It’s saucy time #6 ＼＼\\٩( 'ω' )و //／／ Greetings, men of culture (and ladies)!
It’s June, and the 6th episode of “It’s saucy time” is here. Time flies, it really does. I first established Lucid Realm Studio on November 6, 2021, and merely two quarters later, the Demo of Shred & Tear: Explosive Kajun was officially published on Steam. This may sound really small compared to some of the big sharks out there, but to us, this is concrete proof of our determination. We started with little, and yet we are aiming high and dreaming big!
If you haven’t tried out the Demo yet, head over to the Steam front page and get a sample of the visual feast we are serving.
Alright, let’s get started with all of the events that happened
Current State of the Shred & Tear
The Demo Release - 20-year journey summed up in 20 minutes
The beginning
It takes a lot to get to this point. I have managed to show you approximately 8 months of work on Twitter, but before that point, counting altogether, almost a year has gone by since we started this. However, it didn’t ACTUALLY begin in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, it was way earlier than that!
Some old art when I was 16 and then - now.
It started with me - a teenage PDD with a burning passion for video games and anime art in the 90s.
That boy worked his way up to Art School and had been working in the 3D Game/VFX industry since 2005, and strives to world-class level somedays. And I managed to keep that spirit up even to this day (but with a lot more Lewdness injected!!! - since I am an Adult now haha).
Fast forward to 2021 with a whole lotta new challenges, I finally had the resources together, and visualized my Lucid Realm!
Head over to the Front page or click the banner below to get a grasp of what that boy had worked on - it will take you roughly 20 minutes ;) and I hope you will enjoy it!
Shred & Tear is just an early entrance to what I have always been dreaming to make over the years! Sexy, Badass, Extra Thick Waifus in actions fighting against the grotesque hideous monsters in brutal hellish worlds!
The changes
As I have mentioned earlier in this episode of It’s saucy time, we have released the first ‘rough’ closed-beta version of the Demo and let our folks in the Lucid Realm server test it out. Sure enough, there were flaws. Then in the rush to refine it, then release it in time for upcoming events, the production team and I had worked our arse off, literally ~ but we managed to clean ourselves up after that so no worries.
What did they spot in the closed beta, and what have we done to refine it?
We set the survey to cover Graphics, Sound & Music, Gameplay, and Difficulty and received hundreds of comments and roughly 80 critical points to refine Shred & Tear that brought this new version alive!
Look at that long list of todo list I have cleared most of them after the private testing pharse. The Demo now is still needing alot of works but It is enough for you to get a gasp of Kajun-chan full taste !
First of all, I have quickly put together a photo mode that allows you to take the best shots of Kajun-chan and her glorious battle with Tentamons. Have you tried it out? Post that in the Discord for the troop to admire! I intended this mode for a small “interactive” gameplay session later but it’s good to push it out as an early iteration of the model.
About Shred & Tear, since the beginning, I didn’t make it tailored to hard-core gamers, I made it for everyone, from men of culture who enjoy lewdness as it is, to people who are fond of gory mecha monsters and fun, violent gameplay. Therefore the feedback on the difficulty of the controller varies widely. I decided to make the Controller setting available. Then further into the game, there will be more skill guides as well as custom key binding for you to work well with Kajun-chan in the battle against those Tentamons!
As we are targeting a mass group of demographic as well as game experiences, I believe the gameplay will have significant room for improvement. After the playtest, many did encounter multiple bugs related to the combat in general - therefore I really emphasize on this as it is critical to the overall players’ flow. According to some of our testers, the changes were “day and night” comparing version to version. Even though the Tunnel Raid gameplay is still a little buggy at the moment, you have my words, it will get better!
Last by not least, A Big shout out to (twitter)@_PixieWillow for voicing our lovely Kajun-chan ! perfectly in character and crank the sexy up x69.6 times !
Highlight Events
Playtesting Private Party
As you may have known from the last episode, we have organized a small Playtesting Private Party in our Discord server with over 70 participants.
Thank you all again for your contribution to Shred & Tear. Your valuable response will be our main motivation to do better. The number didn’t include just our supporters, but also streamers and Youtubers! Please be on the lookout for their reaction videos as well.
This event honestly put the team in awe of how wholesome, constructive people can be. Just look at how well the original tweet did!
The tweet alone attracted a flood of newbies to the server. And of course, they had the chance to see Kajun throughout & inside-out first in the prototype demo!
