Thank you for your constant support!
The EA4.0 version of Mysteria~Occult Shadows~ was just updated. And there has been a bifurcation between the developer - U-Secret Studio and us on whether the EA4.0 version has reached the standard of a formal release.
As a product provider, what our customers want and need has always been our priority. It is required that our point of view should always be aligned with you. After some in-depth testing by our quality assurance team, we've come to an agreement that there's still a pretty big gap between the quality of the current version (EA4.0) of the game and what the customers expected the game to be. So it is our duty to advise the developer that the game, at its state right now, is not ideal to be released as a formal version, that they need to work more on optimizations and quality control.
But meanwhile, as the publisher, we also fully respect the developer's freedom to create. We understand the reason why the developer insisted on ending Early Access as soon as possible.
Our intention is to express our different standpoints and hear what you, as our customer, would like to say.
SakuraGame
The following content is from the developer - U-Secret Studio:
Translated from Chinese
Hello my gamer friends:
I’m FinalUnrealityCat, the producer of Mysteria ~Occult Shadows~
I wrote this long article to share my thoughts and reflections on Mysteria
And some words I’d like to say to you
I would like Mysteria to leave EA and to formally release, so I can work on a new project.
I’d like to release it on Aug 22, which is the 4th birthday of the game
And the 1st birthday of the EA version
My real thoughts and reflections on Mysteria:
Story wise, this is as far as we can go with our skill and power
2019.8-2020.8
We’ve tried our best to listen to every thoughts you have,
Tried our best to fix the game, fixed over 1,000 bugs.
And also added some mechanics that are over the budget.
The portrait mode
Or that you can select a level, or reflect throwables
We added those because of suggestions from the gamers
As for the combat, Mysteria has many moves
Air combo/Throwing/Chainblades is my belief to ACT games
But comparing to the hardcore games from the big companies, my combat system is too weak
I’ve thought about what the game should be categorized during EA
The sane category should be Moe Anime-like game
So our focus of work should be around “anime-like”
Provide gamers with premium experience. Focus on content output,
Enhance character settings, storyline, give the gamers what they are interested
For example, let’s look at the skins
I suppose I could say that the number of the skins is one of the most among independent games, and all of them are free.
There are over 10 free skins.
Whether it’s a cute maid uniform, or a splendid kimono,
Or sexy lingerie and pajamas, different styles of JK,
There are also all kinds of weapon skins
They are all either in a free DLC or acquired during exploration.
There are also QTE games, interaction with real-time rendered NPC.
The full version of Mysteria has 14 levels, 6-8 hours of playtime
No spawn of monsters are in the same spot, environments of every battle is new
Numerous kinds of monsters
Mysteria means to the depth of your soul, some levels are quite unique
It expresses the “Dreamy” “Gothic” and “Holy” part that I love.
After years of polishing, the levels are at their final stage
Players can beat all levels in the current version smoothly and have a good experience
I’ve changed the systems that could be unsatisfying
For example, the continuous jumping challenge and the HP of the Fox Brother & Sister
Mysteria is like a piece of painting
The first few strokes might seems random
In the end it is finished with everything within my limit
A painting with random underlines
But it won’t stop the fantasy of one expressing his/her dream
I can’t make it a masterpiece
But it convey with those who loves anime
Kemonomimi, myths and fairytales
This is a salute to God of War and Devil May Cry
This is the only “Fairytale*Alternate Myth Kemonomimi 3D ACT” game
This is the value of the existence of Mysteria
Lookback on the history of Mystera
◇2016.8.22
I started to make free demo
I wanted Mysteria to be:
Kemonomimi*Dark Fairytale Myth
◇2017.5.24
After months of hard work, the demo of Mysteria was released for free
No.6 in Green Light
Got the attention from the media
But due to zero budget and zero funding
And problems with some assets and the whole architecture, it has to be remade
◇2017.8
I save my allowance and borrowed some money to make the official version
The remake was to fulfill my conviction of creating a world
It made want to risk everything to finish this game
In the early stages I even wanted to release the game as a full version
◇2018.8
After a year of re-development, the early trailer of Mysteria was released
I started a crowdfunding project.
