cryspace News

It's been a while since I've made an announcement about Cryspace, but I feel it's time to shed some light on the project:

I have made the decision to transition the title to Early Access. I do not want to cause any further delays, and I'd like to get some of the game out for everyone to experience and continue iterating from there based on user feedback.


Sam Winters' entire story will be playable on day one of release. Her story alone will provide hours of content especially if you play through all of the available branching paths (there are many!). I cannot stress how important your decisions will be during your playthroughs, and I sincerely believe you'll enjoy playing through every one of them.


These characters will be implemented down the line, and for those of you who have played the demo, your saved data is safe. They will be fully available in future updates to the game post-release. On Day 1 of Early Access release, saved data with Alexis and Vanesa will be unavailable to load, but once these characters are released, you may access that saved data again.


For those of you who have requested the ability to play from a feminine perspective, I've got you covered. From day one, you will have the ability to select your gender on the profile creation screen, which will change the love interests and some gender-specific story elements.


Cryspace is a free game, meaning anyone can pick it up and give the game a shot for a reasonable amount of time (about an hour's worth of gameplay). To clarify on the available Full Game DLC, this will grant you access to Sam Winters' full story on launch, and any future updates (custom stories, Alexis/Vanesa's full story arcs, whatever else might be released in the future) will be yours for free. There will be no future DLC releases, meaning that if you purchase the Full Game DLC, the entire game and all future updates will be available to you with no additional charges. This, of course, includes Alexis and Vanesa as selectable love interests, and the story editor. There will never be any additional DLC available for Cryspace. Free-to-play players will also benefit from these future updates, unlocking partial access to Alexis'/Vanesa's story arcs as they are released at no charge.


I've said from the beginning that I don't plan to release an unfinished product on release, and this still holds true. The game you receive on day one of Early Access could be considered a full product in it of itself with the amount of branching paths available to you as well as the amount of features, and the hours of content you will be able to play through as a result. Early Access is necessary as I've spent a lot of development time simply working on Sam's story alone, and naturally, I intend to release more love interests. Frankly, I need more time to write engaging stories for these other love interests, and I don't want to keep anyone waiting any longer to experience a full playthrough of Cryspace. Overall, I feel Early Access to be a proper tag as I want to keep adding/iterating to the game post-release. Once all the love interests are implemented as well as the custom stories, the game will be out of Early Access.


With this announcement, I am proud to announce an updated release of October 1st, 2024. As mentioned, Sam Winters' entire story will be available on Day 1 with the Full Game DLC, and a partial story will be available for those without this DLC. This may seem a bit far out, but it is a necessity in order to finish all of the branching paths, add art and music to the game where appropriate, make some other quality-of-life changes, and to test the game and every path available.

For everyone who has wishlisted the game thus far, thank you. For the curators who've reviewed the game, thank you. I am committed to providing a great experience throughout every stage of development with the community's suggestions taken into account. I truly believe I have made a great game, and I am anxious to see what you all think about Sam's story once you have the chance to experience it for yourself. Thanks again for your patience, and I look forward to your reactions of the game once it is available.

I wanted to take some time to go over the direction of the game, and reevaluating the expected release date for it.


Cryspace is still being worked on daily, and much progress has been made since my previous last couple of announcements. That said, I'm in a position currently where I must delay the game for likely another few months (hence the TBA on the store page). This is due to the fact that I am committed to making several branching paths/unique endings/Easter eggs/etc.

From a technical standpoint, the game is complete; it's the story that needs to be finalized and polished, and I want to make sure that everyone who plays has control over where their story goes, and is satisfied with the ending(s) they receive as a result of their actions. Sure, i could release the game at the end of this month, rush the endings and the dialogue, and ship it on time, but I'd much prefer to release something that is well thought out, polished, moderately lengthy, and fleshed out with content, so much so that is re-playable with little overlap in the story from run-to-run.