Apart from all the feedback & suggestions I got which are super helpful to know which direction should I polish the game. Some of the feedbacks really give me much motivations to pour my heart & soul to Shred&Tear !
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“Overall, even so early on, the graphics are very polished and I hope to see more as time goes on for sure!”
- TheoneMantis -
“Very cool designs. Kajun's design is absolutely amazing!”
- Justenrules -
“Excellent choice of music, sound effects, especially for enemy attacks and Kajun's reactions could be a bit louder”
- MetalCaveman -
“The small enemies feel way too fast and aggressive. They more or less instantly hit you if you get close, forcing you into a hit and run playstyle.”
- Horsen -
“The tunnel; the comic art; the interesting story and concept; Kajun's two-tone hair and her large breasts.”
- Patriot-Warrior -
“Rip and tear your way through tentacle monsters wanting to destroy humanity.”
- Titanium
And of course! A Big Thank You to everyone who participated in the private play test party and taking time to fill in the Survey ! You guys 's contributions does really help me tremendously in shaping/refining the game toward its better form. I got a little credit slide as a small thanks for all of our 69 testers !
In the future, if there is any private play-test for S&T , I hope that we still be able to receive such care & love from you guys. Soon one day we will hop on and meet Kajun-chan again!
Steam Next Fest announcement
Again, about Steam Next Fest, just to keep you guys informed, Shred & Tear is all set for one of the biggest festivals for game developers and promising indie games out there. It is the chance for you to try out our Demo and show your support! I really hope to be able to see you all joining hands during the event and spreading words about Shred & Tear and sharing a little bit of Kajun-chan altogether XD!
About Steam Next Fest, it's a big official event by Steam as a multi-day celebration of upcoming games. Explore and play hundreds of game demos, watch developer livestreams, and chat with teams about their games in progress, coming soon to Steam. Even though Shred & Tear final game is far from release but the Prototype Demo is worth trying out !
Communities & Press activities
The Gamer Section
I was so glad to hear from The Gamer Section earlier in May regarding an interview on Shred & Tear and what I had been working on so far. @kayokano was extremely kind and enthusiastic as a host and I got to share many things with the audience of The Gamer Section. You can watch the interview again here, oh and if you like the channel, give him some loves, thumb ups or even subscribe !:
Demo trailer featured by our fellows and friends
From Shady Corner
From Game Infinite
From our beloved Pixie the badass/sexy voice behind Kajun-chan!
A day in the Server - https://discord.gg/XEqD3nM5wu
Just a small reminder: Join us on Discord for the code to unlock our “exclusive” content!
After some time running the server, Ms. Lily - our Community Manager, has finally found herself a companion - the Mod - @Ribbonizer. He is the perfect complementary for her duties, together this duo covers every single timezone there is on this planet Earth! I am so relieved to see people being super welcomed on the server, and literally, no one is left behind!
Allow me to give you a tour of our server! These are our famous attractions
#snt-faq: Where we answer those frequently asked questions!
#snt-discussion: This is where men of culture, ladies, and even Tentamon get to show their passion to Shred & Tear and discuss the experience
#snt-kajun-chan-s-fan-club: Yeah, a place to simp. And you can only simp Kajun-chan, obviously. Wanna see some fanart there?
#lewd-land: yeah, there is lewd (Catto) content. Discover for yourself!
Snap & Tear: a photo contest
As the development of Shred & Tear progresses, more features will be added. And we have always wanted to embrace the ‘indie’ element every step of the way. Indie products pride themselves on their power to create very personalized experiences, and that’s what we are aiming for!
The photo mode is made not only for better interaction within the game, you guys can create your own Kajun-chan masterpiece of Tentamon slaughtering. Isn’t that fascinating? And we wanted our fans to be a part of this journey. So here’s Snap & Tear! At this point, the contest is closed, and Lily and I are having a really tough time selecting the winner!
Let’s run through the prizes again!
- - 1 platinum: 2 keys for the Official Release, shots will be featured on the Steam front page, Lucid Realm Twitter & Discord Server
- - 5 gold: 1 key for the Official Release, shots will be featured on Lucid Realm Twitter & Discord Server
- - 10 silver: 20% off code for the Official Release, shots will be featured on Discord Server
That's pretty much it for this month!
Luckily everything is ready to some extend right in time for Steam Next Fest ! Let’s dive in and let me know what you think in our Server.
See you then !