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ARCADEA Demo Update v0.3 EN & JP Ver. + UPDATE

"Maisie in a maze made of maize"

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Holiday! For this month's update, instead of showing off a random scene from the game on my Twitter/Tumblr, I will be giving a text update on ARCADEA.

So, first thing's first, I would like to apologize for how long development is taking. I know it has been quite a while (understatement lol) but please know that I am diligently working on the game and trying to release it ASAP.

Currently, ARCADEA is (by my estimate) about 85% done. The breakdown is listed below:

First Isle  - 100% COMPLETE

Second Isle  - 100% COMPLETE

Third Isle  - 100% COMPLETE

Fourth Isle  - 100% COMPLETE

Fifth Isle  - 20% 

           Maps - 3/?

          Cutscene - 0/?

King Quetzal's Castle (Sixth Isle) - 10%

           Maps - 4/?

          Cutscenes - 0/?

Ending/Bonus Room/Credits - 0%

The majority of the game is completed, and I'm at the point where the end is in sight. Isle 5 and 6 will take less time to complete than the first 3 Isles due to a variety of reasons. The main time sink from here on out will be polishing the endings (making sure they are perfect), as well as beta-testing and fixing bugs.

I am incredibly pleased by what I have accomplished so far and really excited to show what the game has in store. (I'm especially proud of the new title screen design~!) However, I will be patient and continue to take my time with development. I don't want to stress myself out or rush out the game in an incomplete state. Ultimately, this is a free game made as a hobby passion project by a solo dev with a full time job and personal obligations, and I want to give it all the time it needs. It is an extremely long game (so far, it has 4-6 hours of gameplay) with lots of little details and easter eggs, so it does take quite a bit of time. 

Another thing of note is that it will be difficult to show new progress updates from here on out, as the game is nearing completion, and more and more things are going to be too spoilerly to show. I might be doing more text updates, or possibly miss some monthly updates until the release date. Rest assured, the best, most exciting parts will all be kept secret until the full release.

Also, I will be updating the demo to include the entirety of the First Isle, both in English and Japanese (Thank you Yuri Tanaka and Eufree for the JP translation!). This will be the last update before the full release of the game. This was something that I intended to do years ago, but was unable to until now for various reasons. Hope you enjoy! The updated demo is about 2 hours if you play it leisurely.  It will give a better idea of what the full game will be like, and there are a few changes that I hope players will appreciate. I also included a folder especially for livestreamers and let's players. Please read the document if it pertains to you. 

Finally, I just wanted to say, thank you to the people that have been patient with me for all these years. It makes happy to see your support, and I hope the full game will meet your expectations. If everything goes as expected, the release date will be next year: 2025.

Download link for updated demo: https://aishin.itch.io/arcadea

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Everything seems so alive...yet, so lifeless.

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Progress Update - May 2023

Hello, this is Azem!

After months and months of silence, I'm back with an update on the game's progress. Prepare yourself, because I'm about to reveal a number of new information and changes to "Send!"

This progress report will be divided into two parts:  1. News 2. Development

1. News: As you may have noticed from my recent posts, the game window appears to have a 16:9 aspect ratio. You may wonder how this is possible given that RPG Maker VX Ace only supports a small aspect ratio (544x416 and 640x480). I was tired of the old, small window size and felt the need to upgrade. Along with that, I realized that the size of the pictures, overlays, and effects I was putting on the maps was limiting my abilities in terms of mechanics and smooth gameplay. So I figured, "Why not switch things up and move the entire thing to another engine?" and now I'm working on "Send!" in RPG Maker MV. It was a little difficult at first for two reasons:

1. Because my sprites and maps are the same size, I wanted to keep the same 32x32 tile size due to MV originally supporting only 48x48 tiles. And also because the majority of the resources and tilesets in my collection are the same size, whereas MV has fewer resources on the web than VX Ace.

2. I had to decide whether to start from scratch in MV or convert the majority of the game to MV while redoing the most of the maps.

