Rivers of Astrum: Daughter of Darkness News

[p]Hey everyone,[/p][p][/p][p]Now that the game is on steam, it's time to make some final statements on the development cycle, if anyone is interested to hear, please read below :)[/p][p][/p]

• [p]So, i always tried to keep to within a 3 month release window. That was a rule i set as soon as I launched the first demo. That said, I had never had any game development experience prior to setting that rule for myself, and i see now that attempting to adhere to that can lead to rushed situations, under which the quality of the game, or length of the content (or both) will suffer.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]On the subject of quality, I do try(hard) to keep the writing, the renders and the animations as high quality as i can manage with my current skills, which are always developing :) But quality takes time for a solo indie dev. I can produce quality releases, or quick releases. I can't do both. I've settled on quality, since I want to be able to look back and be proud of the game. I think it's clear by this point that it's not going to be a game that stuffs itself full of the latest nsfw fads. It has an actual story, and one that means a lot to me. I intend to do it justice in my mind :)[/p][p][/p]
• [p]But that means that official release dates, or even windows, are now a thing of the past. Every update has a designated end point. The goal now will simply be to work on that until it gets there, without being under a clock, which would cause the usual issues that come with rushing. [/p][p][/p]
• [p]Though I announced that the previous release will be made public, I've decided to postpone it, as it was simply much too short. To the point that it would be a genuine disservice to those who are waiting on the next continuation of the story. That update was intended to be a good bit longer, and im working on completing it up to its original designated end point now.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Lastly, versioning got a bit off track with the last few updates. The next update will be version 0.3.2, in order to bring it up to speed with the development plan.[/p][p][/p]

[p]Now, with all those new solo dev mistakes out of the way ... I'm open to any questions anyone may have! :)[/p]

Hey Everyone! ːsteamhappyː

Just wanted to stop in to let everyone know that this update has just been sent to the beta testing team for review! Hopefully that will be done within a week.

We're looking at a public release in the beginning of July! (I won't have a specific date until the beta test is done, but no later than July 15th, I would imagine.)

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment here, or swing by the Discord!

Many thanks, and I can't wait for everyone to continue the story!

~ Paper Tiger

Hey everyone!

The next update has officially moved into the wrap-up/production phase!


On that note, it will probably be the smallest update ever, in terms of linear time. It will stop just short of continuing the main cast's story, and i wanted to explain that, for any who care to know why. (dev heavy stuff, so if that's an immersion breaker i get it, but for those who want to know...)

This scene, while very short linearly, took me nearly 3 months, due to the fact that it branches into two separate paths (hetero or lesbian) , that each have 3 custom animations. If you have straight content disabled, then it will default to the lesbian path, if you do not, then you will be given the choice of which path to follow.

6 animations took 95% of all that time, easy, and there really isn't any way around that. Animations just take time.

I was going to wait until the first branch of the following scene is complete, and release that as the next update, but it's going to take just as long, if not longer, and i do my best to stick to 3 month release cycles, regardless of content size.

I know some AVN players like to skip updates from time to time, so that when they return, there's that much more content to enjoy. I'm gonna be honest with you. If you're one of those types, this would be the update to skip ːsteamhappyː

But as i said, i try to stick as close to a steady 3 month release cycle as i can, and if i wait until the scene following this one is done, it'll put me at more like 6-7 months since the last update. I'd just prefer to keep it to the 3 months cycle.

Anyway, that's the news!

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend!

~ Paper Tiger

Hey everyone!

It's a few days early, but I wanted to take this time to wish everyone a happy Easter weekend! Whether you celebrate it or not (I don't, personally), I still wish everyone the best of all the things!

And as always, I hope everyone is enjoying Rivers of Astrum: Daughter of Darkness!

Feel free to drop by the steam community or the discord to share your thoughts!



~ Paper Tiger

Hey Everyone!

Here with a status update!

So, while trying not to be too long winded, or spoilery, here's where we're at:

• This update structure contains a linear scene, as well as the first part of a massive free-roam. The linear scene is completely written and rendered, starting on animation work today ...
  
  
• The
• framework* for the freeroam segment has all been built (from scratch), mapped and rendered in full. I tested it yesterday, everything's flowing like a champ!
  
  
• There are close to 20 events that branch off of it, though. I've got ~80% of those side events written, with 2 completely rendered, as well as a bit of the third. So, all in all, i'd say this update is about ~15% complete.
  

If I get this first path of the freeroam done in an acceptable amount of time, then i will include the second branch as part of this update as well. But we'll see where things land :) I want to try to keep everything within a 3 months release cycle, as best i can. (This isn't a guarantee, just a rough timeline for me to keep track)

Anyway, thought you guys might like to know! :)

And, if anyone remembers "Kiara" - the woman from that training yard, that stepped up to fight colt in training - She gets a face reveal. Due to how well she was received, and liked, I've decided to transition her from a one-off side character, to a recurring one. You will see *much* more of Kiara in the coming updates ;)