Christmas Special: Alpha, Early Access and Our Christmas Art
over 4 years ago – Wed, Dec 25, 2019 at 12:53:34 AM

Happy Christmas (Eve) Everyone!

Save The Date - Early Access Available on the 30th January 2020

The date for Early Access has been confirmed. It's been a long journey but we are finally seeing the finish line. The true ending, after rewrites and rewrites, is nearing its completion. Eliza, Mel and Oceane's Route are also 100% complete.

The Early Access Build should include the following features:

• An intricate dating system where your love interests will scrutinize every choice you make, just like IRL! 
• More than 200 choices to make throughout the entire VN.
• More than 10 different endings, including good, normal, bad  and dead ends
• Over 60 CGs with more than 10 animated CGs
• A Food Wars! Style foodgasm animated CG for one of our (undisclosed) supporting characters
• ~ 450,000 words with 15-30 hours of gameplay *Subject to reading speed
•  4 Romanceable Routes (Eliza, Alice, Oceane and Mel Routes) including the True Ending (The Knights) Route!
• Over a hundred animated sprites with the option of switching them to static for more postures and expressions
• Over 25 Original BGMs and ~10 classical BGMs popular during the Victorian Era
• 888 Partially Voiced Lines during introductory and important CG Scenes

Note: Some have asked what's happening with Alice's Route as I have not made any progress update on that. The reason is because of how Alice's Route is structured, we are unable to start scripting the route until all other routes are complete. But I assure you that will be ready for the Early access as well.

Last Alpha Build Uploaded!

And finally, a Christmas Present to our Alpha Backers. The latest and last alpha build has been uploaded, which includes the completed Oceane Route and half of the True Ending Route, which amounts to an extra 3-5 hours of gameplay.

Once again, we wish you a happy holiday week!

October Update: Alpha Build 2.0 Uploaded
over 4 years ago – Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 02:34:34 PM

Alpha 2.0 Has Been Uploaded on Steam

Those who have Alpha Early Access will be able to download the current build from Steam. The build should update if you've already downloaded the previous version. Or else, just use the Steam Key provided in March to access the build. It is 1.1GB in total.

- Mel's Route is 100% finished. For both Oceane and Eliza's route, you will end its route just before the finale. Hopefully, we can finish both routes before the end of the year. And of course, Alice is an ever-lasting presence in the story, so you won't be able to ignore her!

- Voice Lines have been partially added. Well.....voice acting is partial to begin with, so only introductory lines and important scenes are voiced. We are still working on normalizing the lines properly so there might be a few lines with fluctuating volumes. 

Some CG scenes included in the Alpha:

Example CG to be seen in the new prologue:

This is actually an animated CG, so the screenshot totally doesn't do it justice.

I've also included some voice teasers from our four main characters!

Eliza (VA: Diana Garnet)

Alice (VA: Aika Intong)

Mel (VA: Kira Buckland)

Oceane (VA: Daphne Nitsuga)

Releasing Our 2nd Alpha With Completed Mel Route!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 02:54:31 PM

Alpha #2 : Save The Date - 16th Of October

We finally have a date to releasing our long awaited Alpha No.2. This time, we will have a completed Mel route. Oceane's Route should also be 75% completed by the release date.

We aim to release our Early Access version in Mid-December, just before Christmas, which will include a completed Mel and Oceane Route and at least half of Eliza's route as well.

What's included in the Alpha:

• Completed CGs
• Edited Writing
• Complete Soundtrack 
• Voice will be partially available, but will be turned off by default as it's not normalized yet

Mel's Route : 

• 100% Completed
• Hours Of Play: 6-8 Hours (+6 Hours Common Route)
• Word Count: 92,068 approx. (not including common route dialogues)

Oceane's Route : 

• 75% Completed
• Hours Of Play: 4-6 Hours (+6 Hours Common Route)
• Word Count: 60,727 approx (not including common route dialogues)

Note: Common Route Word count is approximately 66,535 words

August Progress Update
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Aug 07, 2019 at 04:49:08 PM

It's been a busy two months since our last update. 

First off, I'd like to admit that progress has been slower than usual the past two months. As to why, it mainly comes down to one reason:

I'm not happy with the True Ending Route.

Which is problematic because, of course, everyone likes a teary/happy/climatic/fulfilling true ending that will leave you depressed/excited/lingering for the next few days. 

Unfortunately, I do not feel we're there yet with the current script.

That's why I've been spending quite some time revisiting the character arcs, reviewing the script and rewriting some scenes. 

The main thing is, is we spent 1.5 years on this visual novel and would want to make it the best we can. If it takes a couple more months to refine it to the standard we want, I rather we take our time than to rush it.

As for how long do we still have until completion, I rather not estimate for the moment. The past few months have seen us going back and forth between a script that looks good on paper, then scripting, directing, adding SFX and BGM, then realizing it doesn't have the visual impact we want, and revisiting the script again. 

But the bottom line: We aim to get at least one route: Mel's Route done by October, and release it for Alpha, or even early access depending on how satisfied we are with the story.

Lastly, I want to give you some concrete numbers on what has been done up till now, and here it is:

Current Progress:

333,086 words scripted (Ready to play)

24 Backgrounds, not including variations

36 CGs, not including variations and non-character CGs

14 animated CGs

23 animated characters, number of variations vary. For example, Eliza has 46 unique expressions/gestures, Oceane has 50 unique expressions/gestures, while minor supporting characters have on average 3-4 expressions.

20 Original BGMs, not including licensed classicals 

12 coffee puns. 

Thank you for being patient with us! Ultimately what we hope for is that the end product will make you happy!

June Update, Chibi Keychains and Wallpaper!
almost 5 years ago – Mon, Jun 24, 2019 at 01:04:40 AM

Status Update

There have been delays in May/June due to a number of factors. First off, managing the voice overs have proven to be much more time consuming than we could've ever imagined and have massively delayed our project. 

But nonetheless, we've achieved a massive breakthrough and are nearly done with the Eliza and Oceane route. Personally I'm quite happy with how their story is turning out.

We plan to send out another Alpha version, but we don't have a definite timeframe yet as we want to at least get one of the routes finished before uploading another Alpha. We never did get much feedback for our previous alpha so we felt it's probably better to wait until we have a much more refined and complete game before another update.

Chibi Looks!

One thing we never got to show during our Kickstarter was how the keychains would actually look like. Now, thanks to ArisaChibara for the Chibi versions of our beloved main characters, we have the artwork in which we will be using to design our keychains!

You can still pre-order these keychains at our Pre-Order Store. We will be locking in all our orders before August, so this is probably your last chance to review your keychain orders:  https://caffeinevl.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders 

Wallpaper Teaser # 1

We promised everyone of our backers three high resolution wallpaper backgrounds. I'm happy to say we are ready to send out our first one!

No..no, not this one. This is just a teaser of the wallpaper. Drawn by Nori, the wallpaper is available in 1920x1080, 1920x1200 and 1920x1440 and will be sent out via Backerkit no later than this week! 

We aim to send the next wallpaper out at the end of July!