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I'd get married in that nightgown in real life. i'm not even joking, holy shit. Excellent taste on the backer's part and fantastic work on the artist's part.

Right, so pretty, and it will be even more pretty in game because some transparent part are more visible with non neutral background!

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Lola (one of our backer) nightgown final design because you can go to bed looking cute as hell!

Honestly it's such a pleasure to see all their design coming to life. 💖 A always our artist is doing such a fantastic job and backer have original ideas I would never got!

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I get anons being annoyed at delays, but I have to laugh for a second at the whole "this is unprofessional!" and "I'm the customer!" talk. I've worked with multi-million dollar projects, and shit gets delayed. It happens. You explain the setback, explain your new deadline, and move forward. Like... anon has to have been living under a rock to not know that KS is first and foremost NOT just a pre-order service. And that the bottom line is caveat emptor. (That being said, you actually communicate better than a lot of devs -- including ones that I've explicitly gotten as a pre-order, then had delayed for months.)

Hello, thank you for your support, it’s really heartwarming to see all the kind supportive message and reassuring that most people think we are doing our best to communicate.

That said, it’s the last message I answer about this discourse, while the message was rude the first Anon was kind enough to support us in the first place, by now I’m sure they understand they could have handle things better and I don’t want this place to become a tribunal, I prefer focusing on something more positive about the game. 💖

Since I’m a master in the art of diversion, I will post right after this the final version of one of our backer outfit design! 😇

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sorry for the very specific question but for headcanon reasons I wanted to know how our LIs would react if MC gives birth to quadruplets?

Hello, no problem, assuming the pregnancy/birth went as well as possible:

Theo: ecstatic, he wants a big family so he is beyond happy and would definitely make some good offering to the gods to thank them for their blessing.

Alex: probably overwhelmed like he wants to hold all of them in the same time but he can't

Asha: mostly worried for MC recovery after such a difficult birth and exasperate by the 4 babies.

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Theodore is going to be REALLY fun to annoy (lovingly) 😈

You win if you make him blush 😈

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Hi! That ask you got earlier was rough :( the other anon should've been much less rude--but I have to admit that I agree with the heart of what they're getting at. the VN dev community feels like it's developing accountability problem over the years re: progress , promises, and expectations and communication. That's not to say other areas (like books or movies or non-vn indie video games--hell AAA games) don't have those problems, but VN particular is absolutely full with these issues (especially the number of completely abandoned/dead projects after receiving funding)--and it definitely makes me less likely to offer money as well. Admittedly I only paid for the cost of the game tier, and I DON'T regret it because I love this game and world and you have been a really open dev the whole way through and not vanishing and leaving everyone in the dark. I also know that real life does happen (against anon's beliefs) and is unavoidable for myriad of reasons (such as financial issues, health problems, etc) which does make me sympathetic but accountability is something I'd like to see discussed more in the community (not at you or other single creators specifically, at least not those who are actually do their best lol). So yeah, take care of yourself, this game is sure to be a gem and I'm looking forward to it--I'd much prefer it being released late over being abandoned and I'd prefer you not working yourself to the bone and getting sick/hurt. To the anon: Maybe find a better outlet for your feelings next time. Start a forum or something instead of exploding in a random dev's inbox

It’s difficult for me to talk about this subject because as a backer I understand the frustration, and as a dev I understand that no matter how much you prepare yourself sometime you fail and it feels horrible and you want to fix everything but you just can’t find the solution or the strength to do so in a timely manner (or sometime at all).

All I can say is: please when you are supporting small team, always assume they are doing their best, always assumed they care, always assume they never intended for it to be delayed/canceled and feel extremely bad about the situation, because, after many years in this community on both side, in my experience, it’s the reality. Some people are just very bad at communicating (and they should learn to do it better, no arguing with that) but actual dishonest/laid-back people are very rare.

So yeah, you are 100% entitled to politely ask someone what’s going on, but as I said in my previous answer positivity is a much better fuel than negativity. It might not be enough to salvage a project, but if you liked it enough to give it money, know that encouragements will always be much more efficient than yelling.

