Hi everyone!

Hope you all have been well as we enter the holiday season <3 This will be my last devlog of the year, and I wanted to get it out before the holiday season starts since I wanted to reserve that time for rest, relaxation, and connection with loved ones. I know it’s an early devlog, but let’s dive right in \o/

Writing

As some of you may have seen my Tumblr update, I finished Kayn’s route recently! It’s just the first draft, so we are current going through it in the developmental editing phase to flesh out scenes, add some characterization, more personality choices/results, etc. to really bring the script to life. I’ve already loved the changes we have made, and at the current moment, Kayn’s route is sitting at 45k+ words. 

We’re still quite early in the editing phase for Kayn’s route, so I’m really excited to see where it will shape up from here! From our developmental editor: Kayn’s first two chapters have already made them “Feel Feelings,” so I hope you all are excited ^^

I also have started making some headway on Druk’s first draft, so we’ll see where I end up with that by the next update! 

Art

This month, Vui continued cooking away to make more of our beautiful BGs. Above is actually our house! As you may (or may not) know, MC’s mom has powers that come from botany. I wanted a house that could reflect this, and it may look quite different from what’s featured in the demo, but it’s much closer to what I had in mind for the original house BG. I love how unique it feels as a house and how you can feel mom’s presence a bit more in it <3

I’ve also been working on CGs! I have a couple sketches done for Kayn’s route since I have a better idea of what I’ll be needing in their route. But I will not be showing them here, ha :’) 

Aside from sketches, I’ve also been working on rendering to create more atmospheric CGs. Above is a before and after of Kuna’a's CG, everyone’s favorite whore. The second will be a CG featured in the updated demo (release TBD). It’s a bit crazy seeing how far my art has come, but it makes me excited for the final product. I’ve put a bit more effort into lighting, making pieces fit with the BG, etc., so I hope you all like this sneak peek of what’s to come!

Additional Features

Finally, the sound and music! I previewed this song recently, which is the main theme song for Alaris. This will play as the base theme throughout the game. Overall, I’ve wanted a soundtrack that feels romantic, dreamy, and Studio Ghibli-esque. Peter, our composer, did a phenomenal job bringing that to life, and I hope the soundtrack is something that feels peaceful and pretty for the players <3 

“Market Research”

I also recently received some encouragement from the team behind Obscura. If you haven’t checked out the game, I highly recommend it, as the atmosphere, characters, and writing are all stunning. After the team gave me a bit of a cheer for finishing Kayn’s route, I was inspired to draw a Kayn x Cirrus interaction. If you haven’t checked out Obscura, please do, as the team is so unbelievably talented!! and Cirrus is my boyfriend