Devlog #20 | 05.19.22
Hi everyone!!
Devlog 20, already? That somehow seems both like a lot and not a lot at all haha. I have a lot of exciting news today, so let’s just dive straight into it!
Supporter Shout-Outs
1. We received a lot of donations recently, both on Ko-fi and Itch.io. I won’t give specific details about amounts and things like that, but if you’ve donated sometime in the past two weeks, I saw it and appreciate it so much!! Anytime someone donates I feel honored that Alaris seems like something you would want to support monetarily <3
2. Thank you for the recent questions as well! I always like talking to you all, so even when it’s just to stop by and say hi, I appreciate it :’)
Announcements
I ended up doing an entire #Mermay series for the LIs, which I posted on the blog last week (?). If you missed it and would like to check it out, feel free to look at it here! It has all of the LIs as mer-people, some of which were actually inspired by the Tumblr question asked recently about the types of merpeople each of the LIs would be!
I also recently sent out a call for Filipino artist commissions recently to help support some artists who might be struggling due to the current political situation happening in the country. I was able to find some amazing artists to help support and create small visual materials for Alaris that I hope to reveal at a later time :’) Hope you’re all excited to eventually see them!
Lastly, I closed the playtester applications and reached out to the playtesters selected. This is the first time I’ve done this kind of thing, but I’m appreciative of the people willing to help, especially since this version of Alaris is much more expansive compared to past releases. Excited to finally enter that stage!! Which brings me to....
Demo Updates
This past week, I’ve been wrapping up coding and scripting, as well as any last art assets I wanted to work on. Specifically, for coding, I worked on finally getting the more dynamic elements of the game in. There will be two timed choices in the game (one of which you may not encounter since it will be on a date), and I got a couple animated overlays in! Things like panning on backgrounds or CGs to make the game more immersive hopefully. I also finally coded things more dynamic transitions, specifically for the final ~action~ scene in Chapter 3 (hehe).
So basically, lots and lots of coding recently and wrap-up stuff for the script and art assets as necessary. I got things like a new startup screen, where now the LIs will greet you at the main menu. I also got the Free Time screen up and going:
And, with the final chapter, I got the Route Choice menu ready to go too :’) At first I was going to do it how all the other choices are, but I wasn’t really happy with how it appeared in the game since it’s a pretty big decision, so I switched it to something that feels a bit more “momentous” if you will. Simple, but I think it fits!
In terms of fine-tuning, I already showed you all how I rendered some of the older CGs to make them more polished. Well, I put off Druk and Kayn because I had accidentally flattened the image the first time around... ha.. ha.. ha. So I couldn’t go back in and render. So I had been putting it off, wondering if I wanted to start from scratch or try to recreate it.
I think because my style has changed a bit since the very first CG, I ended up just completely remaking it, and I’m actually really happy with the result! Sneak peek below, but blessing in disguise, I guess?
Basically, everything in the game is done. The only thing I really have left is playtesting and converting images to WEBP to condense the game a bit. General polishing is basically where we are at!! Which is crazy? I feel like there is so much left to do, but... the demo is really actually wrapping up. I think because I was stuck at what felt like 30-40% for so long, it doesn’t feel real to be past that LOL. I still feel stuck in the void, a bit. But we’re actually moving along :o
I do have a bit of bad news, which is that I’ve decided to take out the puzzle mechanism in the game. I know some of you said you were excited about that feature, and I was too! But as I began wrapping up, the mechanism wasn’t feeling as satisfying in the game. I think because there are things like the personality system, free time, timed choices, animated overlays, etc. the puzzle piece just felt like it was taking away more than it was adding, if that makes sense. It didn’t feel as integrated as I had hoped it would, so I’ve decided to take it out, and I genuinely think the game is better off without it, at least where it’s at right now!
