BUCKLE IN FOLKS THIS IS THE DEVLOG TO READ. IF U HAVE NEVER READ A DEVLOG U SHOULD READ THIS ONE

This one's loaded we're gonna jump right into it. I would normally put this news in Miscellaneous but it's so important I'm gonna say it Now.

ALARIS EA WILL BE RELEASED NEXT MONTH!!!

Date will be announced closer to the release, but for now, start getting EXCITEDDDDDD YEEAAHHHHH!!!! This brings me to my other Important Point for this devlog, which is Alaris' price upon release. For those who have seen the ask related to this, you won't be surprised, but for anyone who missed it:

Alaris EA Will Be $11.99

The reason for this has been stated before, and I know it's higher than what I have said in past years. But after consideration on the content in this game and after talking with Many developers and fans, I thought pricing Alaris at lower price points would be unfair to me, the game, and everyone else who has worked on it. Indie games, and especially visual novels, should be valued just as highly as other games because it takes just as much work to make. I know this news may be disappointing to some, and I do want to say that I will eventually (much later) have sales on the game so you can scoop it up at lower price points if you'd like. But I hope that as people who enjoy the game, you all can understand and support me and our Alaris babies.

Speaking of EA Release, we hit 10K+ wishlists on Steam a while back, and to celebrate, I commissioned this piece (which YOU ALL funded through Patreon and donations!!! Crazy!!!). Thank you all so much and can't wait to get this game in your hands!!!!!!

Now that the Big Stuff is out of the way, let's get into the devlog and see where this bad boy is AT

This month, we actually made some nice progress on writing! I Finally Finished the last of Kuna'a's edits and we're entering the last stages of his developmental editing. Since it's been so long since we gave a writing update, here's a little snippet. As a Treat.

Sneak Peek at the slut's route

It took a while for me to flesh out some of his scenes and get them to where I wanted them. There's a lot going on in Kuna'a's route, and especially since it's my first Fae route where we get into the Meat of the plot, it was hard to balance romance with plot without getting too lost in the sauce.

But this month, since a big bulk of EA work finished, I was able to get back into scripting and finally tackle those edits I've been meaning to work on. And with a lot of that stress out of the way, I can focus more on Aisa's route AKA OUR LAST ROUTE!!!! Until EA drops, I don't anticipate working too heavily on Aisa's route yet, but it's exciting to finally, finally get to the last route of the game ^o^ !

Art.... This month I worked on a lot of sprite work. It was mostly polishing and finishing touches. I finally updated all of the side characters so that their rendering was consistent with the LIs. Honestly, it was such a small change, but I'm really happy with the end result! I think everything looks pretty in game and the art looks much more consistent.

I also resized all of the sprites in game so that they fit. I don't know who will remember this in the current demo, but some of the sprites get the tops of their heads chopped off, and that was because the way I had sized them in game made them a bit bigger so they didn't fit well on the screen. This month, I painstakingly went back in and resized all the sprites so they fit on the screen. It's a Very Small difference but it does make the game look more polished. I will say it was A Bitch to do because of how I do camera work and sprite movements so I had to readjust a lot of things aoisdjfaosidfj. But after putting my brain in a blender, we finished and I'm loving how everything looks!

You can actually SEE THEM NOW!!!

I also did a lot of backend stuff this month to put the final QOL and extra features into the game that I've always wanted! First up is the communicator. Before, when you got new messages, there would be no indicator aside from a little star on the side chat bar.

But NOWWW, there's both a "New" Line that shows up for new messages (kinda like Discord), AND time stamps. I think this helps to keep track of messages better AND helps ground the game in some sense of time! I'm really in love with it, and wouldn't have been able to do it without dear, goated Feniks, so everyone thank Renpy god!

We also finished our first voice acting session this past month! All of the first round of lines came in, and if you've been around on Tumblr you know I've already started showing some of them off. If you've missed them, well...

Featuring shiny new voiced lines, a certain SOMEONE'S route sneak peek, and a brand new voice replay feature YEEEAAAAAA

Introducing our brand new VA Replay feature in the history log! Another feature that got added in this month and that I'm super happy with!!

And then last thing that got a big update this month was the Preferences Screen! It's been on my list for a long time, but I'd never had the time to get around to it. And finally, as we gear up for public release (NEXT MONTH WOOOO), I got to add them in.

Now in the game: you can change the text font, adjust ambient volume, and individual voice volumes

I actually got to finally play Dicentra (by Saffeine.... oh wait did u know they also have designed a bunch of alaris characters. yes they're cracked). While I didn't make fanart yet..... I need people to play this game...... Be sure to read the content warnings if you give it a go but....... it's stunning........ like u Will be gagged

Coincidentally it comes out with an update today that was unplanned---it's just fate i guess LFIJSDF

That's all for this devlog. Next time we speak, Alaris EA will be RELEASED!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Until then!!!! Can't wait to see you all at the finish line!!!!!!!!!!!