Hi everyone. It's ISAT's first anniversary next week. BUT!!!! The In Stars and Time 1st Anniversary Extravaganza starts NOW, with a PHYSICAL VERSION!!!
That’s right!!! We’re partnering with Limited Run to release a physical version of In Stars and Time on both Nintendo Switch and PS5, with cover art made by yours truly!!!
It will be available for 21 days! If the plushie doesn’t hit the 200 order threshold, no one will have it. If it hits the threshold, the Loop Plushie Uprising can commence
It’s Bastille day, which means it’s Vaugarde day! Chew on this piece of lore for a minute, while you preorder the Yetee’s new available merch!!!
Patch Notes v1.0.6.3
Patch notes are here! Cool important fixes are in bold. There's only one. Console patches are on their way as well. Thank you for your patience, console owners!
As always, if you find a bug/issue of any kind, please make sure to log them here! Thank you!
-Typo fixes -Continuity fixes (including That One Line during the optional final boss fight. Yes a certain character is linked to the prologue. IT MADE SENSE IN MY MIND OK) -Starry hat won't become a second Traveler's Hat when entering the House in Act 5. -Garden Scissors wont become Siffrin's Knife when entering the House in Act 5. -Throwing away the Long Thingy Thing in Act 5 will actually do so and not add one to your inventory. -Equipping Memory of Family and going up against a boss won't cause party members to level up enough to skip an unlock level. -Added Bathroom Event failsafe, so an eavesdropping event will happen if no siffrin monologues are available at this moment. -Loop Hangout and Bad Touch events happening at the same time won't softlock the player anymore. -Xbox gamepad inputs fixed. -Screenbreak at start of battle will happen uuuuh somewhere specific on the screen for the optional final boss, and on middle of the screen for the actual final boss. i'm trying so hard not to spoil you guys
LudoNarraCon is happening May 9-13th, and you better believe In Stars and Time is participating!
Join the developer (me) (insertdisc5) (Adrienne) as I play In Stars and Time for an hour on May 9th at 4pm EDT! I'll most likely play a moment during Act 3 or 4, so there will be spoilers. I'll go through funny moments I like and talk about the development of the game. I will keep an eye on the chat so consider this a Q&A as well!
To learn more about LudoNarraCon, visit the LudoNarraCon website!
As always, if you liked the game, don't forget to leave a review on Steam! And why don't you join ISAT's Discord Channel while you're at it!!! YEAH!!!
House(of Change)keeping
Long time no see! So, what's new in In Stars and Time world? Well, a few things.
✨More merch is available on the Yetee! Along with a T-shirt and some stickers of the party, you can now buy yourself a beautiful Loop shirt and an amazing Loop and Siffrin standee! Isn't life beautiful.
PHEW. You're now all caught up. We still have a few little surprises coming in the next few months, so stay tuned, okay? 👀✨✨✨
As always, if you liked the game, don't forget to leave a review on Steam! Reviews show the Steam Algorithm(tm) that ISAT is cool and funky fresh. I often get asked what the best way is to support the game, and leaving a review is one of them, along with telling your friends! Word of mouth is SO KEY for any indie game. If you like an indie game, tell people about it!!!
Thank you for reading, and thank you for your support!!! Talk to you soon~
Patch Notes v1.0.5.1
Patch notes are here! Cool important fixes are in bold. Console patches are on their way as well, which will include this and v1.4.0.1's patches. Thank you for your patience, console owners!
As always, if you find a bug/issue of any kind, please make sure to log them here! Thank you!
THIS IS FIXED NOW: -You won't get two Memory of Puns when finishing the event anymore. -VS Friends fight now has Siffrin's battle portraits work correctly (aka, it looks slightly different now. Maybe you can check it out even if you finished the game if you want. Hee hoo). -One specific Loop Chat should be easier to get now instead of getting a 1/23 chance to get it. -Fixed input errors. -Portraits will now be invisible for: Head Housemaiden Act 4 dialogue, Change God event, Teleport screen. -Friendquest skills will now only get removed if you go back to the meadow (previously: would get removed if you looped to Floor 1 with doors locked also). -Can't keep the Doll souvenir through loops anymore! Sorry! -Beating the King but using the dagger before talking to the HHM will still give you EXP for beating the King later on. -Disabled Fast Forward right before the King Battle starts, to hopefully fix an issue where text would sometimes proceed automatically during the King battle. -Memory of Craft Buff and Memory of Sparkle Heal descriptions aren't cut off anymore (not retroactive). -Added a Pillar Count failsafe so you can't get Memory of Pillars in Act 1. -Added failsafe so exiting a snack room and coming back won't have everyone eating still. -Added failsafe for party members getting two of their friendquest skills. -Added failsafe for Act 6, where you could get 2 Traveler's Hat in your inventory. -Added failsafe so player can't jump off bench and out of the traversable area of the level. -Typos fixed. -Destroyed all peep birds for sure (except the one near the tree in act 6. that's Soupe. they can live)
In Stars and Time's Complete Soundtrack is now available!!!
