April - May 2026: a very, very long development

Irina Kuksova
3 days ago
4 min read

Dear reader,

(*Puts down her latte and takes a deep breath.)

It’s been a hot minute since the last DevLog, and not for lack of things to write about.

Quite the opposite.

This is going to be the longest DevLog to date.

Serious things first, the…

Playtest 1.1

…concluded on the 21st of May.

Laptops charge from the mains; game devs charge from feedback like this.

If you had the build in the Steam library before that date, you will keep your access - I appreciate you being with me from the very start!

You can watch the build change as I add more art, story, and music.

Say, last week I updated the opening scene (which needs a trigger warning).

To check it out, open the playtest in your library, and it will prompt an update download.

For the rest of the world: you are very welcome to sign up for Playtest 1.2.

All things going well, you’ll have access to it around September 2026.

Playtest Feedback

…contributions are making the game better!

Here are the specific changes I made thanks to players who wrote me via feedback form and Discord:

text box opacity increased for easier reading (having an inverted option, e.g. dark text on a light background will be available closer to the release date of the game);
the opening sequence has more artwork and text clarity;
spelling corrected;
Steam achievements fixed;
sound effects added for panic attack episodes;
Alice’s tune dialed down.

Many thanks to AK and Glen who tested the game in person and voiced their thoughts all the way through. When playtested this way, a ~25 min snippet turns into a 1 hour+ long endeavour! It was super helpful and I’m planning to do more of those.

New Artwork

…is in the works: I gotta make sure that Deathwish Bloom Steam page represents the core of the game well, which means - love interest art and conflict art!

Tbf, Cody is the canon Love Interest of Deathwish Bloom 💔

Love interest art: 2 out of 3 done. Just look at them! 🥹 🥰

Female Love Interest Alice with her (your) GMOuse

Conflict art: 0 out of 3 done. Key artwork takes four full days to draw, so it’s a matter of time allocation.

Instead of crafting beautiful art, I allocated a good couple of weeks to lodge an apprication for…

British Film Institute video game cultural test certification

Not a general knowledge item, but if you are a fan of obscure topics, here is why getting one is important.

From BFI’s website:

“Qualifying your video game as British under the cultural test for film video games means you can access UK Video Game Expenditure Credits (VGEC).”

…Basically, if a game qualifies as British, a UK-based video game company can claim tax back on all core development expenditure. Very handy if you need to fund making the rest of the game.

This application requires all sorts of documents, including a game synopsis, a Game Design Document, a detailed production schedule and budget. All of which took a moment of deep thought and planning, but now we have a proper…

Game Development timeline forecast

The best case scenario is: Deathwish Bloom launches in Early Access in November 2027, and is fully released in 2029, because….

Funding

Deathwish Bloom is currently self-funded. Which means I balance film-related jobs and game development.I love both, but always miss my game characters while on a movie gig. All things being equal, in 2026 and 2027 I’d pick working on the game over working on a film, hands down.

And now, for the fun news! We got our…

First Streamer

I was not planning to reach out to streamers until next year, but much to my delight, we got the prototype 1.1 playthrough on YouTube already!

To be honest, it was pretty scary to open the video.

And then it was double scary because it was in German, which I don’t speak.It took a few extra moments of suspense before I got the feedback translated… and it was extremely positive!

Visual Novels helped me get through times when I was unwell, and learning that my first streamer, Yoma, played Deathwish Bloom while recovering after a minor surgery felt like I made a contribution to a harmonious circle of life.

Also, I brought my build to the…

First ‘Play my Demo’ NIGD event

…organised by the Northern Ireland Game Developers Association.We meet in a pub to play local devs’ recent masterpieces. This was the night I discovered the most helpful way of playtesting my own game.

I’m pretty excited to participate at my…

First Q-Con…

as an exhibitor.

I’ll be at Queen’s University Q-Con 20-21 June 2026 to show off the updated prototype, give little gifts, and run a wee art raffle! See me at the Indie Devs area, look for NIGD and Deathwish Bloom banners 🌸🐁