The demo version of Life as Designed is now available for download! In this demo, you can play through the first three scenes of each of the main routes.

Also, the original announcement for the demo on my blog featured a few other announcements as well, which you can find here. In particular, the post introduces Mysteries of Akiramine, a series of short stories that focuses on Shizuka Hirose (from Shireishi and Eldritch University).

I hope everyone enjoys the demo! Which character's story will you try first?

In order to gauge what level of interest there might be in potential features and such for the games set in the Nightshade universe, I've put together a short survey. The survey can be found here:

link

Just to be clear, the only features that are currently planned for certain are:

• Eldritch Academy v3 update
  
• Additional stories for Flowering Nightshade
  
• Life as Designed for PC/Android
  

Last year, I announced that Eldritch Academy was getting a major update for Version 3. After a lot of on-and-off work, that update is nearing completion. In the meantime, I figured it was time to give a better look at the update while the last chunk is implemented. For that reason, I'm planning to make a beta branch for the game here on Steam once I've double-checked the common route for any major bugs or issues.

What's in the Version 3 Beta?

The current plan is to have the full game be available in the beta, though some scenes will not have finalized art implementation and final script checks. In general, this is the breakdown:

• Prologue/Act 1/Act 2/Act 3: Implemented
  
• Act 4/Epilogue: Art not implemented, script under review
  
• Aftermath stories (standalone): Implemented
  
• Bonus Features: Implemented
  

• Right-clicking on Eldritch Academy in your library and selecting Properties
  
• Navigate to the Betas tab
  
• Select the v3 beta branch and apply your selection
  

• Resolution, UI, and art changes
  
• New (custom) BGM tracks
  
• Common route script changes (particularly involving choices)
  
• Redundant scenes removed or combined
  

Flowering Nightshade (v7) is now available for download via Steam! Check out its store page here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1652030/

Almost five years have passed since Himeka sought friendship and romance at Solana Academy. She and her friends have grown now, and have to face their adult responsibilities.

As a direct sequel to Blooming Nightshade, Flowering Nightshade continues the lighthearted romance story that began there. The player may choose to resume one of the six romantic storylines from Blooming Nightshade or begin a story featuring a new character.

Features

• 6 returning love interests, with stories focusing on the transition to adulthood and maintaining long-term relationships
  
• A new character and storyline
  
• Each story is longer and more focused than the story routes seen in Blooming Nightshade
  

The store page for Flowering Nightshade is now visible! Go here to learn more about the game as it is prepared to launch on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1652030/

Due to recent updates to the Ren'Py engine and some code that needs to be updated to properly track Steam Achievements, the game will probably be made available on Steam with the v7 update. The current plan is to have the update ready sometime this summer.

I hope everyone looks forward to seeing the game come to Steam!

Now that all of the main routes for Flowering Nightshade are implemented in the public version of the game, I've decided to see how interested people are in having the game come to Steam. The game is currently free/donationware on itch.io, so I don't want to rush into a decision to launch on Steam (with its waiting periods and up-front fee). However, I didn't want to shut down the possibility entirely, so I've put together a basic poll for players of Blooming Nightshade to submit their opinions on a Steam release.

Flowering Nightshade on itch.io:
https://jackkel-dragon.itch.io/flowering-nightshade

Google Forms Link

I'll keep an eye on the responses, and we'll see where things go from there. Thank you for your time and interest!

I've mentioned it a few times elsewhere, but today is the opening of the store page for Life as Designed!



Life as Designed is a romance story with coming-of-age elements that focuses on Cho Fukuda, who first appeared in Eldritch Academy. There are three main storylines planned for the game, each of which follows from the paired endings in Eldritch Academy. (It's not required to play that game to understand this one, but some character traits are assumed to be familiar to the player.)

Life as Designed takes place about ten years after Eldritch Academy. Cho now lives in the city of Yamashiya with her girlfriend, who both reside at a share house. All four main characters from Eldritch Academy have jobs in this city, but Cho's freelance work ends up sapping her motivation after a string of projects that feel unfulfilling or end in failure. Each story shows a different path Cho's life could take, depending on who she was closest to before the story began.

In addition, near the end of each storyline Cho has to make a choice of which career path to follow. Neither of these endings are the "correct" or "wrong" choice, simply different ways Cho's life could go as she moves forward.

The game script is projected to be about the same total length as Eldritch University, with the possibility of one or more bonus scenarios depending on how development goes. The game will have custom BGM, with a few tracks returning from the Eldritch Academy v3 update. However, the game is not currently projected to have event illustrations. The final price is not yet decided, but will likely be in the same range as Eldritch University.

If you have any questions about the game or its development, let me know! I hope people look forward to Life as Designed!