Somnova Studios

So you may remember our previous blog post having a call for new artists. The bad news is, we didn't get any artists. The good news is, we're doing what every indie game without artists does.  We're going retro!  Missing Stars is now being done in the classic style of video games' past, and the early results are looking great! For instance, here's our menu, now updated with the new style: Also, we have already started rewriting our soundtrack to match the new look. We present you two songs off of the Missing Stars soundtrack in monophonic, hi-fidelity 8-bit glory. We also started on converting our already existing sprites, but our conversion algorithm isn't quite working as planned: We'll have something better by tomorrow hopefully. We know this a bold, new direction for Missing Stars that you probably weren't expecting, but we assure you it is for the best. We hope you will come to see this the same way we do: the way Missing Stars w...

I personally have received quite a few private messages from strangers wondering what our project is doing, and I think it's time we laid out exactly what is going on. 1. Development is still happening The relative scarcity of posts may imply otherwise, but we are working on this project as hard as ever. Admittedly, we have waves of productivity where we're sometimes more productive than at other times (which conveniently lines up with midterms and finals), but we're always working. We originally decided not to post much until the demo released, but we realized this was a mistake due to our aforementioned waves of productivity, which leads to: 2. We're going to stop being secretive about game assets We originally thought that keeping everything close to our chests would somehow make the project more prestigious, but in reality it just means people stop caring as little to no news is released. Even the recent reintroductions of the main characters was a back-and-f...

Slowly, with the hush of candles going out and final kisses stolen under the cover of darkness, Valentine's Day of 2014 comes to an end. Whether you spent the day holding hands with and coming closer to your loved one, like Isolda, exchanging meaningful glances over a specially made dinner, like Jeanne, or simply busying yourself thinking how you'll organize all of those new chocolates when you get back to your room (and who'll do something like that?), we hope each and every one of you had a wonderful time. Much as with writing, in this sense, there's something fundamentally paradoxical about love: it's an intensely personal experience, private, even - yet in the same time it is meaningless unless shared with another. Few people could attest to that complexity right now, in those final, fervid moments before night becomes morning and holy becomes every, than Erik Wilhelm, whose woes are laid bare in Worthington's new Valentine's Day short story, "Exp...

Just a quick one today. We want to keep you guys more in the loop about what's going on behind the curtain, so we'll be posting about landmarks in our development process as we hit them -- for instance, when our writers finish their content for the demo. It actually happened a couple days ago (he's been nagging me since then to do my job and post about it), but TJeffy has thoroughly embarrassed the rest of us by being one of our newest members and having his stuff complete before anyone else. So all you twins fans out there will be happy to know your waifus' scenes are all done. Not much else to report, but things are coming together in a way that's getting even jaded, old, day-one devs like me super excited. And I'll keep you posted on writing progress as it rolls out. There will probably be one of these announcements for a certain character with an eyepatch pretty soon. See you then. -alabaster (Discuss this post on the forums)

Merry Christmas, everyone! It's that time -- all the little kiddies in Vienna are just waking up to the presents that Santa left overnight. Over here, it's a bit earlier, but that doesn't mean I don't have some presents for you just the same. To set the Christmas mood, here's a little tune Kevin whipped up. He's dunked the theme song in egg nog and sprinkled it all over with tinsel to capture the wonders of the season! If you're looking for a feel-good story filled with all the joy and love you'd expect of him, Gloom wrote a little something you'll probably enjoy. You can check it out right here ! Last but not least, here's a bit of art from our friend roz, who has a has a tumblr you should check out . (Also, try clicking on that present to unwrap something else you might like.) And hey -- if I don't see you before again before then, have a great New Years! See you in 2014! -alabaster (Discuss this post on the forums)