clevergirlsrpg

[clevergirlsrpg]

Lending a helping (and not so helping) hand...

Concept art for Clever Girls !

[clevergirlsrpg]

As someone who already liked dinosaurs as a kid and just recently got into turn based stategy/tactical rpgs I'm really looking forward for this game.

Love the style you chose for the game, very cute. Daisy so far is my favorite, but I think Shade could become a close second. We just haven't seen as much of her so far.

Thanks for the support! We are incredibly excited for people to see more of the character personalities in the demo, Daisy and Shade included. In fact, Shade takes the lead role in one of the scenes we had the most fun writing-- you'll likely know it when you play it.

[clevergirlsrpg]

We made our dinos look at whatever the player targets! Really makes them feel more lifelike, no?

[clevergirlsrpg]

Hello, main thing I want to ask is due to the apparent relationship angle of the game. Are we meant to pick a character, or are a specified one (Sawyer?). And if that is the case, the question is on the gender for the player character, will they be female then too or is it something that can be ambiguously defined as far as player preference goes, even though I suppose it might clash with the game's name if interpreted directly?

Heya! Here's some more info about how the full game (not the demo) will work: The main cast, Sawyer, Shade, Daisy and Prati are the characters whose story we follow for the game (all of whom are female). These are the Clever Girls referred to in the title. You control each of them at different times, sometimes switching around at will, and you make choices for each of them. You (the player) are not represented with a specific character. Between each of those four characters, there will be a branching narrative depicting their interpersonal relationship. That interpersonal story can progress in different ways, and the relationship type (friendship, romance, or rivalry) and intensity may change as it does. This will happen for each combination of the characters, though depending on the player's choices, some relationships may be much more eventful than others. Basically it's not a "dating sim"-style game where the player has a single character that gets into relationships with the NPCs-- the dinosaurs get into relationships with each other, but you make gameplay choices for each them that can alter the paths they take. It's not typical for games with visual-novel narrative presentation, but we're trying something new! It's inspired by how players of tactical games, like X-Com, think up "headcanon" interpersonal dynamics between the characters. We wanted to make a whole game based on enabling that idea and making it a central mechanic. Also dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are a central mechanic.

However, the demo will feature only a small preview of this, as it focuses on the Exploration and Battle gameplay systems, as well as the general tone and storytelling style that the full game will have. The full Relationship Graph system, used to track the relationship story between each character, won't be present in our initial demo version.

[clevergirlsrpg]

We're polishing up our UI, VFX, and other little details in order to make the stealth and enemy knowledge systems intuitive, without overloading the player with information. Getting closer to a demo release, bit by bit!

[clevergirlsrpg]

The simple game dev joy of adding new foliage models to the terrain and then going "ooh" and "aah" at all your outdoor levels. 🌱

[clevergirlsrpg]

Steam Next Fest in full force and where is my dino waifus at?!?!

The strategy these days is to join the next fest nearest to the full game's release date, and we're still working on our demo! ⏳🦖 Rest assured you'll see the game in a next fest just as soon as we're ready!

[clevergirlsrpg]

The demo is coming along! We're currently working on polishing up our battle UI. We just added rebind-aware control prompts, that can also detect if you switch between gamepad or mouse + keyboard.

[clevergirlsrpg]

Fall Progress Report!

Hey all!

Here's an update on development: Some changes in our release timeline, and the first of a series of "Gameplay Spotlights". And, as always, some concept doodles to close us out.

DEMO RELEASE TIMELINE UPDATE

In our previous news post and showcase debut trailer, we announced that our "Dress Rehearsal" demo would release Fall 2024. However, we're now changing that date, and are planning to release the demo to the public within the first quarter of 2025. The reason behind this delay is to improve the demo's stability, performance, and mechanical depth as much as possible.

While we're very excited to let everyone play, we also want to make sure the experience is free of crashes, softlocks, performance problems, and any other jank that might get in the way of your dinosaur-based adventures. That kind of quality assurance takes effort and time, which is why we've decided to move things back a bit.

