Are you ready for Luke’s origin story?
I’m currently developing a visual novel that tells Luke’s backstory before he starts the Rebels, a group of specialists who defend their home world against the Corruption. Each episode will be released on itch.io and will be free for everyone to experience! I’d like to share updates and dev logs, but I’m debating on how to go about it. All I can say for now is that I’m aiming to have a full playable beta version ready for October 21st, but I want to have it ready before I go in for surgery on the 8th if I can help it.
intro.LUCAS will follow Luke as a young college grad who scores a high-profile job in data security. It will also reveal how his first job kills him. I’d love to say more, but I feel like that’s spoiler territory–and I’d hate to spoil the fun for everyone before the first episode even comes out! >_>
Personal Thoughts:
Going in on this (mostly) solo, I’ve been encountering a few bumps as far as learning curves and…what do devs call it? “Scope creep…?” I went into making the VN with a lot of ideas that I’m ultimately having to decide to either trash completely or put on the back burner, either because it’s outside of my expertise or I can’t afford the help.
One thing I wanted to try my best to do was have paid QA testers, but as time goes on, I realize that that — as well as a handful of other things I wish I could do — is likely outside of my scope. This is a solo dev hobby project, after all. Perhaps one day, when I have a big project with a considerable budget, I’ll be able to have a QA team and give them the compensation they deserve!
But I’m stuck. Part of me wants to do a devlog, which would provide a behind-the-scenes look into the development of the VN. Then comes the question of whether or not I’d like to reserve said behind-the-scenes glimpses for supporters on like Ko-Fi or Comradery (still haven’t gotten that project page up yet). I plan to share my discoveries while working on Ren’Py public knowledge on my general blog. So uh…that’s it, really! I’d love to know what anyone thinks. Should I start publishing devlogs? Should I even consider hosting the game on like itch.io?