I think that what would most benefit the game currently is having a publisher to oversee its production, have people test the game currently, and writers/editors to ensure that the story is the absolute best it could be. As such, this is something I will be actively pursuing and hopefully, I am able to land a partnership with those that can bring out the very best in this game.

Even without a publisher, I am confident I can finish the game on my own, and that it would be a fulfilling experience start to finish. That said, I'm one guy working a full-time job, and I believe a partnership with a reputable publisher will help get this title finished faster, offer a second opinion on both the story amongst other decisions, and is ultimately the direction that I would like to move in.


Thank you to everyone who has played the demo(s) of the game thus far, and I promise this game has my full commitment until it is complete. As soon as I have a better idea of a time-frame moving forward, I will update you accordingly.

As promised, the demo has been updated to a new version containing new features, new additions to the story (including first dates with all three girls!) and more. This demo, from start to finish, should take about 30 minutes to complete, and nearly 2 hours of original content in total if you try different branching paths. Of course, progress made in the demo will be compatible with the full version upon release.

Note: The Unity splash screen shows up in this build due to the ongoing issues with the engine. This will not be present in the final game.

As the sole developer of Cryspace, I wanted to take some time to discuss development progress as well as announce a change to the expected release date.


To be clear, nothing is changing in regards to the game's features. The entire story will be available, alongside the editor, Steam Workshop support, etc. on day one of the game's release. That being said, the game's release is being pushed from September 1st of this year to November 30th.

The reason for this change is that, when this game releases, I want it to be complete. That's not to say there won't be updates post-release (there will be!), but as far as the core features go, I need to allocate myself this extra time to ensure that everything is prepared, polished, perfected, and good to go.


To put in perspective the progress made on the story so far, I have prepared a list of statistics for your amusement:

As of today, there are:

1. 2,348 messages sent by characters.
   
2. 271 opportunities to respond to characters, and influence the story.
   
3. Approximately 867 branching paths/unique dialogue sequences influenced by your responses, and character's opinions about you.
   
4. 17 endings developed so far, most of which are a result of negative interactions with characters.
   
5. 5,576 lines of "story script", which tells the game how to execute the story.
   

As the only person working on this game, as well as the fact that I am working full-time, it is a necessity. This is not a decision that I've made lightly, but I'd rather delay the game until November than release an incomplete product in September. Rest assured, I'm working practically everyday to make this game as good as it can be.

While I could likely finish, for example, the story by September, that would leave out the editor, Steam Workshop, etc. and leave me no time to apply any "final touches" prior to release. I have all the intention in the world to ship out a fully featured, complete game on day one of release as to not keep any of you waiting for the next "chapter" of the story, the ability to make your own stories, or use any of the other features. I've played a lot of games in the past in which I've been left on cliffhangers only to be told I have to wait a year to continue playing, and I'm not going to take that approach with this game or any other game that I make.


The demo will be updated with an additional segment of the story on September 15th.


As the branching paths, story, and features progress further, I am in need of beta testers. Should you be interested, please add me on Steam, or shoot me at an email at [email protected].


All in all, I look forward to delivering a quality game with tons of replay value very soon. Thanks to everyone who's wishlisted and/or followed the game so far. I appreciate your support!

The first demo version of Cryspace is now publicly available from now until the end of the month. This demo encompasses the first pivotal events of the game, including deciding which girl you'd like to pursue, and resolving a heated conflict between your best friend and an unknown assailant. Every decision you make in the demo will be saved, and will be compatible with the full version once it is released.

An average play-through of the demo takes about fifteen minutes, though I encourage you to create multiple saves and try out the different dialogue options/choices to get the full experience. Each decision you make in the game, no matter how trivial, can and may be cross-referenced by characters either later in the demo, or in the full version of the game. Feel free to play around, explore each character's personality, and have fun trying things out!

Beginning July 1st, this demo will no longer be available for download. You can look forward to an extended demo that will expand upon the events of this demo, and offer a more refined experience available on August 1st.

Have fun!