[!] 2025 and the future

Heya~

This might turn into quite the lengthy post, so get ready.

1. Why wasn't anything released in december as well?

That wasn't planned, it was a result of irl job going out of hand again and me trying to improve my character design for 2025. I'm quite picky with the results lately and sometimes I have to compromise to release smth. I could list all of my past projects and for each one of them, I could say multiple things I don't like and would love to do differently. This is also why I'm planning the whole remake series behind the scenes, some of the old ones here might remember some polls about it few years ago.

2. Overall Improvements

As mentioned above, I'm quite picky with the results lately, which led to 100s of images to compare. If it was only about the characters, I might have released something, however I'm also trying to improve the scene quality. Both Shadows and Shaders have some options to them, lots and lots of possible combinations. I'm somewhat sure that I found a good combination for shaders and shadow, so let's start with that.

The colors really pop, I would say. The shadows are also really prominent and strong in the example image. Of course I would have to check more different scenarios with these settings, but I'm somewhat confident it will work and look good.

3. Character Design

Let's start with universal parts across all characters. The Fingers. In KK, both male and female characters use the same basic character model with the same proportions. This obviously means that it's hard to identify if the hand is male or female. Of course, if the background and the context allows it, it's easy to see, but if I were to place them next to each other, it would be hard to say. So I decided to slightly change them. The female characters now have thinner fingers. The hands overall are also slightly smaller. The difference in size and thickness should help with seeing the difference.

Now there is something with fingers that I thought about, but decided not to do for now, but if you guys want, I can implement it. In drawn media, especially leaning towards 18+ content, women have long slender fingers, to an extent, unrealistically long fingers. Sometimes even really pointy with a slight hint of blush. The current design (as shown above) doesn't have abnormally long fingers. However I wouldn't be against trying it if you all want me to.

3.1 Uniforms

Next would be the uniform that will be a central clothing set for future releases. As Patreon made clear last time, any mention of school is against the rules as it "implies underage characters". To avoid the same problem again, I thought a lot about college/university uniforms.

This is the current result:

We got the typical White "Dress Shirt" with a necktie, but going lower, instead of the typical skirts, I went with a skirt typically used by office workers. However this one is a bit shorter than the real one. The stockings aren't mandatory, but most characters will have them.

For the shoes, I also went with the office worker look instead.

Here are some variations for the new uniform I currently have:

It's mostly variations of different socks/stockings, long/short sleeve shirts, with/without a black Blazer and if the collar is opened with a loose necktie or not.

Of course I made some other variations for uniforms, for example:

For this one however, the chances are high that patreon might flag the projects using it.

If anyone has ideas for different uniforms, I would love to see them, for that you can join the discord and share your results there. https://discord.gg/kYx5bmj8uf (For Patreon Users, there is a community chat feature on patreon that allows image uploads, so this would also be an option)

3.2 Faces

This one might be the hardest part for me. I noticed this last year, but I have problems with faces. Looking back at my old projects, I genuinely think some of them are ugly. Especially very early on, but I blame KK for that.

With that in mind, I have created and/or modified around 10 characters to fit my new style. I still need to do some extra steps here and there, but they're almost all completely done and ready to be used.

Here is a joke image containing one of the girls from above, the character however is still WIP and the face will undergo further changes.

Here are more images I took while testing stuff.

4. Project Improvements

Some of you might have noticed a lack of new maps. It's mostly the same few maps that my projects play in. The same 3 girl's bedroom, the same male bedroom and the same club room. This is because of a lack of maps in KK itself, even though modders added lots of new maps to it, the customization options aren't really there. I wasn't able to hide the furniture for example, but that has changed. Here is the girl's bedroom as an example:

