#projectic

Hello,

I was good about monthly updates, but then I dropped off because of work. I apologize for that. Still, let's review the year.

Honestly, outside of releasing the current 'final' version of Sacrarium Pario and integrating most of the CGs for The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow this year has been relatively uneventful for me in the VN space (minus some side work I did at the beginning and middle of the year to keep the VN muscles from rusting too much).

This is namely because I now work a 40hr a week cubicle job, at an office away from my main rig. AKA: I am away from my rig for roughly 10 hours a day, meaning even when I have nothing to do at work, I still can't really work on my games.

I'm currently trying to figure out a mini-laptop or tablet solution to this problem. Because while I do have some weeks where my current job has me working a solid 8-9 hours without breaks (one big work event I had recently essentially had me crawling my limping self home and passing out for four days straight), I have stretches of time where I quite literally am twiddling my thumb for 4-5 hours due to how efficient I am. There's only so much I can do on pen and paper or my phone.

I am also trying to do better in actually having a social life. When I was making Gelus, Pario, and the beginnings of WRBC, I was living pretty anti-socially due to being in a foreign country. I worked and went home with no one to really talk to (as my friends were in a polar opposite time zone). Thus, I had all the time in the world to sit and game dev. While that meant I did a lot of devving, it also meant I was very socially isolated, and I don't want to go back to that level of isolation again. Thus, I've got my TTRPG groups and friend groups that take up some of my time as well.

So big goals for 2026 are thus:

Figure out how to increase my game dev time without burning myself out or isolating myself again.

Figure out a way to bring my programming & writing (Because I am a lunatic who write right into the .rpy file >.>) with me while out and about to get more use out of my time away from my rig.

Release WRBC.

Release at least the first challenge of Sacrarium Contego.

Fully develop the mechanical skeletons of Sacrarium Rescisco and GSLH.

Use the above to flesh out skeletons for Project I.C

Let's talk about current steps and progress for each one of those big goals.

I am actively looking more at my schedule to determine best times for down time as well as where I can squeeze in more game dev. I am also trying to make sure my schedule is balanced.

I'm looking into different tablet options that I could possibly bring into work with me. Big thing has been finding one that can run VSC since that is how I program and write nowadays (all of the typos that slip through probably make more sense now >.>).

WRBC is down to the last four CGs! This is through the amazing work of the volunteers for that game. The Poly Route, Zahir Solo Route, Yukimura Solo Route, and the two most time consuming CGs of the common route (due to all the layers) are done! The remaining four CGs are also making headway and are either in the rendering/sketch stage or at least in the thumbnail stage.

Contego is currently still 1/3 (technically more like 45%) written, and the wonderful Nini is currently working on the character sheets and sprites for it when time allows.

I'm still debating how much I want to make y'all hate me with Rescisco. Because one wolf says to make it be that you can choose your personality traits and thus end up with options that only drop Amare's score or vice versa. One wolf says that's unfair and to not do it. They're still fighting. I'm also debating how much I possibly want to deal with puzzles in GSLH (leaning more towards "no, just focus on the other big thing for that game).

Through my long-winded self-monologues that surely are making my housemates think I am insane, I've actually got the rough ideas of how I want Project I.C to function mechanically. Now I just need to test a few more things with the remaining Sac games to see how viable those options are.

So all in all, not the most exciting update. My apologies.

Okay, so a lot of stuff and not a lot of stuff happened this month. Let's break it down bit by bit.

TLDR: Sacrarium Pario's anticipated release is delayed further due to issues with the world right now. The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow is around 75% programmed with multiple W.I.P.s rolling in. Project I.C. has an official artist and is slowly rumbling to life. I have a new non-game dev job that will be eating into my dev time, but will also provide me the steady paycheck I need to live.

Sacrarium Pario

As you all know, the world is kind of on fire in multiple places right now. Things are going down, and Rian's country in particular is experiencing a lot of things with bleak headlines. I will not be disclosing where they are from (obviously).

Why am I bringing this up? I have not been able to reach Rian in any capacity since February.

What does this mean? Obviously, I care more about Rian being alive and safe than I do about releasing a VN. Right now, I'm trying multiple channels to verify whether or not they are okay. I have been unsuccessful at present, but I intend to keep trying.

What does this mean for Pario long-term? If I cannot establish contact with Rian by the end of May 2025, I will release what remains of Pario as is. If I am ever able to reconnect with Rian again, perhaps we can go back and finish the CGs, but if not, there will be no ending CGs. Rian really wanted to do Pario's CGs themself, and I am going to respect their wishes no matter what.