So with that in mind, keep an eye out for our announcement of the actual day. We know it will be sometime early next year! As soon as we're sure we can fully commit to a specific date, we'll announce it here and everywhere else.

GAMEPLAY SPOTLIGHT

We want to talk to you about dinosaurs!

More specifically, we want to shed some light on the gameplay mechanics of the Clever Girls. Here's the first in an ongoing series of spotlights.

Consider these minor environmental and mechanical spoilers: If you want to experience the demo 100% spoiler-free, consider skipping the section below.

***

Clever Girls is a story and character-driven game. While the demo story doesn't branch like the full game will, it still has a lot of character personality to share. We're very excited to see the reactions players have to our main cast.

The other half of the game is the tactical battles! Combat in Clever Girls (including the demo) is turn-based and has an in-depth stealth and enemy knowledge system. Battles take place on a loose grid, but it's designed to be subtle so that it doesn't cover up the environment too much.

You can use a cursor to look around the environment and plan your route …

… and then walk around while directly controlling your character, within a maximum distance per turn. Your movement path is indicated with a trail. It's possible to undo your movement if you want to find a better route (or if you were spotted by an enemy!)

That leads us to stealth and enemy knowledge. Enemies will need to find your characters before they can attack them. In order to do this, your opponents will search the environment, share information with their allies, and try to track your dinos down using their last known locations.

While the dinos are formidable, the enemies they fight haven't come unprepared. Oftentimes ambush tactics and misdirection are key: taking advantage of the knowledge system is the basis of advanced gameplay. (At least until the tide has turned and enemies are isolated or outnumbered-- at that point, rampage away!)

Here you can see some tactical maneuvering from Sawyer, using her "Leap" ability. Leaping into or out of cover is an important way of moving without being seen, and it also opens up the level's verticality.

If the enemies think you're still hiding in the tall grass, they won't see you approach from elsewhere. Attacking an enemy that's unaware is always beneficial. Sawyer's focus is coordination and leading-from-the-front, which her abilities demonstrate by providing buffs for initiating actions, or marking targets.

Prati can also leap around! What she lacks in Sawyer's offensive capability, she makes up for with trickery and misdirection-- even when she's hidden, she wants to be the center of attention! Here you can see her using the "Ventriloquism" ability:

Can you guess what it does?

Since each of the characters are different species, we wanted to make sure they play in a way that fits their talents and personality. Prati may not be incredibly effective on her own, but with teamwork her abilities shine.

That's all for the first of our gameplay spotlights! The next one will give some details on what Daisy and Shade bring to the table during battle.

ART FOR YOU TO LOOK AT

During our story planning, we often end up with concept art, doodles and more. Here's one we can share:

Why are these two chilling with some modern-day chickens? Perhaps they consider the chickens honorary dinosaurs, via inheritance... To find out you'll have to wait until the full game, as the demo, sadly, is chicken-free. (Unless you count Prati, but that'd be rude.)

We'll show off even more gameplay stuff in upcoming spotlights. If you want to see more of this kind of thing, let us know! We're also planning on character spotlights too, so stay tuned if you want to learn more about the cast's personalities, backstories, etc.

As always, thank you for following the project. We're constantly surprised and delighted at the enthusiasm everyone's directed our way, and it makes us want to double down and ensure we can deliver something that you all will enjoy.

We'll be back with more info as we have it. Thanks for following! - Ossifrage Games

[clevergirlsrpg]

We've been working on replacing our rough, early animations for our upcoming demo. Big improvement, don't you think? Stand by for more demo-related updates very soon! 🦖

[clevergirlsrpg]

What music is playing in the Announcement Trailer? is it your original in-game track or some existing one sued for the purposes of the trailer? Is it available anywhere?

