Aug 09
That’s right! We’ve gotten the green light from Valve and can finally make it official: GENBA no Kizuna will, at long last, be released on PC through both Steam and itch.io on August 26, 2024, at 10:00 AM PST! In other words, just about two more weeks to go!
Aug 03
Another very busy week has passed, during which lots of progress was made! Natsu has set up the build and achievements for GENBA no Kizuna on Steamworks, meaning that at least she and I can actually download and play it through the platform now!
Sadly, there are still a few more things to take care of before we can make it available publically, though. The biggest remaining hurdle will essentially be verification through Valve. They need to review the build and everything, which can take a few days.
Here’s hoping they’ll approve everything without the need for us to make any major adjustments or anything of the sort.
Because once Valve has given us their OK… we’re essentially ready for release!
Jul 27
Today, let’s take a little peek into the past, shortly before the release of our first visual novel SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair.
Because what I typed up for our weekly blog post on July 24, 2016, can essentially be copy-pasted to sum up our current status:
“We’re still very busy getting SHINRAI ready for release. There’s still a lot of tiny little things that need to be done here and there, unfortunately. I’m currently making a list of those, which not only includes feedback and mistakes discovered by our beta-testers, but also a few things I’ve noticed myself over the last few days, which definitely need to be fixed.
It’s little things like these that drag out the release a bit more. It sucks, but I really want to make sure that everything is in order.
I guess you could argue that there’s always the possibility to patch things later, but I’m honestly not a big fan of that kinda mindset.
I’d rather have everything working properly from the get-go and avoid the need for patches altogether.
But yeah, because of that, I’ve been going through the game one more time myself. I’ll be handing the list over to Natsu tomorrow, so that she can fix those things, but once that’s done, I think we’re really good to go.”
Jul 20
Over the course of this past week, more feedback has come in from our GENBA no Kizuna beta-testers. And unfortunately, they’ve encountered a few more bugs… including one that would actually prevent you from completing the game, ahahah… “orz
Thankfully, that one was actually quick and easy to fix, so it no longer poses a problem! That said, while none of the other issues are as severe, there’s still some more stuff that definitely needs to be fixed or adjusted in order to provide players with a polished experience. So that’s what we’re currently focusing on!
Jul 13
So, by now, we’ve heard back from the first couple of beta-testers who’ve managed to play through the entirety of GENBA no Kizuna.
I don’t want to get into their impressions of the story, characters, mystery or really the game overall just yet. I’ll save that for once we’ve heard back from everyone. What I am going to say, however, is that we’ve received a lot of very helpful feedback already!
Jul 06
As mentioned in last week’s blog post, the beta-test phase for GENBA no Kizuna is now officially underway! The beta build is in the hands of our testers and although no one has completed their run yet, I did already receive some very helpful feedback reports!
Now, while we continue to wait until we’ve fully heard back from everyone, I’ve decided to tackle two major things this past week:
the remaining three bonus scenes as well as the Steam achievements.
Jun 29
That’s right! After spending the last couple of weeks thoroughly testing GENBA no Kizuna, we’ve finally reached the point where we can send out the beta build to our testers!
Jun 27
Summer is back and with it the annual Summer Sale! So if you’re looking for something to help you cool off from the blazing rays of the sun, why not jump into the chilling murder mystery presented to you in SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair? Both the game and its complete soundtrack are once again 50% off!
Jun 22
While Natsu has spent this past week fixing the issues I’ve found during my chapter four test run, I’ve continued with more testing and am currently busy going through the fifth and final chapter, meaning that were getting very very close now to finally being able to share GENBA no Kizuna with our beta-testers!
Jun 15
So, I’ve dedicated this entire past week to going through the penultimate chapter of GENBA no Kizuna. Which was actually my very first time experiencing it in VN format myself! That’s also part of the reason it required so much time, because I had to really get into the nitty-gritty here, testing every little aspect you can think of, in order to ensure that everything works as intended. It might not seem like it, but even something as “simple” as a VN requires extensive testing, especially if it’s of the interactive kind.