For this, we also have to thank the amazing KK community, but you might have noticed some problems with this map. The shadows are still there. Especially on that one wall. I might be able to mask it with other items, but this does allow me to change few things here and there. However, this doesn't solve the underlying problem of not having enough maps. So, here is my solution, but ... it will take some time. I will make the maps myself. Currently, there are 2 methods of creating maps for KK, the first is to import maps as mods, this is completely out of my league and I won't even try this. I have 0 knowledge about creating mods like that. The 2nd option would be to create the maps in KK studio with the items available in studio. Since you have all basic shapes, furniture, appliances and more available in studio, this is possible. I have already seen some maps created by others, for example a fitness center. Of course scenes like that are rather hardware intensive. There are also the problems with setting it up properly. All the items you can place will cast a shadow. I have to disable it for every item I use with some exceptions. I would need to make the whole map myself. Floor, Walls, Ceiling, furniture, some items aren't even in the game, so I have to create these items myself with the resources available in studio. Even though it might take a while, I actually believe this will massively improve my projects as the repetive backgrounds will disappear. However (again), I currently only have apartments planned for this. I won't try to replace the "college/university" maps with this. I'm not insane ... yet.

5. Goals for 2025

Let's include this here, as it's the first update post of 2025. My current goals for 2025 are actually quite simple, but we'll see if I can achieve them.

- Release at least 1 project per month

- Start and also finish a series this year (longer projects split into chapters)

- Introduce the 3rd Lore character who will be the reason for some TSF stuff to happen

- Release a demo, if not even the full Possession game I have announced few weeks ago

Considering my Luck recently, I can see some months being actually good and then it falls apart >.<

6. The Game Project

I mentioned the game in my goals above, here is more information. The player will encounter a variety of characters and in the current plan, if the player stays as one of the characters for a night, they will trigger a substory specific for that character. The substories will show the past of the character. These substories also have impact on the current world, since the player will learn new things through these substories, for example how to make specific items that are currently needed. As of now, I'm not planning to make the substories mandatory to clear the game. This might however change during development.

(On a side note, the artist who made the soul sprite for me, doesn't accept any work anymore. I might need to find a new person to create sprites for me >.<)

7. Commissions and Requests for other artists

Last year, I started to send commissions/requests to other artists, so far I have received few variations for a profile picture, lots of emotes for discord as well as 2 doujins. I'm planning to do more of them with other artists, but since I have money problems (because of reasons IRL), I can't send a lot of requests to others. This is not a call to action or anything like that. If I don't upload frequently enough, then hold me accountable by stopping the support.

8. Remake plans

As mentioned above somewhere, few years ago, I did some polls to ask you all what projects you want to see being remade with my current level of skill in KK and studio. It was originally planned to start in 2023 and then 2024, but other stuff got in the way, as usual. Here is my new plan, since I want a reset for my pages. I will move all of my projects into the archive on pixiv. I'm also thinking about deleting all posts on patreon/fanbox, ALL of them. A complete reset. With this reset in mind, I would remake some of the most iconic projects I did back then. If you guys have any personal favorites you would love to see in a new light, then write it in the comments and I might do them. I also would love to hear what improvements you would want to see for the projects.

9. Ideas

This should be the last part. I have some interesting ideas for this year. I will list some here and you can tell me which one you like the most. (Please keep in mind that these are early rough ideas, the first draft of ideas with no grammar check or logic checks)

--- Karma Swap ---

rich lady with bad karma, who noticed this because of many problems in her life recently, decides to use the service from shiyin corp. called "Karma Swap". This service advertises that they are able to swap karma. They are also able to measure karma. She hires them to find a suitable person to swap karma with. They find the protagonist who got high karma and she makes him an offer. He gets 10000 upfront if he accepts this. They add that he won't remember what happened here afterwards as they will delete his memories of this encounter. There will however be a note with the money that says he legally earned it. They also assure him that the deal is guaranteed as they are the 3rd party in this case. He accepts it as he needs the money and they give him a pipe, the lady takes the other side and the service crew tells them to close their eyes. They both close the eyes and while the service crew is talking, the protagonist notices how the voice that came from his right now comes from his left. The crew then says they can open the eyes again. They both open the eyes and see their own bodies in front of them. The lady in protagonists body gets super angry when she realizes they swapped bodies. But before she can do anything, she falls asleep, this is what they mentioned before. "the protagonist" would lose all memories related to this. They bring the lady in protagonists body outside and then they tell the protagonist "Enjoy your new life"

