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!