Originally posted by LinK:

Translated from Chinese

Hello my gamer friends:

I’m FinalUnrealityCat, the producer of Mysteria ~Occult Shadows~
I wrote this long article to share my thoughts and reflections on Mysteria
And some words I’d like to say to you
I would like Mysteria to leave EA and to formally release, so I can work on a new project.
I’d like to release it on Aug 22, which is the 4th birthday of the game
And the 1st birthday of the EA version

My real thoughts and reflections on Mysteria:

Story wise, this is as far as we can go with our skill and power
2019.8-2020.8
We’ve tried our best to listen to every thoughts you have,
Tried our best to fix the game, fixed over 1,000 bugs.
And also added some mechanics that are over the budget.
The portrait mode
Or that you can select a level, or reflect throwables
We added those because of suggestions from the gamers
As for the combat, Mysteria has many moves
Air combo/Throwing/Chainblades is my belief to ACT games
But comparing to the hardcore games from the big companies, my combat system is too weak
I’ve thought about what the game should be categorized during EA
The sane category should be Moe Anime-like game
So our focus of work should be around “anime-like”
Provide gamers with premium experience. Focus on content output,
Enhance character settings, storyline, give the gamers what they are interested
For example, let’s look at the skins
I suppose I could say that the number of the skins is one of the most among independent games, and all of them are free.
There are over 10 free skins.
Whether it’s a cute maid uniform, or a splendid kimono,
Or sexy lingerie and pajamas, different styles of JK,
There are also all kinds of weapon skins
They are all either in a free DLC or acquired during exploration.
There are also QTE games, interaction with real-time rendered NPC.
The full version of Mysteria has 14 levels, 6-8 hours of playtime
No spawn of monsters are in the same spot, environments of every battle is new
Numerous kinds of monsters
Mysteria means to the depth of your soul, some levels are quite unique
It expresses the “Dreamy” “Gothic” and “Holy” part that I love.
After years of polishing, the levels are at their final stage
Players can beat all levels in the current version smoothly and have a good experience
I’ve changed the systems that could be unsatisfying
For example, the continuous jumping challenge and the HP of the Fox Brother & Sister
Mysteria is like a piece of painting
The first few strokes might seems random
In the end it is finished with everything within my limit
A painting with random underlines
But it won’t stop the fantasy of one expressing his/her dream
I can’t make it a masterpiece
But it convey with those who loves anime
Kemonomimi, myths and fairytales
This is a salute to God of War and Devil May Cry
This is the only “Fairytale*Alternate Myth Kemonomimi 3D ACT” game
This is the value of the existence of Mysteria

Lookback on the history of Mystera

◇2016.8.22
I started to make free demo
I wanted Mysteria to be:
Kemonomimi*Dark Fairytale Myth

◇2017.5.24
After months of hard work, the demo of Mysteria was released for free
No.6 in Green Light
Got the attention from the media
But due to zero budget and zero funding
And problems with some assets and the whole architecture, it has to be remade

◇2017.8
I save my allowance and borrowed some money to make the official version
The remake was to fulfill my conviction of creating a world
It made want to risk everything to finish this game
In the early stages I even wanted to release the game as a full version
◇2018.8
After a year of re-development, the early trailer of Mysteria was released
I started a crowdfunding project.
◇2018.11
Crowdfunding project ended. With the development proceeded,
I found that it’s impossible for me alone
To make the game from scratch and release it as full version, I saw players wanted to support this project
So I started a small development group, and got a publisher for better development process
But without stable funding
It’s hard to get people on the team, most money we got from the crowdfunding got back to the backers in the form of better merch.
Only a little left. The team is full of rookies except for me and our former programmer
After the group was started I also started to teach the rookies
And gradually let them join the development of animation
Data and special effect.
The expense of the team is covered by borrowing money, the pressure kept rising
◇2019.8
The first 3 level of Mysteria is finished
Early Access started
We started to collect feedback and revising the game and add more content

◇2020.8，after 12 monts of Early Access，
Countless optimization and completing the levels
Mysteria with 14 levels is finshed

More deep reflections and summary:

It’s a shame that the game world constantly breaks down.
The battle system and optimizations can’t match those of the big companies.
There are also strange tiny bugs
They are all broken lines of the painting of Mysteria
A lot of gamers reported the that the game had bad feedbacks, and the game’s usage is abnormal
I’ve taken this matter very seriously

From the “Graphics card killer app”, which is the 1.0 version of the game
To now, some computers with low specs can also run it on low resolution.
The studio took massive efforts to optimize
This is what all gamers see and know. But due to lack of staff and funding
It’s hard to do any more optimization
For example, the models from the big company
They are advanced when making and binding
Lots of animators key frame of every animation and accessories to reduce piercing
But our studio is at the financial state that we may not have anything to eat at our next meal
There’s no way we can do that


