Shards of the Past

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• Patch Notes·19 Jun 2026Official

  0.4.0 Development Update 8

  Much of the work lately has revolved around the last couple remaining scenes needed to complete the game for the next release. Most of these are part of the Branson path and are tied to a special ending for this next update. Depending on your choices in Castle Helmsworth, there is the chance you will end up in a confrontation. This event plays out similar to the tavern fight from the beginning of the game, where your choices during this altercation will change the following scenes and can even put you on a very different path storywise.Winning this fight scene ties into a couple of the story paths that were already completed so the recent work has been in creating all the images needed for if you end up losing this fight. I created all new images for both inside and outside Castle Helmsworth to go along with all the dialogue for the story branches where you much instead flee while injured.In addition to this story path and ending I have also been finishing up all the remaining images that were still needed for the Branson path. In the previous release instead of helping Maggie and Raelynn on their farm you could choose to continue on your journey. This would lead to one of the first campsite scenes, but due to development time it was not added. That has now been completed for both Branson and Damerek paths. The Branson path for this upcoming release has a some scenes with Noella that are not available on any other branches. This longer scene has three potential endings based on your previous choices and after collecting a few specific character assets I was able to finally complete all the work for those images as well since there was one ending I had not been able to finish previously.The plan is to complete this update and release this summer with the first Steam release. There are just a few scenes left to pose and create images for, but they are large with a few possible variations in the story that warrant specific images for each outcome. The current game is s...
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• Patch Notes·16 Dec 2025Official

  0.4.0 Development Update 7

  I have to apologize for the lack of recent updates. I had written up a development update a few months back, but it never got published. So I am combining it with what was planned as the next development update to create a longer post. Weekly updates are linked in the game's Discord Announcement channel, but I need to make sure I stay up on these public facing updates as we are nearing the end of this development cycle.I wrapped up work on the Damerek path and was able to complete all the the renders and images specific to that story branch. Now I have been working on all the images needed for scenes for the Branson path. Many of the recent scenes for this part of the story have taken place in Castle Helmsworth for the rescue. These scenes will play out differently having Branson in your group instead of Damerek, especially when rescuing Kaela or Elwyn from their confinement. Bringing Qinara along with you during this rescue can help since she is able to help deescalate some situations compared to if you go solo when approaching the women in their cells. Many of these scenes on both paths are similar in the direction they take the story, but they have different dialogue that I have written as well as new images to show the difference in the characters in the groups with you.The currently released version of the game (version 0.3.1) sits at around 3600+ story images and 84,000+ words of story dialogue. My most recent count for this next update (version 0.4.0) are sitting at doubling both those numbers. Right now I have close to 3000 additional story renders with more still being worked on as I pose and renders those needed for the remaining scenes. The current total word count is now at 140,000 with multiple story scenes and dialogue still needing to be added to the game script, so this number will also increase with the remainder of the work being completed. This does not include any of the journal images or text and walkthrough and hint texts, more on that below. I...
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• Patch Notes·29 Mar 2025Official

  0.4.0 Development Update 6

  I was planning on waiting until release for the next development update post, but I didn't want too much time to go by without sharing all the work that has been done. Much of the recent work has been dealing with the rescue at Castle Helmsworth and some of the confrontation and conflict that can arise there. there are a few choices you will make that can alter the playthrough as well as one which will end the update with your story taking two very different paths. This dual ending has added some extra work as I wanted to make sure that both choices lead to a similar amount of content and arrive at a similar level of resolution as far as the story goes. The two different paths that open up from this will set the tone for the 0.5.0 release which means a very different experience for you. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/1c906df6e9bee46ebaf2d84d1cf4e9ee6299378a.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/1c1eceda7664cc3545c2801d15e5a75011b9d030.png The extra scenes and dialogue from this branching is evident in the amount of dialogue added to the script since the last update. We have gone from 100,000 words to about 130,000 and grown the variety of scenes you will be seeing. As a result of the choices you make in this update and your previous ones the story has expanded in many places, resulting in this release being longer than any of the previous ones. It is also wider in a sense that many scenes have alternate versions that are unique to the different paths you are on and also your current relationship status with certain individuals. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/2c4b8d5daa5b2d29a27aaa7e8821671f15a7abe6.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/8725c1ac60fa9af50aec6430c67ac538e9bf2a82.png Outside of the script and dialogue updates there has been a ton of work posing and rendering all the images needed for this release. I have added some preview images to this post. Other work done has been updates to the Renpy game engine to bring it to the most current version and take advantage of performan...
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• Patch Notes·17 Dec 2024Official

  0.4.0 Development Update 5

  All of the recent development work has been focused on some of the combat scenes that you might encounter during this update. Based on some of your choices, past and present, you will have a number of possibly violent interactions. I have been working on posing and rendering these scenes, which are a little more involved than the standard dialogue images. Using a combination of action images and narration I am hoping to create fight scenes similar to the one you previously had in the tavern. Like the tavern fight, there is at least 1 combat that you can lose which will change the direction of the story for your playthrough. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/dd11986ae70345b48f61a1e63a7118ecfa0d5d59.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/0d20373d951d88eedb0fd87a1f0c92d11e86aad8.png A good portion of the action this update will take place at Castle Helmsworth, where you plan to rescue Branson's remaining family members. There will be a few different paths for these scenes depending on who is with you and what choices you make. I have been working on rendering out all the images to cover any of the different outcomes, starting with you meeting and rescuing Caleb's captives. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/8f8f7d3fab70488e0c65fe219dc53585ae7f118d.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/56c32a1b5d0af07ba607fc0c089eac87f87f7e3c.png A big milestone I discovered when I was running some linting on my code was that the script for the game has grown to over 100,000 words of dialogue. This is just the story text that has been added to the game files. I still have a large amount of the dialogue and story text for this update that still need to be added to the game files. With myself and my family travelling for the upcoming holidays I plan to finalize the story dialogue and game script since I just have my laptop with me while I am on the go. Once I am back home after the holidays it will be back to cranking out as many renders as I can for the upcoming steam release. This will probably be the last devel...
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• Patch Notes·13 Oct 2024Official

  0.4.0 Development Update 4

  I have been busy working on many different areas of the game to get it ready for the Steam Launch with the next update. Much of the recent development work has centered around Castle Helmsworth. Building the environments, various characters, posing scenes and rendering. These scenes will provide a climatic end to the next release as you will be hopefully rescuing Branson’s family that is being held captive. Below is an image of the full environment for the lower level of the castle which contains the storerooms, holding cells, a large, vaulted room that serves as the guard barracks and then stairways up the next level. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/0bbae7811109bbc545aa0c15b10139c06b8b8644.png In the previous release 0.3.1 if you avoided the encounter while on the road to Castle Helmsworth on either Damerek or Branson’s path you would instead find a place to set up camp for the night that evening. I have been working on finishing all the needed renders for those scenes and ensuring that events that might occur during the campsite scene are considered for the next release during certain dialogue and story events. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/5cec591cdd2d8e884b230065e3426d011dd26b02.png I am working with a few translators to help expand the story from just English. Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese will be added as languages to select when playing the game. While the script is being translated by others, I have been working on redoing all the image buttons that are used for the main menu and new Gallery system. This way all images that have text on them will have a matching graphic in any official language. Below are some images of upcoming content. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/72bc077e48bbb4b36ea79cfed19ecb7b26a62376.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/b35f68ab69dc85a56ecc3094630bc2ab4e10a2d2.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/44621817/e52d6e8809a03ee04e6fc23fdb3a367e53205042.png
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