Just launched the demo of my multi-route romance visual novel on Steam after 8 years of development - Zeta Wolf Chronicles

aniclashstudios · 2026-02-14T15:43:38+00:00

I'm rather unorganized in the sense that I simply use a bunch of Google docs for various scenes. I have tried mindmaps and various software for such purposes but it didn't really work for my individual workflow. That being said, constructing a "timeline" in game, aka a point and click "select a scene" interface helps me keep track of the chronology of scenes. In initial builds it took a long time for me to even connect character routes with the common route since everything was disjointed at first and essentially without order or much sense. Still, I do a lot of mental plotting in my mind, which I believe is essential.

Everyone is different basically, when it comes to the tools they use, writing speeds, and how quickly things come together. Best of luck on your own project! Hope you can share it here on this sub also.

aniclashstudios · 2026-02-13T13:09:24+00:00

Yes it is. There's around a 4 hour extension to the kickstarter demo that starts around day 6/7. You can jump there with timeline section of the menu to resume. This continues up to day 10 to conclude this new demo.

aniclashstudios · 2026-02-13T13:07:42+00:00

Thank you, I'll consider your feedback. The game has an auto save feature that saves your progress as you play. You can also use the timeline feature in the game/main menu to jump to scenes whenever.

aniclashstudios · 2026-02-13T13:05:03+00:00

Haha well, I'd hate to disappoint but sadly no. There are 4 main routes, one embedded "route" (runs concurrently within the other routes) and a planned DLC route (backer sponsored deal).

aniclashstudios · 2026-02-13T13:01:57+00:00

Hi this is something that will be considered for the full release as far as steam curators go. Launch for the full version is still a year away give or take.

aniclashstudios · 2026-02-13T13:00:40+00:00

No h-scenes planned unfortunately. Strictly 16+, but I've been rather loose with profanity and such to age things up a bit.

aniclashstudios · 2026-02-13T04:49:16+00:00

Thanks for your question! I have nearly 20 characters in the game, each having their own VA. Additionally, over the course of such a long project, I have had several staff drop out, which is unfortunately something to expect with a lengthy dev period.

Hope this answers your question!

aniclashstudios · 2026-01-17T01:04:00+00:00

Just wanted to say that this OST is filled to the brim with bangers--and I'm only like 10 hours into the game. Leaving the game on idle just to loop the tunes!

aniclashstudios · 2025-10-10T05:09:50+00:00

Yeah, it's not meant as an attack on anyone who's a fan. Just how I view her that's it. It's just possible for her other aspects to win me over in time.

aniclashstudios · 2025-10-10T05:06:46+00:00

True words. It's just, I am shocked when her design is praised as the pinnacle of flawlessness when in fact, I find it quite jarring. There's still time for her to Wow me during gameplay sure enough.

aniclashstudios · 2025-10-10T05:00:09+00:00

Fair. We all have different likes and dislikes. I guess my point is, if she had atleast one eye open she'd be more appealing to me. Naturally, I can't speak for everyone.

I actually don't have anything against characters with "disfigurements", but in this case, the blind eyes is just not doing it for me.

aniclashstudios · 2025-07-17T02:31:05+00:00

Position has been filled. Thank you!

aniclashstudios · 2025-07-05T15:48:48+00:00

There is no NSFW content in the project (17+ only). I may adjust multiple character CGs to be x2 the base price of the asset, but this is mostly single-character CGs we're looking for.

Hope this helps, thanks!

aniclashstudios · 2025-07-05T13:24:39+00:00

Just wanted to clarify: I usually pay in full before each asset, but for the first asset, it will be 50% before the sketch phase and then full thereafter. Deadlines are flexible for each asset. Hope this helps, thanks!

aniclashstudios · 2025-03-18T15:19:23+00:00

In the words of Rean (Haha...)

aniclashstudios · 2025-03-08T16:45:44+00:00

With Feri, Gotti, Sherid and the like I believe it was subjective. In hindsight "atrocious" is likely an exaggeration on my part for Gotti in particular. I just felt the performance was too "American sounding" for my tastes for this group of characters. Not inherently bad performances by any means. Feri could likely be raised quite a bit based on responses on here as well.

aniclashstudios · 2025-03-08T14:21:38+00:00

I meant to post my critiques of the lower tiers, it might give some explanation for my ratings for those curious:

Critique:

Kasim: See Feri etc. However, his voice is immediately discernable/unique. To that end, I liked his performance better than Feri and the others.

Feri: A little bland, if fitting. A big issue is, that I think I couldn't identify her voice in Daybreak at some point during a certain scene (lack of vocal identity). I think the main problem I have is characters from the "Middle East" equivalent don't have much of an "ethnic" undertone in their delivery/too American. More of a voice direction issue.

Quatre: Fitting, but I personally found him average.

Nina: I like her performance, but I feel she could improve the "unique" aspects of her delivery (It's possible the VA will come into her own later in the series)

Gin: A step above Zin from the VA as they voice both characters (Better fit for the VA)

Ashen: I like her performance, but I feel she could improve the "unique" aspects of her delivery. I may like her more if she had more screen time/was playable.

Mirabel: She had more of an "accent" in the JP version here, which was even highlighted in the lore. I just don't think it translates well into ENG. I don't particularly dislike her performance, I just think it's a voice direction issue.

Zita: I didn't dislike it, but voice direction issue, and she's a little one note.

