Devlog

2026-08-18

I've been further testing the capabilities of our new image generation tool. I think I have found the solution to the sprite creation challenges I've been facing *Touches wooden desk... I have taken the decision to refactor from scracth all Chapter 1 character sprites in order to keep a consistent visual language.

I can further confirm that playtesting of Chapter 1 is almost complete. There remains one bug in the free roam section but that should be a straightforward fix. Chapter 1 game logic is essentially DONE!

Once the visual asset refactoring has been done we will enter polish stage for the Chapter 1 demo. Watch this space!!!

2026-08-16 In a hotel room for the next few night with only my laptop. I have access to the source code but this is not a proper dev environment... Made some decisions around narrative progress in Chapters 2 & 3 - most notably around romance mechanics. Not going to post details here cos spoilers but I firmly believe these decisions add to narrative cohesion.

2026-08-12

The refactor of the script of Chapter 1 is largely finished, barring a final few tweaks. The chapter is mostly playable from beginning to end again, including the new free-roam section. Once the refactor is complete we will move on to the visual polish stage.

The plan is to publish Chapter 1 as a free demo to let you see what we have been working on and to get early feedback.

We've also made a significant change to the visual asset workflow. After a lot of experimentation with locally generated assets, we've found a workflow that is producing much more consistent and visually coherent backgrounds. A new set of backgrounds for Chapter 1 is now being created, including several new locations and a number of bespoke environments for the dream sequence.

The dream sequence in particular is looking very promising, and we're increasingly happy with the overall visual direction of the game.

There's still a fair amount of work to do, particularly around character sprites, positioning and scene composition. However Chapter 1 is now starting to look much more like the finished game rather than a prototype.

2026-07-29 After some recent reflections we have decided to make some fairly significant changes to the plot of the visual novel. We feel this will pay off narratively in the long term but in the short term it does mean quite a bit of refactoring of the script for chapter 1.

2026-04-22 Hit a milestone today. The plot of Chapter 1 of Stranger In A Strange Land is now finished! Decisions and branching logic is likewise basically complete. We still have a LOT of work to do on the visual assets but having the structure of the first chapter done is a big step forward.

2026-04-16 Project structure established. Initial game page created for "Stranger In A Stranger Land".

2026-04-10 Early experimentation with AI-generated VN assets. We're using an SDXL model for this, running it locally so we have artistic control and can iterate quickly. Initial results are promising, but we're still fine-tuning the process to achieve the desired quality and consistency.