Hello everyone, Zanthos here with a long overdue update on Zeta Wolf Chronicles.

Those of you who have seen our twitter update know that our team has been on hiatus for several months. I’m here to offer a more in-depth written write up for those of you who are following our progress. 

Before we get into this rather lengthy update, I'll post a screenshot teasing further developments. 

There's more to Lyca than meets the eye and you'll soon find out where this encounter leads in the future! 

Back to our update, the time off has allowed me to reevaluate the story I wanted to tell and to contemplate implementing changes and new gameplay mechanics into Zeta Wolf. Believe me, there will be changes when you play the next build. Several story lines previously told will be omitted, along with other alterations put in place for the betterment of the story. Here’s a bulleted list covering the major updates and progress for the future.

A huge thank you to the support shown so far. Our first demo was nowhere near a finished polished product, but we wanted to gauge reception and try our hand deploying our first build. We have decided to bundle all of our bug fixes into our Kickstarter build, for a fresh new experience. Please look forward to it!

• Introduction of 4 new supporting characters and 1 new minor character (from our character raffle. There will be a gameplay mechanic introduced surrounding these 4 new characters which will hopefully be a great addition.
• Our Kickstarter Build (what we’re calling the next version) will have at least 7 to 8 additional CGs. We understand that things were kind of barebones in the demo, as we just put our concept out there with limited funding. Definitely entering the next phase of development here. This applies to original music as well, as only the title screen was part of our OST. 
• As mentioned, certain plot lines and story details will be either omitted or delayed to further down the line. 
• Our first build is successfully running on Android! We will bundle an apk for Android during deployment of our Kickstarter build. 
• CG Gallery, Backlog, Glossary and other small improvements to GUI/Menus.

This is just a small sample of things to look forward to. With that out of the way, I wanted to give further background insights on development. Usually when it comes to updates and such, I’m not one to post about every little thing, as I have nothing significant to tell. This applies to real life as well, as I’m more of a show/don’t tell person. While this may come as a small detriment to the marketability/reach of this game, I plan to double-down with daily updates during and prior to our Kickstarter campaign. Largely, the other snags in development have come either from technical issues or lack of funding for assets. COVID certainly hasn’t helped with this issue. This led to lack of motivation on my end, often with months passing and limited progress.  To be fair though, the extended time off allowed me to refine many of the story boarding and plot elements, giving me ample time to re-work things in my head. I honestly feel that the game will become a better product in the end due to my additional time to work on all aspects. 

Zeta Wolf Chronicles has always been a passion project. Something to do in my spare time to give my life additional meaning and worth. At that time of initial conception, I felt very stagnant in my work career and wanted to explore the opportunities of making a game. Pursuing professional game development was never an option for me, nor something I wanted to do. Being an indie developer gives you certain freedoms, yet at the same time, there are many risks. I previously held the mindset that if my game was financially unsuccessful, it would be a great loss. Presently, my stance has changed for the better I feel. One thing I believe all indie developers need is a fallback, a plan b if you will. Even if I go on to likely invest thousands of dollars into this project of mine, it's a small risk to take. Accounting for all variables and outcomes gives you more control over your life, which in turn, grants greater stability. One thing is certain here. I would never quit my day job and source of stability to pursue creative projects, be it game development or another avenue. I believe that the foundations of development, and the morality of the game itself, change once certain factors are introduced. This could be anything from a larger team, more strict deadlines, and elements introduced for the sake of business appeal or marketability. In summary, whether Zeta Wolf is a massive success or adopted by only a small gathering of fans (sales don't overcome costs) I have accepted any outcome and can live with that.

Many of my own frustrations also stem from the technical side of development. That is, making things work, making everything look pretty and diagnosing errors, and other annoying snags. I absolutely hate the stress introduced when I cannot figure out how to solve a problem. When making a game, exploring ideas and implementing systems, this comes up a lot. The scope of Zeta Wolf from a programming standpoint is simple enough. Yet even then, when I kept things as easy and non-complex as I could, the inevitable stress-inducing event always cropped up.

When I think of my talents, what I am naturally skilled at, I often come up short on a definite answer. I try my best within my capabilities, but I certainly have my shortcomings. There was a point where I attempted to learn to draw, but I soon discovered that I would never reach my goals, regardless of effort applied. Naturally, if the available budget were larger, there's a lot of work I could outsource to deliver a more polished end product. For this build (version 1.0), I put forth what was capable from the talent I outsourced and my own skills.

After taking inspiration from other titles, I have seen that partial voice acting, when implemented correctly, can be a powerful experience. This would allow me to trim the budget slightly when it comes to planning for crowd funding and such. My stance is to put forward a project with a goal that is easily achievable with incentives for additional funding.

About interest in our title as a whole, especially compared to other indie visual novels, I cannot say. My marketing certainly could have been improved and certainly will be once crowd funding is on the table. Nonetheless, I must graciously thank each and everyone who managed to download our demo. We recently passed 700 downloads, simply on itch.io. I cannot say how much of you would be on board to further support the game and prefund it, but likely a small handful. To that end, please be patient with the team and with me. I hope to eventually deliver a product that holds greater merit than just any game. I have always been of the belief that certain concepts cannot be taught and learned simply. Love is one such territory that is massively complex and filled with many pitfalls and misconceptions, particularly for us men. At the end of all of this, my goal is to deliver a story that hits home, to learn from and to benefit from. It is my way to give back and to lend my experiences and wisdom to a younger (or any) generation. Growing up, I never had that brother figure who could show me the ropes. Even with parental guidance, many people think they know the actions young men should take, but it's not that easy. Out in the field in real life, you're on your own. No one can take the actions you are supposed to take but you. One point stays the same though. Young men must take action if they wish to find love (even if it's retroactively).

Some loose ends: I have not forgotten about our twitter raffle conducted in March. We had some complications with the original winner and never made a redraw. The new winner has been contacted and I’m waiting for their designs to be sent over.

On Live2D/Animation: Live 2D is awesome and I would love to see it implemented in Zeta Wolf. Unfortunately, it is beyond my capabilities, so it will definitely have to be outsourced (stretch goal). I have had much trouble producing an attractive speaking animation for many characters, and the process is certainly more difficult than eyes. This involves greater synergy with the artist and perhaps further knowledge of the engine. Ultimately, this might get left out (unless Live 2D/additional funding is reached). 

Writing Progress: The demo reached around 15k of script. In total I have around 40k words loosely arranged in many documents. Many notes and drafts are present regarding the story boarding and plot details. A large theme of the game is exploring individual concepts, lore terms and definitions. In total, there could easily be hundreds of abstract fully detailed terms to be explored. Many of these are original thoughts expanded on.

Due to a small budget to work with, the demo did not have a dedicated editor. I tried my best to refine/proofread within my abilities, but it could certainly use some improvement. This is further work we wish to outsource for a more polished product at the end of the day. 

Hopefully this answers everyone’s questions and reassures everyone that we are still actively working on this title. Our twitter is more regularly updated, but from time to time, we’ll likely post updates here as well.

Would anyone be interested asking us questions on CuriousCat? CuriousCat is a service where you can ask questions of us anonymously. This can be anything regarding development, characters, world, you name it. Let us know if this is something you’d like to see (or perhaps we’ll throw a poll on twitter in addition).

For now, work continues...