This has been quite an extraordinary year for us at Tea For Three Studios, and especially for Regency Love: we’ve somehow managed to double our number of players (thank you to all the awesome folks who’ve helped us spread the word—you know who you are! :D); we released our first in-app purchase in the form of Mr Graham’s story; the Wikia we set up has been filled with information, courtesy of our lovely contributors; some wonderful fans have made a page for us on Wikipedia; our game now has an iPad version; and, most importantly, when Samantha swung by our Sydney headquarters, we made (and feasted on) gentlemen-themed cupcakes.
As a teeny, independent, and transcontinental studio with three ladies, no funding, very little time, and way too many ideas, making the game was certainly a labour of (Regency) love—and we are super duper happy and grateful and touched and warm and fuzzy that you’ve come to love it, too. So, at the risk of yet again sounding like someone stuck practising the same scales on the piano: thank you, thank you, thank you!
Although we have many more Regency Love stories to tell and characters to share with you (here’s a list), our current range of commitments and limitations means we won’t be able to work on expanding the game itself in 2016. That being said, we will continue releasing updates to fix any bugs/typos/other nasties as they’re brought to our attention—we certainly don’t want you to be attacked by evil, misplaced apostrophes!
Additionally, as we announced on Twitter a while back, we are working on a spin-off novel centred on Lord Sutton. Specifically, Samantha is writing it independently (with feedback from Jenny and Melody, of course), which will eliminate the serious bug-zapping and copious artwork required in a highly interactive and visual novel such as Regency Love, but will still allow you to experience more of the stories and characters we love so much. We’ll be asking for your support in a crowdfunding campaign in order to release the novel—more details are to come (i.e. when Samantha has completed a solid first draft, and has a better idea of a timeline). The rough release date will be late 2016 or early 2017—since Samantha has a PhD thesis to complete and defend in 2016, we’re afraid we can’t be too specific at the moment.
What we can say is this: there will be oodles and oodles of Lord Sutton. Perhaps even in compromising situations, if you manage to bribe Samantha (a dangerously easy task). If you want to follow the novel’s progress, please feel free to check out Samantha’s blog or Twitter, where she has been known to get rather carried away.
And while you’re at it, please do check out the Interwebsian spaces belonging to Jenny and Melody—there are certainly lots and lots of shinies to discover!
Thank you once again for accompanying us on our Regency Love journey this year. We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have, and we are very much looking forward to sharing some epic Sutton-esque shenanigans with you in 2016!
Yours in tea and Lord Fat Cat aspirations,
Jenny, Melody, and Samantha
As I write this I’ve just finished by fifth playthough of Mr Ashcrofts storyline, and just now decided to check on the latest blog updates.
Firstly let me congratulate all three of you for the continuing success of Regency Love – a game truly deserving of all the love it gets. Cheers! I also want to thank you again for all the time (and love, and stress, and sleepless nights, and MONEY) you’ve put into it since the beginning. This sheer labor of love shines through in every facet of the work, from the beautiful writing and charming characters to the memorable music (I have the opening theme playing as I write this ^^) and lovely artwork. I know there are those of us that find ourselves grateful of this fact – of how much you care about your work – every time we start up the game to enjoy yet another memorable playthrough.
Though I’m sad to hear there won’t be any new updates to the game in 2016 (it’s seriously addictive and the FAQ did nothing to ease my craving for more!), I’m stoked that Lord Sutton is going to get his due in the form of a novel.
If I may ask, when you say novel do you mean a paperback/ebook or an interactive novel – like Regency Love but without the graphics? and if the former (and it’s out of our hands), will ‘Catherine Fairfield’ be the protagonist?
In any case, all the best for 2016 and beyond – I’ll be ever following along with your work!
Thank you for your lovely and kind words–they mean a lot to me, and I’m sure the other ladies will feel the same, too!
