celestialcrownsvn

[celestialcrownsvn]

4/6/24 Demo Update

Hey guys, got that demo update I promised. It's up on itch.io right now and will be updated on Steam tomorrow.

Some major changes to note:

Bellatrix's sprite has been changed to better reflect their voice actor's appearance, per the VA's request.

The stat screen can no longer be viewed while clicking through and reading. I saw a lot of confusion in testing over how to close it during choices, so I've added a 'close' button to head that off.

All skin tones have been added and reflected in the CGs.

Please report any bugs to the Celestial Crowns discord.

Here is the full changelog:

Added additional voice "barks" for Lune, Terra, Sahi, Celeste, and Aalam

added 15 new SFX

added existing SFX in places where it made sense to

added additional art assets to ballroom scene

added camera animations throughout first 3 chapters

created chapter cards for first 3 chapters

implemented new skin tones

added voice lines where needed

fixed bug where camera was not working properly when skipping

updated textbox

updated popup for increased stats

updated save/load screen bg

updated preferences screen bg

added additional text effects in some places

added new theme song

added new sad song

added new romance song

changed music on character select screen 

adjusted button size for title buttons to ensure the hitbox was working properly

adjusted text size of save file names so they fit under the screenshots

adjusted Terra's history screen picture to be generic to accommodate all skin tones

changed some text for clarity (no trade at all if marriage goes through, the only benefit is they must protect each other when wars happen)

changed main menu

changed character customization music

There is also a new trailer. Give it a watch, it has some new CG teasers ^^ Any feedback/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated, video editing isn't my strong suit.

New BGs

Our BG artist is on fire! We now have a first look at the inside of Andromeda castle.

I still haven't had time to sit down and start writing the third draft in earnest as some life stuff tripped me up, but with any luck by next week I will be ready for that. Hope you enjoy this update in the meantime ^^

#visual novel #celestial crowns #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization

[celestialcrownsvn]

Beauty Kills the Beast

Announcement  📣

 The mobile app Dorian tapped me to release a spinoff of Celestial Crowns on their platform, and today is launch day! Play the first three episodes now to get free in-app currency!

Features:

👑 3 love interests

👑 A new empire in the world of Celestial Crowns

👑 Faceless or custom MC, you choose

As I continue to release episodes and receive player feedback I hope to improve the story further and add more CGs! Enjoy this spinoff while you wait for the release of Celestial Crowns 🥳

When you're betrothed to an evil prince, will you follow your destiny into his bed...or kill him instead? 

#celestial crowns #visual novel #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #lgbtq #dorian

[celestialcrownsvn]

3/31/24

Hello all,

Short update today. Here's more background progress for this week!

I won't be streaming today due to family obligations!

Also, expect a big announcement Tuesday!

Told you it would be a short update. Have some life stuff (good life stuff!!) happening right now, but things should settle in the next couple weeks and you'll see more updates as I work on things more consistently!

#celestial crowns #visual novel #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #kickstarter #lgbtq

[celestialcrownsvn]

1000 wishlists

Wow I saw a huge influx of likes and reblogs for the master post yesterday! Thanks guys, every little bit helps. On that note, we are so close to 1000 wishlists on Steam! We are just over the 880 mark. Once we hit 1,000 we'll meet one of our community goals and I will add another CG to the game! Help us get there, wishlist the game if you haven't already! Even if you plan on downloading it from itch.io, it really helps visibility 🙏🏾

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2338180/Celestial_Crowns/

#visual novel #celestial crowns #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #lgbtq #kickstarter #steam

[celestialcrownsvn]

Update 3/23/24

Hi guys! Tomorrow I'll be finishing my Lune x Terra drawing on twitch. Follow me at harlevinvns to be notified when I start at 3 PM EST.

Announcement

My job hunt has born fruit! I will be employed as of next month. Which means! Less anxiety and more relaxed Min for writing! And! Hopefully I can afford to commission a few more nice things for Celestial Crowns that the Kickstarter costs won't cover. We'll see!

I will have to relocate for my job so things will be a bit quiet as I get set up, but work on CC is progressing at a steady pace!

Backgrounds

So I've got more backgrounds to show! Here are some snippets:

How great are they? As you can see next up is a really atmospheric forest BG!

Editing

I'm starting the third draft editing Aalam's route. I have a new scene I'm excited to add that I think will really tie everything together!

