This is just a small update on grammatical errors and some bugs. I'm going to leave the game as is and take into account feedback for something new! This is most likely going to be the last update post unless I decide to release a soundtrack for free or get chosen as a contestant for the woman-led games contest I entered, though I don't know if female solo developers are allowed. It might have to be a team of different people.
Aside from that boring stuff, I hope everyone that has played my game is doing well. Thanks so much for playing my very first game and spending money on it, I really just hope it was worth it for the price; it really means a lot to me.

Hello everyone,

I'm here to announce the final release of the game.

For now, I’m content with where it stands. That said, I’ll likely return to update the menu system, UI for key press events, and refine gameplay in the later chapters. But for now, I need to take a break after working non-stop to get it to this point.

I want to extend a big thanks to everyone who supported the game during its Early Access phase. I hope you enjoy it! As I've mentioned before, I don’t foresee myself making another game unless I get another opportunity to make one. Regardless, I’m glad to have created something so personal to my life for my first game, and I hope it resonates with/helps people in some way, even if they can't relate to the story.

I have some ideas for future games, using RPG Maker since I already own the engine and wouldn't have to stress writing code with the little skills I have. These projects would be more puzzle-oriented, with a little less focus on story-driven elements, but that's on hold for now.

If there are any bugs, you can email me at everlastingraingame@gmail.com. Anyway, thanks for reading and playing, especially to the people who enjoyed it so much! Means a lot to me!! <333

That’s all from me.
SlugStart, signing off. :3

I'm planning to release the final game next week or in the first week of October. Since I want to launch before the bigger horror title releases. I may update the UI and gameplay elements later down the line, but I believe the game is in a satisfactory condition for its price. Unfortunately, I don’t have my usual play testers for this short time frame, so if anyone has the time to play through and report any bugs, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!

Hello everyone,

If you're here just for the game update, focus on the second paragraph.

First, I think that playing Chapter 4 alongside Chapter 5 Part One will give you the best experience. I'm aiming to release Chapter 5 Part One in about 2.5 weeks, with Chapter 5 Part Two coming just before Halloween. Originally, I planned to release all of Chapter 5 next month, but as I mentioned in my previous update, I didn’t anticipate diving into Adrian’s character. This led to splitting the chapter into two parts. Part One focuses heavily on Adrian, with a significant presence of Alice, while Part Two shifts towards Alice and the finale.

I intended to make more changes to this chapter—cleaning up the story, updating art sprites, adding more key press quick-time events, and improving the user interface. However, unexpected setbacks delayed me by a few days. The chapter is still solid, though just not as polished as I’d hoped. No bugs were reported.

Additionally, I’m working on enabling users to access the escape menu while dialogue is playing, which will be crucial for this chapter and the next. The dialogue manager is the only part of the game I didn’t code myself; it's an add-on feature, so I’ll need to contact the creator for assistance or dig into the code myself to make this happen. For now, I hope you don’t mind alt-tabbing to close the game.

There are a bunch of reasons why I'm nervous for this chapter. Chapter 4 is the slowest and most “normal” of the entire game, which might not sit well with players waiting for monthly releases. I designed it this way because, if you play the game as a whole, Chapter 3 was kind of intense/fast paced and I believe the story needs to ease off before ramping up the intensity again in the final chapter; otherwise, players might become desensitized to the constant fast pace. The enjoyment of this chapter also hinges on a player’s sense of humor, and I’m unsure if mine aligns with most people that play games since I rarely find humor in games. Lastly, some of my play testers are biased since the dynamics and conversations in this chapter mirror our interactions over the years, making it hard to gauge the chapter’s general appeal. Regardless of everything I’ve stated, I personally love this chapter.


Following Chapter 4, Chapter 5 Part One shifts more toward a visual novel-esque gameplay style. I was initially concerned about how this sudden gameplay change would be received, but so far, everyone has enjoyed it despite not liking visual novels. I believe it’s due to the frequent visual shifts. I’ve lost count of how many new art pieces I created for Part One... And Part Two has even more, which is why it’s taking longer to complete. Additionally, I’m still figuring out how to convey the story. The plot points are all in place; I just need to weave them together.

Once all the chapters are complete, I plan to spend a month polishing the game—fixing Chapter 4, refining code, updating the art, and tweaking the soundtrack. After that, I’ll transition from early access to the final release and then—I'm gone! :) I think I’ve mentioned this before, but this will likely be my first and last game. I’ll share a more detailed post with my final thoughts closer to the release date.

ANYWAY, thanks for reading; have a good one. ːsteamhappyː

Hello everyone,
I’m releasing this chapter slightly earlier than anticipated (just by one day) because I noticed two big bugs in the game with the inventory system. Nobody has encountered them yet, but I’m sure people will in the future. E.g., spamming the select button on tools like keys causes the game to crash. 

