It's been a massively emotional (and quite draining) six years getting to this point, so I couldn't be more proud to announce A Story Beside is finished and available now in full. Step into the sleepy mountain village of Pyreside and experience a charming, poignant, and deeply personal journey through the life of a humble innkeeper named Lyric. I'm incredibly happy this story has resonated so strongly with early access players and am overjoyed to finally be sharing it with the wider world.
So, next steps now that the game has launched in full? I'll be active in the forums and across social media in the coming days, listening to your feedback and continuing to improve the game experience... so keep that feedback coming! Once I'm confident the story and gameplay are as polished and bug-free as possible, I'll be turning my attention to supporting other languages and platforms so that more players can jump in.
In the meantime, I truly hope you all enjoy the game! I poured my heart and soul into it and send it out into the world today with all of my love.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your patience and support.
After nearly six years, a battle with cancer, a global pandemic, and countless other challenges, I'm absolutely thrilled to announce A Story Beside will be launching in full this Tuesday, May 24.
I know many of you have been waiting for the game to leave early access before diving in, so I'm overjoyed to finally be able to share Lyric's story with you all. This is hands-down the most personal and emotional project I've ever written... so it stands to reason it's also been the most draining in many ways. At the end of this long development journey I find myself incredibly proud but also incredibly exhausted. I sincerely hope everyone enjoys the finished product!
I won't ramble too much longer but I do want to extend a most heartfelt thank you to those who have stuck with me through all this time. As we now cross the finish line together, I want you all to know this project could not have happened without your encouragement and support.
See you all in Pyreside on May 24! Be sure to tell a friend and join us there.
The final chapter of A Story Beside is out now, and Lyric's story can be experienced in full for the first time ever! I have waited so, so very long to say those words.
If you can, I would recommend playing through at least Chapter 6 one more time to set yourself up properly for the emotional finale. This last piece of content works better as an epilogue rather than a full, standalone chapter... and as such is quite a bit shorter and more streamlined than the others. I hope the (unintentionally) staggered release schedule doesn't lead to disappointment around this more compact ending, since the game was always meant to be played in full as one continuous journey.
The game is going to stay in early access for the moment, just to work out any final bugs players may come across, but I'm aiming for final release in early May. Please report any issues you come across! Every little bit of feedback helps as I gear up for the full public launch.
Thank you for playing A Story Beside and for coming along on this journey with me and Lyric. Thank you for your patience over an agonizingly long development cycle. Thank you for your support, your encouragement, and your incredible understanding as I went through some of the hardest challenges I've ever had to face these last few years.
I hope you enjoy the final chapter, and I'll be back with more updates soon.
Hey everyone, I've been waiting to post an update until I had good news to share... and today I do! I'm happy to announce the final chapter of A Story Beside is releasing this Wednesday, April 27.
The game will remain in early access for a short amount of time, with a full release planned for early May. The exact release date will depend on your feedback and response to this final chapter — so please continue to share your thoughts, suggestions, and any technical issues you encounter! I'll be reading over every review and following every comment thread to polish the game as much as possible before its official public launch.
As always, I need to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been supportive and patient throughout this rocky development process. I have a lot more to say on the subject, but I'm going to save my emotional word salad for full release.
In the meantime, please look forward to the final chapter and the long-awaited conclusion to Lyric's story!
Hey everyone, It's been a long, long, LONG time coming, so I'm absolutely thrilled to announce a new chapter of A Story Beside is available to play right now!
There are several reasons why writing this chapter proved to be such a unique challenge. The symbolism of Lyric remaining trapped in a cursed winter since March 2020 is not lost on me... but on top of real-world struggles and anxieties, Chapter 6 contains by far the most branching paths and variables that depend on your choices thus far. Entire scenes and characters may or may not appear in your particular path, and I hope you'll find the story satisfying however yours plays out.
Please share your thoughts in the discussion forums and help the game continue to improve!
So what's next...?
There is one more chapter left to go, which will be shorter in length (think of it more as an epilogue than a full-blown chapter) but should still pack an emotional punch as Lyric finally reaches the end of her journey. I'm hoping to have development wrapped up very soon, though I hesitate to promise anything too concrete. I will say you can expect to see updates in a matter of weeks, not months.
Thank you to everyone who has waited so patiently and continued to support the game all this time. Words honestly can't express my gratitude.
