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Zodiac•Axis: A Fantasy-Fusion Visual Novel

Created by Studio Theophilus

Determine your fate and experience a tale that fuses suspense, romance, and Asian-inspired supernatural elements.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

We’re sorry. Zodiac Axis is no longer under active development.
about 4 years ago – Tue, Jan 21, 2020 at 12:26:18 AM

After careful consideration, I’m regretfully ceasing active development on Zodiac Axis. I’m enacting an open refund policy for our Kickstarter backers and beta access supporters during this time.

I will continue to develop the story in the background, but no longer can guarantee a specific release date.

If you are a backer and would like a refund, please submit the following form.


The decision

This decision doesn’t come lightly. This development journey has been nearly four years of my life at 40-50 hours a week of blood, sweat, and tears. And I was far from the only person who worked on it—there were countless wonderful and talented people who I’ve been blessed to meet along the way, from the steadfast programmer to the incredible voice actors to the amazing artists. I truly have been so honored and loved working with each and every one of them.

I didn’t want us to be known as just another video game Kickstarter who couldn’t deliver and misplaced their supporters’ trust. I know there have been many of them, and I wanted to be known as a person who kept her word. But with recent developments, I don’t find it fair to keep backers hanging on.

I deeply apologize to the many supporters who have loved and supported Zodiac Axis, both as an audience, but also as customers who wanted to see a final product delivered to them.


What happened

Last update, I mentioned that my old computer broke down. I didn’t want it to be a huge deal, but it actually was. While I’d foreseen this problem and had all of Zodiac Axis’s data and assets stored up on backup drives and the cloud, other problems quickly surfaced:

  1.  All of my programs and VSTs, which I used to draw, design, and compose music, were gone. I was able to retrieve these by finding my email receipts and redownloading the assets from each company, but it has been a very time consuming process to recover everything.
     
  2.  My new computer is awesome. It also had deprecated previous systems. As a brief example, our document-to-script converter was based on Python 2.7+. It doesn’t work with Python 3+. Under Ian’s guidance, I was able to install Python 2.7+ and run the converter again, but there’s all sorts of other problems arising from recent developments in technology: increasingly stringent Mac security meant I had to consistently search for loopholes and workarounds to get my software to work.
     
  3.  I no longer have the ability to open or edit certain previous core files. During the 4 years this game has been in development, I’ve stopped using Adobe Photoshop due to the steep subscription costs. I also don’t have access to Sketch App anymore. This is problematic, given that all the journal page templates are .sketch files and all the GUI files are .psds. On my old computer, I had Photoshop CS6 and Sketch App installed. On my new computer, I have neither.
     
  4.  As of Ren’Py 7.3.5, the game won’t even launch. This doesn’t really surprise me, because Zodiac Axis has a lot of features that were not really intended for Ren’Py, engineered with Ian’s careful coding and custom functions. We have 8 separate textbox modes each with their own transitions and guidelines, 15 GUI screens with different functions, and a lot of customized ways in how we handle sprites and backgrounds to get the effects and visual style we’re looking for.
     

It’s possible to recover things by redesigning the GUI in Affinity Designer, remaking the journal pages and their templates from scratch, upgrading code, and so on and so forth. But that takes an immense amount of time.

All in all, I have lost about 6 months to 1 year of progress.

I looked over a lot of possible solutions, but the news was grim. We could have continued work with our previous 7.2+ version of Ren’Py that had worked with Zodiac Axis—but we were getting increasing reports from beta access testers regarding framerate lag and irreproducible crashes, which I couldn’t diagnose or fix. Furthermore, attempting to recode our systems to be compatible with 7.3+, or creating a new engine with a more flexible cross-platform system like Unity, will take an immense amount of time and money that I currently don’t have available.


The long slog

If Zodiac’s issues had been purely technical, we could push through—but unfortunately, the difficulties go beyond that now.

At this point, Zodiac Axis has gone triple overbudget and over double its original timeline. I have been working hard to build my side business as a convention artist and online store, hoping to fund the game out of my own pocket while paying for life expenses.

Sadly, the extreme demands of the project have left me in intense emotional and creative burnout for six months, despite taking an extended vacations after Leaf’s Route and for Christmas. By essentially working two intensive full time jobs—one as an artist and the other as a game dev for Zodiac—I nearly ran myself into the ground in 2019, encountering mounting health problems due to stress. I had to squarely face Zodiac Axis and come to terms with the fact that attempting to push through on sheer willpower was not sustainable. The recent technical difficulties have only magnified that truth.


