– Database system online. Iris personality matrix engaged.
– Access protocol: 35:34:31:54:12:24:45:43
– File access: AS1_FAQ.TXT
– Begin_Transmission

Testing, one, two, three… ahh, hello! My name is Iris, and I’m your personal digital assistant through the world of Arcade Spirits! Today, I’d like to discuss a few tips ‘n tricks to help you get the most out of your gameplay. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything!

Taking Photos! What better way to capture a moment than with a ‘selfie,’ as you flesh-based entities like to call them? In Arcade Spirits, taking a photo is easy! Just tap the “S” key on your keyboard to Snap! a photo, which will drop right into your game’s file folders. That way, your cherished memories are saved forever! And if that pesky text box is in the way, just “Right Click” first to hide the user interface, then “S”nap your picture! Perfect, pristine images of your friends, your favorite places, and other delightful moments in time.

Basic Isn’t Bad! Throughout Arcade Spirits, I’ll be offering assistance identifying your responses based on various personality archetypes: Quirky, Kindly, Steady, Gutsy, and Basically. You’ll almost always have a Basically option, so if you don’t like the other two, go ahead and be Basic! There’s nothing wrong with that, and sometimes, it’s the best possible thing to say! Don’t be afraid of exploring your choices. Speaking of which…

Save Your Game! So you have to make a biiiig decision, but aren’t sure what to pick? That’s okay! Hit your “ESCAPE” key to pop open the menu, and save your game! You can do this at any time during the game. Become a time traveler! Break the laws of physics! Burn a hole in the fabric of space-time that consumes all mankind has wrought in a sweeping wave of destruction! It’s all good.

Quick-Reference Your Personality! Did you know you can check up on your personality traits and your relationships at any time? It’s easy — just tap the “Q” key on your keyboard, or left click your score in the upper right corner of the screen! Use this to keep tabs on things and make sure you’re becoming the person you want to be.

New Game Plus! Arcade Spirits has replayability, thanks to all the different choices and romance options at your fingertips. Want to play the game again, but skip past any text you’ve already seen? We’ve got you covered! Click the “SKIP” button or the “TAB” key to start skipping past that stuff. Don’t worry, the game will automatically stop when it hits something you haven’t seen yet, or when you reach a decision point! Also, on your second playthrough, your mouse wheel will act as a time travel device — step backwards and forwards to see what different choices do! Why do we even have general relativity? Take that, Einstein!

The Home Arcade Documentary! As a little bonus feature, you can also view a documentary prepared by Naomi that explains how YOU can make an arcade game for your very own home, using software and joysticks and carpentry and more — or less! She’s got tips for you to make a project of any scale, be it a little HDMI set-top box, or a full blown cabinet. Enjoy the classics of yesteryear the way they were meant to be played! To view the documentary, before starting or loading your game, go to the “PRIZES” menu and click on the Documentary option.

Music Too Loud? We’ve mixed the music to quiet itself whenever someone’s talking, but sometimes you just want it quieter still — especially if you’re streaming the game live on the Internet. In the Preferences menu, you can adjust individual sliders for Music, Sound Effects, and Voice. Click the “Test” button next to each to hear what they sound like working together! While you’re in here, if you don’t like our pink neon interface, you can change it to cool blue pixels or a simple grey box. It’s up to you!

And… that’s all for now! I hope you enjoy Arcade Spirits when it releases on the 12th, and I hope I’ve made your game experience just a little bit better. Have fun!

Dee da dee doo, dee da dee da dee...

One week remains before the launch of Arcade Spirits and hype levels (along with rising anxiety levels) are soaring. Once the 12th hits and the game drops things are going to get very interesting 'round these parts... but even in the week prior, we've got interestingness in dangerous amounts.

I'm keeping our homepage up to date with links to new press, streamers, and videos as they're made available. For instance, do you speak German or have Google Translate handy? If so you may like this glowing review of our game. Want to hear interviews with the devs? Sure thing -- Stefan was on the GameGrin podcast recently, and Aenne, Molly, and Steph spoke to Gaming Access Weekly about inclusivity and our design philosophy.

Want to watch someone play the game? Okay -- StumptGamers will be streaming our game TODAY, Monday Feb 4th, at 3pm Eastern. Later this week, LoadingReadyRun streams it Friday Feb 8, 12:30pm Eastern. We're also arranging for a charity stream to play it, with details to come. Many, many, many other streamers and youtubers will be diving in starting Feb 12th and we'll be linking to as many as we can when that starts.

(One note, though. Generally speaking we're going to collect links to all content we can, but we draw the line at anyone who mocks the game or its entirely optional pronoun feature. Negative reviews are just dandy, criticism is great... but when it's a thin excuse to make fun of us or disrespect anyone's gender, nothankyou.jpg. We won't issue DMCA or takedowns or anything, that'd be silly and evil, but we also don't have to promote their content.)

