Tiny Bytes for 1/16/23
Two and a Half Studios will be hosting The Storyteller's Festival, a Steam event that celebrates visual novels and narrative games
Are you a visual novel or narrative game developer? Then you'll want to look into participating in Two and a Half Studio's Steam event The Storyteller's Festival. From March 26 to April 2, 2023, the event will feature a wide variety of visual novels, narrative games, and interactive fiction titles. Right now, the studio currently has applications open for developers to submit their own games.
The event welcomes both upcoming and released titles, which will then be separated into categories. During this event, you are welcome to discount your game so you can be featured in the sale.
If you would like to submit your game to The Storyteller's Festival, you can click here to be directed to the application. You have until January 21 to get your application in!
Get stuck with yanderes in the newest demo for Stuck in a Yandere Visual Novel... HELP!! on January 28
Content Warning: The current demo contains a skippable scene that mentions of live dissection and gore.
Stuck in a Yandere Visual Novel...HELP!! is a comedy BL visual novel where the protagonist wakes up in a visual novel where all the love interests are yanderes! He must find a way out of the game while also avoiding getting killed by one of the suitors.
The game's newest demo will be released on January 28th and feature a ton of new content, including 18 CGs, ~60k words, and new character sprites. If you would like to stay up to date on the game, we strongly recommend keeping an eye on the game's itch page and following the developer, pumpkin spike, on itch and Twitter.
Jamie and Marley Die a Lot (Demo)
Content Warning: This game contains blood and death.
In this short demo, Jamie and Marley decide to head out to a mysterious cave in the mountains. However, when they arrive at the cave, things start to get weird: the cave begins to shake and red markings start to cover every inch of the area. The pair find themselves trapped inside, and unfortunately, they're not the only ones there. Will Jamie and Marley be able to escape with their lives?
You can download the demo for Jamie and Marley Die a Lot on itch.io.
Project Volition (Demo)
Clara, a shut-in, is invited to an abandoned computer company building by her friends. While exploring the building, she begins to hallucinate, seeing computer glitches appear in the real world and voices talking about ascending through the virtual world. She sees this first-hand when she stumbles upon one of her friends hooked up to wires that are connected to a monitor. Will Clara be able to keep her composure, or will she lose her mind and join her friends in becoming a part of the cyber?
You can download the demo for Project Volition on itch.io.
Tastes Like Coffee
In Tastes Like Coffee, you play a barista who gets a late-night customer named Victoria. She has a comic that's due tomorrow for work, so she's staying up to finish it. As you make her drinks, you may be able to help her with her current predicament.
You can download Tastes Like Coffee for free on itch.io.
Coralina
Coralina is about Cora, a film student who finds herself in limbo, where she's joined by a mysterious crow that says they are the god of death. Your job is to figure out why you and others are in limbo in hopes of being able to move on.
You can purchase Coralina for US $5 on Steam. It has an English translation as well as a Brazilian Portuguese language option.
The Water is Wide (In Development)
Content Warning: This game contains blood, death, flashing lights, grooming, jumpscares, mental and physical abuse, paranoia, and suicide.
The Water is Wide is an RPG Maker horror game currently in development with five out of seven chapters released. You awaken on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no recollection of who you are or how you got on that boat. Your only saving grace is Comi, who informs you that you'll be working with her at her family business. What seems like a bad situation turns good, but there's something dark lurking in the water...
You can download The Water is Wide for free on itch.io.
Super Lesbian Animal RPG
Content Warning: This game contains alcohol and tobacco use, mild fantasy violence, depictions of anxiety, secondhand mentions of transphobia, sequences of unreality, and highly saturated colors that could strain the player's eyes.
In this RPG, you play as Melody, who decides to become a healer so she can join her girlfriend, Allison, on adventures. The two are joined by Claire and Jodie, who are a witch and knight, respectively. The group of four set out on a journey where they realize that the fate of their town is in their hands.
You can purchase Super Lesbian Animal RPG on Steam or itch.io for US $15.
BBirthday
In this trippy dreamcore visual novel, you'll guide Bianca through fifteen years of her life. However, you'll be looking at her life from someone else's point of view.
You can buy BBirthday on itch.io for US $7.99.
