The Thirteenth Year [Fantasy/Philosophical]

[Taleweaver]

I think it's time that I announced the current little project that DaFool and I are working at:

Title screen

Playtime: ~1-2 hrs
Length: ~30,000 words
Game type: NVL-type visual novel
Themes: Fantasy, steampunk, philosophy, religion
Endings: 3
Pairings: none
Protagonist: Male or female, player's choice

Story: The less you know about it, the better.

I'll give you a few updates if you want them.

[cosmo]

Sounds promising
Keep it moving!

[babyfish]

The less I know about it, the more I want to know about it!

Looking forward to this~

[JustAnotherMe]

The less I know about it, the more I want to know about it!

Looking forward to this~

Seconded

[Taleweaver]

Okay, I'll reveal a tiny little bit more about it.

It's a visual novel that is told through the perspectives of everybody except for the MC. In fact, you will be making decisions for most supporting characters in the story... though not for the MC.

The VN is based on one of my "normal" stories from 2007. The idea to make a VN out of it came just like that... and absolutely coincidentally, I swear, it also fits quite well into the season. Both in setting and in content.

I could show you some of the BG art, but I'd rather wait until I have some character art to show you. But fear not. This is one game we will definitely release in November. And hopefully, by the middle of the month.

[Riviera]

Wow, this sounds interesting... the philosophical tag has especially gotten me intrigued. I love philosophy.

I'll be keeping an eye on this.

[ShirakiHime]

Interesting

[Taleweaver]

The script is complete! Art assets in production, music essentially decided upon!

The game contains 1,455 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 32,158 words,
for an average of 22.1 words per screen.
The game contains 17 menus.

Any questions?

[Fawn]

Damn, over 30,000 words... That's pretty nice

I'm guessing this has something to do with 2012...

[Taleweaver]

I'm guessing this has something to do with 2012...

Because of the title screen, right? Sorry, wrong guess. The story remotely deals with similar themes, but it's not about that specific year. It doesn't even take place in our universe. (Though you might notice a few similarities...)

Anyway, this week still goes into getting all the assets together, especially graphics-wise. There won't be any further changes to the script except for a few proofreading issues. Oh, and as the game is episodic in nature, I could easily release a one-episode demo... which I probably won't do unless DaFool and I really run into a dead end and cannot release the entire game as soon as we want. It should be a long wait for you all.

By the way, of course this game is non-commercial. What did you expect?

[Taleweaver]

Plot update
"The Thirteenth Year" is about a journey, spiritual in nature just as it is a journey in the physical sense. The person on said journey is the protagonist of this particular tale, however, the journey is told by the people encountered during said journey. The tale is essentially about how religion shapes people and how, in turn, people shape religion, and it's going to be both melancholic and funny, both dramatic and light-hearted, equally full of fluffy tenderness and of icy arrogance. It has kids and guardsmen and inventors and fanatics and merchants and ascets and prophets and scullions, and it's going to have many chapters for you to explore.

[Omnificent]

Sounds vaguely like a more steampunk Canterbury Tales. I've always wanted to see more epic-scope fantasy OELVNs, so I'm keeping an eye on this.

[Taleweaver]

Sounds vaguely like a more steampunk Canterbury Tales.

Mmh, not really. My "Canterbury Tales" project is set for later this winter, and it's going to be a really epic thing, though a classic medieval tale. This here is more like "Kino's Journey", with the perspective shifted around.

[Kura]

This sounds very, very interesting~
Mm, religion and philosophy.

[Mink]

Mm, religion and philosophy.

Long as it's not like Ghost in the Shell or Appleseed: long-winded philosophical discussions that have no bearing on the plot and bring the story to a grinding halt. Not to mention getting r-e-a-l-l-y pretentious.

I mean, I don't really expect that here, but it'd be really easy to go down that road.