#actala

[chattercap]

Rowan is Actala's resident "demon lord" - or at least that's what people call him. He doesn't complain, though. His hobby is making enemies ✨ His people were subjugated by the kingdom a couple of generations ago, and rumors say that he's waiting for the opportunity to make the kingdom burn.

"When I snap my fingers, it's fun watching nobles quake in their boots 🔥"

I changed up his design quite a bit from the original; I wanted to give him a more refined air as opposed to the "bad boy" energy he had before (and I also wanted to make it more obvious that he has long hair, haha!)

Actala: The Hero's Shadow is a mystery/fantasy romance visual novel where you play as the side character who needs to save the Hero. There will be 5 male love interests. An updated demo is releasing on itch at the end of June!

[rosejapanfan]

Actala: The Hero’s Shadow Demo Game Review [Indie Spotlight]

💙INDIE SPOTLIGHT💙Actala: The Hero’s Shadow Demo Game Review

Released: Act 1: February 1st, 2023 Liam’s Route (Base Game): Mid-2023 Other Routes: TBA Developer/Publisher: Chattercap Genre: Visual Novel, Mystery, Romance(Otome) Platform: PC(Android/Mac/iOS planned) **CW: This game contains occasional visual depictions of alcohol, blood, violence, body horror, and other frightening images. Text describing alcohol usage, death/murder, blood/violence,…

[chattercap]

Happy Screenshot Saturday! Here's another Actala art update!

Sei was, overall, the least popular LI from the OG demo (since he appears relatively little), so I gave him ✨kira kira✨ shoujo sparkles as a power-up...

Maybe if he princess carries Shizu enough, she'll stop treating him like her little brother...

I spent a long time getting the proportions right on the original CG (and the perspective on the shoes was HELL), but...the newer version looks better anyway...

Actala: The Hero's Shadow is a mystery/fantasy romance visual novel where you play as the side character who needs to save the Hero. There will be 5 male love interests. An updated demo is releasing on itch at the end of June!

[chattercap]

Hi, please help me make bad life decisions, tyvm

(I'm generally making a few changes for the designs of the Actala cast, but this is definitely the most drastic so I kinda want to know what people think before I do anything lol)

[chattercap]

Sei is Actala's titular Hero! ⚔️

Everyone says he's "strong, silent, and mysterious," but in reality he's a nuclear warhead with crippling social anxiety. ✨

(The biggest update from the old CG is that I put this man in a sleeveless shirt for a reason and you're going to SEE those shoulders, dangit)

Actala: The Hero's Shadow is a mystery/fantasy romance visual novel where you play as the side character who needs to save the Hero. There will be 5 male love interests. An updated demo is releasing on itch at the end of June!

[chattercap]

Here's a summary for Actala: The Hero's Shadow, the mystery/fantasy otome I'm developing!

For the tl;dr:

Girl works ass off to save boyfailure childhood friend Hero from ppl that want to stab him, may kiss random men while trying to save the kingdom from burning

[chattercap]

Actala Demo News and Current Roadmap

Hello hello, it's Chattercap! 

If you've been keeping up with me, you'll know I was creating a new Actala demo for Otome Jam. Initially I was going to redo the ENTIRE thing (Chapters 1-6), adding on every love interest's versions of Chapter 4 and 5 (adding on an additional ~40k words of content to bring the entire demo up to 100k words LOL) - but, well, that turned out like this:

In terms of what I got done, I did 12 backgrounds, 10 sprites, and 16 CGs (so...38, not quite 60, but not bad!). Not a bad amount of work for 2 months! You can see some of the ones I posted on socials below + some extras.

 I did finish most of what was needed through Chapter 3 (~2-3 hours of playtime), but I decided that if I pushed through, I wouldn't be able to get the game out in the state that I would want. I ended up redoing a LOT more than what I initially intended; I kept basically none of the original art and most of the original BGM too, and I also updated the script. This basically left no time to polish the coding, fine tune the animations, or to do the "extra CGs" that I wanted. 

Since it's a big project, I don't want to rush it, and I could tell I was getting PRETTY stressed out about getting something out on time (and I also had quite a bit going on in my personal life, as well). In the end I decided to postpone so that I would have time to polish it to the level that I would want. 

Okay, so when are you actually going to update this thing?

Thanks for your interest! I want to take my time with it, so I'll be working on it steadily, at my own pace. I don't have set release dates it for the moment. I'm hoping to release an updated demo that covers through Chapter 4 sometime soon, with an extended demo that covers through Chapter 6/the end of Act 1 after that (where the original demo left off). 

