Update #3 — Progress & New Release!

Hello, and thank you for your patience! It’s time for another long-awaited update. We have lots of exciting news for everyone!

Feedback

Since the last time we updated, we have received more feedback through our quality assurance form. The responses highlighted previous feedback from other players and also revealed interesting statistics about character popularity.

• Horror/Psychological Horror: About 60% of players indicated that the psychological horror was too light. As a result, Ren is currently incorporating more horror elements in the revisions and is planning more immersive gameplay elements with Wes and Ende.
• Character Art: Most players indicated the need for more character art. The updated build will have more sprites, CGs, and art assets to enrich the gameplay experience.
• Character Popularity: 62% of players who submitted the feedback form chose Rei as their favorite character, and 38% chose Jin. Most people who chose Rei mentioned that he was a relatable and believable character. 86% of the players selected Belle as their least favorite, with the other submissions naming Carillon and Jin.

Writing & Editing

Ren has begun heavy revisions of the common route and is currently finishing Scene 1 out of 5. New choices and scenes have been added, as well as indications for new and improved sprite placements. In the meantime, Ende has done another pass of editing and has finished up to Scene 4.

Here's a sneak peek into one of the additional scenes:

Campus Guide "... And this is Kalroze National University's administration building, where all of the official business takes place. You have the reception lobby here, along with the campus resources office, tutoring center, and various offices…"

??? "Including the Student Admissions Center. Shall I give all of you lovely students a look around?"

Art

The first character to get a sprite is none other than one of the fan favorites, Belle. Eightway did an amazing job at capturing her essence!

Belle shows up quite often in the story. What’s the significance of her role, and how will her relationship with the characters develop as we get deeper into the story?

Read her character profile here:

Any guesses on who the next character to get a sprite will be?

Programming

We are in the process of planning mini games for the full game! They will be text-based, light mini games, with the possibility of more complex ones depending on necessity. What kind of mini games would you be interested in seeing in the game?

Release Schedule

With the current progress of The Glass Coffin, we project that the full demo will be released late this year or early next year, with the full game in late 2020 or early 2021. Although we want to release the game faster, we are focused on ensuring the quality of the content is up to standards. However, we promise that the wait will be worthwhile, and that we’ll continue to update regularly with our progress.

Patreon

Our Patreon is now live! Pledge to any of our tiers to receive an exclusive glimpse into our development process. We will be releasing sneak peeks into our work every month exclusively for our patrons, including: art and script previews, and polls for The Glass Coffin, as well as our other titles. Not only that, but your name will be featured in the credits of our games. Pledge now to play a special role in our development process!

New Game Release!

We shifted gears and worked on another title for Yaoi Jam 2019, releasing the demo for the lighthearted fantasy visual novel, Sweet as Magic. Help Ryuu accomplish his dreams of making his cafe successful, and tangle yourself in unexpected twists of fate and a magical romance along the way.

Stay Updated

Keep up-to-date with Crystal Compass by following our Twitter, itch.io, and of course, by pledging to us on Patreon! We're thankful for all of the support we've been receiving up until now, and we're excited to show everyone more content in the near future. Stay tuned for more updates very soon!

If you enjoyed The Glass Coffin, don't forget to leave a rating and review, and share it with your friends!