After a long brainstorm and procrastination, with a mix of inspiration to rewrite the entire game's prologue, I decided to start from scratch on MV. I managed to find a way to keep the same tile size in MV, wish wasn't hard enough for a beginner user of the engine. Yes, it may be nerve-racking and disappointing that there will be no demo sooner than expected, but trust me when I say that the final product will be far better compared to what was expected.

As previously stated, I have begun reworking and rewriting the prologue, which contains the story introduction and the game's beginning. While doing so, I learned to be much more organized in my work and resolved to improve my game planning for the remainder of the game. The game's aesthetic and each chapter's concept are now finalized, and you can rest assured that it will not disappoint.

Now I'd like to talk a little bit about the demo. Unfortunately, "Send!" will not have a "proper" demo. I'm thinking about what would be best for "Send!" and its release/s. Regarding this subject, I've decided to write a proper post in the near future in which I will finally announce "Send!"'s release schedule, plans, and so on.

2. Development: Let's get started on the actual game's development. It's far too early to say that development is advanced, but the game has finally progressed from "the early state of development" (yes…after 3 years…you heard that right). Right now, I'm concentrating my efforts on the plot and story, as well as the maps. It's far more convenient for me to actually write the story while I "write" the game's environment and world. That being said, a little programming has been done up to this point.

The introduction is nearly finished. It mostly just needs a few touches, fixes, and glances after I finish writing the first chapter and maps, at which point I can finally devote my full attention and concentration to the game's programming. Yes, I've begun work on the first chapter of the game, and as I previously stated, not programming, but writing and designing the actual chapter before moving on to programming and finalizing it with bug fixes and overall final touches.

In terms of programming, I was able to complete some of the game's basic menus. I chose to keep it simple, polished, and tidy so that the player has a pleasant experience with the game menus.

As I previously stated regarding the game's aesthetics, each individual chapter will have its own aesthetic. The first chapter's concept and aesthetics have been finalized. Here are some chapter one previews to whet your appetite. As you can see, chapter one is mostly about the forest/cottage core, moss core, and a few touches of goth. For this chapter, I was heavily inspired by various images and artists, and I hope you enjoy it!

I also worked with the game's soundtrack. Due to the lack of a helping hand, I've decided to try my hand at learning another skill. This isn't particularly important for this progress update, but I wanted to include it.~

This concludes another "Send!" progress update. There's a lot more to unpack here, but first I need to finalize some plans. I hope the changes do not disappoint you and that you enjoy them. Thank you so much for your support! See you in the next update post!

Make sure to check my other social media: Twitter; YouTube; Instagram; and if you want to support the game development here is my Patreon; Thank you so much for your support!

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There has been a significant change in the aesthetics and concept of "Send!" Here's a look at what's around our tiny protagonist. Stay tuned for a progress update very soon!!

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“Burn the envelopes and free the souls or climb up the stairs to the top?”

[Send! - Poster]

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Back from another looong hiatus! I've got many, many news to share about the game in an upcoming progress update, so stay tuned! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

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Despite the fact that I've been offline recently for various reasons, the game is still progressing! Root for an announcement soon! \(*^▽^*)/

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“Such an unfamiliar street, isn’t it?” I’m finally back working on Send! after a short pause because of exam season. Take a seat and watch it coming! 😉

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Character Profiles of our protagonists!!! They went on a little makeover and I'm sure you'll love them as much as I do~ ✨ Patreon Twitter GameJolt itch.io

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"Well, you can't blame me..." "Just blame that naive ten-year-old child back then..."

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Send! OST Preview - "Tranquilled"

Listen to the full track exclusively on my Patreon for just $5. Here! "Hmm… I love how quiet is the place at this time! No one is around and… it’s just me! Ohh… And, the moon of course! Hehe…"

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Send! - Teaser #1 [Night-time Bells] The Teaser is out now available on YouTube. Make sure to check it out!

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This is the last preview for this month. As you can see I’m done with the town maps and I can finally move into the programming. I will explain more in the update next week. 

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Send! - Jacob's Full Sprite I tried to do a simple look but a bigger size to fit the environment.

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And, as promised, here's the title screen! It's really basic and not overly extravagant. However, it matches the game's eerie tone.

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"Despite the fact that you do not deserve it, still... You will suffer!"