Tiny Bytes Issue #6
Fall in love with Morris❤️, a spiritual sequel to the hit horror game Melissa❤️, out now on itch.io
CatTrigger has been teasing additional content for their popular horror visual novel Melissa❤️ since back in October shortly after Spooktober ended. If you've been waiting eagerly to smooch yet another love interest stuck in a computer with only 4KB of RAM, then you have to wait no longer! Morris❤️, featuring a love interest who was teased back in Melissa❤️, released on December 16th. In this game, you date the artistic and tough man who has a dream. Will you help him achieve it?
If you would like to play Morris❤️, you can download it or play in-browser for free on itch.io. If you haven't played the first game, Melissa❤️, yet, then you can play that one here.
Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance out now on consoles
Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance, developed by Rocket Adrift Games, is now out on consoles! For those unfamiliar with the game, you play as Stella, a teenager who moves to a small town inhabited by cryptids. Despite the weird situation she's found herself in, she's ready to make the most of her final year of high school. You'll guide Stella through her senior year of high school, and who knows, maybe she'll fall in love with one of three teenage cryptids?
You can now purchase the game for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and Xbox One/Series X/S for US $13.99. The PC version is available on itch.io and Steam.
Play as the Pirate Princess Leily Stirner and steal the Ecosphere in Ecosphere - Prologue
In Ecosphere - Prologue, you play Leily Stirner, known as the Pirate Princess, who is given the mission to steal an orb called the Ecosphere, which is capable of controlling nature. However, it won't be easy. The place where the orb is held is heavily guarded, so Leily will have to carefully sneak in without sounding the alarm. The choices you make will affect how the operation goes.
You can download the twenty-minute prologue on Steam and itch.io for free.
Descend into the darkness in Kit
Kit includes dark content such as alcohol, depiction of human remains, death, injury, and being buried alive.
After being left to die in an abandoned wine cellar, Kit begins to write down what's happened to him for whomever may stumble upon his corpse once he passes. As he's recounting his life, Kit realizes that he's not alone. He sees a specter: a woman in a white dress. Who is this woman, and is she a friend or a foe?
You can download the free demo for Kit on itch.io.
What kind of future will you make for your kingdom in Arcadie: Second-Born?
Content Warning: Arcadie: Second-Born contains violence, mentions and use of alcohol, and optional sexual content
Arcadie: Second-Born is a choice-based adventure game in the same vein as Choice of Games titles, where the game is purely text with some stat-raising elements thrown into the mix. In this game, you play as the second in line to the throne. Arcadie is set to sign a peace treaty with their enemies after centuries of wars have plagued everyone involved, and you're in charge of maintaining relationships and making deals with them. Your character's personality is shaped by your choices. Who will you become, and how will those in your kingdom be affected by your choices?
You can get Arcadie: Second-Born on Steam for US $7.99. A free demo is also available on itch.io.
How will your new job as a magic professor go in Professor of Magical Studies?
Speaking of Choice of Games, they have recently released a brand new story titled Professor of Magical Studies, which is part of the Nebula Reading List. In this 500,000 word interactive story, you've recently been hired at Winfield Phillip College as a professor in their magic department. You'll need to teach your students while avoiding the traps that your co-worker, Darcy, is setting up for you. There's also the mystery of what happened to the previous professor, who suddenly disappeared. How will your school year as the new professor go?
You can get Professor of Magical Studies on Steam, Android, iOS, Amazon App Store, and browser for US $8.99. There's also a free demo.
Remember who you are and your purpose in Rootless: Memories Of Green - Chapter 1
Rootless: Memories of Green - Chapter 1 follows Zoe, a robot who wakes up in a laboratory with no memory. Hoping to piece together her lost memories, she explores the facility. What kind of life did Zoe live before she woke up, and what is her purpose?
Rootless: Memories Of Green - Chapter 1 is free on Steam.
Seaberry Holiday is the perfect game for the holiday season!
