So... we're one week away from release day. That's INSANE. At this point, there's not much left to say other than we truly hope you guys enjoy playing this game as much as we have been enjoying making it. We're already hard at work with the following chapters and can't wait for you to see them! We will leave you some previews from chapters 1 & 2 and go back to counting down the days!

After countless hours of coding, designing, re-designing, testing, testing... and even more testing, we're excited to announce that Strangers on Paper will officially launch on February 6th! Starting the new year with some reflections DLCs When discussing what extra content we could add on Steam for players, we went with our usual train of thought: What would we buy from a game we love? We started with what felt more obvious, a little walkthrough guide to unlock all content (this one will come with the game). Then we thought of wallpapers with art by Grogu, and eventually we came up with a third item. Im an absolute sucker for extra shit - Ive read each and every entry of Maxs journal in Life Is Strange, or Aprils diary in The Longest Journey, binged through every behind-the-scenes clip of Detroit: Become Human, not to mention the artbooks! Sooo, making our own little pdf with our favorite articles weve written, interviews weve done to each other and some others we created just for this occasion seemed like a no-brainer. I believe its the closest thing to an actual artbook well make - I may just consider printing one for myself once its updated to its completion.

About the A in AVN Youve no idea how fun it is to tell someone I know or just met about my game, have them look it up on Steam and then answer questions about the games that show up in the games similar to this list. Fun may not be the right word. Its a unique experience. Mostly because the ones that do tend to show up are outrageously different to the content in SoP - and because AVNs are not mainstream at all, so a lot of explanations need to be given each time (on an actual fun side note, I recently went on a date in which when I was choosing my words carefully, the other person blurted out what is it, furries? and I think only people who have been here for quite some time will get how funny that was to me). As I worked on the PDF thingy, I came across this dev log I wrote with a rant about adult content in video games that I didnt end up including, but it stood out to me nonetheless. Mainly because its been a while since Ive written a dev log thats just me rambling with such little mention of the game, but also because its something that has been a great part of recent discussions Ive had about the game. Im now gonna go the pretentious route and quote myself on some thoughts I included back then regarding the A content in games: Its such a big market, such a big part of the internet (of our lives? am I going too far?), yet one that can be indeed easily shamed, dismissed, or simply regarded as less than other forms of entertainment. Theres this general agreement of what things are socially acceptable to talk about publicly, and those that should be kept in the dark and out of reach, next to the cookie jar on top of the cupboards. Even if its a whole fucking candy store you find up there. (...) You want to go to the cinema and watch that movie about creatures with decaying flesh devouring human beings as they dread their impending demise? Sure, no one will bat an eye when you discuss how gratifying it was to watch that particularly annoying character get shred to bits. Oh, you want to play that video game in which you stab people or take pleasure in stalking them? Dude, make a career out of it! However, I cant really imagine someone sitting at a dinner table discussing how theyve accomplished great things with their milf-centered visual novel - although they probably have - without making it at least a bit awkward for the rest of the party to maintain eye contact. He, its a fun rant! I guess the thing I was mostly pissed about is how bad kink-shaming can get sometimes while other much more condemnable? things in videogames are deemed acceptable. Not just that, but, at least in my experience as a woman, Ive always felt frustration over sex being a taboo topic in pretty much any context, which is partly why I ended up writing a VN thats somewhat of a bridge, as I described it in the rant. The A is present but not even the main character in it. Unless it stands for Amy. Gee, bad joke. About writing and creativity Ive read and re-read and then played and replayed these two chapters so many times that I pretty much know them by heart. Of course, I also wrote them, once upon a time. That should have been the first thing to come to mind, but it wasnt, and thats kinda the point. Once other people started reading them and interpreting them, they stopped being just mine, and with time going by, I stopped being the person who wrote them altogether. At least thats the feeling I get at certain times, when I stop and stare at it - today, it was about the title screen in Spanish shouting OPORTUNCRISIS (Crisistunity in Spanish) at me. The nerve to choose a Simpsons joke as a Chapter title. Those little - or not so little - I dont give a fuck, Im gonna write what feels right to me and have fun with it details are what truly makes me proud to be working on this project. The silly jokes or references I include thinking theyll be there just for me and then Grogu or someone else will bring those up as something they loved about it. Not to mention when the more serious stuff in it resonates with strangers and then the whole theme of the game comes full circle. Im truly rambling by now, but the point is I think most creative people go through this no one will care about what I have to say phase, and its been nice to be proven wrong. If anything, Id like to encourage you, reading this, to go work on that thing that actually matters to you, even if you seem to be the only one who cares. The sheer anxiety I felt (and still feel at times) to share SoP got a nice slap in the face once it was out there. Cant wait to get slapped again once it comes out on Steam - WAIT, I didnt mea In conclusion... I think your Steam wishlist is looking short, dont you agree? Your friends too! Tell them about this game you like and have them add it since its coming out soon! Tell your grandma as well, you never know! Thank you for reading, strangers.

