Category Archives: Steam

Seasons Of The Wolf DLC “Bad Blood” is officially out!

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BadBloodDLC
At last I’d say! 🙂

After about a month of beta testing, the game is finally stable enough to officially release it. Like always happens with RPGs, is possible that there are some small bugs left (for example, Krimm’s Fury skill was using a default enemy male voice since LAST YEAR, and an user found out it only a few days ago!), but the game can be finished, all endings reached, etc etc.

So you can now get it from the official page: http://winterwolves.com/SOTWbadblood.htm

Like with Loren or my other games, the base game and DLC are still a single download, and you need to activate/unlock it entering the serial code. The DLC parts plays after the base game story is about to end.

As always, once the game is available on Steam you’ll be able to redeem the key if you buy directly. I’m not sure yet when it will be available there (need to prepare the assets and such), but should be sometimes in May I think!

And now, some rant/ramblings…! 😀

Visual Novels / Dating Sims vs RPGs

Round one, fight! Nah there’s really no match here. I’m talking about the complexity of one or another game genre. The VN/dating sim can be quite complex too, but really nothing beats a RPGs 😉

I was surprised by how long took SOTW DLC testing, so I wanted to compare it to a dating sim/visual novel. I compared it to Roommates which is a very long dating sim with many secret stuff and branches. Well, I couldn’t believe myself but in practice the testing of the whole game took less than the testing of just SOTW DLC. Not SOTW base game, just the DLC! 😮

And Roommates isn’t even a small title, it is over 200k word long, a lot of scenes, many paths and endings based on the stats, so…!

Anyway this is not to say that I won’t make RPGs anymore, no worries. Just to explain why many/most indies just make a RPG every 2-3 years. It’s not only about the time/money needed, but also the amount of testing required. So even if I am working on Queen Of Thieves now, because it reuses SOTW system modified, it doesn’t mean the final game will be out very soon. I am doing it in a easier/simpler way so I hope this will reflect also in an easier testing, but you never know.

I proclaim this “writers’ week”!

I had many updates this week! The most important is about C14 Dating, which is hopefully headed to a release this Summer: GUI artist is going to finish the last missing parts, coder/writer are doing final edits to week 8 (last week of in-game story) and checking the already scripted scenes, and main artist should work on the ending CGs soon. I’ll post some work in progress screenshots next week!

I also got writing for Always Remember Me 2, Loren sequel, PSCD main story is done, Nicole yuri got more paths finished, the CYOA game has already 25k words done, and so on. A very productive week for writers! 🙂

PSCD – Meet Mario

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mario

Time for another character introduction for PSCD. He’s a war veteran and a “tough guy”! 😀

Description:
The oldest hero in the squad, Mario has seen more war than most soldiers learn in ten lifetimes.  He is the man you turn to when you need a bunker down in a hurry, or cross a deep ravine while undergoing heavy fire.

Mario’s years of service have left their mark on him.  His loyalty to the Human Empire is matched by his disdain for all things alien.  This bitterness arises from seeing all that humanity has built torn asunder by violent aliens on distant planets.  

The defining moment of Mario’s career occurred when his construction squad was assaulted by a squad of Matrick while laying the foundation for a forward outpost.  Defying orders to retreat, Mario’s squad bunkered down, and held off the Matrick until a relief force arrived.  

Mario was going to be given a medal for his actions, but was punished when, during the presentation ceremony, he struck his commanding officer, and called him a coward for ordering a retreat.

For all his military pride, Mario has a discerning palate, and has threatened bodily harm on multiple occasions for the swill the military cooks before him.  He has remarked when he retires, he will finally get a decent meal in his home country.

Other news

In other news:

  • I’ve been updating all my games on Steam to use the new Ren’Py which will allow Linux achievements and cloud saves!
  • I’m also preparing a new version of Loren that will offer a simple way to uncensor the game on Steam, simply by deleting a file inside the game folder 😉 it’s already available in the “beta branch”.
  • I got A LOT of writing again this week! though the biggest updates are for two unannounced projects yet, so I can’t say much about them for now.
  • commissioned even more art for Queen Of Thieves to make up for the delay with that game. I think will be worth the wait though 🙂
  • the CG scenes for SOTW DLC are coming along nicely. Artist is planning to finish them by next week, so the DLC should be out soon!
  • Always Remember Me sequel is a reality, since Eddy’s route has been finished already! I am still thinking about the title, if you want to discuss check this forum thread: http://winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3616
  • Love & Order is now available on Steam too. If you bought it directly from me, you can redeem your Steam key here: http://bestanimegames.com/steam/

Happy Easter!

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Happy Easter to everyone! To celebrate it, I am doing a small sale:

You can get a 20% discount until Monday (included) for all my games using the coupon: EGG during checkout. The discount applies even on SOTW, though not the DLC obviously since it’s not even officially out yet 🙂

RPG games update

Some updates, starting with the RPGs: both Roger Steel, Loren 2, and PSCD (I include it in the RPG even if is more of strategy/card game) writing and art is making good progress.

I also got all the base art ready for Queen Of Thieves! Below you can see the male romances in the new style (they also have an alternate outfit):

maleromance

I am only missing the ending CGs/scenes, but I now have all the images for the base game. We’re thinking of adding a few extra outfits and poses, but that’s it 🙂 The writing it’s at good point as well.

Dating sims update

Regarding the dating sims, good progresses have been made on all of them as well. It’s true that at this point, Nicole yuri will be delayed for sure on Q2 this year (so wasn’t out Q1 as I hoped) but is also true that the story is much bigger now, with more locations and several secondary characters that now have a bigger role.

