- Steam Trading Cards are Now Available! - 2 November 2020
We’re happy to announce that Steam trading cards as well as other community content, such as badges, profiles, and emoticons will now be dropping for players of Akash: Path of the Five! Trading cards will include beautiful artwork along with tiny bits of lore to further flesh out the events of the game. Based in the response, we look forward to doing more series in the future! As always, thank you for your time and your support!
- Akash: Path of the Five Special Epilogues Now Available - 8 April 2020
Hello all, We're please to announce that a new "Special Epilogue" section has been added to the "Extras" sub-menu in the main menu of the game(Now "Extras and Unlockables"). These are five specially-produced narrative vignettes, presented as individual chapters, that provide additional details to Akash's story. They are unlocked as you complete each boy's route (and if you have already done so, they will be available from the Extras menu automatically). Featuring new artwork by Carina Strauss, the talented artist behind the Akash Omake / meme artwork and minigame sprites, each epilogue contains images that are both lighthearted and dramatic. Additionally, a new piece of music, featuring flourishes taken from Akash's main score, has been composed especially for this add-on by Fat Bard. We have also included a sixth section marked "Appendix," which provides additional details to the backg…
- Official Discord Server - 26 January 2020
Hi All, We wanted to announce public availability of our Discord server! Click HERE to join. The server has actually been around since well before the game was released, as a place to share work-in-progress media and updates during the game's development. We're happy to open it up further for folks to interact with other players (and the creators of the game), ask questions, share your artwork / writing, and more. As always, thank you for playing Akash, and we hope to see you soon!
- Lunar New-Year Sale - 26 January 2020
Hi all! Just chiming in to announce that Akash: Path of the Five is on sale! Grab it for 23% off (why did we pick such a weird number) and go date some bois!
- Akash: Path of the Five is on Sale! - 19 December 2019
We're happy to announce Akash: Path of the Five is on sale as part of the Steam Winter Sale 2019! Just a quick reminder: Try the free demo and plunge right in (don't worry, your save file will carry over if you decide to grab the full game!)
- Akash : Path of the Five and Gender - 19 December 2019
Akash: Path of the Five contains an author's note which, in summation, makes it clear that while the game relies heavily on the gender binary for its main story arc (as it is centered around childbirth) the scope of this story is not an accurate reflection of the greater world, nor indeed the world of Akash. There are nonbinary elementals, transgender elementals, and diverse genders in their world just as in ours. This has raised some questions from interested readers who wish to know a bit more about how gender works in the world of Akash. While much of this information was established in the building of the game world, Akash: Path of the Five remains fairly light on exposition in order to streamline its storytelling, thus these concepts were not addressed in the text given the scope of Aurora's tale. Al'wan are biologically agendered at birth (a state known has 'hadi,' or 'pure') unti…
- December Update, and a Bit on the Subject of Children ... - 5 December 2019
Firstly, we're happy to announce the addition of a significant accessibility improvement - the mouse may now be used to click on the UI buttons for "Fast Forward" and "Hide UI", negating the need to use the keyboard for players who wish only to use the mouse when they play. To further facilitate this, the pause menu can now be activated by clicking the pause graphic below the main dialogue UI: We've also fixed an issue with dialogue review where it was defaulting to the oldest line in the queue - it will now highlight the last line read. Our appreciation to the user(s) that brought this to our attention in the discussion forums: as always, if it is within our power to do so, we will happily endeavor to make changes that can improve your experience! Updates out of the way, we wanted to speak briefly about the subject of children in the story. One storytelling element that probably makes…
- Akash Winter Update and Sale! - 1 December 2019
We're happy to encourage those of you who haven't picked up Akash yet to consider grabbing it for 25% off while the Steam Autumn Sale is still going on! Additionally, to ring in the first wisps of Winter, we'd like to present another previously unused piece of conceptual / promotional artwork, by the wonderful Vanna Le! Featuring the one and only Sirocco . . . This image is presented as a 4K wallpaper (3840x2160). To download, simply right-click and "Save as..." Images like this (and more) are available as part of the deluxe edition DLC content, which features a 44-page artbook that chronicles the development of Akash: Path of the Five. As always, thank you for your time, and for playing our game!
