Red eyes is the first in a planned game series which tells the story of 3 “brothers” who try to fight against a coming storm and their own
destinies. It is a dark fantasy visual novel / dungeon crawler hybrid where every decision you make (regardless of if it is during
conversations or during battles) will have effects on your characters and the story itself.
It uses a customized 3d dungeon crawler engine (which is being open sourced and will be in the cookbook section shortly) and a customized
rpg engine in order to fulfill the premise. Theme wise it is a dark fantasy game and includes drama, gore and character death but also
splinters of hope and possible romance.
It is based on a simple premise “Even during the darkest of times, even the darkest of deeds can create a sliver of hope which can unleash
a fire that burns the darkness away”.
About the game
Type: Visual novel / Dungeon crawler hybrid
Themes: Dark fantasy, Drama (including character death), Romance
Rating: 16+ (it contains a zombie apocalypse. As the zombies are graphically shown 16+ for safety)
Synposis
I’m one of them. One of the 3 who call themselves brothers despite not being related by blood. We were drawn together since our childhood
as if we we were connected somehow. That is why we called each other brother. As we grew up we nicknamed each other but strangely not
how others nickname each other.
Instead we gave each other nicknames associated to sins. Not that they are not absolutely fitting, as we are filling the roles of these names
completely, but it is unusual nonetheless. We are Steve steel (Pride), Mike Slozensky (Envy) and Peter Wolf (Wrath). We grew up together
in Nedrow, USA. Like I said, we three were connected together, and this is our story. The story of how just after our 18th birthdays we met
our demise, meet a being of darkness, and be given a chance, a single sliver of hope for salvation, for a return. The thing I met was a
demon I can’t describe it in any other way with how much anger and hatred it had pent up. It called me names and cursed my existence and
then told me of a coming storm that only we could stop but only if I remembered, then it threw me down. It let me fall into a dark forest in
ancient times. I found myself in an old kingdom in the medieval Transylvania.
During my travels through this kingdom I uncovered things I wouldn’t have believed anyone who told me.
Not only did I meet people from this ancient past and talked with them, interacted with them.
No, I also found out that magic and mythical creatures REALLY exist!
And more so, that this kingdom was beset by a darkness, by the darkness caused by a tainted blood. A darkness that threatened to turn it
into a smoldering ruin and which had also set its eyes on to me and all I held dear.
A darkness like a coming storm. A darkness that even made the dead raise to eat the living.
But even in this darkness there was a small glimmer of hope. As I talked with the people to uncover the truth of my being there and this
darkness I made decisions. Every decision I made affected them all. If they lived or died, if they were happy or frightened. Even when I fought,
the decisions I made had an impact on the world around me. They let people either believe in me as their only hope, or see me as their worst
nightmare. Just as I began to understand that it was my decision, my decision alone that would decide the fate of this kingdom, its inhabitants,
the whole world, and more importantly, of Nedrow, the drama around me began to unfold in its completeness. But I understood at long last.
Why I was chosen to be there, why this demon was so angry at me and what could be done to stop the coming darkness. It was all clear to me
because it was not all as it seemed, not all was as I thought I knew because there was still a glimmer of hope, a small glimmer that could
begin a fire that could burn the darkness away. Because I MYSELF am not what I always thought I was. Neither were my brothers as they stood
with me, by my side in the darkest of hours with bared weapons and claws. As this was our hour, this was what we were born for!
This is the story of how it all ended. The story of my fall and my rise. This is the story where I learned the truth and where I decided if I would
bring salvation or damnation. This is the story of the end of the beginning and how a small glimmer became a fire that burned the darkness away.
Characters
Protagonists
Steve Steel Pride
Age: 18 years
He is the leader of the 3 brothers. He seems regal and quite prideful most of the time and knows his way around woman. Ending up with a new
girlfriend every other week. He just finished his education to become a cop and is now partnered up with a senior officer.
Mike Slozensky Envy
Age: 18 years
He is the strategist of the 3. He is quite a wallflower most of the time and quite a genius when it comes to book knowledge or computers.
He is studying computer science and is known to be a top hacker in some circles. His hobbies include planting video cameras almost everywhere
so that he can get informations before others and is always on top of them.
Peter Wolf Wrath
Age: 18 years
He is the warrior of the 3 and the most aggressive one. He and pride are often at odds because of his strong sense of honor and his reluctance
to bow his head to anyone at all. He is currently studying economics in order to take over the dojo his family runs after finishing his studies.
Major characters
Lust
Age: ??? years
A red headed succubus who plays a major role in the modern times and also in the medieval times. Her allegiance and also her true
goals are unknown. What is known is that chaos always follows in her wake and that she has a strange relationship with Wrath
while her eyes are on Envy.
