#celestialcrownsvn

[celestialcrownsvn]

Celestial Crowns Kickstarter - 3 days left!

The Celestial Crowns Kickstarter is live! 

Take the throne and save your kingdom with ancient magic in this amare visual novel! 

👑Customizable MC (body type / pronoun)

💍3 love interests with branching routes

✅ 9 personality traits

[beautykillsthebeastvn]

A new episode of beauty kills the beast is live! And I’ll be updating weekly from now on. 🥳

If we can hit 500 bookmarks by the next update, I’ll include a special spicy oneshot featuring players’ favorite couple! Help spread the word 🌶️

[blerdyotome]

Upcoming Kickstarters and Demos

We've got some Kickstarter and demo release dates coming up from @celestialcrownsvn, Rice Love Coffee, and GSE Studios.

Sept 12 - Celestial Crowns Kickstarter relaunch

Sept 15 Heart Cage Kickstarter launch

Sept 20 - Keepers of Astraela demo

Full calendar: https://blerdyotome.com/release-calendar/

If you would like to have your game, demo, or kickstarter added to the calendar, please use the below doc to submit the details.

[harlevin]

The icon for Celestial Crowns has landed! This will be the little pic that you’ll click on to open the game. 

I’ve also updated the tumblr. Making it pretty one pic at a time 😎

[witheredsnow]

Here is Terra! From Celestial Crowns. Her Highness and soon to be Her Majesty the Queen that I hope to meet real soon! I'll have it digitalised and colored at some point. But I hope you like it! ^^

@celestialcrownsvn

Maybe I'll draw the male version too...

Also, Weeelp. It seems I missed out on details! Sorry! I also made her look more gentler... I wonder how did it become like that.

[celestialcrownsvn]

March Update

Hello all! Let's jump in.

Voice Lines

I started using snippets to make inserting the voice lines easier, which took a bit to set up but streamlined the workflow. I also have my boyfriend helping me insert lines now as well, so that I can focus on camera animations and coding in the new CGs.

Programming

I'm at scene 12/22 for Sahi's main route, things got a bit busy at work for me and slowed me down. But I don't anticipate it taking much longer now that I'm getting help with the voice lines!

CGs

I wasn't happy with the first CG from one of the new artists, so I decided to just use one instead of the two. It will make the CGs take a little longer, but they should still be finished in time. It will also allow for a more consistent CG style. 

Two new CGs have been completed, I've posted some WIPs in the discord.

Writing

I don't think I'll be adding much to Sahi's route, I was much happier with it compared to Aalam's. But there are a few things I want to adjust or add to, mostly in the endings. Another reason why programming the main part of the route shouldn't take that long.

Music

I'm poking the composers, I hope to have an update on the three new songs soon.

Conclusion

That's it for me! Not much to say but that progress marches steadily onwards.

[celestialcrownsvn]

October Update

Hi guys! Thanks again for all the support regarding my last update. Stopping the marketing has been great for my mental health and I've finally been able to make progress on the game. 

Backgrounds

All the backgrounds are... done 😰I feel like that can't be right. But, I've got them all, and barring any issues where I need to commission a couple more, we should be all set.

Programming

I have programmed 1750/7255 lines of Aalam's route so far (Scene 5 of 30)! This includes voice, music, animations, etc. Once I get through this round of programming, it'll be ready for testing. Last time I asked for volunteers for beta testers, but due to mixed results as far as people keeping deadlines, I don't think I'll be doing that again. I might ask a select group of people and see if there's anything left in the budget I can offer as payment.

Writing

Most of the new writing for Aalam's route is in later chapters, so I didn't do much this month aside from some editing of typos, etc., as I started from the beginning to program/polish all at once.

CGs

Good news and bad news on this front. The good news is that my CG artist is okay and isn't in any danger as far as we know. The bad news is that she has decided to leave the project. I am going to reach out to another artist once I finish taking in all the sketches/finished pieces she's done and seeing how much work is actually left.

Voice Acting

I hit a snag when someone asked me about the VA strike. I wasn't aware of it, as I haven't been keeping up with current events due to life stuff. But we came to an arrangement, and I'll be sending the VA scripts out soon, hopefully today. Essentially, I'm making a commitment not to use any of the voice lines received for AI training, now or in the future. Which I think is a very simple thing to promise and I can't believe people are having to strike for what seems like common sense. Anyway.

Conclusion and Timeline

That's it for me folks! Your support has been so uplifting, so thank you again.

I've been very busy with IRL work lately so I haven't had as much time to work on CC as I wanted, but I'm hoping to finish Aalam's route and send it to testing by the end of November. Slow and steady wins the race. 💪🏾

As a side note... my birthday is Friday, a great present would be to wishlist the game!