Chapter 3 is now available. My play testers did not report any bugs, so there are no significant issues to highlight. So, enjoy the new chapter and have fun!


Following Chapter 3, there will likely be no more puzzles in the game. I don't believe puzzles would enhance the game beyond this point, but I can include them if people would like. I just have to think about the meaning behind them. Except for the first segment/dream sequence, all puzzles have been thematically relevant. The first segment or dream sequence’s puzzles are, for the most part, irrelevant because I primarily created them to flesh out the demo for this game. It was originally supposed to be a 2-3 minute sequence. 

Chapter 4 is pretty much done, aside from minor art tweaks. The chapter focuses primarily on the story and includes a lot of quick-time or key events. I believe most players will understand why after playing Chapter 3. The execution of these quick-time/key events isn’t as cool as I imagined, but it’s not horrible. I plan to refine the gameplay for Chapter 4 before the final release. I am also open to suggestions for making the key events more engaging, provided they are feasible with my programming skills. I will reiterate this message upon the release of Chapter 4.

Chapter 5 will be divided into two parts, as I wasn't initially planning to explore Adrian in depth, but after writing Chapter 4, I think it’d be a shame not to. The first part will mainly focus on Adrian with Alice being a huge supporting character, while the second will center on Alice. Chapter 5 will be most likely be a story-based walking simulator/visual novel, but I might add some puzzles too. I haven’t thought about it in depth yet. I know that visual novels are lame or boring to most people, but I like them. Nipahhh :3 Hopefully people care enough about the characters by Chapter 5 not to mind reading text with a lot of visuals.

Once every chapter is complete, I am planning on taking my first break for a week or so, because I've been working from 5-6am to 9-11pm everyday. Then I will start fine-tuning, catching more bugs, revising code, adding reviewers suggestions, having some better placement of art, more dialogue when bumping into boundaries, more side content, etc.

ANYWAY, thanks for reading; have a good one.

Hi everyone,

Chapter 2 is now complete, and Chapter 3 is approximately 80% finished, it will be play tested soon. Some of the achievements are unattainable because they are for Chapter 3 and I’m testing them right now. Sorry, I’m not sure how to test them without making them public.
To be honest, Chapter 2 is my least favorite segment of the game, but it is essential for advancing the story. Chapter 3 will be the longest chapter approx. 2hrs and significantly increase the game's pace. So, I hope you are as excited about it as I am hehe. :3

IMPORTANT WARNING: One out of five of my play testers encountered a bug when approaching the forest, which prevented them from leaving the motel gates or following Adrian. I have been unable to replicate this bug. If you encounter this issue, my recommendation is to restart the game and revert to a few previous saves, which resolved the problem for my play tester. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. This is my first game so I appreciate your patience and understanding. I really hope it doesn’t happen for anyone though.

TITLE SCREEN CHANGES: The decisions you make might affect some dialogue in Chapter 3. If your save file becomes corrupted, there is no need for concern. The differences in dialogue are minimal, amounting to no more than 10 seconds of gameplay. In my upcoming Chapter 3 post, I will provide details on how the dialogue changes based on your choices.

GRAPHICAL UPDATES: There have been minor graphical enhancements, including updates to the load screen, HUD, and more detailed scenes in Chapter 1.

Lastly, I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who has supported and reviewed my game. Your guys' encouragement motivates me to continue working diligently and to produce the best game possible. I am also eager to hear your theories about what might happen in Chapter 3, as this is when the story begins to unfold more clearly. :) I also hope that Chapter 2 has a different vibe to it. I'm planning on making all the Chapters have a new feel to it rather than it being consistently the same feeling.

Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm.

• While one of my play testers was testing Chapter 2, they encountered issues with the game window upon reopening the game. This was a significant problem, so I quickly addressed it. The issue was related to having dual monitors and using the borderless window setting. To resolve this, I have removed the borderless window option until further notice.
  
• There are minor graphical updates like for the telephone poles, HUD, etc.
  
• Some fixes for spelling mistakes and grammatical issues in Chapter 1.
  
• All quick key press event icons have been changed to arrow keys to accommodate people with AZERTY keyboards. However, for those using QWERTY keyboards, both the WASD controls and the arrow keys will still work for these events so choose whatever you feel most comfortable with.

With this update, your save files should not be lost, and the game should still run properly when reopened. While I doubt this will happen, if your save files do become corrupted, a new start menu will be available where you can select any chapter you wish to start from for the Chapter 2 update.

The first bullet point might imply that Chapter 2 is almost ready for release, and it is. However, I am planning on releasing it sometime next month to give myself a little wiggle room to work on Chapter 3 and avoid working on things back-to-back.

Thanks,
SlugStart ːsteamhappyː