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Hey friends! It's been a little over a week since the game launched, and it honestly feels like it's been a month or more. I feel like I've spent so long anticipating the moment the game comes out that it doesn't feel real that we released even the prologue. There's been a lot of support from you guys, and as a team, we are so happy with the response to the prologue. Our biggest complaints have been the graphics and initially releasing the game for $5, and I'll address both these complaints further in this post.
First things first, though; let's talk about the future of the project. As of right now, we are in the process of making the REAL Chapter 1. Farmer and Astro are already working art on scenes, I've been doing tons of writing and planning the future of the game, and Krash has been doing... everything else at this point. We DO NOT plan on giving a release date until the game is pretty much complete; I've learned my lesson the hard way on that end. In terms of how this chapter is going, I think I've evolved as a writer from the first release, and I've been trying my hardest to make every sentence flow while also being entertaining. I've also focused very hard on fully molding these characters from the ideas I had when first making them, and turning them into solid characters so that I can naturally write their lines and actions without feeling like I'm forcing anything.
In terms of what this next release is going to be; it's going to be another development chapter. The story will still be going on in the background, and we plan on naturally weaving in elements of the story as much as possible; however, we found it best to give our characters and the world a further introduction. For the people most excited about the story- I can promise it will still be further expanded upon this chapter. However, the story WILL be taking a backseat to the time you spend getting to know the characters; some old, some new. For the people who are here for the characters and the writing- you will love this chapter. Lastly, for those interested in the graphics, I've seen what we have so far, and I can say they're better and more consistent than the art from the prologue. Again, there is no time window, but I'm excited to get this out to you as soon as we can!
Now addressing the negatives - first off, the graphics/animation. I've noticed a lot of comments about the lighting changes in certain scenes. There were a lot of issues with files where we lost some of them for various reasons, and had to redo them, or go back and edit them again. There was a lot of miscommunication and organization issues that led to different edits, and it's very noticeable. I can promise we are focused on staying more organized this time, so stuff like this doesn't happen again. When it comes to the animation, we have another explanation for that; just kidding, it's still organization. We screwed up the animations a couple of times, kept having to redo them, and lost one or two of them. They also were stock animations, so they weren't even that incredible in the first place. However, we've hired an animator, so expect much better animation in the future!
Now the last topic; the charge of the prologue. This is my passion project, but not necessarily my crews. They've been working hard for months to bring Once Again to life, and I want to be able to pay them. The biggest perk of paying them is that they're more likely to stay around! This means that as we move forward, we can have consistent, trustworthy team members putting together the next release, the next Season, the whole game. And as more money comes in, we can hire people to do specialty jobs like UI, or promotional art, or whatever else becomes necessary. We can't thank you enough for your early support. We're grateful for those who've subscribed to our Patreon. Also, I will not be taking any profit from this release for myself - I would rather pay my team for making my dreams come true than worry about the money I get from this project. Personally, all I want are your criticisms, compliments, and you to tell me who your favorite girl is.
That's it for this devlog! Thank you all so much for the support, and I've loved hearing your responses, whether it be criticism or compliments. Feel free to keep telling you what you think, and feel free to keep chatting on the discord! Lastly, thank you, everyone - including my team AND supporters - for allowing me to bring my project to life. No matter where we go from here, I am eternally grateful to you guys.
See you real soon!
-Lampy