Sneak Preview Before Starting Demo (Patreon)

TLDR: I am planning on starting work on a proper demo in April

so a bunch of cool stuff to show off here-- some interface updates as usual, as well as some of the commissioned sketches and illustrations I got made for finalized character designs and store page thumbnail art (by the amazing @punkytoonz, @sadiabies, & @clydetankselyart, respectively) and finally I've included a first draft of an evolution chart that tracks the different paths in the narrative and the possible steps in Val's equal parts Poe and Cronenbergian transformation.let's start by talking about the UI stuff here. some of it is revamped from what I've already made, and some of it is just supplemental game screens, but I put all of my studies and experiments on hold, searched up the menus that made an impact on me in the past. games like Soulcalibur 3 and it's overly-jiggly shopkeepers, Dark Cloud 2, Monster Lab, Medievil, etc. The only actual game boy screen i referenced was Pokemon Blue's evolution sequence.

First is the title screen. I wanted to go with something like Medievil with a tombstone, or a moody scene with Val in the rain looking lost-- but a friend showed me the main menu for Soma and I really loved the arrangement and negative space, so I took that cue and chose an image and font to represent the tone and themes. I'll probably save the other ideas for a cool intro sequence hehe

Next we have the "Talk" screen which is where most of the gameplay is spent. For this i looked to a few examples where a character was featured heavily next to a dialogue box or options menu, and Shin Megami Tensei games where talking to demons can result in different consequences depending on what you choose to say. for the character art i will use a combination of 3d and drawing over top of it in my typical styleI converted the old TV segment into a menu full of unlockable dreams, each providing temporary bonus effects at work the next day. After a certain number of days you'll have to choose from a "major" dream that will advance things to the next step towards the game / story ending.

The dreams themselves will be in two parts, a plain text description of the dream followed by a sequence of Val changing moods, clothes, appearance or... something else. the more subtle the change, the less disturbing it'll feel when you go to work the next day and notice that things feel a little off. No matter how she changes, she's still Val, she still has feelings for you that you can stoke and you can keep flirting with her to try and score... so there's nothing to worry about!

I asked my friend, Punky, who's sense of shape language always amazes me to do a sketch of Val and Mister Vinegar (coming soon!) and they've added a bunch of extra pep into this character that I basically finished designing. i took that and made a 3d model that ended up somewhere between my last iteration and the new sketch, but I think it looks pretty good!

The next design came about because I wanted some kind of classic gothic monster/ villain for Val to transform into in one of the endings. I dislike going "full vampire" so I worked with another peer, Sadia, on a design stemming from the initial prompt "biblically accurate big tiddy goth gf" (I hate working around internet memes even more than vampires but in this case I kinda just gotta lean into it lol). So after iterating on a few ideas we got to this kind of devil-gimp, covered in leather and spikes. From there I wanted to do something uncanny, and added some supernatural features-- 2 long, flexible legs, and hypermobile hips so it can move extra fast kind of mimicking a spider. This made her locked arms, breasts and head look all clumped together, resembling a spider's big round butt or abdomen, and so I but some toothy looking spikes on her crotch where the spider's maw would be. I didn't want to push the spider theme too far, because I think that would lose some of the originality. Thus we have "Acedia" who cling to the ceiling and who shoots spikes with a tranquilizing venom.

Clyde Tanksley's work on the thumbnail illustration speaks for itself. Just a really great job capturing the vibes I wanted to catch people's attention.

I have a bunch of shortform writing commissions done and in the works by about 6 writer friends, and I've started planing this kind of matrix where each piece has 4 evolving dream sequences, and they intersect and connect in branching ways-- so I began looking at old digimon and tamagotchi evolution charts that have the right amount of complexity I am aiming for. Taking Acedia as the end of an evolutionary path in this context, I came up with some graduating categories and made this chart at the end. I won't explain everything in details but I separated all of the different areas of Val's background that i was planning on revealing to the player and made each one of these the primer for a separate path. This way the game is all about exaggerating these attributes while romancing Val, and if you can survive to the end, you can reckon with your decisions, your perception of Val and your responsibility in everything. The evolution stages are- Pure Val, Basic Val, Extra Val, Uncanny Val, and Final Val.

MY TO DO LIST1!! i still need to talk to someone about music, some creepy ambience and a couple themes. On top of that I want to get someone to help me make a German Expressionist Video Store environment concept. I'll either make a 3D version or just use a full illustration to make different shots for the talking portions. lastly (i think) since i'm about ready to start work on this demo, I am going to approach a indie games marketer or two for some consultations to help me make this the best version of my vision.