Wow, it’s been a month already? Somehow it really doesn’t feel like it. Either way, it’s time for the first Chapter 7 update!
Planning is complete, and I’ve gotten started on making maps for the chapter, including the one above. That is Protentum Station, a secret Galactic Fuchian Empire research facility and where the majority of Chapter 7 will take place. I can’t say too much about what’s being studied there due to spoilers, but if you’ve been paying attention in previous chapters, you might have a good idea already!
There is one more thing I’d like to bring up. As you may or may not know, Unity recently announced a new “Runtime fee”, where developers using the Unity game engine will have to pay a $0.20 fee PER INSTALL of the game if their game has made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months and have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs (those who pay for the Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise subscriptions have a higher threshold and lower fees). Fuchian Chronicles is fortunately unaffected as it is built using RPGMaker MV, but as a fellow indie game developer, I cannot stay quiet about this egregious move by the higher ups at Unity (who allegedly sold their shares in the company prior to the announcement).
As this is a developing story, details may change and Unity may even walk back this new policy entirely. However, the fact remains that they have shown that they prioritize profits to the point of nickel and diming small developers, many of whom can’t afford this additional fee. Even if they completely walk back the Runtime fee, there’s no telling if they will try to push it again after the heat dies down. I had been considering switching over to using Unity for my future games after finishing Fuchian Chronicles, but now I’ll be looking elsewhere unless there are drastic changes in Unity policy and leadership.
Thank you for taking the time to read my little rant, I felt it was my responsibility to spread awareness of the issue where I can. That’s it for this update, I’ll see you all next time.
Cheers, ShenTzu
Chapter 6 Now Available!
Thank you very much for waiting, Chapter 6 is now available!
Chapter 6 returns to where everything began, Z-7421 (called Sotenye by the bunnoids), and enters a new phase of the war… the first steps to peace! It has only been about two years since the war began, but it has taken a terrible toll on both sides. Can the two sides finally end the bloodshed?
While it’s not necessary to understand the story, I do recommend playing the standalone demo before starting the chapter. It’ll give additional context to the chapter’s events, and if you’ve been paying attention, you may notice some things!
As mentioned before, the game is now mostly feature complete, and the focus will be on completing the story. There were still a handful of changes though, they are as follows:
- Some items and skills have been rebalanced, such as the damage over time dealt by “Tox Gas”. - Some achievements have been renamed for more consistency. - Some typos/grammar mistakes were fixed. - Enemy HP Gauges have been moved a bit to avoid being hidden. I may adjust them further later.
…And that’s it! Not too many changes this time, other than the new chapter of course. As before, the databank has been reset to account for the new entries. You can always unlock all entries using the Journal (hotkey J) if you’d like, though beware of potential spoilers if you do so before completing the chapter. The price of the game has also been increased to reflect the additional new content.
One final thing, Chapter 7 will be the last chapter of the game. After it’s complete, I plan on giving the entire game a once over, adding new things such as portraits some NPCs and finally adding more CG like I wanted from the start. Once that’s done, the game will be ready to come out of Early Access. If everything goes as planned, it will be fully released early 2024, mainly so I can avoid the busy holiday release schedule.
That’s it for this update! I playtested as much as I can, but if I missed any bugs or issues, please post them in the Steam Community thread or email me at shentzugames@yahoo.com, and I’ll fix them as soon as I can. As always, thank you for playing my game, and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
- ShenTzu
Chapter 6 Progress Update 3
Another month, another update! I’m working on the script still, but in the meantime, here’s a new character!
Her name is Fuchs (as in Fuchian), and if you’ve played the original game, Space Fox Kimi, you’ll know her as Kimi’s party member and GFE’s envoy to Earth in that game. Obviously she has much less screentime now and her role is different, but I liked her character in the past and wanted to give her a minor role at least.
Finally, a little bit of bad news: I’m afraid that the script is taking longer than I would like, mainly because of a newly discovered narrative plothole that needed me to revise certain events in chapter 6. I hope to finish by the end of July, but I’m not entirely confident about that deadline. I will commit to finishing the chapter by mid-August though, so it won’t be delayed further. Thank you for understanding.
That’s it for this time! Barring any critical hotfixes or real life emergencies, the next announcement will be the release of chapter 6. See you then!
- ShenTzu
Difficulty settings added!
There are now difficulty settings in the options menu! Please see this update for more details. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1789050/view/3650777268682185856
Chapter 6 Progress Update 2
Has it been another month already? Time sure is going faster than I anticipated… Well, time for another updated! This one's a little early, but I didn't want to sit on this particular update for reasons that'll be apparent.
The new maps are finished, though if time allows I’d like to expand on one of the areas. For now I’m working on the script, which is where the bulk of the work will be for this chapter. There’s a lot going on following the events of Chapter 5! Speaking of which...
Chapter 6 will have the first meaningful interactions with the bunnoids… and a bunnoid party member! I won’t reveal the circumstances of her joining since it’s a major plot point, but I hope you look forward to it!