◇2018.11
Crowdfunding project ended. With the development proceeded,
I found that it’s impossible for me alone
To make the game from scratch and release it as full version, I saw players wanted to support this project
So I started a small development group, and got a publisher for better development process
But without stable funding
It’s hard to get people on the team, most money we got from the crowdfunding got back to the backers in the form of better merch.
Only a little left. The team is full of rookies except for me and our former programmer
After the group was started I also started to teach the rookies
And gradually let them join the development of animation
Data and special effect.
The expense of the team is covered by borrowing money, the pressure kept rising
◇2019.8
The first 3 level of Mysteria is finished
Early Access started
We started to collect feedback and revising the game and add more content
◇2020.8，after 12 monts of Early Access，
Countless optimization and completing the levels
Mysteria with 14 levels is finshed
More deep reflections and summary:
It’s a shame that the game world constantly breaks down.
The battle system and optimizations can’t match those of the big companies.
There are also strange tiny bugs
They are all broken lines of the painting of Mysteria
A lot of gamers reported the that the game had bad feedbacks, and the game’s usage is abnormal
I’ve taken this matter very seriously
From the “Graphics card killer app”, which is the 1.0 version of the game
To now, some computers with low specs can also run it on low resolution.
The studio took massive efforts to optimize
This is what all gamers see and know. But due to lack of staff and funding
It’s hard to do any more optimization
For example, the models from the big company
They are advanced when making and binding
Lots of animators key frame of every animation and accessories to reduce piercing
But our studio is at the financial state that we may not have anything to eat at our next meal
There’s no way we can do that
The MC, bosses and NPCs are all custom made
Most scenes and models of monsters
Are all commercial models
This is the maximum our studio can take
About feedbacks, as a fan of hack and slash
I spent a lot of time
Analyzing Devil May Cry and God of War frame by frame as referrence
But I lost because I can’t get the same quality of animation
All the income from 2019 to 2020 goes back to the development
But it’s almost nothing if our goal is to make high quality ACT game.
After some deep reflections
I understand I took the first step too big, but I learned my lessons from it
I’ll make smaller games, and grow along the way
The feedback that hardcore gamers “always” experience
is the result of generations of products and technical skills trained for over 10 years.
This is a “technical advantage” that requires long-term accumulation of knowledge
This is what the industry needs to face together, grow together
Of course I have some experience myself
I can still say with confidence, that I have some experience of my own
Mysteria can compare with other games
In the area of Japanese-style 3D Anime Single player games
I’ve seen commens like:
We should make Galgames or RPGs
Thank you for the advice
It’s only sane that a smaller studio like mine should make smaller games
They would get recommended more easily and form a positive cycle
For galgames, there are 3 main elements:“portrait, story, music”
For ACT games, there are 8, possibly more: portrait, story, battle system, music,
sound effects, animation, scenery animation, level design…etc
As a producer of a tiny group who personally teach her staff everything
I can’t do everything perfectly
If I can have enough funding and skills
I may make ACT/ARPG games again, but now I should stick to smaller games
My heart that loves cute kemonomimi girls won’t change
I also love ACTs, I love the God of War series
It gave me the strength to make ACT games
Due to lack of funding, we also lack of good teammates
I’m actually more than a producer
I’m the leading programmer that did everything except for UI/cameras
All system designer, main number designer
A lot of character portrait, art style supervisor
Animation of some skills, some special effects
World designer, story outline writer, scenery designer, cut scene supervisor
Model supervisor, physics supervisor, technical artist
The other two teammates are making animation
Most of the work is on me
Also, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, our studio suffered too
The 6 people team broke up and reform to the 3 people team now
But we did grow, update the game to EA4.0 after the storm
Challenge marks sculpted with blood and tear are what I left for the later developers
“Indie promising game with a glimpse of survival”
I can’t change the structure set several years ago
Normal projects start with enough money
Mysteria starts with zero
After the sudden popularity of the demo in 2017
No company in China wanted to invest in a huge single player made by an indie company
I could only do this with faith
I saved allowance for artists when I was in college
Make models one by one with the risk of no next one, buying instant noodles by the case
Had some friends offer help for free, could only get beginners with the money I have
