#stygiandevlog

Hello! I am sorry we're four days into April, my body was hell most of this week, so I couldn't get things out on the 31st like I wanted to.

TL;DR: WBRC's 1.0 update is out and includes all but 4 CGs. CG artist for Contego has been attained!

First things first, I am happy to announce that The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow finally has a version 1.0.

This version of the game (should) be completable from start to finish with the only thing missing being 4 of the common route CGs. The volunteer artist handling those CGs has had a very busy life throughout these past few months, so I hope to be able to patch these in into a 1.1 or 1.2 update alongside some bug fixes (my games never release without bugs because my QA tester is my self and my one friend who I have break everything).

Looking this game back over reminded me of how much I do really like writing about Warden cultists. I describe it as the main character getting to experience the life of a table top NPC meeting level 20 player characters. Writing dialogue for these two was a blast, so while the 'mystery' is very weak (as I discovered writing this, I am not good at mystery writing. I need to practice more), I did enjoy expanding the world at large and writing the interactions between the Truthlight, Yukimura, and Zahir. I can only hope reading their banter is as fun for you all as it was for me.

All endings should be unlockable (with only the neutral ending CG missing, as it is technically a common route CG), so please enjoy. Do remember that Yukimura & Zahir can be romance individually or together, and they have platonic/friendship Good Ends as well.

Now as for news on Contego:

I've reviewed the outline a couple of more times to nail down where some additional conversations should go. Since Necare herself doesn't flirt much naturally, I have to find spaces for the Greatsmith to interject and flirt themself, and that is proving to be a unique (but fun) challenge. As always though, Necare's natural romantic inclinations being that of a rock continues to add unique twists to things.

Speaking of our lovely Godkiller. I figure I have teased you all enough about what she looks like, so please, take a look at the wonderful current work in progress designs by NickDS ( @brbbringingnachos).

The lovely individual crafting our CGs has also started progress on by far the most intensive CG of the bunch (for the artists out there, it is a city view at a distance), but since that one is meant to be a "step into a new world" situation, I won't be showing any of the progress on it ;3

So as always with my projects, stuff is slow, but I hope to have more to show you all by the end of summer (not a full fledge demo more than likely, but something) in honor of our lovely Summer Warden.

Again, thank you all so much for your continued support and interest in this series. It helps keep me going when the fatigue sets in, you have no idea.

Have a wonderful rest of your morning/day/night!

A short and simple one this time around, as I have been looking for a place to move into and nursing a bad pinky (I went into the Chains of Harrow quest under prepared and my job having me type a lot has kept aggravating it).

The only real big update I have is that a CG artist for Sacrarium Contego has been confirmed! The first CG is being worked on, but I imagine it's going to take some time since it's arguably the most complicated one of the whole set.

I've double checked the code for challenge 1 (Contego is broken up into the three "challenges" and made sure the routing is still working), and I've been trying to figure out where to slot more romantic scenes because Necare is the most unromantic thing on the planet. The Greatsmith has to carry a lot of the burden in that regard. It's a unique challenge.

I have also continued mechanic and intro plotting for Resisco!

Sorry I don't have anything more exciting to report this month. Next month will likely be also on the smaller side due to me hopefully moving (just waiting on paperwork, so fingers crossed). Still, I hope to continue making progress.

Thank you all for your continued patience and support. It means a lot!

It's been a minute, hasn't it?

Here is the big news for the Sacrarium series.

Sacrarium Pario

A patch fixing the lovers/friends bug has been released. With it, errors with the Affection & Attention routes should no longer be happening. If it keeps happening though, please let me know!

The Woeful Rose & The Bitter Crow

9 out of the 19 CGs are fully completed and implemented into the game! Now that might not seem like a lot of them at a glance, but one of these actually had six variants. Thus, it was worth more. As it stands:

Zahir's route has all CGs necessary.

Yukimura's route has 1 CG completed with one on linework and two more to go.

The Poly Route has 2 CGs completed with sketches for the two remaining solidified.

Common Route 1 has two CGs completed with only one left. Though it is by far the most intensive one of that set (it has a lot of moving parts).

Common Route 2 has 1 CG at the flats + small adjustments stage. Three more remain, but they're a lot less complicated than this first one is (namely because they don't have a big prop that can mess with proportions like the first).

Here are some sneak peaks!

(Snippet of Yukimura's first CG!)

(I love how happy Zahir gets to be. It's so lovely. No spoilers on when this CG comes into play though!)

I've gotten to experiment with camera angles a bit more as well, which has been a blast. Though I did make sure that the camera moved slow enough to not make anyone sick.

Sacrarium Contego

Since I have decided to not burn everything, right now I'm still fiddling with all of the buttons and double checking my notes for tie ins to the next bit.

The first Challenge is around 30k words total. I expect the second to easily be that amount if not double. It's the meatiest part of the game in a sense (which follows Sacrarium's usual pattern. Introductory time to let the LIs get a feel for your MC that play through > meat of the character development and lore > finale), so I imagine it's going to take me some time to parse through.

BUT

...we might have a character concept page in a few months ;3 courtesy of one of our WRBC CG artists (once they finish their remaining CG lol).

I make no promises on a timeline. Though it has been fun digging around fashion to find what Necare would reasonably wear.

And that's it for now!

I wish I had more to show off, but that'd be spoilers.

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!