Hi everyone!!

It’s update time <3 I have quite a bit to update on (prepare yourself) and have been feeling really excited and connected to Alaris recently \o/ So without further ado, let's get into it!

Recent Wins

This section won’t always be here as I may not always have a win to report (lol), but recently, maybe because of the casting call, Alaris has been gaining some traction, which I’ve previously said makes me shit my pants. Because of that, there have been some recent wins happening across some platforms that I thought might be fun and exciting to include! 

1. We were featured on VN Game Den’s Blog on Top 10 Romance Visual Novels in Development. This was crazy. The list of games and developers on this are incredible and I’m a huge fan of a lot of the features. So to be in such amazing company blows my mind and is such an honor honestly :')

2. We reached 500 followers on Twitter and are actually close to 600 followers! On itch.io we are also close to 500 followers, so double wow <3

3. We reached 10 total donations on itch.io, and recently, people donated on Ko-fi and itch.io to support some of the VA for the demo. Because of all that, we have actually raised enough to give an extra line for each LI!

Announcements

First up is our casting call! It opened right after the last devlog posted and ends tomorrow :o We’ve received... so many auditions. It makes me a bit sick to know so many people were interested in joining this little game, but obviously it's also incredibly heartwarming. It ends tomorrow, so if any VAs are still interested, definitely try out! It’s been incredible hearing the characters brought to life. Hearing someone actually act out and say dialogue you create is so different from just writing it down. When I heard the first audition, just out of curiosity, I got so flustered I had to take a break for like 2-3 days because it was just such a surreal experience, so I’m super excited for the end product and hope everyone else is too!

And if you’d like to support the VA’s, please consider supporting to our Ko-Fi! All funds donated right now will go towards the VAs and can help in either having more lines voiced or maybe even partial VA for the demo! If VA is something you’re interested in for the game or you just want to support, definitely consider it, though there’s obviously never any pressure <3

Demo Updates

I mentioned last devlog that I would move onto art assets, and I’ve made a lot (in my opinion) of progress on art assets! First, I retouched old CGs, working on rendering things out until I was happier with the result. I gave a sneak peek of Fenir, but here is everyone together with a before and after.

*Warning: If you don't want any kind of spoilers, skip past this really fast. Also, I'd advise looking at each one individually since they're GIFs to show changes otherwise you might get nauseous... lol

Druk

Etza

Fenir

Kuna'a

I’m a lot happier with how they’re all looking together now. They look more cohesive, and I think a bit more polished overall! I may go back in to tinker around more once I enter the last stage of development, but for now, I’m pretty happy with them :)

I also got to work on the new CGs that will be featured in the last chapter of the demo. Some sneak peeks below: 

*Warning: Again if you don't want any kind of spoilers, skip past this really fast. Although these are sneak peeks and don't contain the full CG, they could still be considered spoilers! 

With these additions, the demo will officially have 9 CGs, with each LI having two CG features: one by themselves and one with another LI!

I also finished most of the sprite expressions for the cast. Each character will have somewhere between 7-9 sprite expressions, with some having an additional “action” pose showcasing their power! 

In terms of next steps, I am going to start coding and writing up the personality system - writing out different choices and results for the personality mechanism. I’ve also been toying with a couple game mechanic ideas, but maybe I’ll save those for another time since this update is getting quite long. If you want more “real-time” updates, I’d definitely recommend following our Twitter since that’s where I channel a lot of my regular excitement for the game! 

Developer Ramblings

I’m back with more ramblings - as always. This one will be a little less down since I’ve been feeling more excited about the game recently. I think finally having the full, final demo upon us has really pushed me to consider the game on a deeper level and think intentionally about the mechanisms, story and world, and basically what I really want that “final product” to look like. I’ve already been a lot happier with some of the results (like the art assets), so I’m excited to keep working! 

One thing that has been weighing on my mind more lately has been the personality system. I think the base mechanism works well and seems to have been received positively. But a common concern I hear is maybe the “default” or “base” MC personality. Initially, before I had even introduced a personality system, I actually had a character in mind for MC, but decided to drop them in favor of something that felt more customizable and maybe neutral? 

I think after hearing some comments about current MC, I’m going to revisit the personality I had imagined before. I think this will align better with the original “strong” personality I’d had in mind when first creating the game. While strength can manifest in a variety of ways (including emotional expression), I think integrating this base personality will appeal to more people since it might feel more relatable compared to what I imagined as a base “default” personality. Original MC basically had all components of the current personality system (I had imagined them as brave, kind, charismatic, and wise), so my inclination is to return to that. And the personality system, instead of “building” a personality will moreso push certain traits out more dominantly (aka MC’s charisma manifests more often if that’s the personality players choose to engage with more). 

I’m hopeful this will appeal more to players and honestly just align more with my original vision in the first place. So I’m excited to see where this development will head once I start working more intensely on the personality mechanism these upcoming weeks! 

Anyways, thank you so much for all the support everyone and the kind words as always. I appreciate and cherish each one. Until next time!