All this to make the best kemonomimi
The money ran out before I can get a good animator to do the animation
At the beginning there’s no money to hire artists
So I could only draw the line scratch and have other fill the colors
Now I can finish everything by myself
The studio is still at the edge of survival
So I want to make more games that fill the needs of more players
After the release of the full version of Mysteria
Our main focus of work
Have shifted from Mysteria to the new projects
To those who’ve been supporting, caring, loving us
I’m really, really, really grateful
You are the only drive for me to keep going
I would also like to say thank you to our publisher - SakuraGame
They helped us work through the direst time of our lives
And also made the beautiful music in the game
I’ve learned my own insufficiency by messages
And barrages from where I live stream
For the wrong decisions, work mistakes
Even my insufficiencies
I sincerely apologize
Why I want the formal release of Mysteria:
There’s not much money for the new game
I really don’t want:
The initial development of the new game to be hard as Mysteria
Specifically:
No startup money: can’t make standard assets
Base structure problems, systemic bugs are left
I wish to develop the new game better after the formal release of Mysteria
And learn while developing the new game
Hoping there’s a way to fix what we can’t now in Mysteria
Sincerely, thanks to all supporter
We’ll bring better games to you in the future
What we’ll do after the release:
◇Continue to listening to the gamers
◇Interactions with the gamers
◇Supports for bugs that happens on occations
◇Better English and Japanese localization
◇Optimize the game when I learn how to later
◇2 to 5 free customes
We’ve tried our best to listen to every thoughts you have, Tried our best to fix the game, fixed over 1,000 bugs. And also added some mechanics that are over the budget. The portrait mode Or that you can select a level, or reflect throwables We added those because of suggestions from the gamers
As for the combat, Mysteria has many moves Air combo/Throwing/Chainblades is my belief to ACT games But comparing to the hardcore games from the big companies, my combat system is too weak
I’ve thought about what the game should be categorized during EA The sane category should be Moe Anime-like game So our focus of work should be around “anime-like” Provide gamers with premium experience. Focus on content output, Enhance character settings, storyline, give the gamers what they are interested For example, let’s look at the skins I suppose I could say that the number of the skins is one of the most among independent games, and all of them are free. There are over 10 free skins.
Whether it’s a cute maid uniform, or a splendid kimono, Or sexy lingerie and pajamas, different styles of JK, There are also all kinds of weapon skins They are all either in a free DLC or acquired during exploration.
There are also QTE games, interaction with real-time rendered NPC.
The full version of Mysteria has 14 levels, 6-8 hours of playtime No spawn of monsters are in the same spot, environments of every battle is new Numerous kinds of monsters Mysteria means to the depth of your soul, some levels are quite unique It expresses the “Dreamy” “Gothic” and “Holy” part that I love. After years of polishing, the levels are at their final stage Players can beat all levels in the current version smoothly and have a good experience I’ve changed the systems that could be unsatisfying For example, the continuous jumping challenge and the HP of the Fox Brother & Sister
Mysteria is like a piece of painting The first few strokes might seems random In the end it is finished with everything within my limit A painting with random underlines But it won’t stop the fantasy of one expressing his/her dream I can’t make it a masterpiece But it convey with those who loves anime Kemonomimi, myths and fairytales This is a salute to God of War and Devil May Cry This is the only “Fairytale*Alternate Myth Kemonomimi 3D ACT” game This is the value of the existence of Mysteria
I started to make free demo I wanted Mysteria to be: Kemonomimi*Dark Fairytale Myth ◇2017.5.24
After months of hard work, the demo of Mysteria was released for free No.6 in Green Light Got the attention from the media But due to zero budget and zero funding And problems with some assets and the whole architecture, it has to be remade ◇2017.8
I save my allowance and borrowed some money to make the official version The remake was to fulfill my conviction of creating a world It made want to risk everything to finish this game In the early stages I even wanted to release the game as a full version ◇2018.8
After a year of re-development, the early trailer of Mysteria was released I started a crowdfunding project. ◇2018.11
Crowdfunding project ended. With the development proceeded, I found that it’s impossible for me alone To make the game from scratch and release it as full version, I saw players wanted to support this project So I started a small development group, and got a publisher for better development process But without stable funding It’s hard to get people on the team, most money we got from the crowdfunding got back to the backers in the form of better merch. Only a little left. The team is full of rookies except for me and our former programmer After the group was started I also started to teach the rookies And gradually let them join the development of animation Data and special effect. The expense of the team is covered by borrowing money, the pressure kept rising ◇2019.8