Happy Holidays everyone!
With 2024 almost over, we hope youre having a wonderful (if not, at least not-too-terribly-stressful) time. As for us, were indeed in a very festive mood because we can finally say we are pretty much DONE with everything Steam-related! Its been the bane of our existence for a while, and now we feel as if this heavy weight has been lifted off our shoulders and, except for some minor adjustments we may need to come up with, we can now devote all our energy just into Chapter 3 of SoP. Just writing that alone feels exciting because, although we are excited to release the game on that platform, it hasnt really felt like truly moving forward in a while, and both Grogu and I need that as much as we hope youre looking forward to it. We will only share a release date once the build gets fully approved by Steam, which should not be too long from now, so, yay! Until then, wed like to share things we have prepared for that version of the game:

• Strangers on Paper will be available in English, Chinese and Spanish. And heres where Ill just go ahead and say that if you play it in Spanish, Im sorry, okay? I worked on this translation myself to keep it as close as possible to the source material, yet this was probably my least favorite thing Ive done while working on this game. I dont mind writing in my native language, but translating something Id written myself in English? I cringed way too many times during this very tedious process, but I'm happy that more people will be able to play it because of it.

• Weve added some bonus content into the game, including a gallery with images representing some of our favorite moments and unlockable snippets. These are little stories about Becca or Amy from before the timeline in Strangers on Paper - or in-between chapters as it is the case for one of them. These can be accessed through specific choices that have some sort of relation to the main theme of the snippet itself (youll get a little notification thingy if it happens to let you know). Little details like these that expand upon the world of the game are the kind of shit we usually love to work towards ourselves when playing games we love and we hope you enjoy these yourselves as well.

• We do love completing Steam achievements of games we like ourselves, so of course we wanted to include those for you guys. Im positive Ive shared this story before, but the art for them was actually just a few doodles I made myself on Paint as drafts for an artist we had in mind to have as reference, but then Grogu thought them to be cute and very in-brand for us to include them as they were so yeah. Ill finish this dev log by sharing his personal favorite and my current favorite down below for you to make your guesses (as most achievements - but not all - these two are tied to specific choices).

You know when you really want to release your game on Steam but then completely forget Steam dev logs are a thing? No? Just us? Dang it. Its been quite a long time and we figured for this one wed go back to basics, so Hi! Were Gizmo and Grogu, both from Argentina, two strangers who bonded over their passion to bring stories of their own creation to life. Gizmo is the writer, while Grogu is the coder and artist. Weve been working on SoP while managing full-time jobs and so far its been nothing but challenging and incredibly rewarding all the same. What started as a lets make a silly short game soon became a project that we have become really proud of, and to which weve been devoting as much of our free time as we can, not to mention a lot of love. As cheesy as it sounds, the more progress we make with it, the more we want it to see it succeed. You may have read on the Steam page that Strangers on Paper will consist of 4 chapters in total, with the first two chapters coming soon on steam. Now, soon has been relative for a while now, because we really wanted to ensure players coming to it would find a good amount of playtime and content to explore. Like we said, even up to its completion, this will be a short game compared to others in similar categories, and we truly want to make it be worth your while. If you add a ton of personal and technical challenges into the mix yeah, its been a ride so far. For the past few months, we have been working on Chapter 3 while introducing a lot of coding and visual improvements to our main build of the game - which lately has been starting to take shape and color and life, almost ready to be set free into the wild. We can ensure now the game will be released in English, Chinese and Spanish, and over time, we hope to add more languages. Well leave you with a preview of the design for our extras menu, some preview images, along with a HUGE thank you for reading and showing interest in our game!

