it took time to clean up, relocate, and process everything that had happened. My friends, family, and I are safe, but we are still displaced and there’s a lot of work to do back at home. Even though I’ll be at my current location for an extended period of time, I have everything I need to work on Doki Doki Dollmaker, so don’t worry! 👍

Since my last update at the end of July, the following scenes have been polished:

- 5 versions of a scene where Lyle speaks about his parents (1 for each doll)

- Group breakfast scene with Tilly

- After school scene where the dolls are glued to the television

- Group scene where Lyle is out for a walk with the dolls

- 3 versions of a scene where the player can choose where to take the dolls for snacks: Ice Cream Shop, Convenience Store, or Café

- Morning scene with Lyle alone

- Breakfast scene where Cole and Tilly officially meet

- Classroom scene with Tilly

- Scene at Mr. Mendoza’s toy shop where Lyle is searching for a gift for the dolls

- Group scene at festival leading up to private one-on-one scenes

All expressions, music, and sound effects have been added to these scenes. I’ll be polishing the private festival scenes next.

The extended demo for testers is almost complete. I need to add ambience to a few scenes and insert some in-progress CGs. It should be ready by next week. As mentioned before, this extended demo will be available to everyone for free after the full, commercial version of the game is released!

That’s about all for now. Thank you for your patience and understanding. 💗 I’m going to try to catch up! Keep an eye on the project’s Twitter @DokiDollmaker for live-tweet development threads as progress is made. (You don’t need to be registered on Twitter to view them!)

Until next time! ☺️

Doki Doki Dollmaker Update: July 9th, 2021

Hello and happy Friday! Today I’ll be summarizing Kickstarter/Twitter updates since the last Tumblr post and will also be discussing the project’s new custom text boxes. 🧵

I recently finished polishing the extended demo for testers! 🎉 This extended demo and its script have been sent to our editor, Maddy, for review. Once I get the notes back from her and apply the necessary changes, it’ll be distributed to qualifying backers. More on this via Kickstarter updates as info becomes available. I hope you’re looking forward to it! (This extended version of the demo will be available to the public alongside the full release next year.)

I’ve received the first custom background from kjkjmulo; the outside of Mr. Mendoza’s toy shop is complete and it’s so lovely! 🧸 I’ve also received line work for the inside of the shop, which is currently being colored. I expect it’ll be finished before the end of this month. The next background I’ll be ordering is a festival scene!

So! Let’s talk text boxes. As mentioned in the recent Kickstarter update, previously, Doki Doki Dollmaker used the default Ren’Py text box with an added custom name tag for each character. After reading some reviews/feedback, I decided to customize the box to better match the project’s theme and visuals. You can see the final result in the screen caps above! I’m sure some of you who voted on Twitter are wondering why I went with the grey Quick Menu when the pink version ended up winning the poll. Well, there are a few reasons for that; I’ll outline them below! ☺️

As mentioned in one of my comments on Twitter, I actually posted two polls - one on the project’s Twitter and another on my personal Instagram. Although pink won by a small margin, I received feedback on both platforms that influenced the final decision: several people mentioned that the only reason why they chose pink was because it was easier to read the text buttons and would have otherwise preferred grey. I formatted the text to make it more legible and, after playing through various story segments with both the pink and grey versions, decided that the grey worked best for the project overall. Its neutral look went well with character name tags, CGs, and serious moments too. I tried to include a variety of screen caps above so you can see exactly what I mean. 😊 I wanted to thank everyone for voting, which helped me decide on the opacity percentage, and for your feedback, which prompted me to format the text buttons. I’m happy with the result; I hope you like it too! 💗

That’s about all for now. I’m going to continue polishing beyond the extended demo while I wait for backgrounds and CG art to come in. As always, feel free to follow the project on Twitter @DokiDollmaker for mini-updates between Tumblr/Kickstarter posts. 👍

Doki Doki Dollmaker Update: May 25th, 2021

(Don’t let him fool you - Torin cares immensely.) 😆

Hello and long time no Tumblr post!

A lot has happened since the Kickstarter ended last month, so I wanted to summarize a few things here! I had hoped to do this sooner, but wanted to prioritize the Kickstarter updates, since they funded the project for access. 😳 As mentioned in previous posts, although detailed updates are backer-exclusive on Kickstarter, I’ll continue to share general updates here on Tumblr, so you’ll still know what progress is being made! If you want even more updates, follow the project on Twitter @DokiDollmaker for development “live-tweet threads” while I work on various things. 👍

So! The Kickstarter payments processed successfully earlier this month and commissions have started. I’m excited to announce that kjkjmulo will be working on a few custom backgrounds for the project! 😍 The outside of Mr. Mendoza’s toy shop is already in progress and the inside is scheduled to be finished before the end of next month. You can check out some of kjkjmulo’s previous work here: https://www.deviantart.com/kjkjmulo

Deji has added some additional facial expressions to the “meet the dolls” CG seen in the demo and is currently working on an updated schedule for the remaining CGs.

I’ve been busy polishing older scenes that were programmed in the early stages of development to bring them up to the demo’s quality, which means adding more facial expressions, music, and sound effects. I’m preparing an extended demo for testers, which will become available to the public upon the game’s full release. (It will be the only tester build available to those outside of tester status.) I’m currently in the middle of upgrading the one-on-one scenes at the library and plan to finish them this weekend! 📚 I’ll continue to polish scenes until the extended demo goes a decent length beyond the original and has an appropriate cliffhanger too, hehe!

We’re still on-schedule with progress so far, though having met several stretch goals during the Kickstarter campaign, the schedule will likely change. An updated schedule will be provided to backers as more progress is made. The next three months will be similar to this last one - programming/polishing, background production, and CG production. I’ll keep you posted as we go!

🧵 Karitsa