- Akash Autumn Update - 12 November 2019
We're happy to report a few minor bug fixes in the chapter select feature revolving around Daniel's route with this latest update. Additionally, we're proud to share another previously unused bit of promotional artwork, featuring Ignatius, as brought to life by the incredible Vanna Le! (What better way to celebrate the fiery colors of Autumn!) This image is presented as a 4K wallpaper (3840x2160). To download, simply right-click and "Save as..." Images like this (and more) are available as part of the deluxe edition DLC content, which features a 44-page artbook that chronicles the development of Akash: Path of the Five. As always, thank you for your time, and for playing our game!
- From Concept to Execution: How We Got Here ... - 21 October 2019
We have come into the habit of calling Akash: Path of the Five a "labor of love" and a "love letter" to the otome genre. Flowery words, to be sure, but what do we actually mean? Akash was birthed out of a desire to contribute to a much beloved niche of gaming, one that has been around for a long time but only more recently has started seeing prominence in the west. We wanted to add our own small voice to the chorus, so to speak, of the growing number of otome-style English visual novels. To that end, we decided quite early on that Akash would be fully funded, developed, and published independently and internally. We did not have the benefit of an outside publisher, and we did not crowdfund (no Kickstarter, no Patreon, etc). Akash was, from concept to execution, completely our own. It was also created because we wanted to present an otome that speaks to our own point of view. The Japanes…
- Bug fixes and a New Achievement! - 21 October 2019
Recently it was brought to our attention that certain achievements were not being awarded after completing certain tasks within the game. We've gone back and made sure that these achievements should now be available to all users. It may require repeating certain tasks to reactivate the unlock through steam, which can be done using the chapter select in the "Extras" menu. In addition, we've added another achievement that was not initially part of the steam listing! It's a hidden achievement, however, so we can't reveal too much about it here. Instead, here's a treatise on "shit talking," presented by our very own Caspian: (Artwork by the always wonderful Carina Strauch)
- GDEX 2019 Expo - 10 October 2019
Hi everyone! As we’ve alluded to in previous posts, we’re a small indie developer comprised of a core group of 3 people. Akash was entirely self funded, developed, and published quite literally in a small studio above a garage. We are part of a small but dedicated community of game developers in the Midwest, and this weekend one of the largest expos in our neck of the woods is about to drop! Find us wandering around the expo floor or in one of the many events at GDEX 2019, and we will give you a free Akash: Path of the Five beanie! This are high quality and have fully embroidered logo, and perfect for the fall and coming winter. We originally produced these to give away at AX 2019 and PAX, but we still have a few left! You can find our more info about GDEX at http://www.thegdex.com , and of course please feel free to reach out to us on Twitter too! As always, thank you again for your ti…
- A Special Gift for Everyone Playing Akash: Path of the Five - 8 October 2019
It has been a little over a week since Akash: Path of the Five launched on Steam. It was an extremely hectic time for us, both in the weeks leading up to and during the release of the game (not just on Steam, but also on Nintendo Switch, which was a first for our tiny little company). There were highs, lows, and a fair amount of sleep lost, but we got it done! Whereas most developers might (and should) take a breather and let their publisher's marketing department handle the work of carrying the game over the finish line, we don't really have that luxury because we don't have a publishing or marketing department to speak of :p Indie dev, for us, is about engagement: beyond interacting with users on social media to help clear up bugs or answer questions, we appreciate hearing about your experiences in our games. No matter how big or small the title, we want you to know it is the product…
- Game update: Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements - 8 October 2019
Hi everyone! We’ve been hard at work since Akash launched, tracking down and fixing a couple of annoying bugs that slipped through our tired fingers. We don’t have a single update being released, rather it has been a series of small updates (600 kB to 15 mb) which include a number of small fixes: Fixed an issue where certain spoken lines were not spoken (some things are NOT better left unsaid). Fixed an issue where the relationship select menu would not appear when using chapter select (we promise this wasn't some sort of attempt at a clever mini game.) Additionally, we have made sure to improve certain performance metrics at lower quality settings. If you’re running a lower end system beneath the minimum recommended specifications, running the game at low or very low will disable V-sync, and should allow the game to run better on these systems (V-Sync is used to prevent screen tear, ho…
