Monthly Update - October 2020 (Patreon)

Hi everyone! 

It's already that time of the month again - time for another update! We've been very, very busy the past month, and we're excited to jump in and show you some of the things we've been doing.

Let's jump right into our art update!

The Divine Speaker

Art

The focus again this month has been on finishing as much as possible. We've been working on sprites mostly, and now we only have another 3 to complete for the full game. There's a couple of other small, additional sprites we'd like to do, but it will depend on time.

You may have already seen the Winter sprites, but if not... here's a look at them all side by side, but if not...

We also had a day time version of this background made for some additional scenes:

Writing

We have some super, super exciting news to share... Leos route writing is now complete, which means scripting on The Divine Speaker is now done! It's both happy and sad to be finished with these characters that are so important to us, but we are so excited to release them all out into the wild.

You'll be pleased to hear that his route sits at around 80,000 words, the longest route of the three. This will change slightly after editing is complete, so we'll wait to give a final word count on the game.

So, what does that mean?

Well, firstly it means we'll have more time to focus on polishing and programming the game. With such a long game, we have to be careful to test different combinations of choices to make sure the right things happen.

Secondly, it means our writers can focus on other writing tasks. But that brings me to...

The prequel! It's been awhile since I last talked about this. Actually, we have more good news, because... writing on the prequel has also been complete! Yay!

It sits at around 30,000 words. A lot shorter than the main game, but it will be permanently free, 18+ and feature the same artist as the main game, Fuyuure.

That means that all writing for The Divine Speaker, including side games, is now done. 

Here's a couple of previews:

Programming

Now that we've received every winter sprite, programming on the routes has begun. We'll be starting with Cyne's first, and it will go out for beta testing once it is complete (minus voice acting and CGs).

We're excited to finally be able to play the game from start to finish.

We've also been doing some of our "lasts" on the game. We've finished importing all backgrounds and coding them into the BG gallery, which will save us some time in the long run.

We've also added in every other sprite we have, including the backer characters. Apart from that, we've been editing the common route and polishing up some of the animations and transitions between scenes.

Here's a little look at some of the new sprites in game:

Voice Acting

Voice acting is well underway, with 4 scripts left to do out of the 12 in the common route. We've also added the first batch in game, since our editor Glenn finished up with them. It's amazing to see brand new scenes voice acted!

Here's a small preview of one!

They really don't get along... 

Beta Build

We've just brought out a brand new beta build that goes to the end of the common route, including the new winter sprites and some voice acting! 

If you're interested, you can get access on the Raen tier and up!

We'll be putting out another update with additional voice acting soon!

Focus for the next month

Our focus for the next month is the following:

• Finish editing Leos' route
• Edit the prequel
• Finish the programming for Cyne's route
• Add in additional VA as it's complete

This is quite a lot, but this is what we hope to get complete! We'll also work on editing the rest of the common route code.

Beyond the Abyss

Artworks for Beyond the Abyss have been steadily plodding along in the background while our focus has been on TDS. Our background artist, Saedee, has been finishing up on the BGs for another game she's working on (since she has a tight deadline!) before we get back to the BtA backgrounds.

Luckily we're in no rush, so we were fine for her to focus on that for awhile and get it out of the way.

Juni has begun the sprite design for Yao Rongshi, who we showed off last month. Here's a little preview:

We're in love with his pose!

Apart from that, we've begun working in some ideas for backer characters, as the game will feature only two. Once that's been sorted, and since the writing for The Divine Speaker has been complete, we will keep writing the script for the game and get it finished.

That's all for this month! Thank you all again so much for your support <3

Gabmag