Genre: Point-and-click, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Adventure, Indie, Visual NovelSlay the Princess
12/26 - more voice fixes (should be done or almost done at this point)
more fixed voice files lol
thanks for bearing with me on this - want to be as on top of fixing these lil issues as soon as possible when they crop up!
EDIT: I'm gonna stop spamming hotfix notes at this point. If you see a small update over the next day or do (like the one that just went out at 6:28 EST on 12/24), it's fixing another corrupted audio file.
Apologies to anyone who's running into these (fairly rare) issues while I continue to fix them: they're rare enough that I'd rather keep the overall mix of the remastered audio as opposed to rolling back to the version before the remaster.
If the issue meaningfully persists after another couple of days of patches, I'll give the whole thing a fresh pass, but in the meantime, putting out a small fix a couple times a day lets me still enjoy Christmas :)
If you run into any issues, please be sure to report them on the Steam forums or on the relevant bugs channel on our discord.
Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1989270/discussions/0/3873717982252461671/
Discord: http://discord.gg/blacktabbygames
12/24 Afternoon Patch
As mentioned in the previous post, if you run into any outstanding audio issues, please report them on the bugs channel of our discord (discord.gg/blacktabbygames) or on this Steam thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1989270/discussions/0/3873717982252461671/?ctp=5
Thank you all so much!
Tony
12/24 Morning Hotfix
Each file is a fairly easy fix once identified, and I'll be keeping a close eye on reports in the coming days.
Thanks so much for playing, and Merry Christmas + Happy Holidays!
Audio Remixed and Remastered. Happy holidays!
Happy to put out a chunky update today - I just finished remixing and remastering Slay the Princess' audio. Voice lines in particular should have far less variation in loudness with the new build. As part of the remastering process, we also switched voice and non-looping SFX over to FLAC, which shaved about 2.5 gigs off the total install. I don't think we'll be taking things any further on that front, since we'd like to keep both audio + visuals lossless.
If you run into any bugs front this update, please verify your install before reporting the issue. Steam sometimes has some trouble trouble with larger patches for Ren'py games, and there's enough of you saving the world that a few of you are bound to get corrupted installs from the patch.
While mixing should be much better overall, please let me know if you run into issues, particularly around any specific voices being too loud or quiet on their given routes. Some of the softer voices were tough to find the right level for, since bringing them too close to the baseline most characters use made them sound far too loud (hunted, cold, and paranoid were the biggest offenders.)
Aside from any bug fixes over the next week or so, this will be the last update the game is getting before The Pristine Cut some time next year.
And as one last added note, there are 8 days left to pick up a Thorn poster!
Extras will go up in our shop after we're done printing, but they'll be a little more expensive then, and I'm not sure how big a print run we'll be doing outside of pre-orders.
Here's the link: https://topatoco.com/products/ah-stp-thorn-pr
All the best, and happy holidays!
Tony and Abby
Slay the Princess - The Pristine Cut, coming in 2024
Thank you all so much for supporting our work and helping Slay the Princess reach a level of success that gives our studio the freedom to make our games completely on our own terms and the way we want to make them moving forward!
We're extremely proud of what we've made with Slay the Princess, but now that the dust from launch has started to settle, we think we can make it even better. So we'd like to announce The Pristine Cut edition, releasing next year (date TBD). We don't want to give away too many details just yet, but you can expect:
- Several new chapters.
- Significant expansions to several chapters already in the game.
- And more to be revealed at a later date!
To thank you all for your ardent support, Slay the Princess - The Pristine Cut will be a completely free upgrade to the game, and the base price will remain the same as it is now.
Thank you all so much, and we hope you have a great holiday season!
~Tony and Abby
12/15 Update - Bug Fixes, QOL, Supporter's Pack Update
Back to the grindstone! The biggest update here is to the Supporter's Pack, which now has a lossless version of the OST (FLAC), as well at 7 new wallpapers and some concept art for you to check out.
