Spooktober Check-In 1: Welcome!
This will be the second time I've participated in Spooktober (with the first time being, quite frankly, a disaster) and the first time I've participated in Monstrous Desires. I come humbly before both jams with my proposed visual novel: a Halloween-time story about an automaton in a Victorian-period inspired fantasy world.
"Victorian fantasy? Isn't that just steampunk?"
There's an overlap in aesthetics, but wherein steampunk tech is powered by steam, the tech in this game is straight-up magic. I've been writing more than enough sci-fi with Clash: Blue Mirage, I want to take a break from that and do something more fantasy-themed.
"Speaking of aesthetics, why this specific artstyle?"
Because its something different. Something that I can work with. Something that hides my lack of drawing ability. That said, the current images are placeholders/concept art and will definitely change as the jam progresses.
"Why do I have to play as a woman?"
Because it's going to be much easier on me this month to write for a specific character. Also, it's intended to be an otome - which is a romance VN subgenre all about woman/man pairings.
"Why do I have to interact with a robot man?"
Techincally, he's an automaton man. A homonculus, mayhaps. But its about him because I like writing stories about robot men. It helps me destress.
"But I do not wish to kiss robot/automaton men!"
The VN is planned with you in mind, then! The game has three different sets of stats: colleague, comrade, and confidante. Confidante is the "romance" route (but PG-rated at most, no smut will be found here), comrade is the "platonic" route, and colleague is the "distant" route.
"You mentioned its a Halloween-time game, but is it scary?"
There are elements of horror in it (it IS a murder mystery in the end, after all), and there may possibly be a jumpscare during a section if you make too many mistakes. I am currently unsure. But I promise the game will release with the proper content warnings; if I do go with the jumpscares, I will let you know.
"When is it going to release?"
Before the end of Spooktober 6, definitely! I want to use as much of this month as I can to work on it, so I am aiming for a release date sometime between 9/27-9/30. More info to come as devwork progresses.
"Is it coming to other platforms?"
If I am happy enough with the final product, I will release the game jam version on Steam as a demo and then work on expanding it into a 4-episode full-length VN for commercial release. If I am not happy with it, then it will probably stay on itch.io.
"But what about Clash: Blue Mirage???"
I am just taking a break from that for a little while. Hopefully working on something else for a bit will help reignite the fire for it. I've been working on it for two years while also going to work full time and school part time, I'm a little burnt out.
"Anything else to declare?"
Just that you can see daily devwork comments/updates over on my Twitter/X (here!). I'll also post overall progress updates here on itch.io every Sunday. Thank you for your interest in this project, stay tuned for more!
[INDEV] The Automaton of Second London
A Victorian Fantasy Halloween Robo-Otome
Status | In development |
Author | Drone Garden Studios |
Genre | Visual Novel |
Tags | Fantasy, Halloween, monstrousdesires, Robots, Romance, spooktobervnjam, Steampunk, Victorian |
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