Dev Update #2: Demo and Next Fest!

Steam Next Fest is right around the corner - and so is the demo!

Not many people know about Bonding, Now for now. And that's fine. From the very start this project never was about becoming the "new popular thing". If it was, I wouldn't be doing a hentai-like visual novel framework for sure. As the developer, I am well aware of what the game is, and what niche it fits in. It was always about me having fun creating, and possibly reaching a few other people around the world to also have fun playing the end result. If I'm able to find a few happy players that would like to participate in the community, I'll get everything I ever wanted.

But I think it would be nice for more people to know about what I'm brewing here, even if it's only a black-and-white collection of visual novel-like stories. I know nothing about marketing, and in general use social media infrequently. So it will take a while for me to figure out how to reach more people. In the meantime, to possibly get some "free" exposure, I have decided to participate in the nearest Steam Next Fest starting October 14 2024. And the demo build for that event is now ready!

Steam Next Fest: October 2024

I have already briefly mentioned this in my previous developer update. This took a bit of effort, but it looks like I was able to finalize everything that's needed to participate - and to get a demo ready before the Next Fest starts.

It was challenging as it was all done under time pressure, mostly due to my regular everyday work. I totally think it was worth it however. When preparing the demo content I actually did quite a lot of gameplay, story and bug fixes to the parts included. I probably introduced a ton of new issues while at it, but I intend to do some more testing in the coming days to flesh everything out.

The demo will go live really soon.

Bonding, Now - Demo

The demo content includes:

• Around half of Story #1

• Almost the whole first day of Story #5

I certainly wanted to have more to show for Story #5, but sadly I did not make it in time. The nature of the story, that the player enjoys much more freedom of where to go, what to do, how to react: all of this requires even more time and attention to detail. But I might update the demo with time, at least getting the full first day in Satoshi's vacation trip to all of you wanting to give it a spin.

As I was playing through the demo build, I saw how much progress I did with both story telling and even drawing between, say, Story #1 and #4 (which is still to be finalized). I think this is something each of you will have to keep in mind when playing the game. It's like a living organism. It's changing as I learn more, affected by what's happening around me. I left things as they are, as I still like both the artwork and the rest. I might tweak it slightly before the official full release though.

But please keep in mind: the demo content should only serve as a demonstration of what the game could be. There's still so much work that needs to be done. But the "feeling" should be the same. A bit of mystery, a bit of slice of life, a bit "more" of erotics.