#spacesave

Please, try to enjoy this anniversary art.

So, yeah - my first game - SpaceSave - was released on this day, half a decade ago. You probably don’t know what I’m talking about, in that case - welcome! I hope you’ll bear with my ramblings and shilling attempts.

What can I say - as mentioned before, this is my first game. It’s ugly as sin, janky(and only partially because of RPG Maker) and edgy. Patches could only do so much. But, it was, ultimately, my debut title, one I’ve spent a little over 2 years developing and so - it’s hard to me not to have fondness for this messy, little game. I’ve learnt a lot during its development and it gave me a ground work for my other games, which share a lot of the same DNA and design elements - counsciously implemented or not...

Still, I’m glad there are people who played and enjoyed the game. It’s nice to see someone else who can vibe with the work, even if it’s far for perfect. And I hope more people will happen to experience it too, especially since for a long time I’ve been planning a new version or even a remaster, with the main goal to greatly update the visuals, add original music and improve some more... notorious elements. I think the game is very playable in its current state, on the latest version 1.4 , but it could certainly benefit from this “ultimate polish”.

I’ve been promising it for years at this point and I know it’s a long time coming, but just this year I’ve managed to finish my second big game - SUNSET RAIN - and I am now in process of translating it to English. It will take at least half a year, or even more time, but after that - I guess it will be a good time for me to finally return to this violent, "semi-surreal” cosmic horror story, starring kids, aliens and bad humour. Hopefully, this will finally bring you a definitive edition of SpaceSave - one, I think, I’m finally ready to make, with my current dev experience.

Anyway, this is getting a little long-winded. I want to thank everyone who’ve played SpaceSave and I hope you enjoyed your time with it! And if you didnt... give it a try, if you want! It’s been five years but it’s never too late!

DOWNLOAD SPACESAVE HERE FOR FREE:

https://sadpinkstar.itch.io/spacesave

CHECK OUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY OTHER GAME:

This 2017-2021 label kinda looks like a gravestone. That’s kind of fitting and cool and edgy and...

So, yeah - hello! These last two years or so, I’ve been totally engrossed in developing my other game, but how could I just forget the first one? I mean - it’s been 4 years since I’ve launched it and about 2 since last proper update, so a lot of time has passed, but it’s still a little surreal to me, that I’ve even managed to release it in the first place.

This year, I will address the issue of the new update - version 1.5, which I’ve been announcing from... I guess, the last update? For now I can say, that I still work on it(albeit with months-long breaks - the new game takes priority) and have finally agreed with myself on the list of features I will want to include. These are (from least to most important[and also - most time consuming for me]):

Improved technical stuff(some of it, like better volume levels are already implemented)

Slightly better graphics (improvements on tilesets and icons)

Remaking some battler graphics, since a few of them are badly compressed, for some reason

Better writing in places

(at least partial) Original soundtrack

Complete remake of the optional dungeon, from scratch

That’s basically it. For the last big update - I think it should be fine and when it’s complete - me and you can finally have a final (I wanted to write definitive, but it’s a dirty word these days...) edition of SpaceSave. I’m considering releasing a smaller update, when I’m done with the first four of these bullet-points, but no promises here. Basically - I will try to release that update... someday, since I’m very busy with my very serious, adult life right now and I can only really spare time to work on one project, at a time. That being said - since I’ve already done some changes to the game and planned out all of the stuff I wanted to include - I hope I will be able to release it, in the next two years or so. I will certainly go full speed ahead on SpaceSave, once Sunset Rain is all done and translated.

To not leave you without anything, on this anniversary post - I actually will let you guys take a sneak peak on one of the plans for the update. Literally. It’s a design for a remade optional dungeon. Made in a professional software and compressed/blurred considerably as to not ruin the mystery, but it should be pretty noticeable that the plan is much more complex than any other dungeon in the game:

I hope, as it is optional, that it will be a hard, but a fun challenge for any willing player, as opposed to the slog it is in the game now. The only thing left to do, is to actually implement it into the game, but hey - we have all the time in the world (or at least, before I die)! That being said - I will try to give you a more detailed development post about the new version, soon - at the end of December/start of January, maybe...?

