Monthly Archives: March 2018

Corona Borealis: Logan

Logan is the “main otome romance”. There’s also Noah (who we’ll see next) but he was sort of added in a second moment. Here’s the writer’s introduction:

The barista and dishwasher at the café. He is a hardworking and dependable employee that sets high standards for himself and places those same expectations on others. His interest in engineering proves to be a useful skill, as it gives him an uncanny ability to fix anything that breaks in the café. He plans on moving at the end of the summer to attend an out-of-state university.

Releasing games on Steam and mobile

Since Cursed Lands is in a very advanced beta status, some people started to ask when it will be on Steam and/or mobile. In this particular case, the game got finished MUCH faster than I thought (I originally set the estimated release date for Fall 2018!!) so I really didn’t expect to be in this situation now. I also had planned a theme song, but of course early this year I told the musician “ah, no hurry, the game won’t be in beta for sure before Summer”… last famous words! (even if in positive this time).

So, in this case I need to wait anyway for the theme song, and for possible last minute minor bugfixing, but in general I am always going to release my games direct for a small period, before making them available on Steam/mobile.

I wanted to explain a bit my philosophy behind this: first of all, selling direct (in this case with itch.io) gets me more money each sale. Steam/mobile take 30-35% of gross price, while directly the cut is more around 10% so, for example, every $1000 in sales that’s $900 instead of $650. For small indies like me that’s a big difference already!

But taking that aspect aside (some indies suggest releasing on Steam only helps with the algorithm etc etc so that’s honestly not my main reason) I prefer to do the playtesting/debugging directly. For mobile, for obvious reasons (updating games on mobile is a big pain!), and for Steam, I really don’t want to use Early Access. I think it make sense for bigger games with YEARS of expected development, but not for my smaller games 🙂

In summary always remember that the games on Steam/mobile are usually available 2-3 months AFTER the game is officially released on my site. Sometimes can be faster depending how the whole process goes (adding achievements, Steam page setup, mobile port, and so on).

Corona Borealis: Lacey

This is my favorite character of the game… no particular reason 😉 Haha, once again Deji skills impressed me, I really like both the look and the outfits (because seriously, they’re just incredibly cute!)

In case you forgot, this game is more “tame” compared to my most recent titles, to be clear you can expect a yuri route similar to the “secret” one of C14 Dating, more on the cute/friendship/romantic side.

And now here’s Lacey character’s introduction directly from the writer:

The overly friendly cashier and dining room attendant. Incredibly optimistic, it seems nothing can put a damper on her good mood. She immediately takes an interest in June and goes out of her way to make her feel welcome. She loves to talk about her fiancé, Mason.

Update on other games

Good news: the Cursed Lands beta testing is proceeding very well, so much that I decided to put the game in “soft release mode”. It means that it’s feature complete, all the content of the final game it’s there, and I feel it’s reasonably stable! While there might be some bugs left, they’re very well hidden (this usually is when I get max 1-2 bug reports a week, instead of 10/day! lol).

Regarding Love Bites, the story is 99% done, the writer just finished both Nadia paths, so once the scripter sends the files to me, I’ll proceed with testing myself the final romance route of this game and then begin the public beta. I think should be towards end of month or early next month! 🙂

Corona Borealis: Basil

The first character I’ll introduce is not a classic “love interest”, but there are other kind of love beside the one of a couple, right? in this case the love for/of a father. Here’s the introduction!

Basil intro

June’s doting father and the owner and head chef of the café. Passionate and driven, he can sometimes get a little too lost in his work. His and June’s relationship is shaky at best, but he hopes to change that over the course of the summer. He has an unhealthy love for coffee and the classic TV show “Star Journey”.

Other games progress!

Some very good news: the script of Cursed Lands it’s finished! The final wordcount is of 305,331 words! The biggest game I’ve ever done so far. I have uploaded a new beta with all the content (the full story, romances, quests). More info in my forums here: https://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=4109

I’ve also been in touch with Love Bites’ writer who has almost finished Nadia’s romance, so once it’s scripted, I can release the full beta demo of that game as well. Lol, a classic: two games, both in beta at same time! Though Love Bites will probably be out sooner since Cursed Lands being a RPG will need a longer testing period.