qkayoostudio

[qkayoostudio]

uppies

[qkayoostudio]

Devlog #170

Hi-ho, Wudge here.

I don't feel good today, but I already put off devlogging last week-- so I'll do this real quick then get some rest!

An's upper lip-- but after a long struggle this Griffin expression FINALLY feels accurate to the emotion I've wanted to convey!!

A very big special thanks to long-time friend @potedo, who not only helped remind me that The Road to El Dorado, er... exists as a phenomenal reference, but also drafted some sketches for me!

You can see my very first attempt at the expression & mouth shape in the upper left. It was fine, but I was dissatisfied with it bc it didn't feel right.

I have another shout out for @qkayoostudio (who also has games on itch!!) for art of the MC's new phone!

And.. special thanks to me for spending the hours it took to adjust the code formatting (otherwise the icons n text messages were uh, floating off to the sides) and updating the build-in speech bubbles improve legibility and contrast. By default, the phone system uses a yellow background for the recepient's message frames -- I don't have too many issues with my vision but /I/ was having trouble reading it. So, the yellow has been updated to a dark purple-ish gradient.

Andddd I made a cleaner concept for Mia's hero helmet, and actually imported it into the game. I'm not sure I'm 100% satisfied with the design, but at least it's there in code and can be easily swapped out if I have an update.

Speaking of Mia. I wrote!!! New content for her!!! That was last week. And this week I wrote new content for nurse Jordan scene! WOOO. More writing than usual from me. Here's some peeks.

This one happens if you pretend you don't recognize Mia, or somehow, genuinely do not think the "red hero" and Mia are the same person:

griffin "[MC], this is Tough Girl. She's been the new kid here for a little while." mia "... We already met yesterday." griffin "Wh-- kiddo!" mia "What? [MC] totally recognize[s] me, [she]'s just playing dumb!" "She whirls to glare at me." mia "I'm onto you!" mia "I {i}know{/i} you're trying to sabotage me somehow. I haven't forgotten the way you embarrassed me in front of Warden!"

But if MC recognized Mia and got her to reveal her secret identity, this happens instead:

mia "... We already met yesterday." griffin "Oh. Did you shake hands?" mia "... No." griffin "Well then, chop chop. Good relationships start with a hand shake!"

As for the nurse scene, hidden among the entire swaths of new writing and code I've put in, we have this brand new dialogue option:

"HEWWO?! IS ANYBODY THEWE?"

No I will not elaborate.

ok time for me to rest ;;;

Stay safe and keep warm,

Wudge.

[qkayoostudio]

What the fuck, Richard.

[qkayoostudio]

devlog 3

Hi friends,

So sorry for the delayed devlog...! Life has been really messy and chaotic (moreso than usual) as of late 🫠

But I come bearing good news: The Summit Library's demo is now up on Steam! Yay!!

As for Orbit, I made some more progress with backgrounds! And fixed a few code things in the MC creation screen, ie your first and last name no longer revert back to the default if you change your icon.

I also made a few changes to the GUI to improve readability (new choice buttons and name tag), and worked out my plotline a little more.

much love,

qk

[qkayoostudio]

Steam's 2025 Visual Novel Fest is abysmal.

for the past few years, perhaps as a way to appease the thousands of visual novel developers for the poor search abilities on Steam or perhaps to get more money from the thousands of porn games on the platform, Valve has hosted an annual Visual Novel Fest, a week-long event "promoting" visual novels on Steam. this event has always been questionably helpful to developers, but this year I believe takes the cake.

context: I'm a visual novel developer. I also help other VN studios with steam stuff. so I interface with steam's backend and these sorts of things.

first off, the requirements. if we go to their publicly available steamworks documentation, we can see the eligibility requirements here:

basically:

Reading is the primary gameplay

The player cannot walk around, and can typically only look around from a static position

There is no combat - if there is fighting, the gameplay loop is a small portion of the game. Multiple outcomes leading to different plot events is allowed.

makes sense, right? except some fantastic visual novels like of the Devil, Date Time, and others were rejected from the festival.

okay, so maybe they're being incredibly strict with their definition of a visual novel—

as usual from previous years, some games that are wildly not visual novels are included in the festival. well, there's probably a thousand or so games in the festival, so some will always slip through the cracks, but at least the rest of the festival is alright, right?

the main tabs for the festival up top are:

Featured

Browse Games

Browse Adult Only Games

Free to Play

Free Demos

Upcoming

every tab except for Free to Play and Upcoming only feature games that are for sale AND discounted. if your game is released and in the festival but not discounted, it is shown nowhere unless a steam user scrolls through the giant wall of "All" games (which is mostly filtered by popularity).

