Announcing Devil's Gambit's & Sex Drive's Release Dates


Now that it's been a few weeks since the release of Minotaur Hotel 0.7, I think it's time we have a proper talk about the new projects I've been teasing for so long and, most importantly, their release dates. That's right, we're ready to show our cards and we're doing it all in a single go. Strap in.

The Sex Drive Demo comes out this Thursday, November 9th.

For those of you who haven't followed our previous DevLogs, here's a quick recap: Sex Drive is a little experimental project Eddio and I have been cooking for a bit. It is, first and foremost, a collection of gay interactive erotica revolving around truckers.

My line of thinking was that there's plenty of great furry visual novels with in-depth stories, but not that much high quality stuff if you just want something quick and simple to let out steam. With that in mind we tried to really go all out with the production values on this one — stories written with love, incredible UI and illustrations by Eddio, a banging soundtrack by Eymon and each story comes with a selection of kinks you can turn on and off to your heart's content.

Here's what you need to know:

  • The Sex Drive Demo comes out this Thursday, November 9th.
  • The game is planned to have at least ten stories, two of which will be released now.
  • The Demo will remain free forever, but you'll need to buy the game to get access to everything that comes after the first two stories we're publishing now. New versions of the game will add one or two stories each.
  • Sex Drive will have a price tag of 9.99USD. We decided to go with that after a friend told me that a Big Mac Combo goes for about ten bucks where he lives. I thought that making my readers cum ten times for the price of a burger, fries and soda would be good bang for the buck. Yes, really.
  • You'll also get the game just the same by pledging to Eddio's Patreon with 10USD or more. You'll get early access to story drafts if you pledge 25USD or higher. This route also gives access to the latest build of Killigan's Treasure, of course.
  • If we ever decide to add more stories to Sex Drive after release, you'll get those for free. There won't be any paid DLC. In other words, if you pay for the game (either through Itch or through Eddio's Patreon) you'll get all of the content for it, no ifs or buts.
  • The Sex Drive page will come with donations enabled, and will remain like that until we publish the first updateIf you donate you'll get access to the paid version of the game.

Considering this will be our first paid game, and a very non-standard kind of visual novel at that, this demo will let us collect input and criticism before the paid chapters. We look forward to hearing your thoughts about the game.

Now, on to our second excellent announcement...

Devil's Gambit, a Mystery Romance Visual Novel, comes out on November 20th.

I'm proud to reveal a project I've been collaborating on with my two good friends Roddo, the author of Nerus and Harvest Lab, and Alpha0, who you may recognize from the Minotaur Hotel pinups we've posted recently. They are exceptional beasts, the both of them. An immense amount of work went into this project, and I'm confident that we'll impress you with what we have.

Here's what we can give you as a summary:

Devil's Gambit is a mystery romance visual novel following Hector, a badger healer who returns to Rannai, a town which inspires only the fondest memories in him. The mischievous yet friendly people, the stories they told, the fertile forest east of town, the mist that heralded every sunrise. But above all he remembers Cadgan, a wolf a bit younger and smaller than himself, yet so much braver.
But that was nine years ago. Upon his return, Hector returns to find the town transformed by the new duke's reign, and a Cadgan that has grown into a mountain of a man. As he works as a healer and reignites a passion he forgot long ago, Hector notices something in the air.
The trees' roots stir with his every step.

The first build of Devil's Gambit comes out on November 20th and contains over 30.000 words, 20 CGs and 74 fully realized sprites. Though not in the exact same way as Sex Drive, Devil's Gambit is yet another impressively polished game, brimming with content and love. There's so much more I want to talk about, but so little I can reveal.

What I can promise is that Devil's Gambit is, much like Minotaur Hotel, a visual novel that blends together a literary touch, a very uncompromising gay romance and the kind of mystery storytelling you've seen from us before. In a way it's reminiscent of the Hinterlands in feel and tone — a love story surrounded by mystery, with very well defined characters struggling together — despite not having the sort of exploration mechanics you saw in Minotaur Hotel.

Perhaps I can boast about some of the influences stamped on this project. We took notes from Toni Morrison's Beloved (a real favorite Roddo and I share), FromSoft's Bloodborne (an absolute must-have for every project I'm involved with), multiple mystery novels... And we made good use of Alpha0's carefully crafted art, coming from his long career in furry erotica.

This project also took many notes from my time exploring the Mediterranean, both on my own and with Alpha0. In fact, some of the earlier ideas that Alpha0 and Roddo fell in love with originate from a trip to Naples — the architecture of Herculaneum and Pompeii, the last embers of paganism and, in particular, the history of medical research with the anatomical machines in the Capella San Severo.

