Hi Everyone!
The auction for Puppy Love 4: Legend of Saga Quest will be opening on Monday the 21st of April at 12pm my time here in New Zealand, GMT+12 I think. Let's have a quick refresher course on how the process works!

What is Puppy Love 4: Legend of Saga Quest?
Puppy Love is a series of furry dating games created by Studio Knockout. They are simple little games made in a few months. The games were funded by the good people of FA who chose to pay to have their characters be a part of it. The cast of the game are all characters owned by FA users. The best way to learn what a Puppy Love is would be to visit www.puppylovegame.tumblr.com or download one of the games from www.studioknockout.com/store

Each game has had a different theme; highschool, sci-fi, wild west, and now the fourth installment will be old rpg fantasy. Whilst it will have an rpg feel, it will still be very much a point and click adventure. The previous games were made with the whole studio, but this time it's just me and Nai. She's gonna do the character art and I'll do my best to take care of everything else! Wish me luck!

What am I paying for?
If your bid ends up in the top 25, your character will be a part of Puppy Love 4. Your character will get a game sprite with animated blinking, talking, expressions and lines of dialogue in the game. The bigger roles feature more prominently in the game, and people who bid $200 or more will automatically get their own special ending - a path the story can take which clears the game. The roles of the other heroes in the player's party will also be the lead love-interests in the story. Everyone who is in the game will get a free copy of the game when it is released, and may be asked to playtest beta versions.

How do I participate?
We need characters to put in the game, like actors in a movie. The game also needs funding so that it can become a reality. So we let people auction to have their characters feature in the game!
Here's how it works:
First, I make a submission post, which is an auction poster like this: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9615243/
It will have a list of the available roles in the game, and some details.
From the moment it's posted, the auction stays open for five days.
During that time you can post their bids as comments on the submission.
Bids contain an amount of $ in USD, and a first and second choice of roles.
Example: "I would like to put $60 on Monster, or a Soldier, please."
Do not post bids as replies or PMs. Post them as comments.
You can raise your bid by placing a new bid.
You can also post questions or regular comments.
When the auction closes, I'll post a comment announcing it, and all bids that come after that are invalid.
Then I'll rank the bids from highest to lowest, and the top 25 get to be in the game.

Higher ranks get to choose their roles first, so the higher your rank the better!
Sometimes people drop out when they can't get the role they want, so don't lose hope even if you're not in the top 25 at the end of the auction.
I recommend you just put down an amount you feel comfortable with and see what it gets you in the end. I work hard to make sure all the roles are cool and all the characters get a chance to shine.

How do the rankings work?
It's simple really! First I take all the bids that have been made, then I arrange them from biggest to smallest.
If two bids are equal, the one that got made first gets priority.
Then I work my way down the list in order, assigning people the roles they asked for, until all 25 character slots are filled. Once all the roles in the game have been filled, that's the end of the auction and we'll go on to make the game.
Basically, the higher your bid compared to everyone else, the higher your chance of getting the role you were after.

What do I do once the auction is over?
Just wait and I will contact you via PM. I will tell you your auction ranking. I will tell you that you got the role you were after, or I'll ask you to pick from what roles are still available. I will also ask you to provide me with visual reference for your character, along with any notes about their personality you think are important - so that I can take that into consideration when writing their dialogue within the game.

When will I get to see the game?
When it's done, sheesh. The projected timeframe for production is three months - however, the last two games have seen delays due to making the game too big, too cool or one of the creators getting pregnant. I'll try and make sure to post as many progress updates as I can, but some things, like the script or programming don't make good updates or have to stay secret till the end!

When and where is the auction held?
The auction will be held at Nai-chan's FA page at www.furaffinity.net/user/nai-chan, posted as a submission. We do it here because that's where the most of our fans are watching, and because the FA comment system can be used for our purposes. Otherwise we'd have to program our own bidding site and then make everyone join it - I'd rather save you all the trouble! The auction will be opened on the 21st of April, and will stay open for five days. I'm opening it and closing it at midday my time, but I live in New Zealand, so yeah, timezones. Anyway, five days seems like plenty of time for everyone to get their say.

-Corillion