blissents

[blissents]

I’d let him take my soul any day 🫣

[blissents]

Devlog #1

Hi hi! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I don't really post often, but I told myself that starting in 2024, I wanted to share what I've been working on! I'm a solo game dev who has been developing a game called Visionaries. It's a romance visual novel that explores grief and loss.

༺✧ STORY ✧༻

"Visionaries": Special individuals with the ability to look into the past. There are a select handful of Visionaries who can also see into the future.

"What happens after we die?" The age-old question with no definitive answer. Many have constructed their own complex theories and stories to try and explain this mystery.

~~~~~

Explore the world of Visionaries as you wake up in an unfamiliar room, unable to speak and move. You're faced with unusual people (who tend to bicker any opportunity they get) only to later discover that they are your assigned Visionaries. These Visionaries have only one task; they intend on looking into your memories.

What is the purpose of Visionaries existing, and why do they insist on looking into your mind?

If you want to read more about the progress I've made on Visionaries, please continue reading below the cut! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

༺✧ ART ✧༻

Most of my time has been spent working on the art! (I can't feel my hand) My main focus is to finish drawing all of the character sprites as well as finish rendering the backgrounds. I've already come up with all the designs and expressions for the characters, they just need to be rendered :,)

I still need to create their little character info sheets (I have no idea what the word is, haha), where you'll learn their names, ages, and all of that fun stuff ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

Below are some of the sprites :-)

The first two are fully rendered, while the other three need to be finished :,)

As for backgrounds, I have 1 that is fully rendered and 3 that still need to be finished! I'll only be sharing 3/4 today since I'm unsure if I'll be including the one background in the demo.

To be honest, I struggled quite a bit when drawing the backgrounds D: There were a lot of things I envisioned, but unfortunately, I didn't know how to fully portray them. I had some trial and error while coming up with the original designs. That being said, I'm glad I was able to come up with something I felt satisfied with! I'm planning for the rest of the backgrounds to follow the red/brown colored theme as seen in the first photo ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

Of course, there will be more backgrounds than the ones I'm currently showing! I already have some ideas/drafts for those, but they might change depending on the way the story plays out.

༺✧ WRITING ✧༻

So far, I've planned for the demo to have a little less than 9k words. I'm unsure if I'll keep it at 9k words, or if I'll expand it some more so that there will be more content in the demo :-) We'll see!

As for the overall game, there will be at least 2 routes. There will also be 2 romanceable options (one being he/him, the other being she/they). I'm still figuring out how I want to script all of this, so these aspects may change in the future!

The game will also have options where you can choose your pronouns and name!

Here's a small snippet of the script!

I wanted to show the dynamic between two of the characters :-)

༺✧ OTHER ✧༻

Besides writing and coding, I've been coming up with some ideas for the GUI! I don't have any current drafts of that to share, but I'll hopefully include them in a future devlog ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I also have plans on creating the cover art for the game, cgs, more backgrounds, and possibly some promotional art (rip my hand, there's so much I need to draw (╥_╥))

I was thinking about composing the music for the game, but I realized I know absolutely nothing about music and wouldn't even know where to start if I had tried :,) So instead, I've compiled a list of some soundtracks and sound effects I might use! Hopefully, I can share that in the future once I've narrowed down which soundtracks I know I'll be using.

༺✧ CONCLUSION ✧༻

My overall goal is to release the demo sometime during this year! Because I'm doing everything myself (art, script, writing, etc.), it might take me a bit longer to get everything done. My apologies for that! (╥_╥)

Besides that, I really just want to start creating and sharing more of my art. Getting over the mental hurdle of being afraid to show my work is honestly pretty terrifying for me. I normally only share the things I create with close friends, but I think it's time to get over this fear of mine! ᕦ(ò_ó)ᕤ

I was able to make significant progress within these past few weeks since I'm currently on my winter break. Classes start back up soon, though, and I'm going to be internship-hunting as well as planning on a big move. I'm still going to try my best to juggle everything so that I can make even more progress on the game! ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

At the end of the day, all of this is a fun little project I've always wanted to do. As a little kid, I absolutely loved playing VNs (and I still do!). Creating my own game felt like an unreachable goal, but with enough effort, I think it's something obtainable ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ I really just want to create something that others can enjoy!

As a side note, I have some plans to create a little blog (not even sure if it's considered a blog, haha) about the games I've played/want to play! That will be coming very soon!

Thank you to anyone who read this far! You have my eternal gratitude <3

~ bliss ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ

[blissents]

Next character reveal for Visionaries :-)

[blissents]

Another WIP of a character in Visionaries :-) Currently working on rendering all the sprites

[blissents]

WIP of a background for Visionaries!! I have a few more sketches I’ve worked on that I’ll post later ❤️

[blissents]

Not sure what I was going for, but it turned out better than I expected :D

[blissents]

sketch of someone for the game i’m working on

[blissents]

Decided to draw a Cryo Whopperflower as a human o.o

[blissents]

Welcome to Twin Coves…

Step into the shoes of a newbie private investigator as they unravel the series of supernatural murders that shake their small seaside hometown.

>>>PLAY THE DEMO HERE<<<

FOLLOW THE UPCOMING KICKSTARTER (coming soon!)

Demo Features:

15k words!

9 mysterious hotties!

1.5 hour playtime!

4 CGs!

3 flavors of waffles! 🧇

1 dead end! (We got endings already, folks!)

1 (or more) murders!

and a whole lot of choices!

ABOUT

Twin Coves is a paranormal romance meets murder mystery themed visual novel currently under development. It features a customizable protagonist, 6 (possibly 9) male love interests who may or may not be human, and choices that could very well lead to an early grave if you’re not careful.

This game is rated MA-17 and includes discussions of death and grief, characters dealing with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD, references to and brief depictions of blood and violence, alcohol use, strong language, and content of a sexual nature.

Demo | Kickstarter | Patreon | Itch.io | Twitter | Ko-fi

[blissents]

Two guys I drew a month-ish ago :)

[blissents]

Lee and Liz looking pretty as always! ✨

[blissents]

Ma and Mom from Our Life :)

[blissents]

Just had to draw Cliff and Kyra after drawing Cove! ✨

[blissents]

A simple drawing of Cove from Our Life ❤️

[blissents]

This is it- Friday, April 16th, 2021 the Our Life Step 3 DLC will launch!

Just two weeks from now. We’ll see you soon, Cove 💞

Wishlist on Steam HERE

Itch Preview Page HERE

Our Life is a nostalgic Visual Novel where you create your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with the lonely boy next door. You can play the full game right now for free! Steam Page (Windows and Linux) Itch.io Page (Windows, Linux, Mac, and Android) Discord -  Twitter - Website

[blissents]

Piplup’s igloo ❄️

[blissents]

A messy sketch of something I’m working on!