Infinite Stars - The Visual Novel News

It's Friday!

I'm technically on leave from yesterday until Tuesday, but I've slipped away to put some time in to get the build ready for today!

It's mostly additional graphics and the odd bug fix. We added some more awesome portraits to the game (You have all the awesome Patrons that pledge on the Captain tier to thank for the portraits, as each Captain gets to add their own custom MC portrait to the game!)



These portraits are now showing up during dialogue scenes whenever your MC speaks. The expressions are static and don't change. I don't have any plans to change this right now, but perhaps we can revisit the idea down the line.

We also added the new animated personal quarters to the game, with additional colour variations for different NPC's (You can see some of them at the start of Episode 2, with the distinction between Veera and Mayvheen's rooms, depending on which choices you made during Episode 1)



(If your Mah'Abeu is a tidy person, they'll make their bed in the mornings.)

I've been putting some contingencies in place for next month, (I'll probably be taking a few weeks off when my daughter is born.) From May, Tae will be drawing a few more extra characters for us every month, and you can also look forward to the very first pin-up design!

We're also starting our weekly polls from next month where Patrons can have more say on what content we'll be adding to the game each month.

To make up for my taking a break, (I'll still be around probably, just less consistently, for shorter amounts of time, and weirder hours), I've been searching for additional writers. It's been a tiresome process, but with the final round of interviews finishing up next week, I'm starting to see some progress. The intention is to have the additional writers stick around so I can add more content on a consistent schedule. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to add an additional 10-20K+ words of content each month if not more, so stick around!

I love all of you to bits, and none of this would be possible without YOU.

It's Friday! ::shoulder wiggle::

I've been continuing to write dynamic content and working on the scenes I mentioned in last week's Devlog. (It had some very cool teasers about the two new Cephilusk Characters)

A small teaser from one of the snippets I've been working on:

Her desk display was filled with gruesome pictures of corpses, and morbid curiosity compelled me to take a closer look. It seemed like Kiaria had been doing research on various ways to dispose of a body. All of her search queries were oddly specific with her biggest concern being whether or not the method in question would actually work.
There's a new Patreon build (Win|Mac|Lin) and (Android) available for you to test the new MC portraits showing while your Mah'Abeu talks, and depending on the feedback, we'll share this feature next week in a new public build. (I've been rushing to get everything compiled and uploaded before my power goes off!)



Tae has also been working on some new player portraits that we'll be adding to the game, and she has redrawn Kiaria's sprite to make her look more like the original Kiaria all of you love and adore. We sadly missed the deadline to have the new Kiaria in today's release, but you'll see her in action from next week!



Stoffies has continued to work on updating the older backgrounds, and he is still busy with the Drop-Drone redraw (with bonus modularity!)

Our studio (IF THEN ELSE Interactive Fiction) has been growing slowly, and we've been adding a ton of new character sprites for our fellow indie devs to use in their own game. Seriously, if you have any interest in developing your own Visual Novel or narrative driven game down the line, you should check it out. We've even extended the early bird 40% discount for life promotion.



I'm off to do some more writing, but I hope all of you have a fantastic weekend. Stay safe, be kind and dare yourself to try something new! Love all of you!

It's Friday.

I'm working from a coffee shop today because of reasons.

We're at that weird development stage where lots is happening, without being able to share anything interesting about it. So today will focus briefly on what I've been busy with, and then we'll look at a few upcoming things that I'm excited about!

We've made some progress with enhancing the story controller running in the background. I honestly can't thank Trix enough for all of her help. She's been amazing. So has Tae with the character artwork, and Stoffies with the backgrounds.

I've been working on several scenes at once. The new story controller is going to pay off in spades! Some scenes you can look forward to down the line: (Spoilers ahead so maybe just skip over the italicised paragraph if you prefer surprises.)

I've been working on some dinner dates with Lebeny (plural) and I also started writing a second intimate scene between your Mah'Abeu and Lebeny. Raymond reads some children stories for the camera recorder so Lunar Command can use it for propaganda back home. There's a scene where your Mah'Abeu walks in on Matthias while he is busy painting his starship figurines, and another scene with Matthias where he draws your Mah'Abeu (either your portrait as friends, or nude as more than friends.) There are several other scenes also in various stages of completion ranging from idea to first draft.

