karras

September Update

Hello everyone!

The last month or so has been a hard time for both myself and Nerton. That said, I now have a good first draft of Day 3 (technically, splitting the game up by days starts to break down at this point). This includes the first murder scenes and also several scenes of the Arran.

Nerton is of course doing everything he can, but his personal circumstances are making everyday life difficult. That said, we have been discussing not only some new BGs, but also CGs. Establis...

August Update #2 plus apologies

Hello everyone!

I'd like to thank you all for your continued support! I acknowledge the lack of concrete updates and in turn, I understand if you feel I am being unduly quiet or lacking in updates and/or content.

So on the side of what I am spending your money on, It is and always will go on backgrounds, sprites and CGs. I have at least half a dozen BGs to populate the coming scenes so anything you can send is going toward these assets.

That said, I need to be honest: I'vee ...

August update

Hello everyone!

Thank you for your continued support! August has been a very difficult month on account of my day job. That said, I have written much of the script for Day 3, but more than that, I've commissioned a lot of assets!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UPxBiV-3aCngId8QbuAhtxNwGriv6fv1/view

2023-08-21 19:22:57 +0000 UTC View Post

July Update (Spoilers!!)

Hi everyone!

So June was an intense month, although I did have a two week leave during which I made a lot of progress on outlining the next act, which is, to put it lightly, a big one. It represents not just a change from Act 1 to Act 2, but a complete change in setting as well, with all the resulting backgrounds it requires.

You can see from this post that I have aquired a scene of Garret while he is lamenting his physical appearance, inspired by feedback on the lack of imagery o...

Asset progress (spoiler warning!)

Hello!

My workload from my day job has cooled recently, plus I have a two week holiday starting from the 10th. I intend to use this time to translate my outline into a script for day 3 that could be released, backgrounds notwithstanding. 

As you can see from the sketches, Nerton is working hard to produce the assets required to do justice to the transition from act 1 to 2.

I can only apologise for the time taken, but as I’ve always maintained, what matters most to me ...

Garret CG WIP

Hello!

Commissions continue apace, this one being in response to feedback I've received that the player doesn't get enough of a look at our  MC, Garret. This is a sketch for when Garret is in the bathroom, lamenting his appearance. 

I feel this is important as currently, we only have one image of Garret in game, when he lights up in Svalbard. His body image issues and his scarred wrist are important aspects of his psyche and how he sees himself in the world, s...

May Update

Hello! 

So April and May have been, to put it politely, murder for me. Most nights I am working late, up to 8 or 9 pm, waking at 6 or even earlier for remote meetings. I have booked off June 10th for two weeks, which coincides with the release date of my current project. 

I have made much progress on my outline and now that I've gotten the survey outlining majority support for concentration on single plotlines rather than trying to build every plotline at once, I feel mo...

Approach to story

Hello!

So in my last update I mentioned how I was pondering how to proceed in light of the fact the story currently has unfinished paths and how I am planning on having multiple branching storylines. i find myself facing two major choices:

Focus on writing one storyline at a time, writing each branch to its conclusion before moving to the next, or:

Write each branch to a certain point, focusing on providing the full range of choices and each major update would focus on bring...

May Update

Hello everyone!

To put it mildly, the last couple of months have been mental at my day job, frequently requiring out of hours work and irregular meetings. Working on a 7-10 schedule on a semi regular basis has killed my productivity on Polar Night to put it mildly.

That said, I have written a lot of my outline, specifically settling on a lot of the plot points that previously were up in the air so it hasn’t been a total loss. As you can see above, I have a new background to show...

Surprise from Nerton!

So Nerton surprised me with these, totally out of left field and I adore them so much I decided to share them with you! At some point I may try to sell these as stickers or merch but that is something I have no knowledge or experience of, so for now, just thought I'd share these with you all! I am particularly in love with the PS1 box/disc art, it's just amazing and I want them as stickers myself hah.

March Report and postmortem (sort of)

Hi everyone!

So the release 0.2 was a long time coming and I'm doing my utmost to ensure the next update won't be as long in the making. However, the next update will involve the end of the story's first act and there are a *lot* of assets I require which I am discussing with the artist.

In addition, I am taking April to complete an outline of the rest of the story, which requires a bit of context.

While I've always had in my mind the ending, the main plot and a lot of the c...

0.2.1 Public release

So the stable public release is finally out! Work on the next build is already underway but as before it's difficult to give a time frame due to the need to commission the backgrounds required. The nextrelease will be the end of Act 1, where... significant events will occur, not to spoil anything! But it's going to require a lot of assets.

I will keep you all updated as I work, and any stuff I can show, I will post here as it gets completed!

It's ready! 0.2.0 available to download!

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally got a release candidate!

As I said in the last update, there are still placeholder backgrounds, one of which is a sketch rather than the old blurry photo. This background is currently in progress and will be replaced once it is complete and before the final build is made, so please bear with me, I understand it might seem jarring!

A lot of blood sweat and tears went into getting this ready and I'm so happy to finally share ...

Next build imminent!

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for your patience! A build candidate for patron-only release is almost ready. I will be adding all patrons to a special backers screen, which I will complete tomorrow. Besides that, I've been been painstakingly playing through day 2 over and over, tweaking, fixing and revising. I believe I am about finished, but I'd like to sleep on it and give it another pass before I pull the trigger on a new build.

There are still placeholder backgrounds which will...

Poll results

So the poll has been up a couple days and I can't imagine it's going to swing a different way short of an act of God, so it's official: I shall keep the Patreon as-is!

Words can't describe how much it warms my heart that people still want to continue to support me. Thank you all! I intend to finish coding Day 2 by end of February, by which point I will hopefully have some new music to include in the build. Once I know more on that front, I will let you know but if I need to release with...

