The Ritual is here!!

(NOTE: This game requires a Windows PC, and zip software like with the Commission Catalogues. Lemme know if you have trouble running it!)

Now, I know what you’re thinkin…”Wait, isn’t this supposed to be just another monthly update?”

Fat chance! We got a live build of Chapter 1, hot n’ fresh out the oven! Specifically, this will be “build 0.1”, which will exist for the time being until we find the time and space to make changes and additions to hopefully further add to the experience!

As I’ve said before, this is the new and final direction of the Ritual. I didn’t like that I’d built the previous game's art assets at print resolution, which made editing them excruciatingly difficult.  Everything built moving forward is double-scaled, so I can size it all down for the version you play.  This should hopefully result in cleaner art, with less pixelation as the chapters progress onward!

You’re also gonna pretty quickly notice: “Hey, this game doesn’t have buttons....and doors and stuff!” 

The earlier version was much more of a traditional "virtual novel" setup, whereas this one's more of a "CYOA" novel. I realized that - right now - the story I actually want to tell doesn’t fit that, well...videogame format. I've always been better at linear narratives anyway, so this game will likely be leaning into that format moving forward. There'll still be exploration and stuff, it'll just exist in a little less...gamey...sense.

Especially for Chapter 1, because I wanted the experience to simulate a "guided tour" through the tower, where you get to meet everyone, learn their personalities, and such. Think of it like a roller-coaster...with a few spicy pit stops!

Speaking of which...

There are two spicy scenes in this build, but you cannot see them in the same playthrough!

The first major scene - which happens around the mid-point of the chapter - has a choice attached to it. If you accept it, you'll get that scene, and you'll see how that choice plays out as the chapter finishes out its second half.

If you refuse it however, you'll be rewarded with a different scene later instead! It's kinda meant to encourage multiple playthroughs, which is another thing I hope to flesh out even more, should game dev continue beyond this point. You'll actually see a bunch of multiple choice options baked all over the chapter, but only the options during the spicy scenes actually affect the branching pathways...at least for now.

My hope is that, by the time all five chapters are finished, nearly every choice in the game will affect something in the endgame!

All that said, Game Dev takes a long time. Like, a reeeeeeaally long frickin' time. You'll notice the game's only had one major release per year for the last three years, and I've already said I'm scrapping those last two versions cause of the art quality. If I continue to leave game dev to my free time, this game won't be finished until 2030, possibly. And to that end...

We're still only posting new versions on Patreon...for now

I'm still keeping the game exclusive to Patrons at the Half Content Tier.

That's partly because I've put a lot more work into this version, but also because this is the point where I really want to see whether there's an audience for me continuing to invest serious time into game development.

I've always liked the idea of making games? And The Ritual has been an awesome project to work on. But it's also a pretty substantial investment of my time, on top of everything else I make for Patreon. So this release is basically me asking you, "Do you want more of this?"

If you enjoy this, and you wanna see me keep developing The Ritual, (And, maybe one day, other games as well!) This is the part where your support genuinely helps me determine whether I can justify spending more of my free time on it. Please, please, please, let me know what you think! And, as always, thanks for your continued support! All I wanna do it make fun stuff for y'all, so lemme know what you like, and what you wanna see more of!Don't forget to follow the Twitter, Discord, and Picarto to see what we're up to, as we're getting up to it!  Stay devious!--Sneaky