Hi there, long time no see! I guess the break between this and the previous news was the longest... Okay, okay. Jokes aside (but only for the next 1.5 minutes of reading this text), it's time to talk about the latest updates.
Ukrainian translation added to the game! Thanks to PineappleMan (aka. NikolasTesla) for his work. And also many thanks for his contribution to the Discord server of the game as a moderator: only because of him the channel with a gallery, where all sent fan-arts are collected, is still active. By the way, we recently reached 2000 members! If you are not on our server yet, but would like to chat a bit with other fans of the game... the link is below.
https://discord.gg/SG48X7h2q6
There's more news: you can now put the game and achievements from it on your profile showcase! This means that you can now remind yourself and your friends of the best choices you could make in this life.
And, before the promised Q&A, I'd like to mention one very cool video essay made by Bad Ghosts. It would be great to watch to revisit the Prototype ver., and also to listen to some pretty interesting thoughts on the story and the novel ifself. Highly recommended!
It's time for Q&A!
Q: How to replay the game?
A: In addition to the well-known (and painful) method of deleting persistent files, recently one of the players managed to reset the progress by changing one number in the version of the game. Detailed tutorial in this video:
https://youtu.be/RXNXWmFyLtk?list=LL
Q: Will it be possible to reset a progress in the remake?
A: Yes, you will be able to. And in the remaster, too.
Q: How long did it take to write the story for the prototype, and to create it itself in general?
A: It took about 3-4 months to write the script. The text was done in about 2 weeks. I drew all the graphics in 3 days. The music was written in 1 day, and I built the game on the engine in about the same amount of time... Deadlines do wonders.
Q: How did you come up with the idea to create REFLEXIA?
A: It came out of a smooth metamorphosis of a completely different idea about girls in purgatory. Then I wrote a script from it about a girl and her alter ego trying to save her from her desire to disappear.
After that, I got tired of the depressing tone of the story, so I turned it into a parody where the main character had to go on dates with her alter egos. Then I got bored with that version, too, because it was so depressingly boring to write the text for this script, so I decided to send the main character on a date with the reader.
This idea turned out to be much more fun, and the plot remained purely comedic for a while... until I was hit with unrequited feelings that I couldn't and wouldn't show to anyone at the time. And that was how disks had created. And I came up with and wrote the whole thing just for a visual novel contest (which I later won, awesome!).
Q: Will the Prototype ver. ever have stuff in a points shop?
A: Unfortunately, no... Just because it's only for paid games or games with an in-game store. However, for the remake I think no problem!
Q: Will the game soundtrack ever be on Spotify?
A: Yes! I can't really give exact dates yet, but I will definitely make it in the future...
Q: Will Nikita Kryukov be involved in the remake as a composer?
A: Yes! He has already written quite a lot of compositions just for REFLEXIA, from which we will then select which ones will go into the game and which ones will not.
Q: Will there be the promised yuri harem in the remake? Will there be pantsu jokes? Will there be more jokes about breaking the fourth wall? And what about the men in the game?
A: Yuri harem will happen. Pantsu jokes can live without REFLEXIA, but REFLEXIA can't live without them. There will be as many fourth-wall jokes as I can come up with while I watch paint dry on that fourth wall. Men? I don't think there's much need for them inside the game when there's already plenty of them outside by the game on screen.
Q: How much ice cream will there be?
A: Yes.
Q: What about achievements? Will you add them to the game?
A: Definitely! There will certainly be as many of them as in the Prototype ver. originally.
Q: Will there be any secrets in the game files this time, the possibility to manipulate them in any way? For example, similar to what was in DDLC or OneShot.
A: I have a lot of ideas about it, so there will definitely be plenty to do outside of the game. At the same time, any exploration and experimentation in the project directory won't be required to complete the game, just to see a little bit of new content. Not much more than that.
Q: So there are hidden achievements in the plans that you get for special actions?
A: Yes! In addition to the already mentioned file manipulations, it will be possible to get them simply for special actions within the game. For example, for trying to break the dialog.
Q: The remake and remaster of REFLEXIA will be in RenPy too?
A: Nothing changes, both projects will remain on the old engine.
Q: Absolutely serious question: will there be a working autoread feature in the remake? Asking for anyone who like myself doesn't like skipping lines manually.
