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Good question with a simple answer: to attract more players to the game. The engine isn't the most popular as we all know, and after 7 months in Early Access with a set price, I haven't found the audience I'd like to. By removing the need to pay for the game, I hope more people will be willing to check it out. If they enjoy their time, then they can buy the characters they like. If they don't, they still might provide me feedback I can use to improve the overall experience for everyone else. I think it's a win-win!
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Ohh nice! I've finally been trying the game again (after saying I would a while back and then... not finding time...), and I'm liking a lot of the new things added, minor or large. I'll have a full list of observations eventually! 
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Ohh nice! I've finally been trying the game again (after saying I would a while back and then... not finding time...), and I'm liking a lot of the new things added, minor or large. I'll have a full list of observations eventually!
Good to hear from you, Mimi! I hope you've been well!
I am happy to hear you enjoy what's been added to the game since your last playthrough. If I remember correctly, things like the mining minigame, shop upgrade system, revamped tower and even 1920x resolution were still missing back then. Meaning I can't wait for that list of feedback! I hope you enjoy yourself even more this time!
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It's Black History Month, everyone! What better time to make a long-requested change to Forest's character bust than now? With his hand resting firmly on his chin, our group's leader looks better than ever! This change will go live with the next update!
Keep healthy and so long!
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Nice! The way some of the menus looked were one thing that I'd written a bullet point on (also sorry that's been taking so long... got busy the past few weeks but I'm back at it) so it's nice to see that got fixed. The status menu looks especially nice now. And ohh Forest's updated bust graphic... he looks great!
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Nice! The way some of the menus looked were one thing that I'd written a bullet point on (also sorry that's been taking so long... got busy the past few weeks but I'm back at it) so it's nice to see that got fixed. The status menu looks especially nice now. And ohh Forest's updated bust graphic... he looks great!
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Huh, the new hub music is taking some getting used to, but I like it too!
Also, the mining fixes sound nice! I've only played it a few times beforehand but I'll try it out a few more with this update.
Oh, and the claim gifts option hasn't shown up for me? I was able to claim the previous gift when it was sent out, but not this one.
And about the future dating sim-like update, that sounds like fun! I'm very curious to see how this system ends up!...and I feel like it's obvious who I'll choose first at this point lmao
Also, the mining fixes sound nice! I've only played it a few times beforehand but I'll try it out a few more with this update.
Oh, and the claim gifts option hasn't shown up for me? I was able to claim the previous gift when it was sent out, but not this one.
And about the future dating sim-like update, that sounds like fun! I'm very curious to see how this system ends up!
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Glad you like it! The previous track was catchy, but I feel this one is a better fit for something you'll be hearing a lot of.
Mining isn't fundamentally changed, just a bit less stressful to do now. I enjoy that minigame a lot, but some people cannot make quick inputs for various reasons. So it will likely remain a contested part of the game, and even if you shouldn't like it, that's okay! Minerals can still be acquired through combat after all.
That gift reminder still is from the F2P update in January, so you've claimed it already. (I should clarify that better in the patch notes....)
Finally, the dating sim elements! It's still early days, and I am currently in the process of collecting reference material from popular games to see how those elements are being approached there. Fire Emblem Three Houses is a big point of inspiration for example, being an RPG that does that quite effectively.
Thanks for your interest as usual! I know you've been collecting feedback all the while, and if you'd like, you could leave it in form of a review of the game on Steam too. Boosts visibility, and shows that kind of engagement is possible with the game. Up to you though!
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I'm looking forward to the new updates. I'm very surprised that the protagonist is getting a face now! I'm very interested in protag's story...
Though also, I wanted to finally post the observations I made from when I started playing the newer version months ago!!
I haven't actually finished a basic playthrough of this version, but I wanted to at least put what I've thought instead of letting my notes sit for more months!
And I've definitely taken your steam review suggestion into consideration! I'd definitely like to write one one day! I'm just not used to writing review-formatted stuff, haha...
Though also, I wanted to finally post the observations I made from when I started playing the newer version months ago!!
I haven't actually finished a basic playthrough of this version, but I wanted to at least put what I've thought instead of letting my notes sit for more months!
Well first... it was nice seeing my name in the special thanks section ahaha
So this time, my main team for completing the game the first time will be Forest, Sakia, Monolith, and Reiketsu! I swapped between all 8 around in the first two areas, but kept the previously mentioned 4 for the rest of it. So I'll have more notes on the 4 I played most of the game as, but still have a few about the other 4.
- Starting off... hmmm... is this the third time I've praised the music? Well I'll do it again! Love the music for this game.
- Love the new background for ShirA.I!
- I like the new shop upgrading feature!
