infinitestars

Patron Outcome - Bad Decisions - a Good Idea?

You can read the original discussion here: Patron Input - Bad Decisions - a Good Idea? 

Thanks to each and everyone that reached out to share their thoughts here, on Discord, and via email. After reading all the feedback and engaging with some of you in conversation, I think I've come to a suitable way forward.

Some highlights were that we should avoid silly or uninte...

Dev Update 2021-09-17

It's Friday!

What a week it's been. We've seen good numbers on our Discord server with a whole bunch of new, awesome people joining to look at photos of Dobby the pupper. Some of them even discuss the game!

This has been another marketing week with many time-consuming things happening in the background, like configuring additional analytics, goal conversion tracking, etc.

We updated the build on Indiexpo and ...

Dev Update 2021-09-10

Friday Devlog! ::whoop whoop::

As promised, we're releasing the next batch of weekly content today.

While success is certainly relative, I feel we have had an incredibly successful launch for the one-year release. All of our measured metrics have more than doubled in the past week! And with the influx of new Patrons, we smashed the "viability" goal. I hope all of you have been enjoying Infinite Stars becaus...

Dev Build 1.0321.0909

The new Patron build is available. I'll do a full write-up tomorrow, but I wanted all of you to have the first crack at it.

The biggest changes are the new Cephilusk character and the next batch of story content. I've tried to test it for save-game compatibility, and it -should- work. If it doesn't, let me know, and I'll try to hack a hotfix for you.

There is still a bit more to come. I was planning to include even more, but I've been noticing burnout warning...

Patron Input - Bad Decisions - a Good Idea?

To all of the new Patrons, since my last post, very welcome! <3

From time to time, we have polls where you get to shape the game's direction as we advance. I'm happy to announce that this is one of those times.

Before we start, I'd like to apologize in advance for the ramblings you are about to read.

From the beginning, Infinite Stars never had "bad end" or "dead-end" choices. After some campfire discussions, I decided to ask the opinions of those wh...

Dev Update 2021-09-03

It's Friday! That means dev update time!

Let me start by welcoming all the new patrons. All of you are such amazing individuals, and it's so humbling to see people enjoying something you've created! I've always enjoyed working on Infinite Stars, but with all the new faces and supporters, I wake up all giddy and excited in the mornings to start writing and coding.

Also, a special thank you to the Wanderlust and NALE teams for helping me promote the game! <3...

Dev Update 2021-08-31 & Latest Dev Build

I've been spending most of my time this week in preparation for the Itch launch tomorrow, but I wanted to share the build with all of you a day early!

@Infinite Canvas, welcome and thanks for becoming a Patron. I know I said it's a little late to add you to the credits of the current build - but I had to rebuild the package to include some last-minute changes, so I was wrong. <3

I also had a tense moment earlier today where the latest version of Ren'Py broke my coding interface...

Dev Update 2021-08-27

!! Episode 3 is launching on 1 September 2021 !!

It's been almost a year since the first public release of Infinite Stars, and the more I work on the project, the more I get excited about its future.

It feels like I am finally at a place where Infinite Stars is getting ready to spread its wings.  There is so much untapped potential, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared that I might mess it all up.

When I started this project, it became th...

Dev Update 2021-08-12

It's Friday! If you still don't know what that means, you haven't been paying attention! :P

A lot of things have been happening in my personal life that will have a positive impact on the future of Infinite Stars. I'm not quite ready to share it with everyone, but I should have some exciting news in the next month or two.

I've shared a yet-to-be-implemented melody done by Saeed for Lebeny's theme. This is one of three dynamic versions that we are planning to ...

Dev Build 1.0321.0820

Here's the latest devbuild. As always, these are still in active development. It contains scenes without music, sometimes without choices or choice logic etc. It's a compiled version of my latest test build. Stuff might be broken. Saves will be broken.

>> You can read more about it here << 

Have fun!

Dev Update 2021-08-12

Another action-packed week filled with Infinite Stars progress!

I've been putting off creating the navigation menu since earlier this year, but I finally sat down and coded it. It works, and my relief is unmeasurable. It was much easier than I anticipated, and I'll be the first to admit that my method was somewhat unorthodox when it came to hacking it together. I won't apologize.  :P I didn't want to spend too much time on it, since I'm 80% sure the button look and feel ...

Devbuild 1.0321.0812

Here is the latest dev build we're sharing with our Patrons. You can read the patch notes here. <3

Dev Update 2021-08-05

It's Friday! (Well, close enough.) That means another Dev Update! And it's a big one!

I've released the first 10 minutes of gameplay from Episode 3 for my patrons. The plan is to chip away at it until the full release is ready for September.

As you know, there were some unpreventable delays that broke my heart, but I'm crunching to make up for them. I'm stubborn enough to still believe in the original r...

Devbuild 1.0321.0805

It's here. If you are feeling adventurous you can play the first piece (roughly 10 minutes) of Episode 3. I'm pretty sure loading from an older save will crash the game. I'll look into a work around for the full, final release.

You can read more about the changes here. Thanks for your patience! You can expect some more, smaller releases like this going forward until we have the whole script implemented.

Design Insight, Tabitha Shuttle Bay

I'm excited to share some of our new backgrounds with everyone.

One of the first ones you'll see in the new episode is the shuttle bay, and while I'm working on getting some of the early access released this week, I thought it prudent to take a break and share some design insights with you.

First up we have the job sheet with a rough description of what I needed for the background. Ideally these are written after the script is done, and before coding starts, but it isn't always pr...

