OVERVIEW
It’s been a hell of a time.
In a good way! There wasn’t a September round-up because I was setting THIS up in the background. I wanted to get everyone some updates on all of KINJAKO’s projects, and the Patreon paywall never sat right with me. I’d still like to be supported somehow while I work on all of these games, but I think I need other methods of doing that. Hopefully that’ll come with my games getting more traction, which will then allow me more opportunities to help you all help me out.
Anyways!
I’m excited to get this going. This will be the first pully public monthly round-up, and I want to have a lotta good stuff to talk about because October was BUSY. So, let’s not waste any time here.
KEEPERS OF THE KEEP: CHAPTER III
It released! As of October 3rd, you can now play Keepers of the Keep’s third chapter, and I’m really excited to see people get to playing it. There’s TONS of new content that got added, and I’m so stoked that I got to include features that I thought there wasn’t time for or had would have to cut. Namely, the sorta star of the show in terms of features; the Divya Springs.
Believe it or not, this is just sort of an idea that… Came to me. It hit me one day that this could be a feature of the game; a place where you can spend more intimate quality time with the various romanceable characters of the game, while also doing something about your Patience. Patience in particular got to be sort of an issue, because a lot of people are still trying to get their bearings when playing the game the first time, meaning they’re prone to making mistakes. Mistakes cost you Patience, and I was watching people have 40ish or even 30ish Patience by the time Chapter II ends. So, not only does this help, but it gives you a lot of that precious Patience back while also giving you some exclusive art and special scenes to show for it.
Currently, you can bathe in the springs alone (there’s special art for both Monet and Vincent), or with one of the six romance options. However, if you saw the screenshot of the springs entrance, you’d see that there’s a special “???“ option. What is that? Well… You’ll have to wait until Chapter IV. Not that you’ll actually all see it, but some of you might. It’s more that THAT option is only really possible to get starting in Chapter IV, so that’s the soonest you’ll see it if you’ve unlocked the conditions for it. What are the conditions? You’ll have to start hunting when Chapter IV comes out.
Anyways, I’m very happy with Chapter III, the direction it’s taking the story, and how well everything turned out. I really want to see more people play through the new Keeper chapters in particular, because there’s some VERY cool twists and turns that start to develop as they hit their climax in the next chapter.
Speaking of the next chapter…
CHAPTER IV
Chapter IV is in development, now that Chapter III is out. For those of you who are new here, the game is slated for a v1.0 release in 2027. Each chapter is a major update, so you can do a little math in order to figure out how frequently the chapter updates may be released. There are 7 chapters total, and once Chapter VII releases, that’s v1.0, baby.
And so, we’re on Chapter IV now. Once it’s out, we’re officially over the halfway mark in terms of updates, and FAR past the halfway mark in terms of the game’s contents. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t. What I WILL say is that Chapter IV is easily going to be the biggest update to the entire game, and it’s not close. These Keeper story chapters are the biggest and chunkiest, it will have the most artwork that needs to be done, it will be adding yet another quality of life feature, and much more. Needless to say, Chapter IV is a doozy of a chapter. This is not to say that Chapters V-VII don’t have a lot in them, they do. That’s just the sheer SCOPE of Chapter IV on its own. It’s a beast.
So, if completing this next chapter is the hardest part of developing the game, that means everything else will be easy from there! The rest of the game will be able to be developed at a blitz pace comparatively, even though I’ve got my work cut out for me when it comes to Chapter VII. Still, I’m excited, and I can’t wait to get Chapter IV here soon!
I have a little more to say about Keepers of the Keep for this round-up, but first, let me give something to those of you who like it when I make horror games.
GESTALT: MEMORIA in PRODUCTION
Heyyyyy so you know how I said that Keepers of the Keep: Chapter IV is going to be the biggest update to that game? Well, what if I told you that I’m going to be doing that while also… Developing another game alongside it.
