Greetings from the dev team of Garden of Seif!

It's been a year since our demo release, and you may have been wondering if this project is still kicking or not. It absolutely is, and despite our lack of presence on social media, I'm pleased to say that this visual novel has seen more progress this year than it ever has. We've been pushing to make it happen, and cannot wait for it to be released. We've even bounced around the idea of having an extended demo; our current demo is relatively short.

Let’s recap what the story is:

Overall this is a series of slow-burning romance novels turned otome. We follow the protagonist and undercover assassin, Iris Lapis, who's on a mission to knock out her marks with the help of her anonymous partner, Ace. Things turn upside down when she finds out she’s being hunted by an assassin’s guild. She runs into two mysterious men, both claiming to be trustworthy, but their secrets could lead her deeper into trouble.

So what's the hold up? To be honest, it's been a turbulent year, and I know everyone has felt this. Which has slowed us down in some aspects as far as marketing and other areas of development.  Funding stopped abruptly and then started again, but the delay ultimately resulted in having to replace our background artist, and we are currently still flipping through candidates.

The reason for this post is to give a shout out to our followers and you all know we're still in this.  I want to give an update on everything we've accomplished this last year, and I also want to go into more depth regarding the story line and what to expect from this game now that a lot has blossomed and been fleshed out.

Updates: 

• The protagonist (Iris) now has a 18 side portrait illustrations—including three separate outfits, allowing the player to visually see the facial expressions and emotions of the MC. Keeping in mind this MC has a very distinct personality, and we felt like having her visually appear amplifies her spunk a little bit more. 
•  More and intrigue has been added to the story lines. The overarching plot has been sewn together and mapped out. Genre division. One of the male story lines is more mystery/romance and the other's is romance/adventure.
•  Artwork, artwork, artwork. The two male leads now each have an additional pose. All the side characters (not shown yet in the demo) have been given an additional set of facial expressions (totaling to 13 each) in order for the novel to feel more "alive."
•  More CGs. Won’t say too much here. 
• The common route has been written and solidified for chapters 1-4.  Seth's route is 60% written. The second male interest is known only by his code name, Dust Hunter. His route is still in the outlining stage.
•  Welcomed a new artist to the team! One of my good friends is on board as our minor CG artist. This includes props and other "popups" that will appear on screen throughout the game. We plan to have a lot of those to maximize the immersive experience. This includes food, letters, notes, daggers, cards, etc. 

•  Music update. We’ve revisited the songs on our soundtrack and added some that match the atmosphere of the game more closely.

• Choices. It’s not clear yet how many choices we will have exactly, but we will have a selection of choices that greatly impact the story line, and minor choices that impact how the player perceives, understands, and gets to know the characters. 
• UI Revamp - coming soon.
• Opening Video - In the story boarding stage.  I have a vision for an opening video, but it will remain a low priority until the meat of the game is near completion. 
• We're organized now. Not to say that we weren't before, but life experience has taught me how to be a manager and run a company. It won't be easy, but it'll get done, and it'll get done right.

That’s all for now! Wish us luck on our visual novel development journey!

Duchess - Project Leader (a.k.a Aeriel/Suna)