The first chapter of Crescent Prism has been completed and is available
for download! This will take you through the first part of Lunita’s
adventure as she meets some weird friends, even weirder foes, and pets a
dog at one point I think. Maybe.
I wanted to release this for you all as a Thank You to everyone who has supported me with my game endeavors over the years.
You’ll get to see what kind of game I hope for it to be in the end, if I
ever get to finish it. It should take about 2 hours to play through.
And maybe you should stick around after the credits for a little extra something!
Almost completely finished with the Bebo Farm. There will be a short Kickstarter update soon going into it a bit, made a few changes to make the system feel more alive and add more replay-ability. Currently doing some balancing and bug fixing the system. If you are a fan of monster raising side content, this is for you.
A major Kickstarter update. Some news about development, delays, and release. A big overview on what to expect from GLITCHED, including a look into every mechanic the game has to offer. Also… something new awaits. Check it out!
It will contain an overview of GLITCHED and what to expect- along with a look at a brand new mechanic that I’ve been cooking up for awhile. I’ll also talk a little bit about the development delays and the eventual release. Backers can also expect some extra rewards for being patient, they are nothing major but I’ll talk a bit about them.
This is one of the final Kickstarter updates, with the only other major one being physical rewards (which are almost ready- will be the update after this one).
New demo update! More achievements, more arena fights, more cards to find, and a lot of bug fixes and general improvements. Just a bit more content until the demo content if finalized. Then we can talk about release.
Crescent Prism… Oh, what happened to this project of mine? As some of
this game’s subscribers may have noticed, production status was changed
to Hiatus some time ago and there hasn’t been much of an update since
then. And now that Brave Hero Yuusha EX is done and released, I was
quite surprised that a few folks have been asking me how this project is
coming along.
So I’m here to talk to you all today about that, where it stands, and where it’s going.
What caused the hiatus?
I originally started developing this game sometime after Soma
Spirits was finished, sometime in late 2016. It wasn’t much more than a
vague prototype by the time I put it aside to work on the commercial
version of Soma, and I would ultimately return to it the following
summer after I had a better idea of what kind of game I wanted it to be.
And to delve into my personal life somewhat: it was also around that
time that I found myself out of work for a while, and I was able to
direct my full attention to developing my “big one”. Over the next six
months, I managed to release a demo and then finish the rest of Chapter 1
thereafter.
I did find work again eventually, and by winter time development
slowed down somewhat. After a few months, I was eventually given a full
time position (hooray!) but that also meant that my time and ability to
work on the game would quickly fade. And, well, sorry to say that as fun
as making games is, it just doesn’t pay the bills. Crescent Prism was
soon something I’d only work on during the weekends. Yet I found myself
rushing through it, hoping to get as much done on this as I could before
I wouldn’t have the time to work on it anymore.
Chapter 2 was ultimately finished as well, and groundwork for
Chapter 3 was well underway, but due to a number of factors there was a
noticeable drop in overall quality compared to Chapter 1. As one
playtester put it, Chapter 2 felt like an “infodump chapter” and with
the numerous pacing issues present in both the narrative and gameplay,
I’m inclined to agree.
The number of changes I needed to make to bring everything up to
par, as well as the time issue and the overly ambitious scope of
Crescent Prism as a whole, caused me to put the project aside in July
2018. And then I set to work on Yuusha EX, a much more manageable and
smaller-scale project.
What changes need to be made?
Only recently have I re-opened the project files and assessed what
needs to be done and there are quite a few changes I want to make to
both the narrative and game mechanics. I’m also looking at overhauling
the gameplay for Chapter 2 entirely, for as it stands right now, at
least two of the three dungeons within it just feel like corridors with
encounters.
Before anything else, I need to sit down, re-evaluate the things that are noticeably lacking, and get everything organized.
When will development resume?
I know some developers who might say “Yeah, my game is totally still
in development!” and by that they mean they work on it for 20 minutes a
week and drip-feed vague updates for years. I guess that’s just the
general way of things in indie development, but for a 10+ hour RPG like
Crescent Prism, I don’t think that kind of development cycle is going to
fly.
Only when I know I can dedicate more time to it will I be able to
say it’s back in development. But for now, I’d rather not make promises
considering I’ve already put the project aside twice already from
burnout.
Deep down though, I know casting the entire project aside would be
foolhardy. And I don’t think I could live myself if I looked at this
half of a game, that I’ve already put two years into, and let it sit
there forever. I looked at everything I had and I miss writing these
characters and developing this world. More than anything, I want
Crescent Prism to see the light of day. I just don’t know when this will
happen, but I truly hope it does.
Now for some good news!
Many of the changes I need to make, outside of core changes to the gameplay, are in Chapter 2 onwards. I’ve given a lot of consideration to polishing up Chapter 1 and releasing it as a free standalone.
I can’t make any promises about when this will happen, it will take
very little time compared to the bigger-scale changes and the rest of
the game’s development. So keep an eye on this blog for news regarding
that.
Thank you all so much for continuing to follow my games and
believing in these stories. I hope to have more information for you
soon!
