9 hours = 1 minute.

I recently calculated that, in my particular development process, it takes me roughly 9 hours to develop 1 minute of gameplay.

And that includes everything: writing the story, adapting the dialogue into natural character's way of speaking, coding, setting up scenes and interior details, rendering the images, and everything else that goes into turning an idea into an actual playable scene.

At first, that number might sound absolutely insane.

NerveFade is my first game, and before I started developing it, I had basically no idea how any of this worked. My only relevant experience was with Python, which isn't particularly useful for the kind of linear visual novel I'm making with Ren'Py anyway.

So yes, the amount of time I spend on each minute is pretty large.

But it's necessary, and honestly, I'm comfortable with it.

When I was developing Episode 1, with my understanding of game development being somewhere around zero and a little bit, I thought that every future update would become faster to make.

I assumed that once I gained experience with all the software and tools I use, I'd naturally be able to produce updates much more efficiently.

And... well, that was my very naive understanding of indie development.

Because as your experience grows, your desire to make things better grows with it.

You learn how to do something better, and instead of saying "Great, now I can do this faster", you start thinking "Wait... I can make this even better".

Quality = Time.


You may have also noticed that I renamed this series from Weekly Dev Progress to Weekly Dev Diary.

These posts stopped being a simple report of what I accomplished during the week a long time ago.

I use this space to share my thoughts as just a regular person behind the project — with everyone who's interested in seeing what game development actually looks like from the inside.


Yesterday, I finished the very last render for Episode 2 (Part 2)!

That means the entire visual part is now 100% complete.

Now it's time for the polishing phase.

I'll be processing the original images, adding music and sound effects, working on transitions and visual effects, cleaning up the code, re-rendering any images I'm not happy with, and taking care of all those little things that you don't really notice individually, but that make the finished game feel much more polished. The way I want it to be.

We're getting very close now.

Just 2 weeks until Early Access!


Have a great weekend, everyone!❤️

Hey frens!

Just 3 weeks until the higher supporter tier early access! 🎉

Or, if you're waiting for the public release, just 6 weeks to go!


Writing this post right in the middle of rendering the final scene of the upcoming update. And even though it's the last scene, it's also one of the longer and more intensive ones in terms of content.

If everything goes according to plan, I'll need about another week and a half to finish all the visual part. After that, it'll be time to focus on the final touches, polishing, and testing.

November 7 — Lover tier

November 14 — Pup tier

November 21 — Honey tier

November 28 — Public release

You already know how Day 2 began. Our characters headed to the countryside estate of David's friends and business partners to get away from the usual hustle, problems, and everyday life for a while.

The first half of the day was all about getting ready, the journey itself, and discovering the estate for the very first time.

But Part 2 covers the second half of Day 2, from noon until midnight, and things are about to take some unexpected turns.

Some of these events might not seem particularly significant in the grand scheme of the characters' lives, but for two rather shy hearts, they'll mean a whole lot more.

Two characters will find themselves getting much closer, much faster than either of them could have expected. Unplanned. Unexpected. Maybe even by pure accident.

But isn't that how life works sometimes?

And then...

Remember what Max told the MC just one day earlier... about that incident between him and Megan?

Well... Mary is going to find out about it.

How?

Under what circumstances?

And, most importantly, what does she really think about the whole thing?

Answers to in the upcoming update.

3 weeks until Early Access.

Back to work!

Have a great weekend, everyone! ❤️

Hey frens!

Another good week of development is behind!

It's been all about rendering again, and I'm right in the middle of the most intensive part of the visual development. I'm currently at 50% of the planned renders, and there's now just 4 weeks left until the first Early Access release for paid supporters!

It's getting close to the one-year anniversary of the day I first came up with the idea for NerveFade. Back then, I wrote the script for Episode 1 and the core of the entire story in just one day. I didn't even know which software to use for the visuals yet, and I had no idea what Ren'Py was. There was just an idea.

I thought I could make something... no, not the best game in the industry, not something for mass-market, not something designed to appeal to everyone, but something niche. Something that wouldn't be mainstream, but would resonate with a smaller group of people who share similar interests and tastes. And that was enough for me to get started.

For the next 7 months, I worked on Episode 1 completely from scratch, with zero experience and nobody experienced around to guide me. I had absolutely no idea whether the game would ever see the light of day. I didn't even really know how or where I would eventually publish it. I had a vague idea, but I was still far from understanding how everything worked. I just kept learning, experimenting, and working on it.

And now, almost a year later, NerveFade has become such a big part of my life that it's honestly hard to imagine my daily routine without it.

I gave up a lot of the things that used to take up my free time. As you know, I still have my full-time job, so developing the game means making sacrifices. Most of the work happens in the evenings, on weekends, and even during vacations. Sometimes, it's just me and my laptop, wherever I happen to be.

