I started this game in April 2017; that's over 9 years of development. The beginning years weren't really taken seriously. I was in college, and this was a side project; I never really took time with it. I even started working on ANOTHER unrelated game during that time. It wasn't until 2021 that I actually went back and started treating it like a real project.
The Steam page went up in 2022. Looking back at it now, it was awful: a screenshot for a capsule with a poorly drawn character on top of it, a trailer that didn't do the game justice. Some of you saw all that and still wishlisted anyway, and I appreciate you all for that.
Development has been really slow and messy. I didn't know what to do with the game, originally, I intended to release the game with a level editor, and that's it; the community would take it from here. But I wanted an actual game, so I made 2 modes: Adventure Mode and Battle Mode.
In early 2025, I put real effort into fixing the Steam page. I learned to draw just for the capsule art, remade the screenshots and the trailer, and I studied how good Steam pages are built. I also went looking for a publisher because I thought: "this number of wishlists isn't gonna cut it, what if I get a publisher?"
I found a publisher, signed with them, and for a while it felt like the project had momentum for the first time. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. Without getting into details, the deal wasn't good for me, and by early 2026, I left. Although I actually learned a lot about the business side of game dev during this time.
After the breakup, I basically stopped; I didn't post anything, didn't progress through the game, and it was for a few months. I don't know if it's because of leaving the publisher or if the burnout has been building up and just started to take massive effect now.
I started again at the beginning of July; as of now, I've finished 5 of the game episodes, working towards episode 6. I'm still aiming to release the game in 2026.
That's why updates were moving super slow from January to June this year. I'm honestly tired of saying "we're almost there!" for the tenth time when now I don't fully believe it.
This game started as a side project I thought would be just another small free game I'd put on Itch and move on; I've made like +20 games since I was 13; this is my first COMMERCIAL game, and it's been a long journey since then.