- I also like that the current round's number displayed larger and more clearly. Nice small touch.
- The change to how the menus look (like equipment, abilities, and especially the status menu) is very nice.
- Big fan of the new way skills are displayed in battle!
- I like of how Sakia's Power/Defense Charge work now! Last time I remember, one went away when you used the other, right? I like the idea that using one swaps which one is available back and forth.
- Small thing, but I like how the character's faces/stats slide in at the start of the fight.
- The excavation mode's nice enough! I like that it's optional since the materials can be gotten through other means (at least, the ones I've seen so far) because QTE's have never been my forte. Still, it was nice to try every once in a while!
- I LOVE FAERIS' BIG SMILE EXPRESSION, THEY'RE SO CUTE...
- The new treasure casino game's nice. Probably my favorite of them all.
- I like that you've made it more clear that there are more people/squads around here, like Mimi's squad and a few NPC's that talk about their squads.
- What does the Blessed status do that Faeris can give through Heal? I didn't see it in the Status Effects section of the guide at base. From what I'm understanding, it looks like it doubles the AP regeneration when using focus?
- I bought the Coconut Rice Pudding for Forest, but inside the Coaching room it shows up as Protein Bar.
- Small suggestion, but in the coaching section, instead of "Make Gift", it could say "Give Gift".
- For the meals in the casino, I think it should be more clear that it's something that will only take effect once you're in battle, and not to be confused as a consumable item or a permanent effect.
- The spirit skills like Frosty Tailwind don't have [Instant] text in their description.
- Inside the Tower mode, what does "Allies/Enemies Resist SE's" mean? Do those mean Sakia's SE skills?
So this time, my main team for completing the game the first time will be Forest, Sakia, Monolith, and Reiketsu! I swapped between all 8 around in the first two areas, but kept the previously mentioned 4 for the rest of it. So I'll have more notes on the 4 I played most of the game as, but still have a few about the other 4.
- Starting off... hmmm... is this the third time I've praised the music? Well I'll do it again! Love the music for this game.
- Love the new background for ShirA.I!
- I like the new shop upgrading feature!
- I also like that the current round's number displayed larger and more clearly. Nice small touch.
- The change to how the menus look (like equipment, abilities, and especially the status menu) is very nice.
- Big fan of the new way skills are displayed in battle!
- I like of how Sakia's Power/Defense Charge work now! Last time I remember, one went away when you used the other, right? I like the idea that using one swaps which one is available back and forth.
- Small thing, but I like how the character's faces/stats slide in at the start of the fight.
- The excavation mode's nice enough! I like that it's optional since the materials can be gotten through other means (at least, the ones I've seen so far) because QTE's have never been my forte. Still, it was nice to try every once in a while!
- I LOVE FAERIS' BIG SMILE EXPRESSION, THEY'RE SO CUTE...
- The new treasure casino game's nice. Probably my favorite of them all.
- I like that you've made it more clear that there are more people/squads around here, like Mimi's squad and a few NPC's that talk about their squads.
- What does the Blessed status do that Faeris can give through Heal? I didn't see it in the Status Effects section of the guide at base. From what I'm understanding, it looks like it doubles the AP regeneration when using focus?
- I bought the Coconut Rice Pudding for Forest, but inside the Coaching room it shows up as Protein Bar.
- Small suggestion, but in the coaching section, instead of "Make Gift", it could say "Give Gift".
- For the meals in the casino, I think it should be more clear that it's something that will only take effect once you're in battle, and not to be confused as a consumable item or a permanent effect.
- The spirit skills like Frosty Tailwind don't have [Instant] text in their description.
- Inside the Tower mode, what does "Allies/Enemies Resist SE's" mean? Do those mean Sakia's SE skills?
Sometimes, the roulette minigame shows up empty, like this. It usually only happened the first time I load up a game in a session. Any subsequent times show the wheel as normal.
Small typo; "wason".
Eucreta's portrait doesn't show up for this line.
The skill icon is a gun.
Small typo; "wason".
Eucreta's portrait doesn't show up for this line.
The skill icon is a gun.
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Hi, @Mimironi! Thank you for your kind words as always!
Re: Bugs
I've just fixed the issues that you mentioned. (Pictures, gift names etc.) Thank you for that! Sometimes I wonder how these fly under the radar.
Re: Player
Thanks to Steam, I have access to a large amount of data about my players, and being a free game, it stands to reason that a large amount quits the game within mere minutes. Interestingly though, I seem to have either very devout players with up to 30 hours of playtime which is very honoring, or people that lose interest within the first few minutes.