Studio Thumpy Puppy did an incredible job with this soundtrack and I'm so glad it's finally available for everyone to listen to...... on.... a.... LOOP ✨
Note: If you purchased Disc 1 beforehand, Disc 2 is available for free! Disc 2 contains spoilers from Act 3 onwards-- finally, you can hear That One Song your heart has been yearning for. YIPPEE!!!
Here's a look at the track files...
✨ In Stars and Time Spoiler Q&A ✨
it's time. MASSIVE IN STARS AND TIME SPOILERS Q&A. IT'S GONNA BE SO LONG. LET'S GO
I hope you are aware of The Secret Final Boss because I'm also gonna spoil the crab out of that. If you haven't,
1. Did you know the events for interacting with your souvenirs are randomized for some of them, and also change depending on how far you are in the game.
2. Did you know there's a way to show souvenirs to a certain character.
3. Did you know you can go back to Dormont during the Epilogue.
Figure that out, and come back here! Or watch a let's play online. You can also do that.
I will also try to adopt a ~mysterious cool voice with no exclamation points~ for Effect. Come with me on this journey.
Now. Questions time!
✨ Will you ever make a sequel to ISAT, or make a game in the same universe?
Nah. This was always intended to be The Story. This is your turn to imagine things now.
✨ But so what happened to the Country? What was its name? What about the wishes? What about the colors? What did Siffrin say as an openphrase to open the door to the King's room? What about--
I will not answer those. It's your turn.
✨ BUT THE COUNTRY AND THE COLORS AND THE WISHES
Ok fine. Here are some facts that I alluded to in-game, that I am confirming now.
-The Country disappearing and the events that made colors go away are not related.
-The colors disappeared a loooong time ago, which is why knowing they even existed is a relatively new find.
-A wish made everyone forget the Country.
I will ALSO say that ISAT's map operates on Final Fantasy/General Fantasy rules (i.e. in-universe locations are based off of real ones when it comes to culture, but are not one to one parallels, especially for geography), so no, the Country isn't based on the UK oh my god please do not say that to me again or im deleting ISAT out of your computers and putting legos at the foot of your bed. It's based on another place. You can figure it out, I believe in you.
✨ But why won't you give more info on what happened :(
Can you imagine if I did answer. Wouldn't that be a bummer, whatever my answer was. Sometimes things need to stay a mystery. And also, I don't want to answer <3
✨ Does the world Loop came from still exist after they left? Or is this a get mystery'd situation?
There is only One Timeline and it's the timeline that goes from the prologue to ISAT. Every timeline that gets rewound does not exist anymore, and that includes the prologue's timeline.
✨ What's the deal with Siffrin's dream at the start?
It's Siffrin's dream, but that doesn't mean our Siffrin is the main star.
✨ Is [specific missable game moment] canon?
Every moment that you personally experience in the game is canon.
✨ Is there a reason Siffrin remembers their name but the King doesn't?
What makes you think Siffrin does?
✨ At the very very end of the game, if you look out the window behind the Head Housemaiden, Sif mentions seeing an island in the distance. Is that his country?
It is. It's always been there, for the whole game. You can see it in the distance, too.
✨ Who was the King, before?
He was just a guy!
✨ With the King left remembering in the end, does that in any way change the redaction effect for other people in the world going forward?
That's a fun idea. Maybe!
✨ One thing that never really clicked for me is: Is the sweet smell Time Craft or Wish Craft? Or is the sweet smell TIme Craft and specifically the burnt sugar smell is Wish Craft? Other way around? Does this question even matter since without Wish Craft you can't attain Time Craft in the first place? (To me, yes.)
Wish Craft smells sweet. Time Craft doesn't have a smell per se, but it does do something.
