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Arha lives a simple life as a shrine maiden at a long-forgotten temple, finding joy in her worship, tending her small garden and occasional trips to the nearby village.

Then, one day, the sun does not rise…

It soon becomes apparent, though, that the now-erratic sun is the least of their problems. The wells and rivers are drying up and crops wither in the fields.

The villagers demand answers, but the gods, as ever, are silent. After a night of desperate prayer, Arha awakes – and she is not alone.

Three young men have appeared in the temple, finely dressed and impossibly beautiful, and, what is more, they claim to be gods. Powerless and confused, the four decide to travel to the First Temple to try to restore the balance of Heaven, before it is too late.

Accompany three fallen deities on a journey across a dying world, where hope is all man has left.

Download the demo here: https://blackcrosstaylor.itch.io/heavens-grave
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Cast

Arha (name can be changed)

A foundling raised by the temple monks, she is generally kind, understanding and utterly devoted to her gods, though conversation options can allow for more rational, emotional or insolent personality traits.

The Gods

Three of the seven Nakami, comprising of Tai, the strict, commanding Sun God, Suiza, the tempestuous, passionate God of Water and Kien, the gentle timid God of Nature.
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Writing and coding: Blackcross & Taylor
Background artists: G2kicks
CG artists: ayachin and exitmothership
Sprite artist: Estherfunworld

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Hello everyone,

Thanks for reading. I've been working on this project for about a month now and decided it was time to put it out there.

So far, chapters 1 and 2 are finished coming in at about 15,000 words (of an estimated 80,000 word count, so there's still plenty to go). Also, I've got these amazing sprites courtesy of the talented Esther Funworld, but I'm still looking for a background artist if anyone knows of one whose style would go well with the sprites.

And that's it so far. I'll keep posting updates on progress, but if anyone would like to offer feedback so far, I'd love to hear what people think of the concept or apocalyptic games in general.

Thanks again for reading

-Blackcross & Taylor

Oooh, this game looks very promising! I love fantasy romance. Heaven knows there's no enough of them, especially interesting heroine.
The plot sounds nice and characters are very beautiful!

Good luck!!

Same as what Mashiro-chi said - I love fantasy romance, and I'm generally a fan of GxB, too. Your story seems pretty exciting!

At 15,000 words, you might be able to put together a demo using free resources for the backgrounds. That way, people can get a better idea of your story besides just reading the description.

Are there any more details on the personalities of the gods? Two words for each of them only gives us a rough idea of what the three of them are like.

Hello all,

Right, well that is chapter 3 finished bringing the word count up to about 24,000 (we’re getting there!) ready for my first round of play testing/proofing next weekend.

Mashiro-chi – Ah, I’m glad you like the sound of it. I was wondering whether people might not find the whole thing a bit of a downer.

Zelan– Hmm, you make some good points about the demo. I had never really considered it before, as I just figured people would not want to bother if it was not the finished backgrounds and with no CGs. A friend of my sketched all the backgrounds in use so far to help my play testers –I suppose I could smarten those up a bit and get a demo out.

Thanks for the feedback, both of you.

And we have a little progress to report (yay!). I've been working on the script -chapter 3 has been tweaked and chapter 4 finished, so the word count is now just over 37,000.

In other news, I've finally secured a background artist - thank you, Drew- and I've also got the amazing Exitmothership (please check out his deviant art page - his work is just lovely) providing the more environment-based CGS. He's finished a couple already, but they are spoiler-tastic, so I can't really post them.

But, his next one will be the title screen, so I'm looking forward to showing that to you all soon.

Thanks for reading

Blackcross

blackcross12 wrote:And we have a little progress to report (yay!). I've been working on the script -chapter 3 has been tweaked and chapter 4 finished, so the word count is now just over 37,000.

In other news, I've finally secured a background artist - thank you, Drew- and I've also got the amazing Exitmothership (please check out his deviant art page - his work is just lovely) providing the more environment-based CGS. He's finished a couple already, but they are spoiler-tastic, so I can't really post them.

But, his next one will be the title screen, so I'm looking forward to showing that to you all soon.

Thanks for reading

Blackcross

Oooh, a progress report! ^_^ I can't wait to see the title screen, and congrats on 37,000 words!

Hello all

Okay, we’ve got a bit more progress to report. Chapter 5 is finished and word count is up to just over £52,000 words –I’ll be sending it off to be playtested later today.

Plus I’ve been sent what will become the title screen by exitmothership.

And that’s it really – just a quick update this time. I’m going to be slowing the writing on Heaven’s Grave for a couple of months while I write a short game as a gift for a friend, but work will still continue in the background -mostly on the art assets and testing. ^_^

Well, as ever, thanks for reading.

Blackcross

Hello all

Just a quick update. Exitmothership has been hard at work on the CGs, and I happy to say I’ve got another one here to share.

Thanks for reading.

Blackcross

Wow, that's gorgeous. Props to Exitmothership!

Hello all

Not a great deal of progress to report – my time’s been focused on other projects, namely ‘Best Friends Forever’ and ‘The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’ – but the art is slowly progressing, and I’ve got a few more environmental CGs to show, as provided by the talented exitmothership.

Thanks for reading

Blackcross

Hello all

It's been a while since I've posted anything on here, but since 'Devil and the Deep Blue Sea' is nearing completion, I figured it was time to recommence work on the project.

In the time between postings, we have acquired a background artist, whose lovely work can be seen in the screenshots below, and ayachin has joined as the CG artist along with her work on 'Best Friends Forever'.

We're about three backgrounds and four CGs away from a completed demo, so I'm hoping to get one released in late November / early December.

Thanks for reading

Blackcross

Oh, I like the backgrounds! It seems this is coming along nicely, I'll look forward to it!

@Mikomi
Thanks. Progress has been going well, so I am hoping the demo will be released sooner rather than later.

Until then, I've got another screenshot to share, plus a couple of CG sketches.

Many thanks for reading

Blackcross

Hello all

Progress is going very well on the project - the four CGs featured in the demo are now complete, so the release is just two backgrounds away.

Until then, I've got a couple more screenshots to share

Many thanks for reading

Blackcross

Hello all

Well, that is almost all the backgrounds needed for the demo finished (I'm just waiting on 2 variations), so with a bit of polish, the demo will be ready to launch next Friday (17th).

I think it should last about 35mins playtime, depending on reading speed.

Until then, I've got a couple more screenshots for share.

Thanks for reading

Blackcross