Trading cards will include beautiful artwork along with tiny bits of lore to further flesh out the events of the game. Based in the response, we look forward to doing more series in the future!
As always, thank you for your time and your support!
Akash: Path of the Five
Steam Trading Cards are Now Available!
Trading cards will include beautiful artwork along with tiny bits of lore to further flesh out the events of the game. Based in the response, we look forward to doing more series in the future!
As always, thank you for your time and your support!
Akash: Path of the Five Special Epilogues Now Available
We're please to announce that a new "Special Epilogue" section has been added to the "Extras" sub-menu in the main menu of the game(Now "Extras and Unlockables"). These are five specially-produced narrative vignettes, presented as individual chapters, that provide additional details to Akash's story. They are unlocked as you complete each boy's route (and if you have already done so, they will be available from the Extras menu automatically).
Featuring new artwork by Carina Strauss, the talented artist behind the Akash Omake / meme artwork and minigame sprites, each epilogue contains images that are both lighthearted and dramatic.
Additionally, a new piece of music, featuring flourishes taken from Akash's main score, has been composed especially for this add-on by Fat Bard.
[previewyoutube="ljg3h7ytmzY;full"]
We have also included a sixth section marked "Appendix," which provides additional details to the background lore presented in Akash's main story, as well as many details which were excluded, for those curious about the Al'Wani world.
Lastly, if you navigate to the "Extras" folder in your Akash game folder (right click on the Steam Icon and select "browse local files" to find it!), we have also included concept artwork for the additional characters / family members introduced in this update!
All of this is now available, for free, as a special thanks for your continued support of this game. As we have mentioned previously, Akash was designed as a labor of love for the Otome genre, and we hope that this small addition helps to enhance the experience of everyone playing!
Official Discord Server
We wanted to announce public availability of our Discord server!
Click HERE to join.
The server has actually been around since well before the game was released, as a place to share work-in-progress media and updates during the game's development. We're happy to open it up further for folks to interact with other players (and the creators of the game), ask questions, share your artwork / writing, and more.
As always, thank you for playing Akash, and we hope to see you soon!
Lunar New-Year Sale
Hi all!
Just chiming in to announce that Akash: Path of the Five is on sale! Grab it for 23% off (why did we pick such a weird number) and go date some bois!
Akash: Path of the Five is on Sale!
We're happy to announce Akash: Path of the Five is on sale as part of the Steam Winter Sale 2019!
Just a quick reminder: Try the free demo and plunge right in (don't worry, your save file will carry over if you decide to grab the full game!)
Akash : Path of the Five and Gender
Al'wan are biologically agendered at birth (a state known has 'hadi,' or 'pure') until about ten years of age, at which point a unique form of puberty occurs which they refer to only as 'tanwie' or 'the change'. During this period, a proportion of the children differentiate into male or female. An equal proportion mature without further secondary sexual differentiation, and they are known as "safa" (literally translated as 'serene' or 'unclouded').
Safa hold a relatively unique place in elemental society as, like young elemental females, they retain access to all forms of magic. The depth of their power, ultimately, remains less potent than their Al'wani brothers and sisters.
Though they lack the absolute mastery of a single, focused elemental force, possessing even limited access to all forms of magic does have its benefits (as reflected in Akash's main story). They generally hold a revered place in nearly all Al'wani societies: Safa fire elementals, for example, may take on the role of a healer in their village because of their access to light magic. Safa water elementals, in turn, can help their village's crops grow during times of famine. Lastly, though they retain access to all forms of magic, Safa have occasionally chosen to focus their abilities on one, should they feel that is what suits them best.
It is important to note here that, just like humans, elemental's physiology does not necessarily dictate their gender: Indeed, though Al'wan may be male, female, or safa, their gender may run the gamut. Just like male or female Al'wani, safa elementals might be he, she, or they, gender fluid or gender ambivalent. Similarly, this has no absolute bearing on an elemental's sexual preference either; they might prefer males, females, safa, be ambivalent, any combination of the three, bisexual or asexual.
Though it has occurred to a far lesser degree than human societies, Al'wani history has been fraught with occasional hardships and injustices; much in the way Aurora finds herself being burdened with expectations and prejudices that are a result of her gender, other females, males and safa in the past have also, at different times, experienced discrimination because of what, rather than who, they were. No human society is perfect, and elementals, at their core, were truly no different when their culture was young. What remains constant among all people's of Akash's world (and, indeed, our own) is the need for growth and change, and the willingness to evolve beyond their nurture if they are to incorporate greater understanding into their worldview. By the time Akash's story takes place, the Al'wan have already done so, in part because of the new crisis facing their people. Also, as hadi is simply part of their natural life-cycle, safa is also seen as an extension of this and, thus, is a state that is as easily acceptable as any other.
To close this discussion of the Al'wan, and to celebrate the milestone of 1000 followers on Tumblr, our wonderful artist Vanna has created a vision of Aurora as an elemental male. This image is presented in 4K, and may be downloaded by right-clicking and selecting "save as ..."
As always, thank you for taking the time to read this little bit of lore, and for playing our game!
December Update, and a Bit on the Subject of Children ...
We've also fixed an issue with dialogue review where it was defaulting to the oldest line in the queue - it will now highlight the last line read.
Our appreciation to the user(s) that brought this to our attention in the discussion forums: as always, if it is within our power to do so, we will happily endeavor to make changes that can improve your experience!
Updates out of the way, we wanted to speak briefly about the subject of children in the story.
