Steamberry

Tumblr Devlog 19/07

Progress:

Finished up to Chapter 9 in Zen's Route

Started chapter 10

Did some reorganisation

Did some revising in Callis's route

Fleshed out plans for Allen/Julian intro content

Worked on Zen's sprite

Worked on Callis's sprite

Received a new BG

Received new item art

Some expression coding

Hit 600k words

In my last post here I had started Chapter 4 of Zen's route. I'm currently part of the way through Chapter 10; that sounds like an insane amount of work but is less than you think. I restructured some of the early chapters, which were quite long and broke some of them up into smaller chapters.

I did that once and jumped from starting Chapter 5 to Starting chapter 6 in an instant. And then I did it again and went from finishing Chapter 8 to instantly starting Chapter 10 in an instant.

The big milestone this week was hitting 600k. I have been writing really fast; I mentioned that I wanted to try my best to make as much progress as possible before September hits.

Right now I'm holding to that pretty well. I've hit around 20k words each week for the past two weeks (I haven't hit 20k this week yet but I have about 1000 words to write today to hit my minimum goal and I'm less than that from 20k so I should be crossing that threshold before the day is out.)

I am still a while from being able to release the demo, I just received one completed BG; there's one more in sketch format.

Including the sketch, I have 6 more full BGs + 2 cut-in style (IE, they're way smaller/partial BGs) backgrounds. It's not quite an even split between the two of them. One artist has 3 to complete, the other has 3 + the 2 cut ins (so let's call it 4).

It's very difficult to predict when those will be complete. Could be 9 more weeks, could be 12 more weeks...

It just depends on how busy they are. But progress is happening.

I have been working on some sprite variations - mostly alt outfits and stuff. I'll show some of those in a couple of weeks!

Anyway, here are some scattered screenshots of different moments throughout the game. I'm still somewhat limited in what I can show as I still am missing some BGs from the early chapters and many of the scenes take place in the shop, but If eel like you do start to get the vibe of the game. The BGs are very brown. I think I may start requesting brighter colours - at least for rooftops and the like.

Next Couple of Weeks Development-wise:

Writing, of course.

I may put a little more focus on getting the expressions done too. But like I said, I really want to make a ton of progress on the writing while I can.

Cross-Promo:

If you hadn't seen it, I am doing a cross promo with some other devs who have made some cool games - some of which you've definitely heard of and some of which you may not know about.

You can find links to all the games on the Itch page for WSC so please do check them out. I believe all these games are on steam as well.

Ha ha. Yes. The Nymeras have the hotness DNA. They are holy terrors in the galaxy not just because they're all chaos gremlins...

I'm not sure that I intend to revisit the guide for all the endings. It's incredibly time consuming to work them out and I am already neck deep in my next project.

I hope you're having a good day 😊

I cant remember if you've spoken about this or not but when Valerian uses their magic I know their hair grows as a side effect (for lack of a better word) but does the speed it grows change depending on the power output?

Like if Valerian is doing something very small would it grow a small amount or would it just go from a pixie to waist length? 😆

Thank you so much! Im so excited to see more of Thornewood !!

I guess that's one way to look at it - I tend to view it as amount but "amount per unit of time" is probably the most correct view (so speed and length).

Ultimately it's the same thing.

But yes, either way, the amount their hair grows (or speed that it grows) is proportional to the magic output. The first time they use magic in the game, it grows a lot so they are just full bog-witch mode when the Huntsmen find them.

But that's not the way it always is.

When they are working on potions on a day to day basis, their magic output is small enough that I would say their hair probably just grows about 2 - 3 times the norm (maybe a little more.) But you aren't going to notice that someone's hair grew a 1.5 mm a day instead of .5 mm that day.

But you might notice that, over time, their hair grows quite fast (and Valerian actually says early on in the game that they kept their hair in that long braid because it grew so fast that trying to keep it short was pointless due to the sheer amount of time they spent studying and practicing magic.