Carmen
Age: 18 years
A blonde haired girl from the past. She has a knack for getting into trouble and danger and is quite a tomboy. Even though she is
well liked around the village it seems like she is hiding a big secret. Furthermore there is a connection between her and princess
Katherine.
Princess Katherine
Age: 18 years
A red headed princess and 2nd in line to the throne. She is regal and calculating a born politician as they come.
There is something strange going on around her and she has a connection to Carmen.
Minor characters
Sarah
Age: 21 years
A latino and the partner of pride in modern times. She is his senior and needs to teach him the ropes on the streets.
Status
[*]Story outline 100%
[*]Script 30%
[*]Character design 100%
[*]Sprites 100%
[*]Backgrounds 30%
[*]CGs 20%
[*]GUI 100%
[*]Music 0% (got a few samples but they are for an old version of the game)
[*]Sound 20%
[*]Voice overs 0%
Team
Artists
[*] Sendo (CGs, dungeon crawler tiles)
[*] Shadilyn (Sprites, CG)
[*] SundownKid (GUI of the visual novel part / main menu,...)
Writers
[*] Sakura Hughes
[*] Wolf
Beta testers
[*] Kevin (not from this forum)
[*] Tom (not from this forum)
Programmers
[*] Wolf
[*] Kinjo (helped out with a few cleanups for the dungeon crawler. Left the project)
[*]
Planed dates
[*] Release of the game: Middle to late 2016
[*] Release of the first demo (combat): August 2015
[*] Release of the first full demo: Early 2016
[*] Release of the dungeon crawler source code: Mai 2015 The source code can be found here
Example screenshot album
http://imgur.com/a/uivlu
Questions
As usual I'm open for all critique be it positive or negative and try to incorporate things that are being mentioned into the game.
My main questions being:
1.) What do you think of the game concept of it being a hybrid?
2.) What do you think of the story?
3.) What do you think of the characters?
4.) Do you feel something is missing or not fitting?
5.) Do you have any suggestions, ideas?
About myself and this project
Hi
I’m Wolf on the forums and Ryue in the renpy irc chat. My real name is Thomas I’m almost 37 and I’m a professional software developer.
Jobwise I’m creating desktop applications (and until a year ago web applications). Hobbywise I’m creating small games (with this being
the first big game so far), and I’m a passionate tabletop rpg player.
I’ve played tabletop rpgs for over a decade now almost exclusively as gamemaster where I created the adventures my rpg groups played.
This project came to be when I had a few bad experiences with tabletop groups who played quite bad and I found myself in the situation
that I just wanted to tell a story a story where one could immerse in, a story where nobody tries to powergame, ... . Thus I looked for a
new medium and found visual novels. When the idea was born I planed the whole game originally as a small story to play through....
a typical visual novel and tried some of the basic ideas with a few rpg players I know by pitting them into the shoes of the hero and
played the game as rpg sessions of a tabletop game. During this I saw what they said was good and bad and took it to heart and
additionally I saw that a more typical visual novel approach was not something I REALLY wanted, thus the final idea of how the project
shall look was born:
A Visual novel / RPG hybrid and not a typical one where you have a bit of conversation and then a long RPG part that has not much to
do with the conversations part but instead a full hybrid where decisions in one part can have huge impacts on the other part.
As I began to look around for tools to use I found renpy and gathered experience there and saw that it would be best if I split up the game
into multiple games so that I can develop them in a controlled way and also in a way that my purse survives (as I have paid artists and
also programmers as team members). This all happened in 2012 now 3 years later I’m finally at a stage where I have enough experience
with how things work and managed to finish the dungeon crawler engine. Now I’m just putting things together and get the final pieces of
art, .... So that the story I wanted to tell 3 years ago can finally be told.
I don't like modern-medieval mash-ups, but that's just my personal taste. Zombies are also not something I like for minions of the dark side, but I'm open-minded. 
). The reason is simple. The game is "just" a leadup to a successor game I already planed when I planed this game. The successor game will play in modern times and be a story successor for the current one. The basic idea is something that was used extensively in the Highlander films and series. There the protagonists where humanlike beings that were hundreds or thousands of years old. Whenever they met one another there was a flashback to earlier times where they last met (or when they met for the first time) before the film/episode commenced in the modern times. In this case I took it to a new level. The "flashback" will be the whole game. While the successor game will be the "continuation in modern times". 
So, for the next month or so, I'll be very very busy, and very very much freaking out. If you still need some testers after that period, feel free to contact me. 