[celestialcrownsvn]

Update 7/17/24

Hello Tumblr, I'm back! I'm so sorry for the unmentioned hiatus. I just had a lot of stuff going on that I had to deal with and didn't have the mental capacity to keep up with socials. I'm trying to ease myself back into it, so I will be resuming my once a week posts on tumblr, and I am aiming for two twitter posts a week.

So despite the fact that I've been away, there has been some serious progress made on the game. Specifically, backgrounds!

Backgrounds

Sorry for the duplicate, I just loved Aalam's room so much I had to share twice ^^

That's right, this is our first look at Aalam's room, and the full city of Andromeda! Mika has been doing a fantastic job with the backgrounds and there are only a few left! Which means that I'll be able to program in style and see the game really come to life as I keep writing.

We also have both the Laute and Andromeda infirmary, the Laute dungeon, and Aalam's family cabin!

Community Goal Reached

We hit one of our community goals--1000 steam wishlists! 🥳

This means that I will be adding an additional CG to the game! It will be in the first few chapters, so I've asked the CG artist to prioritize it so I can get an updated demo out. Look out for sketches in the Discord sneak peak channel if you pledged at that tier!

Writing

I have continued writing and am currently working on a new Aalam scene! Here's a look:

In this scene, Aalam takes Terra on a romantic sleigh ride. Who knows what might happen...?

Music

I have decided to add three more songs to the game, specifically theme songs for the LIs. So I will be speaking with the composers soon about those!

Conclusion

I am steadily moving along! Now that I've started writing again I'm hoping to have some meatier updates moving forward, but it's always difficult because I don't want to give too many spoilers.

Thank you all for being so patient!

[celestialcrownsvn]

4/6/24 Demo Update

Hey guys, got that demo update I promised. It's up on itch.io right now and will be updated on Steam tomorrow.

Some major changes to note:

Bellatrix's sprite has been changed to better reflect their voice actor's appearance, per the VA's request.

The stat screen can no longer be viewed while clicking through and reading. I saw a lot of confusion in testing over how to close it during choices, so I've added a 'close' button to head that off.

All skin tones have been added and reflected in the CGs.

Please report any bugs to the Celestial Crowns discord.

Here is the full changelog:

Added additional voice "barks" for Lune, Terra, Sahi, Celeste, and Aalam

added 15 new SFX

added existing SFX in places where it made sense to

added additional art assets to ballroom scene

added camera animations throughout first 3 chapters

created chapter cards for first 3 chapters

implemented new skin tones

added voice lines where needed

fixed bug where camera was not working properly when skipping

updated textbox

updated popup for increased stats

updated save/load screen bg

updated preferences screen bg

added additional text effects in some places

added new theme song

added new sad song

added new romance song

changed music on character select screen 

adjusted button size for title buttons to ensure the hitbox was working properly

adjusted text size of save file names so they fit under the screenshots

adjusted Terra's history screen picture to be generic to accommodate all skin tones

changed some text for clarity (no trade at all if marriage goes through, the only benefit is they must protect each other when wars happen)

changed main menu

changed character customization music

There is also a new trailer. Give it a watch, it has some new CG teasers ^^ Any feedback/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, video editing isn't my strong suit.

New BGs

Our BG artist is on fire! We now have a first look at the inside of Andromeda castle.

I still haven't had time to sit down and start writing the third draft in earnest as some life stuff tripped me up, but with any luck by next week I will be ready for that. Hope you enjoy this update in the meantime ^^

[celestialcrownsvn]

December Update

Hello all! A short update while I recover from the holiday, all the VA scripts have been given out and I already have some lines in! From now I'll be focusing all my attention on programming and testing the routes.

I found a new tester! So hopefully I'll be able to beat out all the bugs before release for minimal patches afterwards.

I am still looking for a new CG artist, but there are only a few left so I'm not too concerned, I'm focusing on programming for now and once I have a better stock of what I need I'll begin that search again. I originally had a backup already but that fell through. No worries though, I'll find someone to finish strong!

[celestialcrownsvn]

November Update

Hello all!

I'm happy to say that scripts for all named characters have been given out! Lines are due mid to late December. Now I just need to give out scripts for secondary characters, and voice acting should be pretty much done by the end of the year. 

I was sad that I couldn't afford to fully voice the project, but the partial voice is really growing on me, and of course everyone's performances are fabulous.

That's what I've been working on this month, and I hope to get those last scripts out before we get too far into December and holiday stuff gets in my way. 

My goal for next month is to double down and finish up Aalam's route, so we'll see how it goes. 

Thanks as always for your support!

[celestialcrownsvn]

Update 1/17

Hello all! A bit of an early update. I think I mentioned it before but I will be traveling soon and will not return until late February! Try not to miss me too much.

A few nifty updates, I've started programming Aalam's route! And I finished Lune’s coronation outfit for if Terra chooses him as King:

And horseback Sahi is finally in the game!

Next from me artwise will be Sahi's coronation outfit! I started sketching it in my last drawing stream.

