Do We Have a Deal? [BxB][Dark Fantasy/Supernatural, Romance]

[Grimdark Pod]

A slightly darker twist on the classic romance genre, set in the last place anyone would look for a love story.
Visit our >>tumblr<< for frequent updates and WIPs.

Edmund Fausyde should have known that if a deal is too good to be true then it probably is.
Disregarding the fine print (they always do, the fools), he soon finds that his mortal life is a hell of a lot shorter than he originally anticipated and that the afterlife is pretty damn toasty.
But Edmund is no ordinary young man. He has potential, and when the talent scouts come a-knockin', his tortured, demonised soul is pulled right off the rack and shoved unceremoniously through the double doors of Dis Academy for Demonic Law. After all, Hell always has need of more business, and the Dis Academy trains the very best of the best.


Casting aside the shell of his old life, the newly dubbed Ruse (names have power, don'tcha know, never reveal your true identity) gleefully begins his training as a contract demon, determined to be the number one student. But he has competition; fellow classmate Trick is brilliant, ruthless and has stolen his heart.

Now Ruse must battle to stay top of the class, and formulate a plan to get the wily demon to notice him.

Can he score a date with his crush without failing his classes?
That's up to you.

UPDATE: Character art is still getting a revamp. One of Ruse's finished sprites is below.



RUSE
The Dashing Protagonist
Ruse didn't expect to die so young, and he certainly didn't expect to find the potential love of his life down in Hell.
Utterly enraptured with Trick, he attempts to devise a plan that will surely convince his rival to give him a chance.
But he will have to be careful.
One wrong move and failing to draw Trick's attention will be the least of his concerns...

Hell is Hell, even for demons.



1000% done with Ruse's shenanigans.

TRICK
The Love Interest
Like Ruse, Trick had no idea what he was getting into when he sold his soul to a contract demon.
Now a fresh-faced demon, he desires nothing more than to be better than his classmates and go on to have a successful career fooling mortals into damning themselves for all eternity.
Can Ruse warm his frozen heart and persuade him that all work and no play makes for a very dull turn of affairs indeed?



DIS ACADEMY


One of the teachers in Dis Academy, and the first one the player will meet. She's a fiery demon that will tolerate absolutely zero nonsense in her class. Looking at you, Trick and Ruse.

"Alright, class! Are you ready to learn?!"
Ghast. A teacher at Dis Academy.



"Is there a problem that I can help you with…?"
Elijah Blake. The Headmaster.

PDA: If you experience any discomfort or are at all unsettled by Elijah's creepy smile and dead eyes, then fear not. He has that effect on basically everyone. Even other demons. You'll be just fine.
Side-effects of exposure to Elijah include, but are not limited to: suffocating fear, paranoia, uncontrollable screaming, anxiety, visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, existential crises, twitching, sobbing, internal bleeding, the need to be productive, unforeseen diligence, lack of appetite, dehydration, insomnia, night terrors and death.
Consult your doctor before speaking, listening or otherwise engaging in any sense with Elijah.
We are not responsible for any unfortunate side-effects relating to or as a result of exposure.
You have been warned.

THE CITY OF DIS


"Anythin' ye want. I can geddit for ya."
Smuggling’s such a negative word. Cresil is a procurer of illegal rare goods.

UPDATE: We have a brand new menu screen, and GUI!
Added a freshly painted background!

GUI







BACKGROUNDS


There's a little easter egg in this one. See if you can spot it.

MEET THE TEAM



KIT
Full Time Nerdlord / Part Time Space Princess
Kit's the amazing designer behind the GUI, and also offers smashing artwork, coding, character creation and mad writing skills to Ouroboros Games; without her, none of this would be possible.

POD
Full Time Characterholic / Part Time Voidlord
Pod's writing skillage is his main strength and he's addicted to character creation, but he also provides artwork and has foolishly been put in charge of this here thread.

Do We Have a Deal? is the first (of several, we hope) project from Ouroboros Games, set in a fictional universe that we adore.
The game follows two of our beloved characters, telling the story of their first meeting and allowing you, the player, to decide how it ends. It's free and though it will feature multiple endings depending on what path the player chooses (there are three in total, one ending true to the characters' canon, and two others for your gaming pleasure), it is intended to be a relatively short, fun game.

