Hello all! Ingrid here once again—it's been a while! Following the release of the Extended Demo Voice Update, we've been steadily preparing both game content and promotion materials as we plan for further production and funding of the game.

A lot (and I mean a lot) has happened since our last official dev update in February, so let's get right to it!

In a Nutshell

• Released the Voice Update for the Extended Demo, as well as the OSAS Demo Trailer.
• Released Confluence, a free to play OSAS spinoff game.
• Put up the OSAS Kickstarter Pre-Launch Page.
• Planned and prepared materials for the OSAS Kickstarter.
• Added story content to Hugo Chapters 4 and 8, and Seamus Chapters 3, 5, 7, and 8.
• Drafted CGs for Chapter 8.
• Began work on Seamus' Dining Room background. (Joseph)
• Recorded voiceover for Chapter 8.
• Finished the Tranquil theme and started on Everett's theme. (Henri)

The Voice Update & Trailer

Yes, this came out a while ago—almost two months ago—but our update release post covers most of what there is to say about the update itself. The update added partial voice acting to the demo, including two fully voiced scenes and bark lines/soundbytes for all the characters!

The trailer I put together was posted at the end of March just in time for The Storyteller's Festival as well, which was our very first Steam festival! We're incredibly grateful to Two and a Half Studios for having us in it along with so many other brilliant narrative games.

(If you've enjoyed the demo and would like to give us some thoughts on it, our Extended Demo Feedback Form is still open. We love hearing what you think! ♥️)

Another Game!? Confluence: An OSAS Soliloquy

During the first two weeks of April as part of the O2A2 Visual Novel Game Jam: Queer Edition, we created Confluence, a kinetic novel OSAS spinoff based on Hugo's happy ending in OSAS! 

Our composer, Henri, and Hugo's voice actor, Max, reprised their roles to help bring my story and artwork to life. 

This little game was incredibly well received and quite impressive for just over a week's work, if I do say so myself!

If you're looking for a heartfelt queer soliloquy, have 10 minutes to spare, and want some more of Hugo's poetics in your life, you can play the game for free on Itch.io!

Besides wanting to present a glimpse of the happy life beyond OSAS for Hugo, Confluence was also created to attract new players to OSAS itself in preparation for our Kickstarter campaign planned for July this year! As you might imagine, there is a lot to plan and prepare for.

The Starting Line: Crowdfunding for OSAS 

Thus far our funding has been out of pocket, with some support trickling from our Patreon supporters (thank you so much! You know who you are.) 

 While we'll continue producing OSAS regardless of the campaign's outcome, being able to assure payment to our team and guarantee steady production of assets for the game would—well, be a game-changer! This will be my first crowdfunding campaign effort, and a lot does ride on it.

Every aspect of OSAS' production is handled with real love, high standards for quality, and attention to detail which I feel really sets us apart; we hope to guarantee that high quality in a consistent and timely manner and to better compensate our team members (and ourselves) by funding the game more substantially.

Preparation for the KS campaign began with the Extended Demo, and following the voice update I've been planning production and preparing content restlessly for the past month. As we have a relatively quiet player base—and a rather niche game—we'll have to work very hard to get more eyes on OSAS. The most daunting part is reaching out to content creators and press; there's not really another game just like OSAS, which means we can't study what other visual novels have done or contact people we can be sure will like OSAS based on their previous coverage. 

(In my offline life, I'm often reserved when it comes to OSAS due to its queerness, which I'm aware bleeds into my hesitance to present it in an "official" capacity.)

What powers me through all the stress and effort required to crowdfund for OSAS is the amazing people we work with and our players, who believe in this project and want to see it flourish! I wouldn't have the courage to press forward without all your support—so if you're reading this post, thank you for lending us your time, love, and encouragement!

Follow our Pre-Launch page if you'd like to be notified for the KS campaign!

(As an aside--isn't the Kickstarter Cover art so incredibly gay? Like, it might just be the gayest thing I've finished drawing this year. And they're barely holding hands!)

Production Updates

Of course, our Kickstarter preparations don't mean that the game's production has come to a standstill.

We've been chipping away at the story for Hugo Chapter 4 and 8, as well as Seamus Chapter 5, 7, and 8. AKA and I have taken to doing regular writing sprints during our weekly meeting times, which have helped immensely in progressing with writing! The game now stands at over 38,000 words across Acts 1 and 2. 

Art production for the game has been mainly focused on creating background art (namely Seamus' Dining Room, painted by Joseph) and CG illustrations of important moments between Hugo and Seamus. A natural selling point for OSAS is the development of their relationship, so those romantic CGs will be important to at least show concepts of in promoting the game for successful crowdfunding!

The CGs also go hand in hand with the voice work to accompany those scenes. The writing for those scenes is largely complete, so we held a live voice direction session to record for the Chapter 8 scenes! As per usual, MAHO!Cody, Max, and Shaun did incredible work, and their recordings thus far really solidify the development of Hugo and Seamus' relationship from awkward strangers to friends in Act 1, then from friends to something more in Act 2.

These scenes, once everything is melded together, are ones I'm confident will really touch players' hearts and be definitive of the story itself!

Our final three music tracks have also now been commissioned from Henri, with the Tranquil theme having just been delivered and Everett's theme on the way, leaving just George's theme. (George is Seamus' father.) Our soundtrack is by far the most complete aspect of production, so seeing it nearing the finish line after so many years is such a bittersweet feeling! It should clock in at 18 tracks.

That's all for now! We'll see you with more crowdfunding news very soon.

Be sure to wishlist the game on Steam and rate/comment on the demo on Itch! Oh, and follow our Pre-Launch page on Kickstarter :)

Until next time! Ingrid