I guess that’s all from me this year, so I’ll get back to work. Thank you very much for reading and playing SpaceSave! If you want to revisit/get to know the game for the first time, here are all the links you need:

DOWNLOAD LINK

SPACESAVE SHORT STORY

Hey, folks!

So, I’ve realized that today’s been exactly 2 years since I’ve released my first game! Time flies, huh?

Well, what can I say - it sure was a ride! First, after nearly two years of development, the game was released in a state that I could describe as... well... pathetic. Even after a few months of serious testing, the game was really rough around the edges and it just showed how inexperienced I was at that time(and mostly still am...). Needless to say, when I was making the first patch(version 1.1) I remember being extremely embarrased.

However, at this point in time, the game sits at version 1.4 and there were quite a few changes along the way. Improved graphics(well, y’know, to an extent), quality-of-life improvements(quest log!), a few hours of new content... The game at this point is at much, much better state that it was these 2 years ago and it’s nice to see it improve and still work on it, even after it launched.

When it comes to the public’s response to the game, I’d say it went pretty well. On rpgmaker.net, the game sits on 4.5/5 stars, from 4 reviews, the most recent one being from October of this year. I’m extremely grateful for that score and I’ve never imagined it being so high. I’m very glad that people enjoy my game, even with its shortcomings!

Now, what does the future hold for SpaceSave? Well, it’s a little tricky. At this point, making the version 1.5 in the nearest future is extremely unlikely. I have quite a few fun ideas for it, however after working on this game so much, even after its release, I’ve become slightly tired of it. Not sick of it, I’d just rather do something different for the time being... And that’s what’s happening. I’m making another RPG(it’s gonna be a really long while, before it’s even ready for announcement...) and also a mystery adventure game as a side-project(this may come out next year, but no promises here). Hopefully, you’ll enjoy these new games too, when they eventually come out! I sometimes(meaning: very rarely) tweet about them HERE.

Well, I guess that’s all for now! Have a good night(or whichever time of day you prefer), y’all! And much thanks to everyone who’ve played(or want to play) or supported my game in any way!

And if you want to download SpaceSave and check it out for yourself, here are the download links:

Download links:

itch.io: https://sadpinkstar.itch.io/spacesave

rpgmaker.net: https://rpgmaker.net/games/10222/

Hi there!

Well, it’s finally here. It’s going to be a much smaller update than version 1.3, but it consists of fixes and polish that(I hope) will make the game much more enjoyable to play(and a “definitive edition” of the game of sorts, at least for now). Below is a list of new features and a changelog for the new version(possible spoilers):

-New side questline, starting on Day 1 and continuing on a later day

- Some additional graphical improvements have been implemented:

= Tweaked Protagonist’s overworld sprites and battle animations to be more similar to his design in the promotional art

= Girl in the beginning of the Day 2 dungeon, now has a different coloured sprite to differentiate her from “normal” variations

= Shorty the Cashier’s sprites were finally updated from the beta version… which were ready 2 years ago, like for all the other characters before release, but I forgot to implement them into spritesheets…

= Shops(and the Doctor’s office) now have more detail

= Breakable walls in the final dungeon are now more visible

- Added a new way to spend Nothing(To trigger: interact with a certain NPC on Day 1/Day 2 in the dream, while having at least 1 Nothing in the inventory)

- Added a new state “Sedated”, which can be applied by using “Painkillers”. It makes an affected character unable to get Knocked-Out, but prevents them from using

any skills

-Balance Change: “Depression” state now lasts 5 turns instead od 10

- Day 4: Added a second type of soldier, with an urban camouflage. Now - the soldiers with green(forest) camo can use and drop Incendiary Grenades, while

urban camo soldiers have normal Grenades.