I’m extremely lucky that most of our backers and community in general are like you anon, so thank you again for your kind words and well wishes, it does take time, but I am very proud of what Imperial Grace is becoming and I’m so glad I’m in this journey with all of you because it would be much harder to be alone <3

Take care everyone,

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Is there a demo? I can't find a link :(

There is! You can download it on itchio or steam! Hope you have a nice time with it 💖 it’s 1-3h playtime depending on your reading speed and how fast you decide on the hardest choices 😈 (And also how much time you spend on picking a dress 😇.)

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Look im not trying to be a huge bithch but to be totally honest i am INCREDIBLY disappointed by the games additional delay again. I know that life happens but its an EXTREMELY common and unprofessional and pervasive behavior in the vn community for devs to fail to actually deliver on their games in the promised timeline (or at all) which is fiercely disappointing to the, you know, actual customer. Actually be reasonable when making deadlines the first time (and include extra padding time) and dont promise what you cant deliver.

I donated more money than the simple game key award tier and im wishing i hadnt tbh. Because of this and a few other vn devs doing the same damn thing i will no longer be pledging through kickstarter or providing any financial backing for any vn dev/studio until the game is out and ready to buy which sucks because i enjoyed being a supporter like that

I guess if theres at least one good thing i can say that i appreciate the regular updates from you rather than having you go straight up going radio silent but thats a pretty low bar tbh.

Again, im sorry if im being a bitch but i REALLY think that this is an issue/behavior that needs to be addressed in the community

So, I think being upset we are pushing to 2026 the release date of the game is valid but there is definitely other way to voice legitimate complaint. That said ;

1) You are right, it’s my failure and responsibility to not accurately estimate the date correctly. I hope that with more experience, I can deliver more accurate deadlines in the futur, it’s something I am working on a general personal level too and might be related to other issues, but it’s true. Nonetheless, once the mistake were made, there is not much one can do except being transparent and communicating about why and when to the best of our ability, which I always did. All, I can say is I was believing in this deadline from the bottom of my heart, I even entered the steam next fest in 2024 because of this which is a huge marketing flop I deeply regret but testify of my sincerity.

2) I can only talk for myself and not for other devs, but one reason, in my opinion, so many VN get delayed it’s because it’s very hard to earn a living from it, consequentially most of the devs I know have partial or full time job beside the game, and the thing that allow you to pay your bills will always get the priority. Sometime it’s just time which is lacking, sometime it’s energy but it definitely affect people on daily basis. 

Of course, there is also the whole life crisis situation too, disease, loss, literal disasters, who can happen to any team member. I have always chosen to deal with those as humanly as possible because I expect the same thing in return, from my team and my community.

Finally, some things just take much longer than expected for a millions of reasons, again, there is only experience who can teach us the lesson, and you have to try first to gain said experience. 

In conclusion, yes it’s a very common issue in this community (but not only, even AAA games get delayed all the time and they have way more means than us) and I think everyone is just doing their best to respect their commitment, it’s just so much more complex than one can imagine. At least, I can assure you I never met any devs ever who did this on purpose, we often are the most eager to finish. Honestly I have had no passion since I started Imperial Grace, I gave up roleplaying, sewing and so many other things to focus solely on that, I hope people believe me when I say I wish more than anyone else to be done. 

So, I’m sorry you regret supporting us, but there is unfortunately nothing I can do to speed up the process more than we actually do. 

Being a game dev is hard and unpredictable, managing a team is hard and unpredictable, creating is hard and unpredictable. Fortunately most people understand that and I am so grateful toward the vast majority of our backers and supporter in general who has been patient with us because positivity is a much more powerful fuel than negativity. 💖

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Yeah I have the same thing happening, I probably deleted like 7 already since we updated our demo? It's so annoying.

I watch our comment section like a hawk but if you see something "updated version here -> shady link" do not click. In fact, don't click on comment section links at all. I think the only time I posted a link it was a tuto to help debug someone issue so super specific.

Warning to game devs:

There appears to be some kind of spammer called Dev Slime on itch.io going around putting some kind of link in dozens of comments sections.

My best guess is malware of some kind. Keep an eye out on your comments and report.