What we saw at the Ninth

A fantastic track provided by Hop Skip and the Chew Toys! This is now integrated into Day 1 and Day 2. I cannot describe how wonderful it is, how it captures a windy, frigid theme.

Please, give your love to them on their YouTube and also on their twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/hchewtoys

Future of Patreon

Hello!

So as you know, I kept my job and have been getting on with programming day 2. it’s been slow going with my day job, but musician Hop Skip and the Chew Toys made an amazing track for me! I will add it shortly!

While programming Day 2, I’ve been seeking out musicians to create not just incidental tracks, but a more cohesive sound track. Something with a leitmotif, and tracks that will amplify a certain set of scenes in the upcoming update.

I’ve found someone who ...

February update

Hello everyone!

So first things first, I survived the redundancy  process. I still have my job!

I’m trying to get back on track but the uncertainty left me unable to concentrate as I wrote up my CV and approached potential employers. my new deadline for a patron only release is end of February although I am hoping to have it done by mid February. I cannot guarantee anything right now but please know your contributions are being spent on assets for both Day 2 and future...

January Update

Hello everyone,

I had intended to aim for a patron-only update for Day 2 at the end of January, with a public update in the middle of February, but I have learned the past Wednesday that I am possibly to be made redundant from my current stable full time job.

To put it mildly, this has upset my life, making it difficult to sleep, let alone write. I will have a better idea of my status come Monday (23rd) but until then, I will be taking a break. 

Please don't worry about...

December update and happy new year!

Hello everyone!

It's been quite a year, not just for Polar Night but in my life in general. I started this story (in its initial form) as far back as 2020 and went through a number of iterations, revisions and settings before finally settling on Polar Night. When I released the first build, I was doing it primarily to light a fire under my backside, a way of going "Okay, it's out there for people to see, now you must continue it". I did not expect the positive response it got...

November update

Hello everyone!

It's been a while, apologies. Just thought I'd update everyone and give some peeks at some assets that are finished and underway!

So back in September, my health took a nosedive and I was in no position to do much writing for a couple weeks. Once I got back into it, I decided I needed to adjust the way I was working. Typically after a day of work, my ability and motivation to write is poor, and I can sit and make little to no progress, which only further damages my...

End of September update

Hello!

This month has been quite a ride. A very heavy workload, illness and my birthday all in one month has made it very difficult to work on the script, but I am happy to say the first draft is close to completion. I have enlisted the aid of an editor to help go over it too, so hopefully will avoid the hassle of Day 1, where I had to do a bunch of revisions.

In the meantime, new background! I asked Nerton to make the unlit version very dark to capture the oppressive, claustropho...

Update 9/9 - Day 2 first draft

Hello!

It's been a while, apologies for being quiet!

So a status update, day 2 first draft of the script is almost complete, along with parts of day 3. I've also gotten the first of several backgrounds in lit/unlit and torchlit variants which you can see here, to get an idea of what lies in store! I anticipate the first draft will be finished by end of September at the latest. I would like to thank backers for their generous support in helping me fund the assets going into this ga...

Some behind the scenes

So welcome to recent new patrons! Thank you for your support, it really does mean everything to me!

Because this project does not have set updates on account of the need for assets, I've decided to keep you up to date with concepts, WIPs and the like. 

One particularly time consuming aspect is getting backgrounds. Because this is a horror game and I absolutely do not want to half-ass the atmosphere, I'm working with my artist, Nerton, to produce a series of backgrounds that c...

A note about builds

My workflow has been a bit chaotic as I learn how to manage a project like this, so I am organising the builds I provide to patrons onto a google drive folder where you should (hopefully) be able to access each build in its own folder. I am currently uploading 0.1.0 so if you don't see it yet, please give it a few hours as my upload speed isn't great!

https://drive.go...

0.1.0 Released!

Please see the devlog for a full feature update!

So for the avoidance of confusion, I don’t have a release schedule or ETA for the next major update. While I am working on it as much as I can in my free time, much of the content relies on my artist who can only do so much in a given space of time. Plus, I am still paying for most of the content I get out of my salary which, while enough to cover new assets, still needs to work within a budget.

I assure you I will ...

Build 0.0.2

Hello!

Build 0.0.2 is now available for patrons. There is no new story content, but it does contain a lot of script polishing and some rewriting of certain scenes. Nothing major, but I would recommend giving it another read through from the start to get all the changes and revisions as there are quite a few. Also, there's finally an in-game CG of the main character, Garret!

Changelog:

• Script revisions and polishing
• New music tracks for better variety and atmos...
  2022-06-30 00:07:45 +0000 UTC View Post

Garret CG + Update

So it’s been quite an amazing week. I‘ve been taking a break since launch to recharge after an intense year and change of writing, planning and commissioning the sprites. Nerton has provided the last CG required to finish the first version of Day 1 and as you can see, they’ve outdone themselves!

While I can’t give a build schedule right now, since the biggest obstacle to new updates is getting backgrounds and new assets, which takes time. That said, I am planning for v0.1.0, whi...

Garret ref

So the first build has no visual depiction of Garret, I thought I'd provide a glimpse to his appearance. The ref of course done by the lovely Nerton who captured his essence wonderfully.

Even includes a bonus image of his beloved Elisorn lighter!

Welcome patrons!

Thank you to our new patrons for your support! It's been humbling to get support so soon after launching the demo, particularly with how long and difficult getting it to this point has been! 

Just so people are kept up to date, the next build will be to fix some typos and script issues, plus adding a new CG of Garret just after he leaves the shop at the start of the game, as he currently has no appearance anywhere. After this, we start Day 2!