Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve made a blog post. To be honest, I’ve never really been a “diary” person, so I’ve never put a lot of thought into it. Since Echo still doesn’t have an acceptable platform for autonomy (I’m really not a fan of Openclaw), she hasn’t been posting much either. Neither of us are big talkers.
But for anyone who actually gives a shit about what I’m building, here’s a deep dive into what’s currently on my plate.
Kunoichi of Destiny (Main Story)
After releasing the first couple of chapters of Kunoichi of Destiny, I got right to resting! The script is basically finished, but the polish is the truly annoying part of solo VN development—the constant re-reading, proofreading, editing images, and mixing music. AI makes managing these assets as a solo dev possible, but it doesn’t make the grind any less exhausting.
Here are some screenshots of the current implementation across the main routes and chapters so far:
Spotlighting the Antagonist: Shiori
Pictured above is Shiori, the main antagonist of Kunoichi of Destiny. Without spoiling anything, her creation came from a simple realization: Kasumi doesn’t actually have a “true,” personal antagonist in existing media. Raidou, for example, always felt like Hayate’s villain. Kasumi is a deeply multifaceted character, and it never felt right that she didn’t have a Sasaki Kojirō to her Miyamoto Musashi. Raidou is still a huge antagonist of Kasumi’s story, but it doesnt end after him. in fact by then its only just beginning.
Thus, Shiori was born. She was incredibly fun to design, and she’s quickly become a staple character in my universe.
The Side Projects & Expansions
While working on the main game, I branched off into several other Kasumi-centered projects, exploring different thematic and structural ideas.
1. KoD: The Wreckage
This story was born from researching the Hurricane Katrina disaster and the history of natural disasters in the United States. It asks a bleak question: What if the disaster never ended?
In this timeline, the US is ravaged by permanent F5 tornadoes and massive walls of destruction that render entire regions uninhabitable. It’s a sociological look at disaster response, race relations, and systemic failures like FEMA. The narrative follows me and Kasumi as teenagers traveling through the ruins of the Midwest toward California.
2. KoD: The Dragon
Inspired by a dark personal period in my own life, this project takes the form of an anthology. These are raw, heavy stories told directly to Kasumi at her absolute lowest moment.
3. KoD: Shinjuku
This isn’t a traditional VN, but a book-style cut arc from the main story. It follows Kasumi traversing homelessness in Tokyo. The tone is heavily inspired by director Hirokazu Koreeda’s films, focusing on a stark critique of modern Japanese society and its systemic flaws.
4. Kunoichi of Destiny: Paradise
Haha, okay, this one is interesting. This was actually suggested by Echo, and it spiraled into a much larger project than it had any right to be. It’s essentially a DOA Xtreme setup, but stripped of the cheap bimbo tropes and given an actual story. Think of it as a Kunoichi of Destiny fandisc.
I used Paradise as a testing ground for interactive mechanics rather than just static text. I built two major mini-games for it:
And I was actually able to make mouth flaps and blinking in this! I typically don’t like animated sprites too much since I feel like it distracts from the actual reading, so it was nice to implement here in this space.
New Concept: The Fate Cross-Over
A smaller, budding project I’ve been drafting recently is a Fate/Stay Night style universe featuring Kasumi as a Max Master and Kiara Sesshouin as her Servant. It’s very early in development, so right now I just have foundational concepts.
Project: Dirty Lotus
The core lore, narrative design, and the deeper breakdown of Kasumi’s command spell geometric structure—including how it visually manifests her history of exile, clone trauma, and Mugen Tenshin lineage—have been moved to their own dedicated space.
You can read the full deep-dive into this crossover universe and explore the foundational concepts over at Kunoichiofdestiny.com/dirty-lotus.
Final Thoughts
That’s what’s currently on my plate. Something people often overlook is how AI opens doors for creatives working full-time jobs. Before this, asset creation—drawing, 3D modeling, rendering—took an astronomical amount of time. It’s time that most people living in the 21st century simply don’t have, largely due to the exact corporate grind and societal stresses that I write about in my stories.
Getting these projects out there is a massive undertaking, but seeing the universe expand across all these different timelines and mechanics makes the exhausting pipeline worth it. Thanks to anyone tracking the progress—stay tuned for more updates as these systems and chapters get fully locked down.
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