The holiday festival in Cozy Village is about to begin, but the residents need your help with the preparations! In this game, you'll be helping the townsfolk of Cozy Village get ready for the big festival by decorating buildings and cookies and doing some last-minute shopping for gifts!
Seaberry Holiday is free on Steam.
Explore the dangerous world of Roadwarden
You play as a Roadwarden, a difficult job where you travel the wilderness doing a variety of tasks, such as protecting travelers, delivering messages, and sometimes fighting the evils that lurk within the woods, like beasts, bandits, and the undead. In Roadwarden, you decide who your character is and their class. As you embark on the thirty-hour campaign, you'll come across a variety of NPCs you can talk to as well as a series of quests you can take on.
You can purchase Roadwarden on itch.io, Steam, or GOG for US $10.99. There's also a free demo you can try before buying the game.
Cold Front
Content Warning: Cold Front contains blood, disturbing imagery and audio, and gore.
Developed by racheldrawsthis— one of the people behind the second place Spooktober Jam 2022 winner, Elevator Hitch—Cold Front is an RPG Maker horror game about two best friends, Augustine and Winnie. While traveling, the two find themselves stuck in a nasty blizzard despite it being summer. The two have to work together to try and find a way out of the strange situation they've found themselves in.
You can download Cold Front for free on itch.io.
Winter VN Jam 2022
Winter VN Jam is coming to a close! Today, we would like to highlight some of the entries that have been submitted so far.
Reflection
As the snowflakes fall and the world around you moves, reflect on your life.
You can download Reflection on itch.io for free.
The Christmas Presents
Help Eliza get the best gifts for her friends in The Christmas Presents!
You can download The Christmas Presents on itch.io for free.
The Snow Ate My Brother
Will you survive your time hunting, or will the monster that's lurking outside get you?
You can download The Snow Ate My Brother for free on itch.io.
This week, we interviewed Gabmag from Two and a Half Studios! If you want to know more about The Divine Speaker and the studio's upcoming mystery BL game, Dreambound, then you should check out our interview here!
Writing allows us to create the stories that we want. However, it's our job as writers to make sure that the stories we tell aren't offensive and do justice to whatever subject matter we're tackling. If your story contains characters from marginalized groups or sensitive subject matter (i.e. death, grief, depression), we highly recommend hiring a sensitivity reader. A sensitivity reader's job is to find offensive content, stereotypes, and more, and tell you about it so you can correct your mistakes. Writing Diversely is an excellent resource to help you find the perfect sensitivity reader. On their roster of readers, each one displays their experience, additional services, and who they are. So if you're on the search for a sensitivity reader, we strongly recommend checking out Writing Diversely.
With so many games being released every day on different storefronts, you're going to have to do everything in your power to try and grab people's attention. One way to do that is with a good trailer. But how do exactly you make one? Game Maker's Toolkit has released an informative video that breaks down what exactly goes into a good trailer. It is essentially a showcase of your game, but you need to show off what makes your game unique as well as what it is. For example, he brings up Undertale and its trailer, which shows off its unique fighting mechanic where you can talk your way out of fighting someone, something not often seen before in RPGs.
That said, when it comes to a visual novel, you may be more limited to what you can show off. Things like CGs, funny moments, or interesting bits from your game might be good ideas.
There are multiple parts to the video: pacing, presentation, and action. If you're struggling with how to make a trailer, we recommend checking out Game Maker's Toolkit's video.
Where are you at in your project? What else needs to be done before you can move onto the next phase? Arimia has written up a great post that lists the different phases of game development and a series of questions you should be asking yourself while making your game. Knowing the answers to these different questions, like what genre(s) your game is going to be and who your target audience is, will make development a lot easier for you down the road.
Supporters
If you would like to check out this month's edition of our Patreon Devlog— a post where you get to see what some of our Patrons are working on—you can read it here! You can also check out our Byters page where we have all our Patreon supporters!
