Greetings, men of culture (and ladies)!
Lucid Realm first opened its portal to the public exactly one year ago. To me, this has been a tremendous milestone that I’ve been working towards for basically my whole life, and it’s hardly an exaggeration since this Realm, this dream of mine, has been stewing on the fire since I began to truly know myself. A boy who loved video games and draw anime, a 3D Animator who drew his way to college, a young artist who entered the world of game production with all of his passion, an entrepreneur who started at something he loved - all of them have converged into who I am today. an Indie Game Developer with a little bit of "cultured" spice !
But this was not a journey I undertook alone. It’s always great to see a vision become a reality, but it is much greater still to be able to share it with so many people. Many of you have known me for quite a while, and some have only become acquainted with me just recently, but we all share the same tastes and vision: absolute adoration of beautiful, sexy, and badass ladies of war. There’s more than meets the eye about them. They are not just there to be eye candy but are also formidable warriors who can take over the entire world if given a chance! Sexiness & badass does blend well !
Now, if you will follow me on a quick trip down memory lane to where things started and how we got to this point.
Even though the word “Realm” has a sense of scale and longevity to it, I would still call this whole journey a marathon. It sure took me a tremendous amount of time to prepare for the run, and yet, I’m still at the very beginning of it. There’re many goals to hit, and there is a destination.
not-so-random Fact #1: I am a determined & cautioned person. So I prefer everything is just going slowly but really steady around me most of the time
Phase 1: The preparation
In 2022, after 15 years, I finally felt “that” moment coming. I was ready for the new challenges. I found my own "little game studio" and start working on my first personal game project. It all started with a code name, loads of brainstorming sessions, and I got a protagonist on the table. She was mad sexy. She had everything it took to take over the world, but she decided to save it. She is Kajun-chan.
This is the first ref collection/mood board that I used to create Kajun’s appearance sometime in 2021
Never-released-before Fact #2: Kajun-chan working title was “Godzi-chan”, though it didn’t have a nice ring to it, and it didn’t sound very fitting for a character of this power level.
So can you guess what the current name is coming from ?
December 2021 - A little Realm emerge!
I published the Steam Front Page and started a new Twitter account for Lucid Realm. Things were going quite well since I had my audiences & supporters already from my main Twitter Account. And some, up until this day, are still in the Discord server. I can’t thank them enough. Honestly, really, I can't really go on without knowing that there are people out there appreciate and take a liking to my creations !
Never-released-before Fact #3: I know my whole style is all about lewdness and sexy badass, which is quite niched when it come to target audiences. Surprisingly, in steading of giving me the judgement, there are quite a lot of ladies supporting the project! Ladies, if you truly root/love for something please casting aside the common prejudice and speak up ! #womeningaming
oh I guess the same standpoint would be valid for guys as well...
January 2022 - The first Dev Blog
Have you seen Kajun’s first two teasers?
There are many who would wonder why I intended for Kajun to be the one and only protagonist of Shred & Tear’s first act. And those who follow my work will know that I have literal a design collections of badass, sexy ladies which can be picked out and ready to serve instantly in a project like this. But to really think about it, who would be the best contender to fight Kajun for that spotlight? I just want a world that only has single finest girl fighting against endless waves of grotesque monsters, that's the beauty of it. When it comes to fine-dining, quality matter not quantity.
Never-released-before Fact #4: Well actually, there is one, but you dont get to control/play her *ahem* . I’ll let you guess. You probably seen her already *wink*
February 2022 - Details on the Realm
This month alone, I published 12 materials in every aspect of the game. From Kajun-chan’s model to some of the enemies and bosses. The early WIP quality of the work really shows, especially compared to how things are now, but people were still excited about their potential. If you’ve been here since those rough early days, you’re OG, and I salute you!
Tentamon, Squalomon & Salumon
Now, you must have seen this in the demo, right? xD
I-released-this-one-but-you-might-not-noticed fact #5: Salumon’s name originates from the Italian charcuterie board - Salumi. yum.
March 2022 - Little bit dev on story setup, what happened to Earth?
I’ve uploaded a rough storyboard of the prequel comic around this time, but, another fact #5: i bet you’ve never seen the first few sketches
The soundtrack also materialized around this point. The music is meant to convey that “chiptune 90s gaming x mecha waifu in a rock band” kind of mood. I’ve worked very hard with the composer (shout out to Lucas Tuttle) on these tracks.
Never-released-before fact #6: Lucas already working on series of main soundtracks for the next update! which is even more metal and badass sounding!
April 2022 - Shady got our back!
We shook hands with a publisher! And since then, Shady Corner Games has been our best friend on this journey. This is me rating my top three games published under Shady’s shade. Highly NOT recommended when you are in public, because you might blush way too much.
Zoria and the Cursed Land: Who will be against an Orc sexy cutie pie anyway? Plus it’s pixel NSFW *dive the hell in*
Under-the-witch: Visuals!!!! And holy customization, my people!!!
Slime Girl Smoothies: Cannot unsee this game. I started looking at my um.. fruit… a little differently…
If you’re a fan of sexy & lewdness, make sure to check these out too!
You-might-not-know fact #7: I made alot of rookies mistakes as an indie Game Dev, but Shady Corner did help me alot and providing me useful insight throughout the whole journey
Phase 2: Get it out there
May 2022 - 3P, but not what you think
It was our Private Playtest Party. The first prototype was “sort of” ready, but not quite entirely. So I decided to let a few of my Discord members try it first. As anxious as I was, it was also exciting to receive feedback from others.