--- My colors, your soul ---

the protagonist got the ability to see souls as colors. Everyone got a unique shade of a different color. He also realized that he is able to leave his own body if he imagines his own soul as a color leaving his body, for example as a bucket. He then uses this chance and leaves his body to explore areas he wasn't able to before, like women's bathroom and so on. He then finds his crush, a modest, honest and dilligent girl. He gets closer and inspects her, but she starts moving a bit and they touch. He then notices that her soul started to slightly change colors. He then thought about something. If he can leave his body, can others leave their bodies and if they can't, can he force it? If he can, can he enter their body instead of them? He then tried this out. He goes into her body, but he gets pushed out. He feels conflicted, but he makes a theory as to why. The body as a container very likely is only compatible with a rather specific color for soul. If he tries to enter, the body declines, as his soul color isn't matching. He then thinks about if he can change his color and he actually manages to change his own soul color. It's now the same shade of a specific color as the girl. He tries to enter again, but he gets declined again. He realizes that because she is still in her body, he won't be able to enter. He remembers that if he touches her soul, he can affect her soul color. For the next few weeks, he regularly interacts with her soul, changing her color slightly each time. This has more effects than he thought. He noticed that she started to be interested in the same hobbies as him. She also started to cosplay, which he thought she would never do, since she was always so modest. He continues the process until one day, while she was cosplaying and he watching, she stopped moving, he notices that there wasn't a soul in her body anymore, he looks around the room and sees her soul there. She seems to be asleep now as a soul. Now he is thinking about the situation. What if she wakes up as a soul? Can she wake up as a soul? What happens if he enters her body and loses the ability to see souls? So he thinks and thinks while floating around as a soul. After some time, he tries something. He thinks of a jar and he uses it on her soul, putting her soul into the jar as a container. As he opens his eyes, he sees a symbol on his right hand with the color of her soul. Her soul seemingly gone from the room. He then notices that he put her soul into a container. With this, he got a lot more confident with his theories, so he decides to enter her body. It finally works and he sees with her eyes, smells with her nose, hears with her ears and feels everything with her body. He feels the clothes of the cosplay she is wearing, he is feeling her hair and the weight from her chest.

--- You, me, Body Swap ---

protagonist gets a mic and starts telling a story how they swap bodies and all, after the story is complete, the mic will disappear and the story becomes reality

--- Slime Ability ---

protagonist has the ability to eject his soul as a nucleus for a slime (the slime creates itself around the nucleus) and if he attaches the nucleus to another person's head, he can insert himself into that person and take control, making the person's soul fall asleep for the duration. the protagonist uses this ability to have some fun, but one day gets found out by a girl. That girl (either sister or yandere) really likes him and decides to take the nucleus and eat it (that causes the protagonist to take over her body, but as a result, her soul will be spit out as a nucleus). The protagonist now has the choice to stay in her body and have fun or take her nucleus and eat it to get ejected himself

--- Becoming a Gal ---

protagonist got a new app on his app that allows him to slightly alter reality around him. What he doesn't know is the fact that Kira already used the app to make the protagonist only think about becoming a gal. He then goes to the roof top of his "college" where 2 of his class gals are usually after school. While walking up to them, he sees them popping up in the app and decides to adjust their reality, for them, he was always part of their group and they like swapping bodies with each other and him. He then asks if they want to do the usual (swapping), but they can't decide who takes his body, so he just says let's do it clockwise. They swap bodies and the girl in his body then gives him the phone. He unlocks it again and adds the info that both girls want to turn his body into the best boyfriend according to them. He decides to go home as her, masturbates in her room and obtains her memories. The next day, they meet on the rooftop again and his body changed a lot. They then confront him in the girls body and say "from now on, you're not allowed to get your body back". They decided that they are better in control of his body than him. He complains a bit, but inside he just smiles and gladly accepts this. The app meanwhile disappears from his phone.