Steamberry

Development blog for Steamberry Studio, a visual novel developer. Here, we will post images, snippets and updates related to our projects. Thanks for following!

[steamberrystudio]

whenever i do anyone else's route and yren appears on the screen, i dramatically touch my screen and call out his name like he hasn't come home for 7 years. YREN I MISS U.... ME AND THE CHILDREN R WAITING..... SOB

[steamberrystudio]

Do the RO's from WSC used to have pets as kids? Like are any of them a dog or cat person, or any other type of animal species? I'd assume with their current occupation, having pets would be very hard but maybe some of them had pets. I feel like Raif is a cat person, or maybe he IS the cat lol

I'm sure they did but undoubtedly not cats and dogs. Not even Noel and Asher grew up on Earth.

Of course, it's more than likely that cats and dogs have also taken to the stars as people carry them out into space but that doesn't anyone has encountered one or had one as a pet.

So the answer is yes. But most likely not an animal we're familiar with. (Raif is 100% a cat though)

[steamberrystudio]

I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for that to be a loaded ask. I realize now I could have worded it better. I'm perfectly happy to pay for games and yours are certainly worth paying for! I've seen a few different monetization strategies in the VN and IF spheres and since it seemed you had tried a few different things I was just curious what was next, that's all. but I realize now it probably sounded entitled and I apologize.

I'm eager to buy and play Thornewood whenever it releases. <3

It's not that! The real issue is that on the dev end it's usually unclear what the tone and motivation of a message is and it's easy to sound irritated even if we're just trying to be up front.

The lead in was mostly just in case I sounded cranky ha ha. Your message was perfectly polite and I wasn't annoyed really. In any case I got to fill out the square in my silly game dev bingo card that I made in my long term dev journal. Mwa ha ha

In seriousness, I think that being curious about the release and pay structure is valid. I think that "Will it be free" does feel a little loaded for developers sometimes so "What will be the pay structure and release structure?" would feel more neutral to me (it assumes there will be a pay structure of some kind and allows for that structure to be free or PWYW). Other devs might not agree but personally I'd much prefer this question!

Either way, I did feel that your ask was in good faith but was worried I'd sound cranky about it if I did lead with an explanation that it can feel loaded. (It's also kind of a grumpy day for me so if I did come across cranky anyway, I'm sorry!) （づ￣3￣）づ╭❤️～

[steamberrystudio]

hello hello!! I only recently discovered you and played through WSC for the first time, still working on getting all the endings and achievements haha. I love that the affinity indicators made it so easy to get the good endings without a guide, it made for a basically stressless experience compared to how anxious I usually am with "point raising" type of games. but now I have to go hunt down the neutral/bad endings on purpose when I have time >:)

I've been browsing your blog and reading about your next project in the meantime! it looks really cool so far! I did read that Thornewood won't have an episodic release which I'm fine being patient for the full thing haha, I think it'll be well worth it. I was wondering if it'll be free like WSC or paid like your other games? I'm so sorry if you've stated that somewhere, I did try to look but who knows with tumblr's search function.

I loved playing WSC, it's one of my favorite VNs I've stumbled upon recently :D

I just want to start by saying that this kind of a loaded ask even if you don't mean it to be so I'm going to try to answer very politely but also very honestly.

No one can make games like this completely for free. Just the backgrounds are thousands of dollars and then there's the time I spend writing and drawing sprites and CGs and coding. So if you see a "free" game like this it's probably not actually "free" - it's probably being monetised somehow. Through merch, through Patreon, etc.

WSC wasn't "free" per se. It was monetised through Patreon early access releases, beta, exclusive artwork, etc. That was how the game paid for itself and how I got paid from it for the hours of work I put in. Primarily Patreon. Many people have chosen to pay some amount through Itch as well but the vast majority of revenue came from those who supported through Patreon for the duration of development or sporadically when I had releases there.

It was an experiment to see if I could monetise exclusively through Patreon as a way to draw out the development in a way that made it easier on my hand as I did some permanent damage while working on Gilded Shadows. And unfortunately, it wasn't really sustainable - it's not that WSC didn't make enough money, but it didn't really make enough to compete with full commercial releases with hard paywalls like Changeling or to balance out against the amount of time and money I put into these games.

So in short, no. Thornewood will not be "free" and it will not be monetised exclusively through Patreon. It will have a more traditional pay structure like my previous releases. <3

[steamberrystudio]

hihi!!! i adore your work and ive been finishing up the routes in Gilded Shadows now that i have free time and i was wondering. I know all the routes are highly specific but i was wondering if there were any poly trios you see working with Morgan and the LIs?

Only a couple and potentially only in very specific scenarios.

If Magnus and Morgan had been able to escape properly to the Wastes and live with Lance undisturbed for months, or a year. I actually think a poly relationship would have been inevitable. I think it will be harder for this to develop at Endgame where Magnus still is inclined to put up all those walls and and wear masks with people.

If Morgan and Caleb were dating there's a non-zero chance of Ari realising he's in love with both of them and if he were to ever tell them (which...he probably would tell Caleb during a match of volitant or something. Just...blurt it out). I think they'd adopt him because pining Ari is just too sad.

I am not sure I can see any other LI-centric trios. But I can see a scenario where Morgan doesn't end up with Caissa or Jack and therefore....Veli and Rowan seduce her. LoL 🤣🤣

[minthe-drawings]

➡️I AM OPEN W/ LIMITED SLOTS ♡ ➡️YCH OT3 (Sandwich Kiss) still AVAILABLE♡ ➡️VGEN link in bio♡

(shares/retweet is very much appreciated)

[steamberrystudio]

What was Elion's thought process behind throwing Wil into stasis? It seems ... really extreme. Did he foresee some bad fate that he was protecting Wil from? Was it that with several more centuries of experience Wil would have been harder to force into this situation the way he wanted to? Does he just see Wil as a tool to use as he wishes?

