October Devlog

Hey everyone! It's been a while!

Somehow, a whole month has already passed since my last devlog.

I haven't exactly been taking it easy, though. If anything, I've actually been spending more time making games lately than I was before.

A few things have changed over the past month, and they've made me reconsider how I want to approach game development going forward.

So today, I'd like to share some updates on my ongoing projects, talk a little about what's been happening behind the scenes, and show you something I've been experimenting with recently.

1. Stigma of Corruption 2.0 and the Her Fall in the Last Days Spin-off

First, let's talk about the projects I know many of you have been waiting for.

Version 2.0 of Stigma of Corruption: Nightbound Courier is still in development.

And I have some good news for those of you who enjoyed the pure-love route!

Over the past few months, I've received quite a few messages from fans asking if there could be more story content after the pure-love ending.

It genuinely makes me happy to know that so many of you have grown attached to these characters and want to see what happens to them after the story ends.

I really appreciate all the support and suggestions you've sent my way.

So, after seeing how much everyone wants it, I've decided to add a new afterstory for the pure-love route in Version 2.0!

I hope it gives those of you who loved that ending a little more time with the characters.

And I've got a CG from the upcoming afterstory to share with you today!

I'm also planning to continue working on the other improvements previously announced for 2.0, including additional story scenes, more moments from the heroines' perspectives, and adjustments to existing events and gameplay systems.

Meanwhile, development of the Her Fall in the Last Days spin-off is also ongoing.

There's something I want to be upfront about, though.

Progress on both projects has been much slower than I originally hoped over the past month.

I know that's probably disappointing to hear, especially for those of you who have been waiting patiently for the updates.

I'd like to explain what's been going on.

2. I Think I've Been Burning Out on RPG Maker MV

October has been a strange month for me.

Every time I opened RPG Maker MV to work on Version 2.0, I found myself struggling to get into the right mindset.

I'd edit an event, launch the game to test it, notice something that needed fixing, go back to the editor, make some changes, and test it all over again.

Then I'd repeat the whole process.

That's always been part of making RPGs, of course. It's how I've built all my previous games, and it never used to bother me much.

But somewhere along the way, I stopped enjoying that part of development.

Sometimes I'd barely been working for an hour or two before I started feeling sleepy and completely drained. There were even days when I didn't feel like opening the editor at all.

Recently, I was only managing about two or three hours of genuinely productive work a day.

For a while, I actually wondered if I was starting to lose my passion for making games.

I've spent the past few years working almost exclusively on RPGs. I still love writing stories and creating characters, but I've also felt for a long time that there's so much more I want to explore when it comes to gameplay.

My previous games have mostly focused on storytelling, exploration, and strategy rather than action-oriented mechanics or real-time combat.

And while RPG Maker MV is a great engine for what it was designed to do, I've increasingly found myself running into its limitations.

You can accomplish a surprising amount with plugins, but the more complicated your ideas become, the more time you end up spending writing plugins, fixing compatibility issues, and finding workarounds.

Even when something is technically possible, getting it to work the way I want can be exhausting.

After going through that process over and over, I think it gradually wore me down.

Then something occurred to me.

Maybe I hadn't lost my passion for making games at all. Maybe I was just tired of the way I'd been making them.

So I decided to try a different engine.

3. Trying Godot Made Me Fall in Love with Game Development Again

Earlier this month, I started learning Godot.

At first, I was just curious. I wanted to see what it was like, without any serious plans to change my development workflow.

I really didn't expect it to make such a difference.

But once I started using it, something just clicked.

Honestly, it felt like I'd suddenly been given a whole new world to explore.

All those ideas I'd had in the back of my mind—things that seemed too complicated or frustrating to implement before—suddenly felt much more approachable.

Real-time combat, character animations, freeform building systems, different kinds of interactions, more flexible visual effects...

I could finally start experimenting with these ideas and building them the way I'd imagined.

That doesn't mean everything is easy, of course. There's still a lot to learn, and I've run into plenty of problems along the way.

But there's one huge difference.

I'm actually having fun making games again.

Not long ago, I'd feel exhausted after just two or three hours of working in MV.

Now, when I'm using Godot, I sometimes look at the clock and realize I've been working for around twelve hours without even noticing.

And when I finally go to bed, I often find myself thinking about what I want to try the next day.

I haven't felt this excited about game development in a long time.

It reminds me of when I first started making games, back when every new feature I managed to create felt like a little achievement.

It's also helped me realize what I want to do with my future projects.

I don't want to limit myself to traditional RPG mechanics anymore.

I want to experiment with different kinds of gameplay, make character interactions feel more connected to the game itself, and create experiences that are fun to play as well as interesting to follow.

And speaking of experimenting, I actually have something to show you!

4. An Update on the Neighbor Chapter of Her Fall in the Last Days

There's another project I've been working on that I haven't talked about much yet.

It's the upcoming Neighbor chapter in the Her Fall in the Last Days series.

I've mentioned it a little before, but I haven't really had a chance to give it a proper introduction.