Current Roadmap

Currently, I'll be working on polishing the Actala artwork while I also finish up the Hanasu script. I'll also be working off-and-on on The Perfect Woman, which is a short Pygmalion and Galatea themed project that I'm making for Mythology VN Jam. I've teased a couple of the excerpts already on my Patreon, and I've done a mockup of the main UI as well, which you can see below!

Thank you for reading, and thank you to everyone who's interested in what I'm up to!

Chattercap

[chattercap]

For fun, here's a comparison of my old DIY Actala logo and the new commissioned one!

(😭 I SWEAR I'M NEVER MAKING ANOTHER LOGO AGAIN IN MY LIFE, I'll leave it to the pros...)

[chattercap]

Shizu is Actala's titular side character (and MC), "Villager A!"

She's a 26 yo combat veteran, certified Team Mom™, and no, she's definitely fine and doesn't need therapy, thank you very much (she only has nightmares about her dead family like, once a week, ok).

Shizu's background is loosely based on Japanese-American immigrants, hence she wears a mixture of Japanese and western style clothing. Originally I put Shizu into a hakama for this scene, but I changed my mind for the update; instead I gave her a haori (similar to what Sei wears in the same scene), and a Western-style top and a modernized hakama skirt (not pictured).

Actala: The Hero's Shadow is a mystery/fantasy romance visual novel where you play as the side character who needs to save the Hero. There will be 5 male love interests. An updated demo is releasing on itch at the end of June!

[chattercap]

WOO I got a new Actala logo! (Credit to MikaLogo, they did a fantastic job!)

It's a bit strange "announcing" Actala considering it was my first project, but honestly, besides the script, it's practically a new project at this point, haha (and also I don't think a lot of people know that I'm working on it?) My current project is a complete revamp of the Actala demo, porting it over to Godot with all new art/GUI and a significantly revised script.

For anyone who's not familiar, Actala is a dark fantasy/mystery/romance (otome) visual novel with five male love interests. The story delves a lot into corruption and conspiracy in a magical kingdom rife with political and social turmoil. Details below!

The basic synopsis is:

SYNOPSIS

Shizuka Mitsumori has spent years trying to protect her childhood friend, the Hero, from the perils that assailed him at every turn. At long last, his quest is over. Even during the celebrations, however, new dangers emerge. Dangers more treacherous than monsters. Dangers that threaten the life of the kingdom’s strongest man.

Can the side character save the Hero?

Can you find the happily ever after?

FOR THE TL;DR

"Girl works ass off to save boyfailure childhood friend Hero from all of the things that want to stab him, may or may not kiss other cute guys while trying to save the kingdom from burning"

FEATURES

In terms of features, the game will have 5 love interests, 6 routes, and over 300k words (if I'm being real it's probably going to be 500k at the rate I'm going). Most of the love interests are plays on traditional "fantasy" tropes - you can romance the "Hero," the "Demon Lord," the conniving politician, the court magician, and the pampered nobleman...but, of course, none of them are as simple as they first appear!

There will be romantic/platonic variations for all of the routes, and the true route will have slight variations for each love interest!

CHANGES FROM THE ORIGINAL DEMO

The demo is currently 60k words long and contains the scenes for one love interest, Liam! However, in the revamped demo I plan to include scenes from all of the love interests - it'll probably be over 100k words total? (I'm sorry in advance.)

If you've played the original demo, you'll know that I did it in a "storybook" format, where there were basically no reused images (similar to what I did for Karamu and Kanau). However, that was...unfortunately not sustainable, haha! I changed up my artstyle quite a bit since releasing it, and the new art, while higher quality, takes significantly more time to produce. As a result, I'll be going to a format similar to what I did for TDW and MMM for the Actala demo revamp so that I can actually...get it done...

You can still expect a good amount of unique art in the revamp, though (at least 15 CGs in the demo alone, if I'm counting correctly)! Just not the ungodly amount that I included originally.

CURRENT PLANS

I currently hope to develop the revamped demo for Otome Jam, with a release date of June 30th! However, considering the scope of the project, I'll be evaluating and adjusting the schedule as needed during the process.

Expect to see a lot more updates for this project soon!

[chattercap]

Hugh is Actala's second LI, its resident sche-I mean, certified Nice Guy™, definitely-doesn't-drag-his-enemies-into-dark-rooms Nice Guy™. He's the black sheep of one of the most powerful families in the country (everyone's PRETTY sure that he's a bastard - in the literal and figurative sense, but they all agree to collectively not talk about it).

I've changed his haircut 4x already, and just watch, I'LL DO IT AGAIN

Actala: The Hero's Shadow is a mystery/fantasy romance visual novel where you play as the side character who needs to save the Hero. There will be 5 male love interests. An updated demo is releasing on itch at the end of June!

[chattercap]

What happens after the "happily ever after?"