Beyond that, we should be roughly up to date on reported bugs. Some noteworthy changes:
- Adjusted controller interactions with the dialogue box. Specifically increased the amount the scrollbar moves when you use the dpad to move up/down the list for dialogue options. I'm working on figuring out how to tie the amount the scrollbar moves to the height of the currently hovered option, but Ren'py's being a real hassle on that front.
<*> Fixed a handful of spelling errors. (dilapidated is a hard word)
<*> Fixed a number of instances where emphasis in written dialogue doesn't match emphasis in delivered voice line.
<*> Fixed an issue where the Eye of the Needle occasionally hovered over the cabin stoop.
<*> Adjusted a number of voice lines that were too quiet. (Hero + Stubborn at start of Den; Adversary during the end-game)
<*> Adjusted a number of voice lines that were too loud. (Notably Paranoid during Apotheosis)
<*> Fixed a bug where hands in the Long Quiet were not correctly displaying behind The Tower.
Thorn poster available now!
Here by popular demand is everybody's favorite shot of everybody's favorite Princess,* The Thorn! And this time, nobody's going to take her away from you. Celebrate your freedom by hanging this 18x24" poster on your wall. Or on your ceiling. Or wherever else you'd like to hang it, because once you buy it, it's your poster, so we can't tell you what to do with it.
We're offering discounts on pre-orders through the end of the month, and extras will be up in our online shop in January.
Link to the poster: https://topatoco.com/products/ah-stp-thorn-pr
Link to the shop, where you grab a sticker sheet and goodies from our/Abby's other stuff: https://topatoco.com/collections/abby-howard
If this does well, we've got some other merch planned for next year 👀
*okay maybe not everybody's but she is a TOP contender.
Slay the Princess wins Best Indie RPG at the OTK Video Game Awards!
Just wanted to drop a quick update to let you all know that we managed to take home a win in the Best Indie RPG category as part of the OTK Video Game Awards!
Thanks so much for supporting us and lending your votes, it's very cool to have won something ^^
And with this I think (hopefully) the voting side of awards season is finally over, so posts will return to your regular-old game updates!
The next thing coming up is our livestream on December 16th, where Jonny, Nichole, and Brandon will be joining us for a full playthrough. Jonny and Nichole will be doing their parts live and Jonny doesn't like listening to his performances so this will actually be the first time he experiences the full game. We'll also be sharing developer commentary as we play and answering your questions.
And we might (will) be teasing a very cool announcement as part of the stream. We'll be broadcasting to our Twitch channel (http://twitch.tv/black_tabby_games), and uploading a VOD to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@blacktabbygames) after the fact.
Hope to see you there!
Tony and Abby
Slay the Princess Live — New Date!
For those of you who missed the initial announcement, we'll be doing a full playthrough with Jonny, Nichole and Brandon with the voice sliders turned down to 0 so both Jonny and Nichole can read their parts live! This should be extra fun because Jonny ~hasn't~ played the full game and only knows his half of the script, so it'll be his first time experiencing things ^^
We'll also be making a special (Slay the Princess) announcement on the stream, so be sure to stop by!
Stream will be on our Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/black_tabby_games
And a VOD will be uploaded to our YouTube channel after the stream: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6bbk3AuxgkmTlIqmTgv2mQ
Also, while you're here, a reminder of several ongoing awards programs that could use your votes!
There are only TWO DAYS LEFT to vote for Slay the Princess in The Horror Game Awards. Vote for us for Best Indie, Best Narrative, Best Performance (Jonny) and Audience Choice: https://thehorrorgameawards.com/vote/
In the OTK Video Game Awards, vote for Slay the Princess for Best Narrative and Best Indie RPG: https://www.otkvga.com/vote
We're up against exclusively AAA budget titles for best narrative, so it'd be ~extra cool~ if we managed to scrape a win there!
And then on IndieDB, vote for us for indie of the year! https://www.indiedb.com/games/slay-the-princess
Thanks so much for supporting us and playing our games, and we can't wait to see you on the 16th!
Best,
Tony and Abby