The official blog of the Otome Development Discord Server! Otome & Josei Jam every year on May 1st to July 1st!
Shoujosei Jam for January 24th to February 14th 2026! Icon: @/Bobbert/ Banner: @calnite
Good day! As of today this is the official (test) blog of the Otome Development Discord Server!
We are a community on Discord creating a space for indie otome developers and creators to find and support each other, as well sharing their content to the world and their intended audiences. We exclusively reblog content by indie devs only and do not follow development or announcements by big companies such as Otomate.
Likewise, we will as well share game jams for indie otome devs to participate in, including our yearly Otome Jam & Josei Jam every May 1st to July 1st and Shoujosei Jam!
If you want us to easily find your content on Tumblr, please use the #otomedev hashtag for your indie otome content, and we will reblog it for you! As this account is not managed by a bot, we will review the posts themselves for their validity and will not reblog spam posts or unrelated content.
The basic guideline of otome content definition we reblog:
Protagonist has to identify with She/Her or She/They in the role of a female protagonist (this includes pronoun and protagonist choices)
Romantic Content/ Ending meant for a female audience (it does not have to be the main focus of the story you want to tell)
Must have at least one love interest identify with He/Him or He/They in the role of a male love interest (this includes customizable characters and their pronouns)
Preferably a visual novel or hybrid (e.g. RPG with VN/ Interactive Fiction elements)
Does not need to have multiple routes or endings
LGBTQ+ and Queer VN Content (and their characters) following the above criteria will be reblogged as well
Congratulations to all those who managed to submit, and good luck for everyone else, there is always a chance next year!
As usual, it's time for post-jam surveys to see where we can improve in the future with both Otome & Josei Jam and its server (this is for all participants and server members) as well as whether you're interested in your project being featured by us (this applies only to those who managed to submit their game)!
Please make sure to read the surveys thoroughly, as we will not reach out to people who didn't fill out the survey properly.
For the post-jam & server survey go here (until August 31st): https://forms.gle/AkW4g2ATxoiXTANn7
For the game feature go here (until July 20th): https://forms.gle/TfLRsLjfrtWX8pqP9
If you have any questions, please reach out to us on our Discord server!
Congratulations to all those who managed to submit, and good luck for everyone else, there is always a chance next year!
As usual, it's time for post-jam surveys to see where we can improve in the future with both Otome & Josei Jam and its server (this is for all participants and server members) as well as whether you're interested in your project being featured by us (this applies only to those who managed to submit their game)!
Please make sure to read the surveys thoroughly, as we will not reach out to people who didn't fill out the survey properly.
For the post-jam & server survey go here (until August 31st): https://forms.gle/AkW4g2ATxoiXTANn7
For the game feature go here (until July 20th): https://forms.gle/TfLRsLjfrtWX8pqP9
If you have any questions, please reach out to us on our Discord server!
physical DVD copies of my Victorian vampire otome game are now on my store! it comes with the game (windows, macos, linux) and the artbook. physical media won't die as long as we keep it around 💖
A physical DVD copy of Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea: Amaranthine Moon. This includes the game & the artbook on a DVD.
You also receive
First of all, thank you so much to everyone who played Demo 2.0!
We're really happy to see it was received so positively. Reading your comments, theories, screenshots, and feedback has been a huge motivation for both of us. 😊
So... where are we now?
As you know, we're only two people working on this project, so progress is a little slow. We're also a bit short on funds... so we're doing our best with what we have. 😊
After thinking about it, we realized we might have to simplify a few things along the way (and maybe sacrifice a few CGs 😭). We'd much rather release the full game sooner than keep you waiting forever because we kept making it bigger and bigger.
Is this really a yandere visual novel?
Yes, it is.
What you've seen so far is only the introduction to the story. The characters are still in their "normal" phase, and we wanted the relationships to develop naturally before everyone starts showing their true colors.
So don't worry, we haven't forgotten what genre we're making. 😏
When will the full game be released?
It's still a bit too early to announce a release date, but we'll let you know as soon as we can!
NB: Tried drawing James in chibi style, what do ya think ?
No, seriously, they terrify me. I'm normally an anxious, self-conscious mess so I overthink every single word I put out for you to see and it took me almost 4 hours to write this. Ridiculous, isn't it? That is why you get so little information on what we're doing. But I will try to do better, so please be patient with me.
For those of you interested just in a summary:
Release date has been set to 29. October 2026.
One reason is so we can apply to 2 different autumn Steam festivals plus October's Steam Next Fest.
The other is that romance scenes ended up longer than expected due to branching so the word count went up to 150k total.
As a bonus, Katarina finally gets the time to add the sprites for the Main Character she always wanted.
There will be a feminine and a masculine sprite for the MC, but they won't be further customizable as we want to add the MC in CGs with the romances. The game will now contain more romance scenes + more CGs in general. Final number still pending.
