Sigh of the Abyss
Sigh of the Abyss is available NOW!
The game is dark yet tender, cruel, hopeful—just like life, it has its moments of levity, of despair, of resilience. I hope you will enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed making it.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
Thank you for all your support. See you in Carolise!
-Rascal
Premiere build patch 4
Staging
- Improved the staging of virtually the whole game. Something happened after the first export that offset the protagonist to the right. I manually corrected all her positions;
VA
- Restored a missing voice line in the confrontation with the Abyss in the Avatar path;
- Restored a missing voice line in the confrontation with Laverna in the Avatar path;
- Amplified various lines;
- Restored VA to Malec’s introduction;
- Restored missing whisper lines in your first meeting with the siren;
- Fixed VA in Aleste’s temple scene;
- Restored a voiceline in the scene with the Prodigal One;
Text issues
- Fixed various typos
- Improved the flow of the conversation with Lord Rizzo;
Bugs
- The 'Divinity Confronted' scene can now be accessed correctly;
- The protagonist won’t lose an arm when healing Miché’s father;
- Removed a candle that snuffed itself out on the day of the Everlasting Prime;
- Fixed a bug that prevented you for accessing Marané's romance scene during the festival;
- Fixed a bug that made you enter a relationship with Malec... in Marané's romance;
- Fixed the Lady of Dreams messing up the staging during the Dance;
- The mortal path now triggers correctly;
Hotfix 2
Minor fixes in assorted order:
- Fixed a wrong speaker when buying a gift for Sylas;
- Fixed the UI resetting to engine default if you accepted the duel in Malec's romance;
- Made some changes to the ‘Friend of Lapo’ codex entry;
- Removed Renza persisting through the Avatar epilogue;
- Changed a line to accommodate Santanna being razed;
- Fixed the wrong skill button showing up when killing Laverna's lieutenants;
- Restored a missing voiceline in the confrontation with Atri;
- Improved the flow of the scene at The Rose in the Envoy path;
- Restored a voiceline when you kill the Prodigal One;
Premiere build patch 3
Here are the latest patch notes for the premiere build:
Voice acting
- Added voice acting to the endings and epilogue;
- Fixed a misnamed voice line in Sylas' stargazing scene & harbor scene;
Credits
- Added backer names to the credits;
Bug fixes
- Made gathering clues to understand the origin of the poison slightly more forgiving;
- Fixed a bug that prevented Aleste's voiced scene from playing during the festival;
- If you attend the duel after saving the child from the canal, your hair will be dry from the get-go;
Text fixes
- Nessa will share more information about the poison if you personally kill Lord Rizzo;
- Minor assorted text fixes
If you encounter any issues during your playthrough, send them my way!
Premiere build patch 2
Here are the latest patch notes for the premiere build:
Voice acting
- Added voice acting to the dance;
Background music
- Replaced all tracks with the versions mastered by the composer;
Codex
- Added the missing codex entries and clarified some of them;
Text fixes
- Fixed a humor choice when meeting Nessa;
- Clarified that Miché's mother hasn't been home for a while;
- Fixed stray typos;
If you encounter any bugs during your playthrough, send them my way!
I'll push another patch very soon with the rest of the voice acting (writing over 100 codex entries took me two whole days ːfoxintroubleː)
Premiere build patch 1
Voice acting
• Restored missing voice acting to the very first scenes with Malec and Atri;
• Added voice acting to two more chapters of the game (the dance party, endings and epilogues are still a work in progress);
• Minor fixes to Alpheon's first introduction (restored a missing voice line);
Text issues
• Added some clarification to the diplomatic path with Valerico;
• Fixed a codex tooltip when going to LaMarina;
• Added some clarification to a conversation with Ascanio regarding the Halls' magick;
• Added a line to make a scene with Sylas less abrupt if you're on friendly terms with Renza;
• Changed the name of Sylas' first date event to be clearer;
• A couple more assorted text fixes;
Other
• Fixed the scene transition when returning to LaMarina;
• Fixed character positions when returning from the docks;
• Fixed the Envoy's cape sudden disappearance in Bástian's scene;
• Made the background music in Alpheon's introduction smoother;
• Made the background music in Enilia's introduction smoother;
• Unlocking the romance preferences will now bring up the stat menu, so you can customize them right away!
• After being jump scared by the bell one too many times, finally lowered its volume;
• Atri respects your personal space now in your scene with her, after you have access to The Refrain;
• Made the transition to the Halls' video background smoother;
• Lowered the volume of the Halls' waterfall;
• Fixed the Envoy's position when talking to the siren;
Known issues
• Auto-saves misbehave. It looks like you only have one, and the rest of the page is empty. Temporary fix: go to the second page of auto-saves and return to the first. The auto-saves will be there again;
If you encounter any bugs during your playthrough, send them my way!
