In case you missed it on the official Twitter account, The Novelist was Greenlit this week! I couldn’t be happier that the game will be launching on Steam in addition to the Humble Store. Having the game on Steam will make it easier for a much larger group of people to find out about the game, which is a really big deal for a small independent developer like me.

And just to be clear, all preorders and purchases using the Humble Store will receive a Steam key as well, so the Humble Store is really the best of all worlds: you get a DRM-free copy of the game, but can also unlock it on Steam for convenience. I haven’t gotten the game set up on Steam yet, but I hope to do it soon.

There’s also a new interview up on Kotaku, and I’m really happy with how it came out. It does a good job of explaining the ways in which The Novelist’s dynamic narrative differs from a traditional branching story, and it also goes into the mindset of taking the indie leap. Make sure to check it out!

Finally, as for the game itself, things are moving along really well. I sent out an alpha build to friends and family last weekend and have been getting a ton of good feedback. The response is much more positive than it was for the last playtest (which was all the way back in April), so it’s good to know that the hard work was worth it. I’ve found out about a whole slew of new bugs, but so far I’ve been able to stay on top of them and fix them almost as fast as the playtesters are finding them. I’ve also put in a couple of new features in response to the feedback, and I’ll keep tweaking and iterating on things for the next month or so.

That’s about it from Novelist land. It was a really great week for the game, between getting through Greenlight and having a high-profile interview (it was even cross-posted to Jezebel, which boosted the exposure as well), but it’s also been really exhausting. I’m just trying to keep my head down and keep pushing toward the finish line.

Thanks again for all of your support. The game never would have made it onto Steam without you guys spreading the word, and all of the gracious comments and emails you sent kept my spirits up even when things got tough. You guys are the best, and I hope that when the game’s finished it will have been worth your wait.

Until next week!

-Kent