Hey hey friends! 💜

Welcome back to Nova's Diary, issue number 17.
And man what a month it has been!
(ah-ha, it rhymed!)

Let's get right into the heart of the matter: our release plan.

For the few of you who escaped my incessant spam (for which I congratulate you), back in June 15th we released a new trailer, thanks to our participation in the Shacknews' E6 event.

The trailer itself was a lot more narrative focused than the previous ones, who leaned more into the gameplay and the game's strong points (the 2D/3D, the chill soundtrack and yadda yadda...); but that's not the most important piece: Venice 2089 will release in OCTOBER 2022 here on Steam and on Epic Games Store.

Here's the trailer if you missed it, I promise it's the last time I spam it

Now, as much as we all are hyped for this, I cannot help but feel like there might be some genuine questions that you might have, and one in particular that I'd like to respond right now:

- "DIDN'T YOU GUYS SAY THAT YOU'D RELEASE IN MID 2022?"

Yes, back when we announced our Kickstarter run, we did state our intention of releasing the game in this year's Q2 no matter what. Sadly, because of the Kickstarter failing and the inevitable rescope of our game that followed, we ultimately failed to meet our word and decided for a later release.

- "AND COULDN'T YOU TELL US SOONER?"

We initially started talking about a reschedule at the start of 2022, but at the time we still felt pretty confident on delivering Venice on time. Later analysis and much, much talking later, we realized we needed to hasten our feature freeze to mid June if we wanted to have a solid polishing phase.

- "WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH EPIC GAMES STORE?"

Very simply put, we are also releasing on the EGS.

Before jumping to conclusions, I'll assure you by saying that we do not have any exclusivity contract, and that there's not going to be a single difference between the two storefronts.

- "ANYTHING ELSE WE MIGHT WANNA KNOW?"

We (I) are fully aware that we've fallen short of our word, and that in hindsight could have done things in a different manner, but we assure you that we have only the best interests for our game.

If we have ANYTHING else to say regarding the game, I'll personally make sure to notify our community as soon as possible.

And that should cover all the questions, at least the one I thought of. Once again if you have any question or feedback you want to forward us, all our social channels are open.

[ DEVELOPMENT & STUFF ]

Have you noticed how there are no more sections based on department? I figured that they'd be useless now that we're in post.

Because yeah, we're officially in post-production now. June 20th marked the last day where we could confidently talk about new features; now all we are going to do are fix what needs to be fixed and polish what already is there, plus the very rare small addition to the game that we're 100% sure it's not going to cause any problems.

This polishing phase represent the last step in our development cycle, and it will continue 'til release in October.

...So what have we actually done this month?

Well, most of us were busy making the new trailer. This one has a lot more effort than the others and is low-key the best we have done, both technically and structurally.

The few others who did not participated in the filmmaking had a pretty extensive list of bugs and feedback that came from internal testing that needed to be sorted, or at least culled before the 20th. We started making builds like crazy, and you know what? Despite everything, we did some pretty cool stuff!

But as Mr. Bones' Wild Ride wisely teaches, the ride never ends...

[ SEND-OFF ]

And strangely enough, this is the end of June's Devlog.

Can I really call it a devlog tho? Like, there's literally no images and it's just a wall of plain, boring text.

There's also another thing troubling my mind: what am I gonna do next? Continue with another devlog? Try something new and fancy? Only time will tell...

Aight, I'm calling it now. Issue #17 is officially named "The Not-Devlog Special"!

Before we wrap things up though, there's one last thing that I'd like to include...

What follows come from our Game Director Francesco, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community who was kind enough to help me celebrate Pride Month with a couple of words. Francesco and other members of our team are invaluable colleagues aswell as dear friends, and he helped me IMMENSELY throughout the process of creating the character of Nova.

" Hi all! It's Francesco here, Game Director of Venice 2089.

Hope you guys are doing well. We are really excited to be close to the release of this little big game!

When we first started working on Venice 2089, everything started with our main character, Nova. In our minds the objective was to create a teenager during a relatable period of their life: growing in a world menaced by big insurmountable problems while also dealing with the anxiety of just passing the exams (THAT'S A huge one!).

I think everyone can relate to Nova's apathetic attitude when the outside demands you to make choices and advocate for something, while on the inside we are struggling to find our spot in this world. Moreover, in all of that we are still probably dealing with our sexual spectrum, at least it's what happened to me.

Growing up I felt like I did not feel part of the world at all and the feeling I had was not only a matter of interests… I was not able to experience love with others as I felt like it was something far away for me, a teenager still dealing with self-confidence in being socially accepted.

Different story when I started university courses at art university in Venice: there being a weirdo was ok, and step by step I also gained the confidence to fall in love and experience my sexuality. But it was just the start!

Now more than ever I really understand how the confusion about my sexual orientation have always influenced the confidence in other spectrums of my persona; that's why I felt like narratively Nova would work as a non-binary character, quite not feeling to be part of a defined gender and still searching for answers to define themselves.

As of now I define myself as homosexual… for the most part! I have to be honest: there's still some part of me that is still open to let other pieces of my personality and sexuality come out. Of course I would not identify my sexual orientation experience to Nova's sexual identity, but I would totally compare the feeling of being a bit lost and the necessity of finding your spot in the world.

Let this be my wish for pride month: be proud and be free. Don't be scared to share your feelings. Don't feel lost, we'll find our space together. "