The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and a new KikiPotions game is finally out to the world! This is the first serious game I wanted to make. Spinning Love was a fun project, but it was made for a silly contest. This game specifically was a passion project! I've been wanting to make this game for years now. And I promise I'll try to not take two years to make River 2... So, how did this project come to life? Let's talk about it. It's going to get a bit heavy here, so just a warning.

This story, and these characters were made around 2021. 2021 was not a good year for a LOT of people, to say the least... For me personally, my mother was battling cancer. She peacefully passed away in 2021, but it still did effect me a lot. During this time, I was playing through NomNomNami's games, most notably, the Lonely Wolf Treat series. If you know those games, you know that the Lonely Wolf Treat series is also pretty bittersweet. Through my tough times though, these games were my comfort back then. Seeing those characters going through depressing events, and still managing to carry on and live life with the people they love, it was something that touched me deeply. I ended up making a story inspired by Lonely Wolf Treat because of it. (You can probably tell that the main three characters are pretty inspired by the main three characters of LWT, and just the story and art in general... Sorry!! I think in the second game, the River series will find more of its own footing and personality, so I hope you stay tuned if you enjoy it.)

So, this game shouldn't have TAKEN two years to make... but it was born in a rough spot in my life. You can see how much time has passed, just by looking at different character portraits. I'm hoping from now on, things will go a lot more smoother. But let's talk about the release! It's a little bizarre to me still, haha... Part of me didn't want to release it, but here it is. This game is my first ever RPG MAKER game. Quite a bit of time was spent trying to learn how to actually use it, and most of the other time was spent trying to learn how to make pixel art and music. It's kind of tough! I'm sure you can tell the art style is pretty similar to NomNomNami's too. If I hadn't played some of their games in 2017 I don't think I would've started drawing! The game is a bit rough around the edges. It is not perfect by any means. The pacing is a bit too fast, and things could be fleshed out more. I knew though, if I were to try and redo everything, this game would never come out. I promise things will be better in the second game! For now though, I'm happy with how this game finally turned out.

What's next? I do plan to make a continuation to this game! (Like LWT, the next games will have a different character as the protag) I dunno if River 2 is going to be my next project. It might! There might be another game I work on before starting River 2, but I've been planning out the structure of the next  River game so far. I suppose for now, all I'll say is that Kai will be the protag for the next game. I hope you look forward to it! River 1 might be bittersweet (and those feelings WILL continue), but I hope it can give someone comfort, in knowing that things can work out and get better. Thank you for reading all of this if you have. Have a nice day!