Back in August of last year, we posted a very detailed update for the Lucid9 heroine routes. Truth be told, we've run into a few hiccups since then. COVID-19 has certainly been a factor in stunting progress (some of us being more affected than others) but the length of development has also played a role. I believe the last time we've recruited new members was two years ago, and while a lot has been done in that time frame (please do read the previously mentioned blog post), 2020 has done a number on us for multiple reasons. 

Even so, our biggest troubles are long behind us.

While the general outline of Lucid9 had already been decided on a few months after Fallen Snow Studios was formed—that is to say, we knew how we wanted the story to end—development for the heroine routes didn't truly begin until after the release of Inciting Incident, which is during the period where everyone had their own ideas of where to take direction. There were countless late-night meetings, copious yelling, and numerous compromises which went on for about two and a half years until we finally arrived at something we were satisfied with. Some of the writers that were involved in the process have since left the team, but their ideas are still present in the routes. If you were to ask me who had come up with a certain concept, I honestly wouldn't remember.  

That dark era is now over. What we're left with are heroine routes that have enough structure to cohesively tie in with the overall plot, but has enough flexibility to give the writers the freedom to develop their characters how they see fit. So even if we were to change writers at this point of development, it wouldn't be an issue in the slightest, especially given how much material has already been written. 

The writer for Airi's route has given me a time frame of when he expects to be finished, so expect an announcement about that soonish. Misaki's writer has been consistent with progress since the last update as well, and we're currently resolving some matters with the ones in charge of Elizabeth and Akira. On a similar note, work is being done for the very mysterious True Route that we've mentioned a few times before. While I can't go into specifics about the content (yet), the outline for the route has already been drafted, and writing should commence some time by the end of this month. It's expected to be shorter in length in comparison to the heroine routes. 

We still plan to release Airi and Elizabeth's routes first, Misaki and Akira's second, and True Route, of course, last. 

As always, thank you all for being so patient. Even if Lucid9 is a free project, we'd still like to complete it before the next global crisis hits. 

~ David "CardioPen" Acosta