This devlog may be a bit long so grab a cup of cocoa and get comfy because a lot has happened since build 0.1 (TLDR at the end)

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! To celebrate the start of 2025, I'm bringing you the next build of Next Step: Follow Through! 

...

Two years after the last build... hehe...

time really flies, huh?  

... *cough* ...

But the wait is finally over! Yayyyyy!!! You can finally continue the story of Wallace and Deacon as they try and navigate through the complicated relationship that comes with long-distance... 

well... sorta... 

This update actually leaves off right where the last one did... WAIT DON'T LEAVE YET! Let me explain.

As I kept working on the game, I started to realize the story I was telling didn’t feel right anymore. It wasn’t something I connected with the way I wanted to. So I decided to step back and rethink it, to create something that feels more honest and meaningful to me. This new version has really become something I care deeply about and something I’m pouring my heart into. It’s turned into a passion project, and I’m so proud of how it’s turning out. 

I also want to talk about future build releases because I’m determined to avoid another two-year hiatus—at least, I’ll do my absolute best to prevent that! This update includes a significant portion of Chapter One, and the rest of it will be released in the next two builds: Build 0.3 and Build 0.4.

The good news is that I already have quite a bit of art and coding completed for future updates, especially for Build 0.3 and some later ones down the line. That means the workload for future builds won’t be as heavy as it was for this one.

That said, as I mentioned in the previous devlog, I’m currently in college and working on my Senior Capstone project, which limits how much time I can dedicate to Next Step. While there’s a good chance Build 0.3 could be ready in a few months, updates after that might take a bit longer—particularly Build 0.4 since I don’t have as many assets prepared for it yet.

Thank you for your patience and support on this project so far! There’s still a lot to do, but I’m excited to keep going, and I hope you’ll stick around for the journey!

If you would like to follow my work and stay up to date on anything Next Step, maybe think about following me on my socials or joining my discord server! https://linktr.ee/JoshFoxDen

Now time for everything new in the build:

- around 4,441 words in length

- revamped the intro with more movement, improved dialogue, and new scenes!!

- 3 new Illustrations 

- Touched up old backgrounds, assets, and the main menu artwork

- small tweaks done to some sprites

- improved the UI of the game greatly

- new music!

- I’ve  optimized the game to keep file sizes down

- character sprites are now highlighted when they speak

- characters now blink

Since a LOT has changed from the first build I HIGHLY recommend that you start from the beginning and read from there to fully understand the rest of the visual novel. I also doubt that any previous saves will work on this new build since I have completely redone the coding for the game to make it a lot easier to look at and work with. I still have nightmares about the spaghetti code that happened during development... gives me chills just thinking about it.

TLDR: This build is a revamped version of 0.1 with new scenes, rewritten dialogue, new and reworked artwork, and a whole lotta polish. And future updates will hopefully not take 2 years to come out :3