Hey there,

We've been working hard over the past four months and are ready to give a better idea of what we're looking at in terms of a release date.  Back in February, we categorized the main aspects of where we were and how much we had left.  We want to go over how much in detail and let you know our progress as we enter July:

Story/Writing - 100% Done:

Part 1 of the TSOF trilogy was written before game development, and we've done some proofreading and compressing to make the story better in terms of flow.  While it was around 40,000 words at first draft, it's probably more towards 37,000-38,000 words now.  Still plenty to go around!

Art - 75% Done

All character sprites have been completed and uploaded into the game engine, and we're working on getting the rest of the 11 CGs (a few you've already seen in our demo!) finished to settle them in where they need to be.  Hesketts (@thehesketts on Twitter) has been amazing and has done an amazing job bringing Amimi and Co. to life for this project!  Additionally, there are some smaller artistic projects like Chapter Screens and re-doing the Title screen a little that need to be completed to be more in line with the full release.

Scripting - 90% Done

All 102 pages of Google Doc text have been plugged into the game, which itself is a BIG check-mark checked off.  There will be various text message conversations that happen throughout the story that are currently being workshopped in how to make it the easiest and most appealing to read.  This is the next big task, and once that gets completed, we'll be closer to the homestretch.

Editing/Extra - 50% Done

Since we've added a ton of new content into the game engine, we will need to go through and make sure everything looks good and plays well.  We've acquired a good bit of music from creators selling tracks specific to the Visual Novel Maker program, as well as some talented musicians being amazing to allow their tracks to be used, and this music is currently being implemented into the game.  Some spring cleaning will also be done to remove any sounds/backgrounds/etc. that are unneeded to help keep download size and download times to a respectable amount.

With progress going about where we expected it to be, there are a few extra pieces to the puzzle that we want to explore and see if they are doable within the game's engine.  If we have the time, we will add what we can and make sure the full product is worth it's weight.

Testing - TBD

After all of the above is completed, we can go into stress testing and making sure the game works so there are no issues for anyone generous enough to purchase the game.  Since Visual Novels do not take much computing power, there shouldn't be any issues graphically that would hinder the experience, but we would like to have as many hands in the pot as we can to make sure things go according to plan.  We've got testers set ready for the game to be in its final build, and hopefully testing will go smoothly, since an OK from our testers will get us preparing for release.

So, when is the game coming out, and how much will it be?

As of right now, The Sound of Fireworks: The Haiku is still slated for a 2021 release date, but as long as nothing catastrophic happens, it should be more to a Fall date, but all depends on how smooth the ride is this Summer.  Once we have a set release date, we will announce the MSRP for the title, but we promise not to break your bank!

Thank you to everyone who has joined us so far on this journey, and will be around to enjoy Amimi's story when it drops this year.

Best,

TSOF Team