A: No. I don't think it makes any sense: there are too many choices in the game that this feature will bump into every time, still forcing you to go back to the mouse/spacebar.
Q: How many languages do you plan to translate the remake into?
A: In the long term, as many languages as possible, but how many will be on release is an another question. I still need to contact all the translators, which I'll do only after the English translation starts, so I won't promise anything yet... Anyway, it would be great to release the game with at least all the languages that are already in the Prototype ver.
Q: Would love to see the main characters interact with each other more...
A: No worries! While in the Prototype ver. they meet just once at the beginning of the second ending, in the remake their relationship will be one of the most important parts of the game. Although it may not seem that way at first...
Q: Will there be color experimentation in the new game like in the disk part? Will the palette be replenished?
A: Yes! And also yes, new colors will be introduced alongside blue in the remake.
Q: Besides the remaster and remake are there any other plans for the games?
A: I've fallen in love with REFLEXIA too much over the years to never go back to it again... However, for now I've decided that after the remake I want to definitely take a break from it. So even if I get ideas for new REFLEXIA games, it'll be a long time to wait for it.
Regarding new games in general... I still have a dozen or so other stories that I'd like to make in one form or another. It's mostly visual novels, but future works (starting with the remake) will have more gameplay implementations. That said, there's no need to worry about this within the visual novel genre: I want any new gameplay mechanics to emphasize the narrative, not to replace it by turning the game into a simulator game of something like that with occasional text insertions.
Q: Where can I support you? The game is free and I can't find donation links anywhere.
A: Thank you for wanting to support REFLEXIA and me as an author even more!!! ❤
I've now set up my page on boosty for this purpose. You can use it to send me some donation or make a subscription to the weekly development report. If enough people get interested in subscribing, I'll add more levels and rewards for them.
The link itself: https://boosty.to/mahoumaiden/donate
Q: Do you have a Twitter?
A: Yes! You can find me as @mahoumaiden.
Almost done! There are five more questions left, which are not really about REFLEXIA or my work in general, but about me myself.
Q: How are you doing? And what are you doing usually? I promise I won't calculate your coordinates and go to the same supermarket with you every day.
A: I'm much better now! I'm learning Japanese at a language school, every day trying to finish the general cleaning I started a month ago, get back to work, and get back on track my lifestyle, because of which my health problems have gotten noticeably worse. Basically, there's not much else going on...
Q: Is it difficult to learn Japanese? How do you speak it, write it at the moment?
A: I think after we recently changed our textbooks and moved up a grade, it has become a little bit harder to keep up with some subjects. Right now we're somewhere between N3 and N2. With N2 level you can already go to colleges/universities and get a job here.
I think I speak Japanese pretty bad. In terms of writing, I'm having a hard time remembering all the characters we've learned. This year we've gone through, uhh... about 700 kanjis? That's tough.
Grammar is probably the one thing I have the easiest time with. I loved it the most when I was learning Russian, and Japanese has a lot of constructions that remind me of my native language, which makes memorization a bit easier.
Q: What is your favorite visual novel? Have you played the Hate Story games?
A: I think it's hard for me to name a favourite novel but I can list everything that has ever made an impression on me. There was Tokyo Alice (my first vn that sparked my interest in the genre!), Ryukishi07's works (Higurashi&Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni), Steins;Gate, soundless - A MODERN SALEM IN REMOTE AREA - (I still revisit it from time to time! and also, it turns out, they released a remaster not too long ago... highly recommend, i love it) and Daiku no Medium. And I'll finally answer the second part of the question: unfortunately, I haven't read the novels in the Hate Story series. But they're on the list of things I'd like to play later!
Q: What games do you usually play?
A: I'm in love with The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the mobile game Cookie Run: Ovenbreak, and hopefully someday I'll get back to Minecraft. Best games ever for me.
Q: Favorite flavor of ice cream? Favorite pantsu?
A: I love mint ice cream with chocolate chip. And also after eating strawberry ice cream at the airport the first time I came to Japan, it became one of my favorites too. Favorite pantsu? I made the Prototype ver. back in 2021, but my preference hasn't changed since then, so... I guess that counts as an answer.
That's all for now. Thank you for your attention! Next time I'll post here when I've progressed enough to be able to announce a more precise release date. And until then...
Intermission.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2271570/REFLEXIA/