If they do a small amount or even a moderate amount of magic, their hair growth isn't as noticeable too. 3cm is an insane amount of hair growth to have in seconds but you're still not going to necessarily notice it straight away and be all "OMG UR HAIR GREW."

And then there is the significant magic use where their hair just breaks containment and goes to their knees...to the ground...wherever.

Ha ha. I'm glad people like that moment. It was just a silly little thing I came up with but I felt it really demonstrated exactly who he is and exactly who THEY are as a duo. 🤣🤣

Tumblr Devlog 05/07

Progress:

Zen progress 

Finished Ch 2

Finished Ch 3

Started Ch 4

Total word count is ~ 555000 words

New BGs received and coded

Worked on Julian's outline

Some sprite staging

Apparently in June I wrote just over 69,000 words. I've been pushing myself to try to write 2000 words a day (though my minimum goal is a bit lower) so I can capitalise on the free time I have for the next two months, which will be going away when September hits).

As has been true lately, my main focus is writing so I'm not really doing any particular art or anything at the moment, just receiving art from freelancers.

I have received some new BG art but am waiting on loads more still. I think I need at least 6 more for the demo. So we are making progress; it's just very slow. 

On the writing front Zen's route is well under way at this point and I'm focusing on trying to get it done by the end of August.

I did record some short videos walking through some of the game features. I've talked about the features a lot - partially because I'm just kind of happy about some of them and also because...I don't have a demo to show off yet as I wait for art...for it.

I apologise for the squeakiness in my voice as the first video starts. That was me being very timid and unused to recording myself and trying to make myself super tiny so no one could perceive me. In a video. That I chose to record.

Just imagine me starting out like 10 inches tall and hiding behind my coffee mug, then growing to my normal size as I start rambling, allowing my voice to descend from the stratosphere somewhat.

(because I forgot to show the glossary after I already said I would)

Next Couple of Weeks Development-wise:

Writing. That's it. 

I may do some scattered coding and things as usual but it's just writing. It's the writing doldrums and it's going to last into 2027. I am probably not going to take much of a break from writing before the end of the year as I really want to get as much of the draft done as possible.

When Stars Collide updates:

When Stars Collide finally went live on Steam and I am taking part in a cool cross promo event, which I've already posted about.

This summer, we’re teaming up with a group of talented indie devs encouraging you to Embrace the Unknown and find out!

Step into a curated collection of eleven unforgettable romances featuring monstrous and mysterious LIs, uncharted worlds, dark aesthetics, and more as you experience love that redefines devotion. 

Find out more about these tantalizing games under the cut:

My brain still fights over Corvin and Marc, what’s better than 1 husband it’s 2 husbands am I right 😏

okay but also WSC is so good!! Ugh, I’m like salivating but for reading every time I open the game. The best thing ever. I’m so excited for Thornewood too!!

I’m realizing I have something feral inside me for the blonde men you write. Corvin, Marc, Magnus, Glen..

I believe I saw a blonde man™️ in Thornewood but I haven’t been keeping up to date so we shall see if there’s another man to sink my feral teeth into!

Anyways!! I just wanted to say I love your writing and your games so much, they make me so happy!!

Thank youuuu! I'm so happy you like When Stars Collide. I enjoyed my stay on the sci-fi side of things but am really happy to move fully back into fantasy for a while!

There are two blonde LIs in Thornewood (moving from 0 blondes to multiple again)!

Zen:

And Julian who is arguably more of a strawberry blonde since his hair has a rosy tint to it and looks QUITE PINK compared to Zen's platinum. LoL

When Stars Collide is now officially out in steam after a somewhat frustrating and extensive review process. If you've been waiting for the Steam release, now is your time.

If you do enjoy the game, we very much appreciate reviews over there.

The same thing they're doing but on another ship. There isn't anyone there who isn't doing what they love and they all have pretty specialised skills.