In September, we'll do a release of the Extended Demo, which will double the amount of words in the demo, add the MCs, update the CGs and, hopefully, make you even more excited for the release.
On social media, we'll be posting little snippets about the character's backgrounds, so if you're interested you can follow us on Instagram, Bluesky or Tumblr.
For those of you sticking utill the end, read on.
First off, let me address one of the burning questions you may have: what's up with the release date being set for 29. October? Haven't you said the game is going to be out in Q4 2026?
Well, yes, I did, I admit it. To properly explain, I'll go a little further back, if you don't mind.
When we first made the Itch.io page we originally announced the release for Q3 2026. But when we tried making the Steamworks account & Steam page to start applying for Steam festivals, we got tied up in a bureaucratic mess that took 2 months to unravel and exhausted all our energy. Because this included me personally running around to talk to people and hours spent on calls that went nowhere, I fell behind on writing and programming.
So when we finally managed to publish the Steam page, we moved the release date to Q4 2026. Internally, we set the 27th August as a release date. At that point, due to the delay, we've missed all the deadlines for applying for relevant Steam festivals for the spring / summer as well as June's Steam Next Fest. This hit us hard, but delaying the game just for October's Steam Next Fest didn't seem fair so we left it as it is.
Fast forward to beginning of June.
First, we learn there are two festivals in the autumn which we can apply to before October's Steam Next Fest and second, I figure out the dedicated romance scenes are going to be way longer than planned. We're unwilling to compromise on the content and number of romances scenes so we figure out the release is going to have to be at least delayed to ~25. September. That is only a month before the Next Fest, so after a lot of debate, discussions and going back and forth, we decide to push the release to 29. October.
On the bright side, this means we have some extra development time!
As mentioned, Katarina has wanted to add sprites for the MC since the very beginning, but since we were going for a shorter development time, there wasn't really time to add them properly. She had so many ideas for CGs that she had to disregard as they required a MC in the picture, at least in part. Now she can make as many of them as she wants until October.
Since we're mostly adding a MC for the CGs, they won't unfortunately be customizable beyond choosing a masculine or feminine sprite. Sorry.
From my side, that extra month means I'll be able to add some things I've cut before from the outline and I'm really excited about it.
To show off everything new, there will be an Extended Demo release is September, which will include more words, CGs and MC sprites, plus more content with Terry, so you can get to know them a little bit better, too. ;)
Writing in general is progressing well and both Katsumi's and Ace's first proper romance scenes are done, even if they've ended up longer than planned. Ace's scene includes you feeding them sweet, sweet mortal blood (what's the point of a vampire if some blood play isn't involved, am I right?) and some intimate time after, though how far you go is left entirely up to your choice. In Katsumi's scene, there is magic, confiding tragic backstories in one another and a tentative trust forming between the two of you.
Finally, I apologize for not updating the current demo with the grammar fixes you've pointed out. I was waiting to finish adding in the full controller support and some accessibility fixes. Expect the fixed demo out in a week or so, when I finish coding in the other features.
We fixed a grammar oversight in the trailer - I'm choosing to believe no one pointed it out because no one noticed it either.
Thank you for your patience and understanding,
Aleksandra & Katarina!
You're a witch who has just been evicted. Your only option for tonight? A haunted house full of fellow supernaturals.
Very happy that the 1st version of demo has been made public! As for Jul, focus shifts towards admin & marketing, mainly to attract more audience. In the meantime, I'll post more game info, the creative process, what I've learnt by conducting various types of work. Stay tuned!
Congratulations to all those who managed to submit, and good luck for everyone else, there is always a chance next year!
As usual, it's time for post-jam surveys to see where we can improve in the future with both Otome & Josei Jam and its server (this is for all participants and server members) as well as whether you're interested in your project being featured by us (this applies only to those who managed to submit their game)!
Please make sure to read the surveys thoroughly, as we will not reach out to people who didn't fill out the survey properly.
For the post-jam & server survey go here (until August 31st): https://forms.gle/AkW4g2ATxoiXTANn7
For the game feature go here (until July 20th): https://forms.gle/TfLRsLjfrtWX8pqP9
If you have any questions, please reach out to us on our Discord server!
The demo for my timeloop horror romance visual novel inspired by commedia dell'arte is out now on Steam & itchio!
✨ customize your protag or play a defined main character
💜 meet your 2 male love interests - the Harlequin & the Pierrot
🔪 die in lots of different ways
Pheuw! It's been a busy but productive month post-campaign. If you're one of our Kickstarter backers, remember to check out the longer version of this update over there. Late pledges close on the 7th of June, which means there's still a little under two weeks left to back us on Kickstarter and join in on the KS-exclusive fun!
GOALS FOR 2026
The next few months, we're focusing on a content update for the demo. More scenes, more sprites, and an extensive update to the GUI. We're also going to improve save/load times, and tackle some other feedback we received from our demo players. Development's not perfectly linear though, so as we work on the revamped demo, we'll also be working on the game as a whole!