Lastly, if you want to preorder, we've got options on the table from itchio, greenmangaming, and humblebundle. ALL of these will get you Steam keys, so pick your favorite. Me, I like itchio, because it offers a great developer split -- but it's entirely up to you. Or don't pre-order! That's fine too, we'll have a matching discount for launch week on Steam itself. You won't miss out.

Not long now. Not long at all...

Been some time since our last developer blog post. Honestly? Not much to report, since we wrapped up the game and are just waiting for the release. But we're not TOTALLY resting on our hopefully-arriving-in-the-future laurels. Let's recap and discuss the doings and goings on.

Pre-orders are up, as indicated in this handy chart. My recommendation is itch.io, which has both the normal game and soundtrack+artbook bundle at a discount, and gets you both a direct download and a Steam key. If you don't wanna pre-order, that's cool, we'll be having an identical launch week discount on Steam itself.

Aenne (co-author), Steph (Iris's voice actor), Molly (character artist) and special guest Jacob (voice director) are all going to be at PAX South 2019 this coming weekend! We're going to have our most elaborate booth to date, with comfy seating and a fun environment. We'll have shirts and actual pre-order game codes on sale there, so drop on by to play the demo, chat with the devs, and have a grand 'ol time. We'll also be participating in the Houston Gaymers pre-show party Friday at 8pm.

Press will be getting their hands on review codes and working to get you advance notice of how amazingly awesome our game is (hopefully) towards the end of this month. If you're press and want to get in on the fun contact pr@pqube.com for more information.

And finally... Feb 12, we release. And then we wait and see.

Because if we're a success, if we can break even and then some... I've got biiiig plans for an Arcade Spirits II. Since I've got an unexpected and unwelcome surplus of time on my hands I've been doing preproduction work on it, in hopes that we take off like a rocket and the project is greenlit. So tell your friends, tell your enemies, and thank you for your support!

It's been some time since I did a rambly developer blog update about our actual progress on the game. Today I'd like to do one of those, effectively wrapping up our game in a neat little bow, as we're going to be sending it off to be certified and prepped for the February 12th launch. (And we'll be launching at $20 for the game and $25 for game plus soundtrack and artbook. Details here.)

But first, let's recap the Developer Spotlight series, shall we? All these lovely people contributed to Arcade Spirits:

• Aenne Schumann / Narrative Designer
• Stefan Gagne / Director / Writer
• Molly Nemecek / Character Art
• Taylor Rose / Background Art
• Greg Mirles / Music Composer
• Marc Straight / Audio Engineer
• Katriel Paige / Editing and UX

Hats off to you all for two and a half years of hard work. I've chronicled the ideas leading up to those two and a half years on the blog -- that's not what I want to talk about today. I want to talk in hindsight, as we're into the last days of this project. We're moving into 2019 and moving away from post-production, and it's a good time to take stock.

As my first true indie game project -- I don't think MS-DOS shareware from the 90s counts -- I wanted to make this as professional as I possibly could. We funded art, music, coding, and all the support needed to really make this game soar. It's a passion project, riding no particular trend, digging into subject matter rarely explored in visual novels and using interactive storytelling in ways we haven't seen very often in the genre. Everything we wanted to do, specifically to make the sort of game we wanted to play... we did it. And soon, we release it to you.

Since it's our first project, well, there are some shortcomings. I can be honest about that. A more in-depth character creator would be great, having stricter narrative consistency would be great, and we didn't plan on voice acting from day one meaning our scenes weren't always structured in a way that accommodated it. The fifth identity trait ("Basically") was never quite what I wanted it to be. Behind the scenes, files and code could be structured better, making it easier to write and less prone to errors. These are all great lessons to learn moving forward, all things we're taking into account for future games, should we get to make them.

But a lot of other things went spectacularly well. I wanted this to feel like an 80s workplace sitcom -- and it does. I wanted romance to be at the heart of the game, but not drive every single decision you make -- and there's variety here. I wanted to support and include as wide an audience as possible, every person no matter who they are -- and we've done that without sacrificing anything. I craved a game that spoke to wistful nostalgia without being entirely trapped within it, which was respectful of arcade culture but understanding of the modern era -- got it. And lastly, I wanted to tell a tale of hope and optimism in a dark time, where one could achieve their dreams if they were pragmatic about it and didn't give up. I believe we did that.

