Post-KS Update #23: July Update
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 26, 2022 at 11:04:06 PM

Just a small FYI, I'm transitioning into monthly updates because my work schedule is really full. I hope to do weekly updates again once work slows down a bit!

Got writer's block but overcame it!

I had to re-outline Victor's route because the old version of it wasn't detailed enough and I kept getting stuck. As a result, I think I can finish Victor's route in the next three weeks. I have 15 new bullet points to write and I think that'll be my final edits to it before completion. I also outlined the worst ending you can get for Victor and I think I'm pretty satisfied that it'll break your hearts.

:D

Diego's route is 75% done.

Additionally, for the  whole game we've crossed over 120,000 words and we're aiming to have him completed in the next three weeks as well.

Special KS Demo Delay.

Unfortunately, the audio engineer is on other projects and he let me know that the audio from Victor's route wouldn't be done until August 5th, after which I have to program them in. Unfortunately that means no new demo this month but it shouldn't be delayed TOO too much so we'll see!

An editor is now on the team!

With the additional funding I received, I was able to hire an editor. J. Cocco has joined the team and started editing Victor and the Nightmare Prince's routes. So far things are going well and I have a RIDICULOUS number of typos that needed to be sniped. J has also been a great help for making sure the story is well rounded and doesn't have any plot holes!

Original Release Date

I thought because of my early progress that I'd be able to release early but it looks like I'll be sticking to my original release date in December. I'm sorry about that but with the progress being made on the slower side due to my work schedule and current burnout management, it seemed like the best choice to make.

Last but not least, a new section:

Monthly Goals!

In this section, I'd like to outline what's supposed to happen in the next month:

• Diego's route writing completion (Shannon)
• Victor's route writing completion (owl.)
• Klaus route outlining (J. Cocco and owl.)
• Klaus outline beginning (owl.)
• Zaffre's route beginning (Shannon)
• Victor's CGs lined (Sapphire)
• Victor's route voiced (VA Cast minus Zaffre)

And that concludes July's update!

Post-KS Update #22
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 19, 2022 at 10:50:37 PM

Hello, everyone! I was going to wait until I had a lot more information and then dump it all, but then I was reminded by my lovely community manager that it's been over two weeks (sorry.)

So here's the updates I've been working on.

So as you guys know, I got funding for Roman, Zaffre, Diego and Klaus's routes. So.... first thing's first:

Diego and Klaus Photocards Created (but not yet released)

Here are previews of those photocards! I don't know if I've ever mentioned it but in case I haven't, these character arts were drawn by Chévere, who is a digital artist from Venezuela. Here are the pieces she created that I have turned into photocards.

Diego, front and back:

Klaus, front and back:

These are to match the current photocards, which look like this, back and front (minus ofc the smileys):

So soon, Diego and Klaus will be available for purchase!

From where?

Soon, my young padawans, soon......

In any case, let's move on to the next bit of information!

Introducing the new writer, Shannon Chou!

Shannon Chou is going to be writing Diego and Zaffre's routes. Shannon is a writer of color using she/her pronouns. She is from Southern CA and you can find her website here!

https://shannonchou.carrd.co/

Currently, Shannon is 12k words into Diego's route and is making excellent progress. :D

Please wish her well as she joins the Belle Automata team!

Working on Victor's route!

I've begun programming in the sprites for Victor's route and reached out to the audio engineer. As soon as I get those voices coded in, I'll be able to release the Kickstarter exclusive demo. Please wait for me :D I'm aiming for a July release so more on that as we get closer!

That and the soundtrack are the last KS prizes before full release so I'm very pleased to have come this far.

The Nightmare Prince CG Progress~

The Nightmare Prince's first two CGs are entirely completed! They're both so pretty ; o ; I can't share them unfortunately, but I will definitely share Victor sketches when we're ready.

That's all, folks!

//owl.

Post-KS Update #21
almost 2 years ago – Sun, May 29, 2022 at 11:12:21 PM

Sorry, as usual this update is late because I have work on Fridays. So let's hop right into it!

My first infusion happened on Monday!!

I would post pictures like I did on Twitter but I don't want to trigger anyone if you guys don't like needles. To be totally honest, it hurt a lot and I'm not looking forward to my next appointment.

However, for the first time in a long time, I've had enough energy to make it through the work day without sleeping during my lunches and breaks! I will begin writing Belle Automata again at full speed after my second infusion so I can also have enough energy to help the new writer to get on the horse.

Second Writer Selection

This week has really been the only week where I had the energy to read through submissions. I have read roughly three hundred submitted works (THREE HUNDRED, Y'ALL!!) And I have about 81 left to read. So far there's about 7 candidates that I need to whittle down from after I finish reading through all of the submissions. I wanted to get them started before June but due to my own slowness, it's looking like they'll start during June instead. No worries though.

CG Artist News

The CG artist reached out to me and we've finally gotten started! The CGs are spoilers but......

Here's one anyway!

I'll post a link in case you all don't want spoilers.

SKETCH_SPOILERS.png 

This is the fourth out of five CGs and is my favorite, hehe.

A big thank you!

First, thank you to those who said thank you for the physical prizes arrival. Second, thank you to those who have sent supportive messages in regards to my health. I've mentioned before that I'm a private person so I feel shy hearing such nice things. Thank you for being so understanding.

More health news... but not mine.

Due to eye surgery, Zaffre's voice actor will be out of commission for about two months. Please wish him well! I hope he has a speedy and safe recovery!