✨ Does Mirabelle retain her immunity to being frozen in time after the events of the game or does it go away after the Head Housemaiden is saved? Or does it persist for a while and eventually fade away?
I imagine the immunity slowly faded away. But no one's left to do Time Craft, so it's a moot point anyway.
✨ How was Odile able to stop Siffrin from looping back during the fight against Siffrin?
In the Discord channel I stated that it's because "she's just that cool", but really, she does have access to some skills that heighten the efficacity of Rock/Paper/Scissors attacks, so it's not too much of a stretch to imagine she could lower the efficacity of Time Craft as well. In this last loop, while listening to Loop and observing, she could figure out Siffrin was looping way earlier than she could in even the Sus Quest, so she made plans. She is Very Smart <3
✨ Will you ever share everyone's full names?
That's artbook content <3
✨ In the ending, what happened to Siffrin's hat?
Flew away. It's gone now.
✨ Looking back at the original comics, and seeing how comic!sif has both eyes at the start of their loops, but in ending sequences is shown with his eye patch...did you ever consider making that concept of sif losing their eye a part of the main loop in either of your games? and if so, was there any reason why you decided against it?
Early on, I did think about making that whole event an event that happens during the loops, but quickly let that go since 1. it would be a pain to write and code (two different sets of Siffrin portraits!) and 2. if it happened, the player might want to look for a way to NOT make that happen and so 3. it would be a pain to write and code
✨ How was Siffrin's homelife before?
Pretty good!
✨ How old were Nille and Bonnie when they ran away? How old was Sif when their home got zapped?
Both were teens.
✨ How old IS everyone?
Siffrin is mid-late 20s. Mirabelle and Isabeau are early-mid 20s, with Isabeau being slightly older. Bonnie is a preteen. Odile is Too Old For This. Petronille, Bonnie's sister, is late teens-early 20s. You can ignore whatever I said in the prologue's artbook, whoever wrote this was Wrong!!!!!!!!!!
✨ Regarding the book that talks about someone who crafted a copy of themself using wish craft: is that meant to imply someone we know is the author (and/or the copy), or is it not directly related to any of em? or is it a "who knows ;)" situation where we can just speculate and theorize either way?
Please check the book again during Act 5! This applies to most items/map events by the way, like the pendant. You can check those during Act 5 and 6 for some fun new dialogue!
✨ Why are Siffrin's clothes so warm looking?
The Country got cold at night.
✨ What's up with Siffrin's pins?
They're made out of a special material. And also, they make Siffrin look cool <3
✨ I want to know the story behind Loop’s different eye shades!
They're blind in one eye. Also, fun foreshadowing <3
✨ What determines whether someone is paper/rock/scissors craft? Is it assigned naturally at birth or something else (and how do you find out)? Does it make you more inclined to use that specific craft or is anyone generally free to use whatever craft they want?
Astrology rules, It Just Is A Thing. Being Rock Type means it is way easier for you to do Rock Craft, but that doesn't mean you can't learn other types of craft, although it's way harder. Doing Craft of your type is instinct, doing Craft of another type would take some time and resarch.
✨What crimes has Odile committed before. I need to know.
Odile just smiles.
✨ Why did the King specifically target the House of Dormont?
I had a reason in mind, but adding it to the game would've added a layer of Explanation that really didn't need to be there. It's just a nice House.
✨ Who was Odile's hatecrush...
Dunno. It's your turn.
✨ What is loop's body situation. like is the surface of their "skin" solid? they did poke siffrin that one time, and we know they aren't cold, but...
I have some idea. But it's your turn!
✨ Would Sif still have looped if they hadn't made the wish he made in the beginning? As in, would Vaugarde's combined wish have made him loop until managing to beat the King?
No. But without time powers, you can imagine what would've happened next.
✨ During the Loop Hangout, how did the rest of the team make it all the way to The King? What about during Act 5?
During the Loop Hangout: with difficulty. During Act 5: Loop was there to guide them.
✨ Is Loop: 1. Actually comfortable with both he and they, but only gave the one pronoun to emphasize the distance? 2. Only using they/them because a large life event led to a shift in identity/ how they'd like to be perceived? or 3. time lops stole he from they they :(
Mostly that first one. But all three of those reasons have a bit of truth to them.
✨ Who cooked crab in the House of Change???
This is a very funny question! I've never thought about it. It's your turn.
✨ What are the Orbs that open the gate? Did the King create the Gate or was it there before?
