Another progress update... And a grand opening!

My fellow Kyosians! Two updates within almost a quarter - who could've thought!

First of all, Ollie's got something for you:

What's the occasion? Well, as I mentioned in the previous update, our pre-order store is finally open! We ended up using BackerKit as a platform - primarily because it was important for us to ensure a seamless integration with our original Kickstarter campaign, but based on my experience so far, it also turned out to be a great platform in itself.

So in case you missed the Kickstarter and would like to support the final stretch of development and get Minotaur and U7 merch in the way of thanks, you can now do so at:

https://minotaur-u7.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders/

The store features our original Kickstarter lineup of physical merch (a T-shirt, poster, cards pack and artbook):

However, since we produced a lot of new visuals over the course of development, I have updated the design options for some items:

They're all featured on the store page, and you can also check higher-res versions on our website .

On top of that, we've added Ollie and Nod plushies to the mix! For the Ollie plushie, we even made a production prototype:

And while Nod didn't get one yet, you can be sure that, based on Demi's fantastic designs, he'll look no less adorable:

Both plushies will have detachable elements (an idea icon for Ollie and a synthetic arm for Nod), and while we're leaning towards their "default" outfits (as seen on the images above), closer to the full release, we plan to offer some options for community voting - similarly to how we did for Ollie's in-game outfits earlier.

Now go and buy, buy, buy! But before that, please keep in mind that our estimated delivery date is 2028 - which in terms of Minotaur time is nothing, really. Jokes aside, I realize that it's quite a ways off, but the store is primarily intended to support the completion of development, plus we'll only be able to produce most items (or offer full design lineups for them) after we're done with the game! Meaning, the artbook and card set would otherwise be incomplete, and posters and T-shirts would have fewer design and character options.

For this reason, don't worry about picking those now! You'll be able to specify all applicable details (such as T-shirt size and design, for example) in a survey that we'll send out before starting production. You'll also be able to confirm your delivery address - since it may change and it's difficult to estimate shipping costs in advance, they aren't included and will be calculated and charged separately after the survey!

Considering the 2028 delivery, we also don't want to put any kind of pressure on you and time-gate, so the store will remain open for a while, and we'll make sure to announce its closure well in advance. That said, if (unlike Ollie) you prefer your things digital and would still like to support the game further, later this year we also plan to release "Minotaur - Ollie's Pack", which will include an alternative in-game outfit for Ollie, digital artbook and "alternate" OST containing approximately 1 hour of additional music not featured in the base game, such as unreleased and alternate tracks.

Original train photo by Alexandre Debiève

We actually intended to release this support pack alongside the pre-order store, but decided to postpone it until we have Ollie's alternative outfit ready, because we wanted the pack to feel more substantial by including something that you can use straight away into it!

(By the way, did you notice the new store assets? Just like the website, that's also a part of preparation for the next year release! Library assets will be updated too, and we've also started the work on the emoticons, cards and page backgrounds.)

And that's that! We hope you enjoy browsing the store ᓚ₍⑅^..^₎♡ In the meantime, our next goal is to release the new game version on all branches... We have quite a lot of content that we want to pack into it - as a matter of fact, I think that we'll skip v.0.8 and will go straight to v.0.8.5! I'll provide more details about what's included in the next announcement - obviously Thea's route...

...But what else, I wonder?

We hope you stay tuned to find out more, and as always, we would like to thank you for your amazing patience and support!

Love ♡🐧

Nick & u7committee