It's a visual novel full of appreciation for the love the characters struggle with and with the kind of anthropological mystery that people like in Minotaur Hotel so much. It's also very sex positive, in accordance with our usual approach of mixing together characterization with homoeroticism.

~~~

I hope this has convinced to give both Sex Drive and Devil's Gambit a chance. These two projects were made with love, and we're so happy to share it with everyone.

Sex Drive comes out on November 9th and Devil's Gambit on November 20th. Don't forget it.

Get Minotaur Hotel

Comments

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Do you have a discord?

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Does Themba have a different look depending on it you choose an Art background or Leader background?

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He has two different color sets but it depends on a third, mysterious thing.

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😒 Can I get a hint where I can change this mysterious thing like a chapter? Or a "It's between chapter 3-6"

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I can give you a little cheat code. If you type "Chaoskampf" when Jean asks you to type your name on his phone, you'll get what we call the "Cthonic" variation, the darker one.

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Thank you <3

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Is there any news on chapter 20? It feels like it’s been kinda left behind considering Devil’s gambit has been updated twice already.

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Roddo writes Devil's Gambit. We've had some delays with Chapter 20 because of irl issues, which include me having to take some time to help relatives going through health issues. We'll probably start talking about things in the next month or so.

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Alright, thanks for keeping us updated and I hope everything sorts itself out soon, including your relatives getting better.

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Hi from next month or so!  I hope you're doing well, I just wanted to mention that I check for updates now and then for Minotaur Hotel, and am excited to continue this story whenever you're able to continue it.  No rush, but this was an adorable story, and I'd like to see it continue :)

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Honestly when you said that bloodborne was partial influence for devil's gambit i just HAD to download it! Been loving it so far and cant wait till the next update! (Also the song me and the devil by soap&skin come to mind because of what recently happened 😭)

Also side note, Robert has izalith influence doesn't he? Being a demon of chaos

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I sprinkled Bloodborne and Dark Souls references everywhere, I'll just say that.

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How do I find Sex Drive?  Cant find a link

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Here!

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Do we know when chapter 20 is set for release?

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We don’t have an estimate yet

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I just really hope new version Minotaur Hotel build 0.8 chapter 20 releasing soon 

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What a perfect time to be alive! I cannot wait to test both of them. I usually like stories with a decent amount of romance and homoeroticism, but if something Minotaur Hotel proved to me is that a game exquisitely written and fully-packed of lore (plus mesmerizing visual assets) can make you stay and crave so much more content.

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Yay thanks !

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Tô com preguiça de escrever em inglês então vai em português. Esses jogos vão ser do C4R4LH0 DE BONS !!!!!!!!!!

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Devil's Gambit's e Sex Drive haverá uma versão Android

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Sobre Sex Drive, estamos vendo isso com cuidado. A interface é intensamente customizada, o que sempre aumenta o risco de problemas com versões de Android. Caso não haja nenhum problema, lançaremos Sex Drive com uma versão Android. Do contrário, Android virá depois quando tivermos mais tempo de encontrar e solucionar os bugs.

Já Devil’s Gambit deverá sair com uma versão de Android de cara, não prevemos problemas em relação a isso.

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I love that he's holding a plumbob

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I swear, I was forbidden to change the prismillum's design by higher powers.

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The plumbob stays on during sex.

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Minoanon + Eddio, and Roddo + Alpha0, what a lineup. 

Really glad to see I finally get to financially support a project of yours.

Especially excited about how the Bloodborne influence will show up in Devil's Gambit. We've got a few projects in the niche that tackle eldritch horror, Soulcreek and its amazing sound design instantly comes to mind for example, but I'm aching for the visual aesthetic of eldritch horror. I want the tentacles, the eyes in places they shouldn't be. I want an incomprehensible being with too many limbs to comprehend and a man permanently physically scarred from being exposed  to its mere existence.

That one Cleaved character concept art we got from Haps a few months ago gave me hope that we were getting closer to a project with exactly that, but it ended up being scrapped. I know Nerus has tentacles in it, so I'm quite optimistic and excited about what Devil's Gambit might bring.

We've got two of the best writers in the community working alongside two of the best artists in the community, 3 of which all have experience with VN development. November is gonna be a great month for sure.

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We have such sights to show you.

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heck yeahhhh! You guys are my favorite visual novel developers, period! It's obvious you craft your games with love and dedication and not just for a quick jerk off (although those aren't so bad every once in a while either). I love you and keep up the amazing work :)

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Whatever we do, be it mythology-inspired minotaur-loving or raunchy porn, we do it with love and the absolute certainty that our readers are intellectuals who deserve the absolute best. Thank you for your support.

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Both games sound incredible 🤩

Sex Drive pricing method is hilarious, even more so cuz I love Big Macs i cannot lie

Devil's Gambit, bloodborne inspired??? I suck at that game, but love its gothic victorian scenery. 

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This pricing is, dare I say it?, essential for our artistic vision. It's trucker-core as hell and, most importantly... A good meal tastes bitter when it's overpriced, you know? The price of a thing affects the taste. And we want Sex Drive to be an exquisite meal, made with love and care, and make it taste better with a good price.

I want it to taste like the most heavenly hamburger in the world. But not a gourmet burger, no. I want it to be a burger from a hole in the wall shop. With fries, some sauce that you swear has a secret ingredient even if it doesn't, and a soda.

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Roddo took inspiration from eldritch truths. As an artist I personally focused on the whole part about the protagonist being destroyed by big things.

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I can't wait to see more of these two projects.

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No big woof was harmed in the making of Devil's Gambit.

A service announcement to the Nerus PTSD crowd!

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Uh I don't have anything clever to say, I'm just excited!