DevLog #43: November Status Update (Patreon)

Hello!

On the 5th of this month, I've released Light Fairytale Episode 1 on PlayStation 4 in the US, and on the 26th in Europe!

Here's the store page:

store.playstation.com/#!/cid=UP0906-CUSA17137_00-LIGHTFAIRYTALE01 

The revenues from the PS4 version have been quite low so far, but I'm not surprised as I had similar results with Super Night Riders around one year ago.

I think that this is due to how new games are presented on the PSN, focusing on major releases, while small indie games get buried in the sub-menus. So, natural sales from within the store - on which I mostly rely as I don't have paid marketing nor major news / reviews in the press - are very low.

Actually, I had a very stressful launch day in Europe as some players had a game breaking bug. It was due to how decimal numbers are represented in some European countries, so I had to fix it very fast. Thankfully, I was able to publish a hotfix on the same day!

On a side note: Light Fairytale Episode 1 was released via Early Access on Steam one year ago! I have a sale going on right now on PC for all of my games and DLCs: 

Steam: store.steampowered.com/developer/nekodotworks 

Humble: humblebundle.com/store/search?sort=bestselling&developer=neko.works 

I've also worked this month on a few side projects.

First, I've released a clockface for the Fitbit Versa smartwatch series!

It's called "Retro LCD" and it's inspired by 80's LCD watches. It comes with a few color variations, and many cool features such as world clocks and countdowns - I have a countdown right now on my Versa to the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake!

Anyway, it's free so please give it a try if you can! Here's the store page:

gallery.fitbit.com/details/0b6ccd5b-ef53-4785-8d6b-0ba4da958795 

Next, I've started a YouTube video series showcasing many games in just a few minutes. The first one is 9 arcade racers on Steam in 3 minutes.

You can view it here: youtu.be/s9t18CAGir0 

I plan to do others themes and platforms in the future so please subscribe to my channel!

If you have any theme suggestions I'm all ears!

Of course, I've also worked on Light Fairytale Episode 2! Here's a couple screenshots:

This location will be briefly visible during a cutscene in Episode 2, but it will be fully playable in Episode 4.

Next, here's a draft of a new concept illustration for Episode 2, from the character designer:

And here's a draft I did myself of the key artwork for Episode 2. I've sent this to the portrait artist to design the main cover for this episode. Can't wait to see the result!

Now, let's talk a bit about the current plan for the Light Fairytale series.

First, I've decided that the series will be divided into 4 episodes: Episode 1 and 2 are 3 hours long each, but Episode 3 and 4 will be 6 hours long each. You can double these numbers by completing all the achievements and events. So, 18 to 36 hours overall for the series!

The focus of Episode 1 is Kuroko, for Episode 2 it's Haru, for Episode 3 the mysterious girl, and for Episode 4... well, you'll see for yourself!

Episode 2 should release in Q2 2020 on all supported platforms, though I might do a short - 1 month early access on Steam first.

I still want to support the Nintendo Switch but it's difficult to find the time - not to mention that I've never released on the platform so the port will probably be time consuming. Anyway, I let you know when I'll start working on it!

Bonus, here's a 1440p wallpaper from the Anime of Light Fairytale. This is a view of the "blue ceiling", as described by Haru to Kuroko in the opening of Episode 1!

And that's it!

Again, thank you so much for your support! See you next time!