Zeta Wolf: First Bite News

Thank you, everyone, for your continued support of the game! I've been meaning to implement these updates over the year, and they have finally arrived—just in time for Steam's Visual Novel Fest.

[h2]Updates for Version 1.2[/h2]

• Inserted new promo video before starting a "New Game"
  
• Adjusted some text in the prologue/ending scenes.
  
• Added full voice acting to the Prologue and Ending scenes.
  

To clarify, there are 2k additional words of voice acting added. This includes the prologue (first scene) and ending scenes.

The new promo that I whipped together will be up on YouTube shortly. In the meantime, you can check it out on our Steam landing page for the game.

I've recently moved to Bluesky, so please follow our studio on that platform to keep up with all our games and development news!

In addition, I will be holding a Visual Novel Fest-specific event with free closed beta keys for my next game, Zeta Wolf Chronicles! This Kickstarter-backed game has been in development for a while and the (eventual) public demo offers nearly 10 hours of gameplay!

To be eligible you must leave a review (positive or negative) on Zeta Wolf: First Bite! Only the first 10 reviews will qualify. Thank you!

Please look forward to the official announcement of this event soon!

Thanks for your support everyone — during the launch and afterwards. This was my first commercial game release, and while I had a few hiccups here and there, I have learned quite a bit that I can apply to my next release, which is currently in development!

First Bite ended up being a very small side project and a "starter" game for me, much narrower in scope than Zeta Wolf Chronicles. Through it, I learned to iron out kinks in the game engine and succeeded in publishing and delivering my first game. Could things be improved? Certainly! The budget was minuscule for this game, so I did the best that I could with what I had. There is no doubt that Zeta Wolf Chronicles is a game 10 times greater in scope with a much larger cast and game script. Please look forward to it (hopefully in late 2025)!

Let's get onto the updates for this version, shall we?

[h2]Bug Fixes - Version 1.1[/h2]

• Corrected numerous typos scattered throughout the game. - Thanks to community member “nd” on Discord for their generous contribution and feedback! 
  
• Adjusted the Scene Selection and “Save Data” mechanic to save your progress at the start of scenes rather than the end. 
  
• Fixed a bug with scene 2 showing a “No scene selected” error in the Scene Selection menu.

Thanks to the adjustments in how save data/progress is handled, it should be much less cumbersome to resume play. If everyone has any further input/suggestions please let me know in the comments on the discord!

Happy belated launch! With any game launch comes bugs that I swore I got the first time around! Apologies, I tried to tackle these as soon as I could. Please let me know if you encounter any further issues! Thank you for your support! I'm testing if this update breaks things, so if you encounter any issues I need to know ASAP!

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed a crash where the game would freeze during the "Siona hug scene".
  
• Fixed an issue where scene selection was unavailable from the main menu.
  
• Adjusted Siona's outfit during one of her monologue scenes to "Casual Wear" (more fitting to the scene).
  

Known Issues:
The game randomly crashes when accessing certain menus. Still looking into a fix.

Also please check out this post in the community forums if you experience slowdown or have trouble running on Steam Deck. Thank you!

Thanks for following our cutesy Yuri visual novel, Zeta Wolf: First Bite! I hope you are excited about our game! As always, I appreciate everyone's wishlisting ahead of our launch. This helps us out as far as visibility goes on Steam, and it also immediately notifies you when our game has launched.

[h2]Favorite Girl Poll![/h2]

Before I get into a rather lengthy overview of our game and everything it has to offer, please check out our poll! Who is your favorite girl among the two? Siona is the blonde, and Carly is the brunette!

[h2]About our Studio![/h2]

Now, a brief recap of our studio and what we hope to accomplish with our games (we're indie devs)! My name is Zanthos, and I'm the lead, programmer and writer for the studio. I started my efforts in game development back in 2018 when I started preliminary work on Zeta Wolf Chronicles. Chronicles eventually was successful on Kickstarter back in 2023 and is currently in ongoing development. I decided to take a small hiatus to publish my first game - Zeta Wolf: First Bite, and that brings us to today!

[h2]A couple of standards that I hope to bring forward as things you can expect from my games[/h2]

• Partial English voice-acting
  
• 16+, or VNs for all ages
  
• Heavy story-driven focus, covering under-explored niches with a deep focus on social interactions
  

For the moment, I have one main artist who I hope to keep on board as long as possible. This should keep our art style consistent across games, so you'll know what to expect. I do very much enjoy creating stories, fleshing out worlds and characters, and being a game dev in general (it sure beats the grind of the day job). With your support, I'll be able to keep creating games, now and into the future!

Let's talk about Zeta Wolf: First Bite and what you can expect from this title. Carly and Siona are the main characters, two girls in their senior year at Renden High. After their meeting, Siona reluctantly agrees to tag along as "friends" and their adventures begin! First Bite is a "prequel" to Chronicles in a sense, as it shares familiar characters and settings. Here, you'll learn more about Siona and Carly and their intricacies/backstories more in-depth. This title is by no means required to enjoy Chronicles, but it does expand the lore and provide greater insight into these two.

This might not be stated elsewhere, but there are fully voiced lines by both Siona and Carly throughout the game. Most of the game does use voiced snippets, however (about 150 for each character, including variations). The eventual goal is to introduce a full voice-acting patch in the future (only possible with your support!).

In case you are wondering, the title can be classified as "Yuri", but it's definitely on the lighter side. Above all, it's a cute and wholesome story of two girls sharing time together and exploring their friendship. You'll definitely get a greater glimpse of the dynamic between the two by playing!

Here are two newish screenshots you may have missed. In finalizing the game build, there were additional night scenes included. In these scenes, I experimented with sprite-tinting, which seemed to work out pretty well. In the second screenshot, the same effect is applied during the afternoon sun on the beach.



Another late content update was the Sprite Viewer! This is a post-game unlock that allows you to "play around with" Siona and Carly, change their costumes, play music, view bgs, hear their voice clips, and more! Here is a small sample of what to expect:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Discord and Additional Questions/Comments?[/h2]

You're also able to join our discord or ask below if you have any further questions about our game! Thanks for your interest! I'll be back on the 15th with a follow-up post! Until then!