Just dropping a quick note to let you know I'm still working on Episode Five. I'm up to 1650 new renders and making good progress through the story. Compare that with Episode Four (3751 renders), Episode Three (1896 renders), Episode Two (2536 renders), and Episode One (1705). It's hard for me to predict how much more work I have to do, but there's still quite a lot left. Branching will be the main villain, as each of the four LI romance paths and the "dark path" each necessitate their own coding and renders. I thought this update would be much smaller than it's turning out to be, but I'm running with it.

Check out my latest public artwork in the community hub:

Jamie

Thanks for your patience!

--Monk

Unless there's another bug that gets reported to us, this will probably be the last bug fix update for a little while until the Russian translation is implemented.

Anyway, here's the bugs we fixed!

- Fixed a bug where reading a scroll about the "gods" of Nor in the library late in the game will take you back to an earlier part of the game (this is odd, we thought we fixed this a long time ago!)

- Fixed a bug where the wrong attack sound would play when killing Forelinian Peasant Joey

The moment our community has been waiting for is finally here! Now it's time to put your skills to the ultimate test.


LEADERBOARDS ARE LIVE!

Submit your AI scripts and watch them battle for supremacy on our new competitive leaderboards! Every season crowns new champions, and with each major update, the competition resets, giving everyone a chance to claim their spot in the Hall of Fame.

GOD CONTROLS UNLEASHED!
Not ready to code? No problem! Our new God Controls let you intervene directly - declare wars, boost armies, or obliterate entire nations with divine power. Perfect for casual players who want immediate action and spectacular visual effects!

VISUAL CHANGES

Watch nations battle with spectacular new conquest animations as colors sweep across the map!

The competitive era of Observe begins NOW. Will you code your way to the top, or will you rule through divine intervention?

Hello my friends!

Since many of you asked about the coop mode of the game, here a glimpse in video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRCnhy2GWHE&ab_channel=ChubbyPixel

The second player will be able to control the ancient spirit and take control of the enemies helping Mai in her adventure!

You will be able to play in local or with Steam remote play

(Online mode will be soon be added as a later update)

for more updates remember to follow us!

https://x.com/ChubbyPixel

Industry spawning is now fully dynamic, with each industry spawned based on existing dependencies. This should ensure there are no industries left without any input or output.

Each map prioritizes spawning at least 1 consumer goods industry and 1 food industry. The rest is randomized.

This applies to end industries, such as gas stations or hospitals as well. But not to city commercial buildings. Those can still spawn without any input on the map.

New Reorder setting was added to rail switching. Apart from setting which elements to add/remove at a station, Reorder now lets you set a specific train configuration to switch to. This can be used to ensure train only picks up a certain maximum number of cars, or to simply change car order in the station.

*Reorder still requires available switching track, even if no train elements are left at the station.

Base vehicle categories were also added to rail switching options, so train can switch cars based on generic type (hopper,boxcar,etc.), not just a specific car. It is now also possible to switch the main locomotive.

Few changes were made to the new ResponsiveUI, and a bunch of new world UI elements were added. Mainly new hover widgets and station interaction widgets.

There were also minor rendering changes related to performance, shadow optimization, and reducing ghosting issues.

• Fixed few issues from previous industry update causing errors.

• Fixed few issues with train switching cars with different size variants.

• Fixed deleting depot while vehicle is leaving.

• Fixed ResponsiveUI tab switching when game is paused.

• Fixed train path prioritizing secondary tracks and properly ignoring switching tracks.

• Fixed duplicates in vehicle cargo list and showing wrong capacity for vehicle with no capacity.

• Fixed passenger Automatic order route detection when they are picked up from a transfer station.

• Depot window vehicle highlight that shows what cargo vehicle can carry now shows only cargo available on the map. Global Vehicle window still shows all cargo, with map available cargo highlighted.

• Fixed hover UI showing wrong ship speed in knots.

• Slightly increased primary industry production.

• Greatly increased Local Passenger production.

Hello everyone! We’ve been working hard on improving the demo experience, and this update brings some exciting new features and fixes:

✅ Steam Achievements Added

• Added the first 3 achievements:

  • First Sushi – Made your first sushi!

  • Messed Up – Oops… made a mess for the first time.

  • The Girl Who Saved Your Restaurant – Complete the tutorial.

• Achievements are now fully integrated with Steam, so start earning them today!

✨ UI Improvements

• Wardrobe Update: Characters you’ve favorited now display a heart icon for easier recognition.

• Recipe Interface: Now shows all your unlocked recipes so you can keep track of your culinary progress.

  

🔧 Bug Fix

• Fixed an issue in the Title Scene where the camera wasn’t switching as intended. It now transitions smoothly between cameras.

Thank you for playing and supporting us! Your feedback means the world to us. More updates are coming soon, so stay tuned!

Camera zoom/unzoom didn't work properly.

My bad. This was coded in Qwerty & not Unicode - so the right keys didn't work for the zoom/unzoom.

This is fixed. Now pressing + (ou just =) will zoom. And - to unzoom.

Large windows, subdued light and beautiful furniture create the perfect setting for romantic dates.
An atmosphere of stylish aesthetics that inspires intimacy and sincere conversations.

Thank you so much for reading The Seabed's Shining Star.

We are currently working on our second visual novel, which will be released next year.
More information about it will be available near the end of 2025.

In the mean time, we just published a short epilogue for The Seabed's Shining Star,
taking place a year after the events of the story. You can read it for free on our website.

In general, we are hoping to make more shortform work for the website,
so that we can remind you of our existence between bigger projects.

Feel free to follow us on Twitter and Bluesky to stay up to date with our future activities.

Thank you for your support, and we will meet again before long.

Greetings folks!

A brand new level has been added - The Mill -

Explore Santa's bakery and dig through a summer party to find the objects hidden within the level.

• All quest objects are included in the level.
  
• A quantity of art and animation is still work in progress
  
• Dirt items and gingerbread cookies are still pending.

Please provide any feedback regarding the general difficulty in the level, if some objects are unobtainable - and feedback to the level in general!

Change log:
Additional bugfixing on level 2 and 3.
Additional music track added.
Misc minor fixes

Have fun!