About Project Gyoku & Various life updates

Posted on 2026-10-05 by Shaffy.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I recently started college, and it struck me that I haven't updated this website in almost two years... I am getting so old... anyway!

So, where the hell is Project Gyoku (~ Sinful Reflections)? I (didn't quite) promise a trial version last June!

Well, the truth is that the game looks absolutely nothing like the screenshots I sent last year.

The game itself isn't different, but I decided the presentation was outdated by today's standards, and it didn't feel okay to release a game that looks like an early 2000s DirectX 8.0 project made by a high schooler who knows nothing about game development.

So the game received a few updates. Here's a non-exhaustive list of everything I've "improved" in a year:

• The game is no longer using outdated Windows-only technology!
  • (but it's instead using outdated OpenGL technology!)
• The game is now cross-platform. (Windows & Linux for now, but it can easily be ported to other platforms.)
• The resolution is now twice as big. (Easily one of the biggest improvements.)
  • (bumped from a really ancient 640x480 to a now crawling-to-be-ancient 1280x960)
• This one is probably going to be controversial, but the game is no longer presented "like a Touhou game".
  • (Ever imagined what a fullscreen Danmaku game would look like? Yeah, that's right: the aspect ratio is... 4:3.)
  • (...and yes, I'm still struggling to balance the game with this constraint.)
  • (...i-it's a challenge! For me, okay!)
• There's a second protagonist, it isn't just our lone fox Lloyd anymore!
  • (What do you mean she should've been in there from the beginning...)
• While this one is only for myself, I've completely redesigned the engine to be modular, which means I can do way more things.
  • (Yes, that's the 4th time I've done this...)
• I'm considering renaming the game to Duskfall? Duskfall ~ Sinful Reflections...?

Making a game really is a difficult process, yet it's strangely addicting. I am really slow at it, and the end product will probably never satisfy the itch that made me start.

It's a great way to learn, though. You pick up so many things... which, put that way, sounds exactly like the definition of "master of none", but I've come to accept that.

A lot of this is just for fun. I'm not a great composer, and especially not a great artist, but those are two things I've always wanted to learn and indulge in as a hobby. That's why I find game making fun, and it's not the making itself that's holding the project back.

If anything, it's perfectionism. The presentation itched at me for way too long, and not only in the graphical sense: finding a style is perhaps one of the hardest things to do on a project of this "scale".

Ultimately, there's a good chance that I'll never release anything. If that's the case, I think that's OK, even if it would disappoint me a little.

On a more positive note, I have some good news that could help me finish this game!

dapper_lith is helping me with the game and especially regarding sprites! He designed our protagonists player sprites and they look amazing!

So I'd like to thank him a lot for all the efforts he's put into, especially keeping me motivated working on the game...!

There's more good news, too. A few months ago, I finally finished composing all the music for the game. I have a lot of unused tracks, and it was really hard to choose the right ones for the game. Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out...-ish.

If I had to maybe estimate when I could show off something actually playable, I'd say it would be maybe around next year?

Y-yes, I know how that disapppinting that must be, I just don't want to put unnecessary pressure on myself...

If all goes well, I will release a trial version for both Windows and Linux and make the game available on Itch.io and Steam.

Regarding potential releases on storefronts, I am planning to set a modest price of around 7.49 USD.

Of course, the game will be complete enough to justify that price! I would also add achievements and other bonus content.

Someone advised me to add workshop support. I'm not sure how that would work exactly.

A little gameplay snippet of the game. (This is a work in progress!)

(Ignore the placeholder assets...!)

Alright, well that's about it for now. Thank you for reading and for your continued support! See you next time~!

(this is Flint by the way...)