01 Jun 2022Developer post

6-1-22 update and Absinthia Kickstarter Launch

Hello! A small update released today: Added Twitter and Discord buttons to the start menu as well as an image and link to the Absinthia Kickstarter Added a wolf statue to the Hart City Statue room to offer a link to Absinthia's Kickstarter page if you encounter any problems with

Hello! A small update released today:

Added Twitter and Discord buttons to the start menu as well as an image and link to the Absinthia Kickstarter
Added a wolf statue to the Hart City Statue room to offer a link to Absinthia's Kickstarter page

if you encounter any problems with this update, feel free to contact me here or via email at Jkweath (@) gmail.com.

The Absinthia Kickstarter

The Absinthia Kickstarter is LIVE! Here's the link!

And here's a quick overview of the reward tiers:

Tier 1: Digital Key
Tier 2: OST + Desktop Wallpapers
Tier 3: Digital copies of Celestial Hearts and Knight Bewitched
Tier 4: Absinthia Early Access (~1-2 months in advance)

The following tiers also include tiers 1-4 and a unique Discord server role:

Tier 5: Leave a message! (on a poster, grave, or book)
Tier 6: Design a legendary weapon! (5 slots)
Tier 7: Become an NPC! (40 slots)
Tier 8: Design an enemy! (10 slots)
Tier 9: Design a boss! (5 slots)
Tier 10: Design a quest & NPC! (3 slots)
Tier 11: Become a dungeon master! Sold out!

FAQ

Will there be digital keys offered for other platforms (namely the Nintendo Switch)?

I'm working with my publisher to see if I can offer Switch keys, but in all likelihood I won't have a definitive answer until Absinthia is finished. Unfortunately, the answer at this time is "I don't know". My publisher is handling the console porting and publishing, so whether or not I can obtain console keys is entirely up to them.

Are there be any physical rewards?

Nope, not this time! For context, the physical rewards offered with the Knight Bewitched campaign were a total wash (I actually lost money from them, and they were a huge time sink!)

Is Absinthia a sequel?

Absinthia takes place some time after the events and features some characters from my previous game Celestial Hearts. That said, Absinthia's story was written to stand alone, so you don't need to play Knight Bewitched or Celestial Hearts first to enjoy the story.

Is this game SFW?

Yes. The story features sapphic/yuri elements, but there is no nudity/NSFW content.

If you have any further questions, feel free to comment here or on the Kickstarter page itself! Once again, here is a link to the Kickstarter. See you there, and have a great week!

Original post

30 May 2022Developer post

The Absinthia Kickstarter is LIVE!

Here's a link to the Kickstarter! And here's a quick overview of the reward tiers: Tier 1: Digital Key Tier 2: OST + Desktop Wallpapers Tier 3: Digital copies of Celestial Hearts and Knight Bewitched Tier 4: Absinthia Early Access (~1-2 months in advance) The following tiers also

Here's a link to the Kickstarter!

And here's a quick overview of the reward tiers:

Tier 1: Digital Key
Tier 2: OST + Desktop Wallpapers
Tier 3: Digital copies of Celestial Hearts and Knight Bewitched
Tier 4: Absinthia Early Access (~1-2 months in advance)

The following tiers also include tiers 1-4 and a unique Discord server role:

Tier 5: Leave a message! (on a poster, grave, or book)
Tier 6: Design a legendary weapon! (5 slots)
Tier 7: Become an NPC! (40 slots)
Tier 8: Design an enemy! (10 slots)
Tier 9: Design a boss! (5 slots)
Tier 10: Design a quest & NPC! (3 slots)
Tier 11: Become a dungeon master! (Design a dungeon, boss, NPC & Quest)

If you're strapped for cash or just want a digital Steam key, no problem! For the first 24 hours you can pick up an Early Bird Absinthia key for just $12 (normally $15).

FAQ

Will there be digital keys offered for other platforms (namely the Nintendo Switch)?

I'm working with my publisher to see if I can offer Switch keys, but in all likelihood I won't have a definitive answer until Absinthia is finished. Unfortunately, the answer at this time is "I don't know". My publisher is handling the console porting and publishing, so whether or not I can obtain console keys is entirely up to them.

Are there be any physical rewards?

Nope, not this time! For context, the physical rewards offered with the Knight Bewitched campaign were a total wash (I actually lost money from them, and they were a huge time sink!)

Is Absinthia a sequel?

Absinthia takes place some time after the events and features some characters from my previous game Celestial Hearts. That said, Absinthia's story was written to stand alone, so you don't need to play Knight Bewitched or Celestial Hearts first to enjoy the story.

