Hello everyone!
Hope you had a great week! 😊

In this week's devlog...

v0.3.0 released in early access

It's finally here!
v0.3.0 is completed and now available in early access on my Patreon! 😊

What to expect?

• The story continues where it left off!
• Around 6500+ words of new dialogue!
• 3 new CG sets of H scenes:
  • One scene consisting of two parts
  • One secret H scene—Can you find it? 😮
• A new outfit for Yuma! (check out the 1st picture below!)
• A forest navigation minigame! 🎮 (check out the 2nd picture below!)

Yes, that's right: "Orange Smash" now features its first-ever minigame! Don't get your hopes up too high—it's a pretty simple minigame 😅 But I believe it'll be a fun d to the experience 🙂 Here's how it works:

Basically, you'll use a map to navigate through a section of the Infinite Forest by choosing your path. Unlike video game minimaps, though, it won't show you your current position—you'll have to keep track of it yourself! 👀

I'm curious to see what the reception to this minigame will be! 😊
It might not be the most exciting minigame, but I believe it will provide some variety in the visual novel 🙂

Public version when?

As mentioned in previous devlogs, from v0.3.0 onward, the public version of "Orange Smash" will be one version behind the Patreon version, meaning, v0.3.0 will release publicly once v0.4.0 releases in early access.
If you don't want to wait that long and don't want to pay much: Get the lowest Patreon subscription ($2) and immediately cancel it, which would still give you access to the new version! 👀

Next steps

Not gonna lie—the development of v0.3.0 did burn me out a bit 😓
For the past 3-4 weeks, my weekends have been almost entirely dedicated to working on the visual novel, and I neglected a lot of other things 😅
As I gain more experience with this whole visual novel development thing, my standards for what's acceptable also rise, which ultimately takes up more development time 😑
This is not a bad thing, since it results in a better product—but it also means that development now is more time-consuming than in the beginning...

So going forward, I want to follow a healthier pace for the development ✨
This means taking more breaks and also stepping back from the novel when needed. This will also give me the chance to:

• Focus on promo material for the visual novel (like bonus artworks)
• Explore other creative ideas

To support this healthier rhythm, I've decided to remove the expected release dates from the roadmap for now. I’ll continue to share these weekly progress updates, but I won't stress myself with self-imposed deadlines.

That being said... I'm definitely excited to work on v0.4.0! 🔥
I have some fun ideas planned for it that I'm really looking forward to share! 🙂

That's all for this week!
Have a great day and see you all next week! 👋😊