Hi everyone! So I'm a solo dev who is currently working on their first project ever, which is a fantasy visual novel, Alaris. I started this project over the summer of this year and have been working on it part-time since. In terms of where the project is actually at, I've currently released a Sample version of the first chapter, which I released back in September. Since then, I've been working on both the second chapter as well as a more polished version of the first chapter. When I released the sample, it was super crunched since I released it for SuNoFes. Because of that, the product was kinda like a preliminary version of the game and was meant to be a sample for people to see what I had in mind and what the game was ~generally~ about.

As I said, since then, I've been working on a more polished version of the first chapter along with the second chapter for another release. From Devtober, I focused mostly on refining the first chapter, and I'm happy to say that I just finished it this week! I'm still currently play-testing it and going through it to check for any small edits or bugs. This is my first "real release" since the first one was rushed and a small-scale version of the game, so I'm trying to use this jam to take it slow and really focus on marketing, being thorough with play-testing, and other stuff! I also haven't had much time to make "extra" materials for my game - things like additional art (I'd specifically love to make a piece with the characters for the holiday/ winter time!) - so I hope I can also put some energy into making supplementary items on top of just grinding the game all the time.

 I'm hoping to have it released sometime the middle of this month, and after that, I'm going to use the rest of the month to start working on Chapter 2! If anyone is curious what the updated release will look like, I have an announcement here. As you can see, there's a lot of new features. Things like a Codex, Free Time, Personality Stats, etc. Because I want to make sure these run smoothly, I really want to be thorough with play-testing, which I hope this jam can help with :D

Hi everyone! I'm back with a small update as I approach my expected release date (11/12/21) for my first chapter. These past couple of days, I've focused largely on my marketing strategy and scheduling posts for my countdown to the release. The past couple of days, I've focused on different features for the game that will be introduced. Some sample shots for my four main features are listed below. I focused on the updated GUI for the Extras Menu,  the new Codex and Free Time Features, and the completed Personality Feature! I tried using Twitter to briefly talk about these and then Tumblr to go more in-depth about what each of the features will do and how they will play out in the game. 

Currently, I'm shifting my focus to more promotional art as we get closer to release date. I'm planning to also write up a full announcement post that will accompany the release. The place I'm struggling with right now is knowing what to do next week after the game is released. I know it's probably best marketing practice to continue marketing the release so people can know about it, but I'm trying to think of the best way to do this as well as future directions for the game as well. With the Winter VN Jam coming up, I don't know if I want to make a side winter story special, priced at maybe $1 to help support the main game development, or if I should just continue with Chapter 2. Either way, I think Crunchless is really helping me to think long-term right now as well as how to "milk out" the different stages of game development/release, since I'm very accustomed to grinding and just jumping to my next goals! 

I've also play-tested the upcoming release a bit and am going to use the rest of this week to create the build and play it outside of the Ren'py engine to see how it goes :') 

Hi everyone! Just a small update, but we have officially released the first chapter of our game today! Please feel free to check it out on our game page or at our official devlog announcement :D

Hi everyone! Back with another update. I spent this past week marketing the release and experimenting with different marketing tactics. I tried out GIFs for the first time showing some of the gameplay and was really happy with how those turned out. I also mentioned before how I would be using the Crunchless Challenge to also work on more content for the game since this release was only for Chapter 1. I've decided to work on a Winter DLC for the game for the upcoming Winter VN Jam. I mainly wanted to do this to give myself a break from working on the main content of the game while still adding stuff and allowing myself to feel creative. I think it'll be a fun side project for me and aligns well with the deadlines for both the jams (Crunchless and Winter VN). I started work this week on the content and decided to make my submission for the Winter VN Jam winter-themed dates that the readers can go on. I wrote up the summaries for how each LIs date would go and started working on the sprite art for the game to give them winter clothes. Below is a sneak peek at some of the progress I've made on the art:

I'm super excited for this side project since I think it will be something fun for people who have played the game and is a way for me to also "take a break" while still working on the game :) I'm trying to make it a goal to finish the sprite art by the end of this weekend so I can start working on the script and potentially CGs for the game. I've already finished BGs, so I think I'm off to a strong start. My biggest concern is the CGs since I want one for each date, which would total 6. I'll see if I can make enough, but I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself if I end up not meeting that goal since this is DLC. If anything, I might try to create "templates" for the CGs so that they don't differ too much to make it easier on me. I'll cross that bridge when I get there, though. That's it for me until the next update! 

