Some of the words that have quickly worked their way into our regular communication are the simplest ones, but arguably the most meaningful ones, and I'll never grow tired of writing them.
Thank you.
Thank you, for your support over the time, during our transparency of our struggles, and the overwhelming support that radiated from even that. Thank you, if you've been with us from the very beginning. Thank you, for making Her Last Piece not our last piece.
We had to take some measure of radio silence as we found our footing, delved into some sidejobs and planned and arranged for our plans, backups, backups of backups, and fallbacks.
With great mirth, we are sharing with you the news that...
Act 3 is in progress!
Despite the feeling that we might have to continue on a deficit, the overwhelming support has made it possible for us to not only continue but finish Act 3 as a whole. So again, thank you.
Because we would not be in this stage without you, we thought it would be a good moment to actually kind of properly introduce our team, as we have not taken the opportunity to, and to thank everyone who contributed not only directly to the project, but also through other measures.
It'll be a bit of a long post, but we'll be sharing some bits of the future as well, so stay tuned!
So without further ado~
The core team:
Auxiliaryout, our resident American artist, Live2D extravaganza, unnecessary workaholic, and the resulting factor in nigh everything you can visibly see ingame. His hard work and indomitable spirit is the drive behind this project.
Lostraven, our resident British writer, the de-facto brain of the project, the one who conceptualized and put to paper the story of Her Last Piece, and what makes Arvenia who she is. His creativity shines throughout everything we created.
Pasix, yours truly! The Dutchman behind all of the code, my goal and self-enforced task is to be the polish that makes my objectively vastly more creative peers shine brighter than a diamond. (Yes, I'm also responsible for the bugs and the Dutch translation. Sorry!)
Our compatriots in arms:
Sanityzer and Monty P, the music-making and enhancing legendary Canadian brothers. Everything you hear in game has been their handiwork, bar the actual voice-work, which they still enhanced and mastered. Their creative skills in both music and sound bring to life what we could not, and their dedication to the game has been impeccable. Thank you!
Karamelone, our resident German, who helps us bring our game to you, by maintaining our socials and helping to make sure your voices are always heard. Always keeping an ear to the ground and helping us ensure our game is up to par with standards and expectations is an immense help to have. Thank you!
PixieWillow, the beautiful British voice actress behind Arvenia, her voice puts to words (Literally!) everything what Arvenia is and should convey. Her expertise in the profession brings Arvenia to life on the screen, and makes her feel like she would never let you go. Or... would she? Thank you!
Sageras Simpson and Mai-senpai (麻衣学姐), our Chinese specialists, who translated all of the game into Chinese up until now to the utmost level of quality. With a vast experience in translating other games, these two know how to connect through a massive language barrier, and working with them has been a blast. With a double linguistic expertise, they will also be our gateway into Japanese when the time is ripe! Thank you!
Locolizator, our Spanish locolizator (Get it?), has ensured the translation of Act 1 to the utmost level of quality. Sadly due to little request, we haven't continued it for Act 2, but we are still thankful for his contributions and we will definitely have him onboard for the future, should Spanish become more requested. Thank you!
Hades Ruler, from the appropriately named Hades Army - our recent Russian acquisition, currently working to translate both Act 1 and Act 2 to the lovely Russian language. With a dedication to quality, it was no doubt that we'd want someone like him handling the translation. Thank you!
If you are looking for quality work for your project or commission:
All of the above are available for hire for their respective efforts! Please feel free to reach out to them directly, or feel free to contact Pasix to get you acquainted. We absolutely and completely endorse all of them and we wouldn't be here without them.
Our supporters:
It would be very cheeky to write "You!" here, but at the end of the day, that is still exactly what I wrote. You, the player, are our main supporter, and the mere fact you went and decided to buy our game has been a part to allowing us to do what we love. Besides that, your feedback, suggestions and motivations are what shapes our game to be what it is.
Despite that, we would also like to point out a few key individuals, who are not necessarily more important than anyone else, but have contributed in ways that have made their own unique form of impact;
Aebard - the developer of Vaygren - Lustful Temptation. We have addressed it before, but Aebard has effectively been walking the same path we have, with all of its struggles, hurdles, obstacles and occasional windfalls. Aebard has been exceptionally kind as to not only share these with the creator of the engine we work with, but also with us, going as far as sometimes directly helping us with problems or even creating code that could help with a problem we have had. This legend has most likely chipped off a few months of dev time purely through his kindness. Thank you!
All of the creators that featured us in their shoutouts; in no particular order:
- ArbuzBudesh (from Team Dead Deer, developing Price for Freedom) Thank you!
- Leopold Visette (developing Valor and Glory) Thank you!
- Lovestory (from the aptly named Lovestory, developing Devoted Wife and Stolen) Thank you!
- Colorless and RyanReos (who probably don't need an introduction, but they do more than that Marika skin, you know!) Thank you!
The amazing folks that commissioned custom pieces to support the project:
Emberwulf:
A commission featuring a character from a story they've worked on, displayed in Auxiliaryout's artstyle. Plate always does well, doesn't it? Thank you!
SevereArtisan:
A commission for an original character, displayed in Auxiliaryout's artstyle. White hair and red eyes are always a classic. Thank you!
Mr. Zer0, who contributed an unnecessarily large amount of money in one go, without even requesting anything back for it. Thank you!
The current 32 paying and 253 total members of our Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/HerLastPiece, who support us either financially or by being a part of our fanbase. Thank you!
Everyone in the Steam comments, discussions and our Discord at https://discord.gg/t3yKctXWgz.
All of our friends who did playtesting, gave feedback or helped with smaller tasks in their own ways. Thank you!
So what's next?
Upon request, we've started working on something we've dubbed a 'Supporter's Pack' next to the OST pack. We're still working on making it worthwhile to purchase, and we're still open to suggestions or thoughts on the matter, if you'd be willing to share.
Currently we have in mind the following;
- A few special costumes/garbs for Arvenia to wear, which will also add an option to overwrite the costume Arvenia wears in the moment.
- Some very custom tracks from our resident musicians, which didn't end up getting used in the game for one reason or another.
- Sketches for artwork that have or have not made it into the game
- A walkthrough for the game, with both paths, secrets and some interesting notes you might've missed.
The OST pack will feature all of the music currently ingame and will be extended with music that is to come (without additional cost, if you already bought the OST pack, of course).
Additionally, we're also thinking of some minor items that will allow you to share your support or just to use in general of course - things for the Steam point store, trading cards and badges, for example.
With Act 3 confirmed, we're circling back from our side hustles and rearranging our schedules to dedicate our time to Her Last Piece properly again. The preparations are already well underway and full development is to start relatively soon. Preferably we would've had a date for the Supporter's Pack and OST ready for you, but with somewhat chaotic schedules still, we'd rather be silent than wrong, on the matter.
Last but not least, we'd love to hear what your thoughts are on both the game and the Supporter's Pack. What are you missing? What would you like to see in Act 3? What are you most positive about? What do you dislike the most? We'd love to hear from you!
Until the next dev progress post!
Love,
- Spicemerchantsgames