It finally happened. We entered the active coding phase of the first part of the second episode’s release version. We’ve been waiting for our coder for a long time but on the other hand, we used that time to add more content.
As to why we’re going to release the update in two stages I’ve already explained before. I will just quickly remind you:
1) This will allow us to catch more bugs thanks to our community
2) The castle part isn’t finished yet. Even though there isn’t that much text, the investigation part underwent huge revamp.
Our coder couldn’t start working due to a number of reasons but now he’s working and we’re progressing rather quickly. Now we run into a lot of small things that need editing, but that’s totally normal.
Now when I carefully look through the update’s documentation, I realize that some of the things could’ve been simplified, others improved. Overall, it’s hard to keep the game’s picture inside your head even if you write it all down. Even now I can’t see the full picture in my mind regarding how exactly the game will look. I’m fairly sure there’ll be some mistakes, it’s just impossible to avoid them.
As for how soon we’re going to release it on Steam, it’s hard to say. A lot of different factors play a role in this question. A few different people do their part of the job and most of the times, they’re irreplaceable in their area. The proofreading made by the main scriptwriter is an essential thing to keep the whole game’s writing in the same style, while I need to prepare all the renders and documentation and of course, if our coder’s busy, no one else can do his job.
We’ve done a lot of new events. I even think there’s a bit too many of them given there’ll be only three playable days. On the other hand, having many events is never a bad thing. We’re too far away from calling ourselves professional game developers.
Talking about what content you may expect to see, we’re mainly focused on the game’s beginning part. Most of the new events will happen prior to the castle. The castle’s part has been improved too and the investigation arc was partly edited.
The part of the game before castle will have around 40k of new words, which isn’t that bad if you ask me. The castle part which is mostly finished will add around 13k of words more. Once we’re done with the castle part, we can finally release the update on STEAM. I repeat, we aren’t going to release intermediate releases on STEAM, only finished and tested game will be published on STEAM. Even though a lot of people ask me to do otherwise, I won’t do the same mistake twice 😊 You can thank all those reviewers who said: «I don’t recommend the game before full version is out»
Price question.
I’ve read countless comments saying that we sell our games for way too cheap, and it may scare away possible customers. If the game is cheaper than other similar games, it may indicate that it’s of poor quality. We aren’t planning to raise prices for already released games, however we will increase the price for the finished version of VC2. There’s definitely a lot more content in that game, the job’s difficulty increased, and no one’s canceled the inflation. Bring me back to my 2007…
So yeah, I’d like to know what price you would consider to be acceptable, given everything stated above.
The recent poll.
There wasn’t any poll on the Steam. You can’t make one, only create a corresponding thread. However, we did hold a poll on our Patreon and it showed me what I’d already known.
A little story behind this poll. I was once talking to our good friend. So, we were talking and I said: «Look, I’m always angry, I tell our haters and those who whine to get lost, I don’t really do any AD. The game’s completely not trendy and people still buy it».
To that he said: «It’s because you have good graphics.»
I answered with: «It’d be nice to know that I’m the only one in our team who keeps our boat afloat but I think that the main story is as important in our game.»
Therefore, we decided to hold a poll, the results of which you can see right now.
Our second scriptwriter who happens to be a girl wanted to see QTE and even though we don’t really have any feminism ideas in our country, a girl’s wish is something we can’t deny. If she wants QTE, she’ll have QTE. Have you watched Shrek? Remember the cat’s eyes? How can you deny a person with similar eyes? Well, I can’t.
I bet haters started writing hateful comments after the last paragraph, so I’ll talk with those who’re still reading this. Gameplay-wise the game’s still weak. During one of the last conversation with our writers I said the following thing: «We aren’t making an erotic game in its usual form (and we don’t want to) and yet we can’t call our game a game.» As a result, our game doesn’t really do it for those who like erotic game and neither does it for those who love common games. So far, we can’t seem to fix it. We’re lacking something and I can’t really tell what. We’ve got millions of ideas, yet we lack time and human power to bring them to life. We’re trying, we’re experimenting, maybe one day we’ll feel what we should strive towards.
That’s it for now. The release will be here soon, that is if consider from developer’s perspective. However, the time’s flying for us, you don’t even notice how quickly you get old. From the player’s perspective, I don’t know. Just keep waiting, we aren’t running anywhere from you. We still need your money 😊
Bye everyone.