Is this game SFW?

Yes. The story features sapphic/yuri elements, but there is no nudity/NSFW content.

If you have any further questions, feel free to comment here or on the Kickstarter page itself! Once again, here is a link to the Kickstarter. See you there, and have a great week!

Original post

04 Apr 2022Developer post

Celestial Hearts News and Absinthia Kickstarter + Demo

Hello everyone! I made a couple similar announcements to this one on my other titles Knight Bewitched and Knight Eternal , so I figured I'd make another one! (And if you're seeing this for the 3rd time and thinking, "Why does this look familiar?" sorry!) I wanted to take an oppor

Hello everyone! I made a couple similar announcements to this one on my other titles Knight Bewitched and Knight Eternal , so I figured I'd make another one!

(And if you're seeing this for the 3rd time and thinking, "Why does this look familiar?" sorry!)

I wanted to take an opportunity to share a few fun tidbits about Celestial Hearts followed by some news for my upcoming title Absinthia.

Originally released on February 15, 2021, Celestial Hearts was my 6th official release (technically my 7th overall, but I'm not counting Roguelite). It was my first title to be built in (what was new at the time) the RPG Maker MZ engine, and also my 2nd title to feature a side-view battle system.

To date, Celestial Hearts has sold about 1,200 copies on Steam. With Steam key activations, that number goes up to almost 1,350. Counting sales from other sites like Itch, Aldorlea and Google Play, total copies distributed is likely close to 1,600.

Absinthia

With that out of the way, let's talk about my upcoming title Absinthia! Make sure to stop by the Steam page and add it to your wishlist! (No, seriously, please! Wishlists are super important for the algorithm!)

A demo for Absinthia is available and can be downloaded from the game's store page!

A crowdfunding campaign for Absinthia will launch in mid-late April and run through May. If successful, we're looking at a release date of January 2023.

You can click here to be notified when the campaign goes live!

Similar to my campaigns for Celestial Hearts and Knight Bewitched: Enhanced Edition, we're crowdfunding to cover the cost of assets. The artwork is being done by various talented pixel artists, while Jazz Stewart is making a return from Knight Bewitched: Enhanced Edition for the original soundtrack.

We're looking to raise about $23,000. This is significantly more than our previous campaigns - but with a higher funding goal comes better rewards, such as:

-Digital keys, OST, desktop wallpapers and credits
-Digital keys for Knight Bewitched and Celestial Hearts
-Early Access
-Leaving your own message in an object in-game
-Having your own NPC complete with name and dialogue
-Designing your own legendary weapon, enemy, boss, or your own quest!

If you have any questions about Absinthia, feel free to ask here or DM me on Twitter.

Have a great week and stay safe!

Original post

02 Mar 2021Developer post

3-2-2021 News

Hello everyone! The launch of Celestial Hearts exceeded my expectations, having even outperformed the launches of my previous two best sellers Knight Bewitched 1 and 2. So far I've only needed to release two minor bugfix patches! I mentioned this in my previous patch update, but

22 Feb 2021Developer post

2-21-2021 Bugfixes--and a request

Hello everyone! A small update released last night to fix a couple minor bugs: -The Dragon Horn can now be equipped -The Tail Swipe skill correctly appears when Sylvie has an essence equipped that grants it Thank you all for your support. The release of Celestial Hearts was a hug

15 Feb 2021Developer post

Celestial Hearts is available on discount and with a new bundle!

Celestial Hearts is available now for 15% off on its first week! In addition, I also have a new bundle available: The Yuri Bewitched Bundle You can purchase this bundle--which contains Knight Bewitched 1 & 2 and Celestial Hearts-- for an additional 15% off your purchase. If y

24 Jan 2021Developer post

Celestial Hearts release date and my next project

Hello again! The new battle sprites were finished ahead of schedule, so I went ahead and began distributing pre-release keys to Kickstarter backers and Steam curators. I'm keeping the release date at February 15 to give me time to implement feedback and to give content creators t

17 Nov 2020Developer post

Celestial Hearts is 100% funded! Now let's talk stretch goals...

