Dev Update #3: Beyond the Next Fest

Steam Next Fest is over! Let's continue towards release!

A huuuuge thank you to everyone that wishlisted Bonding, Now or played the demo during the Steam Next Fest! It means a lot to me, really. I have mentioned this already in my previous post, but this is exactly why I started Bonding, Now: to share my works and fantasies with others.

There is a lot of competition on the eroge and visual novel landscape right now. There's a lot of talented artists, great storytellers and the emerging AI technologies certainly open up a lot of new possibilities. But I still think some people will appreciate this slightly amateur feel in Bonding, Now. I also don't think there's many games with lineart 2-bit aesthetics that I have. There are three reasons why the game's artwork looks as it looks. The first one is skill. Throughout the years I tried working with color, shading, highlights; maybe it's a matter of tooling (I'm using GIMP for all of my drawing), but I think I'd need much more practice before I'd get to a level that would make me feel satisfied. Second reason is of course time. Adding color, shading, lightening - all of this requires a lot of time, which means who-knows-when I would be able to release my work. The final reason, and the most important one, is that I actually like working with lineart. I think a lot of depth can be presented through line thickness and well-thought shapes. I really like these aesthetics. There's still a lot for me to learn, but I can already see improvements over the years. And I hope you like them too.

So, what next? Story #4!

Development continues. Seeing gamers whishlist Bonding, Now gave me the additional motivation boost that I needed. I think I have most of the code ready, at least for the main stories that are currently in development, so I can concentrate on drawing and story-boarding. Short term, my main goal would be to finish up Story #4 as it's very close to completion. I am quite fond of that one, really, and I'd like to maybe write about it a little bit.

The stories in my game are all about the atmosphere, the vibe. I don't know if you, the players, will be able to feel the same things that I do, but there are certain 'feels' I have about each moment of the game. Story #4 was inspired by the four of us: me, my partner and two other friends, ditching a bigger party just to relax in our own company elsewhere. This vibe of us just having fun, drinking, talking, playing tabletop, this is something I wanted to recreate here. There was this slight sexual tension in the air - but in a healthy, friendly way. I hope you had moments like these as well, and that you'll enjoy playing through those once again. Maybe with a sexually satisfying ending, perhaps? Another special thing about Story #4 is that it has a separate story within the main story. But that's as much as I will say to avoid unnecessary spoilers!

Wishlist and poll!

There's so many things I'd love to write about, but I think I wrote enough already! Just maybe on a final note: give the demo a try if you have a moment! You can find it on the Bonding, Now steam page. It's far from perfect, but I think it gives some insight into how the final product will look like. If you like it, please wishlist! Oh,