Finally, a small update with pretty a pretty big impact: a difficulty setting! I originally designed the game to avoid having overly simple combat that can be won by spamming the regular attack, but now I realize I may have gone too far and made the game frustratingly hard at places. My apologies for that. There is now a difficulty setting in the options menu that ranges from “Story Mode” for players who want to focus on enjoying the story, and “Challenge” difficulty for those who like… well, a challenge. Please be warned that the “Challenge” difficulty may not be balanced, and may even make some encounters outright impossible. You can change the difficulty at any time, so if you do get stuck feel free to lower the difficulty to get past those encounters. This update is now live for both the base game and the demo as of this announcement. Speaking of which, now would be a good time to play the demo if you haven’t already (hint hint). It contains a side story that doesn’t show up in the main game after all! I don't think it would and didn't find any issues while testing, but if this update broke anything please let me know and I'll fix it asap.
That’s it for this update! At this point I’m a little hesitant to promise that Chapter 6 will be released in a month, but I’ll certainly do my best to meet this goal. Either way, you can look forward to another announcement then, and more frequent updates on my Twitter @ShenTzuGames! Thank you as always for your continued support!
- ShenTzu
Chapter 5 Hotfix
Fixed a bug where your strike craft weren't added back in for the start of chapter 5 if they were destroyed in a previous chapter. Thanks to Screethegargoyle for pointing this out!
Chapter 6 Progress Update 1
Another month, another update, hope everyone’s doing well! Some unexpected business took me away from work for a wwhile, but I was able finish planning out Chapter 6. I can’t share much about it because spoilers, but I do have this for you! If the setting looks familiar, it should! Chapter 6 goes back to where it all began, Z-7421, or as the bunnoids call it, Sotenye! After the events of Chapter 5, the GFE can finally properly communicate with the bunnoids and learn more about the enemy they’ve been fighting for so long, and maybe even broker a ceasefire. Perhaps with understanding, there can finally be peace?
That’s it for this update! I understand it’s a short one, but I haven’t had the time to work on that much on the game this past month. I promise the next update will have more, especially in the graphics department. Until then, thank you for your continued support!
- ShenTzu
Chapter 5 Now Available!
Hope everyone’s doing well, I come bearing news: Chapter 5 has now been released!
The tides of war turn against the Fuchians as the bunnoids conduct a daring attack on Fleet Eternity. Kimi rushes to join her fleet mates in defence of her home, but will it be enough?
My apologies for not making an update post earlier like I usually would. Between taking on commissions and job hunting, this has been a hectic month for me so far. Things have calmed down enough for me to finish the chapter though, so here we are! In addition to the chapter release, some other changes have been made to the game. They are as follows:
- Updated AI for enemy and allied ships. They are now smarter and won’t do illogical things such as using anti-strikecraft skills when there aren’t any strike craft on the field as much. - Anti-strikecraft skills such as flak shot and flak burst now cost more TP, but accumulated TP now carries between battles so you no longer have to charge it up at the start of battles. This also just makes more sense in my opinion. It’s not like you’d unload the AA guns between battles after all. - Strikecraft can now use the "Paint Target" skill for additional utility. If they don't already know it, they'll learn it at the start of Chapter 5. - Yna’s Rescue skill (used in Chapter 4) has been nerfed a bit with a lower success rate. - Unachieved achievements icons have been turned into something more generic to help avoid spoilers. - The game now autosaves in certain locations throughout the game in addition to autosaving normally. This mainly occurs when completing sections in a chapter, and is aimed at preventing lost progress in case of crashes or something after boss fights.
As before, the encyclopedia will be reset upon starting the chapter to accommodate the new entries, and you can unlock all entries using the debug menu in the journal (shortcut J). The price of the game has also been increased to reflect the new content.
That’s it for this update! As always, please post any bugs you come across in the Steam Community thread, or email me at shentzugames@yahoo.com, and I’ll fix them as soon as I can. Thank you for playing my game, and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!
- ShenTzu
Chapter 5 Update 1
Hello everyone! It’s been about a month and so it’s time for an update!
Chapter five is about halfway done, and the way things are looking, will be finished in early to mid-April. Due to the prevalence of space battles in this chapter, I improved the AI of enemy and allied spacecraft so they don't do stupid things such as using anti fighter skills against capital ships as much. This will also apply to previous space battles, but the updated AI won’t be released until Chapter 5 is finished.
As for what’s in the second half of Chapter 5… It’s been planned out but I don’t have much to show from it yet. So here’s a sneak peak at a new enemy that you’ll encounter!
That’s it for this update, though before I sign off I’d like to get your opinion on something. What would you like to see in these update posts? Feature/mechanics wise I think the game is more or less complete, so I’ll be more focused on finishing the story and adding related locale, characters, enemies, and new equipment. Obviously I won’t be able to show everything due to spoilers, but which of the new stuff would you like to see most? Let me know and I’ll take it into consideration for the next update!
Thank you for your continued support, and look forward to the release of Chapter 5! - ShenTzu
Chapter 5 Development Begins
I am back from my vacation, and have officially started development of Chapter 5! So far I’ve mainly been working on planning, but I did make this teaser image!
Chapter 5 will feature the battle of Eternity’s Dawn, where the bunnoids attack with a massive armada. It will be the largest and most dangerous battle of the war so far, but Kimi will do her part to defend her home.
That’s all for this update, just wanted to let you guys know that I’m back working on the game. I’ll have more to share on the next update in a month or so, see you all then!
