Post v0.15 Alpha Recap

Reception

The build has been out for two days, and WOW, I am blown away by the response! I'm so happy people are enjoying the new build and the new characters. This was a lot of work, so seeing mostly positive feedback is amazing. I've been moving these last two days, so I haven't had much chance to be around, but thank you all so much for supporting us and playing our game.

I want to shout out Lotus, who has been working on these bug fixes pretty much on his own since I've been in moving hell. He's been active on our Discord, helping players and gathering feedback to improve the build.

We aren't going to make any further updates to the game until Tuesday, when the build goes to the $10 tier.

I'm going to do my best to see what writing things need to be altered or fixed, but honestly, I'm now in the stage of moving, where I am unpacking, cleaning the old place, and I still have some stuff left to move. (Furniture is done, thank god) So I may be a big sporadic, but I will do my best to check in on the community and see what is going on.

Post Build Feedback

So, back in September, during our roadmap, we announced that we would restart development in a new engine. That this change would mean the game would start back at Episode 1. It is odd that now, after months of reiterating this, people are surprised that we have restarted the game. We did weekly updates to let everyone know this was happening, but I guess it wasn't enough.

Hopefully, seeing just the first part of that change, you can understand why this is such an undertaking. The animated sprites, the lewd scenes animated in-game that change with your custom character, the animated special moments, and creating the whole visual novel framework in a new engine. It was a ton of work and completely changes the game. The story is also different, as none of the content in this first update was in any other update. Except for the Newhaven nightclub, which got a complete redesign.

The only negative feedback I have seen on the build is that it does not have all 6 episodes in Unity. That the build "only had two new scenes". I don't know how much clearer I could have been in the lead-up to this. With weekly posts, the roadmap, and the free changelog post explaining what was in this build. I try my hardest to be a very transparent and open dev. I know that an indie game like this only dies because it doesn't talk to its community. I will try to make things clearer and make information more accessible going forward, so I never fail to meet your expectations again.

Rework Concerns

I have also seen some concerns about the game being reworked or restarted. There seems to be this perception that this is the death knell of a game. So let me address some things.

There will be no other rework of this scale.

We will not switch engines again or restart in this manner. This is a one-time thing, I promise you that. I don't want to be making Hazelnut Latte forever; I have other cool games I want to make.

When I started making this game, I had never really made a game before. I spent the past three years making mistakes and learning from them. This rework is the culmination of those lessons, and I am sure I will make more, but none will see the game start over completely.

Obviously, we will still go back to older content from time to time to improve/fix. But it won't be a complete redo like this is. I want to move forward.

Not to mention... Game restarts during development happen all the time. Does anyone remember when Halo was an RTS before Combat Evolved? Restarts happen when you think you're making one game and, after doing it for a bit, realize the game is something else. And that is not only okay, but it also happens constantly.

The only difference is that we are reworking a game that was made in front of your eyes rather than hidden away in a studio for 7 years. Some of you have been here since v0.1! We are literally learning and getting better at our craft right before your eyes. Part of that is realizing that we needed to switch engines and focus the story before it was too late.

So, a rework is not this spooky, scary thing. It's as common as breathing.

But to reiterate, we won't do another rework of this scale ever again. So, pitchforks down, please, let's enjoy this journey.

Next Alpha When?

As you may know, my favorite question is "Update when?" Because it means people are excited, and they want to play my game. I normally say "When it's ready!" but that sucks to hear, right? Well, at the end of the v0.15 first Alpha, we announced the release date for the next Alpha!

April 7th at 8 AM Pacific!

We don't know exactly how much content will be in this Alpha, but we'll be releasing an Alpha of what we have ready on that date. As we grow closer to the date, what we can get ready will be more apparent. But we wanted to set a deadline for when the next Alpha would drop, so we have something to aim for. Also, so people can get their hands on it faster.

This first Alpha took so long because, more than anything, we were making the game. Not the scenes necessarily or the art, but actually making a game. We had to make the save/load system. The main menu and the in-game menu. The history reader. The UI elements. The settings. The ability to run animations. Animations that change depending on your custom character. We had to make a character creator that actually remembered your Isaac. Animated sprites that move, talk, and emote. Everything Lotus had to build.

That took time, but now? The foundations are laid for us to build on.

We still have big systems we want to add. Gallery, Player Phone, Map. But the actual visual novel, talk to cuties, and hook up part is created. That was the biggest hurdle, and we crossed it.

Next month, I want to announce more changes to the release schedule, but for now, enjoy the v0.15 first alpha, and get hyped for the next.

Now I need to lie down because my back hurts from moving. Stay Rad!