This is a quick heads up meant to both promote the next devlog and also thank you all for continuing to follow this project at the months pass by :

1. I would first like to thank the many of you who have decided to give the project a chance by keeping track of it ever since it's first announcement. Your support genuinely helps me continue forward as i face the reality of what making a mid-sized game truly entails of a singular person. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you dearly.

2. The next devlog will probably be the last one before the first playable prototypes start coming out. As you can see from the few screenshots I've slapped above, I am getting closer and closer to finally being able to piece together a playable demo. So if everything goes well, you should all be able to start playing this game (finally) over the coming summer.

3. Finally, writing up devlogs do tend to leave my mind, which is why they only come once every few months. And while i do plan to fix that eventually, for now I prefer to focus on the game's production and leave things tied to "Marketing", if we can call it that, for after the first prototypes launch. (Since it'll give me a lot more media to use to make Articles that attract more players as time goes on)
   
   If you wish to see more updates and follow the project from a little closer, you can join the official Cz Studios discord server. Feel free to also ask any questions you might have there, i'll be happy to answer to the best of my abilities : https://discord.com/invite/9GUSb46ePx

As of today, i can now officially say that the project has now been locked in stone, meaning it's niche, gameplay loop and all other aspects as to what this game officially is, are now finalized and will no longer change. (As to avoid the endless addition of feature hell a lot of ambitious projects ends up falling into)

This game, as such, can now be defined as such :

• Point Origin : Servant to The Monster Lord, is a Horror Parkour game where one explores a set of massive super structures known as "Maintenance Shafts" (Or Mainshafts, for short) with the goal of finding a way out.

• Point Origin is, however, also a JRPG with a unique battle system that occurs within the dark fantasy world of Nechauria, where the protagonist finds themselves enslaved by the ruling Monster Lord of the continent of Uasuth.

• Both the worlds of the Mainshaft Sealing System and Nechauria features a storyline that ties the two worlds together, and share in the same parkour gameplay element. Meaning movement across both world will be tied to this same mechanic.

• The story within Nechauria will feature multiple story branches and a choice based system where the player's choices will impact the story, characters and the world in general. The story of the M.S.S will however be linear, and evolve as the player progresses through the story of Nechauria. Details as to how this work will be expanded upon in the coming devlog.

And finally, and this is a big one :

• Following the evolution of the project scope and goals, both the world of Nechauria and the Mainshaft Sealing System will be fully 3D. This game can no longer be considered to be a Visual Novel project as of the writing of this heads up.

After having had to learn blender to develop the first room of the first Mainshaft you can see in the screenshots up above, i have found myself far more inclined to creating a 3D world for both Nechauria and the M.S.S instead of sticking to the visual Novel style.

Obviously, neither Nechauria nor the M.S.S will be open worlds, as that'd basically be impossible for me to do on my own. I am instead going for open ended levels with clear delimitations, as that is far more doable for a singular person.

Finally, the game's scheduled release and eventual monetisation is also something i am debating in my mind. As of right now, i can confirm at least two things :

1. The game's demo will release progressively through both Gamejolt and Itchi.o. This demo is set to cover the entire prologue of the game across both the M.S.S and Nechauria. This demo will be entirely free to download and play, and feature a generous amount of content to ensure players can play and replay it while waiting for the full release.

2. The game's paid full version will be available only on Steam, regardless of if it will be in early access of if it'll be sold as a singular package once it is completed.

I am currently debating this exact thing, and will probably decide based on what works the best for me in the end, regardless of it is an Early Access release or a full Premium one.

Finally, I will also release both a Patreon to allow those of you who would like to support me and the project to do so, and a "Supporter DLC" on steam, that will allow those who want to send a bit extra money my way to be able to do so as well.

The Patreon will only be released once the game is in an acceptable state to my own eyes, which will probably mean having at least two prototypes out in a reasonable amount of time or something. As for the DLC, it will obviously only be available once the paid game is available for purchase.

Content available in both the Patreon rewards and the DLC aren't set in my mind yet, so i won't expand on that for now. I can however say that i despise the idea of paywalls preventing people from gaining access to content, so there'll probably be none of that going on there.

As for the supporter DLC, it'll probably have a skin for the protagonist of the M.S.S or something. Nothing you'd need to buy if you don't want to, as it is solely meant to be a package to support me and not something that extend content or anything like that.

The price point, finally finally, is currently set to be around 24€ or something in my mind. But that is subject to change depending on my own valuation of this game's content compared to other similar products.

And that is about it for now. The next devlog is set to develop on all of that, and will feature videos, Gifs and more in order to properly present the project's goals and themes.

I once again thank you deeply for your support of this project, and will see you soon enough with the first playable prototype!

Have a good one boiz.

~Cbrainz