- Day 5, Ending B: A save point has been added before the final boss of the Ending B route

- Improved the town introduction cutscene(added people in town… finally, and smoothed out some stuff)

- While we’re at the topic of stuff that should be fixed long time ago - the collissions with the guards in the “stealth” section on Day 5 have been (mostly) fixed

- Save point in the Factory dungeon in Day 2, now saves and restores HP/SP at the same time - like in every other dungeon in the game

- Finishing the first part of the Kate’s quest(Day 1, in the school) now doesn’t give EXP reward. Instead - it automatically levels the player up.

- Added a small hint to the third school faction’s quest

- Added more quips from party members for side-content stuff

- “Key Items” section of the inventory will now not include old, unused key items from earlier dungeons/quests(with exceptions)

- New item “Heretical Book” has been added as a special shop reward. It revives an ally with full HP and SP.

- New item “Incendiary Grenade” has been added and the normal type of “Grenade” now deals more damage to all enemies.

- New items “Painkillers” and “Potent Painkillers” has been added. When used - it gives a targeted character a “Sedated” state, which makes them unable to get

knocked-out while under its effect

- Fixed an oversight, where the “Depression” status effect didn’t prevent characters from using POWER-type skills

- Fixed a bug, which allowed you to save in the school after exiting third faction’s dungeon prematurely

- Fixed Ollie’s name before the sewer part of Day 5

- Evened out the most loud sounds(those I was able to find myself, that is)

- Minor UI and other fixes(small bugs, typos, etc.)

- Got rid of possibly copyrighted sound effects

And that’s it for this version! It’s going to be a while, before the next one(maybe even years), because I want to focus more on my other, new projects. I hope you will all look forward to new stuff from me and, eventually, more updates for SpaceSave!

Ok, I’ll make this quick.

The newest update(1.4) for SpaceSave will be released on 15th September, so in just a week. It’s an approximate date, but as long as something bad won’t happen - it should release on that day, maybe even day or two earlier, but no promises here.

Content/change-wise, the update is basically done and tested. The only things left to do are some additional testing, just to be double-sure that everything’s all right and preparing readme/game’s files.

It will be, as stated many times before, much smaller update than the last one - this time the focus was mostly on fixing stuff and adding some improvements. As such, you can think of version 1.4 as a polished version 1.3 and a “definitive” version of SpaceSave of sorts. After it launches, that’s going to be the preferred way to play this game for a while, at least I hope it will.

Okay, let’s go through what you can expect from version 1.4(some of it, I’ve already covered in earlier posts):

New content:

- There will be a new, optional questline, starting on Day 1 and continuing on a later Day:

There’s also a new NPC, with a special purpose:

Aside from that - some new items and a new state(”Sedated”) will be added to the game and hopefully all of you will enjoy these new additions!

Graphical Improvements:

I’ve finally decided to add more details to the various in-game shops:

Main Character’s sprite and battlers have also been modified, to resemble the game’s promotional artwork:

There’s also stuff like slightly improved game’s town introduction(now there are people on the streets - wow, it took me a while to figure this one out!) and better visibility for some quest-related things, like broken walls. Just little things, to kind of “complete” the graphical update from the last version.

Bug and other fixes:

This is the part where I’ve focused most of my attention towards, while working on this update. The game was thoroughly tested, both the added and the old content and I was able to get rid of most of the jarring oversights. The highlight is a finally fixed “stealth” section on Day 5( which was in a broken state for more than a year) - now the collisions of the enemies work properly, so it’s even kind of fun, now! Other stuff are something like adding more quips from party members during dialogues with NPCs, clearing inventory from unused Key Items after dungeons, fixing typos, evening the volume of sounds and music and much more. Hopefully, it will make the game a much smoother experience and it will bring me a peace of mind, without a fear that I’ve left some glaring problem in the game.

