Hello amazing backers!

I have extremely exciting news to share with you all. Today, I'm releasing a huge upgrade to Alcyone that represents the hard work myself and the team have put in over the last few months. This update fully replaces the old 2D navigation system with a modelled version of the City and a new, snazzy way of selecting narrative pathways through the story. This has been a tremendous amount of work both from an art, programming, and design perspective, and I couldn't be prouder of the work that Ben Allardice (my new programmer) and Michael Edwards (my lead 3D artist) have put in since joining the project just a couple of months ago. They've done tremendous work to bring Alcyone up to where it is now, and I am super excited to share the visual revamp with you all.

Demo now on Steam!

If you want to check the changes out, a new version has been pushed to itch.io — but you can now also download a demo on Steam itself! This is also a perfect opportunity to make sure you've wishlisted the game there if you haven't already, as this is a metric that helps out tremendously.

Given how extensive the changes are, I've made this available to everyone to try out publicly (if you're downloading it on itch just go through the demo download on the main page as the game isn't "released" yet so itch doesn't yet unlock alpha and beta-tier keys). If you come across any issues let me know — redoing the content in the demo to support the new narrative hubs took a lot of work and while I've tested this extensively, let me know if you come across any weirdness or things not working.

A fun result of me getting the demo live on Steam means I have also been able to test out some pretty cool stuff like this 👀:

(Alcyone: The Last City running on a Steam Deck console.)

 Alcyone at VicScreen's Play Now publisher market for MIGW!

Last week I had the very exciting opportunity to present Alcyone at VicScreen's inaugural Play Now event at the State Library here in Melbourne. Part of Melbourne International Games Week, this is Australia's first game market showcase with publishers from around the world. Alcyone was selected as of one of around just 45 projects getting to present our games to publishers including Meta, Devolver Digital, Shueisha Games, Fellow Traveller, and many many more. This was a thrilling opportunity for me and I couldn't be more excited that my game was selected to participate amongst so many exciting Australian titles.

(Photo of a badge for Play Now 2023 with Joshua Meadows' name and project on it.)

Pre-order on itch to lock in the lowest price ever!

When I first started developing Alcyone in a heavily modified version of Twine, I was hesitant to price the game very high — the base tier has been AUD$4.99 going back to the initial Kickstarter, and I haven't adjusted pricing since then. Even in the early days I had lots of feedback telling me that I was underselling the game by charging so little, but I was reticent to ask for more. Pesky imposter syndrome and all that.

However, with this update and given the extensive work that has gone into getting Alcyone to where it is now — a full port to Unity, controller support, the visual revamp, and so much more — I have made the decision that after launch I will be increasing the base price to something more in line with what I think the game's value actually reflects.

Whilst I know most of you have likely pledged at tiers that give you keys already, this gives everyone ample notice so you've got the opportunity to support the game at the lowest amount I will ever offer. And pre-ordering on itch will also give you keys on additional major storefronts as I am able to provide them, as I don't want people to have to purchase the game multiple times if I can avoid it. You can also wait until the Halloween sale starting on the 25th to get 25% off as well. This is the fastest way to support me, Alcyone, and your pocketbook, so consider buying the game now — or passing this on to people who you think would be interested — before launch and the subsequent increase.

Thanks for your support!

Things are coming along at a breakneck pace these days and I'm really thrilled at where Alcyone is at. I will have more information about a concrete release date towards the end of the year, but for now please make sure you've wishlisted the game on Steam, told your friends who might be interested, and share this post if you have a moment! It's exciting news and I am deeply, deeply grateful for the support of you all — my very earliest supporters, in fact! — as my game trundles its way towards the finish line.

Lots of love as always,

- Joshua