Free Demos? no, that only shows discounted games as well. (a lot of the games in this fest are daz 3d "visual novels")

well, at least there's an "Upcoming" tab to share visual novels that haven't been released, right? no. that big, main tab only has 1 widget - Popular Upcoming. for some reason, they didn't populate the tab with any other widgets like the others, which have sections for Horror, Otome, LGBT+, etc.

this also means that only 22 unreleased games are actually getting space in the entire festival.

now, there is one exception to this - if users scroll all the way down on any of the tabs, there's a "Browse Games" widget that lets them filter and see every game in the festival. but this is just the Steam search section, nothing groundbreaking.

but it does allows users to see all of the visual novels in the festival and not just the featured few - mine can only be seen if you do some filtering in this search section.

so this VN Fest has become nothing more than a VN Sale - I don't know why they don't just call it that. nowhere in the documentation did it say you have to discount games in order to be actually featured in it, and as usual indie devs are given the shortest end of the stick from Valve.

...all of this is to say....

go play visual novels on itchio

35k+ visual novels on itchio!! can you imagine playing even half that many? and so many of them are free and made lovingly by sickos. go find some wonderfully weird or creatively romantic visual novels to play today.

[qkayoostudio]

What I need is an enemy with benefits

[qkayoostudio]

[2024] ALL EXPRESSIONS... so far!

Hi-ho, Wudge here. I've got something a bit different today.

Herotome's Super Demo was released in December 2023. While I was proud of my writing and code, I chose to temporarily abstain from tje herculean task of expressions for the love interests, mainly to cut down on scope (and save my sanity), but with plans to add expressions in a later demo/patch.

I then held special dedications on Ko-Fi to raise money for these expressions, and now, one year later, I'm thrilled to show off how much we've accomplished…!

Herotome creates unique expressions using a combination of layers - in other words, layered images.

Brows, eyes, and mouths are saved in separate files, then later combined in code.

This allows a greater range of expressions to be created. Unless you're Smokescreen. Not much range to be had if you refuse to take off your helmet.

With the support I received from Ko-Fi thus far, I've been able to create all of theeeeese!

You may notice there's nothing new for Dart in this document. Don't freak out! It's because he spends most of the Super Demo wearing a helmet, and I already finished drawing the expressions he makes when he DOES show his face. 

Of course, he'll be getting more expressions further along in development as he gets more in-game screentime. Same goes for Jade's flying sprite - limited screentime means it wasn't too demanding to draw expressions for her in the Super Demo.

The main sprite poses for Warden, Mia, Griffin, and Jade should only need a handful more expressions. 

I'll also be drawing expressions for CGs and NPCs (and ofcourse - performing the mortifying ordeal of coding them all in… haha…)

[qkayoostudio]

Naseem has bewitched me body and soul. Can I please please please know what their reaction is when mc kisses them for the first time?

(they are down bad)

[qkayoostudio]

So are there aliens in RiO? 👀

no aliens in this one, sorry!! but I promise the humans are very good at creating a mess all by themselves.

[qkayoostudio]

Devlog #167

Hi-ho, Wudge here.

Tadah! A portrait of Gemini that might pop up while you're researching your new place of employment! Remnantation did an AWESOME job drawing Herotome's #1 hero here. <3 You may recognize or remember her from this room in the Super Demo...

Additionally -

Qkayoo has helped me out with icon art for Mia and Smokescreen!! ... I drew all the other ones myself a while back.

I'm realizing in retrospect that Mia and Smokescreen's icons give you a little insight into their lives, whereas Warden, Griffin and Jade... don't? Well-- I guess you can get some insight into Griffin if you squint at the microscopic buttons.

Other than that... I drew a couple of new mouths for Warden

I think I like them?! Which is... a little shocking, because normally the assets I draw for Warden don't tend to "look right."

But this time I referenced uhm. I referenced expressions from some yaoi manhwa. :') And that seems to have done the trick. Hoorah, hahaha.