It was a combination of things - there were plenty of bad outcomes due to the Entente, due to the guilds and Savarre. All of them clashing, them stirring up some other grumpy species and clashing.

He wanted someone he could trust (more less) there to act as the brakes on that situation, to force a reconciliation of the powerful and less powerful in the Milky Way galaxy. And Wil has a particular gift for being a sort of chaos factor. So throwing them into the middle of things was bound to stop some of the clashes that he saw because Wil was never going to do what other people wanted.

Elion does act in extremes which is one reason why he drives the people in his life insane. He's very single minded which I think just happens when you get that old.

And I mean...also because I said "You're an idiot and you will do annoying plot stuff." So he did.

[steamberrystudio]

Just how old is Je Aen? Some of the things he says make it seem like he personally remembers when Veleians were out and about, not just heard about it. Would that make him closer to Wil's father's age than any of the other major characters?

Yes - Je Ae does remember it. He was a young adult (similar to late adolescence) at the time it happened so Elion is older than him but he is older than all the other characters by a long shot. The Veleians going into exile due to his people had a huge impact on him.

[steamberrystudio]

Noel

Extremely valid. *nod*

[steamberrystudio]

Your way of writing and designing visual novels (especially those flowcharts! I can’t stand not having them now) is really inspiring me to want to make my own! How did you get into making visual novels, and do you have any advice/resources for those looking to start?

Thank you! I'm always so happy when someone appreciates the flowcharts. OWO

I really stumbled into visual novels by accident because I was researching for something. I ended up playing a few to see how they were structured and just remember thinking that it was a really interesting form of story telling - writing-centric, but with a multi-media and interactive element. And that was it. I decided "I'm making one. >=O" and started googling.

When it comes to advice, I always recommend that you start writing even as you're researching things like art or game engines. Renpy is kind of the "standard" for indie and PC visual novels - it's been around a long time and has a really robust community around it so it's not difficult to find tutorials and youtube videos explaining how to do things. There is even a forum (lemmasoft) where you can find artists or composers and coders if you need to hire freelancers.

But the thing is that writing is nearly always where a project stalls out if it's going to stall out. If you have a 100000 word script, you can find a way to turn that into a game. But if you have images and an OST and no script, you can't really move forward.

So I highly recommend that if you are interested in making a visual novel, start getting the idea for the story and characters and script down because you can research all the other things and figure out how to do them at any point but the writing is where the biggest time sink is waiting for you.

There are quite a few developer communities floating around the internet as well but in general most devs are really free with advice and information so devlogs and blogs are also a really good source of information!

Itch has a ton of resources too - I'd be wary of a lot of the background packs as many of them are AI but there are tons of other tools to help with effects, with things like pronoun customisation, music rooms, and all sorts of other features. Feniks is a great resource but there are others who have cool tools out there too! Feniks also has some tutorials for various things on their site.

Hope this gives you a starting point!

[steamberrystudio]

I love your work, especially as a writer myself. Something that always gets me as a stickler for immersion and dialogue, is if characters and how they behave make sense, both in the context of the setting and on a basic human level. I struggle to read most of currently published works in the genre due to me my writer brain constantly dissecting inconsistencies. So much SF and fantasy right now tries to wow you first, and make sense second. But damn. Your world-building, your dialogue, your character interaction; everything feels natural and *real*. Nothing feels hamfisted for the sake of filling a gap; every detail works to reinforce the next. That is so hard to achieve. I can feel the love and time put into your worlds and characters. Ughh i love it so much

I try to have a logic in my head as I write and as much ass makes sense, have the reasoning come forward in the story. It's one reason I tend to explore the MC's inner world a lot when I write.

I don't mind MCs who think differently than me in stories but I struggle when they think so oddly that I can't understand it and there's not enough of an internal world that's explored for me to understand their decisions.

I know my writing isn't perfect by any stretch but I'm glad, at least, this part comes through to some players! (*^▽^*)

Thank you for your comment! <3<3<3

[steamberrystudio]

I loved them all in their own ways, but Kav… man Kav just hit different. Far and away ended up being my favorite. Thanks for sharing him with us :)

I love Kav - though he was a late addition, I feel like adding him was the best decision. He rounded out the cast extremely well.

(/≧▽≦)/

[steamberrystudio]

Okay, but Savarre is kinda….🥵

You are not alone in that. One person on my sever always points out that Savarre wears thigh high boots. So I have to do it in his stead.

[steamberrystudio]

I kinda miss Kav's homeless vibe he had going on

I'm sure he gets scruffy here and there but he no longer has a need to hide anymore.

Have to let the man do what makes him feel confident - and that was shedding the hobo vibe.

[steamberrystudio]

Lmao looks like now that WSC is finished, ppl are hungry for any kind of content. Can't blame them but I gotta say, I'm so excited for Thornewood! Maybe even more than I was for WSC haha

LoL! That's fair though. I think that, in general, fantasy is more popular because it feels a little more accessible to people. Even soft sci-fi can feel overwhelming at times I think.

I'm really enjoying dipping back into fantasy. As much as I love science fiction, I've been doing sci-fi since 2019 really. Because that's when I started writing Gilded Shadows. Being able to get back into a fantasy setting is just really fun.

Plus, everyone wears way fancier clothes, which is fun. 8D

[steamberrystudio]

6🤷‍♂️7

I realised it like 10 seconds after responding. Rofl. That extra sip of coffee helped. 🤣🤣

[steamberrystudio]

I've just seen Raif's age, and it's made me realise I have a really childish mind

My sleep deprived brain doesn't get it but there's no problem with occasionally being childish. OwO