Hello again! As of today, we've hit 100% of the campaign goal for Celestial Hearts ! I never imagined we'd hit it this fast. I greatly appreciate everyone who's helped us come this far! For this update, I want to talk about the three stretch goals I lined out on the main Kickstar

Hello again! As of today, we've hit 100% of the campaign goal for Celestial Hearts! I never imagined we'd hit it this fast. I greatly appreciate everyone who's helped us come this far!
For this update, I want to talk about the three stretch goals I lined out on the main Kickstarter page, and also to clarify a couple other details on the "Become a Statue" backer tiers:

Those who back at the $20 tier and up will have a statue for themselves placed in this room. The character on the statue will be randomly generated (though I can take small requests for how the character should look). Backers will be asked the following questions:

-What name to leave on the statue (if I don't receive a reply, I'll go with your Kickstarter name. Full names will have their last name abbreviated)
-Whether you'd like to show your contribution ('no' by default)
-A short message you'd like to leave

If requested, I can also place a small weapon in front of the statue - I mostly have sword variations, but I also have an axe, daggers, scepter and bow.

$1300 Stretch goal: Vagrant's Arena

Vagrant's Arena is a place for adventurers from all around the world to come and prove their worth in combat. After facing four waves of enemies without rest--and no items--you'll then face off against another group of adventurers much like yourselves!

Vagrant himself is the grandson of a certain young dragon knight you might be familiar with--and if you're lucky, he won't be the only descendant-of-a-famous-hero you run into here.

$1500 Stretch goal: The Depths

Featured in two of my previous titles, Knight Bewitched and Finding Light, The Depths is a massive challenge dungeon comprised of four smaller dungeons and a, erm... Rather odd town stuck in the middle.

While the layout of The Depths is the same as in the previous titles, the environments are all slightly different--as well as the loot, enemies and bosses. Both Vagrant's Arena and The Depths have elements that tie into the storyline as well.

$2000 Stretch goal: New hero battle sprites

So I gotta be honest here: I hadn't planned on hitting the crowdfunding goal this soon. I figured it'd be a last-minute thing where some generous donor would cover the last bit of funding needed just hours before the campaign ended - let alone hitting the goal over a week beforehand!

The $2000 stretch goal outlined in the Kickstarter is aimed toward replacing the "stock" hero sprites during battle scenes with new, higher-quality sprites. Unfortunately, I don't have an example image to show what a new set of sprites would look like. I'll be on the lookout for an artist who can do this work--and if the campaign looks like it might hit the $2000 stretch goal before the 26th, I'll release another update promoting it and going for one big final push!

Thanks again to all of you! If you have any questions, feel free to ask (I've probably missed something!). We still have 9 days to go!

Have a great week and stay safe!

Original post

12 Nov 2020Developer post

Kickstarter and Progress Update

Hello everyone! We're not far into the campaign and we've already passed the 50% mark! That's great news, and I'm really happy that people are as excited for Celestial Hearts as I am. There's 16 days left, and we still have a long way to go! All 25 of the $7 Early Backer Rewards

Hello everyone!

We're not far into the campaign and we've already passed the 50% mark! That's great news, and I'm really happy that people are as excited for Celestial Hearts as I am. There's 16 days left, and we still have a long way to go!

All 25 of the $7 Early Backer Rewards have been taken, but (at the time of this update) there are still some Early Backer Pre-Release rewards left. For just $3 more, you can have Celestial Hearts two weeks in advance!

Anyway, I wanted to share that I've added a new $50 backer tier:

Design a weapon!

Unlike my previous releases (like Knight Bewitched), Celestial Hearts uses a side-view battle system. Thanks to that, you can actually see the weapons each party member is equipped with--and if you're interested, you can design your own!

Of course, if you're not an artist, you can simply describe how you want the weapon to look, and I can either pull from a selection of weapons on-hand or commission an artist myself.

Here's the details for this new backer tier:

The size of the weapon can be up to 48 x 48 pixels. (you could make the weapon smaller, but then you wouldn't be able to see it!)
You can provide a name (up to 20 characters) and, optionally, a short description around 20 words / 120 characters.
I will determine the stats of the weapon, but you can specify which stats or elemental affinities you'd rather the weapon be geared toward (is this a "hit-things-first, ask-questions-later kind of weapon? Maybe it's more defensive? Or a lightning-fast dagger, perhaps?)

Here are the weapon types you can choose from, and which character they'll belong to:

Kayah: hunting horns / horn-like weapons
Helen: swords, maces / hammers, spears
Sylvie: bows, crossbows
Gail: knives, ringblades / fist weapons, scythes / khopesh
Matthias: staves / staff-like weapons

Of course, you're welcome to be creative (to an extent - let's stay appropriate, please). Want Kayah to wield a giant fish-horn? Go for it! A bow that shoots other bows? Fine by me!