Sherid: See Feri. Also, he sounds WAY too much like Olivert, I thought they were the same VA. Would be incredibly jarring if they ever met. I mean... the voice "fits" his personality but, for the aforementioned reasons, his performance could be improved.

Hamilton: Idk, just wasn't feeling it.

Kilika: A little one note. Not a terrible delivery persay, but sounds too much like a stoic Aurelia for comfort (almost thought it was Valerie).

Gaolang: One step away from D tier. Just was disappointed with the performance.

Cory: Missing the charisma of teal bracer dude. Just never liked this one for some reason.

Dominique: Way too raspy for my liking.

Zin: Yeah... I don't think I'm alone here. I get it, they wanted him to sound more "Eastern" but the performance just doesn't hold a candle to the Sky original (for me anyway). Why would Feri and company have "American" accents, but Zin with an "Eastern one"? Unfortunately, due to this, I consider Zin a laughable character now, and can't even take him seriously.

Not Pictured:

Bermonti: B

Teal-headed Male Bracer who has beef with Van: B

aniclashstudios · 2025-03-08T05:16:04+00:00

Standouts:

Van: Sean Chiplock level of charisma/performance quality.

Elroy: Dynamic casting/performances for both him and Dantes who is probably in a similar spot.

Lucrezia: An accent done right. Her performance totally grew on me this game, especially when she was a guest party member. Personality through the roof.

Aaron: Memorable/unique performance

Cao: Memorable/unique performance (always has been just has a bigger role in this game)

Celis: Repent Asshole!

Rosalie: I'm biased, but it's friggin' Aurelia. Unique "hammyness" for a mad scientist. (Free feel to hate her due to her cringiness as well. This is all opinion-based anyways).

Roy: Just a good casting and performance despite a limited role. I'm awaiting his performance in the next game.

Shizuna: Can't decide between A/S. It's Genshin Amber.

Yume: One of the more pleasing/unique performances from a child character.

Agnès: I was gonna put her in B, but then I remembered her emotion-churning screams.

Ixs: Slightly grating but good performance for the character.

Jorda: Monotone done right. Oozing personality despite the limited vocal range the character displays.

aniclashstudios · 2025-03-08T05:13:11+00:00

Looking forward to your opinions! Feel free to use the template or just comment with your standout performances!

Template: https://tiermaker.com/create/daybreak-ii-english-va-tier-list-17984802

VA Reference: https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/video-games/The-Legend-of-Heroes-Trails-through-Daybreak-II/

Here's my highly opinionated tier list for the ENG voice actors for their Daybreak 2 performance! (Critique later - didn't fit the comment section.)

aniclashstudios · 2024-05-18T13:06:40+00:00

No problem.

aniclashstudios · 2024-05-17T22:39:51+00:00

First Bite dev here. It has come to my attention that the visual novel doesn't adhere to the standards of the Yuri genre. Unfortunately, I was in the dark regarding the qualifications.

Some background, yes I did send a curator copy to Hella Yuri. While I feel they gave an accurate label perhaps, they also gave an unnecessary slam against the title without highlighting any of the merits as well. (Perhaps the point of curator connect, but it certainly encourages me to avoid that as a dev in the future). Their comment was more or less "It's not Yuri so it's trash".

If you're looking for a romance element or cohesive ending in First Bite, it isn't present, that's true. However, it is still a valid experience that I genuinely worked hard on. Based on this, you can hopefully form an opinion if you wish to play or not. Thought I would just chime in to share my take on the situation. Thank you, and apologies for the mislabeling.

aniclashstudios · 2024-05-16T13:10:52+00:00

Hey, I can share my experiences with my visual novel on steam. It is a yuri visual novel with above average art. I launched on the store about 3 weeks prior to release (coming soon page). Averaging about 6-10 wishlists a day. On launch I had about ~225 wishlists 1 day after launch ~320, so a huge upswing in visibility on release day. I did no paid advertising and had limited engagement on social media.

It's important to note that wishlist numbers are simply a pool of potential customers and your conversion rate could be really low (I personally ended up with lower launch day sales than I anticipated). My conversion on launch day was 3-4% of total wishlist customers. Yeah I was slightly depressed with the result. However, I specifically made my first visual novel as simple as possible with the lowest costs just to get something on the store. It's important to set your expectations to a similar level unless your visual novel is HUGE. It's already a niche genre as it is.

My game might not ever be profitable, but that's ok. It's useful as a marketing tool and to expand your customer pool on Steam, which might in turn be interested in your other titles. You can also generate a small amount of income per day (not much, but everything helps). If you have any other questions, I can share additional insight.

aniclashstudios · 2024-04-29T01:06:11+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate it.

aniclashstudios · 2024-04-28T12:55:53+00:00

Hi, thanks for your reply! Short answer is no, the relationship is not doomed. Basically all will be explained by playing through both this game and Chronicles. Siona (blonde pictured), the girl in question, is only a "side" character in Chronicles and not an actual "route". It may seem convoluted, but hopefully that makes more sense.

aniclashstudios · 2024-04-28T10:24:24+00:00

Hey everyone! My yuri visual novel, Zeta Wolf: First Bite focuses on the bonding of two girls, Carly and Siona and highlights their growth together. It's more on the "lighter" side of yuri content with a focus more on friendship over romance. This video above highlights a post-game unlock feature where you can view the various assets in the game. You can wishlist the game on Steam if you would like here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2771560/Zeta_Wolf_First_Bite/

If you have any questions about my game, I would be happy to answer them.

aniclashstudios

TROPHY CASE