To summarize - the newest update will launch on the 15th(or earlier). Since, after this, I want to focus on my other projects - it will be the last update for SpaceSave for some time to come(except, when there will be some game-breaking bug that will need to be fixed ASAP, but I hope there won’t be a need for that). I’ll write about my further plans for SpaceSave and other projects sometime later. That being said, I hope you’re looking forward to version 1.4!

Shiny, new promotional art by: Pequod (Click HERE for full size, without the ad part)

Hello there!

Exactly one year ago, my game - SpaceSave - has been released. For that occassion - let’s celebrate! With an update!

In addition to the new version of the game, an instruction manual has been remade to update its contents and add some new stuff to it, so give it a read if you want!

The game is also now available on GameJolt - so if that’s your preferable option: feel free to download the game from there!

Anyway, the download links:

itch.io: https://sadpinkstar.itch.io/spacesave

rpgmaker.net: https://rpgmaker.net/games/10222/

gamejolt.com: https://gamejolt.com/games/spacesave/383346

I apologize, but old saves will not work with the new version of the game

And here’s a changelog(as always, possible spoilers):

- Graphical improvements have been implemented: = Added more sprite variations for townspeople and students

= Tilesets have been slightly reworked = Fixed a slight graphical hiccup in a city tileset

= Gary's Dad sprite(Present-day version) has received a slight design change   = A new battler variation for "Deliquent" has been added = Replaced statuses' icons

= Redrawn a few more blurrier battlers

= As a bonus - addes some more color variations for dogs' overworld sprites

= Some slight graphical effects have been added

- NEW CONTENT has been added:

= Added a new school faction - The Lodge - with its own questline

= Added 3 new longer quest available to be accessed in town

= Added two new enemy types: "Yoyoslinger"(4 variations) and "Punk"(2 variations)

- Added a new item - Mobile Phone - which can be accessed with "Q" key(default) or from the Inventory(when the Player has it). It has following functionalities:

= Check the Main Quest goal = Chech all the active Side Quests

= Set the phone's wallpaper with 7 different variations to choose from

- Optional dungeon: Added an ability to skip the optional dungeon, while learning the story bits from it - for a price - works both on Day 3 and 4

- Optional dungeon: the locks are now automatically released after completing a puzzle - no need to use the computer with a puzzle again

- Balance change: Raised the level cap to 15

- Balance change : Gary's PWR skills cost more SP now

- Balance change: Ollie's "Frickin' Serenade" now restores slightly less HP(50) and requires less SP(40), while "Flockin' Serenade" restores more HP(150)

- Added a new area in town - second "Block of flats" - available to explore since Day 1

- Fixed bugs in the Chinese Restaurant quest that would make the first part of the quest impossible, if the Player started it on Day 2

- Fixed Saint Dog's dialogue in the Chinese Restaurant Quest on Day 2, where it had a line that was meant for Day 1

- Fixed a bug which deals 50 damage to player's party at the start of Jenkins battle, when Magnificent Manuel shows to help out

- Updated a cutscene with Gary's Dad on Day 3 after Ollie's quest - now The Saint Dog of The Dosfield Chapel is called differently if the Player haven't met it yet

- (Most of) the cutscenes, where the whole scene could not be visible now have a darkened window

- Added a prompt in a certain place to check it out later

- A Mysterious Man now repeats a hint, after the player talked with him before

- Fixed Streph's name in the final cutscene of Ending A

- Fixed Someone's animation in a Certain story scene - now it plays out properly

- Fixed Butch's battler-sprite - added a scar which is visible on his overworld sprite, but was missing on the battler

- Fixed wrong names for the Bullies in one of the school factions quests

- Splitted skill types to "Skill" for normal skills and "POWER" for PWR-type skills

- Slight UI changes

- Added new names to the Special Thanks and Testing section in the credits

- Added new items and equipment, connected to new quests

- "Liqour" is now cheaper, because the player could get a lot of money by selling it

- Disabled sprinting in the big hall area of the Factory(Day 2) mini-dungeon

- Fixed minor issues

Well, that’s all from me for now. I hope you all will have fun with the new version of the game! If you’ve found any bugs or have any other regarding the game - feel free to contact me! As for me - these last few months working on this game were really intense: I had to stop working on my other project to be able to finish the update in time for SpaceSave’s first anniversary. So, now I’ll go play some RDR2, god it’s been like forever since I’ve played it and I haven’t even reached 25% of the game... rest for a while  and then - resume the work on my other project, while working on additional fixes to SpaceSave if necessary. Hopefully, I will be able to show you some progress, still in this century...