I'll push another patch very soon with the rest of the voice acting and more fixes.
Mark your calendar ✨
📅 Friday, October 11th
It's still 'around September', just a handful of days after.
Testing everything is more time consuming than I thought 😅
Development progress
Proofreading
All done ✨
Voice acting
Some 300 or so lines are still missing. I should hopefully receive them during the month!
Voice lines need some light engineering to have the same volume/quality across different characters in a scene, and that process is unfortunately on hold until I have all the lines.
Coding
I see the light at the end of the tunnel! Only the last chapter and the endings are left to do. Of course, it happens to be the meatiest chapter... 😅
Trailer
Now that I have a release date locked in, I want to commission a new trailer to reflect some changes (like the VA recasting) and announce the release date with oomph~
So close to the finish line! 🏁
You'll have the game on your screens before you know it 😊
Have a wonderful day ✨
Devlog: heaps of progress ✨
It's time for a public project update, and this one is jam-packed with news and lots of little sneak peeks ✨
A lovely addition to the key art
Players who tried the demo noticed that despite being promoted to love-interest, Ascanio was still absent from the key art... that's not the case anymore!
Aside from his addition, everybody received some extra love. The key art was already beautiful, but it's now perfect!
Ah, and... once you complete the game, something might change in the title screen🤭
Carolise's new wardrobe
Work on the sprites has been completed! This included new arm poses, expressions and, in some cases, outfits.
The main character got the most love with two additional outfits—a lavish dress in green velvet and a pretty blouse for the hottest months ahead.
Enilia, the resident seamstress, can help you acquire both!
She can also help you come up with a gift for Sylas—a new blouse to replace her threadbare one! This outift is exclusive to Sylas' romance😃
More characters got their wardrobes spruced up, but I am going to keep some things a mystery! 😀
Development progress
It something is not on the list (like background art), it's because it has been completed and implemented ✨ here's what still needs to be done:
Proofreading: only the last chapters still need to be proofread!
Voice line recording: almost completed! Once I have all the lines, audio-editing will begin in earnest.
Implementation: this process takes the word script and turns it into code, checking for logic, variables and whatnot. Not the most exciting part of the job, but it's the backbone of the game!
Release date clarification
Sigh of the Abyss will release around September! No fixed date yet, but I will publicly announce one as soon as I'm able to!
Thank you again for your support!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
And see you next month with another devlog ✨
Play the demo until July 1!
You have until July 1 to play or re-play the voiced demo of Sigh of the Abyss ✨
Want to know more about the demo? This announcement has got you covered!
I hope you will enjoy this taste of what the full game has to offer.
Have a lovely day! ✨
Demo bugfix 1
Today's patch includes the following:
- Changed a lone word spelled in British English
- Fixed one missing credit in the dedicated UI
Play the voiced demo now!
The Steam Next Fest is an event centered around upcoming games and their demos.
It's a treasure trove of incredible gems, and every year I have a blast discovering new games to look forward to ✨ I'm really excited to join this year—it's my first Next Fest as a developer!
I had these four goals in mind while crafting the demo:
- Concise and accessible: I wanted it to be a somewhat contained experience that doesn't alienate new players who have not experienced Shadow Bonds / are not familiar with the characters.
- A showcase of the voice acting: 70% of the demo is voiced, so I'm pretty pleased with the end result.
- I was keen to introduce Ascanio to everyone. He's the only love interest not featured in Shadow Bonds, and I wanted everyone to meet him, especially because he became a love interest thanks to the support of the Kickstarter backers.
- I really wanted to show more of the romances!
While the demo is somewhat representative of the full game, it's also... not.
Character creation has been simplified.
You can customize the name of the Envoy and determine her personality in the demo, but her powers have been pre-determined since they are only featured in one minor choice.
This will not be the case in the full game—she will be fully customizable there, and her powers will have more impact!
Choices, branches and lines had to be cut to streamline the experience.
This is the direct result of the new context behind some scenes!
A major choice has also been cut. In the full game, infiltrating the Halls is not mandatory! You can also heed Sylas' pleas, let the matter rest & find a subtler way to find out what happened. This slow-burn approach spans multiple days and is not voiced, so it was cut from the demo.
When you play the full game, events will play differently!
Three romance options are available in the demo.
You'll be able to enjoy the company of Sylas, Alpheon and Malec. Their scenes have been taken from early in the game, before committing yourself to your beloved, and feature variations based on your romantic preferences ✨
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025310/Sigh_of_the_Abyss/
I hope you will enjoy the demo! I would love to know what you think ːcharmwitchː
I have created a new section in the forums to collect feedback—you can find it in the game's main hub.
Have a lovely day! ✨