I hope that's a nice and full update! I can't wait to finish Victor's route in June!

//owl.

Post-KS Update #20
almost 2 years ago – Sat, May 14, 2022 at 10:48:08 PM

Hello, everyone and sorry for the lack of an update from me last week! As you can imagine, I have limited energy due to my health still not being good but I do have an update on that!

Positive(!) health update.

I finally, finally, finally have doctor's appointments for iron infusions, which is FANTASTIC news. :D One is on the 23rd of May and the other is on the 1st of June. Long story short, the financial counselor NEVER got back to me, so I just gave up and decided to talk to my doctor directly. I was pretty angry ngl but they finally called me back and basically said that they'll schedule me my appointments.

I'm really optimistic about the treatment: I'll have energy and be able to stand and function without dizzy spells so that'll be very conducive to writing, as you can imagine. Speaking of....

How writing is going.

If I'm honest (which I will always be with you guys) right now I'm averaging about 100 words a day, which isn't very much. Since April, I've only written about 3k. The reason it's so low is because I am pretty exhausted after work but as soon as I get my infusions, I should be back to my normal energy levels and thus normal output which is closer to 2k a day, not per month. As such, I don't think I'll finish Victor's route by the end of the month, putting me a little behind schedule, but I'm fully confident that I will be able to catch up with myself as soon as my health is back to where it should be. Please bear with me while I get my physical health in order, as I am extremely eager but simply physically unable to work as hard as I used to.

Physical Prizes.

I sent every single physical prize (which is where all of my energy has been going--writing out a couple hundred letters and packing them is no easy task, but I managed to do it, even though it took weeks at my current health status.) I even filled out the customs forms for the overseas posters!

If you don't receive your package by next Wednesday, please reach out to me directly.

Funding.

I received the money which means first things first: hiring a second writer.

A second writer?!

Yes, a second writer! I actually closed applications today--there were 137 applications so I have a lot of reading to do @w@;; I've read through 30 people's samples so far and there are so many excellent candidates. That said, I think that with my health limitations, it's high time for me to get some assistance and stop being so stubborn, especially if I want to finish Belle Automata's 6 routes this year. So, I'll keep you guys updated as usual with what goes on, even if it's not fast moving progress like I would like.

CG Artist Issues

Last but not least, I haven't heard from the CG artist in weeks and I'm pretty sure they ghosted. Thankfully, they did so before we got any art done but that basically just means wasted time on Belle Automata's part. I'm really frustrated and considering ways I can pay my original artist (AGAIN) but I'm pretty sure it's impossible now soooooo guess who's going to be on the search for another artist again? :'D Belle Automata~

In the end...

Through all the struggles, I will never give up so please believe in me and continue to believe in this project. All will be well! :D I will continue to push forward and I sincerely believe that even if I cannot write the whole thing as I intended and I have to share the load, Belle Automata will be written and completed this year. And you can take that to the bank!

love,

//owl.

Post-KS Update #19
almost 2 years ago – Sun, May 01, 2022 at 02:32:18 AM

Sorry for the late update! I have some GREAT news and some..... not so great news. Still <3 so let's hop into this week's update!

Snailing through programming the final voice acting for the Nightmare Prince's route!

Since work and my health have been.... not good (more on this in the next bullet), I've been working on programming. As you guys know, I finished writing the Nightmare Prince's route about a month or so ago but I was still waiting for the voice acting: well, I received it! And programming is underway.

It's a bit embarrassing to hear the romantic lines I wrote... but anyway, I look forward to you guys playing it.

Now the bad news:

My health is really not good right now. Usually I don't like to talk about details of my personal life but since it affects you guys, here we go.

I have some doctor's appointments scheduled for iron infusions because long story short, I have a chronic illness that causes severe anemia amongst other things and right now my anemia is out of control. I get dizzy at work and at home, and when I'm not working, I'm sleeping. I do take iron supplements twice a day but they are not enough to help me do much except function at work (more or less. Mostly less.)

I couldn't do anything about it because I quit my old job and couldn't afford the treatment without insurance. I applied for financial assistance but instead of approving it, they just asked me for pay stubs... which I had in limited supply because I'd just quit. Then I got my new job. I let them know, but usually in the US, if a job provides insurance, it starts 90 days after employment... instead of denying or approving me, I got hit with (you guessed it!) more requests for pay stubs. Which I provided. Did I hear back? (No.)

Now shocker, with my NEW job, I got my insurance within 30 days of employment which is pretty much unheard of but what do you know, my insurance cards came in the mail. Anyway, my anemia's steadily getting worse, but hopefully with my new insurance covering my appointments, I'll be able to actually get the treatments I need.

That has severely hindered how much progress I can make but I did schedule two appointments in May for iron infusions and I to b totally honest, I am beyond frustrated at this point since I was supposed to have these appointments in March. (Then April. And now...)

TL;DR: Ya girl is sick, health care in the US is trash and I'm working on getting the treatments I need to be better.

The good news... or should I say GREAT news is......... WE. GOT. FUNDING!!! Belle Automata will be funded to include all six routes.

Now what does that mean for you? Nothing, really. I will be releasing the Kickstarter version first and the additional routes as DLC. Not much yet to report as I'm still working out the fine details but next week I'll post a handy dandy chart to let you guys know what the upcoming months will look like.

If you're still with me, thank you for reading all of this.

Your continued support means the world to me <3

//owl.

TBH I'm a bit tired to come up with facts but feel free to submit questions for a Q&A to any character you wish!