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Hey everyone, Steve here and like I mentioned in last month's video I've really been wanting to do more in depth dev updates again now that I'm back to being the sole writer.
If you've seen the video you'll know that whilst I'm gonna be writing CK3 over the next 12 or so months, my team is producing a new adult visual novel called Murders & Mistresses, which I fully wrote myself in just 3 months at the start of this year.
Today I wanted to share some more information about how M&M came to be and what it was like writing it. I hope you enjoy!
Recovering from the past
Over the last few years, I've spent a lot of my time trying to come up with new game concepts. I was always painfully aware that we couldn't rely on CK forever, both financially and creatively. Last time I tried to create a new game from scratch (shoutout Unscripted), it ended in a terrible disaster where I nearly single-handedly bankrupted my entire company through a number of bad decisions, including trying a very expensive new art style that our audience didn't particularly care for and making it non-adult, which again, our audience didn't particularly care for.
And though I did enjoy working on Unscripted and still have deep love for the team that helped me create it, the significant financial trouble it caused left a lasting scar on me. This meant that many of the game concepts I came up with post Unscripted were either overly safe and predictably boring, or rebellingly out there in an attempt to get away from all the pressure.
I wanted to make something you guys would love so badly, but the more I focused on external expectations, the more my creative spark died down. Eventually, last year I had to take many months off due to significant physical and mental health struggles caused by years of 16 hour days, stress and relentless internal and external pressure.
This time off also caused the development of CK2 Episode 6 to take significantly longer than expected, but without it, I probably never would have been able to return to creating again.
The new spark
I spent a significant amount of my time off trying to uncover what was holding me back. I worked with therapists, coaches, loved ones, I journaled extensively and went on trips to remote cabins in Wales without wifi or working toilets (side-note, I learned how wood shavings can be part of the bathroom experience) - all to somehow find myself again. To recapture the guy that once wrote College Kings original demo, with 0 prior experience in coding, writing or 3D art and not a care in the world. The boy that hadn't been warped by years of criticism, by difficult team dynamics, by feeling like he was failing his audience over and over again.
And… I found him.
Deeply hidden of course, but still there, still hungry, still excited. Still filled with passion for creating something unique, something authentic, something adult.
It was back in December 2024 that I made a vow to myself. I said fuck it. Fuck the pressure, fuck the expectations, fuck trying to make it more financially successful than CK. None of that matters, not really.
Going back to my roots
I looked through my old notes on ideas for games, I had accumulated hundreds of them over the years.
And the very first note, written just a few weeks after I started working on CK back in August 2020, said "Police consultant with extra smarts… and he has a wife. Adult."
Not particularly innovative I know. You've seen the mentalist and similar shows (I assume? If you haven't, it's a good show, check it out.) But I felt I could really work with this, after all, a college AVN wasn't groundbreaking either, but I feel I was able to make it my own, and I knew I could do the same with this police consultant concept.
Because, when I re-read that note at that exact moment, all these years later, I could just see the game clearly in my head. Without any brainstorming, any debating, it was just there, just like CK had been just there all of a sudden. I felt like the universe was giving me my spark back, and I wasn't gonna let it go this time.
I was also always intrigued by the idea of a wife in adult games. I'm sure there are games that do it very well, I've just not seen it much. Usually adult games are about sex with new people and a wife kind of stands in the way of that.
But I was interested in exploring a relationship that had a level of depth you couldn't reach in a college scenario, because you wouldn't have known your partner for long enough. And I'm also fascinated by different relationship types. Exclusive relationships, open relationships, or even one sided openness.
So, I decided that I was gonna create a game that explores this fully. The single biggest choice you make in M&M is what kind of relationship style your marriage with your wife takes.
You can be exclusive and faithful, you can have her help you build your harem, or you can be fully open and watch her with other men too. I am aware that the last option especially is not for everyone, so rest assured the decision of the game is very early on and you will not have to experience anything unless you specifically opt into it. This goes for all sexual acts by the way.
Also, if you're really into cheating, you can do that. You can purposefully decide that your marriage is exclusive, that your caring wife will get jealous and want you all to herself, and then decide to sleep with other women regardless.
Of course, you will likely go to hell for this, but I suppose we'll all be anyway considering our taste in games.
From idea to game
So that's how it started. A much needed break and five year old note came together to light me up with new inspiration. So much inspiration that I couldn't stop myself from pursuing this. I created an internal prototype within two weeks, my team really liked it so I kept going. With the help and guidance of an experienced narrative consultant, who's also a long term friend of mine, I plotted out the entire game in just a few weeks.
It was going to be everything I've ever wanted to write, but couldn't because it didn't fit CK's setting. Life and death stakes, a brilliant, but arrogant and manipulative protagonist, even a full on bank hostage negotiation with lots of different endings.
I loved every second of writing M&M. It alternates between main story, crime cases and a map view where you can experience all kinds of things from hot dates, to weird police seminars to tabletop roleplaying games with your colleagues. The narrative structure is designed so there would be 0 filler scenes. I refused to write anything that I didn't think would be really fun to play - and write. This is why I was able to write a game the size of a novel (about 70k words) in just 3 months, all whilst coming up with the gameplay mechanics, UI and coding the whole thing.
Okay - there you have it. That's how I went from burned out to fired up.
This is the longest dev blog I believe I've ever written, let me know what you thought of it and if you'd like me to do more of these and also what aspects of myself, my writing, or M&M itself you're most interested in and I can write more on that in the next post.
I genuinely believe M&M will be the best thing we've ever made. It feels like the natural progression of my writing and creativity with everything I've learned over the last 5 years. I can't wait to share it with you and hope you'll love it just as much as I do.
-Steve