Spoilers are done from here. Yay.
Now, for some of the stuff that I'm excited about! Tae has increased her availability to me, and we're working on a few surprises, mostly related to animations during the intimate scenes. I know, but wait– I don't want to oversell/overhype all of you, so rather don't expect too much! I'd much prefer to exceed your expectations, so if they're low, you'll be helping me out!

There was a Discord poll about the possibility of having your portrait picture show up during dialogue when your Mah'Abeu talks. The portrait will be static without changing facial expressions for technical reasons, but even so, it seems like the majority of you would like this, so I'm working on that. I'll also try to include an option where your Mah'Abeu's portrait doesn't show while talking for those of you who like the current implementation.

While my focus has been on the dynamic story content, Tae and Stoffies have been working hard to bring more minor animations into the game (Like the moving stars background with the Observatory and the Corridor redraw.) The biggest constraint is still budget, but I feel I've been able to stretch the available monthly funds quite responsibly. (As a side note, 100% of the Patreon funds have been going straight back into tools and assets to further improve Infinite Stars. I'm no longer using my savings to fund the project which is fantastic, all thanks to my patrons! Even those on the smallest tier help tremendously!)

On that note, here is a teaser of two new characters your Mah'Abeu will meet further down the line, with a full version here for all Patrons as a thank you! I wasn't planning on sharing them yet, but I wanted to show all of you where your money goes!



There are a few other surprises planned, but I don't want to reveal them all at once.

I'm also considering hosting a live workshop for those of you that are interested in creating your own stories for Infinite Stars, where we'll work on our mods together on a live stream, and you can ask any questions and get help with the implementation. If you're keen on this, let me know in the comments/Discord, and we'll look at some time slots.

Have a fantastic weekend, practise gratitude and be kind to those around you! Oh, and don't forget to have some fun!

Happy Easter Friday to those of you that observe!

I made another week of progress. Everyone seems to be enjoying the new content. I haven't any player created stories yet, so if you do end up creating something, let me know so I can tell everyone else about it!

I've been working on some behind the scenes boring admin stuff, and Trix has been helping me rebuild the entire story controller. If you ever run into her on the streets, please give her a sincere hug and a high-five.

The new story controller is much more robust, and won't break your saves as often as the old one did. That's reason enough, and yet I'm most excited about the additional storytelling capabilities I now have access to.



I've started creating some fluff scenes for you to run into around the ship. My focus has been on Aeroponics, specifically when Lebeny isn't there. Your Mah'Abeu will be able to snoop around Lebeny's personal plant collection, or maybe they'll do an inspection on what Lebeny has been growing in the aeroponics chambers. Your Mah'Abeu can also choose violence and chaos by overfeeding Lebeny's fish. Down the line, there might be a steam achievement in it for those of you who commit to the cause.

Having 'free roaming' exploration is fantastic, but it also provides a narrative challenge. If players are going from empty room to empty room looking for content, I have failed as a storyteller. From a game design perspective, visiting an empty room should be fun and interesting while giving players the opportunity to learn more about the world. It should also shift and change with each visit while dropping hooks that can trigger scenes that would otherwise be hidden.

Visiting Lebeny's private plant collection should be something players want to do. They should be just as excited to discover what new weird and wonderful plants Lebeny is experimenting with as they would be to actually find Lebeny and talk to her.

I've put a lot of thought into these 'free roaming' events over the last two years, and seeing them become a reality has filled me with renewed excitement and passion to channel into Infinite Stars. Thank you for sharing this journey with me!

I have a busy weekend filled with family time ahead of me and hope all of you get to experience the same joy and peace with your loved ones.

Be kind and stay safe!

James

It's Friday, and the new build is finally available on Steam.

Not sure if I should even bother writing anything more? Whelp. For those of you who didn't immediately click away, you can expect to see all the new character sprites in the latest build.

There's also a little surprise at the end (after the credits)

In the meantime, I'm continuing to add more free exploration content. I've been enjoying writing everything from cutesy dates, to empty rooms and stuff you can do in them. It's going to be an ongoing project so your Mah'Abeu can breathe a bit before lunging into Episode 4.

Patrons can get theirs here, and if you're on the $12+ tier, you can get the Android build here.