So. Some things we could've done differently. Some things we got *chef kiss* spot on. And overall, I'm damn proud of the work we're about to release into the world. Will it soar? Will it sink? That's not for me to say -- that's for you to say. If it soars, then we are ready to take these lessons and make something bigger and brighter, a game which explores player choice and narrative in new ways. If it sinks, I can still say with pride that I did what I set out to do. Few people can say they truly chased their dreams.

We still have a month and a half to go, so things are pretty intense for you right now, in anticipation. I get that. For me, we're winding down, we're packaging up and shipping things out... and I feel a kind of melancholy, letting this finally go. A bit of anxiety for how it will be received. But above all, happiness. We did this. And soon, we'll be able to show you.

Thank you. As I always say, if you're reading these words, you're farther down the rabbit hole than you expect -- most people don't chew through developer blog posts, don't engage this deeply. You, however, are here with us. And for that you have my gratitude.

So, who's ready to quarter up on February 12th? You got next.

​Good news -- the updated version of the Arcade Spirits demo is now available! Here's a list of what's new.

• Voice acting is now available! In the full game several key scenes will be fully acted, and emotional reaction lines are used elsewhere; for the demo we're only using the emotional reaction lines.
  
• Music and sound effect volume has been rebalanced.
  
• Teo is slightly smaller (he was too zoomed in before).
  
• Teo and QueenBee's Kindly paths have additional character details.

The full game releases February 12, 2019! So enjoy the demo, and we hope to see you then!

We’ve got a release date — February 12th, 2019! Woo your arcade partner just in time for Valentines Day. And along with that announcement we’ve got a new trailer which features some of the great voice acting you’ll be hearing!

The demo itself doesn’t have voice yet, but I’ll be updating it soon to include voice acting (and a few minor tweaks and changes). Everything should be tip top shortly.

See you in February for love in a time of quarters!

Here's a conveniently desktop wallpaper sized poster of all the voice talent behind Arcade Spirits! Click to embiggen, share and enjoy.



You can learn more about each individual voice actor via these links:

• Stephanie Sheh as Naomi
• Ogie Banks as Gavin
• Price Johnson as Percy
• Amber Leigh as Ashley
• Nazia Chaudhry as QueenBee
• Christopher Escalante as Teo
• Mark Meer as Deco
• Danielle McRae as Sue
• LilyPichu as Juniper
• Tricia Brioux as Francine
• Stephanie Bruneau as Iris
• Akash Thakkar as Hamza
• Graham Stark as Ben
• Jacob Burgess as Matt (and the Voice Director)

So, what do you think? Any voices you're excited for in particular? Anyone new to you that you're interested in hearing? Let us know!

I want to thank everyone who sent in an audition for Ashley, from last week’s open casting call. And judging from the number of entries, by “everyone” I mean “a double digit percentage of the total population of the world” because WOW did we get a lot of auditions! We’re combing through them now — it’s going to take some time before we can find the absolutely best Ashley we can in all this amazing talent. But hey, that’s the kind of problem you want to have, right? It’s a great problem. Thank you for giving us this problem. We love you.

In other news, Arcade Spirits is headed to Dreamhack Atlanta! We love Dreamhack — I remember its roots in the 90s as a demoscene gathering, and seeing it blossom into not only an esports venue but also a thriving indie game showcase is really spectacular. Oddly appropriate, considering we made a game that’s all about chasing your dreams…

In the weeks ahead we’re going to have announcements for you about our voice cast, so you can get to know the faces behind the voices you’ll be hearing. I’ll also have some development notes as we head into the final stretch of dev work to get the game fully assembled and — this is the big part — tested extensively. We don’t want some obscure combination of choices you make along the way to ram you headfirst into a showstopping bug, do we? It’s going to take hard work, but we’re ready.

For folks in the $25 club from our old Patreon (now defunct) we’ll have a November build for you in November. For everyone else… we’ll be working to get you the full game as soon as we can. Good things are ahead — keep an eye on this space. And thank you for your support!

For those waiting to hear about open casting calls for Arcade Spirits, the time has come! Ashley Wolf, dedicated cosplayer and floor attendant for Francine's Arcade Funplex, needs your help!Are you a voice talent who thinks they have what it takes to help Ashley express her love of cosplay, arcade games, and weekend bingo night fiestas? Let's find out.



THE RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS! Any audition not following these rules exactly will be ignored and left behind, dwindling towards the horizon while sad piano music plays.

