April 2026 Devblog
Hello everyone! It's now April, which means it's time for another public devblog. There's a bit to cover this time, so let's hop right into it!
Battle Live
First off, let's go over one of the major projects I'm working on: Battle Live! The Idol School Collection.
In case you missed it, the Steam page for the game went public at the beginning of March! You can check out the page and wishlist it here:
Welcome to Pride Park! Experience six main stories and several bonus stories centered around the staff and students of this eclectic idol sc
So far the game has over 100 wishlists, and I'm hoping we can get a decent handful more before it releases. If you know anyone that would enjoy my idol kids, then be sure to share it with them.
In terms of dev-related news, as of this blog post I only have the CGs left to finish for the game before I can officially call it complete! I'll also be working on the trailer for the game to prep for the eventual release, so we're in the final lap of development.
As for when exactly the game will release, I'll be taking some time after I finish CGs to look at how the game is doing in terms of wishlists and go from there (I've also been debating making a "demo build" of Episode 1 so Battle Live can join one of the upcoming Steam Next Fests, but I can't guarantee that). I'll be looking to see how many wishlists I want pre-release before I commit to a release date (especially since this is a free game).
Deep Waters
I've also been working on my other, longer project on the side: Deep Waters!
(Still in ugly alpha lmao)
For March's patron blog, I released an in-depth look at the game, what I'd done so far, and what I want to accomplish for it this year. If you're interested in learning more about my modern fantasy, boy's love game, then you can throw me a pledge for even just a month and read it (and all of my other patron blogs).
As for what I've gotten done, I can say that I managed to get a decent first pass of the UI done, and I am one scene away from finishing the first route of the first POV of the game! My goal for the year is to get one POV entirely written, so I'm on track for that.
I admittedly didn't get a ton done for it the past month because of...
Secret Project
Yeah I'm workin' on something secret (unless you're a Patron, in which case you know what it is).
As of this blog post, this secret project's Steam page and build have been approved, and the additional content I'm creating for it is at 10k words for my first pass of the script! I'll be working my butt off to get out of my ugly alpha phase so I can throw it at my editor, and hopefully by the end of April/middle of May I'll be able to announce publicly what this project is!
I am planning on making a patron blog for May that goes into this secret project in more detail, so be sure to keep an eye out for that. (Although it might not be at the beginning of the month since I ideally would like it to be after I announce it publicly haha.)
Misc Topic roundup
Let's finish up this blog with all of the short miscellaneous topics that also happened these past two months.
On February 20th I released a blog post for Forget Me Not, that goes into what the first year of my first commercial game was like! If you haven't read it yet, you can do so here: https://solsdevblog.tumblr.com/post/809100175583920128
Another anniversary to talk about is the 1st anniversary of my NaNoRenO game: Madame Ro's Curiosity Quiz. To celebrate not only the anniversary, but also the fact that it hit 1k downloads on itchio, I created a mini artbook full of concepts, doodles, and my ramblings about what went into making the game.
On your usual walk you meet a strange woman who wishes to learn more about you...
Speaking of jams, at the beginning of February I collabed with OTOJANG to create the Strawberry Jam GUI Pack for the Make Visual Novel Assets Jam! I drew the food illustrations, made the quick menu, and set up the controller support (using Fen's pack of course). Be sure to check it, and the other fantastic resources that were released this year, over on itchio!
Strawberry Jam themed UI for Ren'Py.
What's Coming Next
As I mentioned earlier, I'll be spending the time finishing Battle Live's CGs to decide when exactly I want to release it. At the absolute latest I'll be aiming for August (in line with Battle Live's original anniversary), but I'll make a separate announcement post when I figure out when the release date will be.
I'll also be working my butt off on the secret project I mentioned earlier! I believe, so long as nothing major interrupts me, I should be able to get it to a finished beta state by the end of the month. Once that's set I'll be in a good position to publicly announce it (and start collection wishlists for it on Steam as well).
Otherwise that's everything going on with me! My next public dev blog will be in June, so I'll see you all then. Take care~!