The MC, bosses and NPCs are all custom made
Most scenes and models of monsters
Are all commercial models
This is the maximum our studio can take
About feedbacks, as a fan of hack and slash
I spent a lot of time
Analyzing Devil May Cry and God of War frame by frame as referrence
But I lost because I can’t get the same quality of animation

All the income from 2019 to 2020 goes back to the development
But it’s almost nothing if our goal is to make high quality ACT game.
After some deep reflections
I understand I took the first step too big, but I learned my lessons from it
I’ll make smaller games, and grow along the way
The feedback that hardcore gamers “always” experience
is the result of generations of products and technical skills trained for over 10 years.
This is a “technical advantage” that requires long-term accumulation of knowledge
This is what the industry needs to face together, grow together
Of course I have some experience myself
I can still say with confidence, that I have some experience of my own
Mysteria can compare with other games
In the area of Japanese-style 3D Anime Single player games

I’ve seen commens like:
We should make Galgames or RPGs
Thank you for the advice
It’s only sane that a smaller studio like mine should make smaller games
They would get recommended more easily and form a positive cycle
For galgames, there are 3 main elements:“portrait, story, music”
For ACT games, there are 8, possibly more: portrait, story, battle system, music,
sound effects, animation, scenery animation, level design…etc
As a producer of a tiny group who personally teach her staff everything
I can’t do everything perfectly
If I can have enough funding and skills
I may make ACT/ARPG games again, but now I should stick to smaller games
My heart that loves cute kemonomimi girls won’t change
I also love ACTs, I love the God of War series
It gave me the strength to make ACT games

Due to lack of funding, we also lack of good teammates
I’m actually more than a producer
I’m the leading programmer that did everything except for UI/cameras
All system designer, main number designer
A lot of character portrait, art style supervisor
Animation of some skills, some special effects
World designer, story outline writer, scenery designer, cut scene supervisor
Model supervisor, physics supervisor, technical artist
The other two teammates are making animation
Most of the work is on me
Also, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, our studio suffered too
The 6 people team broke up and reform to the 3 people team now
But we did grow, update the game to EA4.0 after the storm

Challenge marks sculpted with blood and tear are what I left for the later developers
“Indie promising game with a glimpse of survival”
I can’t change the structure set several years ago
Normal projects start with enough money
Mysteria starts with zero
After the sudden popularity of the demo in 2017
No company in China wanted to invest in a huge single player made by an indie company
I could only do this with faith
I saved allowance for artists when I was in college
Make models one by one with the risk of no next one, buying instant noodles by the case
Had some friends offer help for free, could only get beginners with the money I have
All this to make the best kemonomimi
The money ran out before I can get a good animator to do the animation
At the beginning there’s no money to hire artists
So I could only draw the line scratch and have other fill the colors
Now I can finish everything by myself

The studio is still at the edge of survival
So I want to make more games that fill the needs of more players
After the release of the full version of Mysteria
Our main focus of work
Have shifted from Mysteria to the new projects
To those who’ve been supporting, caring, loving us
I’m really, really, really grateful
You are the only drive for me to keep going
I would also like to say thank you to our publisher - SakuraGame
They helped us work through the direst time of our lives
And also made the beautiful music in the game
I’ve learned my own insufficiency by messages
And barrages from where I live stream
For the wrong decisions, work mistakes
Even my insufficiencies
I sincerely apologize

Why I want the formal release of Mysteria:
There’s not much money for the new game
I really don’t want:
The initial development of the new game to be hard as Mysteria
Specifically:
No startup money: can’t make standard assets
Base structure problems, systemic bugs are left
I wish to develop the new game better after the formal release of Mysteria
And learn while developing the new game
Hoping there’s a way to fix what we can’t now in Mysteria
Sincerely, thanks to all supporter
We’ll bring better games to you in the future

What we’ll do after the release:

◇Continue to listening to the gamers
◇Interactions with the gamers
◇Supports for bugs that happens on occations
◇Better English and Japanese localization
◇Optimize the game when I learn how to later
◇2 to 5 free customes

Originally posted by LinK:

Original text

玩家朋友您好：

我是《灵之秘境：异象残影》的制作人虚妄猫。
这篇长文谈谈是我对灵之秘境的看法与反思
以及一些想给玩家们说的话
祈愿能够让灵之秘境正式版发行，以求新作的良好启动。
最好是8.22日发行，正值《灵之秘境》开工四周年
与EA版发行一周年

