Path of the Ory News

Hey everyone!

I’m opening the gates of Venia to YOU.

Whether you’re one of our awesome Steam community members or a backer of the Kickstarter, I’d love to offer you a unique opportunity—become a character in the world of Maid of Venia.

You can be:

A Minusculian (tiny, mischievous beings)

A Mud-Dwarf or Mud-Elf from the deep caves of Venor

A mythical figure from a forgotten age, spoken of only in hushed tones by other NPCs

A villager, warrior, merchant, or ghost

Or something entirely your own—this is your story too!

We’re already building heartfelt cameos for people I love—Clark, who inspired so much of this world, Ruth, my niece, and my boys, who each have their own corner of Venia being crafted. Now I’d love to add you (or someone meaningful to you) into the game.

Whether you want a named character, a statue, a piece of lore, or a quiet NPC who says something small but powerful—it’s all possible.

📝 Just comment below, email me or message me with:

The name you’d like to use

Any character type or idea you have (or let me surprise you!)

Let’s make Maid of Venia a living world full of real souls.
Thanks for being part of this journey.

If you want to be a part of Path of the Ory instead please also reach out!

💛 – William (Starving Lama Games)

Jackroid Just Released! as a thank you to my Kickstarter supporters and everyone on Steam who has supported me.

I am almost done with the update for Maid of Venia as I am working as quickly as possible so that I can get started on the update for Path of the Ory.

Path of the Ory update will include:

-Boat animation change at the end as requested in a review
-new art and story at the end of the game.
-2 new levels with more story to help expand Venia
-collision fixes
-new art, artifacts in areas of the game like the Old Keep.
-new animations

Here is a little info on the Maid of Venia update if you are curious:
I have been working nonstop on finishing the update for you guys and will get that out this week/weekend I hope!

Update will have:

30+ new skills
-Fast Travel
-Magma Whale
-Ice Puffer Fish
- Arrow Scourge
-Dwarven Cannon
-Thunderstorm
-Lightningstorm
-Windstorm
-Firestorm
-Druid Drain Dance
-Haunting Ghost Dance
-Monster Mayhem
-Magma Ocean
-Ocean's Call
and more!

Level increase to 30
update vfx on older spells

I am still working all of the skills in and reworking the skill tree.
New art and levels will include:
-a new blacksmith in Thistledown
-a festival, Namesake Day, where the many races that live in Thistledown celebrate the reclaiming of the land from humans and renaming of the town that has always been to them Thistledown.
-2 races more defined and more characters, story and quest to show off the new races!

Path of the Ory Demo is up! Try Path of the Ory before you buy!
Demo
Thank you so much for your support! Let me know if you guys need anything.

Don't forget to join the Maid of Venia Playtest.
Maid of Venia

More story and maps being added, Path of the Ory update next week!

Maid of Venia Update this week!

Thank you guys so much for the support and I can't wait to show you all what I have been working on.

Back when I was making Jackroid for my nephew and creating phone games, I had two friends start a little game dev team with me and the three of us launched "Maid of Venia." Later, one of us found a better paying job and Clark, the main artist, lost his wife and took his life. The game and everything in my life fell apart.

If you guys were curious about the band that Clark and I were in. There is a song named Sanctus Venia, which is the first recorded reference to the Venia universe in name. The album was named "This is our War" and was a concept album based in the Venia universe.

Check out Arionis, the band that Clark and I were in back in Highschool. The world of Venia was created back then. I actually made a comic and pitched it to Dark Horse but never heard anything back.

I played guitar, drums, bass and vocals depending on the song. I am not the best singer but some of the other vocals are me. Clark was the main vocals and front man.

After highschool I toured with a band named Kings of Metropolis

Here was us live at WorkPlay in Birmingham. I am the front man, but also played bass on the recordings and engineered the album for Kings of Metropolis.

I just posted a video showing me record a guitar part and getting Suno to finish the song.


Jackroid is coming next month for free to thank you guys for all of the support.

I also posted a video about Soul, the main character from Soul Divided.


[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Tale of Soul and the Shattering of Light

In the age before memory, when gods still walked among mortals and the winds whispered truths into the ears of children, there lived a man named Soul. He was not a king, nor a warrior, nor one of great wealth. He was a simple man of humble birth, yet his heart burned with such profound love and compassion that all who met him were forever changed.

Wherever Soul walked, hatred quieted, fear dissolved, and even the cruelest found a moment of peace. Flowers bloomed where his feet touched the earth, and the sick were known to heal after resting in his presence. Villagers sang of him by firelight. Children painted him in the stars. Even the animals, wild and free, gathered near him without fear.

And soon, the love for Soul grew greater than the love for the gods themselves.

This did not go unnoticed.

In the high places of the heavens, where jealousy festers like rot, there stirred a forgotten god named Sin. Sin had once been adored for bringing wisdom and order, but his gifts were sharp-edged, and his glory faded with time. When Sin beheld the adoration mortals held for Soul, a dark envy gripped him like a serpent.

One moonless night, Sin descended upon the mortal realm in silence. While Soul slept beneath the silver trees of the Glen of Stillwater, the god wove a spell of cruel precision and tore Soul’s essence from his mortal shell. The love, the compassion, the radiant joy that defined Soul—Sin shattered it like crystal and flung its five pieces to the furthest corners of the world of Venia.

The next morning, Soul awoke hollow, a stranger in his own skin. His eyes no longer held the light that once softened hearts. But in his emptiness, he remembered. He remembered who he was, and what had been taken. And though the gods offered no aid, and Sin had vanished into myth, Soul stood tall.

He would find himself again.

From the volcanic peaks of Dran’Khul, where fire spirits guarded the Shard of Courage, to the icy expanse of Nothrim, where wolves of sorrow howled over the Shard of Empathy, Soul journeyed. Through shadowed forests, across deserts that remembered no rain, and into cities where time itself slowed, he sought the pieces of his essence. Each fragment carried a memory, a truth, a lesson—and each time he reclaimed one, a piece of the old light returned to him.

But Sin had not vanished entirely. From behind veils of smoke and illusion, he watched. For the god knew: if Soul ever became whole again, his love would shine brighter than any divinity—and such a light could not be caged, nor forgotten.

Thus begins the myth of Soul—not as a man, but as a force. A reminder that even when love is scattered and broken, it can still be found. And when it is, it becomes something no god can take away.

Added new end animations to help convey the story. The end now has pixel art as well as anime art.

Next update I am adding more places to explore and more story sections to expand our knowledge of Venia

- We will go into the ages of Venia, and how the Human expanses define them. Path of the Ory is set after the Third Human expanse and just before the third Great Regression.

-We will also go into Venor, a great Titan (aka Mud-Dwarf) and one of the first of his kind to live above ground and Hunt and eat like the rest of Venia's creatures.

-I Can also add to the end battle if people are interested.
You can't defeat the dark lord, he will appear in Maid of Venia, but I could make it so that you battle him after defeating the resurrected enemies.

Let me know what you guys think, stuff you like or don't or anything you want me to try and add.
Thank you so much for your support!

I have a free thank you game coming next month! It's called Jackroid, it was developed for my nephew's 11th birthday six years ago and is the first game I made after starting my game dev journey. I decided not to sell it or bundle it or anything but instead, because the support has been so wonderful on here, I decided to put it up for free. The store page is approved and the game will be up next month if the build is approved.