The future of Zodiac Axis

I still dearly love this world and its characters. I honestly think about them every day. I'll still be working on the assets (like writing the story and drawing the art) in the background, but I can no longer guarantee a specific release date for the game. It's definitely a passion project, but no longer under focused active development, as I have to focus on my art and online store to pay my living expenses.

Earlier this month, we brought on Star on a Staff as a writer to the team. I wish I could introduce her on a better note than a bummer announcement, because she’s amazing at heartfelt character interactions, gripping story, and beautiful narrative themes, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have her join. She’s gracious enough to write Zax’s Story, even as we bring the game into the background.

Hopefully, once all the assets and stories are already done and ready for fresh code, in 3, 5, or 10 years down the road, we can relaunch the project—this time, fully prepared.

Thank you so much to everyone who supported us along the way. I’m very sorry that I couldn’t deliver at this time, and I will do my best to make things right for you.

Signing off,
— Luna Chai

December dev update — Time for a refresh!
over 4 years ago – Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 12:15:40 AM

Hi all! We’ve been winding down for the holidays, hence the later update as announced on our Twitter. We’ve got one last post to close the year with a bang before we’re off to take a break!


This month's news...

I’ve been honing in the designs for the final new character to appear in Halt’s Route: the enigmatic godfather, Watchman.

Keep both eyes open

His name haunts the Lower like a wraith: “Watchman,” the man with a thousand eyes who sees all and knows all. Commanding the most influential brotherhood of the Lower, he is not a man to be crossed. Unfortunately, he’s not about to leave you alone; he seems to have taken a dangerous interest in Halt. For good purposes? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Code up

I’ve also begun coding work for the script cues, which means that screenshots are around the corner Soon™!

Unfortunately, my computer actually broke down this past week, and I’m currently in the process of migrating all my software and files over to a new computer. Thankfully, I have trust issues with technology, and all my data was both on external drives and stored on the cloud. Leaf rubbed off on me, in a good way. It just means getting all my assets and scripts on my new computer will take a while.


Zodiac Rewind

Recently, I’ve been feeling really tired when working on Zodiac stuff, so out of curiosity, I threw together all the sprites that have been drawn or redrawn this year. The result was… well, pretty eye-opening.

The answer is… a lot. There’s been a lot of drawing done this year. I no longer wonder why I feel tired.

Thankfully, the end is in sight. Watchman is the last new character to be rendered. After that, there’s some Dexter redraws and the backer character renders.

In the interest of time, I’ve decided to hold off on the Cat’s redraw, since we plan for him to appear in Zax’s Story. Sorry. You’ll have to tolerate outdated assets just a little longer.


Looking ahead

Although the redraw project has extended the working timeline of this game, I’m looking to increase the overall pace of the project. I’d really like to release by the end of 2020. As a result, after much deliberation and speaking with Antioch, we’ve decided to find a route writer for Zax.

We both believe this will be the best decision for the pace of production, as well as the execution of the overall story; with Zax’s Story in capable hands, I’ll be able to focus on writing True Route.

Currently I’m in talks with a writer who I’m very excited about, and I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we have details solidified!

Overall, we’re looking to release Halt’s Story in February 2020, Zax’s Story in July 2020, and have True Route ready for beta in Q4 2020.

October dev update — Glowups galore
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 09:41:12 PM

Hope you’re all having a grand ol’ October, whether it’s trick-or-treating, gorging yourself on candy sales, or just enjoying the changing colors of the trees! Here’s what’s been up with October on the Zodiac Axis end.


Sprites, and not the soda kind

I redrew lots of Halt’s sprites this month, and some new sprites for his alt outfit during the route. Remember when I said I would only be redrawing the faces and heads, and not the bodies? Yeah, that didn’t hold up for long. I can’t bring myself to regret the decision, though, because the anatomy and cloth rendering looks significantly better.

Although the redraw project has significantly extended the production time of the game, but the results have looked so, so good. It’s a huge joy to see everything looking consistent!

Umm, yup. Think it’s safe to say that’s an improvement. Elphaze says he now looks hot. I consider that a big win.

Elphaze and Valee also finished a bunch of CGs! We’ve hit spoiler territory on those, though, so for now I’m unable to post previews for now. Trust that there will be some pretty cool scenes happening.


Literally scripted

Finally, all the events of the script are roughed! This upcoming month will involve a bunch of editing so that the scenes are ready to cue in the engine. As of now, the script clocks in at 50,000 words, though that’s subject to change with editing.

So, Halt’s Story when? I’ll have a more concrete idea of a release date as I catch up on the assets. Halt’s Story has the largest number of cameos, with Dexter and the Cat making brief appearances, and that kind of bloats the number of redraws I need to finish. Well, I guess that’s the gist of game development—everything is a decision between trouble now or trouble later. At least they’ll be hotter, right?

