July 19th, 2021

Assuming no issues arise, Aspiring Light is set to release on August 6th, 2021.

The idea for the project was conceived about four years ago and has vastly changed over that time (thankfully, as the original concept was subpar, to say the least). The initial thought was pretty much just: let's make a visual novel. And so I did.

Obviously, there's a bit more to it than just that. It has been quite the experience working slowly but surely to write, compose, and compile components of the game. In all honesty, it was a bit more enduring than anticipated, especially without prior experience in doing stuff like this. There were many hardships on both personal and global scales, but seeing everything come together in the last year or so has been nice.

I'd like to thank the artists for their pivotal role in bringing the concept to reality, the testers for their resourceful feedback, and friends for their support.

I hope the general public finds it worthwhile. And if not, well, at least it's free-to-play.

If you do enjoy the experience and are feeling generous, the soundtrack will also be available to purchase for $3.99 USD. Shilling over.

- J

April 1st, 2021

Kind of an awkward date to pick for an update. But everything being said is 100% serious. Maybe 99%.

A hard deadline of July/August 2021 has been made for the release of the game. Soon, the only constraints left will be the limits of one entity, and that is why this assertion can be made. To assure these are not just words without meaning, here is a breakdown of the progress:

Background Art: 97% completion - just a few left to go
Character Art/CGs: 100% completion - yay
Script: 85% completion - While many completed drafts have been made, there are still some necessary revisions.
BGM: 40% completion - Major changes are required for the first half, and the latter half is yet to be composed.
Coding: 65% completion - This requires the completion of everything prior to it, and will take virtually no time at all compared to the rest.

In the coming months, the ability to give full attention to the project will be possible. And hopefully, this is going to get done in a timely manner.

-JY_2000

December 25th, 2020

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone. The Fall 2020 academic semester is over, and most of us have got a nice break from school and/or work right now. Enjoy this new background preview.

Progress has been slowly but surely creeping forward. However, I have come to realize there are some things that should have been clarified much sooner, and that is solely the fault of my own. And it's because of that lack of clarity that things are quickly becoming a textbook case of the inexperienced developer, despite my best efforts to avoid so. Hopefully, this will change the course of that.

There is no concrete release date for Aspiring Light, but rather general timeframes being set for it. The reason is simply that life can't be predicted for both myself and the others I have been working with, and that there are many things that may get in the way. The initial "release date" goal was all the way back in May 2020, and you can likely guess how close the actual release date will be to this.

The game's store page was put up at a very early point when the game had little development and artwork done, in order to maximize visibility. However, this for some reason translated into meaning a concrete release date had to be set, even if it was delusionally unobtainable. And while technically, release dates are set by the developer and can be changed any time, it doesn't exactly look good pushing it back multiple times. A release date should have been announced with the game mostly finished instead, and clear expectations should have been made.

As aforementioned, the new goal is for Q1-Q2 2021. And while I will be striving for this to become reality, I cannot guarantee it. But what I can guarantee is that Aspiring Light will come out, but developed at a work rate that allows for other life's duties to be managed for everyone involved.

See you all in the new year.

-JY_2000