Dev Update 2021-07-15

Hi. This dev update is going to be a bit different from the others. You'll see why.

To Lieutenant Tschjo, my newest Patron, welcome and thank you. You met me at a very strange time in my life.

I'm safe and alive. So is my family. I'm trusting God for our continued safety.

But my heart is broken. While Johannesburg is experiencing its share of violence and looting, Durban has it so much worse. It will take years, if not decades, to recover. I ...

Newest Cephilusk - Hehlumnabia

Highmother Hehlumnabia is one of the newest Cephilusk members you'll meet in Episode 3. She is privy to dark, horrifying truths like the origin of the Uhlikti Terror. Truths that are better left forgotten, forever lost in the past.

But when the lives of our crew members depend on finding the solution to an unsolvable crisis, they will need the wisdom of the Highmother.

Infinite Stars - Episode 3 - Meet the Crew

A short clip showcasing some new and some old characters that will be appearing in Episode 3.

Dev Update 2021-06-25

Five thousand seven hundred ninety-nine words of script written this week. I've been eating, breathing and dreaming Infinite Stars. (That roughly translates to 34 cups of coffee. ROUGHLY. Actual numbers might be higher. It's probably higher. I should drink less coffee.)

I came up for a quick breath just to let everyone know I'm still alive. I don't have a whole lot to report. The art assets are still the same as last week. I'm expecting a new piece of music later today and a designer fr...

Dev Update 2021-06-18

I'm pretty proud of the progress we've made these past two weeks.

Those close to me will know that we've had to scrap some of the script we wrote several months back. It was disheartening, but the project is better off for it. The good news is in the last two weeks, I've made up for the lost progress, and I'm now comfortable sharing some dates with everyone.

The next installment will launch on September 1st, on the anniversary date for the first episode. It's going to take a littl...

Dev Update 2021-06-04

Here's another update on our week of hard work, accompanied by a teaser from our newest Cephilusk character. She is still a work in progress, and Zaph is busy with her clothes and set of expressions. We'll share the final, clothed version with our Patrons soon.

Mentioning Patreon, I would like to humbly thank each and every one of our Patrons for their ongoing support while we chip away at the next release. We'll likely be refreshing our Patreon tiers soon to add some more value while a...

Dev Update 2021-05-28

Just another update for everyone.

We have made excellent strides with the coding for Infinite Stars, and it feels great to have the pieces come together. We still have tons to do, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Zaph is busy with a new Cephilusk Matriarch character, which we'll be able to share with our patrons soon. Caba is still working on four backgrounds, but his studies are taking up a large chunk of his time.

I tend to write whenever I have a moment's...

Second Look - Matthias Baros

Looking at the line-art from last week, I really feel like Zaph outdid himself again with Matthias' artwork!

We now have 14 completed characters in the cast of Infinite Stars, each with an interesting story to tell.

I'm hoping to share some of the new backgrounds with everyone soon and I'm sure you are going to love it!

First Look - Matthias Baros

Matthias is one of the engineers serving on the UIC Tabitha. 

He was blessed with excellent genes that make him look younger than he is, and most people are surprised when they learn he has been working on starships for more than a decade.

Though he doesn't see himself as a cliché, he has a love for all things geeky...

We'll reveal his full-color artwork next week!

Second Look - Reyna Marín

I shared the line drawing for Reyna last week, and as always, Zaph did his magic to bring her to life!

If all goes according to plan, we'll share the line art for our young engineer next week! I'll also share some more progress updates about the project in general on Friday!

Thanks for believing in Infinite Stars, and I'm excited to share the next build and everything that comes with it with you once we...

First Look - Reyna Marín

Reyna, or Rey as her friends call her, is one of the communication officers onboard the UIC Tabitha.

While she might not be an extrovert, those that get to know her quickly realize she is as smart as a whip.

Zaph is still busy making some small changes to the line art (mostly her hair), and once that's done we'll share her full color sprite with you next week!

Dev Update 2021-04-09

Another week gone!

I had a near miss accident where I almost lost my finger earlier this week (It was a show-off game of chicken between my index finger and a kitchen knife that slipped) that caused my s/o to nearly faint. All is well now, and no digits were severed. I am no longer allowed to wield kitchen knives during dinner, but my ego will recover.

I've been in talks with the brilliant coder that assisted me and Murkwood with the code that allows players to create and...

Month in Review: March 2021

What a month! So much has happened in comparison with February.

Those of you that have been following the weekly marketing posts will recall that I have been promising to share the full month stats, so here they are. If there is enough appetite I'll share some of the Google Analytics and other data points that I have been tracking, but I don't want to bore everyone, and I'd rather err on the side of caution.

We accomplished so much last month. We redoubled our marketing e...

Second Look - Khalil Abbadi

For those of you that missed the line-sketch from last week, you can still see it here.

Even though the world has moved on, Khalil and his family are still very traditional, honoring the old ways with small tokens of remembrance.

Though hard to see in the artwork, he has sharp, green eyes that tends to disarm those around him. You'll be able to get to know him better in the next episode of Infinite Star...

Marketing Results: 2021-03-28 to 2021-04-04

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and for those of you that celebrate Easter, I hope it was filled with peace and joy!

We saw a steep decline in views and downloads on itch, returning the stats to what we use to see before we started marketing. I suspect this has part to do with me taking a break over Easter, an partly because a lot of people were spending time with their families, and not looking for new games to play.

Regardless, I am back after my weekend break, and I look f...