The main reason is that I've had quite a backlog of work to deal with.

Between Stigma of Corruption 2.0, the Her Fall in the Last Days spin-off, and everything else on my plate, it's been difficult to dedicate much time to another game.

So the project is still in a fairly early stage.

Before switching engines, I'd mainly completed some maps and the animations for the opening events.

One thing I'm trying to improve this time is how animated scenes are presented.

In some of my previous work, an event might have been represented by a single looping animation.

For this project, I'd like to use three or four different animations within a single event whenever possible.

That way, scenes can progress through different actions and moments instead of relying on the same animation throughout.

I've already finished several animations for the opening sequence, although I won't be showing all of them just yet.

And here's where things get interesting.

Since the Neighbor chapter was still early in development, I figured it would be a good opportunity to move it over to Godot.

There wasn't nearly as much existing content to migrate as there would be with one of my larger games, so it made sense to make the switch now.

I've now finished migrating the content I'd already made, and the project is running in Godot!

I've also started experimenting with a new real-time combat system.

Instead of the traditional RPG-style combat used in my previous games, players can move around freely and use firearms to fight enemies directly.

I've put together a short gameplay demonstration to show you how the shooting system currently looks!

【The video is attached】

I've been having a lot of fun working on this.

I think there's a ton of potential in combining real-time combat and exploration with character interactions and adult events.

It's giving me ideas for scenes and gameplay situations that would have been much more cumbersome to create in MV.

There's still a lot of work ahead, and many of the systems and mechanics are subject to change.

I also don't have a release date planned for the Neighbor chapter at this point.

For now, I just wanted to share a little of what I've been able to create with the new engine, and give you an idea of the direction I'd like to explore in future games.

5. What This Means for My Future Games

After spending some time with Godot, I started wondering about something.

What if I moved all my existing projects over to the new engine?

I actually gave the idea quite a bit of thought, especially when it came to the Her Fall in the Last Days spin-off.

It's a much smaller project than Stigma of Corruption, so at first, migrating it seemed like it might be manageable.

But the more I looked into it, the more I realized how much work it would involve.

Maps, events, game systems, all the underlying logic...

So much of it would need to be rebuilt or adapted.

And if I started doing that now, I'd probably end up spending a huge amount of time recreating things that already work, delaying the project even further.

As for Stigma of Corruption, the game is simply too large for a full engine migration to make sense at this stage.

So after thinking it over, I've made my decision.

Stigma of Corruption Version 2.0 and the Her Fall in the Last Days spin-off will both be completed in RPG Maker MV, as originally planned.

Just because I've found an engine that suits me better doesn't mean I'm going to abandon projects I've already put so much time and effort into.

I know many of you are looking forward to these updates, and I want to see them through as well.

That said, I've also made a decision about my future work.

From now on, I'll be developing all my new games in Godot. I don't plan to use RPG Maker MV for any future projects.

I still have a lot of respect for RPG Maker MV.

Without it, I probably wouldn't have been able to make and release my previous games nearly as smoothly as I did.

It's an excellent tool, especially for creating traditional RPGs without having to build everything from scratch.

But as my ambitions have grown, I've started wanting to make games that go beyond what I originally set out to create.

I want to improve not just the stories and CGs, but also the combat, controls, animations, character interactions, and overall gameplay experience.

Switching to Godot feels like an opportunity to take a big step in that direction.

There's a lot I still need to learn, but I'm genuinely excited about what's ahead.

6. Final Thoughts

Well, this turned into another pretty long devlog!

Looking back, I think this past month has been something of a turning point for me.

I'm not happy with how slowly Stigma of Corruption 2.0 and the Her Fall in the Last Days spin-off have been progressing.

But at the same time, trying something new has helped me rediscover the excitement I used to feel when making games.

For a while, I was struggling just to get myself to sit down and start working.

Now I keep coming up with things I want to try, and before I know it, I've spent another evening completely absorbed in development.

It feels great to have that motivation back.

At the same time, I understand that learning a new engine isn't an excuse to keep delaying updates to my existing games.

I'll continue working on Stigma of Corruption 2.0 and the Her Fall in the Last Days spin-off, while also taking time to improve my Godot skills and experiment with new gameplay ideas.

I can't give you a firm update schedule just yet, but I'll do my best to share more progress whenever I have something meaningful to show.

And once again, thank you to everyone who asked for an afterstory for the pure-love route.

Knowing that people care enough about the characters I've created to want to see what happens to them after the ending genuinely means a lot to me.

It's one of the things that makes all the effort worthwhile.

I want to do right by the games I've already made, while continuing to grow as a developer and create even better experiences in the future.

Not just games with stories and characters you enjoy, but games that are genuinely fun to play, too.

Thank you so much for your continued support, encouragement, and patience.

I'll see you in the next devlog!

And one more thing... I've got some exciting stuff I've been working on in Godot that I can't wait to show you!

I'll be sharing a sneak peek very soon, so stay tuned!!!