Sep 23

Weekly Update #477: Writing Progress

As the title reveals, this past week was all about writing and I sure made quite a lot of progress! Honestly feeling really exhausted now, not just from today’s sessions, but kinda from writing in general. I think it’s about time for me to work on some art assets again for a change, but not until I’ve reached a certain point at least, to which I should be getting tomorrow.

That would be the point where the story will split off into its different endings, depending on your culprit selection.
This too will work a little bit different than it did in SHINRAI, given the way the whole revelation chapter is structured this time.

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Sep 16

Weekly Update #476: Quick Progress Update

Very busy day today, with more stuff still left to do, which means that we unfortunately have to keep things on the short side again.
So let’s jump right into our progress for this past week!

Natsu has caught up with coding everything I’ve sent her so far. At least for the moment, because I’ll have another zip package for her later tonight. There is, of course, also still some bug testing to do, but GENBA no Kizuna‘s final investigation phase is getting very close to a fully playable state now! Only two more rather short routes to go!

Meanwhile, I’ve continued with the final chapter and have about three thirds of its script done. Sadly didn’t get to work on it as much as I wanted to these last few days, but at least that’s in part to a fun thing that’s going on behind the scenes, which I sadly can’t talk much about yet, but really can’t wait to share!

Anyway, that’s really all the time I have and pretty much all I can say at the moment, so while I return back to work now, I hope, as always, that you will enjoy the rest of your weekend! Until next Saturday, take care :3

Sep 09

Weekly Update #475: More Writing & Coding Progress

While Natsu has been diligently coding more of the remaining investigation routes, not only wrapping one up over this past week, but also getting closer to being done with another, I’ve continued dedicating myself to the script for the final chapter, slowly working torwards the pivotal part of the final discussion: the selection of the actual killer!

Unlike SHINRAI, where it was required to determine the mastermind behind the whole case first, GENBA no Kizuna is going almost the opposite route, prompting you to select the person responsible for the victim’s death only after unraveling the main trick that was utilized to obscure the truth. There are still some loose ends to tackle, but I should get to the “confession” moment very soon.

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Sep 02

Weekly Update #474: Plans For September

A new month has begun, so let’s talk about our plans for it, shall we!? If you’ve seen last week’s blog post, you already know that work on GENBA no Kizuna‘s final chapter has officially begun, so naturally, that’s what we’re gonna focus on throughout September!
Well, I will at least. Natsu is currently still busy with getting the last third of the previous chapter fully playable. She’s made quite a lot of coding progress over the last few days, in fact, getting some of the tougher interactive stuff done!

But yeah, for me, it’s primarily script time, so I’ve been working on the case discussion. In theory, it’s a bit shorter than what happens in chapter three, but it still takes quite a bit of time, due to how complex everything is. Since I can’t rely on using shittons of fancy art assets to illustrate everything (well, I guess I could, but that would take ages…), I gotta use words instead to visualize certain things, and sometimes it takes a while to choose the right ones to convey what’s necessary in an easy to follow and understandable way.

My outline is also quite old by now and thus a little outdated. Things have changed and I’ve decided to handle the entire discussion a bit differently than I originally intended, but all of this might be a topic better saved for another time, once GENBA‘s released.

Anyway, the gist of it is that writing progress is a little slow at the moment, but it’s steady at least and I hope to get to the crucial moment of the discussion by the middle of the month!

That’s about all I can say at the moment so, as always, while I’m gonna get back to work now, I wish you to have an enjoyable remainder of your weekend! Until next Saturday, take care :3

Aug 26

Weekly Update #473: SHINRAI 7th Anniversary

So, today, it’s been officially seven whole years since our murder mystery SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair was first released.
Which means that it’s been ten years since we started turning a story into a visual novel, that I have written twelve years ago!
I could start ranting again about the quick, unrelenting passage of time and honestly feel very much inclined to, but… let’s not!

Instead, I just want to focus on one simple yet very rad fact. Namely that I have finally begun work on the final chapter of our upcoming visual novel project GENBA no Kizuna!

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Aug 19

Weekly Update #472: Chapter IV Almost Complete!

I’m officially on “vacation” now until mid-September, so for basically a whole month! Which really just translates to me having to spend 20 hours less every week on my part-time day job and dedicating all that time to VN development instead!
And naturally, I want to make the most out of it, which I’ve already started with during these last few days!

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Aug 12

Weekly Update #471: Quick Progress Update

First of all, in case you haven’t seen either of them yet, we’ve made two special announcement posts this week, one for Steam‘s Visual Novel Fest and the other for the Mystery Gamedev Community, which we have created with a couple of fellow devs in order to bring creators and enjoyers of mystery games together. We’ve already welcomed over a hundred people on our dedicated Discord server, many of whom have shared their recommendations for mystery and puzzle games or their own works and experiences of creating them. So if you’re looking for new mysteries to solve or help and support to create your own, be sure to pay us a visit!

For me personally, it sure has been a ton of fun so far and also very helpful and enlightening, especially in regards to some marketing-related things, which have been discussed in the developer channels!

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Aug 07

Steam Visual Novel Fest

For this past year, Steam has been holding a number of fests to celebrate specific types and genres of games and, this August, they’re putting the spotlight on our personal favorite medium of interactive storytelling: visual novels!

As such, our Halloween-themed murder mystery SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair is taking part in the event and will be 50% off for the whole duration of it, while its complete soundtrack is up for grabs at a 75% discount! Not only that, you can even save an extra 10% if you decide to go for the soundtrack bundle! So yeah, if you’ve been planning to check out our little VN for a while now, or you’re looking for something to get an early start into the spooky season with, what are you waiting for? Go get it now!

(Especially since, due to this event taking place, there won’t be the usual anniversary sale later this month!)

Now, if you’ve already played SHINRAI, then this is also a great time to learn more about our upcoming dinosaur-themed murder mystery GENBA no Kizuna, which is set in the same world as SHINRAI and has quite a few connections to it. And while you’re at it, be sure to add it to your wishlists! It’ll only cost you a single click, but will provide us with great amounts of joy!

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Aug 07

Mystery Gamedev Community

Today, I’d like to introduce you to a little something we’ve been building up behind the scenes with a number of fellow mystery devs:
An entire little community that aims at mystery developers coming together to help and support each other in their endeavors!
But that’s not all! Despite the name, we’re not open solely to developers of mystery games, but also to their enjoyers!

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Aug 05

Weekly Update #470: Plans For August

Can’t believe the year’s progressed this far already, but welp… here we are at the start of August again! And as you should know by know, it’s a month that holds very special meaning to us, since it’s the one in which we released SHINRAI – Broken Beyond Despair all the way back in 2016, so… a whole fricking seven years ago! Holy crap!

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