The time has finally come! Common Route is available to our Kickstarter backers and those who have pledged for beta access via Backerkit/Paypal. Those who pledged externally should have received an email with the download link, while backers should have access to an exclusive post.

WARNING. Common Route contains some disturbing content regarding violence and mental health.

While everything theoretically ought to run smoothly, this is a beta version. I highly recommend you save frequently. Also, please don’t use your old save files. They have old data that will crash the game, so delete or overwrite them. You can use the “skip to next choice” function in the quick menu to quickly get back to your previous spot in the demo :]

I would absolutely love to hear from you! Please inform me of any bugs, issues, or feedback. We’re fastest at responding to Twitter and the new live chat on our website, but also have Tumblr and a good ol’ contact form.

If you enjoyed it, connect with us and post your thoughts, or discuss with fellow readers on the Studio Theophilus forums or our sparkling new Gamejolt page! <3

Please also note that the credits sequence is not updated and will not be updated until the game is released.

Feedback

If you’re able, I would really appreciate comments on the mystery segments. Were they logical? Did you get stuck on any of the text input sections? Would you like to suggest any terms added to the list?

I would also love to hear anything you particularly enjoyed.

Announcement

I also have an important announcement.

Due to recent personal circumstances, I have to ease back from developing Zodiac•Axis full time, and balance the development cycle with freelance design and music composition to gain some income.

I’m very sorry for this inconvenience. However, Zodiac•Axis is by no means cancelled. It’s not out of money and I’m still working on it for the majority of every day. But unfortunately, I do have expenses to pay, and working on Zodiac full time does not currently provide a source of income (as every penny of funding naturally ought to go to the project).

What this means:

Delays.

Nothing more, nothing less. The quality of the game will retain, but it will have to develop at a slower rate. The game itself doesn’t need extra funding or specific resources. I just won’t be able to create assets as fast as I have been doing.

As to how extensive the delays are, I’m currently projecting an additional year until full release, but I’ll get a better idea as I start taking on contract work and learn to balance my time.

Thank you so much for your continued support, and again, I apologize for all the delays and inconvenience. I only hope that the final product will be worth waiting for!

Quick Thanks

The amazing programmer Ian has worked extremely hard to smooth out the game, implement the new and entertaining features, and overall keep everything actually running!

A huge hat off to Elphaze, my darling honey nugget artist friend who’s helped in massive ways. She created sketches for all extra character sprites, speeding up the workflow 2x! And she also drew AMAZING flashback sequences.

And a big thanks to John Wesley Go and Katie Dagnen, who playtested the buggy alpha of Common and tromped through errors in your stead.

— Luna <3