GESTALT: Memoria is FINALLY beginning production. I’ve been wanting to start this game’s production since March, but KotK has kept me so busy between it’s early access launch and first major update that I haven’t had the time to dedicate more to GESTALT: The First Day’s sequel. Well, now that KotK is on Steam, and now that I’ve got a good schedule going for me in terms of making updates for it… I think I’ve found a way to make it work.
What does that mean? It means that I’ve opened up the engine, given Memoria it’s one project file, and am starting to organize everything I need to get started. In other words, today has been the first day of production on the game. I plan to write the game’s opening sequences this month, and so, some of the round-ups may now include developments on Memoria alongside KotK. BUT! Not all the time! KotK still has developmental priority, being that it was in production first, and needs to reach the finish line first before Memoria can get all the attention. I need to plan my time more wisely than ever now.
This is going to be the structure of KINJAKO games moving forward.
There will be a Main Project game, and a Sub Project game. Main Project games will be the games that takes more time and resources to develop with longer development periods (like Keepers of the Keep), whereas Sub Project games are games that take less resources with shorter development periods (like GESTALT: Memoria). That way, there will always be at least one project under development.
This was always the plan with this little studio, and I can’t believe the day is here where I’m actually doing it. I’m happy that it’s Memoria, because this game means quite a deal to me to finally start making in full. I have a lot of ambitions for this game, and out of all of the games I’ve theorized or have made pitch decks for, this one is the strangest and most experimental by far.
I’m so excited.
KEEPERS of the KEEP NEEDS HELP
This last section takes a little vulnerability to write, but I’ve been getting better at talking about it the more I do it. Namely, this has to do with the visibility of Keepers of the Keep.
At the time of writing this, Keepers of the Keep only has 8 reviews on Steam. You don’t have to be a metrics or analytics person to know that’s not… Good. At all.
I’ve talked with some other developers and creatives, and have also consumed many blogs posts and articles on what could be the problem. For starters, let’s face it: I am one small studio. On top of being the creative lead, I’m also the main artist, animator, programmer, writer, and in some cases, marketing person. It’s hard to be all of those things at once. While I’m developing the game, I can’t promote it, and while I’m promoting the game, I can’t develop it.
Then there’s the rise of AI games on Steam. And yes, I’ve definitely felt the way it’s been choking the platform, and it’s been hurting the visibility of other games besides KotK. To give a more official statement on AI’s usage in this industry, professionally speaking, I think it has no place in any creative field, and that the production of middling games with no soul flipped from stolen code and assets will never hold a candle to a game made with passionate humans behind it. To speak NOT professionally, I think the use of AI is embarrassing and pathetic.
Finally, Keepers of the Keep is a VERY niche game. I can’t think of another game like it, and being that I’m only one person, it’s hard to get the game in front of people. It’s a very unique concept, made my a very small team, launched on a very large platform. Not to mention the early access status as well.
This has affected the game’s development quite a bit, in ways I don’t think anyone will ever see. Cut features, collabs and deals that can’t be pursued, and the loss of outside-of-game features like an official store or the Steam Points Store.
So, how can you help?
Write a review!
Look, if you’re on the newsletter, there’s a chance you either like the GESTALT games, or you like Keepers of the Keep already. If you’ve played a GESTALT game, consider trying out Keepers of the Keep for something completely new! And, if you’ve already played Keepers of the Keep, WHAT’RE YOU DOING, HUH?!
If you’ve played the game, let your thoughts be known! A good review, a bad one, I’m just looking for honest feedback. You have no idea what getting an official title on Steam does for a game like this (such as “Positive“ or “Very Positive“, something that takes at least 10 review), and it would help the visibility of a game like this in ways you couldn’t imagine. I very literally cannot pursue certain aspects of this game without reach, so if you’ve played the game and have any feelings about it so far, please consider leaving a review!
CONCLUSION
Man, what a long one.
I’m happy that this is going the blog route, and that I can get this to everyone in a more broad way rather than paywalling it. I’m excited to get to write more of these, and I’m excited to give everyone more news about Keepers of the Keep as well as GESTALT: Memoria from this point forward. It’s going to be a hell of a ride as I race to the launch of both of these titles, so stick around, and let’s see what we can do!