This $50 backer tier has 6 spots available and includes all other rewards below it. If you've already backed the project, you're free to upgrade to this tier anytime.

Game Progress

Long story short - it's coming along smoothly!

I don't have a whole lot to show off right now, but the project has reached its second-to-final stage of development: Writing! Just about everything else is finished, and all that's left to do is actually write the dialogue, design the cutscenes, and then begin the long process of playtesting!

Based on my current rate of progress, I'm thinking Celestial Hearts will be finished by late December and will release in late January/early February. This means that those subscribed to the Early Backer pre-release tier will receive their Steam copies around mid-January.

That's all for now! If you have any questions or comments about Celestial Hearts, the new backer tier (or any other tier), or just want to say something, you can leave a comment here or email me at [email protected].

Original post

05 Nov 2020Developer post

The Celestial Hearts Kickstarter is LIVE!

Here's the link! If you plan on purchasing Celestial Hearts, you can contribute $7 (first 25 backers only) or $8 after that to receive a discounted copy at launch! This is an all-or-nothing campaign - so if you back the project and it doesn't reach the campaign goal ($1200), you

Here's the link!

If you plan on purchasing Celestial Hearts, you can contribute $7 (first 25 backers only) or $8 after that to receive a discounted copy at launch!

This is an all-or-nothing campaign - so if you back the project and it doesn't reach the campaign goal ($1200), you won't be charged.

If you'd like to contribute, here are the other backer rewards tiers:

$3: Have your name featured in the end-game credits!

$7: The first 25 backers at this tier will receive a 30% discounted copy at launch! After the first 25, this reward will increase to $8.

$10: The first 25 backers at this tier will receive a pre-release copy two weeks before launch! (Estimated release date: Early February 2021)

$20: In addition to the above rewards, you'll have a statue with your name on it featured in the Hart City statue room, one of the main towns in Celestial Hearts.

$25: In addition to the above rewards, you'll also get full-size versions of each rough sketch and art illustration to use as desktop wallpapers or however you see fit!

Some information about the Kickstarter:

-My campaign goal is $1200, with the majority of this money going toward in-game art illustrations (such as the rough sketch you see above!), and the rest going toward Kickstarter fees and development costs. The campaign will end on November 26.

-I also have stretch goals for adding bonus content at $1300 and $1500 (this stretch goal will add The Depths, which is a dungeon some of you may be familiar with from Knight Bewitched!). If the campaign reaches $2000, I'll commission custom side-view battler sprites for the five main characters.

-If the campaign is unsuccessful, Celestial Hearts will still be released but with slightly less content and less art illustrations.

-If the campaign *is* successful, I will very likely attempt another similar campaign for my next project: Knight Bewitched Definitive Edition! A DX version of Knight Bewitched will likely feature a minor engine upgrade (which would come with many minor improvements across the game as a whole), new in-game art illustrations, some dialogue touch-ups, a revamp of the menus and battle system, and, of course, new content!

More information about Celestial Hearts, such as screenshots and a trailer, are available on the game's Steam store page. Don't forget to add it to your wishlist (whether you contribute to the campaign or not!)

If you have any questions about Celestial Hearts or the Kickstarter campaign, you can email me anytime at [email protected].

Original post

27 Oct 2020Developer post

Kickstarter Pre-Launch page is up!

Hello everyone! The Kickstarter for my next release, Celestial Hearts , will launch on November 5. The game itself is planned to launch in early February 2021. Here is the Kickstarter pre-launch page. You can follow it now to be notified when it goes live! My funding goal is $120

Celestial Hearts

Updates & announcements

6-1-22 update and Absinthia Kickstarter Launch

The Absinthia Kickstarter

FAQ

The Absinthia Kickstarter is LIVE!

FAQ

Celestial Hearts News and Absinthia Kickstarter + Demo

Absinthia

3-4-2021 Patch

3-2-2021 Bugfix

3-2-2021 News

Celestial Hearts for Android

My next project

2-21-2021 Bugfixes--and a request

Celestial Hearts is available on discount and with a new bundle!

The Yuri Bewitched Bundle

Celestial Hearts release date and my next project

My next project

Celestial Hearts is 100% funded! Now let's talk stretch goals...

$1300 Stretch goal: Vagrant's Arena

$1500 Stretch goal: The Depths

Kickstarter and Progress Update

Design a weapon!

Game Progress

The Celestial Hearts Kickstarter is LIVE!

Here's the link!

Kickstarter Pre-Launch page is up!

Here is the Kickstarter pre-launch page. You can follow it now to be notified when it goes live!