Achievements, chapter replay, and fun new features
Hey folks, Did you miss me? A big new update for A Story Beside is available now! Although I'm still working on finishing up the last two chapters for full release, this patch means we're closer to that reality than ever.
In addition to fixing some long-standing bugs (collision should finally be functioning properly for all players) and adding various spots of polish here and there, this update introduces a few brand new features outlined below.
ACHIEVEMENTS There will be 16 Steam achievements to unlock in the final game, including 8 that are available in the current chapters. It should be possible, if a little tricky, to nab them all on a single playthrough.
PLAYER STATS Remember the screens at the end of each chapter highlighting your choices? You'll now be able to see the percentage of players around the world who made those same decisions. As if there wasn't pressure enough already...
CHAPTER REPLAY This much-requested feature allows you to replay any previous chapter at any time.
VOLUME CONTROLS You can now independently adjust the volume of the music, ambience, and sound effects from the pause menu. This is a useful tool for streamers or anyone who likes to hone in on particular elements of the game's sound design.
Please continue to report bugs as you find them and look for more updates very soon! It's been a rocky year for so many of us... I truly appreciate you sticking with me until the end.
Hello all, The latest content update for A Story Beside is available now, bringing the total playable chapters up to five. This is a pivotal part of Lyric's journey and in many ways a culmination of the choices you've made up until now. I hope you're enjoying the story so far!
I'm not going to promise a hard release date for the next chapters, but please know I'm working hard to ensure the full story comes to a satisfying (and bug-free) conclusion.
Please continue to report any issues you encounter on the discussion forums. Your patience is very much appreciated in this Early Access period and will help the game become as polished as possible in time for full release.
Hey everyone,
I wanted to apologize for the delays of Chapters 4 and 5 and ask for your patience as I polish them up before release. As you might expect, this has been a busy time of year in my personal life (holiday happenings, a new nephew, and more than a little seasonal anxiety around the one-year anniversary of my lymphoma diagnosis) and things have taken longer than planned. I'm sure it's been frustrating for everyone awaiting the next part of the story, so I am truly sorry.
I think once you get to play these next couple chapters you'll understand why they've been such a hurtle for me. Not only are we approaching the emotional apex of Lyric's story, but as the game goes on, more and more of your personal choices will branch off and offer different outcomes... which of course adds to the development time of even the simplest scenes. I sincerely hope the full story is as meaningful and satisfying as everyone is expecting and certainly don't want to rush to the finish line.
So! I am pushing back Chapters 4 and 5 once again, and this time I won't make the mistake of promising a release date. It will most likely be early January and sincerely hope the wait will be worth it. This community means so much to be and I don't want to let you down.
More updates to come very soon!
Happy holidays to all!
Hello all! I've been hard at work on A Story Beside since release, both on the development of new chapters and assorted bug-fixes that have inevitably popped up during this Early Access period. I truly appreciate everyone who has been so patient and so diligent in reporting any and all issues you've come across.
A new update is now available that contains several new features and should solve many of the bugs in the first few chapters. Please take a look at the patch notes below and be sure to post in the discussion forum if problems continue.
Updates:
Brand new menu system (should fix all menu-related bugs)
Fixed bug that would trap players in certain maps after saving
Fixed bug that would report incorrect player choices
Fixed data bug when replaying earlier chapters
Fixed item inventory
Increased number of save slots (from 4 to 10)
Save points added at the end of each chapter
New (optional) scene with Kelsi
New dialogue added at a few different points to clarify choices
Additional hints at designated story points
Outstanding Issues:
Some players are able to walk over anything on the map
Error popup while saving (although the game should still save)
Missing save files
In addition, I've updated the release schedule for future chapters to reflect these new updates and developments going forward. It's possible I won't be always be able to hit these exact dates, and I appreciate your patience if that ends up being the case. I'm doing my best to release new content regularly, but as a solo developer during a very busy time of year, I can't always pin things down 100%.
Thank you all so much 😊 I hope you're enjoying A Story Beside so far!
Any and all feedback is welcome! At the moment I am planning to release a new chapter every other week, and your comments and suggestions will be invaluable in making the final product as polished as possible.
I could talk at length about the journey it took to get here, the personal battles I've fought along the way, and the inspiration this community has offered through the most difficult year of my life... but instead I'll just say I truly hope you enjoy the game 😊 and thank you for waiting.