Todays update is a short one! Weve been writing too much lately, so this dev log is mainly for your visual pleasure. As for what weve been up to these past two weeks: Testing, last-minute changes, and more testing. So much fun (actually, I meant to be ironic but I do low-key love it until it gets a bit too much). Anyways, we hope you enjoy these previews!

Ay, ay, ay. Yeah, I couldnt think of another way to start this dev log because we are reaching that stage of development in which our brains are turning to mush and our schedules are non-existent and you know, we could really use a Hyperbolic Time Chamber right now. But then again, dont we all? Anyway, heres the cute little thingy, lets go through each of these to try and make some sense of it all.
Writing A great percentage of this chapter was written and edited from my phone due to the FIVE MONTHS (yes, in caps, because I need you to feel my pain) I spent without my laptop and wondering if I was slowly turning into SOPs MC. I even thought of going back to working at bars. It was only about two weeks ago that I got it back and, shit, after multiple edits with an actual appropriate work tool, its all done. Still leaving it at 95% because with every test comes a new perspective and, some things that seemed to work before, no longer do. Thats the remaining 5%, the possibility of some tiny edits and changes here and there. Art This fucker outdoes himself every time. Like, seriously, Im always in awe of the art in this game. Progress on this side has spiked since Grogus epiphany in his dream (not gonna go through this again, but if youve been following this turbulent journey, you may have an idea of what I mean). But you know what happens when someone keeps delivering more and more each time? Some things start looking inconsistent. Which is why Grogus been going back to some scenes in Chapter 2 and re-doing some things here and there - something Id object to, but once you see the result, theres no arguing. Now don't get your panties in a twist, we're not talking about a full-on remaster here, it's more about tweaking some details that didn't sit quite well with us from the beginning, and now Grogu has better tools to get them to the place where he had always meant to. Code Just like with the writing, some things may come up in the code that well still be working on improving. Yeah, I say we, but its more like I come up with an idea of how a certain consequence could lead to this particular outcome which results in a headache for Grogu who has to code it but, hey, improved gameplay! Bugs/Issues The game seems to forget who my crush was at times. Or refuses to show us Grogus beautiful art because its just that selfish. Were working with a psychiatrist to help it get its proper meds and it will soon be ready to go out and play with some friends to work on its social skills, we think that will be good for its wellbeing. PS: I ALMOST FORGOT, IVE GOT ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT! Heh. While the first two chapters of Strangers on Paper will be released simutaneously on Steam, it's been now decided - after a lot of back and forth - that the game will consist of FOUR chapters, as opposed to the original three we had planned. The thing is, the more I write, the more I realize it would feel rushed to take all characters to where they need to be in just three chapters. Both Grogu and I share the same mixed feelings on this: Were happy to have more of our beloved characters to discover, we want to be truthful to our story and tell it in a way that feels organic, but this also means more work in the same project (hopefully not so damn slow and without as many setbacks as we had this goddamn year).

We are happy to announce that we are in the final stages of developing the first 2 chapters of Strangers on Paper for the Steam release! We had some technical difficulties in the way, but we are slowly catching up on lost time. What are we doing?: Final stage rendering and corrections. Writing adjustments. Music, copyright, and preparation for a smooth and quick upload to Steam if possible. Although we don't have a specific date, we can say that the release is really soon. Thank everyone for the support and love . Gloomy Ghost