Thanks for tuning in, and have a happy Halloween-to-Thanksgiving holiday season! Eat lots of food. But don’t get sick. Peace.

— Luna Chai

September dev update — Sorry, Alison
over 4 years ago – Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 02:21:11 PM

It’s September, and Halt’s Story is on track to release by the end of the year! Here’s what happened this month.


New CGs

I held a small livestream session this month to help me focus on knocking out drawing the backgrounds for Halt’s new CGs. Here’s a glimpse of the results! As always, characters are drawn by the incredible Valee.

The new CGs will show up in Halt’s route. Updated ones (like the first preview, which is his intro CG) will also be pushed in the same update.

I’ve found that streaming really helps me focus on art, so may do another session in the future for Halt’s remaining CGs as well as the sprites. I forgot to post about it on the Studio Theophilus Twitter, so will try to remember this time! Please note that these sessions are not spoiler-free.


And so it continues…

Elphaze and wrothsloth have continued delivering stellar work—Elphaze for Halt’s memory CGs, and wrothsloth on the backgrounds for Zax’s Story! Can you guess what’s happening?


So, how goes the writing?

Let’s just retitle this game to “As Usual, Luna Underestimates the Amount of Time It Takes to Craft a Story.” Significant progress has been made, but I haven’t yet been able to close out the route.

Halt’s Story is the most action-focused of the four hero routes and will feature a logic segment and a number of bad ends where Alison dies miserably.

Of course, True Route is currently planned to focus more on the action and mystery aspect than any of the hero routes, similarly to Common Route.


Coming up

I plan on holding two livestreams this month to work on Zodiac Axis sprites—dates to be determined and will be announced on Twitter.

Also, I’m looking to close out the script for Halt’s Route, since that will really help me focus on spritework. There’s a lot of sprites to do, but recently drawing for my Patreon and prints has given me a lot more confidence in my pace and quality of artwork, so I’m not too worried... yet.

Thanks for continuing to support this project! I sincerely appreciate it and hope to have Halt’s Story available for you soon.

August dev update — Writing away!
over 4 years ago – Sun, Sep 01, 2019 at 12:20:36 AM

Happy almost-autumn, everyone! I used this month to really focus on writing, since that’s the area that’s the most behind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for a very interesting update because there’s no pictures, but I thought this would be a cool opportunity to talk about the writing process (and why it takes me so long to handle story).

Current status of Halt’s route. Word count applies to raw content (before coding inputs or cues).

Stages of scriptwriting tend to go through the following steps:

  1. Roughed. Brain vomit at 2 am. Write everything as it happens in my brain, turning off my inner editor. Usually rife with typos and grammatical errors, unusual moments, and questionable plot consistency.
  2. Written. Script, now edited and cleaned, with some sections rewritten. Sometimes it takes multiple steps to get here. For example, Leaf’s intro scene was completely rewritten 3 times, and edited another 2 times. Most scenes are rewritten once and edited twice.
  3. Scripted. Script imported into the game engine. Cues like characters, images, sound effects, music, and visual effects are added.
  4. Shipped. Script is played through and refined, and typos are cleaned. Ready for player experience.

One script can take weeks to finish—tightening up the pacing, cutting out unnecessary content, altering dialogue to reflect characters’ personalities in a stronger way, tuning descriptions to make them evocative, et cetera. Since writing is my number one passion, it turns me into a perfectionist, which... basically means I just take a long time to do anything. I’m working on that part of me, cough.

Anyway! This is all to say that Halt’s route will probably be around 50,000 words (around the length of a typical novel, or half of Common Route). Sadly, I don’t know how long Beckett’s or Leaf’s was, because I imported their scripts before running the word count. Oops.


The Show Must Go On

Writing aside, wrothsloth has completely finished all BGs for both Halt’s route and Zax’s route! The only ones left are for True Route. Which is kind of why I’m focusing on the writing, since she’s steamrolling so far ahead of me.

Here’s a preview of the beautiful BG she made for Zax’s apartment:

Valee and Elphaze have also continued work in the CGs for Halt’s route. Here’s a wonderful memory CG from Elphaze for a small peek into his past:

For Valee’s CGs, I still have to sit down and knock out a bunch of the backgrounds so I can show the previews. I might throw up an art livestream on my Twitch to help me focus on this.


Thank you!

That’s all for this month! Sorry that there’s not many visual previews. I’m hoping to finish Halt’s scripts next month, and then there should be more interesting things to show for it.