我对《灵之秘境》的真实看法与反思：

目前《灵之秘境》是尽了我们极限完成的完整剧情版
2019.8-2020.8
EA期间我们尽全力倾听玩家的反馈，
竭尽全力修改，修复了上千个BUG。
也新增了一些预算之外的系统。
无论是养眼的立绘系统，
还是自定义选关、弹反敌人投射物
都是听从玩家建议新增的
ACT战斗系统方面，《灵之秘境》招式繁多
空连/投技/链刃是传达对ACT的信仰
只是要与大厂硬核ACT对比战斗系统我实在是太弱了
EA期间我深刻反复省思了游戏的定位，
《灵之秘境》理智定位是一个萌系二次元游戏
所以我们的工作重点是在二次元的领域
尽量给予玩家优质的体验。注重于内容产出，
强化人设，剧情，提供玩家感兴趣的内容
比如说我们的皮肤数量
可以说是独立游戏中最多的之一，而且全部免费。
有十几种免费并有特色皮肤。
无论是可爱的女仆， 抑或华丽的和服，
还有性感的内衣与睡衣，不同风格的JK，
还有各式各样的武器皮肤
都是免费作为DLC或者游戏中探索获得的。
也有QTE羁绊小游戏、即时演算NPC互动
《灵之秘境》完整版拥有14个关卡，6-8小时的流程
没有任何重复地区刷怪，每一场战斗的环境都是全新的
怪物的种类也繁多
灵之秘境意为灵魂向往之处，部分关卡风格比较特色
传达着最喜欢的“梦幻”“哥特”“神迹”区域。
关卡的表现经过多年的迭代，才到了现在的终极形态。
目前版本可以顺畅通关并且有比较好的体验
可能使玩家不愉悦的系统
比如跳花台、狐狸姐弟血量偏多我都修改了
《灵之秘境》就像是一幅画，
或许有着有起草时基础稚嫩，
最终以极限之力完成
有着细碎线稿痕迹的一幅画，
但不能阻止它传达梦幻的幻想
我无法将它修成世界名画，
但传达的是一份对二次元，
对兽耳娘的爱，对神话、童话风格的爱。
以及对战神鬼泣硬核ACT的致敬。
能成为现如今唯一一部“童话*架空神话兽耳娘3DACT”
那便是《灵之秘境》存在的价值了

简单回顾《灵之秘境》历史

◇2016.8.22
我一人开始免费demo制作。
希望做出灵之秘境：
兽耳娘*暗黑童话 神迹奇观异象之处
◇2017.5.24
经过几个月爆肝，《灵之秘境》demo免费发布，
Steam青睐之光NO.6。
媒体关注度也颇高，
但最终没有任何经费与投资。
由于部分素材与架构问题不得不重做

◇2017.8
我继续省生活费与借款制作正式版，
重做只是，只有“创世”这一个虚幻的信念
让我拼了一切都想做完这个游戏，
早期甚至想以完成品发售

◇2018.8
重做了一年后，《灵之秘境：异象残影》早期宣传片发布，
开始众筹。“影色幻森”等特色中后期特色关卡初次成型

◇2018.11
众筹结束。随着开发的进展
我发现游戏初稿到成品的巨大的工作量。
一人实在难以做完，由于看到玩家支持，
我成立小团队，同时也签约发行以更好开发。
但是没有稳定经费的情况下
组队非常艰难，所得众筹款大部分回馈了周边
仅剩几万。团队除了我和前程序都是新手同学。
成立后我开始教新手同学
并且逐步让他们加入灵秘的动画、
数据、特效等资源类协助。
团队开支经费均为借款，压力在不断增长
◇2019.8
《灵之秘境：异象残影》前3关完成，
开启了EA（抢先体验），
我们开始收集玩家的意见对游戏修改与补充内容

◇2020.8，经过了12个月的EA时间，
无数的优化与曾经不完整的关卡完成
更新为14关《灵之秘境：异象残影》，终于完成了。

再次深刻反思与总结：

只可惜游戏世界总是有偶尔发生的世界崩坏事件
最终也无法与大厂比拟的战斗系统与性能优化，
还有偶发的奇奇怪怪小BUG，
他们都如《灵秘》这幅画中的线稿瑕疵
有众多玩家反应游戏的手感差，游戏的性能问题。
我非常认真地对待这个问题

从最初的1.0版的“显卡杀手”，
到现在有部分低配电脑也能用低配玩，
工作室花费了大量心血进行优化，
这是老玩家有目共睹的。但是受限于人员与资金
想进一步优化已经十分困难。
举例来说，大厂的角色模型
在制作时的规范、绑定就非常高级
大量动画师逐个动画逐个装饰品K帧加权以减少穿模
但以我们工作室上顿不知下顿的经济状态，
根本没有能力完成这样的优化