Also, the other various dating sims are going at steady pace, as I joked in forums, it might happen that I’ll release two consecutive yuri-only dating sim at one point during this year or next year 😀

For the otome fans no worries: there will be Always Remember Me sequel, and all the RPG (which will be more similar to Loren, so not with complex RPG gameplay like SOTW) have otome contents.

On other news, I’ve started updating the games on Steam with the new Ren’Py, mainly to allow Linux achievements. I’ve also enabled cloud saves! I plan to update also all the demos on my own site later, but apart the Steam related stuff (achievements and cloud saves) there’s nothing really new compared to the versions on my own site.

Summer In Trigue – Grace

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First of all, ToA: Seasons Of The Wolf is now officially out on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/333390/
If you can spread the word in any way, I’d appreciate it! 🙂

Also if you liked the game, please leave a positive review on Steam since it helps.

And now, let’s talk about… Summer In Trigue! The nice lady below is Grace:
grace
It was about time to introduce the first character of the new yuri-only dating sim I’m working since a few months (sorry, no estimate release date for now!), called indeed “Summer In Trigue” 😀 (the best dating sim name ever!)

Now, here’s the writer introducing Grace:

A young woman who was born in and raised in California, Grace had a fairly sheltered life due to her somewhat overprotective parents and the fact that she was homeschooled since kindergarten. When the chance to do some seasonal work in Trigue alongside a friend came to her, she took it, partially to do something a bit daring and force herself to grow, and partially to get a reprieve from her parents’ hints about how much they’d just love some grandchildren.

She has an introverted nature and struggles somewhat with social anxiety, but despite this, balances part-time jobs as both a waitress and a bartender. She far prefers the latter job, and has found an unexpected talent for mixing drinks, a previously unrealized love of booze, and a penchant for sensing people’s moods have all helped her excel at it. Her high level of patience has helped her with both jobs.

Grace is a huge fan of fiction and loves anything that can tell a good story, but she is especially found of novels, anime, and video games. Though she lives on a beautiful tropical island, her idea of a great evening is usually unwinding in her apartment after a stressful day at work with a drink and a good book. Or relaxing on the beach… with a drink and a good book.

Grace’s friend and roommate who was forced to return to the US a few weeks ago, which has left Grace very much alone. This doesn’t bother Grace most of the time, though occasionally she does feel very lonely. Still, her life is far more exciting than back home, and ironically enough also far more peaceful without her parents and friends trying to set her up with a boyfriend, so she doesn’t have too many complaints.

That’s all for this week. More character introduction (both of this game and the other ones in progress) coming soon 🙂

2014 the year… of change

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happynewyear

Reading back the previous end of year post, I can’t stop thinking how things have changed so rapidly for me. This is probably the biggest “problem” of being indie: things change at lightning speed, for good but also for bad!

Last year I was happy because Loren Amazon Princess was accepted on Steam. Nowadays, I have 13 games there, with the 14th (Seasons Of The Wolf) to be released next month!

Last year I had zero games for iOS. This year I ported almost all of them on Apple’s platform, and I plan to do more next year, especially since Ren’Py will get its own porting system!

Last year beside my loyal long-time fans, I was mostly unknown to the general public. Now, while I’m still not *that known*, people talk about me. Some adore my games, others hate them, others are neutral, but at least people talk about me. The worst thing is being ignored/unknown 🙂

This year I made “only” two games, but two big ones: Roommates and Seasons Of The Wolf.

Roommates

Roommates is a title that totally exceeded my expectations. I’ve made “a few” dating sims before, but this one basically is of another league! I think probably is due to the fact that, like my RPGs, it is not focused on only a romance genre/combo, but all of them. Playing as male or female, straight or homosexual romances. It’s a game for everybody.

But also, great comedy writing. There’s nothing wrong with more serious/mature themes, but sometimes people just want to escape the mundane problems with funny stories 🙂 So, thumbs up to Michael (Roommates’ writer) for his great job on the game!

The game soundtrack by Leetstreet Boys was also a very good move. I really can’t find an issue in that game, something that “if I could go back, I would have done differently” and it’s a good thing!

ToA: Seasons Of The Wolf

SOTW is officially out since just little more than a month. It was a challenge, a bet. I wanted to see if I could make “a real RPG” myself. With romance, with a story, with my usual artwork style, but… much more detailed, with a Nightmare difficult level that would actually make people go crazy with it, with a map system, secrets, randomized items, etc.

I won that bet. The game is doing VERY WELL, beating Loren’s first month sales. Of course, is not an entirely fair comparison since 2 years have passed from Loren’s release and now I have a much bigger following. But to be honest, I was fearing that it would be a flop 😀 So seeing that is doing well reassures me and was already worth it.

Still, I’m not going to do another insanely big game like this one anytime soon! It really “burned me”, because I worked on it 10 months straight, every day, fixing/tweaking stuff. I know it’s my job, but now I need a break from such big games. I’m going to make some smaller games (this time, FOR REAL!! LOL) like Queen Of Thieves. They’ll still be RPGs, but have limited party members/skills/items/and so on. They will also be easier to balance 😉

However, there could be something new related to SOTW, maybe next year. I just received this letter via a pigeon from a certain Jariel the bard from the green lands of Grandtree:

letter

End of year’s thoughts

Even if this year was good for me, the future is still very uncertain.

I personally know several indies who this year took a huge hit on their finances, some have abandoned the business to move elsewhere, others went back to contract work or looking for funding. And only a few years before, they were earning six figures! So, you never know what the future holds! Doesn’t matter how much you plan things ahead… because this business moves so fast, is easy to be caught by surprise.

I think the most important thing is to stay humble, never think to have “made it”, and keep working on what you love. At least, this is what I’m planning to do in 2015 🙂

Happy New Year!