Hey everyone!

The beginning of this year has been quite eventful for me, and I encountered a roadblock with Solace Creek. Towards the end of last year, I made significant progress and worked on various aspects of the game. However, as the new year rolled in, I found myself facing a creative standstill in many respects.

One potential reason for this stagnation is my uncertainty regarding whether 2D is the ideal format for the vision I have for Solace Creek. Initially, I opted for a 2D approach because I aimed to release something small by Halloween '23, and I wanted to experiment with RPG Maker MZ after spending years using the previous version. 

Interestingly, following Numina, I began to question whether I should explore a different engine like Unity or Unreal for my next project. However, RPG Maker MZ appeared promising, boasting numerous quality-of-life improvements that promised to enhance the development process. It's a great RPG Maker version in my opinion and I urge anyone to give it a try if you're working on something 🙂

But I feel like something in the game itself didn't quite come together yet. I believe this disconnect stems from the game's incorporation of various stealth elements—such as hiding in lockers, maintaining invisibility, and sneaking—which are more commonly associated with 3D games and pose challenges when translated into a 2D format. Consequently, I've embarked on creating a 3D prototype of Solace Creek to assess whether my intuition that the game's flow would be better suited to a 3D environment holds true.

I may share some insights and materials from this prototype in the next update. I've previously shared some WiP on my Patreon which you can check out here https://www.patreon.com/starlitstudio

Until then, I sincerely appreciate your ongoing support!