1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Hello everyone. It's already been a year since the first public release of my game. I wanted to take this opportunity to make a special post to reflect on the past year and let you know what's coming next.

1 year of rumble

Let's start with the good part. I'm pleased to have completed six versions of KLKRR in just one year, that's more than I initially expected. I've been working on this project since June 2022, and it's my very first game. I have never had web development training before, and my daytime job has nothing to do with IT. I think that starting with a very simple visual novel was a good idea. This choice helped me avoid a lot of issues, and I believe the project wouldn't have been as smooth if I had set more ambitious goals.

That being said, after a year, I can see that I’ve still made some mistakes, and not just small ones. For example, I think I started with a project that was a bit too long. The script I wrote for my game is going to require a lot more time, and I estimate it will take me another 4 to 5 years to finish the game. Honestly, I should have gone for a much shorter story, but it's too late now.

Choosing to use an existing license instead of creating an original universe was also a mistake. It added a lot of extra constraints, especially when trying to reach as wide an audience as possible (because some people won’t even try the game if they feel they don’t know Kill la Kill). Moreover, it wouldn’t have been particularly difficult to create an original story, especially since many elements of my game are already original.

All of these are additional barriers that have been added to the project. It's important to know that NSFW yuri games are already a niche genre. I often talk with other developers who offer the same type of content, and it's clear that we're a small community. This is one of the reasons that motivated me to start my own game since there were few NSFW yuri games. It goes both ways. there are few developers, but also few people looking for this type of content.

This has already caused me problems several times. For those who don’t know how this project works, you should know that I’m the only one running it. I do everything except the visuals (mainly because I’m terrible at drawing, and I don’t have enough time to focus on that). Given the considerable amount of artwork that has been produced in one year, you can imagine that it's not free, and the different artists who are helping me on this project aren't going to work for exposure. I pay for 100% of the visuals produced.

It’s not a problem in itself because I consider this project a hobby and it's okay for a hobby not to be profitable. However, I do set a certain limit that I never exceed each month when investing in the game. On the other hand, by never exceeding this limit, I’ve sometimes found myself in a situation where I would have preferred to illustrate a particular scene with artwork, but I didn’t do it and stuck to using backgrounds and sprites because otherwise, I would have broken my own rules. I also had to backtrack on certain things. For example, I originally planned for some scenes to be animated. I now know that this is and will remain financially impossible.

Anyway, no project goes perfectly from start to finish. What’s important is staying on the right track, and I think I’ve done quite well so far.

What's next?

Finishing KLKRR is my number one priority. I’m currently working on the fight between Ryuko and Rei, and I think I’ve found the right way to make it more interesting than all the previous fights. I’m trying to turn it into a sort of mini-story where the resolution depends on the player’s ability to remember the weaknesses of their opponent. I think the formula I have now is quite interactive, but I’ll, of course, be reading your feedback on it once the update dedicated to this fight is released. If people like it, then I’ll use the same formula for other fights, even though I plan for the rules of the battles to change from one fight to another. Even though I won’t be adding animation, I’ll still try to improve the dynamism of certain in-game scenes. This will involve increasing the number of variants for each artwork and adding more visual effects and transitions.

That being said, even though I’m working 100% on KLKRR, I’ve already made some progress on my second game project. I haven’t produced any assets so far, but I’ve already got the storyline nailed down.

I don’t plan to work on this second game until KLKRR is nearly finished. I believe working on two projects at the same time is the best way to fail at both of them. However, I can still share some of my ideas with you:

It will still be a visual novel, but this time it'll look a bit more like a sandbox. I'm staying with a Female Protagonist but with a mafia / Illegal fighting theme in an all-original universe. The NSFW content will be 50% lesbian / 50% straight, with the choice to have either a straight or lesbian romance.

And... That's it. I wanted to thank you all for the support you’ve given me so far. I haven’t always received positive feedback, and I’m aware of the flaws in my game, but overall, I’m satisfied with this first year of KLKRR.

PS: If you’ve read all the way through, congratulations! Unfortunately, I can't post NSFW images in public messages on Patreon, but rest assured, there is a reward planned for you. If you post the message 'Happy birthday' in the 'Event' channel on my Discord server, I’ll send you a DM with a storyboard of the WIP for one of the NSFW scenes coming in the next update (V0.7)

PS2: Yeah, this is my way to check if you've read everything.

See you next time!