• AUDITIONS ARE DUE BY: Friday, October 26th 12:00pm PST
• THIS IS A NON-UNION GIG
• AUDITIONS SHOULD BE SENT TO: arcadespiritscasting@gmail.com
• You must have a home studio, a quiet space to record, and the ability to capture and send your audio. Don't worry about cleaning it up. We'll take care of that.
• The audition dialogue you need to record can be found in this document: Ashley's Dialogue! (It has minor spoilers, so only read if you want to read for the part.) It includes two small scenes, and a number of short emotional reaction lines.
• Files should be recorded in 48k / 16 bit and delivered as .mp3s. You can create one file for the whole audition, no need to split it up.
• If doing multiple takes (MAX 2), record the script fully then the script fully again after.
• STATE YOUR NAME (Just say your name at the beginning of your audition in your normal tone of voice)
• Please label your file like this: Ashley_YourFirstnameLastname.mp3
• Some of the dialogue will be fully spoken, some will be quick emotional reactions (similar to games such as Octopath Traveler, Dream Daddy, and Fire Emblem) that go along with the text on the screen.
• The gig will pay $200 an hour with a 2 hour minimum. This means that if you land this and then rock the session and it only takes you an hour, we will still be paying for 2 hours of your time. We may cast you for a background role as well.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Break a leg! Looking forward to hearing it!As for all the other characters of Arcade Spirits, the ones we've already cast... we'll have news for you of who's who and what's what in the weeks ahead. Keep an eye on Twitter and get ready for some fun!

First up, I want to say Woohoo! and Thank you! to everybody who responded so positively to our announcement of voice acting. I also know a lot of you want to audition but we aren't doing open casting calls at this time. We may open up one or more roles in the future, and if we do, you'll hear it here first. We promise. Until then, thanks for your patience.

Now, then! I had a long blog post written up about emotional sincerity, about how our game was meant to wear its heart on its sleeve and reject “lol cringe” attitudes... but it seems I already wrote that post like a year ago, so I had to scrap it. You can read it here if you like, though.

So instead of a pathos appeal, let's talk ethos. Let's talk about my past experience in game development, and how it lead to Arcade Spirits. This is Stefan speaking; Aenne has her own tale to tell and I'll see about getting her on the blog to chat about it later.

Most folks know me from two different paths I took -- writing (cough) anime fanfic and then original novels, and writing Neverwinter Nights modules. But truthfully Arcade Spirits first started out as an absurd little project from 1999 called “Culture Shock,” which was my attempt to write a visual novel engine in JAVASCRIPT to be playable in a browser. ...look, it was 1999, JavaScript was almost respectable at the time, okay?


It was a different time. A far weebier time.

Eventually I canned the project as I just didn't have access to the art resources I needed to actually do it, and JavaScript was clunky at best. Although there was this new thing I'd learned about at Otakon, attending a panel about... what was it called... Ren-py or something? Which seemed viable...

...but before I could dip too deep in those waters, Neverwinter Nights was released. And that changed everything. With a strong toolkit-based approach and an excellent dialogue editor, I was able to create storytelling adventures using a popular platform. I was in on it from day one, releasing Penultima, followed by Penultima ReRolled and the more horror-based elegia eternum series. Finally, I very nearly created an official Bioware campaign named the HeX coda, but corporate miscommunication resulted in the project being dropped from their roster and instead released for free.

(Interestingly, Fist of Discomfort -- the game-within-a-game of Arcade Spirits -- almost was a Neverwinter Nights module. I'd experimented with making a simplified brawler game out of the D&D based fightin' engine, complete with those flashy GO! arrows you'd see in Final Fight.)


All my NWN games were very character-driven, as you can see here.

But D&D wasn't really ideal for storytelling, because no matter how hard I tried I could never quite get the combat balance right. I could make stories featuring memorable characters, including some of the “dating” mechanics seen in Arcade Spirits, but it wasn't quite enough to really explore narrative potential. Exploring relationships -- both romance and friendship -- through game systems has always fascinated me. To make that dream a reality, I needed a different tool.

For about ten years I opted to go back to writing novels. I didn't need artists or musicians or coders to write a novel, just my own brain and a keyboard. It felt like a style I could actually work in without hitting the limitations I'd hit trying to be an entire game studio by myself. Meanwhile, the indie scene for games kept growing and growing, and visual novels started becoming more and more prominent...

Then in 2016, Aenne Schumann suggested working on a project together. She had friends who could help, resources we could tap. I had money to bankroll the venture and an idea that had been forming since 1999. Both of us combined had a diverse array of perspectives about arcades and arcade culture, which could be used to write a stronger story than either of us could have created alone. And we had the tool I'd learned about so long ago, RenPy. The time was finally right to make this work.

No more limitations. No more compromises. If I was only ever going to get one shot at making a professional video game I wanted to go all out -- hire amazing artists, collaborate with them, work with a publisher, get this in front of as many people as possible. If it tanked, I'd soak the loss and at least say “I did it, I crossed that off my bucket list.”

But if it succeeds. If this grand fiasco actually succeeds...

Well. We'll see, won't we?