As for your question, the novel will be in a “traditional”/linear format. It will definitely be available as an ebook, and, depending on how much support we get once we launch our crowdfunding campaign, we’d love to have some print copies, too (though, since we have only a small community of fans and mightn’t get much funding, these might be “limited edition” supporters’ perks/rewards more than anything else). Again, I’ll post more details next year when the novel is completed.
I’m afraid I can’t say much about the novel’s contents or characters right now, except that it’s been fully plotted, the first draft is in progress, and I’ve been working on it since July. Oh, and there is indeed a lot of Lord Sutton. 😉
Thanks again, and happy new year!
Whoops! I thought I already posted this, but I guess not. 😛 I wanted to know if Lord Sutton’s role will be expanded in Regency Love itself. I understand that a traditional/linear format book is coming, but I wasn’t sure if that meant we weren’t going to see Lord Sutton in any additional scenes or story lines in the game. Or is that being kept under wraps for now? Regardless, thank you for your wonderful work!
We currently don’t have any plans on expanding Regency Love, but this might change in the next few years, depending on where the team is at. I hope you’ll enjoy the novel regardless!
Will the Sutton novel be canon with the game’s timeline/universe? And if that’s the case at what period in time does the novel take place? I imagine mentioning the MC would be difficult, since you can play her so many ways and still romance Graham, so I would think the novel would take place before the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
And here I was hoping for an alternative, Sutton joins the whole MCxGraham romance. xP Seriously when he came to confess to the MC I just sat there, and I *knew* he would confess but I honestly wasn’t sure which one of Graham and MC it would be about. At least I can still headcanon my OT3 of SuttonxMCxGraham secretly happening after in the epilogue.
I just love these three in general. I think it’s because they just make such a wonderful and dynamic trio IMO (works both platonically and romantic). MCxGraham are such ridiculous cavity-inducing sweethearts ^^, Graham and Sutton has a wonderful close friendship, and Sutton and MC are two snarky, competitive dorks who bicker like an old married couple but will both wreck your s**t if you insult Graham.
I’m afraid I won’t be answering your questions or saying anything more about the novel’s specifics right now, but I hope you will continue to trust my story-telling where the world of Regency Love is concerned. 🙂
As for your “head canon” OT3, let’s just say I was inspired by the Shelleys-Byron trio, so I guess that means your OT3 is canonical indeedy. 😉
I’m really disappointed that there are no plans to continue Regency Love. To me, the uniqueness of this app’s genre was so much fun and addicting. A novel, is just well, so ordinary.
There are no plans at present/this year to continue working on the game due to life circumstances and finances (we’re a tiny three-people team, and one of us will be essentially homeless/jobless/stateless for the foreseeable future), but 2016 certainly isn’t the end for us! We’re actually trying out the crowdfunding model for the novel to see if we can generate enough support to continue with the game development–a novel’s much cheaper to create than a game (around AUD$150,000 for the core app)! If you want to find out more about our future plans and ways to support us, please check out our FAQ.
So lord sutton will not be on the game version for the iOS? That’s SO sad. Or am I reading this wrong?? Sorry is u r feeling like u keep answering this question. I only own a iOS. So if I can’t get lord sutton on this devise. Then no lord sutton for me.
Hello! I had this app for a year on my old phone, when I got a new phone, I found out this app was not on the app store! ( i found out why on one of your posts) I was certainly sad about not being able to play it anymore, because I did love seeing how the game was progressing and how beautiful the art for it was. Anyways, I want more people to notice this app and I was wondering if i could make a fan account for this game ( on Instagram) , so people could see more of it. I am also wondering if you have a go fund me or anything like that so I could have a link on the fan account so people can support this game if they wish to do so. 🙂
Hey I’m super happy with the game. I’ve been replying it over and over again because their aren’t that many dating sims games like this. I have noticed that you haven’t done any updates with the blog lately. I know you and the rest of the crew are busy with work and everything (ugh…….adulting sucks sometimes right ) but I hope by your able to give use an update soon. Keep up the good work.