MAY PROGRESS
Our art team has been incredible. Chester and Rouwan have finished almost all of the "mandatory" side character & monster designs (what we consider the bare minimum to do the story justice), Cameron finished the missing BG for Lazarus's lounge (see the start of this post), and Chester's even gotten started on the secondary sprites and extra outfits for our main cast.
At the same time, Cherry finished the 4 animal companion sprites (designed by our backers) for Abraxas, Edgar, Raoul, and Zeno.
Meet (from left to right, top to bottom) Macaroon, Daphne, Baz, and Primrose! Can you guess which pet belongs to which character? 👀
IMPORTANT DATES IN 2026
Some important dates to remember for the coming months!
JUNE 7TH | Late pledges close on Kickstarter at midnight (CET)
Q4 2026 | Beta access to the demo update for KS Backers
LATE 2026 | Public access to the demo update for everyone
IMPORTANT DATES IN 2026
Our public updates are not always going to be this packed (as we're saving most of it for our KS backers), but we wanted to share a lot of what we've been up to this month after being so quiet on socials!
If you're interested in reading a short script sneak peek and seeing a few more character designs, here's your final reminder that late pledges remain open to June 7th which will give you access to all of our backer-exclusive updates. Link to our KS page here!
Thank you for reading! See you in June for our next update 🌻
Thank you so so much. With wishlists from all around the world, I'm honoured to have you be a part of this journey.
The Journey so far...
In Ashes first launched it s paged nervously in 2025. As a first-time small dev, it's the first time I've ever launched a page. In fact, 2025 had a lot of firsts. It saw our first discord server, our first X/Twitter account, the first time we ever participated in a Steam festival or had hosted a festival. It was the first time we created an announcement trailer for the game and announced Studio Ephua!
It's strange to think of what it took to get here.
It's been a bit quiet, no?
I know! But that doesn't mean the game isn't moving forward. I handle both the development of the game, and the communications, while working full-time. So often I don't have the time or resources to push out content to social media, but that doesn't mean we have nothing to show for it.
Vui, our background artist, has been expanding the world of the new demo with some brand new areas that are key to the story, while Betto has been using them to work on some incredibly exciting additional CGs!
We also have Zombie assisting us with concept art, and while I can't show most of the cool reveals yet, I can say they're doing an excellent job!
What else?
While it's unlikely In Ashes will feature custom SFX. However, I’m currently working with a very talented duo on producing a custom track for the project. The quality is already mindblowing! All to be revealed in due time!
Listen to In Ashes Intro Tease by Studio Ephua #np on #SoundCloud
That's all for now.
In Ashes is a medieval fantasy adventure where you must balance heroism and survival with rest, burn out, and trust. In this choice-driven v
✦ Voiced names are now available for purchase in our Patreon!
Nope, you don't have to be subscribed! We hope voiced names become a way for people to help us stay afloat while still receiving a personalized and cool goodie in exchange for their support.
We want to also thank you all so much for your kindness after our last update. We haven't replied to every comment (we'll try!) but we've read all of them and some tears were shed in the process.
The horrors persist, but so do we!
✦ Voiced names are now available for purchase! by Ravenstar Games on Patreon. Join Ravenstar Games's community for exclusive content and upd
Mori chapter 7 is here and the stakes have never been higher!
There's been a lot of housekeeping behind the scenes so here's a quick changelog.
- The gallery got an upgrade in terms of back-end stability and UI/GUI beautification + functionality, including on controller and in the Steam Deck version.
- The game is now capable of being modded through the Steam Workshop. Check out the workshop for more information on that!
- The "Dig Deeper" achievement has been slightly retooled so that the achievement is granted the second the click link action is executed. It should therefore grant the achievement regardless of whether or not a user's local browser or network settings prevent Renpy from opening the internet browser.
- FINALLY we got DESK MATS up in the TCM etsy shop! If you're looking to support TCM, this is a great way to do it!
You are a young witch who has just reached an important stage in their magical journey. Finding a demonic partner.
To do this, like any other witch, you must journey to Gothal, the kingdom of demons and pick out your ideal partner. Of course, there's always time to indulge in the local culture while you're there, which thrives on lust and carnal pleasures.
What you don't expect is to also be roped into the royal family's drama. Or to be tasked with solving the case of a greedy demon leaving soulless witches in its wake.
The Price of Lust is an upcoming NSFW game aimed at female and queer audiences about witches, demons, angels and embracing your own desires.
18+ AUDIENCES ONLY, MINORS HAVE NO PLACE HERE
Point and click mechanics
Customizable pronouns and genitalia for the MC
Choices allowing different personalities
5+ romance options
Several illustrated NSFW scenes
Several submissive male love interests, 2 dominant female love interests
This project is primarily an erotic game. There will be no options for skipping or avoiding such content in the game.
Otome Development @otomedev - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