Just fabulous! I'm so happy I get to give you these last little highlights before I'm off for a while.

What do you think of Sahi and Lune's new outfits? What are you most looking forward to in Aalam's route?

Thanks as always for your support!

[celestialcrownsvn]

Update 5/5/2024

Hello all! I've been slowly settling into my new circumstances so sorry for the gap in updates! It's been difficult for me to get back into a routine but I'm doing my best.

Note, there's a free Lune wallpaper currently available in the Discord. Sahi and Aalam ones soon to come.

Writing

I've started writing again for the third draft, updating Aalam's route first. So far there's about 1000 more words. I don't anticipate adding more than 10,000 but there are a few scenes I need to add or flesh out. 

Backgrounds

Mika has been busy! 

For some backgrounds I did an "Andromeda" version and a "Laute" version. I think it's pretty clear which is which! 

Music

I've decided to commission a few more songs for the game, namely themes for each of the LIs. Look forward to more news about that!

Conclusion

That's where we are, I'm hoping to pick up the pace a little bit once I move into my new place in June. It's been super hard for me to focus where I am now because there's a bunch of bugs and I don't really have room for my things.

I'm working on a VN for Otomejam with Fablesoft, so you can look forward to more updates about that here soon. 

The weekly streams have started up again, so join me on twitch.tv/harlevinvns to watch.

[celestialcrownsvn]

September Update

I only have 2 bgs to show this month because the rest would be spoilers!

CGs

My CG artist was the unfortunate victim of a cyberattack, and I have not heard from her in some time. I am hoping that she will return soon and let me know if she's okay, but in the meantime, I am just holding tight. The CGs are almost all done, so in the event that she is unable to return to finish them, there shouldn't be a holdup finding a replacement. 

Conclusion

I have really been struggling with my mental health recently, and I was diagnosed with depression earlier this month. I'm doing what I need to improve and I've been trying to power through and keep going on as I had been, but it's apparent to me now that I won't be able to. So I've decided that I am going to stop focusing on marketing for Celestial Crowns and instead direct my attention to just finishing the game. This means that I won't be updating the tumblr or twitter regularly any longer, nor will I be doing anymore drawing streams. The stress of it all was giving me a lot of anxiety and I don't want that to get in the way of delivering what I've promised you guys. 

I will still be updating the Kickstarter page monthly (and posting an update here monthly along with it) to keep you guys in the loop, and still plan on delivering the game and all the rewards along the original timeline (Dec 2025 or earlier). Since I made everything I needed for the game and have already paid for pretty much everything but the last round of voice acting and the remaining backgrounds, the profit from the game is less important to me than my mental health. I had hoped to keep up the marketing efforts so I could make enough in the end to work on some extra routes for you guys, but unfortunately, I don't see that happening now.

You will still see me around on the Discord server, answering questions or fixing bugs. Or just feel free to say hi :) 

[celestialcrownsvn]

Update 3/23/24

Hi guys! Tomorrow I'll be finishing my Lune x Terra drawing on twitch. Follow me at harlevinvns to be notified when I start at 3 PM EST.

Announcement

My job hunt has born fruit! I will be employed as of next month. Which means! Less anxiety and more relaxed Min for writing! And! Hopefully I can afford to commission a few more nice things for Celestial Crowns that the Kickstarter costs won't cover. We'll see!

I will have to relocate for my job so things will be a bit quiet as I get set up, but work on CC is progressing at a steady pace!

Backgrounds

So I've got more backgrounds to show! Here are some snippets:

How great are they? As you can see next up is a really atmospheric forest BG!

Editing

I'm starting the third draft editing Aalam's route. I have a new scene I'm excited to add that I think will really tie everything together!

Demo Update

I'm hoping that I can upload another updated demo sometime in April.

Here's a complete changeling:

added 15 new SFX

added existing SFX in places where it made sense to

added additional art assets to ballroom scene

added camera animations throughout first 3 chapters

created chapter cards for first 3 chapters

new skin tones for terra

updated textbox

updated popup for increased stats

updated save/load screen bg

updated preferences screen bg

added additional text effects in some places

added new theme song

added new sad song

added new romance song

changed music on character select screen

adjusted button size for title buttons to ensure the hitbox was working properly

adjusted text size of save file names so they fit under the screenshots

Updated voice barks

1 new background

New stat screen

Bug fixes

Nothing groundbreaking if you've already played, but it does give a much smoother experience! Check it out with your friends who haven't played yet!

[celestialcrownsvn]

9/3/24 Update

I'm alive!

Writing

No real progress on this front, though I'm starting to program in the new backgrounds tonight, which means I'll be editing as I go.

Backgrounds

I can't show you the new backgrounds because there are spoilers this time, but we have two new gorgeous ones! I will post previews in the Kickstarter update on the 12th.

Voice Acting

I'm behind getting the final scripts out to the VAs, but I'm hoping to send them out sometime this week!