Astralojia
Astralojia: Season 1 is being removed from the Steam store...
I hope I can build and grow the series into the future, and maybe return with a more substantial release.
Thanks so much for the support!
More and more and more stuff...
- Font is updated
- The game now will run at lightning speed compared to how it did before, it's been optimized for porting to multiple systems now.
Youtube Longplay Premiere Today and Many Huge Updates
First Youtube Premiere of Longplay Walkthrough
Full voice acting so you can watch it like a movie, come join us if you want:
Based on a lot of feedback I've received, I've re-worked and fixed it up Season 1
Faster ATB and Battles
Battles were noted to be slow, this is because they were designed and modelled after Final Fantasy 7's speed. I sped everything up drastically, the pauses in between moves are gone, it just moves much quicker than it used to.
Snappier and Improved Dialogue
This was a HUGE update in where every time a character spoke, there'd be a small pause. It was really holding the whole thing back. I figured out finally how to fix it, and now characters speak fluidly.
Watch Cutscenes Like A Movie
Without the pause before characters spoke, I was now free to create a 'Auto-Scroll' mode, and now the whole thing plays out like a film if you activate it. It's 'G' on the keyboard.
3 New Mini-Games
To add more gameplay to some Episodes that were lacking in it, 3 mini-games have been incorporated, even a first person adventure styled one.
Smooth Mouse Camera Movement
Finally I've figured out how to get the mouse to move the camera smoothly. Before it had a sort of jaggedy feeling, this is now fixed and it feels nice and smooth to look around on PC.
Camera-Lock Mode
There's now a 'Camera-Lock' mode if you prefer not to be moving the camera around in a scene. It attempts to lock onto the character that's currently speaking within the scene.
Optional Voice Acting
Some people either don't prefer voice acting or would rather silence it, you can do so now with the 'B' button or 'Right Click'.
Lower Price
With all of the fixes and improvements, the gameplay dropped from 5 1/2 hours to 4 1/2 hours long! So, as there is a Season 2 in the works right now, I'm dropping the price to $13.99 on all platforms.
Hardcore Mode
You can also just watch the longplay for free if you prefer, and if you like it and want to try the full game with gameplay, you get a 'hardcore' mode in the full version of the game.
私なりに最善を尽くしています
私は今、シリーズの全ての側面に取り組んでいる、一人の開発者として、自分にとって利用可能な限られたリソースを最大限に活用しています。一人で働いていることは非常に非常に困難ですが、ストレスがかかるときでも、何かの締め切りを設定しているときでも、奇妙に楽しいことがあります。
私は非常に若いうちから自分自身のアニメ/カートゥーンシリーズを作成し、自分自身のテレビ番組を書き、ショーランナーになることが夢でした。私はできるだけ長い間、これを練習してきました...そして、UnityからRespeecherまで、今日利用可能な技術やツールのおかげで、私はついにこれを実現し始めることができましたと、私は願っています...
「これが何であり、何でないか」
今、私にとって非常に重要なことは、これが想定外のものではないと人々が期待しないようにしたいということです。それは重要です…これは、テレビ番組のように展開する物語のゲームシリーズであり、もしゲームのジャンルを選ぶなら、ビジュアルノベルにATBバトルを加えたものに近いと思います。
それは、走り回ったり、ジャンプしたりするゲームではありません。オープンワールドではありません。複数のエンディングがあるわけでもなく、レベルアップもできません。アイテムの収集やクラフトもありません。そして、もし人々が速いアクションゲームを期待して入ると、彼らが想定しなかったものを見つけてがっかりすることになるでしょう。本質的には、ターン制のスキル駆動のボスバトルを持つ少年漫画のようなアニメシリーズです。それぞれのバトルは次のバトルとは異なる戦略でカスタマイズされ、シリーズが進むにつれて、それぞれのバトルはより困難になります。
「改善点」
まず、私はシーズン1を改善するために最善を尽くしています。ゲームプレイとストーリーのバランスをより取ることを試みていますが、これは簡単ではありません。より多くのミニゲームを追加することも検討しています。エピソード5と6にはストーリーに比べて十分なゲームプレイがないと感じたため、最近のアップデートで2つのミニゲームを追加しました。エピソード5と6は一つの長いカットシーンで、最後に一つのバトルがあるだけでした。このシリーズの意図として、バトルがより難しく、複数のパートがあることで戦略的になるため、エピソード5と6はある程度この方向性を持っていますが、エンディングのバトルが比較的短かったため、私には完全ではないように感じました。