The fairy tale is over. The Hero won. But the story is just beginning. Explore the web of intrigue in this emotional, suspenseful visual novel, depicted with hundreds of unique, animated illustrations. Who is the hero, and who is the villain? Who lives, and who dies? Your choices will decide.

Actala: The Hero's Shadow is a fully-animated, mystery/fantasy romance visual novel/otome game/dating sim.

You play as the Hero's childhood friend, who has spent years trying to protect him from the perils that assailed him at every turn. At long last, his quest is over. Even during the celebrations, however, new dangers emerge. Dangers more treacherous than monsters. Dangers that threaten the life of the kingdom’s strongest man.

Can the side character save the Hero?

Can you find the happily ever after?

Anything good about it?

The story is entirely depicted with unique, Live2D-style animated illustrations. Instead of the traditional sprite format, each scene has unique illustrations and comic-book style panels. (The demo has over 140 illustrations, including 45 CGs!)

Five love interests with dramatically different storylines, each with its own twists and turns.

Play as a sassy, older MC! The protagonist is older than most of the LIs, and you're given ample opportunities to tease them and make them blush. (I don't use affection gauges, so choose the fun dialogue options to your heart's content!)

Fragments of the Past: As you play, you get to unlock special scenes that explore the characters' pasts prior to the events of the main story.

Route map: Easily navigate through the story using the route map feature. No need to replay hours of dialogue/obsess over your saves!

A variety of options to make the reading experience easier, including different fonts, font sizes, text speeds, and customizable shortcuts.

Act 1 (Chapters 1-6) contains over 60,000 words (~4 hours of playtime). The full game will be 350,000+ words (20+ hours of playtime).

Where can you play it?

Act 1 is available for Windows now on Steam and itch.io! Mac, iOS, and Android are planned later in development.

I want some more info!

Drop me an ask! Or check out my website.

Also *psst* I'm pretty active over on Twitter. I post little dev tidbits there daily!

[chattercap]

So with a new Actala demo comes all new art! Everything is being redrawn 😭 (pls feel my suffering)

I started off with this one since it was my favorite background originally, and I didn't see having to change it much, but it ended up so different 😭💦 (you can see the old version below)

[chattercap]

OK your question was so good it got me also thinking about Actala especially with how fun and unique the entire premise of "after the adventure" you have going on -- was there anything specific that inspired this idea? Or was it more just a chance idea? Also how did you come up with the idea for the core trio and their great dynamic? (I love how their personalities play off each other and complement each other so much ladkjfalsd)

AWW THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU'RE TOO SWEET sdfdsfsdf I will cry!! (Very long answer, so I put it under the tag!)

I really like taking established story tropes and "twisting" them into something unexpected (for instance, a chosen one who doesn't want to be a chosen one). In this case, I looked at the "commoner becomes the hero, defeats the monster, and marries the king's daughter" trope, and I wondered - would that really happen? If I were a noble, I wouldn't welcome the hero back with open arms; I'd be wondering how I could get rid of this threat to my power. So Actala's premise was born! (Though the idea has evolved a lot beyond that since then!)

In the original drafts, Actala was a lot simpler! It was meant to be a much more straightforward imitation of a mix between a JRPG and a traditional folktale. Sei and Shizu were strangers who just so happened to form a "party" to defeat the "demon lord" together. Shizu had fallen in love with Sei over the course of the journey, and that was why she picked up on the danger that he faced after his return.

However, I wasn't really happy with that version, so I kept toying with ideas to make the relationship between Shizu and Sei more impactful, and I thought - well, why don't I make them childhood friends? (I also just love childhood friends...) After that, I built the characters' personalities bit by bit by thinking about their pasts and their motivations (which is why the past scenes are so prominent…and numerous). First - I asked, why would Shizu be so protective of Sei? Because she feels responsible for him, because he's her only family. And what kind of guy would be born out of that treatment? A socially awkward, clumsy man, who's desperate to prove himself.

Liam was actually supposed to be a much more typical "ice cold," loyal knight personality, and - I won't lie - I just changed his personality during the early stages of development because I thought that it would be hilarious if the "ice" man was actually really friendly and silly. After that, the dynamics between the main trio just evolved very naturally! Sei and Shizu are both on the quieter side (as a result of their shared past), and so Liam naturally became the team's ice-breaker/glue. Sei and Liam are both younger, so Shizu became the responsible one. I'm actually surprised at how well their personalities mesh together! I hope that I can add in more scenes where the three of them interact :)

I apologize for the essay, but it was a very good question!!!

[chattercap]

Future Plans for Actala

Sorry for the kind of sporadic updates, I do need to be better about posting here! I post devlogs on my itch page monthly, and I've decided to crosspost the latest one here since it has some important info about Actala's future development! A copy of my latest itch devlog is under the cut!