Occult Crime Police
Content Warning: Depiction of a dead body, discussion of murder, familicide (a murder in which one kills multiple family members), kidnapping, and implied consumption of alcohol.
In this murder mystery game, you play Miranda Warren, who is put in charge of solving a murder that occurred at Base 24, a government base in Boomtown, USA. If you want to find the killer, you'll need to use your wits, investigate the crime scene carefully, and get information out of the witnesses and suspects during interrogations!
You can download Occult Crime Police for free on itch.io, Steam, the iOS App Store, and Google Play.
OPUS: Echo of Starsong - Full Bloom Edition
OPUS: Echo of a Starsong is a visual novel/adventure game hybrid where a girl named Eda can hear sound waves called starsong. She ends up meeting a man who is looking for the source of these strange sound waves, and the two head out into space to look for where the starsong is coming from.
You can purchase OPUS: Echo of Starsong – Full Bloom Edition on GOG, Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox for US $24.99.
Winter VN Jam 2022
With over 100 entries, there are still plenty of titles from Winter VN Jam 2022 to cover! Here are some more titles from that game jam that are worthy of your attention.
Chocolate Carol
On a day where you're just trying to sell hot chocolate to the locals, you find out that a crime has been committed near your stall. You will need to talk to your customers and try to get information from them that can help you solve the crime and catch the suspect.
You can download Chocolate Carol for free on itch.io.
Cold Show: Critter Comforts
A terrible snowstorm has hit Golden City, and Blackstone Bunny isn't equipped for the harsh conditions outside. And it turns out that there might be something else out there besides a terrible storm...
You can download Cold Show: Critter Comforts for free on itch.io.
Ezrebeth
Ezrebeth, an old recluse, finds herself stuck in a time loop with a mysterious shadow lurking outside her window. You'll need to help Ezrebeth figure out what's going on and use the knowledge you gain along the way to break the loop.
You can download Ezrebeth for free on itch.io. The game is set in the same universe as The Painting and Pitstop in Purgatory. While you do not need to play those games to understand the events that happen in Ezrebeth, we strongly recommend playing both of them at some point!
Lord of Doors
This is a cosmic horror visual novel about a man stricken with grief as he's dealing with his wife's terminal illness. He's willing to do anything to save her, including looking for the Lord of Doors.
You can download Lord of Doors on itch.io for free.
The Snow is Red
Enjoy a nice conversation over coffee with Clarie, a woman whom you felt like you've met before, but you can't quite remember where or how.
You can download The Snow is Red for free on itch.io.
wintermute
You're a detective assigned to solve the murder of man who's been killed by an AI. Will you be able to figure out who the killer is?
You can download wintermute for free on itch.io.
Last week, we interviewed Moirai Myths! So if you haven't checked out that interview yet, you can click here to read it. Next week, we'll be interviewing Fable Novel! They're the team that have brought you Gidget & The Mysterious Thievery of Hoppity Town, Hummingbird’s Crown, and most recently Panacea: Rebirth! We asked them about how the team was formed, what it was like to work on their different projects, the asexual representation seen in Hummingbird's Crown, and so much more! So be sure to check back here next week for that interview.
The Timing Windows of Game Sales and Releases by Ulyana Chernyak
Knowing when to release your game is critical to your commercial game's success. After all, you're not only going up against other indie titles, but your game could be released alongside a big AAA title. Chernyak's article breaks down release windows from the AAA rush to the "quiet months" where there aren't that many games being released by big companies. The article also goes into detail about seasonal sales, which is useful information that you can reference down the line a few months after you've released your commercial game.
Postmortem: Spooktober Visual Novel Jam by 4noki
Postmortems are an excellent way to learn a developer's game-making process. We see this type of devlog most often with game jams. 4noki, also known as Shino within the community, has written up a great postmortem about her Spooktober 2022 entry Lachesis ∨ Atropos. She breaks down what she did and gives examples, such as her fantastic team recruitment post, a component that is incredibly important to nail if you want to have people interested in joining your team. Being as detailed as possible in your recruitment post (i.e., saying what your project is and what you need) will get more traction than being vague or not saying anything at all about your project. We strongly recommend reading through Shino's post if you haven't already!
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