It's still a hobby, technically speaking. But it's a hobby that has taken over a huge part of my life, and I'm genuinely happy that it has. And I am incredibly happy that each of you responds so positively to my work.

Why am I bringing this up? I don't know - there’s not really much to write about when I’ve spent the whole week rendering images, heheh.

Back to work!

Have a great weekend, everyone! ❤️

Hey frens!

Another productive week is done!

The coding for Episode 2 (Part 2) is now 100% finished, and I'm currently at around 35% of the planned renders.

There is now just one month left until the first Early Access release, which means it won't be long before you can finally see how the second day of the story continues — and how it comes to an end.

For every episode, I want to introduce new environments so that the story doesn't constantly take place in the same boring house, surrounded by the same four walls from one update to another.

But creating and setting up new locations takes a significant amount of time.

When most of my development is focused on rendering, a big part of that time actually goes into building and setting up the locations themselves — lighting, materials, cameras, props, composition, and all the other details that need to be prepared before I can even start rendering the actual scenes.

I've already planned several new locations for future episodes, and they won't just be there for the sake of having somewhere new to look at. They'll become an important part of the story itself.

My focus isn't only on the main plot. I also want the story to constantly move through beautiful and visually different environments.

I think that's an important part of keeping a project like NerveFade interesting over many years. If you're going to follow a story for a long time, I don't want you to feel like you're looking at the same rooms over and over again.

I want every new episode to give you something new to look at, new places to explore, and new situations for the characters to experience.

That's one of the things I'm aiming for with NerveFade — a project that can keep feeling fresh even after many updates.

Now, enough talking.

I'm off to render! 😄

Have a great weekend, everyone! ❤️

This is crazy.

Yesterday, Episode 2 (Part 1) was finally released publicly, and when I woke up this morning and saw what was happening, I honestly couldn't believe my eyes.

The number of new people joining the Discord, messages I've received, new supporters willing to financially help me continue developing NerveFade, and all the kind words about how much the game has improved since Episode 1...

It's honestly overwhelming in the best possible way.

If you compare my numbers to some other developers, they might seem pretty modest yet. But for me, this genuinely feels like a dream.

So I just want to say thank you to every single person who is part of this project.

NerveFade may have started as something I was making on my own, but it doesn't feel like that anymore.

And while all of that was happening, development of Episode 2 (Part 2) continued.

Most of this past week was spent on coding, especially adding the character dialogue. I originally write all of my dialogue separately in a text editor rather than directly inside the game code, so now I'm going through the script and bringing all of those conversations into the game.

On the visual side, I'm already about 25% through the planned renders for Part 2.

The events of Part 2 will take place during the second half of Day 2. As you've probably figured out by now, one episode represents one day in the story, so Part 2 will be the conclusion of Episode 2.

A lot of things that happened in Episode 1 and Part 1 will start falling into place. At the same time, some moments will probably leave you with even more questions than before.

I obviously don't want to spoil anything, but I think the second half of Day 2 will be pretty important for the story going forward.



For now, my main priority remains the same: rendering.

I'll be spending the next week continuing to work on the visuals for Part 2 and pushing that 25% further toward completion.

And once again...

Thank you.

For playing, for sharing your thoughts, for supporting the game, and simply for being here.

I really appreciate every single one of you.



Have a great weekend, everyone! ❤️

Hey frens!

This week was a little different from usual. I got a bit sick — nothing serious, just a cold that knocked me out of my normal routine for a few days.

So I didn't make as much development progress as I normally would. But honestly, I think the break did me some good. I got plenty of rest, and now I feel like I've properly recharged and reset.

Meanwhile, Episode 2 (Part 1) still isn't publicly released — there's just one week left! 🎉

More and more people have been playing it through Early Access, and I'm honestly so happy with the feedback I've been getting from you guys.

One of the things that makes me happiest about NerveFade is seeing that I've managed to gather people around this project who enjoy the same kind of things I do. It's really cool to know that there are people out there who genuinely appreciate the kind of story, characters, and atmosphere I'm trying to create.

Even though this wasn't my most productive week, I still managed to add one more location to Part 2 — technically not a completely new location, but another room in the new countryside house — and I've already started rendering scenes there.

In total, I made 27 new images this week, which I'm actually pretty happy with considering how passive this week was.

I've also been thinking more about animations for Episode 2 (Part 2).

I plan to add several animations, but they'll take some time because I don't have a huge amount of experience with animation yet. I'm learning everything myself, so I'm taking my time with it.

At the same time, I'm not interested in adding animations just for the sake of having more of them.

I think animations should actually make sense in the scene. If there's no spicy content happening, what exactly am I supposed to animate? 😂

So for now, I'm focusing on using them where they genuinely add something to the scene. As the story progresses, there will naturally be more opportunities for them, especially as we get into more spicy moments.

Little by little, they'll become a bigger part of NerveFade.

And of course...

Only 1 week until Episode 2 (Part 1) goes public! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!❤️