To increase the retention rate of the game, I concluded that I needed to make the early game in particular a lot more engaging, and adding more story is a good way of accomplishing that. The easiest way to add more story was to make the already existing player character into a proper character with motivations. That in turn also allows me to flash out Advent and other party members more than previously possible. It adds a lot of dynamic and makes info dumps more bearable, and I think people will enjoy that.
I also deemed adding a face to the player a necessity to make the players feel involved, just like I decided that they should have their own playable class too. Implementing customizable characters was a bit of a hassle, but I've created a script environment that will allow me to add more skin tones, hair colors etc. over time very easily. My artist is still cooking up the male variant of the player, and I am expecting a hottie, alright!
Re: Notes
Thank you for taking the time to write such extensive notes! Reading these is my greatest joy as a developer!
I've spent the last few months extensively redesigning UI and graphical elements to improve the user experience. I am glad you like the changes and deem them an improvement too.
You're right, Sakia was revamped a while ago. I felt that using her Charge abilities was a bit too limiting before, so I rethought the way they should work. Glad you like it!
Faeris is a cutie, I love them a lot! I am glad you keep using that pronoun too, as sometimes I wonder if my intent with the character is clear enough. Their Blessed status doubles the next incoming heal the character receives that turn. The idea was to not force the player to use the Heal ability numerous times to heal a character fully. Frankly, it's a mechanic I see myself reworking because it's not super intuitive as you can confirm yourself.
The mining feature is optional for a reason, as I think some people won't take well to it at all. Personally, I've played the map so many times over the course of its development that I can mine all rocks in my sleep!
I've recently improved all of the casino games, so I am surprised to hear you like the treasure game most! I have plans of adding more elements to it such as choosing routes, but am prioritizing other aspects of the game right now. Seems it is enjoyable enough as is!
SE stands for status effects. That means regular status effects such as Ablaze, Frozen, Slowed etc. cannot be applied to the target.
I am liking your suggestions! I will make the effects of the food items easier to understand for the next update, and rename the gifting option too!
----
I hope I covered everything! Thank you so much for your continued support! I really appreciate it!
Re: Bugs
I've just fixed the issues that you mentioned. (Pictures, gift names etc.) Thank you for that! Sometimes I wonder how these fly under the radar.
Re: Player
Thanks to Steam, I have access to a large amount of data about my players, and being a free game, it stands to reason that a large amount quits the game within mere minutes. Interestingly though, I seem to have either very devout players with up to 30 hours of playtime which is very honoring, or people that lose interest within the first few minutes.
To increase the retention rate of the game, I concluded that I needed to make the early game in particular a lot more engaging, and adding more story is a good way of accomplishing that. The easiest way to add more story was to make the already existing player character into a proper character with motivations. That in turn also allows me to flash out Advent and other party members more than previously possible. It adds a lot of dynamic and makes info dumps more bearable, and I think people will enjoy that.
I also deemed adding a face to the player a necessity to make the players feel involved, just like I decided that they should have their own playable class too. Implementing customizable characters was a bit of a hassle, but I've created a script environment that will allow me to add more skin tones, hair colors etc. over time very easily. My artist is still cooking up the male variant of the player, and I am expecting a hottie, alright!
Re: Notes
Thank you for taking the time to write such extensive notes! Reading these is my greatest joy as a developer!
I've spent the last few months extensively redesigning UI and graphical elements to improve the user experience. I am glad you like the changes and deem them an improvement too.
You're right, Sakia was revamped a while ago. I felt that using her Charge abilities was a bit too limiting before, so I rethought the way they should work. Glad you like it!
Faeris is a cutie, I love them a lot! I am glad you keep using that pronoun too, as sometimes I wonder if my intent with the character is clear enough. Their Blessed status doubles the next incoming heal the character receives that turn. The idea was to not force the player to use the Heal ability numerous times to heal a character fully. Frankly, it's a mechanic I see myself reworking because it's not super intuitive as you can confirm yourself.
The mining feature is optional for a reason, as I think some people won't take well to it at all. Personally, I've played the map so many times over the course of its development that I can mine all rocks in my sleep!
I've recently improved all of the casino games, so I am surprised to hear you like the treasure game most! I have plans of adding more elements to it such as choosing routes, but am prioritizing other aspects of the game right now. Seems it is enjoyable enough as is!
SE stands for status effects. That means regular status effects such as Ablaze, Frozen, Slowed etc. cannot be applied to the target.
I am liking your suggestions! I will make the effects of the food items easier to understand for the next update, and rename the gifting option too!
----
I hope I covered everything! Thank you so much for your continued support! I really appreciate it!
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Someday, I hope they make a game where 95% of the animation budget went to turning valves and opening door animations, leaving every other animation looking like a CDI zelda cutscene.
Why can't I insert picture in this profile post? Only insert image -> by URL. No option to upload from my pc?
