The Use of Life News

We've received another status update from Daraneko.
Please give it a read.

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It's October.
Back in September, it still felt like there was some time left before the end of the year, but October feels like we're nearing the end already. I can't believe this.

Anyway, here's a status update.
I've mainly been designing the maps and events for Chapter 4.



Chapter 4 will take place in the Everspring Forest, which is located in a snowy land.
It's surrounded by snow, but the forest, and only the forest, is always warm like spring, all year round.
As a result, all sorts of living things grow very big and strong here.
And plenty of fairies—everyone's favorite, I know—live here too.

But I've also been working on other stuff on the side, so I'm not quite done with the above yet.
Right now, the Steam Turn-Based RPG Fest is underway, and so we're grabbing this chance to improve the store page and update some things so we can sell more copies.

We made a new trailer, rewrote parts of the store description (again)...
And since the game sells a LOT worse in Chinese and English regions compared to Japan, we've focused our efforts to reach a wider audience in that direction.

As for updates, I added some new features which you can see in the ver0.5.09 patch notes.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1483370/announcements/detail/4657374909389692420?snr=2___
The Hints for the Road feature has now turned into a nice conversation with Elmaise where he patiently walks you through some detailed hints.
(Which means I had to do a whole lotta writing and well, I suffered through it.)

There's also a few minor bugs that you guys have reported that are still in the game, so I'll be working on fixing them next.
After that, I'll go back to writing events.

There's still a lot of work to do, but I'll pick at them one by one until I'm done.

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And that's all for this status update.
Development is still going strong, so please continue to support us!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1483370/_/

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Hello everyone,

Thank you playing The Use of Life!
We have updated the game to Ver.0.5.09, Here are the bug fixes and changes.

• Overhauled the Hints for the Road that can be viewed during a Game Over. (Now with more detailed hints in the form of a conversation with Elmaise)
  
• D. Boost now only spends half of your Boost Gauge.
  
• Added a "Hold On!" button that will appear under specific conditions.
  
• Added a black circle to the sprites of some Chauris.
  

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1483370/_/
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We've received another status update from Daraneko.
Please give it a read.

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It's September! Here's a status update.

It's been a hectic month for me due to a lot of changes going on, such as my day job and stuff, but development is going smoothly.
I've finished designing the events, items, and equipment for Chapter 3, as well as the maps.

In Chapter 3, you'll visit a market asking around for information, while also trying some street food with Kohaku...



And your next destination will be the Maneater Mountains, with a bone-chilling peak and snow that only gets heavier the higher you climb.
Chapter 3 of the other route takes place in a scorching desert, but this time you'll encounter events that can only happen in a freezing cold climate.



This month, I'll be working on the same things, but for Chapter 4!

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And that's all for this status update.
Development is still going strong, so please continue to support us!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1483370/_/

Visit the Playism Website Follow us on Steam Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Join our Discord server

We've received another status update from Daraneko.
Please give it a read.

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[h2]◆Status Update[/h2]
I worked on the game scenario in July. Here's what I did.

• Decide what the dungeons will be like and what characters will appear in them
  
• Worldbuilding for the aforementioned dungeons and characters
  
• Decide what events will happen in the main story
  
• Decide what choices to offer and how these decisions will affect the story
  
• Decide what the endings will be like

Simply put, I worked on building the story and deciding how it'll turn out.
When I write a story, I typically start by deciding on an ending, and then I write a story that builds up to that ending. That's why I design these elements before I actually start writing the story.
The plot itself already exists, and has for a few years now, but now I've fleshed it out further and written down a more detailed summary.
And all of that has been completed, right on schedule. Yippee!


[h2]◆Plans for the Next Month[/h2]
Next up is creating the maps, designing the dungeon events, equipment, items, etc...
All of these elements affect one another, so they need to be worked on at the same time.
(If I want to make this piece of equipment, I'd need an event like this to happen, and if I'm making a map like this, I should make equipment like this... and the like.)

There's a lot to work on here, so it might take more than a month. (I think it took me a month back when I was still working on each chapter separately.)
But hey, there's no need for me to panic just yet, so I'll go at it at my own pace and spend as much time as I need on it. Slowly, leisurely, like a newborn kitty who just woke up.

=================================

And that's all for this status update.
Development is still going strong, so please continue to support us!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1483370/_/

Visit the Playism Website Follow us on Steam Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Join our Discord server

We've received another status update from Daraneko.
Please give it a read.

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This time, I would like to talk about what I plan to do next.

It's been a month or so after the release of the final chapter, during which we've rolled out multiple updates, but I plan on starting development on the other route soon.
(Except for just one more small, boring update that's right around the corner.)

This time, I'll be working on the route where you decide not to look for Misha, and instead end up traveling with Kohaku and Veronika and starting a completely different journey.
The "uses of life" that will be explored in this route will also be different from what I've already depicted in the completed route.

