Hey Chordies! It's Bowser :3.

We're diving face-first into the Holidays, so it's time for an update before things get too crazy.

Let's start off with the big announcement. The 2025 Fan Art Challenge is here! A lot of you may recall that last year, a fan art challenge was issued for Halloween. This year, we're back for round two, and there's prizes on the line!

First off, EVERY participant gets prizes!

• Free lifetime membership to the exclusive ChoPro Community Discord.
• Free Chord Progressions Staccato for life (can only be redeemed in the Discord).
• Fanart will be displayed on the Telegram Fanart Showcase.

Two lucky fanartists will be chosen to win the Grand Prize!

• $25.00 USD Steam giftcard.
• Free Chord Progressions Patreon membership at the Lydian Tier for three (3) months.

Here are the rules:

• Fanart submissions can be anything! Illustrations, sculptures, poetry, music, fanfiction, etc.
• SFW and NSFW are allowed! If you're worried about what I may or may not be okay with, you can review this devlog where I discuss my comfort zones with ChoPro fan art.
• The subject of the fanart must be Chord Progressions VN related.
• The fanart must be themed for the winter holidays. This is not only limited to Christmas!
• The first winner will be "Bowser's Choice". I'll select my favorite piece, and that fanartist will receive the gift card and subscription!
• The second winner will be selected by Community Choice. My top 10 favorites pieces (excluding Bowser's Choice) will compete for votes in a Discord poll.
• Deadline to submit a piece is Sunday, Dec. 28 @ 11:59 PM EST. At that time, the Bowser's Choice winner will be selected and the Community Choice voting will begin! Voting will end on Jan. 1.
• Multiple submissions are allowed! However, if selected to be a part of the community choice poll, only one piece per artist will be in the running.
• Please make your piece known to me! Either tag me in your social media post, or send me a direct message. I won't know you're participating if you don't bring it to my attention 😅.

Good luck to everyone participating! If you have any questions about the challenge, let me know in the comments below.

Alright, moving on to some quick, Episode 8 updates:

• The new CG is done! Also, a little bonus CG is nearly done as well 👀
• Sprites are still underway! Working on Randy now, then we'll focus on Corey, Dave, and maybe a couple others (if there's time).
  • Our newest character, Brad has been fully revealed on Patreon! You can check him out and some other assets at all paying tiers.
• Coding is going along smoothly. Sprite placement is done! Now it's time for sound design.
• Only some voice acting is done 😅. Got a lot more to go.
• Several new backgrounds will be featured in Episode 8! These are all replacing old stock photos.
• I'm projecting a review copy release for Dec. 27. I'm taking the holidays into account. I'm not traveling or anything, but they're always stressful 😥
• Projecting a public launch of Build 8 sometime in late January 2026. I hate to push this back more... but it's just simply not done yet. It's a BIG episode, so I hope it'll be worth the wait.

Before I let you go, I want to talk about some of the awesome projects my friends have been working on for the Novembuck Game Jam! Here's some good stuff to keep you busy while you wait for Episode 8. All the games listed below were worked on (in part) by folks on the ChoPro team 👀

• Down The River's Edge
  • Writing by Racky, ChoPro's graphic artist!
  • Music, in part, by Rhythm Bastard, Darrell's voice actor!
  • Coding and sound design by me :3
• The Bygones
  • Music, in part, by Rhythm Bastard.
  • Music also by Martini, one of our composers!
  • Sprite Art by Jimmy, our BG and (sometimes) CG artist!
• Nepenthes
  • Written by Cetus, writer for Before You Depart.
  • Music by Martini.
  • Sprites by Jimmy.
  • Itch page by Creeples, one of our developers!

Alright, friends. That's all I have for you! Happy Novembuck, and I'll see you all in Deercember 🦌💖