バトルのペース調整が重要な点の一つです。私は最初、Final Fantasy 7をモデルにしていましたが、ATBバーが遅いことに気付きました。Astralojiaには1対1のバトルが多いため、そんなに遅いペースのATBバーでは、リラックスしたペースになりすぎてしまいます。私は、ダメージモッドの乗数が増加すると共に、スピードラインを追加しました。スピードラインは、バトルにより緊急感を与えるビジュアル的な効果を持ち、進行するにつれて、突然の死闘のようになります。全てのバトルをペースアップし、それぞれのバトルを再テストしたため、以前よりも素早いペースで行われるようになったはずです。
その他にも、改善が必要な部分があることは確かです。主に、改善が必要なボイスアクティングラインがいくつかあります。視覚的には、時々背景に蝶や鳥が飛び交っていてもいいかもしれません。また、一部のシーンではライティングの改善が必要です。
特に、シリーズの中で最も弱いと思われるのはエピソード1で、最も気に入っているのはエピソード7です。実際、7話はこのシリーズが何についてであるかを伝えているので、7話がパイロット版に選ばれることになるでしょう。ただし、各エピソードはシーズンの大きなクライマックスに向けて必要なエピソードとして設計されています。
エピソード1については、これからいくつかの意見を得ることを楽しみにしていますが、一般的なアイデアは自分自身に正直であり、自分の最も弱いリンクを理解することが重要であるということです。エピソード1は、プレイヤー/視聴者が最初に見る最初のエピソードであり、大幅な改善を目指すことは悪いことではありません。
「将来について」
そう言っても、この時点で人々に理解してほしいことがあります…
私はまず、シーズン1にさらなる改善を加える前に、ゲームを壊すバグでなければ、シーズン2を完成させるつもりです。シーズン2は、シリーズ全体を改善するためのもので、より多くのキャラクターが登場し、より多くのドラマが展開され、多くの謎が明らかにされます。また、マルチパートの戦闘がさらに増え、戦闘が一般的により難しくなるとともに、時間があればスキルバーを追加したいと考えています。特に、エピソード12のクライマックスについては、人々に見てほしいと強く思っています。シーズン1はシリーズの入門的な部分であり、シーズン2ではより主要なアークが展開されます。シリーズの第2のOPとED、そしてシーズン2のOST全体をリリースしたいと思っています。現時点でのシーズン2のボイスアクティングや音楽はほぼ完成しています。
シーズン2がリリースされることで、シリーズの意図が明確になり、キーとなるドラマチックな部分を押さえ、他のエピソードではリラックスしたペースを維持しながら、楽しく軽快でありながら、ドラマティックで感動的で、時には暗い部分もバランスよく描かれるシリーズを作るというアイデアを追求し続けます。戦闘に関しては、新しいメカニックが導入され、各戦闘が新鮮であるようにすることが目的です。
「最後に」
今後は、ハードコア難易度レベルなどの追加機能を導入するように努め、より多くのミニゲームを追加することで、プレイ時間を長くしたいと思っています。しかし、今のところ、私はシーズン2に取り組む必要があります。
まとめると、私は史上最高の開発者ではありませんが、できる限りの努力をして、良い物語、良い音楽、良いゲームまたはテレビ番組、またはこの何かが最大限に改善されるようにします。プレイ/視聴していただき、ありがとうございました。これからもお楽しみいただけるように、引き続き応援していただけると幸いです。
I will keep trying my best...
As a single developer working on, at the moment, all aspects of the series, I really am doing the absolute best I can with the limited resources that I have available to me. It's very VERY difficult being alone and working alone, but it can be enjoyable, even at the times when I've set deadlines for myself and things are stressful.
It's been my dream since I was very young to create my own anime/cartoon series, to write my own tv show and be a showrunner. I've been practicing as much as I can at this for as long as I could remember...and thanks to the technologies and tools available today, from Unity to Respeecher, I've finally been able to start to achieve this I'm hoping...
Futher Improvements...
Firstly, I'm doing the best I can to improve Season 1. One of the things I'm trying is to further balance out the gameplay to the story. This isn't easy. I'm considering adding some more mini-games throughout. I added 2 mini-games to the recent update in Episode 5 and Episode 6 as I felt they didn't have enough gameplay to story. Episode 5 and 6 were literally one long cutscene with a single battle at the end. This is to a degree the intention of the series, as the battles get more difficult and become multi-part and have more strategy, but there was something about these two episodes, whether it was just that the ending battles were relatively short in length, that didn't feel quite complete to me.
Other than that, there are parts that could use some work here and there. Mainly, there are a handful of voice acting lines that could use being redone. Visually, it could use every now and again some butterflies flying around or even birds in the background. The lighting could be improved in some scenes, etc... In particular, Episode 1 I believe is the weakest one of the series, while I like how Episode 7 came out the most, as Episode 7 conveys what the series is about. In fact, if there was a single episode out of the 7 that I would choose for a pilot, it would be Episode 7, as it shows what the series is really about in a broader sense.