Hello, happy June!

It's been another month (time really does fly)! 

No Actala updates this time, as I ended up increasing the scope a bit on my Otome Jam project so I had to divert my attention to that (please look forward to some EXCELLENT voice acting)! Karamu will release sometime in the next couple of weeks!

But although I don't have any updates for Actala, I do have a bit of an announcement. As you might know if you played through the demo, I originally planned to illustrate the story 100% with CGs and mini-CGs. This was...unrealistic (as basically anyone with half a brain could have told you, I imagine). 

This was something that became EXTREMELY apparent as I worked on Karamu. I thought I scoped very realistically (a simple scene with 2 characters and only 10k words), and I hoped to finish the game within a month. However, while I finished the script in a week, I've spent almost 2 months on the illustrations. (If I extrapolate that out for Actala, where the current script is 250,000 words...I won't finish the thing for another 4-5 years...)

Part of that is that I've been experimenting with more complex/highly rendered CGs, and taking more care with the color and compositions (you can see a sample below). For Actala, I adopted a more simple coloring style because of the high volume of illustrations, but I was never really happy with them. Rather than putting out a ton of illustrations that I'm not happy with, I'd prefer to put out a smaller number that I'm more satisfied with.

If I'm being honest, I didn't adopt the "CG only" strategy for any deep reason in particular. It was mainly a snap decision based on insecurities with my own art, as I felt like my art couldn't really stand on par with other VNs (so I decided to create value with quantity over quality). However, ultimately I think it's detrimental to the project. The amount of work required for the art just dwarfs everything else, to the point where I put off the other tasks to make a SMALL dent in the art (for instance, I really want to improve the GUI, which looks a bit clunky and not super elegant...) 

So from now on, I will most likely adopt the sprite format for Actala, instead of utilizing exclusively CGs. Those sprites may or may not be animated; I'll try it out and see how I feel about them. You can still expect a lot of CGs from me, but not exclusive! Interestingly, I actually planned to do sprites in the early stages of development, and I finished almost all of them. These are over a year old at this point, so they will be completely redone, though! 

I hope that this isn't disappointing to anyone (it probably isn't; I'm just stubborn as an ox when it comes to my impulse decisions...) But from a projection perspective, it's just 100% impossible to get Actala out on any reasonable timeline with the approach that I was taking. This way, I'll be able to get the game out a bit faster (with nicer illustrations, just fewer of them)! And it will give me a little more time to polish other aspects of the game, and perhaps work on a few more side projects ;)

For the rest of this month, I'll be finishing out Karamu. Then at the start of July, I'll take a bit of a game dev break before tackling the sprites! Expect to see some sketches in the next devlog~

If you read this far, thank you! See you next month :)

Chattercap

[chattercap]

(Slightly risque, but not really! Up to you if you wanna answer)

Oooh, MC and her lover have been getting freaky where they shouldn't~ (be it an office, a remote location, anywhere with a slight chance of being found)

But wait! They hear something or someone approaching! How do they react?

(For Actala and Karamu <3)

There's nothing really risque in the answers (pretty tame overall), but putting it under a tag just in case!

Actala:

Sei: Panics. Tries to fumble on his clothes as the door is opening. By the time the door opens, his hair is still a mess, his pants are barely on, and his vest is buttoned incorrectly. He's standing in front of Shizu like he's trying to protect her from a Nightmare (her clothes are perfect).

Liam: The person tries to open the door to the office, but it's locked? That's strange; these doors shouldn't lock. The handle is also strangely cold. They jostle the knob a few more times before it comes loose. When the door opens, Liam's standing on the other side, completely composed. He complains about how old the building is - the doors really need to be replaced. Unbeknownst to the intruder, there are a few chunks of ice lying on the ground.

Rowan: Stands up, makes sure his pants are in order (he doesn't really care about the shirt), and then sidles over to the door, opening it before the person on the other side has a chance to. He tells the intruder that he's busy and to come back later (making sure to hide Shizu's presence from view).

Faye: When the person enters the room, they're surprised to find it empty. They could have sworn the Aegis and the Elder Mage were in here? Confused, the intruder leaves. Moments later, Faye undoes the illusion spell, relieved that the person didn't think to look too closely.

Hugh: As the person enters the room, they are hit by a wave of dizziness. When they come to their senses, they find Hugh and Shizu, sitting on opposite sides of the couch, sorting through papers. The papers are unnaturally orderly, and their clothes are pristine, with nary a wrinkle out of place. Their faces are a bit flushed, though. Maybe they got into an argument?

Karamu:

Raku: Continues his business without caring who's around. He has nothing to hide. (Nelli has a VERY different opinion.)