But let me preface this by saying that the next story update will take a long time.
I'm so exhausted both mentally and physically so I'll be off to a tropical island to take a little vacation!
...Okay, I'm not. The real reason is that I know for sure that if I keep making the game the same way as I have up till now (i.e. making a chapter and updating with that chapter), nothing good will happen.

(I'm going to explain in detail from here, so if you don't want to read all the text that's coming up, you can just read the last point.)




[h2]------- Accomplishments and Current Situation -------[/h2]

First of all, let's list out all the releases we've accomplished to face the (sad) reality of development...

[h3]◆ Releases So Far[/h3]

• May 2022: Early Access version released
  
• March 2023: Chapter 3 released (10 months)
  
• November 2023: Chapter 4 released (7 months)
  
• June 2024: Final chapter released (7 months)

　　↓

That's 24 months in total.
And if I spend around the same amount of time on the other route, that means it'll take 2 more years to complete!!!

That's what the numbers show, but to be honest, I do NOT want to spend 2 WHOLE YEARS on this!!! Not again!!!
And I don't think anyone else wants that either.

It's also not that great that there's more than half a year between each release.
Ideally, I'd want to update with a new chapter every 2 to 3 months...
But as you can see, in reality, it took 7 months. And to break down what I've done over those 7 months...

[h3]◆ Task Breakdown Per Chapter[/h3]

• 1st month: Post-release bug fixes and adjustments, feature implementation
  
• 2nd month: Chapter design (deciding what to do for that chapter, plotting the story, and designing the gameplay portions)
  
• 3rd month: Commissioning art and supervising the process
  
• 4th month: Map creation, item and equipment creation, writing, event creation
  
• 5th month: Writing, event creation
  
• 6th month: Designing new skills, building and adjusting new gameplay features
  
• 7th month: Creating enemy data, balance tweaks, debugging
  

That's a whole lot of work.
All of them are important, so I can't just get rid of any of these tasks, but I can't make the other route much smaller/shorter than the completed one just because I want to lessen my workload.
But with this schedule, I'm still in the preparation stage on the 2nd~3rd month, and I don't actually implement anything into the game yet...
So if I keep doing the same thing, I'll have to spend half a year per chapter release yet again.
And I don't wanna do that!



[h2]------- What Now? -------[/h2]

I think I want to switch my priorities around a bit.
Before, I hadn't gotten to the ending yet, so my highest priority was to "release the next chapter ASAP".
And so I had to think about each chapter separately and think about how to make the next chapter only when the time comes.
(Even so, I wasn't very fast...)


But now, I have a completed route that you can play until the ending, so instead of rushing towards the next chapter all the time...
- Shorten the time needed to make everything up till the ending
- Shorten the release gap between chapters
These two will be my top priority from now on.
And since I've gotten the experience of reaching an ending, now I can see the bigger picture better than before.

And so, what I'll do is...

[h3]Group Tasks Together (Overall Design/Development)[/h3]

• Instead of just making the enemies that appear in the next chapter, I'll make all of the enemies that appear throughout the route all at once (including equipment, items, etc.)
  
• Come up with map and event designs for the whole route before starting developemnt, and make maps for all chapters
  
• Leave implementing overworld events for later, and finish all of the story events first
  
• Then I would know exactly what artwork I need, and so I can commission all of the artwork needed for the entire route all at once.

　　　↓

[h3]Release a Chapter Every 2~3 Months while Working on Tasks (Individual Development Tasks)]/h3]

• Come up with map events and text, then implement them
  
• Balance tweaks, debugging
  
• Localization
  

That's the gist of it.
Working on each chapter separately involved trying to remember how I did things half a year ago, which was very inefficient. Grouping tasks together will make everything go smoother.
And as long as that's dealt with, each chapter will require less individual work. All I need to do is to make a schedule where I can release a chapter every 2~3 months, and then release Chapter 3 of the second route.



[h2]------- Upcoming Development -------[/h2]

At the beginning of this post, I said that the next story update will take a long time, and this is why that's the case.
I think the tasks in overall design/development will take quite a lot of time.
That's because I'll be working on Chapter 3, 4, and the final chapter all at once.

I think this alone will take at least another half year, and even when that's done, I wouldn't be able to release Chapter 3 right away.
Creating each chapter still takes time, and so does localization.
But in exchange, I think this will shorten the time it takes to reach the ending, and once I've released Chapter 3, we'll be able to pick up the pace and update more quickly.

However, I won't say here how long exactly that will take, nor when I plan on releasing Chapter 3 of the other route.
I can sort of guess, but I'll end up being wrong, anyway.
When I actually start working on it, I'll gradually get a clearer idea, and when I do, I'll tell you all in another status update.
And although there'll be a long wait until the next chapter releases, I'll still post monthly status updates like this one, so if you're interested in knowing how my development process is going, please follow this Steam news.

I hope you'll be patient and look forward to the next route.

=================================

And that's all for this status update.
Development is still going strong, so please continue to support us!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1483370/_/

Visit the Playism Website Follow us on Steam Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Join our Discord server