The song used in our announcement trailer is an excerpt from the song "Transponder", by Ransom Reed, used with permission. It's available to listen to on his site: https://ransom-reed.com/music/ We will have some original music for the demo, along with some licensed songs. The full game we're hoping to have a fully original soundtrack.

[clevergirlsrpg]

Is the demo still aiming for this month as said on the Steam page?

Whoops! It wasn't supposed to say October on Steam. We had the wrong visibility set when we initially put the page up with a placeholder date. It's not releasing this month, no.

However, we will be making a proper, official demo release date announcement very soon!

[clevergirlsrpg]

No dino romance - no buy!

The relationship system we're making is very flexible! Plenty of opportunity for romance. Each of the four characters will have a relationship arc between each other character (that's six unique combinations). These arcs will progress in various ways, through three general "types" of relationships: Friendships, Romances, and Rivalries. A relationship arc may switch across these types as it goes on. The main way these relationships progress in a given direction are determined by recent feelings from battle events, and story choices. Based on player choice, you can steer the dinos into the kind of relationships you want, leave it up to chance, or have a playthrough with no romance at all. Up to you! We're still sorting out the scope of these arcs, as well as the interface to make it clear for the player. Our goal is that each relationship type for each pairing will have something unique to it. Many parts of the story will be reactive to the relationship types between the characters, too.

The upcoming demo won't feature much of the relationship system, but the full game will definitely have what you're looking for.

[clevergirlsrpg]

They've got places to be! 🐊🐔🛶

[clevergirlsrpg]

Will the story paths depend only on dialogue trees, or in-mission actions? (Like killing all enemies on the map from stealth, damage taken, etc?)

In the full game, there will be branches based on decisions made in battle, as well as dialogue tree choices. Most notably, the direction of the relationship arcs between characters will be affected by your tactical decisions. Other battle conditions may branch the story as well, but we'll have to keep the details sparse for now.

However, in our upcoming demo, "Dress Rehearsal", there will not be any story branches, only some minor dialogue differences depending on choices / battle, as that demo is intended as a non-canon sampler of the game's narrative and gameplay style.

[clevergirlsrpg]

Clever Girls Demo: "Dress Rehearsal" Coming Fall 2024!

Hey all! We're super excited to announce an upcoming playable demo for Clever Girls! We're calling it "Dress Rehearsal". Check out the demo's steam page! Wishlist the full game on steam, and you'll receive an email when the demo launches. Clever Girls is a big project with a lot yet to be done! But, we wanted to get something playable to you all as soon as possible. We're making this demo as a small "rehearsal" that demonstrates what the full game will be like, with some key differences, and some work-in-progress features. Here's a breakdown:

In the "Dress Rehearsal" Demo, Fall 2024:

Bite-sized, non-canon, linear slice-of-life visual novel story. Get to know our main characters in a relaxed setting as they explore an abandoned campsite and perform some dramatic reenactments!

4 playable characters with unique combat abilities

An early look at a simplified turn-based stealth-battle system, with 3 battles including a tutorial. Special character abilities, too!

A mid-sized map to explore with ambience that changes as the demo story progresses, and plenty of interactions.

Features NOT in "Dress Rehearsal" that we want to have in the full game:

Branching storylines, and an in-depth relationship system spanning across friendships, romances and rivalries between all four characters

Full-fledged RPG progression system and new character ability unlocks

Many more zones and environmental interactions

Much, much more!

It's shaping up really well and we'll release it as soon as we feel it's ready! We've been working on it for a while and are targeting the remaining months of fall this year to send it out. Check out the steam page for even more details. Remember: If you wishlist the game on Steam, you'll receive an email when the demo launches. Thanks for reading! We'll leave you with some development art, a look at some studies of Sawyer, a utahraptor and an aspiring (if overzealous!) pack leader:

Stay tuned for more info (and a demo release date!) We'll send it as soon as we have it!

[clevergirlsrpg]

🌱Clever Girls🌿