Demo Update

I'm hoping that I can upload another updated demo sometime in April.

Here's a complete changeling:

added 15 new SFX

added existing SFX in places where it made sense to

added additional art assets to ballroom scene

added camera animations throughout first 3 chapters

created chapter cards for first 3 chapters

new skin tones for terra

updated textbox

updated popup for increased stats

updated save/load screen bg

updated preferences screen bg

added additional text effects in some places

added new theme song

added new sad song

added new romance song

changed music on character select screen

adjusted button size for title buttons to ensure the hitbox was working properly

adjusted text size of save file names so they fit under the screenshots

Updated voice barks

1 new background

New stat screen

Bug fixes

Nothing groundbreaking if you've already played, but it does give a much smoother experience! Check it out with your friends who haven't played yet!

#visual novel #celestial crowns #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #kickstarter #lgbtq

[celestialcrownsvn]

3/16/24 Update

Hello Tumblr!

Third Draft

I have a game plan for writing the third draft and I'm thinking I'm going to again start with Aalam's route. Because of all the changes I made in the second draft the third one doesn't need as much, so it shouldn't take as long as Lune or Sahi's route.

Sahi's route has some more technical issues due to a few additional branches it has compared to the other two. So those won't take as much mental power to fix but will still take some time to iron out the bugs.

Voice Acting

I've been putting in the additional voice lines and adjusted it so that each line now has a voice "bark" or grunt. I thought it might get annoying since I've seen other games that do this and wasn't a fan, but maybe it's because it's my own game, I ended up liking the effect. The second round of voice lines I added some more variants as well so that helped! So it's not just the hum over and over again.

My weekly streams have switched to Sundays at 3, so check out my twitch at harlevinvns if you'd like to watch me draw!

Backgrounds

THE NEW BG ARTIST FINISHED THEIR FIRST BG!!! It looks so great. Check it out!

That's the update for this week! Hope to see you tomorrow for the stream!

#visual novel #celestial crowns #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #lgbtq

[celestialcrownsvn]

3/10/24 Update

Hi Tumblr! Time to get back to our regularly scheduled updates.

Thanks for your patience with me this past month. I am back and better than ever! While, as I mentioned, I was traveling for most of January, there's still been some great progress made on Celestial Crowns that I can't wait to share. So let's get started.

Backgrounds

First, some bad news. Saffeine has stepped down from her role as background artist. She had to focus on other priorities. To keep to the budget, I'll still be using the backgrounds she has finished so far, and I have a new background artist who's eager to get started. You will recognize them as the person who drew the concept background for Canis!

Testing

Testing for the second draft of Celestial Crowns is finally over! I have all the feedback from testers and will be reviewing it so I can start making notes for the third and final draft. I'm really excited! All of the feedback was super helpful and very positive. I don't expect to make any major changes. Just some final polish and pizzazz as we go down this final stretch!

CGs 

The CGs are going strong! Erupan has been consistently sending me sketches, which are AMAZING, and I've been posting sneak peeks in the Discord sneak peek channel as promised. She's even gotten to the wedding night CGs...

Once all the sketches are done, she'll work on finalizing them. I WILL share peeks at the final CGs with everyone!

I also have all the skin tone variations for the CGs for the first three chapters (the demo).

Music

I might have mentioned this before but the music is all done, save for the end credits song! I will still supplement the OST with a few commercial-free songs to avoid repetitiveness. If you'll remember, I'm paying for the OST out of pocket, so it's not as extensive as I would like. But the songs we do have are beautiful, and I can't wait for you to hear!

Conclusion

Even with me away, it was still a solid month of progress for Celestial Crowns!

#visualnovel #celestial crowns #visual novel #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #lgbtq #kickstarter

[celestialcrownsvn]

I am live streaming the first three scenes of Lune’s route on twitch.tv/harlevinvns!

Don’t miss this first look at lune’s route!

#visual novel #celestial crowns #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #kickstarter #lgbtq

[celestialcrownsvn]

Andrea Pinup Stream

Hello Tumblr! I am back and will post a more comprehensive update soon. For now, I'm here to let you know I'll be drawing Andrea's pinup live at 3 PM EST!

#visual novel #celestial crowns #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel

[celestialcrownsvn]

Update 1/17

Hello all! A bit of an early update. I think I mentioned it before but I will be traveling soon and will not return until late February! Try not to miss me too much.