Howdy! It’s been a while!(again...)

I’m very happy to announce that all of the playable content planned for the new version is done! Not entirely tested though, but that is what’s left to be done for the rest of this month. I’ve written in some older post that the new content will add around 1,5 - 3 hours of playtime to the base game and I think that turned out to be true.

There’s still one last thing I’ve wanted to add to the update, though. One of the biggest criticism for the game was the lack of the quest journal, so it was possible for the player to get lost somewhat easily - especially when it comes to side-quests... So yeah - that’s what I’m working on right now!

As you can see - the journal will take a form of a mobile phone, which you’ll be able to access from the inventory or just whip out during the game with the “Q” button(by default, that is). With it, you’ll be able to check out your current goal to progress the main story, check your active side-quests and as a bonus - change the wallpaper of the phone itself for something more to your liking. There will be 4 wallpapers available to choose, possibly more to be added with other updates in the future.

Checking the goal in the main quest

There’s one thing though - the phone won’t be available from the very start. The player will have to earn it, either by simply buying it(for a very high price...) or by completing a special side-quest. Don’t worry, though - it will be available since Day 1 and will be pretty hard to miss. You may consider it as an extended, but still optional tutorial...

As of today - only the side-quest check functionality of the phone is still to be done. I hope to have the whole thing finished by the half of this month and then go straight to testing. I think that the release date of the update will be around the first anniversary of the game’s launch which is the 8th of December at the latest(but I don’t think it will be before that.)... Some time before that - I’ll write up a proper announcement for the update, because there is a lot of neat stuff in it and I think it will make the game much, much better experience.

That’s it for now. You all have a nice weekend!

And if you’re interested in the game and want to try it before the update - just use any of the links HERE!:

Hello!

Today I have released the first update to SpaceSave! Although, there is no new content to speak of - a lot of bugs and issues had been fixed along with some minor graphical improvements(especially with status’ and items’ icons, which were a little broken in the last version). If you already have the last version downloaded - old saves should be working on this new one.

You can download the new version here:

rpgmaker.net: https://rpgmaker.net/games/10222/

itch.io: https://sadpinkstar.itch.io/spacesave

You  can also read the changelog below, if you want to know more about changes brought to the game by the update(possible spoilers):

- Tweaked the dialogue boxes - balanced the formatting of the text, fixed bad grammar and typos, rewritten some sentences - as much as could be done at the moment

- A .txt file with music credits has been placed in the game's zip - now, songs are not only credited in the game's end credits, so their source can be accessed faster

- Credited a poem, which Saint Dog's incantation was based on - in the end credits

- Added a recommendation, at the start of the game, to turn down the OS' volume

- Fixed Rad Girl's event after completing the StupidFace game. Now the reward can only be received once

- Made a puzzle with looking for a safe-code in the Haunted House, a little easier

- Changed stray items sprite and animations

- Changed Saint Dog's sprite slightly - added a cape on the right side, which was previously absent from that angle, even though the cape was visible on the front side

- Items' and Statuses' icons have been tweaked. Now, they are properly placed and without graphical artifacts

- Fixed minor bugs and oversights in the events

Hopefully, this update will make the game more enjoyable experience. I hope you will all have fun with the game, whether you are a new player or someone who has already downloaded the last version. And Happy New Year to all of you! I already have some plans for more stuff to put into the game, so let’s hope we will see more SpaceSave updates in the year 2018!