Developer’s Log - April 2021

Hello everyone,

First off, good news: Legends of Astravia has accumulated over 250 wishlists since the Steam announcement only a month ago, and 400 followers on Twitter. These are excellent milestones given the limited updates on the game so far, so thank you so much for your support. I look forward to having more announcements and updates that will garner further excitement for the game.  

Legends of Astravia is still very much an active project and in-development, but I'm disheartened to say that the game's demo will likely not meet my original intended deadline of this summer.

Unfortunately, the past several weeks have been challenging for development. As many of you know, I'm primarily a one-man crew, doing all of Astravia's coding, mapping, and development by myself. At the beginning of March, right after the Steam announcement and roadmap, I sustained a moderate injury that left me largely incapacitated and unable to work at a computer.  

As a result, I was unable to write any code or develop the game for several weeks. While I was able to get some additional writing and planning done, there is nothing visual to share. So for the month of April, I apologize for the lack of progress to report. 

All of that said, I have been recovering. I'd like to give an updated roadmap, as I plan to continue development with renewed energy in May. 

2021 Roadmap

My original plans were to have the game's public demo available alongside the early access release this June. I don't think this deadline is feasible unless I make the early access a significantly shorter portion of the game. It isn't entirely off the table, but I have concerns with releasing a potentially buggy or inadequate early access build.

Below is the updated roadmap for 2021, which I think is more feasible. Depending on how the month of May goes, things could change for the better, but I'd like to set a schedule that avoids any more delay announcements.

Closed Beta

I had originally aimed for the closed beta to be, well, now. But that unfortunately did not end up being the case. The closed beta will run as soon as all of the core system changes are completed and ready for testing. I anticipate this to be completed in July.

Public Demo & Early Access

I think it makes a lot of sense to release the public demo and release the game in Early Access close to the same time. These two items go hand-in-hand as the demo will help followers of the game decide if they really want to support the game financially by getting the it in an early development state.  

I'm aiming to release the Public Demo & Early Access in December 2021. Thus, this would mean Chapter 1 is more likely to be complete and done by 2022 at the current pace. 

Language Support

Some of you have already expressed interest in Legends of Astravia being translated into other languages, such as Japanese, Spanish, and French. This makes me very happy, as I really want to make the game as accessible to as many other languages as possible.

Translation is generally challenging and expensive for a small indie developer such as myself. Depending on community involvement, support, and how successful the game is will determine how quickly other languages become available.

That is, it is my intent to have as many languages available as my resources will allow, but I cannot promise that they will be available right away or at the game's release. Please look forward to future announcements about this.

RPG Maker Cola Feature

The RPG Maker Cola podcast ran a short advertisement for Legends of Astravia in their most recent episode, which featured several other incredible RPGs made with RPG Maker: Beloved Rapture by Blind, Lakria Legends by KoopaKush, and Nihilo by Giznada. Please check out these games and the developers, as well as the amazing podcast:

Podcast Episode

RPG Maker Cola Podcast (Linktree)

Lakria Legends

Beloved Rapture

Nihilo

RPG Maker Cola will also be streaming all of these games on Twitch today (4/30/21) at 5PM EST and tomorrow at 4PM EST. Be sure to check it out!

That is all for now. Thank you again to everyone who continues to maintain excitement for the game, even with my slow pace. Your understanding and continued support is what drives me to continue even at these lower points in the process.

-Jaiden

(Post originally published on studioalemni.com)