One storytelling element that probably makes Akash: Path of the Five unique among Otome is the thread dealing with Aurora and the pressure upon her to have children. More specifically, (to paraphrase Elder Glen,) to select a 'suitable mate' and start having 'as many children as possible as soon as possible.'
The absurdity of such a burden being placed upon the shoulders of a young woman just coming to grips with a unique and potentially unwanted role in a troubled society notwithstanding, this thread was woven into Akash's story for reasons both obvious and subtle.
First and foremost, the issue of deciding whether or not to pursue having children is presented as a means to allow players to shape their romance to their liking: as mentioned in the author's note, this is a deeply personal decision with no 'right' or 'wrong' answer. We undertook Akash with the understanding that while many Otome simply choose to forgo addressing this issue, having the choice could provide just that extra iota of depth to the tale for some players. It is also a conceit which helps to drive along the plot, and is one that may not be unfamiliar to some of those who play the game.
In another way, the choice to confront the expectations being placed upon Aurora was also a cathartic one: During the early writing and production of Akash, the author herself dealt with unanticipated and occasionally devastating struggles with fertility while trying to have a child; this was made even more emotionally wrought by the constant (and often unconscious or unintentional) pressures and expectations placed upon her by acquaintances, family and friends - indeed, some of these pressures are mirrored and magnified to a satirical degree within the text of the story, but are no less harrowing to the person experiencing them. It was ultimately decided that since this was a central part of the story's conceit, and because it could serve, in some way, as an constructive outlet for players sharing said frustrations, it would remain part of the narrative. In the end, doing so played a small part in helping deal with an otherwise difficult situation.
We understand that this element is not for everyone; indeed, while it does remain an important element of Akash's plot, it is left purely to the player to either embrace or wholeheartedly reject in their quest for love and the preservation of their people. So in the spirit of choice, it is left to the player what role it will ultimately play in their romance.
To end this discussion on a lighthearted note, we'd like to present a piece of seldom-seen artwork, which depicts the main characters of Aurora's class as elemental children. Consider it a class picture, of sorts, previously hidden in the Switch version of the game, but made available here, for free;
This image is presented as a 4K wallpaper (3840x2160). To download, simply right-click and "Save as..."
As always, thank you for your time, and for playing our game!
Akash Winter Update and Sale!
Additionally, to ring in the first wisps of Winter, we'd like to present another previously unused piece of conceptual / promotional artwork, by the wonderful Vanna Le! Featuring the one and only Sirocco . . .
This image is presented as a 4K wallpaper (3840x2160). To download, simply right-click and "Save as..."
Images like this (and more) are available as part of the deluxe edition DLC content, which features a 44-page artbook that chronicles the development of Akash: Path of the Five.
As always, thank you for your time, and for playing our game!
Akash Autumn Update
Additionally, we're proud to share another previously unused bit of promotional artwork, featuring Ignatius, as brought to life by the incredible Vanna Le! (What better way to celebrate the fiery colors of Autumn!)
This image is presented as a 4K wallpaper (3840x2160). To download, simply right-click and "Save as..."
Images like this (and more) are available as part of the deluxe edition DLC content, which features a 44-page artbook that chronicles the development of Akash: Path of the Five.
As always, thank you for your time, and for playing our game!
From Concept to Execution: How We Got Here ...
Akash was birthed out of a desire to contribute to a much beloved niche of gaming, one that has been around for a long time but only more recently has started seeing prominence in the west. We wanted to add our own small voice to the chorus, so to speak, of the growing number of otome-style English visual novels.
To that end, we decided quite early on that Akash would be fully funded, developed, and published independently and internally. We did not have the benefit of an outside publisher, and we did not crowdfund (no Kickstarter, no Patreon, etc). Akash was, from concept to execution, completely our own.
It was also created because we wanted to present an otome that speaks to our own point of view. The Japanese otome that introduced the genre to us are created with a different audience in mind, one that carries its own set of expectations for the protagonist and love interests. With Akash we hoped to offer something with the western audience's expectations in mind.
Part of this mindset included giving Aurora (the player character / MC) her own voice and agency within the game, rather than positioning her as a faceless proxy; She has her own opinion about the course of events in Akash as they unfold, and her own internal and external responses to each of her potential suitor's advances. Since 100% maximizing your potential lover's affection is not necessary to achieve the highest levels of romance with each of her beaus, players are fit to disagree and let Aurora speak her mind; she has a sharp wit, and we want players to feel free to use it should they choose.
We also wanted to give players other means to shape their romance as they saw fit: elements like children and marriage are presented not as "right" or "wrong" choices, because these represent incredibly personal decisions that differ from player to player. While many otome consider a "marriage" ending to be the "true" ending, for example, we wanted to present it as simply another choice for the player to use to create their own personal romantic narrative.
Because Akash was created on a small budget, we elected to focus on multiple different perspectives of a single narrative surrounding a pivotal series of events in the player’s life. Because each potential romance option represents a different point of view, it is in experiencing the same plot from different viewpoints that allows the player to see how events effect each boy differently. Since no particular order is required when determining which route to take, and each play through this includes the full narrative course, a skip feature was included to let players bypass areas they’d already experienced.
We realize that many of these decisions may exclude Akash: Path of the Five from the libraries of those who prefer a more traditional or edgier experience. It may also not appeal to those who do not wish to consider the prospect of marriage and children in a part of a fantasy romantic narrative right now. For those players, we absolutely understand.
Akash is meant to be lighthearted "junk food," and, as with many such things, there may be a time and place, eventually, to experience the story we wish to tell.