XMACX Monthly | July 2024
Hi! Hello! Hope you’ve all been well! I am baffled that this year is going by so quickly. I feel like I’ve missed so much… But anyway, I was looking at my work schedule towards the end of the month, and it looks like I’ll be pretty darn busy lol. Also, I feel like I’m just anxiously awaiting August because I know work will pick up… Nevertheless, I’ll chug along working on stuff. Let’s have a fun, sun-filled July!
Schedule
No scheduled updates for the time being. Only the freedom to post whenever I’m able. Less stress, more relaxed and chillax Ari.
Cover Story | Meet Balrik!
In previous months, the Cover Story had been comics relating to the month’s theme or cover model, or just an Ippon! update. This month is not a comic. I’ve been meaning to make a character reference sheet for Balrik since he’ll be appearing in the Scifi Adventure comic I’ve been piecing together over the years. I’ll share the completed ref sheet on my socials! Hope you’re looking forward to it!
VN Development | Froot Basket White
If you’ve been following on Twitter, I’ve shared some screenshots of the game so far! Most recently, I shared a preview of a new character, Azrael!
Right now, Sutoro’s Route’s full script has been proofread, complete, and sent off to our voice cast to record lines! While I’m waiting to receive their performances, I’ve been working on making Sutoro’s sprite a little more lively. He has two different poses now, his lips move when he speaks, and he blinks! I’m considering drawing one more different pose, but I’m struggling a bit with the perspective. I hope I’ll be able to figure it out.
In other news, I’ve completed customizing the user interface! I wonder if it’s just me, but I absolutely adore fun-looking and stylish UI. It’s one of the many reasons why I love making and playing visual novels.
I expect to be piecing together all the assets later this month and maybe releasing the route some time in August.
CitrusCon 2024
I am happy to be a part of Artist Alley again for the virtual BL convention, CitrusCon! Last year our neighbors on Maui suffered an incredibly tragic loss. In early August of 2023, wildfires devastated historical Lahaina, killing at least 102 people and displacing many. In an effort to help, my family and I donated whatever clothes we could, and I decided to donate all of the profit I’d made over the virtual convention weekend to the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Maui Strong Fund. Thank you again to everyone for your support and purchases! We managed to donate $444.03! As of the writing of this blog post, it seems like you can still make donations.
As for this year’s CitrusCon, I had planned to make some fun Bravern merch and some new Sk8 standees, but unfortunately, I just haven’t the time nor budget to get them printed. For now, my only focus is working on completing Ippon! so I can sell digital copies of it at the con. Of course, my current inventory will still be up and available if you’d like to make purchases.
Anyway, that’s about all I have to update y’all on for now. Thanks for reading!
Much Aloha,
Ari