I'm looking forward to getting a handful of second opinions on this moving forward, but the general idea is that it's important that one is honest with oneself and understands their weakest link. Episode 1 is, after all, the first episode that players/viewers will see, and it wouldn't hurt to target this episode for vast improvement...
The Future...
With that said, there is something I do want people to understand at this time....
I want people to understand that first, before I make any further improvements to Season 1, unless it's a game breaking bug, I'm going to finish Season 2. Everything about Season 2 improves upon the series as a whole. More characters are introduced, more drama starts to unfold, more mysteries are unveiled, and there are even more multi-part battles, as well as the battles generally being more difficult, and I want to even add more skill bars if I have the time. In particular there's a climactic part in Episode 12 that I really want people to see as well. Season 1 is like an introductory to the series, while in Season 2 more of a main arc starts to unfold, and I want to get the 2nd OP and ED of the series and the whole Season 2 OST out there as well. Voice Acting and Music for Season 2 as of right now is nearly finished...
With Season 2 out there, I sincerely feel that people will start to understand what my intention is with this series, as it hits on key dramatic parts, while maintaining a relaxed pace throughout other episodes, staying fun and light-hearted but sticking to the idea of creating a series that is balanced out with dramatic, emotional and even darker parts as well, and as far as battles go, having new mechanics introduced that keep each battle fresh and new feeling.
What It Is And What It Isn't...
A key important thing to me now, is that I don't want people to have expectations that this is something other than it is. This is important...It's a narrative game series that plays out like a tv show, I would put it more in the category of a visual novel but with ATB battles if I were to choose a game genre that it most closely would fit on a shelf with...
It isn't a game in where you'll run and jump around, it's not an open-world, it doesn't have multiple endings and won't have multiple endings, it doesn't have crafting, item collection, even leveling up, and if people go into it expecting a fast paced action game, I know they'll be disappointed to find something they didn't expect. What it is, in essence, is a shounen anime series with turn-based skill-driven boss battles. Each battle is trailored with a separate strategy from the next battle, and each battle gets more difficult as the series carries on.
In Conclusion...
I'll do my best to add extra features in the future like a hardcore difficulty level for example, and put more mini-games in, as I know that people do want a longer gameplay time.
I may not be the best of all time or anything, but I will always do my best to improve and make it a good series, as good a story as I can, with as good of music as I can, and improve the game or TV Show or whatever this thing is supposed to be as much as possible. Thanks for playing/watching, and I hope you might stick around and enjoy what's coming into the future.
Astralojia re-released
- Full voice acting using Respeecher
- Upscaled graphics to 1080p
- 1080p OP and ED
- Improved lighting
- Improved color
Next up is getting the Japanese and Chinese in there and taking the steps to release the series there. I've applied to consoles and will apply to Android and iOS soon.
Game Breaking Bug Fixed In Episode 3
Not much else to report, Re-release is soon.
Full Game Re-Release Is Very Soon
Improvements
- Full Voice Acting using Respeecher
- Further GPU Upscaled Character Graphics
- 2X Super Sampling
- 1080P Resolution
- Better Color Grading
- Deleted a few lines, improved some dialogue
- Deleted some scenes
- Full compatibility with Steam Deck (still need approval from Steam)
- Fixed many audio issues
Overall, the game is much much more improved, and I hope to do my best to learn and grow even more.
Thanks for staying tuned and thanks for playing!
Re-Release Delayed Until Mid-November or December 1st
A new trailer and new screenshots will be necessary, this will take another week after the game is finished.
The game is GREATLY improved using full voice acting now:
- Full voice acting everywhere.
- Text boxes turned into subtitles.
- Vastly improved pacing, characters don't stand around and pause everywhere, nice quick snappier pacing.
Well, it's just gonna be another month, not much I can do about it, but hey, it's only another month! Thanks for staying tuned!
Re-Release With Full Voice Acting In About Mid-October
There are about 90 or so scenes total, I'm going to try to implement voice acting in 7 a day, so I should be able to realistically re-release the full game as well as a free demo by October 15th.
After release, I'm going to look at starting to get the game out to the world, entering into game events, expos, trying to network more and increase it's visibility in various ways.
My goal is by November 1st to publish the Steam pages for season 2 and season 3 and create a daily game plan for their release by next year. Then, for the year 2024 release seasons 4, 5, 6 and finish the series, while it's in development expanding as I go, fulfilling once and for all my childhood dream of creating my own series.
Thanks so much for playing, hope you have a nice day.