The first 3 level of Mysteria is finished Early Access started We started to collect feedback and revising the game and add more content ◇2020.8，after 12 monts of Early Access， Countless optimization and completing the levels Mysteria with 14 levels is finshed
The MC, bosses and NPCs are all custom made Most scenes and models of monsters Are all commercial models This is the maximum our studio can take About feedbacks, as a fan of hack and slash I spent a lot of time Analyzing Devil May Cry and God of War frame by frame as referrence But I lost because I can’t get the same quality of animation
All the income from 2019 to 2020 goes back to the development But it’s almost nothing if our goal is to make high quality ACT game. After some deep reflections I understand I took the first step too big, but I learned my lessons from it I’ll make smaller games, and grow along the way The feedback that hardcore gamers “always” experience is the result of generations of products and technical skills trained for over 10 years. This is a “technical advantage” that requires long-term accumulation of knowledge This is what the industry needs to face together, grow together Of course I have some experience myself I can still say with confidence, that I have some experience of my own Mysteria can compare with other games In the area of Japanese-style 3D Anime Single player games I’ve seen commens like: We should make Galgames or RPGs Thank you for the advice It’s only sane that a smaller studio like mine should make smaller games They would get recommended more easily and form a positive cycle For galgames, there are 3 main elements:“portrait, story, music” For ACT games, there are 8, possibly more: portrait, story, battle system, music, sound effects, animation, scenery animation, level design…etc As a producer of a tiny group who personally teach her staff everything I can’t do everything perfectly If I can have enough funding and skills I may make ACT/ARPG games again, but now I should stick to smaller games My heart that loves cute kemonomimi girls won’t change I also love ACTs, I love the God of War series It gave me the strength to make ACT games Due to lack of funding, we also lack of good teammates I’m actually more than a producer I’m the leading programmer that did everything except for UI/cameras All system designer, main number designer A lot of character portrait, art style supervisor Animation of some skills, some special effects World designer, story outline writer, scenery designer, cut scene supervisor Model supervisor, physics supervisor, technical artist The other two teammates are making animation Most of the work is on me Also, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, our studio suffered too The 6 people team broke up and reform to the 3 people team now But we did grow, update the game to EA4.0 after the storm Challenge marks sculpted with blood and tear are what I left for the later developers “Indie promising game with a glimpse of survival” I can’t change the structure set several years ago Normal projects start with enough money
Mysteria starts with zero After the sudden popularity of the demo in 2017 No company in China wanted to invest in a huge single player made by an indie company I could only do this with faith I saved allowance for artists when I was in college Make models one by one with the risk of no next one, buying instant noodles by the case Had some friends offer help for free, could only get beginners with the money I have All this to make the best kemonomimi The money ran out before I can get a good animator to do the animation
At the beginning there’s no money to hire artists So I could only draw the line scratch and have other fill the colors Now I can finish everything by myself
The studio is still at the edge of survival So I want to make more games that fill the needs of more players After the release of the full version of Mysteria Our main focus of work Have shifted from Mysteria to the new projects To those who’ve been supporting, caring, loving us I’m really, really, really grateful You are the only drive for me to keep going I would also like to say thank you to our publisher - SakuraGame They helped us work through the direst time of our lives And also made the beautiful music in the game I’ve learned my own insufficiency by messages And barrages from where I live stream For the wrong decisions, work mistakes Even my insufficiencies I sincerely apologize
Why I want the formal release of Mysteria: There’s not much money for the new game I really don’t want: The initial development of the new game to be hard as Mysteria Specifically: No startup money: can’t make standard assets Base structure problems, systemic bugs are left I wish to develop the new game better after the formal release of Mysteria And learn while developing the new game Hoping there’s a way to fix what we can’t now in Mysteria Sincerely, thanks to all supporter We’ll bring better games to you in the future