Title: Snowbound
(well, working title anyway...)
Genre: Robinsonade? Survivalist fiction? Something like that?
(not a GxB or BxG or whatever, though maybe some romance along the way)
Info:
Platform: desktop, iOS, Android
Scope: ~60,000 word playthrough, 4 hours
Endings: ~16 endings across 4 arcs, one arc implemented
Premise:
Welcome to Bournewell Bay, a remote town on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This is the St. Magnus School. Once an exclusive, upper-class institution, it was converted and rechartered into a math and sciences school for students grades 7-12. The school is a renowned college preparatory institution, and its valedictorian usually has the choice of any university in the country. For this reason, older students are often suspicious, malicious, and downright cut-throat in their race to the top of the class.
The day is Friday, November 10th. Though the school was meant to be used as a shelter against the approaching Hurricane Ophelia, a blizzard is quickly developing outside. When the power goes out and whiteout conditions pick up outside, the students who stayed late at St. Magnus are trapped with minimal supplies and no escape. With tensions already high, scarcity brings out the worst in the competitive students, and the school turns into a powderkeg.
The story follows two members of the archery team. Rebecca Bell is an average student in a school of exceptions with a fascination for the thoughts of others. Eric Larsen is a senior previously caught up in a three way battle for valedictorian, but now that he's fallen out of the running, his goals are in question. Both must contend with the cold, dark, and hunger that comes with the school's isolation, but also save the society of students from complete collapse.
Characters:
(just a few, full list is viewable here)
Rebecca Bell
Rebecca is driven by a need to understand the thought processes of others. She's a good listener, but her personality and demeanor often switch depending on who she's conversing with. She's the type to keep a constant internal monologue and carefully maintain an outer and inner self. Rebecca keeps a variety of friends, some of them good students and others more shady, all with their own perception of her and her own relationship with them, so she's well-known but possesses no circle of friends. She's most open with Maximilian, whom she's known since D-year, but still very cautious with acquaintances. If asked to describe her, all who know her would give a different answer.
Eric Larsen
Moderately intelligent and gifted with concentration and willpower, Eric was a top contender for the spot of valedictorian until his junior year. For unclear reasons, he failed a physics exam that completely dropped him out of the race. As he never fully chose an objective for himself, and lacking any other clear goal, his determined mindset decidedly faltered. He abandoned his bid for captainship of the debate team and recently began to branch into easier, non-competitive classes. Without the workload of a top student, he found the time to revive the archery club. As not many know of his recent fall from grace, most seniors are still cold with him, viewing him as a threat. He's begun to reconsider his choices at the St. Magnus School.
Maximilian Wolf
Max is a black humorist at heart. He takes most serious events in stride, but his nature always keeps him thinking two steps ahead. He isn't one to sulk, but he never ignores reailty. Most see him as unfriendly, though it's more likely that his sarcasm just drives people away. He's close friends with Rebecca but not too many competitive students.
Caitlyn Baquiran
Cait is unapologetic and intentionally abrasive. She prefers the company of meeker and younger students and dislikes anyone more intelligent than herself. Despite a lack of foresight, she possesses some cunning when the situation presents itself. Although she can appear self-serving, Caitlyn does seem to have some sort of inscrutable internal ethics code. She also carries a butterfly knife for when things don't go her way
Felix Salazar
Felix is highly intelligent in the sense that he is a "larger picture" person. His determination places him in contention for valedictorian along with Eric and Marisa. Although he usually makes sacrifices for the greater good, he sometimes forces his opinions on others if he deems it important to the group. In this respect, he's rather tyrannical and not well-liked among his subordinates on the debate team. Despite his lack of personal warmth, he means the best. His friends are almost all on the debate team, of which he recently became captain. He claims to play life like a game of chess, his passion.
Excerpt
These things take up too much space, so for now it's available here.
Progress:
Script: 1/4 routes (150k words) so that's the full scope of the demo
Art: Concept art for everyone! ...but not much else. Updates as more art is produced.
Engine: Basic skeleton done, it just doesn't look very pretty
Sound: Nothing yet. Recruiting soon?
Miscellaneous:
So this is my first foray into the world of "visual" novels, the only other similar project being The LCPANES Terminal. I've been working on this for a good amount of time and PentagonBuddy's just been added to the staff. We're hoping to get a demo out shortly after the new year if we can both keep up the current pace.
As the game's targetting mobile platforms as well, it's being developed in javascript for now, though that may be subject to change.
As for the VN itself, it might seem more related to interactive fiction than a typical Japanese visual novel, but after playing through a couple commerical JP VNs, the format seems very open and could provide for some very interesting narratives, so I decided to do something a little different. The story draws elements from Lord of the Flies among other things, and hopefully it's intersting enough to warrant the time~. In any case, I'll be posting updates as more art comes in and we make progress...! Oh, and the game has a blog as well.
Well, that's about it. If there are any questions/concerns, fire away...!