- Are We The ... Baddies? - 7 October 2019
As promised, we now present further explorations of Akash: Path of the Five’s backstory. As previously mentioned, this is not essential reading: the story of Akash is designed to be enjoyed on its own. However, we are happy to provide this look into the lore for those with questions about the narrative. **Spoilers ahead!** The Al'wani often invoke the Goddess throughout the course of the game. The inference to be drawn from this is that they were, at their inception, a matriarchal society. This notion should seem paradoxical at first, however, as Akash is ruled by a village of male elders, who have risen to power in part due to the ever dwindling numbers of elemental women in the last days of the Great Decline. And it was in their desperation that an agreement was drafted with their human neighbors of Haven, to essentially exploit them in order to sustain their people. At various points…
- A Brief Bit of Al'wani Lore ... - 6 October 2019
Over the course of Akash: Path of the Five, players are exposed to tidbits of lore hinting at the mystery behind events plaguing the Al'wan (elemental) people. By design, this was not explored in depth, in part because we wished to keep the focus of the story on the characters and romance, but also because we feared that too much world-building and exposition would be considered distracting to some players. It has quickly become clear, however, that there is indeed interest in some of the events which have led the elementals to the precarious position they now face. So, with little fanfare, here is a very brief history lesson. Please note this is not essential reading: the story is designed to be enjoyed on its own. However, we are happy to provide this look into the lore for those with lingering questions about the narrative. **Spoilers Ahead!** The Al'wani people live in a world gover…
- Behind the Scenes: How the Background Visuals Were Created - 4 October 2019
Hi everyone! Some astute players have already noticed that Akash has higher than usual minimum specifications for the average otome / visual novel! Well, we thought it best to do a quick breakdown to explain how and why. We set minimum specifications to include discrete graphics cards because Akash is not your usual visual novel, at least in terms of computer spec—rather than utilize the usual 2D tools / gamebuilders, we opted to use Unity game engine to create 3D Vistas and composite the visuals with a custom oil-paint filter to allow the background to blend better with the digitally painted sprites. The game also uses a separate database system to drive dialogue and story (essentially running a second game-engine in the background). A quick visual breakdown of a scene later in the game might help illustrate this a bit: A look at the wireframe gives a sense of the visual density, since…
- Akash: Path of the Five is Live on Steam! - 1 October 2019
We've been waiting in breathless anticipation, for SO long, and now finally the cat's out of the bag! We truly hope you'll enjoy your time with the game! Please @ us on Twitter @Akash_game and @truantpixel to share your choices, your experiences, and most importantly, to tell us what you think about our humble take on the otome genre! We've got a special 10% launch discount in place until 10/8! Additionally, the Digital Deluxe DLC content is also available as part of a bundle, which is also discounted down to $31 USD for the whole package. And, as always, thank you for taking the time to play our game!
- ONE WEEK TO GO! - 23 September 2019
Hello everyone! We're excited to announce that Akash: Path of the Five is coming to steam in just 7 days! We thought now would be a good time to go into detail about how much the game will cost, and what kind of bundle options are available. The base game (which includes the entire interactive otome experience) will retail for $29.99 USD, however during the launch window, those purchasing the game will receive a 10% discount, dropping the price to $27 USD! But wait, there's more: In addition, we have created a separate "Digital Deluxe Edition DLC" which will retail alone for $9.99, however if purchased with the game will net a 15% launch discount, dropping the total bundle price to $34 USD! This DLC includes: A 25-track OST, featuring a sweeping score composed by Fat Bard and produced by Truant Pixel 40 Meme stickers for use in social media featuring Aurora, Lux, Ignatious, Caspian, Row…
- It's almost time! - 22 September 2019
It's almost time! Launch day is 10/1/2019 worldwide! If you're browsing the community hub in anticipation of playing Akash, be forewarned that many of our earlier reviewers / curators are posting screenshots of their experience, and while they've taken the time to hide end-game content, there are still many CGs / reveals which will count as spoiler content for some users! As such, if you're sensitive to spoilers, we'd recommend avoiding the community hub for now, until you've had the chance to experience the game for yourself. And if you're enjoying Akash before everyone else, please feel free to share your experience, but be sure to mark any spoiler content as is appropriate.
