The release date had been moved several times since the game it still stuck in limbo, alias manual review with “Automated tests failed, awaiting detailed report”.
3 things can happen with this Adult-Only visual novel:
1. It can be released on the store after a minor issue is solved.
2. It can be released on the store with changes to the text.
3. The VN get banned. End of Story.
All I can do is wait, and it’s quite frustrating especially if it ends in a ban.
Oh well.
Our Journeys 3 : More infos.
“Our Journeys 3” is basically ‘‘A.L.A.N.’’, “Dark Fairies” and “Shirina” updated with improvements.
Why didn’t I simply update the previous games?
1. Because, technically, they are delisted from Steam. You can get them now since I bundle them with “Les 4 Alice: Lorange Journey”, “A.L.A.N.: Rift Breakers” and “Entre-Deux: Cursed”, but they are still removed from the store, likewise with the Twine versions.
2. The update would break their achievements, since the plugin + method I used in 2017-18 does not work anymore. (RPG Maker MV had been updated since then)
3. I couldn’t transfer the various translations “A.L.A.N.” had.
4. * I won’t make any change to the Twine stories. They won’t be released again.
Instead I updated them all and released them as “Our Journeys 3”.
Now, what *did* change?
1. RPG Maker MV is updated to the most recent version.
2. All plugins are updated as well.
3. The music, while they remain the same, use “less heavy” files.
4. I’m pretty sure to have also decreased the size files for the images.
5. The English translation has some changes in some places (can’t remember where) for a better translation from French.
6. The battles in “A.L.A.N. (Alex, Lily, Aimé, Nana)” are less long and tedious since I decreased the enemies’ HP and using “Defense” give more Focus Points. They are even easier now.
7. “A.L.A.N. (Alex, Lily, Aimé, Nana)” Chapter 2 got changes to remove the ambiguity to Aimé’s situation in the school toilets.
8. Yes, “Aimé” got his accent now! (no more “Aime”)
9. “Denis vs Dark Fairies” have more face portrait, with more emotions, for the Cursed Queen Ixelda.
10. The witch in “Witch Shirina” got a new look and sound effects when she appears and disappears.
11. (All stories) The enemy sprites in battle are now animated, with Yanfly plugin, and they are bigger.
12. The battles in “Witch Shirina” are in Side View mode and, during the final fight, she’ll attack first.
13. (All stories) Skip button disabled, but you can still use “Z” to make the text “skip”. Text Backlog added.
That’s pretty much it. The “core story” of everything remains the same.
Our Journeys 2 got achievements now!
20 achievements added to "Our Journeys 2 ~ A Collection of Visual Novels"!
They involve finding all the endings in the four stories.
Credits updated with the achievements plugin.
Our Journeys got 21 achievements!
It's done.
21 achievements added to "Our Journeys ~ A Collection of Visual Novels"!
Credits updated with the achievements plugin.
Elian, Elisa, ChatAid - Good News / Bad News
The good news
I re-buy the “steamworks rpg maker” mv plugin and I managed to make it work!
It didn’t work last time because I needed to use the files and build the game using an old version of the steam sdk. T.T.
“Elian, Elisa, ChatAid” got achievements now!
I’ll add some for “Our Journeys” and “Our Journeys 2” soon.
The bad news
The VN is stuck in manual review, so the release date has been moved at the end of March. It might even come out only in April.
That would depend of what the problem is. I hope it won’t get banned for “controversial content”, since there is nothing hardcore/illegal in that story and it’s properly tagged Adult Only.
I'm still waiting for news on that subject. It'll take a while before they are returuned to the store.
Les Quatre Alices? What the...?
Yes, I know, the store page is visible, even tough the app is retired (since its bundled with another game). I contacted the support about it.
They might have been low quality (*for me back then), but they’ll be back!
I’m glad to announce I’m working with the steam support to bring back my older apps to the store!
All the apps returning would be: 904940 Les 4 Alice: Lorange Journey 918120 A.L.A.N.: Rift Breakers 918130 Entre-Deux: Cursed 918140 Hack the Core 940130 Red and Blue ~ Cycles of Existence 982770 Hir Corruption 1018980 VKT Prime System Crash 1032020 Shantalia and Corali'hulu 1056950 *DLC Shantalia and Corali'hulu - 18 Adult Only Content 1048170 Latangerine Last Journey 1056980 *DLC Latangerine Last Journey - 18 Adult Only Content 1064930 Divine D.I.V.A. 1077330 Ivanoile ~ Christalixeur Corruption 1105150 Reverse Me! Rez/Ru 1106900 *DLC Reverse Me! 2 Rose 1107360 *DLC Reverse Moe Pas! Savoie 1121250 ChatAid 1123350 *DLC ChatAid: Here I go again! 1135980 *DLC ChatAid : Princess Lolira - 18 Adult Only Content 1143470 Vengeance ~ In my family's name 1148630 Hot Takes 1160740 Mermaid Coralie ~ Love and Madness 1174540 Adventure or Normality?
As for the numerous other DLCs the Twine and/or RPG Maker version of “Les 4 Alice”, “A.L.A.N” etc they are added to the Ren’py version.
Back in November 2019, I really was in a bad phase and I believed (oh so wrongly) that everything I had released on Steam was crappy/low-quality/asset-flip.
While some of my works are of a questionable quality, I won’t deny that, others are good and even my “worst work” (selling-wise) had buyers! Yes, I didn’t make much cash with them, but I had a blast doing everything and I want to do more. Take note that I won’t give new updates for the returning apps. Support will also be limited.
Mia Status : burnout-like, How to solve : farewell steam Dev.
This is a hard post for me to write but it had to be done. Lately, I had been feeling down. Headache, stomach pain, depression… and I didn’t know why until now.
You see it’s like a burnout. I have been so stressed out having to put out 1 new story every month to reach the minimal $$$ needed to get paid every month. Also 1 story per month = low quality, almost an asset flip! I mean I was reusing a lot of stuff between each project (BG image and/or music) and the results… meh. Compare “Les 4 Alice Lorange Journey”, the “Reverse Me” trilogy or “Divine D.I.V.A.” to “Hot Takes”, “ChatAid” or “Vengeance In my family name”. Not the same quality at all.
Yes, I could stop putting more stories out but no other story = no pay for the month. Speaking of that, I had calculated my *real* profits. Not the cash I got every month but the income minus expenses and I barely make a profit with my sales. For the last six months I made, without telling hard numbers, about 10$ a month. What the point of keeping doing this for a mere ten bucks?
I got no fanbase either. Well, that’s not true, but I got almost no returns (reviews, forum discussions, Facebook posts, etc) about all my stuff. I got to do everything on my own. Writing in French, getting free resources, translating into English, putting everything in Ren’py, play testing, updating the engine when a new version comes out etc, for 10 bucks a month.
Now my health and morale is low and I can’t go on like this. For my well-being I’ll leave the Indie Dev scene for good.
Besides the reason I went on Steam as a Dev in the first place was to developed story-based games, aka visual novels with rpg maker mv/twine/renp’y, while my true strength is more in writing, well, linear stories/novels/books. Steam in a platform for gaming, not reading.
For “only” a gain of 10$ a month, I rather stop everything and publish an improved version for some of my stories on a writing platform like Wattpad. If there are fans and potential for turning said stories into a book/ebook later for some money, it’ll be done.
I’ll still be on Steam as a gamer but not as a Indie Dev. I had sent the request to Valve for all my stories/games to be removed soon. Since some games are ready for a sale next week, I’ll increase the discount (and on the bundles) for a “final sale”.
I wish to thank everyone who brought my games/give me support since August 2017. Time does fly fast. ^.^