Warning to users:

Make sure that you only download from the original game dev or well-respected and trusted modders whenever you want to get perhaps patches or bug fixes that devs weren't able to circle back to.

Clicking on the wrong link or downloading a bad file could jeopardize your devices and accounts. Always be vigilant!

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If the LI were in charge of Calydia (we judge them purely by their competency—nothing personal will be considered), how well off or screwed is Calydia?

Oh funny question!

Asha: Florishing but maybe a revolt or two to crush from the nobility who doesn't like how progressive she is

MM: Country doing super good, but you better be aligned with the policy before something terrible happens, history would probably not remember him fondly, but he would left the country in a great state

Theo: Country is doing well, nothing exceptionally well or bad, just normal

Alex: Calidya is so screwed.

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I have reach a point where my native language is French, the primary language of Imperial Grace is French, and yet sometime I have to look in a dictionary for a French word because the word pops in English in my brain 😂

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what is Waffus? (Is that how you spell it?)

Hello, I assume you mean Waffrus Which is the pen name of one of the artist that work with us, she handles the special cut-in illustration which are usually line-only art focusing on a detail (usually the hands)

For example, this one!

The game doesn't have many CG (it takes SO MUCH work to the artist to do just a single one), so I loved this extra art option to add a bit of diversity!

+ She is really a lovely person to work with, highly recommend to my follow devs <3

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I feel bad for MC's half siblings. I also would blame Sophia for how cold she was to them. While I can understand that kids born out of wedlock born from nobles and royalty can be seen as a political threat (Yacine for example I'm keeping my eye on him) but they didn't asked to be born. Most of them clearly wanted to live in peace. (Not that I blame them.)

Yeah, MC idealize a lot her mother but Sofia clearly wasn't perfect and had her own flaws. But outside of the fact she definitely held a lot of contempt for them just for daring to exist, she also fear their potential claim to the throne as long as she didn't had a male heir, and she died given birth to him so, I'm not sure, but maybe she would have relax after Lucius' birth and MC would have been softer toward them too?

Because clearly Sofia attitude toward them affected how MC consider them, before the story, she never even thought about meeting her half brother because of how she was raised.

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Fun Alex fact? Pleaseeeee? It could be about anything, but extra points if it's something about his friendship/relationship with MC 🥺

People thinks he became General to follow his father steps but it's 90% because when they were children MC would play the princess, and Alexander the knight in shining armor who saves her or go conquer the realm of poppies for her, with her dog as his loyal charger and it just gave him purpose.

Also Alexander is dyslexic and had very very much trouble to learn to read/write so MC helped him a lot on that making him practice but like inventing stories it was more interesting than the boring manuals and he still has those.

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so itchio has shadowbanned any games tagged with 'nsfw', 'adult', or 'erotic' so they don't show up in searches, and several devs have reported that their r18 games have been removed from the site with no warning

you know, maybe the internet shouldn’t be controlled by payment processors and terf lobbyists. and maybe people should be more concerned about this rise of censorship on queer media.

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Hey just to let you guys know JAST Blue is offering VN and Otome devs a spot for 18+ games as itch.o started a ban for NSFW games hope this helps I saw the news on the otome games subreddit

Edit: While I was writing this message someone send me this article of @blerdyotome which recap the situation very well if anyone need context.

Hello, thanks for the message, for now our game is still available in itch.io, that say what is happening (both on itch and steam) is very unfair toward creators affected. I may not support the content of some games primary targeted but I don't think censorship is the solution especially without prior warning and a chance to fix it. And it certainly shouldn't be the decision of payment processor company.

I am honestly very worried about the futur, because we can never know what will be the next content the payment processors will deem "problematic" and decide to ban LGBTQ+ content overnight, when I see the censorship some US library are already under, it all looks very grim.

We are currently thinking about what we can do to minimize the risks of our game being targeted in the futur without compromising our vision and I send all my support for creators affected by this mess :/

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My MC would a 100% throw digs at Yacine about his commoner mother and bastard birth.

She's a Empress first and a mean girl right after ❤️

Lmao, I don't think there is a moment in the game where she throw this to his face but she constantly call him a bastard without batting an eye XD MC can be pretty savage yeah