The Velan Reach chapter 1 development update (Patreon)

With the first chapter of The Velan Reach closing in on completion, an update on what is going on and what is coming next is more than due.

How far is it from being finished?

Chapter 1 is quite close indeed to being finished. At this moment, I'm putting the final touches on the content of the game itself. If you've been following the weekly progress reports on the pinned post, you will notice there's still a few heads left to close (and a few less after I update the progress later today), and a lot of what is left has to do with presentation around the game: a trailer, some gameplay captures and screenshots, a proper description, and creating pages on a variety of websites and stores.

For the game itself, what is still left is processing feedback around some of the gameplay elements, an editing pass for tone and consistency, and some sort of credits sequence. I was thinking of maybe doing a "what's next on" bit, but I might just stick with the concept art bits that I used in the demo, depending on how smoothly these final stages are cleared. And of course, there'll be another short beta soon.

What's that about stores? Why even bother?

Indeed, there's been a lot of problems this past year on that front, with payment providers meddling with the content on offer on platforms like Steam, and even causing places like Itch to deindex (if not outright remove) adult content altogether for the time being. And while Light of my Life was never released on Steam, and Itch was only an afterthought, that's worrying. So why even bother when it is all so very uncertain?

But, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, with backer numbers on Patreon and Subscribestar in a slow, slow decline after the covid-era high with no signs of turning around (for this developer at least), having a store presence to generate a second stream of revenue for the game to compensate is becoming more important than ever, with no real alternative.

My primary focus, and the way I prefer to work, is still creating content for - and in close contact with - an audience of backers on Patreon and Subscribestar (that is to say, you), but I've come to realize getting a foothold on places like Steam will be vital to be able to sustain development in the long run and continue working on making games like this. And so, even if I wished I didn't have to bother with all of that hassle, that is now part of the consideration.

As an aside, you may be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that this is what's prompted Light of my Life to come to an end, but I assure you that's not the case. Season two was always meant to be a farewell tour. And while I wish I could justify spending some more time developing the new characters season 2 introduced instead of just wrapping up the content for existing characters, The Velan Reach will have its own cast of new characters for us to get to know together and hopefully, connect with, and that should be a lot of fun too (for me at the very least, and hopefully for you as well).

Speaking of, what about Light of my Life?

Rest assured on that front: after I release The Velan Reach chapter 1, I'll get back to the next chapter of Light of my Life, and after releasing that, we'll have a second chapter of The Velan Reach, then a final chapter for Light of my Life, and only then it'll be The Velan Reach Book 1 all the way.

Right, so back to chapter 1. When release?

Soon(tm). The biggest hurdle now is getting all the stuff around the game done that comes with having a first release (the aforementioned trailer, pages, etc.). And while this is going on, we'll also have another short beta round for the complete chapter.

When that is all done, I plan to use the demo I held back on to hopefully generate some buzz leading up to the release (making the rather bold assumption that there'll be any, which remains to be seen) to give it the best possible start in life, and hopefully connect with people  in the way Light of my Life did back in the day, although I'm painfully aware that'll be a very tough act to follow.

My hope is to have it ready to go out next month (January), but there is some back and forth involved in these things that is beyond my immediate control. At any rate, I'll keep you posted on the details

To wrap things up

For now, let me finish by wishing you all happy holidays and best wishes for the new year.

Thank you all for your support this year, I could not be doing what I'm doing without you!

If you are on the appropriate tier, make sure to check out a (very) short gameplay clip/teaser here.