Hi everyone! 

Back with another devlog update now that I've really begun work on the Winter DLC I'll be releasing for the game. As we come up on the last couple of days for the challenge, there is absolutely no way I'll be able to finish scripting and coding for this portion of the game, but I hadn't really anticipated I would anyways, since my main focus was on the official Chapter 1 Release of my game :) With that being said, I've still definitely been putting in some work into this DLC since the Winter VN Jam is still coming up, and I want to release something for the holidays.

This past week, I finished the rest of the necessary sprites for the Winter DLC 

As you can see, these are just winter versions of the main sprites. Aside from this, I've spent the recent half of the week working on the script for the game. At this point in time, I've finished the script for three of the routes, leaving four that I still have to script. These routes have been around 2k-2.5k words in length. Since there will be 6 routes, I anticipate it'll be a final total word count of 12k-15k words. Since this is just DLC for the main game to celebrate the holidays, I think that's a pretty good length and realistic given the timeframe! I'm hoping to finish the script by the end of this week/ early next week so that I can begin work on CG art next week. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the progress so far and feel like I've been sticking to my schedule much better than I thought I would considering the holidays and  a lot of external responsibilities that I have to balance on top of game development around this time :') This will probably be my last devlog since the challenge is coming to a close, but I'll be sure to release a final post-mortem post at the end of everything :D 

Also, if you haven't gotten a chance to check out the full game post/ download, feel free to check it out here: 

https://itch.io/embed/1124624?linkback=true&bg_color=353535&fg_color=ffffff&link_color=ffe762&border_color=5d5d5d

Hi everyone! This will be like a postmortem/ final update as the last day of Crunchless Challenge :D For this month, I was very nervous about balancing things, what with other responsibilities and game development and the holidays, so I wasn't sure how much progress I would make on things, how stressed I would be, etc. That was one of my biggest reasons for joining Crunchless Challenge because I knew it would help me keep a healthy mindset throughout the month (hopefully). Originally, my schedule had been to wrap up game development the first week, fully playtest the game and make edits the second week, and market and release the third week. I really wasn't sure what I was going to do with the last two weeks of the month, so I didn't know how that would play out or if I would be so burnt out I wouldn't work on anything.

Turns out, even though it was a crunchless challenge, I was really proud of my progress this month!!! And in a healthy way too. Usually with other Jams, I feel like I make progress but I'm not always happy with the quality or I feel like I barely make deadlines/ overextend myself. This month, I felt so proud of the work I was putting out, and I think the focus on marketing and really letting myself enjoy/ execute each stage was helpful for the game itself too. I felt like I'd put out good quality work and I definitely noticed my engagement go up this month compared to past months. I also, in the spirit of the challenge, decided to take up a side project associated with my main game rather than mindlessly continue working on my main game. I decided to use the rest of the month to create a side story for the game that will be winter-themed in honor of the upcoming Winter VN Jam. It's been refreshing to be able to do this since I felt like I was able to be more creative again and reconnect with enjoying game development as a side project. All in all, while I did make objective progress with the game, I've noticed a huge mental shift that has allowed me to feel more connected and proud of my game as a developer, which is my personal biggest takeaway.

I loved engaging with this challenge and I am excited to hopefully take part in it next year already and take some of the lessons I learned with me throughout the year :) For those who are interested in my game, the main game, which has it's first chapter is here:

https://itch.io/embed/1124624

AND feel free to follow the studio itch.io page to stay updated on the Winter Content, which will be coming out in the next couple of weeks! The official game page will be going live tomorrow so feel free to follow the itch.io page or follow on Twitter for updates on that :') If anyone has remaining comments/questions for the last couple of days of the challenge, feel free to reply. I'd love to talk!