Never-released-before fact #8: A weird bug that my testers stumbled across: Duplicate Waifus!!
June 2022 - The first prototype release
The prototype finally went live, and the level of support it received was astounding!
- Discord members: Started at around double digits in April, by the beginning of June, the ranks swelled to 1K. And by the end of it? 1.5K. It still wasn’t by any means a terribly huge community, but it was a quality close circle.
- Wishlist: I saw a really gradual growth for the first quarter, but dear, Steam did their magic for indie. Throughout the month, the numbers shot up from 4.6K to 20K, and I’ve discovered an entirely new level of happiness!
- Twitter: also witnessed an x4 growth!
The community just went full speed at Shred & Tear for real. Lucid Realm’s server was flooded with reviews, mostly very thoughtful and well-put from both the player & indie dev perspectives. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Let’s read it the review again cause I want to relive the moment hehee
“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
July 2022 - Appearance revamp
Our prototype clearly deserved a much more polished presentation. While we were at it, I’ve also touched up the website and uploaded a new teaser trailer as well.
Meanwhile, the hype from June was still lively. The team and I received around 200 feedback and reviews in the span of 2 months. That was crazy, but somewhat scary too. Not of the critical comments, but the anxiety of how I would return the favor of such a supportive community with so much expectation for S&T and me. Criticisms were sent in essays, no jokes guys.
Never-released-before fact #9: 95% of our players fell for the tunnel racing parts. They all being “loved” by it to death, like literally hundreds of death counts. And the amount of feedback - Oh boy *smh*
and now?
Phase 3: What’s next?
August 2022 - Great challenges come with great bosses
A protagonist will need their rival to shine. I get that. Creating a worthwhile boss for Kajun-chan to fight against was always top priority. You guys must have seen it since August.
Never-released-before fact #10: This was the first mood board for the big boss.
While we are at it , here are some early sketches for the Tentamon creeps:
Final & animation
They gonna "massage" Kajun-chan to her end yeah ?
September 2022 - Tear it down, build it up again
Not the whole demo, of course, but there were some critical parts that needed to be revamped, and others rebuilt from scratch. The gameplay, and the flow of the demo, were smoothened out with more features that make sense while playing, especially the racing tunnel.
Let’s have a look at the new and improved tunnel sequence.
(revamp tunnel vids)
Other than that, we also had some visuals spiced up, like Kajun’s private time.
October 2022 - New! Shiny! Steamy! Hot features
Another prototype in 2023 ? In such a short amount of time, I should really be worried about bringing new dishes to the menu. And I’ve really exceeded my limit. I’ll list my top 5 new favorite features you can experience in the next demo
- Lucid Studio: replacing Photo Mode with A LOT of modification to do
- Teleport system: Who knows where this will take Kajun?
- New Kajun’s attacks: Throw, heat, pop? Those tentamons will have a hard time.
- Targeting system: More tentamons mean you have to keep more than an eye on the battle.
- Bullet hit system: Lock it, hit it, with speed of course.
November 2022 - A month of VFX
Aside from gameplay, I know my guys ! They are all about the visual buffet. And I delivered. From the gory side of the game which is bloody and messy, to the sexy side we all know, every element can get a little more magical with effects. And VFX did add to Kajun-chan’s badass level!
December 2022 - Our hidden event
Never-released-before fact #11: It’s what you’ve known for some months now.
As our anniversary approaches, we came bearing gifts, as well as news of promotions for something that is in the making ~
2023 will be the official launch of our Patreon Channel!
→ Join our Discord to learn more. I shouldn’t say more. What happens on Discord, stays on Discord!
A tribute to our folks
A community with like-minded people - never in a million years could I ever imagine I’d get such a chance! I’ll let you in on some of the remarkable milestones here.
Wishlists, followers & other supporters
I can’t thank you, (yes you) enough. Since you are also a part of this story, our story. I didn’t know when you joined the force, but I hope you’ll be with us for a long time to come!
Here are some of our biggest moments:
First 500 total added wishlists & 1K followers - Jan 3, 2022 - one month after Steam ‘debut’ 10K total added wishlists & 4.6K followers - June 6, 2022 - before the Steam Next Fest storm Peak of the year - Daily added wishlist balance +1671 - Jun 13, 2022 - the storm 20K total added wishlists - July 11, 2022. 30K total added wishlists - November 28, 2022
Never-released-before fact #12: Our reach/likes/view has always been organic. Zero marketing budget.
Who has joined me in this journey?
I was on my own (for too long I can't remember) with this vision until these folks came along!
Lily - my assistant, marketing-researcher-cum-community-manager - you'll be speaking to her probably more than me sometimes.
Koenji - our Jr UE4 Dev - he is in charge of mostly building the AI system, how intelligent the Tentamon is!
Lucas Tuttle - the man behind the badass soundtracks of Shred & Tear!
✦𝙿𝚒𝚡𝚒𝚎𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠✦ - she literally brought Kajun-chan to life with her playful dynamic VA job~
Hiragana - a great mecha artist that works with refining and lining a lot of our comic parts. His vision just simply goes align with me.
Thank you all, I'm glad to have you guys as my companions in this tough marathon. Let's have a feast next year, and beyond ~
And well, I suppose that’s a wrap! I hope I’ll see you next year.
________________________
From PDD - Dark Lord of Lewd