Tiny Bytes for 2/6/23
This week on Tiny Bytes, we interviewed CatTrigger, a Chicago-based comic artist and game developer! They are the developer behind the hit horror visual novels Melissađź’— and Morrisđź’—. They also made Bad Faith, which was first a comic that they later turned into a horror VN. In our interview with them, we asked them a bit about their game development career, their approach to making comics compared to VNs, what it was like to work on their different games, and of course, Melissađź’—! You can read that interview here.
Two webtoons, I Married a Monster on a Hill and Let's Play, are being adapted into visual novels!
Two webtoons, I Married a Monster on a Hill and Let's Play, will be made into visual novels! I Married a Monster on a Hill is a story about Bevvy and August Hills, a knight and monster respectively, who are in love. The comic focuses on their life together and how Bevvy tries to protect August from being harmed or causing harm.
Let's Play, an award-nominated romcom webtoon, focuses on Sam Young, a software developer who developed a game called "Ruminate" that ends up getting played by a popular content creator named Marshall Law. Unfortunately, Marshall Law gives her a game a horrible review, and his audience review bombs it, which ends up destroying her confidence. From there, the story follows her trying to overcome her social anxiety, attempting to find love, and more.
Currently, the creator behind I Married a Monster on a Hill is working on their VN, posting screenshots on the project's Twitter page. Â As for Let's Play, nothing has been shown of it, nor have any details about the project have been shared. However, the creator, Leeanne M. Krecic, has linked to the game's Twitter account and a Kickstarter page, the latter set to launch on February 14, Valentine's Day. So be sure to keep your eye on both pages for further announcements.
Ikimashou! is coming to Kickstarter on March 18
Ikimashou!, a cute visual novel where you travel across Canada to see what the country has to offer, will be launching its Kickstarter campaign on March 18! The funds will be used to ensure development goes smoothly, according to a post made by the developer on itch.
You can follow the Kickstarter here to become notified when the campaign launches in March. You can download the current demo build of Ikimashou! right now on itch.io to get an idea of what the game is like.
Sanguine (Demo)
Content Warning: This game contains audio and visual jumpscares, topics related to mental health, yandere behavior, shaky and flashing screen, blood, and gore.
You play as Miyo, an insomniac who's just trying to get her life back on track. Unfortunately for her, it doesn't look like that's in the cards. Not only is she being stalked, but she's being haunted by a murder case that occurred back in the 60s that she needs to avoid becoming a new victim for. However, with a ghost popping up occasionally and everyone around you showing you a brand new, dark side to themselves, it seems that Miyo may have more to worry about...
You can download the demo for Sanguine on itch.io.
Not Now
In this short RPG Maker visual novel, you meet a mysterious white-haired entity who is there to talk to you about what you're afraid of, with the two options being death or social life. As someone who is afraid of the former, simply just talking about the idea of death and knowing that someone else feels just as anxious as I do about something so far off does bring me some comfort. Not Now started off as a simple project that the developer made to vent about their problems, but it evolved into something that others can comfort themselves with, knowing that they're not alone with these feelings or problems.
You can download Not Now on itch.io for free.
A Space for the Unbound
Content Warning: This game contains depictions of anxiety, depression, and suicide.
Taking place in late-90s rural Indonesia, A Space for the Unbound follows a tale of Atma and Rya, two high school sweethearts who are about to graduate. It's revealed to Atma that Rya has the power to hop into peoples' minds and alleviate their pain by helping them solve their problems. When the two are faced with the problem of the world ending, Atma and Rya must come together using Rya's powers to try and save the world they cherish so. But what will they discover along the way as they dive into others' hearts?
You can purchase A Space for the Unbound on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store for US $19.99. There is a demo available on Nintendo Switch, Steam, and itch.io.
Lake Haven - Chrysalis
Content Warning: This game contains violence, death, suicide, and depictions of mental illness.
Stylized like a PlayStation 1 game, Lake Haven - Crysalis is a prequel to the upcoming game Lake Haven. You step into the shoes of Detective Zeke Reynold, who is assigned to a case involving Eleanor Robertson, a young woman who has gone missing. Zeke goes to Lake Haven to investigate what happened, and what he discovers there turns out to be a lot more serious and strange than he thought it would be...
You can purchase Lake Haven - Chrysalis on Steam and itch.io for US $2.99.
Roller Drama
This visual novel and sports management hybrid has you managing your own roller derby team! You have five talented athletes on your team, though they are quite the handful! In order to keep them all happy, you'll have to balance their emotions, help them through their relationships, and of course, talk to them yourself as their manager! When you have a match, you'll need to manage your players' moves and implement strategies in real time to ensure your team's victory.
You can purchase Roller Drama on Steam for US $14.99.
Invisible Seams
Content Warning: This game contains bullying and harassment, descriptions of emotional and physical abuse through a parent, nightmare sequence involving a home fire and child harm, and fantasy racism.
Invisible Seams focuses on Moth, a tailor who wants to prove his skills in the city of Fitzburg. However, trying to make a name for yourself in a town with others of the same talent may prove difficult, as there are some who want to get Moth out of Fitzburg. Eventually, Moth meets Caesar, a tailor who is also struggling to make himself known in the big city. The two decide to team up to stand up to those who want to see them both fail.
You can purchase Invisible Seams for €7 on itch.io.
What Comes After
Content Warning: Contains visuals and mentions of suicide and self-harm.
After falling asleep on the train, Vivi wakes up and finds herself with the souls of the dead that are ready to move onto whatever is next. As you explore the train and talk to the different souls, help Vivi get back to the land of the living and gain a newfound appreciation for life.
You can purchase What Comes After on itch.io and Steam for US $4.99.
Battle Action Fantasy VN Jam
Starting June 1st and ending July 1st, VN developers and shounen fans are encouraged to enter into the first edition of the Battle Action Fantasy VN Jam! Hosted by Crystal Game Works, pumpkin spike, and 4noki, they are accepting VNs, story-focused RPGs, and other story-driven games that focus on action and have shounen tropes ingrained in the story. If this is something that interests you, you can check out the jam page here.
In addition, the hosts strongly encourage all participants to tag their entries as "Battle Action Fantasy." This is a new tag for shounen-esque games that the hosts and another dev, papaya, have started. It is derived from the phrase "battle action," which is a popular term to describe shounen works in Japan. If you would like to read more about that tag and their work behind it, you can read Arimia from Crystal Game Works' blog post about it here.
Visual;Conference 2023 Full Talks
Visual;Conference 2023 took place on January 28th. If you weren't able to attend the conference, all the talks are now up and available for free on YouTube! These talks cover a variety of topics, such as art direction—covered by developer Ing—to enriching a player's experience with RNG—a talk done by Ekkoberry. These talks are not only informative, but they're really fun to listen to! So if you have some time to spare, we strongly suggest giving this playlist a look.
VNavigator, a tool for creating flowcharts for your Ren'Py game
VNavigator is a Python tool that you can use to create flowcharts for your Ren'Py games. For developers that are creating games with extensive branching paths, all the different routes could be hard to keep track of, especially when coding it into Ren'Py. VNavigator breaks down all your code into one simple flowchart, showing you how you get from Point A to Point B. YouTuber Leading Motive made a great tutorial video showing how this tool works. If you're interested in this tool, we recommend checking out their video and downloading the tool yourself.
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