Nozomu School Daze

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• Patch Notes·8 Sept 2026Official

  Devlog #9: OH MY GOSH, OUR MUSIC WAS AI?!

  Quick patch notes update (we have so many patches, we can make a stuffie) to keep us transparently honest and ya'll in the loop:Several streamers loved Seth's theme, a hard-hitting metal tune that Cero chose as a placeholder for Nozomu School Daze's demo. One streamer even headbanged to it! Alright, you go girl!We have a composer working on original music, but people seemed to love the placeholders. So we figured, hey, why not use the original music AND placeholder music in the final game?But to our horror, we found out Seth's theme, found on Pixabay and covered by their non-royalty license agreement, was AI-generated! This was NOT disclosed to us when we downloaded it, but the AI taint was obvious in retrospect to our background artist after a close listen.It took Ian Watson, a popular variety streamer, pointing out that YouTube rejected his earning potential for the video of his NSD demo stream for us to catch the slime of AI. Ewwww. As first-time developers, a lot of the indie dev landscape is new to us. We claimed not to use AI in our work, and we stand by that. Seth's theme has been patched/replaced by music we bought from Itchio. We did our due diligence on the other songs, and we strongly suspect those are human-made. We are deeply sorry to Ian, our other wonderful streamers, and our fans who liked the Seth theme. We deeply regret the harm we may have caused, and hope y'all stay safe out there.
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• Patch Notes·5 Sept 2026Official

  Nozomu School Daze Demo patch notes

  Ever since we first uploaded the Demo for Nozomu School Daze, we've received a lot of valuable feedback and bug reports, and we did some enhancements of our own. Below is the full history of the patch notes so far.Nozomu School Daze Demo v1.2.3September 4, 2026Fixed bug for CGs not unlocking (Julius Chibi CG and Seth Intro CG).Fixed a few grammar mistakes.Fixed Achievements slide (excess in size).Nozomu School Daze Demo v1.2.2September 2, 2026Updated choices for Elizabeth so they direct the player forward and skip the choice loop.Nozomu School Daze Demo v1.2.1September 1, 2026CG for Sari bad ending.Updated main menu buttons with Mari's updated button image.Updated book BG and locked icons.Nozomu School Daze Demo v1.2August 31, 2026Added sprites for Sari's mom and Elizabeth.Updated speech bubbles.Updated Sari's sprites (shocked variations).Updated a few VA lines.Updated the script at several different places for grammar and formatting.Updated Gallery to allow it to work better with controller.Updated some CGs with HD versions.Nozomu School Daze Demo 1.1August 26, 2026 Updated endings so it now shows a chibi drawn by Caitlin along with the demo ending scene.Ending will now automatically direct you to LI ending with highest affection instead of showing the route selection.Modified and added chibi CGs to the gallery (replaced 3 other CGs that are exclusive to the full version to accomodate these in the demo).Modified and added achievements specific for the demo (updated 3 achievements for the full version to accommodate these in the demo).Some minor bug fixes and transitions at the end.Nozomu School Daze Demo 1.0August 24, 2026First version of the demo version.Updated ending routes so they point to demo ending page.Fixed minor bugs.Updated in-game Steam buttons so they open the store page within Steam since the demo is expected to run from steam.
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• Announcements·2 Sept 2026Official

  Devlog #8: Bringing the world of Nozomu to life.

  By Mari KaeyariApproaching BGs Hey guys, Mari Kaeyari here! I am the artist who did the BGs, miscellaneous assets and the polishing of the UI needed for Nozomu School Daze. I am preferably a character focused artist and have only done a handful of BGs for VN GameJams (Sealed with a Kiss 2025, Otome Jam 2025). I wanted to write a devlog outlining my approach to BGs while at the same time encouraging those that might want to eventually learn and want to do BGs themselves for VNs. I am someone who never would have thought I would have become a ‘background artist’ and subsequently get locked into BG jail with every VN project I have participated in so far 🤣. Don’t get me wrong though, I do love doing BGs, but I love drawing hot anime boys more - what can I say. I started learning how to do BGs in November 2024, a friend of mine was hosting weekly timed environment study sessions where we would paint BGs in 5 - 15 - 30 min increments, just like doing gesture drawing but for environments! I did not really know what I was doing, but the biggest thing that helped me was zooming out to look at the big picture and then have three separate layers to paint on - one for the background, one for the midground, and one for the foreground. It is really important to separate these elements to give depth while also paying attention to values of your overall piece so that distinction is made with shapes and people’s brains can automatically fill in the gaps. I do recommend doing timed environments, may they be studying another artist's work, real life photos, or even movie scenes. I started with very nature-like BGs which I adore to draw because nature is imperfect and you can wing a lot of it. Another tip is just paint shapes, when you’re starting I don’t recommend wasting time with lineart when you’re doing timed environments. I also recommend trying to find a group of people you want to improve your BG skills with. There is nothing better than friends keeping each other motivated! E...
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• Community & Events·1 Sept 2026Official

  Devlog #7: Nozomu Demo OUT NOW for the Fall in Love Festival!

  MY BODY IS READY: Nozomu School Daze STEAM DEMO is out NOW!Today is the beginning of the Fall in Love Festival, a Steam fest run by Studio Elan featuring romance-themed visual novels. The festival runs from September 1st through the 9th, eight days.To celebrate the festival, we are releasing Nozomu School Daze's demo for the FIRST TIME!Scamper through the common route and battle those sexy boys at the end! Feed a kitten (or not…), face your bully, and get swept off your feet in a bridal carry by a handsome prince knight!All-new UI, new Seki sprites, and a secret ending grace our new demo, which you can play in the following ways:Also, Steam reviews give us SO much visibility. If we get 10 of them (yes, just 10!!) on our main game page, the algorithm starts actively promoting our game. If you have enjoyed taking NSD’s journey with us, leaving a brief, honest review would mean the world to us.
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• Patch Notes·29 Aug 2026Official

  Devlog #6: Julius's Route Leaving Itchio

  Hi, Maroon Inkers!Did you have fun romancing Julius, our rich, socially awkward, protective prince knight on Itchio? If you haven’t, what are you waiting for?We released Julius’s route for Otome Jam 2026, alongside “joke” routes for Seki and Seth.But Julius’s route is only unlocked for a LIMITED TIME. That’s right. In three (3) days, we’re updating the demo, and Julius's route will be LOCKED until the full game comes out!If you haven’t wooed him yet, now’s your chance!Go romance that boy and knock his socks off!And don’t forget to WISHLIST the full game! -Maroon Ink Studio
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