我们的主角兽耳娘、BOSS和NPC为原创定制
大部分场景与普通怪物的单个模型
都属于购买的商用模型，
这已经是工作室能够承受的极限。
同样的还有打击感，作为一个砍杀类ACT的忠实粉丝
我曾经花费大量时间
逐帧研究鬼泣、战神的打击感，并且参考改进
但最终输在了无法获取同质量动画等资源上

2019-2020这一年来《灵之秘境》的EA收入全部投入了开发，
但是要做极高标准ACT只是杯水车薪
我只能深刻反思了自己，
做这一作我步子确实迈大了，我从这作中汲取了教训，
以后会做小体量的游戏，一点点积累与成长。
现在硬核ACT玩家“经常”体验的打击感，
都是大厂经过数代产品，十几年迭代产生的最终效果，
这是一个需要长期累积的，非常硬核“技术优势”。
这是游戏界大家需要共同面对，也需要共同成长的问题
当然我们也累积了一些经验，
仍然可以有自信地说，
《灵之秘境》手感在日系3D动漫单机游戏领域
是可以和其它游戏比一比的。

我也看到了评论区有伙伴说：
我们还不如做GAL,RPG之类的。
非常的感谢这部分玩家的理解与建议，
理智而言小团队确实适合小体量游戏，
并且也容易好评良性循环。
如GAL，主要元素指标是3个【人设、剧情、音乐】，
而ACT有8个以上，【人设、剧情、战斗系统、音乐、
音效、动作、过场动画、关卡设计...等】
作为一个队友还是我手把手带出来的，微小团队的制作人，
我实在是没办法把每一项都完美，
等我有朝一日有足够资金与学习到位了
我还会做ACT/ARPG,而后暂时做别的小品类精品游戏吧。
喜欢二次元兽耳萌娘的心是永不变的。
也有着ACT的信仰，最喜欢的游戏是《战神》系列。
也是他给了我挑战ACT的勇气

由于经费匮乏，我们也非常缺乏厉害的队友
实际上我担当的不只是“游戏制作人”
还是除UI/相机以外全部的游戏程序编写（主程）、
所有系统设计、主要数值策划（主策）
大量兽耳娘人设、美术风格指定与监修（主美）
部分技能动画制作、部分特效制作
世界观与剧情大纲编写、关卡场景制作、过场监修
模型监修、物理监修、技术美术...
目前另外两个队友做部分动画与协力...
极大的工作量都在我身上
今年受疫情影响与4月的重大变故，
原来六个人的团队解散重组了，现在仅剩3人
但我们成长了，风波后努力更新了EA3.0与EA4.0

血泪刻下了挑战的印记，是我们给后辈开发者的启示录
“独立大作百死一生”
但无法改变的几年前的不成熟游戏基架
正常项目在立项时，都是需要足够启动资金的，
《灵之秘境》立项时启动资金为零，
哪怕是2017年免费demo大火后求投资，
中国都没有一家公司看好独立小组做大型单机的，
只是靠信念，拼命地完成了这一作
大学期间，我长期省着生活费请画师、
模型做了上个没下个的钱，泡面成箱的买
头发请了友情外包的大佬，身子却只能请萌新，
只为最为好看的兽耳娘。
却又再没钱请厉害的绑定师了造成动画质量上限
最初原画没钱请画师，
只好自己画线稿请人上色节约经费
再到最后我能自己完成完整立绘

工作室目前仍处于生存的边缘。
所以我希望能够开发更多满足于玩家的作品。
灵之秘境的剧情完整版推送后，
我们的重要工作重心，
已从《灵之秘境》转移到新作的策划与开发上
对于一直关注、关心和支持我的玩家们，
能有你们的支持，我真的真的真的十分感动，
可以说你们的支持也是我能坚持到今天的原动力。
也感谢本作的发行SakuraGame，
帮助我们熬过了最艰难的时刻
与提供了珍贵的音乐资源
并且在最近的工作生活过程中我逐渐从大家的私信、
弹幕等各种渠道了解到我自身能力的不足
之前所有的存在决策失误、工作失误
哪怕能力不足的问题上
我诚恳的道歉

我为什么十分希望发售正式版：
现在新作的启动依旧非常匮乏经费，
我真的不希望：
新作再如《灵秘》的立项期那么举步艰难！
具体例如：
【由于没有启动经费：无法制作标准素材、
基础框架无法扎实，而留下极难修复的BUG！】
希望以《灵秘》的正式发行以更好进行新作开发
并且在今后的新作开发过程学习中
学到新知识后修补灵秘现在我们无法修复的问题
衷心的感谢所有支持者，
将来我一定会为大家带来更好的作品！

正式版发行后我们还会做的：

◇持续倾听玩家的意见
◇与玩家沟通交流
◇邮件持续给予卡偶发BUG的玩家解决方案
◇更好的英语、日语本地化
◇积累新知识后持续优化游戏
◇还会更新2-5套免费服装