Fair Warning: There's dark themes a-plenty in this twisted tale of love and lust. Not that you'd expect any less from Hell itself, but I feel obliged to let you know regardless.

Feel free to pose questions, offer feedback and follow us on tumblr to see the game's development unfold.
Note: Pod has foolishly been put in charge of the tumblr layout also. Rest assured, it will look a lot more aesthetically pleasing once he decides on a theme he really likes.

[shaye]

!!!! This looks really interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on it (and that cutie Trick pft).
Looking forward to reading the finished thing ;w;/!

[polterghast]

Hi hello, the aforementioned Kit of Ouroboros Games here (and Ruse's caretaker sprite artist.)
I hope very much that you like the looks of our game thus far, we're working as hard as we can to get it to a point where we can (hopefully) potentially release a demo version for you all to try. All kind words, questions and constructive criticism are very much welcome!

[LIZM]

This looks interesting! I like these types of dark settings, and Trick is just all kinds of adorable. :') (Not that I'd dare calling him that to his face... lol) Lovely work on the GUI too. It matches the setting/character designs so nicely~

[Reikun]

A small heads up that we have quite an active studio around here called Ouroboros[Connect]. I had to do a double take at your group name because the names are very similar.

Anyway, I love Trick's character design. Good luck with your project! ^___^

[Googaboga]

This is a very neat premise. I really love the expressions on the characters, plus their outfits are fabulous.

Also, imaging their pitch is funny (Hello human, my name is Ruse/Trick. With a name like that, I'm definitely a demon you can trust. We should make a deal.) .

[Mad Harlequin]

A demonic, dark romance set in law school? Consider me intrigued.

[Grimdark Pod]

Thank you for all the comments so far, we are chuffed to bits that our little game has gathered interest already!
Right now Kit's working her christmas-pudding socks off coding a demo, so we should have a little taster of the story ready to go quite soon.

Ah, as for the group name thing; the ouroboros symbol is very dear to both of our hearts and has quite personal significance for us, hence the reason we chose it to represent our group some time ago. Were it a simple name and nothing more, we'd switch it up in a heartbeat but understandably we are quite reluctant to do that here. Hopefully there will be no terrible mix-ups in future.

If anyone has any questions about the stories, characters, etc, or any comments or criticisms (please keep it constructive) do poke us. We'll be lingering like the echoes of those long since passed when we're not busy working~

[papillon]

Cute concept

[Grimdark Pod]

Thank you!

We've been working hard on our demo and think we have it pretty much all scripted out. We're just waiting on my snail-like sprite-progress, and Kit's awesome CGs and backgrounds and it should be ready to go!

For funsies, here's a sneak peek at a side-character; one of the teachers in Dis Academy:



She's a no-nonsense kinda gal. Disrupt her class and pay the price.

Fair warning, if you are uncomfortable with skittery spidery legs, I advise you don't click the first thumbnail.

[ColaCat]

This looks like it's going to be good! Can't wait for the demo. ^_^

And thanks for the warning about the skittery legs. *bows*
Honestly, I'm so scared of spiders so it's rather a relief to have some warning for once.

[Grimdark Pod]

Cheers! We do hope that it will be interesting enough to draw in the readers.

And you're very welcome~
Thankfully the sprite, when finished, will be cut enough that nobody will have to look at those grotesque appendages in the game.
I am not seriously afraid of spiders, but her entire demonic visage is just ughwhythough.

[ColaCat]

Well if you need a proofreader let me know!

Ah, phew! I'm sure they're well drawn an' all, but I completely agree with the whole "why though" thing. *shivers*

[Grimdark Pod]

Ah, that's a marvellous offer, thank you!
We'll definitely keep you in mind when we go a-searchin' for testers.

And no problem at all, friend~
That's perfectly understandable.


Update: My snail-self managed to give our tumblr a revamp.
It looks a lot nicer now, if I humbly say so myself.

[ColaCat]

^_^ Always happy to help! Just drop me a PM whenever, door's always open (or rather, inbox is always empty...XD).


It does look good!

XD I love that first post;

Well, nobody asked you, Trick. Someone oughta remove that stick.