A few nifty updates, I've started programming Aalam's route! And I finished Lune’s coronation outfit for if Terra chooses him as King:

And horseback Sahi is finally in the game!

Next from me artwise will be Sahi's coronation outfit! I started sketching it in my last drawing stream.

Just fabulous! I'm so happy I get to give you these last little highlights before I'm off for a while.

What do you think of Sahi and Lune's new outfits? What are you most looking forward to in Aalam's route?

Thanks as always for your support!

#visual novel #celestial crowns #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization

[celestialcrownsvn]

Drawing Stream - Fem!Terra Pinup

Join me for another drawing stream! Today I'm drawing a pinup for fem!Terra

#visual novel #celestial crowns #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #drawing #digital art #drawing stream

[celestialcrownsvn]

Update 1/12

Hello all! I have been working on giving the first three chapters of Celestial Crowns those final touches that will make it a game you want to play over and over! Here is my changelog for the tweaks I made yesterday:

added 15 new SFX

added existing SFX in places where it made sense to 

added additional art assets to ballroom scene 

added camera animations throughout first 3 chapters 

created chapter cards for first 3 chapters

implemented new skin tones in Sahi CG 

added voice lines where needed 

fixed bug where camera was not working properly when skipping 

updated textbox updated popup for increased stats 

updated save/load screen bg 

updated preferences screen bg 

added additional text effects in some places 

added new theme song added new sad song 

added new romance song

changed music on character select screen 

adjusted button size for title buttons to ensure the hitbox was working properly 

adjusted text size of save file names so they fit under the screenshots

Here are a few screenshots!

Anyway, that's just what I've been up to! Check out the updates from the rest of the team:

Backgrounds

Stef has been hard at work on new backgrounds! Check out this field bg:

This is the next background I need for programming the rest of the game, so it allows me to move forward with polishing the routes while I wait for tester feedback!

Music

The OST is just about complete! I am just waiting on one more song from the composers.  The music in-game will be fleshed out with additional free and purchased songs. 

Voice Acting

I am sending out the new scripts for the VAs! This will include a few more voice barks, as well as about 20 full lines from their route. I made it so there's just about one fully voiced line per scene.

Conclusion and Coming Next

I'm really happy with how everything's gone so far! I've had a lot of fun adding polish to the game and I can't wait to start on the routes. It really looks and feels more like a completed game now! 

I will be traveling from 1/18 through the end of February, so posting will be on hold. However, the artists will still be working on their stuff, and the voice actors will be recording! Looking forward to updating you guys again! 

#visual novel #vndev #celestial crowns #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #character customization #english visual novel #kickstarter #lgbtq

[celestialcrownsvn]

1/1/2024

🥳🥳🥳

I can't believe I've had occasion to use this picture twice now... Celestial Crowns has survived two New Years!

Well I reached my goal, I finished editing/programming Lune's route and have sent it off to the testers before the new year! I am actually looking for MORE testers, so if you're interested, please reach out to me via discord (min5880) or email ([email protected]) and I'll get you set up. It will require reading through the route (about 65K words) by 1/31. The game is about 10 hours long including the common route, which you can skip if you've played the demo before. The programming is very minimal right now, it's just backgrounds expressions and some light music to give the vibe but allow the tester to focus on the story.

Kickstarter Rewards

I haven't had time to get to the route gameplay video yet, the end of the year was a whirlwind. But I hope to get it out next week!

What's Next

I am going to review the results from the other route testing and start formulating my plan for the third draft! Which I'll be starting at the end of January once the responses for Lune's route is in as well. That way I can see what needs to change big picture-wise and can make confident edits.

I'll be putting in more work on a secret, CC-related project that I hope to reveal soon! It's been a little pushed back with some other things that have come up but next week things will be less hectic for me.

Wishing you guys all the best in the New Year! Thank you all for your support in what's my biggest commercial project yet. I've been so touched by the response to CC and I can't thank everyone enough for your kind words and shares. And of course, getting it kickstarter funded! 2023 was a great year for CC, here's hoping 2024 is even better!

#vndev #visual novel #celestial crowns #english otome #game development #celestialcrownsvn #english visual novel #character customization

[celestialcrownsvn]

so i've been messing around with the demo, and is the only way to romance Sahi to choose the war route? :(

i love him. i wanna do trade and stuff...

