January 2019 General Update

Hey everyone,

Happy new year! Hopefully 2019 will be a great year for everyone. We're looking forward to a lot of exciting things coming soon.

As you hopefully heard, Heart of the Woods is going to be released in a little over 5 weeks (hype!) on the 15th of February. We're working on the final touches right now, which is mostly just programming and testing. Adi's working on the launch trailer while Minute's implementing everything in-game. Rachel and I are working on the last of the scenes. The art and music are just about all done - we're waiting for one final background, and then that's it. Morgan's shop is the last of the art assets that'll be completed, and it's also probably going to be one of the most detailed, just by virtue of being, well, an antique shop. It's also where one of my favorite scenes in the game as set. Or at least it has the best jokes, hah. The Chapter 1 beta is just about ready - we ran into some issues right before our intended release date of the 26th, because we had a problem where images were displaying incorrectly and it took a while to fix. It's coming really soon though!

The Waters Above is still on hold while we wait for the rest of the art. We'll be returning to the script for edits and fixes there, now that it's had some time to breathe. Also, now that Comiket is over, Namie should be getting back to our CG's soon, too. We've been tunneling on finishing Heart of the Woods but are looking forward to getting back underneath the waves again.

As far as general stuff goes, like we mentioned in our last post, we've recently hired milkgrrl on to be our merchandise designer. We're super open to hearing ideas for what kind of merchandise you'd like to see from us - you can already expect the regular stuff like shirts, stickers, and keychains, but maybe there's something reeeeally out there that you'd like to see. Clio-branded ketchup bottles? That's actually not a bad idea, now that I think about it...

Anyway, that's about all to report for now - since we're in the final stages of one game and have a temporary pause on the other, progress updates are a bit dry. Still, we hope you're looking forward to Heart of the Woods next month as much as we are!

Thanks for your support through 2018, and let's make 2019 the best one yet! \o/

Bonus: on December 31st, it was Maddie's birthday! She'd never admit it, but she kind of hates having her birthday so close to Christmas, because people just get her one gift and say it counts for both. Maybe that's why she looks so sad below, in this picture drawn by Adirosa. Adi's sad Maddie.