(did not think about the orbs or the gate beyond "plot that proves there was a journey before") Stop Asking Questions,,,, It's your turn,,,,,,
✨ Bonnie's dialogue is *extremely* accurate to how overexcited kids talk, which is really rare to see. Was that something that took a lot of effort to achieve, or did it come naturally to you?
Thank you <3 I'm just that good. Really, Bonnie is an adult with no filter, and less general knowledge. I'm very glad I managed to write Bonnie well, especially since. I haven't talked to a kid. Since I was one myself
✨ The Spoilery Concept Art. Blease
oh yeah. here have it all. this is what I gave Mimi to do the animated trailer!
✨ So. What's everyone's favorite shade.
FINALLY the question. Plus I can say shade names now. White = darkless, Black = lightless. Light and Dark is like light grey/ dark grey. Oh my god I'm checking my notes and I wrote a small event I never used about hair dye colors like "midnight dark", "tomato grey", "snow light" past me that's so fucking funny
Anyway, Siffrin loves darkless, Mirabelle is more of a light shade lover, Isabeau loves that lightless (BECAUSE ITS FASHIONABLE OK), Odile likes darker shades, and Bonnie also loves that lightless (BECAUSE ITS AS DARK AS MY SOUL OK)
✨ Are there any bugs you found during developments that you've made into features?
Two! The first one was the ability to ask Loop to just silently hang out during Act 4. I messed up the code and the game softlocked there, with Siffrin and Loop sitting there silently. I thought it was very sweet. They deserve a little quiet time.
The second was in Act 5 - the House map had a lot of issues with the Act 5 map bringing you back to the normal House map. So one of the testers got brought to the normal House map and didn't notice, and interacted with the Mirror on Floor 3, and it gave them the normal interaction with everyone seeing the mirror and taking a picture, and when they went to look at the picture in their inventory, it gave them the actual Act 5 picture. A little bit after they realized the game bugged out, and told me about it, and begged me to keep that in because they were very unsettled by it. So here it is! Beforehand, it was just Siffrin silently taking a picture, so I'm glad I changed it.
✨ Did you ever have emotional difficulty writing the more sensitive parts of the script, like Siffrin’s intrusive/negative thoughts, for one reason or another? Moreover, did you worry the script may be darker than your initial vision for it anticipated?
Not really. The Mirabelle and Odile hangout scenes were the hardest scenes by far because I really wanted to get them right, but everything else was about the same amount of difficulty. And actually, I wanted to go a little bit darker for the script, but I was worried it was going to be too dark... When it comes to the dagger event, I had a whole tangent about Siffrin thinking about the best way to strike, so to speak, but I deleted it because it was getting A Little Too Detailed. T rating come back to me
✨ For the questions you WON'T answer, did you have your own answers while making the game? Or were they left blank?
Some of them I do, some of them I don't!
✨ I loved this game and I want to replay it but I don't want Siffrin to go through everything again!
Here's a little fun fact I decided: if you hit the credits, you helped a Siffrin escape. If you start a new game, you are creating a new Siffrin that you can emotionally tortu-IIIIIIII MEAN, a new Siffrin that you can help. Do not worry about your Siffrins they are fine
✨ A lot of those answers ended up being "It's your turn", huh.
Yea <3 The answers to some of those questions ARE there if you look. Some just aren't. But you can imagine whatever you want. It's your turn! I finished the game! I'm done working! It's your turn!!!
✨ I loved ISAT and it made me feel so many feelings!
Thank you so much. I'm sorry if you sent a message or ask and I didn't answer it. I read every single one and cherish it! Thank you for playing and thank you for writing me a message!!!!! When I get a little down I look at all of those and I feel better. Thank you. I'm sorry I can't answer them all.
✨ What will you work on next?
I have a project I'm currently in the preproduction stages of. I don't want to talk about it until I feel like I have some stuff to show. Plus I still have to make the ISAT artbook and some other stuff, so it won't be for a while. Nonetheless, I hope you will enjoy it!!!
Patch Notes v1.0.4.1
In Stars and Time's very first patch notes... Thank you for your patience! I have put a couple issues in bold because I know they were a problem for many, or because they're funny and I want people to know. One is the screenshot issue which is FIXED, the other is a brand new Tutorial Kid event! Yes it's new! I didn't just forget to enable it! OKAY!!!!
Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4&5 owners, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer! Porting this new update will take some time, and that's without counting the approval time from the consoles themselves. And also it's the holidays. Expect this update sometime early January! I guess! I don't actually know!! SORRY!!!!!!!!!!
As always, if you find a bug/issue of any kind, please make sure to log them here! Thank you!
OK WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:
THIS IS FIXED NOW:
-Pressing F12 won't open devtools anymore. You can take screenshots on Steam now!!!! -Might have fixed the "Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'width' of null." error. We couldn't replicate the error however, so let us know if it still pops up. -Fixed up Japanese profiles so the words aren't offscreen -Against the King, when he does his OHKO attack, if you had less than 4 people with the Mirabelle normal shield, everyone would die. THIS IS FIXED!!!! -You won't get 2 Memories of Tonics anymore. Just one. (Not retroactive! Sorry) -Fixed an issue in dialogue with Examining Bourdon where if the player defeated more than one rock or paper hand, the game thinks you defeated a scissors hand no matter what -Memory of SO WEAK!!! now will give the corresponding skill. -Bonnie's Snack 2 event conversation will now only FF through choices you’ve made once before -Using your dagger during a King fight in Act 3 wont let you keep the (Ask…) skill after the battle anymore -On max lvl, replaced current EXP with "MAX" and EXP to next level with "0" -If youre in act 5, did Miraquest but didn’t do Odilequest yet: entering the shop forbids you from exiting. You HAVE to do it -Act 5, after king fight, going down and then being forced to go back up wont softlock you if you bump into Odile -If got the random event in the meadow when Siffrin forgets Mirabelle's name, afterwards the game won't act as if you're in loop 1 -Hitting Mirabelle, Isabeau or Odile's max lvl event won't make the event repeat after every fight -If you never stepped on the banana peel before Act 5, stepping on it wont be allowed -Fixed all locked doors so you can't get stuck between a locked door and a sadness -Sif won't look SUPER DEPRESSED when fighting Tutokid in Act 4 -Resized a certain Act 5 illustration -Can't show items to loop during Act 5 anymore -Lowered shock, surprise, and info SFX during dialogue to 55%. So chances are it won't blow up your fragile eardrums -If you ONLY have the short gizmo gadget and the secret ingredient, you won't be able to create the bomb anymore. -Upped max number of Memories of Skirmish you can get from 99 to 999. Should fix all teleport math. Since the max was 99, anything over that would get lost during teleport. -Added a failsafe to the gameover screen so you don't have the FF symbol/can't FF during gameover. Dying and getting a gameover screen should fix any burned in nodding sif issues as well. Seems like it was happening in NG+? (dont get too excited NG+ just adds an option to fast forward thru all convos) -Fixed continuity error where on Floor 1, after getting the Crest, Mirabelle would say "maybe it will help clear the way" if you have NOT seen the row of tears, and "maybe it'll be useful later" if you did. -Translated Fast-Forward option in Japanese. -Added text variable update to battle start (so memory of family text can be updated for the end of each battle)
I NOTICED THIS WAS WRONG BUT I'M THE ONLY ONE: -Tutokid battle now gets a small event as the battle starts. -Sif will now walk to the middle of the screen on first tutorial enemy scene -A certain bird is now French like everyone else -Fixed text tones for a couple dialogue boxes -Changed English description for NOT OVER YET skill -In Act 5 Snack 2, NPCs now disappear during the glitch. -Buncha typo fixes -Changed where ghost Sif appears and disappears on Act 5 Floor 3 -Last ghost Sifs in Act 5 Floor 3 are now visible -Enemies from Bonniquest will make Siffrin and Bonnie flinch in their portraits -Bonniequest 1st fight will have the bg scroll as intended -Bonnie now faces down at the end of their quest instead of facing left the whole time. What's over there Bonnie -Fixed up a couple skill descriptions to add the friends/allies/family members variable -Fixed up credits -During the normal King fight, at the last fight event, music will stop For Dramatic Effect and come back -If Odilequest has been done during the loop, Odile won't look suspiciously at lists in the library -You're now more likely to find things in barrels if Memory of Barrels is equipped -Added battle song failsafe so the king song doesn’t start during normal battles
PHEW! Here we go! As always, if you are enjoying the game, don't forget to drop a review ;) We are SO CLOSE to 500 reviews we are SO CLOSE i can TASTE IT Thank you for reading! Thank you for playing! BYE!!!!!!