I also noodled around with the orientation code for the in-game phone... and I edited/updated the scenes immediately following the Super Demo.... maybe I'll talk more about those next week.

Stay safe and keep warm,

Wudge.

[qkayoostudio]

devlog 2

Hi friends,

I made it my goal at the beginning of the month to do a big crunch on Resonance in Orbit's backgrounds, so that's mostly what I've been doing!

I've also started programming the sprites, which is a fun little exercise in Which Layer Goes Where. RiO's sprites are the most complicated I've made so far, so in some cases I had to write things out on paper first to see if it would work!

Also, slightly unrelated--here are some silly sketches I swapped with @herotome because we came to the conclusion that my Durge Sasha (from bg3) would make the funniest companion for Warden imaginable.

Two paladins sitting in a tree--

Next on the to do list is getting TSL's full demo out on steam. I expect to have it up soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

much love,

qk

[qkayoostudio]

i’m officially now a druk tit tattoo truther <3

need him so bad

[qkayoostudio]

I just played A Tavern at Night and A Tavern at Night: Firelight, and not only was it DELIGHTFUL but I am so impressed with how much you grew as an artist between games!!! Azram looks so alive in Firelight with the blinking animation, seriously that looks so good. And he has so much visual depth and his age is clearer. Both looked awesome but I am so blown away with the growth shown in Firelight. I'm going to check out some of your other games too !!

thank you so much!! 🥺❤️ what a wonderful compliment, that makes me so happy to hear!

I hope you have fun with whatever else you decide to play! 🥰

[qkayoostudio]

Welcome, adventurer.

You’ve found the tumblr of QKAYOO STUDIO! I’m a queer artist and solo indie dev, and make games focusing on romance and fantasy/scifi ♡

I’m also available for character commissions, sprite work, CGs, and promo art, including concept art or commercial work. Find my commission info here!

🌠Play my games here!

🌠Patreon

🌠Carrd (commission info + editing work)

🌠Art Tumblr

🌠Bluesky

✦ The Summit Library is a multi-chapter romance/fantasy VN. Find your way in a Library that’s falling apart, an Empire on the brink of war, and a dangerous magical mystery you’ve been tasked to solve. Discover secrets, unravel mysteries, and find love in a magical Library.

✦ A Tavern at Night is a short and sweet game where you find shelter from the rain and strike up conversation with a somewhat terrifying mercenary.

✦ A Tavern at Night: Firelight continues your adventure with Azram — except it’s almost time to go your separate ways. To commemorate your final night together you suggest reading him his fortune, but neither of you are particularly looking forward to saying goodbye…

✦  Travellers Road is a DND-inspired game where you can romance either of your squabbling party members during a quiet job transporting a cart with goods.

[qkayoostudio]

devlog 1? 47?

Hi dear friends,

I hope you've been having a wonderful start of 2025 so far!

I'm. Not sure what to number this devlog as. Devlog 47, B-side...? I'll be taking a good long break from TSL, so this really isn't a followup to previous devlogs... Something to think about!

Anyway--it's time to get back into the swing of things. I've been working on sprite expressions/blinks for Resonance in Orbit and made a list of all the backgrounds I'll need for the demo. I've also been going through the writing I've done so far.

A variety of Ciphers in a bad mood.

Unlike The Summit Library RiO will be a linear story, so no "routes"! though you do of course get to choose who you pursue ♡.

instead there will be lots of variables that depend on your choices. These show up pretty much from the very beginning, so I've been working out the demo's three big scene variations.

Wolf just has to be a freak at any given opportunity🙄

I'm also in the process of getting The Summit Library's full demo on steam! I expect to have it up by next month :)

much love,

qk

[qkayoostudio]

Binnorie is out!

The ballad goes:

There were two sisters sat in a bower;

Binnorie, O Binnorie

There came a knight to be their wooer.

By the bonny mill-dams of Binnorie   

He courted the eldest with glove and ring,

Binnorie, O Binnorie

But he loved the youngest above all things.

The eldest she was vexed sore,

Binnorie, O Binnorie…

But if it were sung again, would this tale of the psyche and betrayed love end the same? Play this dark ballad's retelling and find out HERE

[qkayoostudio]

the new master of Ramazith has been spending an awful lot of time in his tower lately...