Needless to say, since I am literally sitting here wondering if they are even safe, all asks pressuring me about Pario or it's release will result in an immediate block. Yes, not just a deleted ask. I will block you.

The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow

I have successfully gotten the solo routes programmed (minus SFX, pop up codex, and CG code). I've gotten in some delightful WIPs, and the current ports seem stable.

Obviously, Rian was intended to be the sprite artist for this game. If I cannot establish contact with Rian by the end of May 2025, I will search for a sprite artist to complete their work. This was already something we posited doing if necessary to keep things on track.

Sacrarium Contego

The first 30k words of the script have been written and programmed in. They have also been programmed in with the placeholder backgrounds. This section has been playtested, and it works as intended! So yay!

I've also switched GUI templates to get one that works better. The previous one did not work that great (especially on android).

Once I am done with the bulk of WRBC's programming, I will obviously return to writing this.

Project I.C.

An artist has been selected, and they have agreed to work on the project. They've sent some delectable W.I.P.s that I will share one day. I will give you all one small teaser about this project though: there will be a character creation screen ;3

I will not be posting anything in mega detail until after we have more solid assets, and I've got at least the first two bits of the story written (not just outlined).

Updates on Kiss themself

My neck has mostly recovered from me straining a muscle. That was a hindrance throughout most of March (I'm talking working one hour a day, couldn't drive, on meds that made me sleepy as balls). Right now I still get the occasional bit of pain, but I can drive again.

That last bit is super important because I have a new job! I am now a cubicle gremlin weekdays, 8-5. This will impact my dev progress. Obviously, working 8-5 + commuting reduces how much time I have at my computer. Thus, I won't really have Tuesdays or Fridays where I just sit down and dev for like 6 hours. I will still have weekends of course, and I don't intend to neglect deving Mon-Fri. It will just be a lot more managed and slower.

Still, this new job will allow me to pay my bills and save up for assets for Project I.C. So, woo!

Conclusion

So yes, a whole lot of things happening in some places. A whole lot of nothing in others. I'm sorry I don't have a more cheerful update, but it is what it is.

Thank you so much for your support thus far!

This so late, and I apologize. Let's get jiggy with it.

TLDR: No update on Sacrarium Pario. The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow is now 90% programmed (only missing finalized CG code, SFX code, and pop up codex code). I'm going to burn and restart Sacrarium Contego's first draft. I severely underestimated how draining a 40hr work week can be on one's creativity, but I'm making it work.

Sacrarium Pario

No update.

The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow

I've successfully gotten all of the sprite, BG, music, and affection score code implemented throughout WRBC from start to finish. I've handed this version of the game over to my play tester buddy to break however he can. It should - theoretically - be playable from start to finish, though I have some concerns that the affection score and romance score (this separates if you're on a friendship or romance path) are too easy/hard to get. Needless to say, I await his feed back.

I've received some lovely artwork from our CG artists, and I can't wait to get it in fully. I'd share them, but they all contain spoilers.

I still need to do another pass to add in SFX and pop-up codex code. Once that is done, all that we will be waiting for is finalized CGs and Sprites for Dante & Lysandre.

Of course, WRBC won't release until Sacrarium Pario is finished. After all, playing a sequel when one of the two games that heavily explain the story doesn't make sense. Still, I highly recommend adding WRBC to a collection to keep tabs on it. Especially for those of you who love lore! This game will be your first glance into a post-Old God, Living Gods to Wardens, world.

Sacrarium Contego

The first draft (30k) I did for the first Challenge is...ok. I was really testing writing with Contego's memory and Challenge-Separate-From-Affection-Score systems, so everything feels a bit off.

So...Imma burn it and start over >.>

I've got a better idea of how to get things organized and connected. I just really need to polish this section up before I feel comfortable moving into the second Challenge. This game is a lot more brutal with failure (neutral ends are more common. Fail a challenge, neutral end), so I really need to make sure each leg of the journey holds up.

Project I.C.

I've been refining key data for the MC. They're intended to have a few bells and whistles customization wise, so to make my life easier, I've been trying to nail down their constants and determine what variables I actually need for them.

I also fiddled with a character customization screen - like a doll maker. I've got a functional (FUGLY) one that has revealed that there will be upper limits to certain categories. The pencil (@brbbringingnachos you got me calling him that now lol) is currently set to commentate on the MC's appearance. That means every option that gets added is another variant >.> I'm going to have to really think about when those choices are invoked.

Still, I've liked the options we've built up so far! They'll be a lot of fun to play around with in the future.

That aside, I've also slowly started chunking away at a skeleton outline. It's been a nice way to stay creative when I don't have enough spoons for Sac, but I have too many spoons to not do something with.

