Hi everyone!

I don’t have much to update about today, but Alaris is VERY close to being completed!! I’m going to keep this one short and sweet - there may be some sneak peeks as we start wrapping things up so keep reading to see where we’re at as we get close to the finish line :’)

Demo Updates

Basically since the last devlog, I finished the alpha build for Alaris (ahhh???). I sent this out to playtesters to find coding errors, bugs, etc. and have been waiting for those comments to start coming in so I can clean the game for the final demo release. 

And it’s a good thing I did because wow. I already have some code errors to fix (haha.. ha). 

Other things I’ve been working on involve an updated prologue scene. For those of you who have played some of the released content, you may know how the beginning there’s a ~story~ giving you a bit of history. I’m working to make something more animated, so we’ll see how that turns out! I think it will have a more storybook feel, so I’m excited to see the end-product if I can make it work. 

Other than that, I’ve been working on “release” stuff. Things like a trailer, key visual, and stuff to prepare for the official release and announcement. 

Lastly, I have been working on the final, final script for the game. 

So all in all, final edits for the script and coding errors. And getting ready for the release! It’s pretty crazy that we’re coming up to the end game now. I feel like I’ve been working on this forever, but also that I should have more things to do for some reason. It’s very... surreal. 

Have a treat - I’ve shared these on Twitter, but think I should post them here as well! Sprite sheets for the Central gang, including their dragon energy/ dragon use “poses (specifically Kayn and Druk since they’re our action Drakes). You’ll be able to see these in action in the demo, so hope you’re excited! 

With all that being said, I’d say game development is maybe at like 98%? It’s really just wrap-up things at this point. It’s hard to give an estimate of where things are at since a bit of it depends on how much I need to fix based on playtester feedback, as well as how much I want to edit for the script. But like I said I do have a release date in mind (o word??), so we’re VERY close to finishing :’)

Developer Ramblings

I recently reached about a year anniversary since I first started working on Alaris, and it’s crazy to see how far it’s come. I never would’ve imagined to have a game like Alaris at this point. 

When I first started the game, I’d never made my own characters, my own story, much less my own game. I started everything from scratch, basically, from the writing, programming, etc. But it’s been so incredibly rewarding to learn what I have and see where the game has come. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined having voice actors interested in the game or to have the following I do (I’m still used to having around 80 followers in my mind), so I’m very thankful for everything.

At the same time, I’m a one-person developer team. I sometimes refer to myself as “we” as if there’s more than one person behind Studio Crescence, but really it’s just me lmao. So there have been times on this journey that it’s gotten lonely, and I saw a post recently that really spoke to me about it (it was from @tuffmallowinteractive).  Especially recently, I’ve been getting in my head a lot lately about the demo - whether it’s good enough, whether people will like it, do I even like it (lol I’m really not selling this thing, am I), etc.

But now, there are people who actually talk to me sometimes (lol) and people who were interested enough in the game to be a volunteer playtester. So, just reflecting on everything, I’m very thankful, and while it is a struggle sometimes (imposter syndrome mainly), I’m grateful for a lot of this journey so thank you to anyone who’s followed along, whether from early on or recently <3 

Anyways, that’s all for this update! Hope you’re all excited for release <3