Yes, Sahi’s route is the going to war option. Lune’s route is trade, and Aalam’s comes from choosing to marry him. You cannot romance a different LI while on those routes.

[celestialcrownsvn]

12/25/23 Update

Hello all! This will be a brief update because I had an unexpected event last week that kept me from getting as much done as planned. And now the holidays are here! I can't believe it's literally Christmas as I write this. Snuck up on me.

Anyway, let's dive in!

Lune's best end is still in progress! I added a choice that I think will make for some repeat playthroughs. Most of the choices in the endings are just for flair/for Terra's personality to shine through, no major changes. Some routes do have a few that might slightly change events in the final wrap up, however.

And that's where I am! I've also been programming as I go and I'm a little over halfway done. Hoping to get it out to testers before the new year.

That's all for now! Happy Holidays! I wanted to make some nice holiday art with the characters, but there wasn't time. I might draw something up later!

#visual novel #vndev #celestial crowns #english otome #game development #celestialcrownsvn #english visual novel #character customization

[celestialcrownsvn]

12/19/2023 Update

Hello all! A bit late on this update because I spent last week doing a 4 day game jam--Velox Turbo.

Falling Star is a 30-minute dive into the world of one band and the struggles of their lead singer. I drew the sprites and a few CGs. It's been a while since I did a jam and I had a lot of fun!

Lune's route

I'm nearly done with Lune's best end. I've also started programming the other endings so that I can send it to the testers quickly.

Final Polish

Lune's route coming to an end means I'll be focusing on the final programming for the first three chapters and the beginning of the routes. I figured out an issue that was occurring with the camera while skipping thanks to a helpful soul on lemmasoft.

Kickstarter rewards

The next reward coming your way will be Aalam's route gameplay video! I'm hoping to spruce up the animations and transitions before sending it, but I'm aiming to get it out by the end of the year.

Conclusion

With the bare bones mostly finished on my end, my next goal will be ramping up marketing prior to the release of the game. Getting laid off waylaid my marketing efforts as I can no longer afford the help I was getting, but it just means I'll have to do more prep ahead of time so that I can do more marketing alone.

So some more shameless plugs:

Join the discord! This is where I am most active posting updates.

Wishlist the game on Steam!! We are so close to our goal of 1000 wishlists.

Check out the Celestial Crowns merch on ko-fi--Keychains are soon to come!

#visual novel #vndev #celestial crowns #english otome #game development #celestialcrownsvn #english visual novel #character customization #kickstarter #lgbtq

[celestialcrownsvn]

12/10/23 Update

Hello! Exciting news, Lune's bad end is done 🥳 It came in at about 7,000 words.

Mindboggling statistics: 

The game contains 271,144 words, 196 choices, 307 images, and 37 screens. I estimated 240K for this game. I'm not sure where the inflation happened, but I'm happy to have been able to deliver at least the estimated amount to everyone!

I have to add at least 4 more choices because an even 200 would be just perfect. That averages 60 choices per playthrough--though I know for a fact Aalam's route has about 100 choices (including the common route).

Anyway I do plan on adding a few more dialogue branches and such in my final draft, which I'm sure will lead to more choices, but I'm going to try and keep it around 200!

I've started Lune's good end! I'm very nearly done with it, probably will finish it up tonight.

Instead of working on Sahi's horseback riding sprite I was working on a CC adjacent project that has yet to be announced. But I look forward to showing you guys!

I know the writing updates don't look as exciting as the art ones but it's just as important! Very soon I'll be sending Lune's route on to the beta testers.

Speaking of beta testers, I'm steadily getting feedback in for Aalam and Sami's route! With any luck everyone will turn in their feedback by the end of the year and I can start the final drafts in January. Final drafts! Isn't that crazy?

A quick updated on our community goals:

Tumblr: 514/700 followers (you can do it tumblr!)

8/20 fanworks

653/1000 wishlists

We're so close to a new CG! If you haven't already, wishlist the game on Steam to get us closer to our goal:

I don't know why the link preview always says site error 😞 It should still work though.

Thanks for your continued support! Aalam's love letter will be coming to you this week.

#celestial crowns vn #visual novel #vndev #english otome #celestialcrownsvn #game development #english visual novel #character customization #lgbtq #kickstarter