February Update
14 days ago
– Tue, Feb 25, 2025 at 11:04:46 PM
Happy February!
Lots of progress guys! I have new CG stuff at the bottom, so spoiler alert if you don't want previews!
Programming
It's happening!!
Aalam's route is fully programmed, all it's missing are the last CGs. I'm currently working on Sahi's route with 1/30 scenes done. February was hella busy for me so I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but here's hoping I'll finish Sahi's by mid March. I don't plan on adding nearly as much as I did to Aalam's route. Sahi's route has always felt more "complete" to me, probably because the childhood friends to lovers romance is an easier one for me to write.
I just did something that will make the coding go way faster, too--finally making use of snippets so I can input the voice lines with a click instead of having to type them over and over.
Yay programming!
Once Lune's route is done, I want to go back through the whole game and just add some polish and things like more animations, effects, etc. I sprinkled in some of that for the spellcrafting in Aalam's route, but there's always room for improvement. First though, I need to get a finished product.
Voice Acting
Voice lines are in for all the mains, I'm just missing one side character. Hopefully I'll be able to get in touch with them soon. But for the time being, all the lines I have are in the game and I just need to code them in!
CGs
Most of February was spent on this, and I have found new CG artists! I have one currently working on the new CGs, and one finishing up the one's Erupan was sketching. Here are some previews! I'm super excited for how they're turning out.
SPOILER ALERT
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Sketch by: YandNis
Coloring by: Pedro
Conclusion
I'm still pretty happy with my progress, and now that I've found CG artists and the voice lines are mostly taken care of things are back to smooth sailing. Next month I should have some updates for you about the music, and hopefully I'll have more news about Sahi's route. I have still been uploading testing previews in the Discord for those who want more sneak peeks!
January Update
about 1 month ago
– Sun, Jan 26, 2025 at 12:57:35 PM
Hello friends!
I have a lot of progress to share. I've finally gotten back into a groove.
Writing
I've added about 5,000 words to Aalam's route. This encompasses two new scenes that I hope will enhance the building romance. I'm thinking about adding one more for the overall flow of the route, but I'll see when playing through again if I feel it's necessary.
Programming
Now this is where I've made some major progress. I've added in all but one of the new backgrounds, most of the voice lines, and transitions/camera animations for nearly two-thirds of Aalam's route (not including the endings). I will definitely be finishing that up before January is over, and hopefully the endings as well.
CGs
I have started the hunt for a new CG artist. I have a few people doing test CGs to see if they can match Erupan's style. There are about 13 CGs left unfinished by my count, so I wanted to make sure the new artist has plenty of time to finish things up before December.
Erupan had done a fairly complete sketch of the assassin CG, so I finished that one myself and added it into the game. I have also changed the CG variables so that the gallery only shows you a CG for the current terra you've chosen (male/female/skin tone) so it won't confuse people by saying they have something missing when it's really just customization options.
Music
I will be adding three new songs to the game, one for each of the LIs. The composers have started work on it and the plan is for them to be complete by March.
Voice Acting
I am still waiting on some lines from a few VAs, but for the most part these have all come in. I'll keep poking the ones who haven't delivered.
Demo
Since the demo has a new background, CG, and voice lines, I think I will release a new update in April to include the new music. It's gonna look so fresh and so clean!
Kickstarter Rewards
No real progress on these but I just wanted to let you guys know I still have them in mind.
Shining
I have a design concept for the points screen and ending screens, I just have to program them in.
Game Guide
I'll start on this once I finish the routes. Since it'll be fresh in my mind I'll be doing Aalam's guide after I finish his route, Sahi's after his, and so on and so forth.
Lore Book
This will be worked on after release.
NPCs
Once I finish working on the routes, I'll be reaching out to you to get the details about your character and where you want them to appear.
After Stories
These will be worked on after release.
Early Release
I will be sending out keys on Steam and Itch.io once the game is complete, and two weeks later, it will be made public.
Side note, the pinups were posted long ago, please let me know if you weren't aware/haven't had access to yours!
Conclusion
We are moving right along and I think I finally got out of the slog I was stuck in with everything that happened in 2024. 2025 is a new year, it is Celestial Crown's year! I'm still planning on a late December launch, I'm confident I can make it.
December Update
2 months ago
– Mon, Dec 30, 2024 at 06:03:09 PM
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!
November Update
3 months ago
– Fri, Nov 29, 2024 at 06:57:38 PM
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!
October Update
5 months ago
– Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 03:46:23 PM
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. 💪🏾
