Progress report #17

12/11/2025 · Release · Glowing Stones : Heroes' Awakening

News from the Front — Momentum, Translations, and a Backup Plan

Hi everyone,

Here’s a quick check-in since the last progress report. Things have steadied a bit, and production is picking up again. Here’s what changed and where we are now.

What’s new

Steam Daily Deal:

Straight talk: the Daily Deal underperformed. Maybe it was timing (end of month, a Saturday, big releases in the same window). Not a disaster, but it stung—a good spark to push harder.

RTX 4090 contingency

NVIDIA ended the 40-series, and Daz3D isn’t compatible with the 50-series. Since my entire render pipeline depends on this, I grabbed a second-hand 4090 (yes, I had to buy the full PC). If my current card fails, I can keep producing without a pause. Big relief.

Chinese translation

It was a heavy lift (UI, buttons, image text…), but the Chinese version is live. Huge thanks to the translator I plan to work with long term. We’ve already seen a small “catch-up” wave from players who were waiting for it.
👉 If you play in Chinese, I’d love your feedback on the translation (and on the game as a whole).

Paperwork & taxes

Year-end means a few half-days crunching numbers to frame 2025. Not glamorous, but it gives me a clear roadmap.

Better cloth simulations

I’ve adopted a new garment-sim workflow for cleaner, more convincing animations. You should notice the improvement on screen.

New platform incoming

The game is landing soon on another PC store (a direct Steam competitor many of you know). That required marketing work and some achievement integration. It doesn’t replace dev time, but diversifying revenue and visibility matters right now.


Development status

Production’s rolling again. I’m back to focusing on images and animations. And yes, I slipped in one unplanned intimate scene (blame Aurora—hard to say no).

Current numbers (rough estimates)
  • Writing: ~2,700 lines written.
    1,400 lines scripted total, with 400 fully laid out.

  • Animations: 3 animations (~18 s, 1,080 frames).

  • Renders: 250 finished renders, 40 queued in IRay.

I’m behind the original schedule, but the engine is running again—and that already feels like a real win.


Thanks & feedback

Thanks for sticking with me and for all your messages. If you’re playing in Chinese, let me know how it reads. More broadly, thoughts on pacing, scenes, and balance help me prioritize what’s next.

See you soon with more.