Essence Hunt [BxB] [Fantasy] [Complete]

[SilverHyena]

It's done!
Check out the completed game topic: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44375
or go directly to the itch.io page to download it: https://silverhyena.itch.io/essence-hunt

So... There's a Yaoi Game Jam going on right now and since I actually have some time this month I figured I'd better step in and do my part to bring more bl to the world! (Edit: Obviously I failed that deadline, but... Better late than never, right?) Mwahahaha! Ahem... On to the project details!

General Info:

Title: Essence Hunt
Genre: Fantasy
Pairings: BxB
Endings: 6 (12 if you include variants)

Plot:

While out hunting, Shugo ignores his village's superstitions and kills a deer on sacred ground. This angers a powerful nature spirit and she curses him, telling Shugo that he must return what he stole within three days or he'll die. That's easier said than done however since returning the deer's soul isn't exactly in the realm of human expertise. Luckily, he's not completely on his own. A fox spirit named Kei has agreed to help him out on a whim. Can the two catch the deer's spirit and return it to its body before the three days are up? And is Shugo's new travelling companion even trustworthy in the first place?

Characters:

Shugo (Playable Character)

A hunter from a small village on the fringe of a forest inhabited by spirits. He doesn't believe in his village's superstitions, but hasn't really tested them either-- until now of course. He can be prideful and a bit on the stubborn side but is ultimately a good guy.

Kei (Romance Option)

An impish fox spirit that is supposedly helping Shugo on a mere whim. That sounds a bit convenient though, doesn't it? Either way, Shugo figures his chances are better with him than without.

And some other characters that I might add as I draw them... Kei will probably be the only romance option though so don't get too excited. I'm trying to keep it small guys!


And that's that.

So... if you guys have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know. I'll try to keep you updated and hopefully by the end of the month I'll have a complete game for you guys.

[Red-Baby]

I played your other game 'Sacred Sands' and really liked it, so I'm pretty keen for this game to be released =]
Keep up the good work!

[SilverHyena]

Hey all! I kind of failed at the whole updating you part. Anyway, I do have some bad-ish news. As you probably know, I originally wanted to do this as an entry for Yaoi Jam. Unfortunately, due to a series of events (which were actually good events for me, but bad events as far as making progress on my many projects) I'm way behind where I should be. I think I still could have finished on time, but it would have been a bare bones presentation and I decided I didn't want that since I think this has the potential to be a pretty neat little game. So, long story short, I'm giving up on getting it done on time for the jam.

The good news is that I'm still working on it. It'll just take longer to complete which sucks, but it'll give me time to draw all the cgs I'd like to add and do some more with the writing. (There's also a bad ending I'm considering on adding... I don't really like bad endings, but I do think it's important to let the player make the choice in the particular scene I'm thinking about putting it in.)

So that's where I'm at. Hopefully no one is too bummed. (And hopefully there will be a lot of yaoi jam projects that did get done on time to distract you in the meantime. )

[SilverHyena]

So... This is embarrassing. I put Kei's name as Fei in the first post and didn't realize I'd done it until just now. This is what I get for flip flopping. Anyway, the fox guy's name is Kei. That's the one I've been using in the script and that's the one I got used to. (I edited the first post to reflect that but don't go thinking that people spelled it wrong in their comments since I legitimately had it wrong.)

Aaaaaaanyway, the script is done. That took forever, huh? This is what happens when I have a billion other things to work on that take priority.

If you're curious about stats:

- It's a little over 25,700 words (this number will change a bit while I'm editing)
- It has 6 endings which have variations based on whether or not you're romantically involved with Kei (so 12 if you include variations which you probably should since they're actually pretty significant variations)
- I did not end up including the bad ending. I just didn't feel like writing it so sorry to everyone who likes them.

So that's that. I can now focus on art.

[procutemeister]

Ooh! This looks interesting, and the art is really cute. I see you also worked on Heirs and Graces! I really enjoyed that game, so I'm excited to see this one done!

Shugo and Kei look really cute as well. With just one LI, I hope we get to see some deep characterization and a meaningful relationship between him and the MC (which is what I find to be a particular strength of single-LI games).

Good luck with the game! Can't wait to play it!

[cucumber]

Can't wait to see you release this! Believe it or not, but your sacred sands was my first ever visual novel I ever played, made me wanna make my own too so I guess that's why I've been on these forums for a few years.

[ps tell me your secret for actually finishing a project ;P]

[sicklesium]

Oh, this looks fun... I really love fox spirits, so this is right up my alley!

[SilverHyena]

Working on cgs now. Here's the first one. (Man I wish I was better at backgrounds)

On a side note, I will be redoing the sprites. When I originally drew them, they were with the old Ren'py dimensions in mind.

@procutemeister: Ah, cool! I'm glad you enjoyed Heirs and Graces. I did the writing and the chibis for that game. Essence Hunt is a more casual project than Heirs, but it should still be good. Hopefully. Hah. As for the one love interest... It was supposed to be a short game. Still, I think Shugo and Kei's relationship is fun. Hopefully you and the other players will enjoy it. Anyway, thank you!

@cucumber: Gah! That's so awesome! You don't know how great that makes me feel! (By the way, I looked up your project and, I have to say, what you've got so far looks great!) As for my secret to finishing projects... It's hard. Like, really hard. What worked for me with Sacred Sand was telling myself that I wasn't allowed to start another project until I finished that one. That managed to be enough motivation to get me through. After that... Well, I just have a rule that if I post a wip topic on the game, I have to finish it. I can take as long as I want to do it, but it has to get done eventually. Hopefully that helps a bit. That technique might only apply to me though.

@sicklesium: They're the best, aren't they? Haha. Thanks! I hope you enjoy it when I finally get it done. (Also, your game looks like it's going to be awesome. I'm not big on kinetic novels but for yours I'll make an exception. Good luck with it!)

[shadowkazaki]

It actually really interested me when I first started reading about the characters. I can't wait to see more. ^^

[SilverHyena]

Update stuff: So... Now that I've finished Mass Effect Andromeda and Persona 5 I have a life again. I have resumed working on the game. Since I redid sprites I ended up doing a brighter sort of coloring style so I'll have to redo the cg I have which is okay since I wasn't in love with it or anything. Anyway, I did finish all the sprites I need. I might make a few more here and there if I feel like it but all the important characters are now covered. Whoo! (But yes. Kei is still the only one you can romance)

Here's everyone but Shugo (you can see his updated version in the first post if you're so inclined):

@shadowkazaki: Whoo! Thank you! I'm glad my little blurbs did the trick!

[SilverHyena]

So... I'm terrible at updating you guys. I apologize for that. On the plus side...

THE GAME IS OUT!!! SURPRISE! *throws confetti*

You can check out the completed game thread here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44375
Or go straight to the itch.io page to download it right away: https://silverhyena.itch.io/essence-hunt

Anyway, enjoy.