I know I can always put it back in later, if I want, so I’m not too hung up about it. And maybe down the line, the game will reach a point where it makes more sense for the puzzle mechanism to be there. But for now, I think the demo shines more with the story and what we have going on without it, so I hope you all understand, and I’m so sorry for anyone who was really looking forward to that aspect <3
With all that being said, I’d say game development is maybe at like 95% (oh my lord)? Things are quickly wrapping up, and I’m so excited for it! Hope you all are too. No ramblings today since this update was already quite long. I don’t have more screenshots to share because I’m working off my old old laptop for now, and it can’t handle me recording videos of the gameplay LOL. But trust me when I say the coding, especially the animated overlays and stuff, have really made the game dynamic to look at (in my biased opinion)!
Anyways, that’s all for this update! Look forward to the next one :’) I think the next one will be quite exciting hehe <3
Files
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Alaris
Not all mysteries can be explained by the logic of man
Status | In development |
Author | Crescence Studio |
Genre | Visual Novel, Adventure, Interactive Fiction |
Tags | Amare, Anime, Fantasy, LGBT, Narrative, Otome, Romance, Story Rich |
Languages | English |
More posts
- Devlog #45 | 12.02.2413 days ago
- Devlog #44 | 8.29.24Aug 30, 2024
- Druk's Beta Route Out Now!!Aug 26, 2024
- Devlog #43 | 7.30.24Jul 30, 2024
- Fenir's Beta Route Out Now!!!Jul 17, 2024
- Devlog #42 | 6.25.24Jun 25, 2024
- Kayn's Beta Route Out Now!!!Jun 04, 2024
- Devlog #41 | 5.28.24May 28, 2024
- Alaris Enhanced Demo Out NOW!!Apr 12, 2024
- Alaris Enhanced Demo Release DateMar 28, 2024
Comments
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Trying to not scream!! A new fan of you, your work looks so amazing and I'm so excited and appreciative that you want to share your art with us! I cannot wait for this to come out! Thank you so much for the updates; honestly I don't know if devs truly know how much that is appreciated! It shows that you care and gets us even further hype for this! Don't sweat it about having to remove things, do what's right for your vision! I think it's hard to remove something you've envisioned and implemented in your work. The fact that you can make a deduction you found proper for your vision and take that step is amazing. Maybe I'm dramatizing it haha, but as a person who holds on to way too much junk IRL (
hoarder), and as a video editor (so a fellow "art type" myself), I can relate to that struggle lol! Definitely hard to let things go but as you said, you can always change it in the future if need be so take comfort in that!Be patient with yourself, get more rest than you're probs getting, and drink more water. 😂Just basically take care of your health and overall sanity out here lol. Thanks again!
PS: The chara art, BG art, and UI look absolutely breathtaking. Very polished looking work! Well done so far!
Oh my gosh!!!!! This is such a nice comment wtf 😭 Thank you for taking the time to write and comment all this??? I know you say you appreciate the updates, but I really appreciate the comment! The appreciation is completely mutual :’)
And no, not dramatizing it at all! Thank you for being so understanding <3 Taking out the mechanism was something I’d been sitting on for a while, and I only decided to officially cut it last week, which was quite sad since getting the code to work was a challenge in and of itself as well as making the assets and doing the research for it. But I’m glad to have done it and tried it anyways even if it ended up not making the cut 😊
Definitely need to do everything you said haha. Taking care of myself, but I’ve also been pushing myself harder since I’m so close to the finish line. The impatient side of me has been ramping up, but luckily I have some amazing people (like you) who are helping me to take it slow and really polish everything so it’s where I truly want it upon release. So thank you for the reminder and all the kind words!!! I’m excited to get the final demo out to you all hopefully soon :’)
I get the pain, it's hard to cut something you already invested soooo much time to 😅 But I can tell you're clearly all the happier for it and it definitely made you a better developer in turn from trying to get it to work! I imagine fixing errors is a good way to learn coding lol so it'll speed up your process in the long run!
I and I'm sure all your other fans will continue to be here to support you and be excited for the game, so yes don't work yourself to the bone 😂 Thank you for your heartwarming reply and your response back to me on the game's main page as well!