So as mentioned, I did take September off to work on a competitive game jam project. I didn't win anything but I did get better ranking than the last time I joined that specific jam, I got lots of good reviews from those who played my entry, and I got myself somewhat back into gear (if you kind of squint?) and got a good chunk of the Branching Updates paths done. In fact, this project changed my perspective on visual novel developing altogether.
Mainly that I think Blue Mirage will be my last published visual novel.
Eagle-eye watchers may have noticed that the promise of bonus stories was removed from the store page. That is because I can no longer guarantee those bonus stories will be made. Once Blue Mirage is pushed to 1.0, I want to leave visual novel development behind me. But I don't want to be one of those devs who leaves stuff abandoned in Early Access. The main game WILL be finished. Just can't promise anything after that anymore.
i'm going to back to Blue Mirage being my main VN project, though! I want to get the Branching Paths part finished ASAP so that I can go right into the endings. So the Branching Paths update is now actually going to be the rest of the story, not just the Chapter 6 variations. Branching Paths will be 1.0, basically. And it will be here when it gets here. If I were to give a guesstimate, early 2025. But don't quote me on that.
But why am I leaving all this behind? I've been doing visual novel development for four years, why quit now?
Well, quite frankly, it is because I just want to write.
And the game I made in September was so fun to write, I kept wanting to play around in that world. If I'm going to turn anything into a novel, its that game (surprisingly not Clash; Clash works better as a VN than as a book, I've tried). My jam project that made me decided to switch from VN development to writing is coming to Steam on November 14th. If you want to help me fund my writing dreams, pick up a copy. Its cheaper than a cup of coffee!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3312820/The_Automaton_of_Second_London
So there you go. Progress on Blue Mirage has started back up, the Branching Paths update will also be the 1.0 update, I'm semi-shadow dropping a shorter game to help me fund my writing, and Blue Mirage is going to be my last visual novel as I switch from gamedev to writing as my side job hobby thing.