Me (StygianEyeDev)

Man, it's easy to underestimate the physical exhaustion that can come from having a mentally taxing corporate job. Like, the actual tasks aren't that hard, but I want to drop kick my boss (frequently).

Still, I've gotten moved to 7-4 instead of 8-5 which is great. I associate early morning hours with work work anyways. Getting home at like 4:30 gives me time to decompress and actually do a bit of game devving before it gets so late that my old crone bones demand sleep.

I'm hoping that as I get more adapted to this job, it'll get easier to handle and less draining. At the very least, I hope to learn how to turn off work work brain once I get in my car. The steady paycheck helps. I know as I get more settled and my New-Job-Who-Dis? stress goes down, not worrying about if I'll have enough hours to pay the bills will be great (I get consistent hours now).

I will always probably move at a slower rate now though. I've still got to see how that goes moving forward, so I can't give any solid estimates at this time.

I am doing some small side work as an editor though! I really wanted to diversify my experience and put myself out there some more. As those games get closer to completion, you'll definitely see me babbling about them.

...and well, that's it for now!

Hello everyone! Now that February is winding down, I want to take the time to share about some progress that's been happening. Sorry if there are more typos than usual. I am a crone who pulled a fucking rib in their sleep, and now sitting up fucking hurts.

Let's do this in proper order though:

Sacrarium Pario

Pario's last CGs are still in development. 1 out of 5 is completed though! It's the one I put up for the teaser last time, and it is a neutral CG that plays on most routes. The remaining for are still being worked on.

The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow

WRBC has had some lovely work done. Currently about 70k of the 150k script is fully programmed. I haven't done the last bit because poor Elizabella needs a bit more time to tackle editing that beast of a remaining script.

As previously shown off, I've also included some shaders to help make the sprites blend in with the backgrounds, and there is some light ATL code included for sprite movement.

We've also gotten some of our first CGs in! Including the CG we'll be using for Zahir's intro made by @oblivion-blivi3!

I've also gotten in some other lovely images of course, but I don't want to post spoilers ;3

I've also fixed a major bug that caused the game to not continue into the route section like it was supposed to. I accidentally used an elif when I should've just used if. You live and you learn.

Sacrarium Contego

As previously mentioned, Contego has been outlined from start to finish. I've also determined the asset count and made my godawful placeholder backgrounds.

Truly photo editing is an art, and I dunno how to do it. I'm hoping and praying to find a BG artist (especially since I actually want kind of a faded painted vase vibe for the BGs. I.E: no super detailed rendering, just line art and simple flats).

As it stands, the rough outline I put into the programming test managed to survive not getting drop kicked by my buddy. Though he let out an audible groan upon realizing how many variations he's gonna have to test in the future.

Currently, the word count for Contego's first third is about 16k in total (though that does include variations and callbacks). I was planning on blitzing through the rest of it for the end of February, but sitting at my desk fucking hurts rn. So that may or may not happen depending on how I'm feeling since...well...I think I have another 20-30k words to add to this first section. I've stopped trying to guesstimate how long my stuff will end up being. I just need to finish up the non-schedule elements of the script and the last two "I want to do x today" scenes.

Honestly, Contego's rigid structure is actually helping with the writing since I get lost less often. Once the 'first test' section is done, all that will remain is the 'second test' (which will be longer since Necare will have formed more of an opinion on the player), and then of course, the 'final test' which is the finale.

It's been fun putting in trackers for conversations that happened (how rude were you when you first met Mayukh?) and tracking separate bars for things (Necare's affection, Mayukh's fear, MC's Faith). Downside is that it also means that stuff spiderwebs more easily. Still, it's been intriguing!

I've also been fiddling with the itch.io pages for Contego and Rescisco.

Project I.C.

I managed to scope knife it into a workable product. I word vomited about it to an artist who is down to clown VvV.

I'm not pulling focus away from Sacrarium to full sell work on it yet, but I am going to go about securing assets. I've also been fiddling with visual stuff I want to do. My current goal is to get Sacrarium entirely written and mostly programmed while slowly expanding out that game. Sacrarium is actually the testing grounds for a lot of mechanics that I'm thinking about including in Project I.C., so it's important to finish Sacrarium first.

Then, I'll fully transition to hammering it out.

As for more details about it, I can't say! However, I will leave you with the working tagline:

Is maintaining your cover worth your life?

Conclusion

That's all I've got for you this month everyone! Not a particularly busy month since my IRL job has been dicking over my hours, so my schedule has been nonsensical at best. Still, I'm happy with the progress I've made!