Some words and thanks
It's been about half a year since launch, and I just want to say a HUGE thank you to our players and community - we truly wouldn't be here without you! ❤️❤️ All your streams, playthroughs, feedback, suggestions, reports, and comments have been an important part of the development process, and have shaped Research Story one way or another.
Research Story has come quite a long way. I started working on the game in October 2020, which is close to 3 years ago. What started as a little indie dream has evolved into something that I see myself doing for a long time. I remember my elation seeing my first 100 followers on Twitter - people were interested in my game! Today, we have close to 4,000 players, 8,000 followers on Twitter and 37,000 wishlists - something that I could have only hoped to achieve. The support and interest for the game is something that I'm always grateful for, and certainly part of what keeps me going! So again, thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
✨Updated Roadmap✨
I think it's a good time to look back at the past 6 months and update our roadmap. I plan to focus on NPC stories in Sep-Oct as part of the v0.6 NPC & Romance update. From Nov-Dec, we'll work on a major update, the v0.7 Creatures & Caves update, which would include new and improved content for creatures, a more differentiated mining experience, the Winter Festival, and more. Here's the updated roadmap:
Updated Roadmap, with plans for Q4 2023 and beyond.
Looking back at our initial plans, we're still on track to complete our roadmap (and more!) for this Early Access release. Since release, we've added full controller support, multiple QOL and bugfix updates, automation, several festivals, 7 new OSTs, as well as additional dialogue and decor content to the game.
One of the things we've added that wasn't part of the initial roadmap is the CN localisation, which sets the foundation for adding other languages in the future. We decided to add it earlier in the game's development to minimise the time needed to rework the game during the localisation process.
We are also adding a new update category (v0.7 Creatures and Caves Update) after hearing from players - players wanted a deeper and broader system relating to creature research! We'll work through the details in a couple of months' time, but I already have some ideas about making it a fun and cute update. Stay tuned!
Final words
We hope you've been enjoying the Early Access journey with us so far! Time is passing so quickly and I can see the game getting closer to 1.0 every day. There's still a bit to go, including a bunch of content relating to NPCs and research. I plan to have the Legendary Research and Marriage Updates in 2024, closer to the 1.0 release, as part of the end-game content.
As usual, we're always super happy to hear from you! Any comments from players are always appreciated, and I try to respond to most of them. If you have any questions, suggestions, ideas about the game, the community-led Wiki, or anything else - come share them with our Discord community! We're almost at 700 members and will be happy to have you 🥰 Or share them on Steam as I check it quite often too! 👍 Also, tell us who should we add as a romance candidate next!! 💗
Talk to you soon,
Miki