A Hand in the Darkness [BxB][school, romance][+18] DEMO

[Ertal77]

Now that the game is almost finished, just waiting for the last touches, and going through a Kickstarter campaign in order to pay for additional help, I'm moving my vn here so it's more visible. Also, the story has +18 scenes, very graphic and detailed, but the CGs are suggestive as much, so everyone who wishes to play it can just skip forward the text if that kind of content makes them feel uncomfortable.



Welcome to A Hand in the Darkness, where we will follow Alex in his new life at a British boarding school in the early 20th century! There, he will meet some friends and will have to face an unexpected danger. Will he leave St. Michaels successfully and having found his true love, or will he finish the academic year with a broken heart... or still worse? It's up to you!

Well, this is my first vn ever, and it shows, I know... This is why my Kickstarter is modest, since I didn't want to start with something big. The story is quite long, around 15 hours of gameplay, with three routes and six endings.
Here you have the gameplay of the first ten minutes of the game in alpha (the link is for the English version, but there's also a Spanish version uploaded): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0eKjoI ... y3Ca&t=10s

Some of the errors have been fixed since I recorded the video (the characters don't "jump" anymore when changing expressions, the text has been proof-read by an English speaker, more music added) and some are on their way (customised textbox), and I really hope A Hand in the Darkness will be an enjoyable experience for the players once the Kickstarter ends and it can be released in itch.io with some polishing

This is our Kickstarter link... Please take a further look and spread the word if you like it!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10 ... oi-bl-vis/

[procutemeister]

This looks great! I'm loving the art and the love interests look cute too. Can't wait for it to be finished!

[CosmicFan]

The game looks lovely. I'm eager for the release.

[Ertal77]

I was so invested in the Kickstarter, and now in the translation and following the artists' advances, that I forgot to update here! I'm really sorry!

Well, the visual novel passed successfully its Kickstarter, and now new backgrounds and CGs are arriving, plus some extra art as the faces of some side characters for the dialogue box and cute chibis of the main characters for the rewards

Since some people asked as a stretch goal to put A Hand in the Darkness in Steam Greenlight, on it goes!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =837377039

Please consider voting for us if you like this kind of visual novels!

[Ertal77]

Oh, and now you can play the first hour of the vn, in English or Spanish!

Downloadable at itch.io: https://ertal-games.itch.io/a-hand-in-the-darkness

[CosmicFan]

Gave it a Yes on Steam. Hope you make it.

[Kitty]

Hey ! I played the demo earlier and you got my vote on Steam Greenlight! I am looking forward to read the whole story and it seems promising.

Here's a few things that made me like it:
♡ The protagonist. I thought he was cute and bright and I liked his design the best. I was happy that we got to play as him.
♡ The friendship formed between the four main character as they got to know eachother - I really liked the prank!
♡ The school uniforms.
♡ The whole ''All-Boys Religious British Boarding School'' aspect of the game.

Here's a few things that would benefit to be worked on:
♡ The few typos. (If you need a beta reader, I am pretty sure there's a lot on this site - If not, I'd be happy to help.)
♡ The rough dialog box.
♡ The font.

[Ertal77]

Thank you both!

As for the dialog box, it will be changed; I already have a person who is willing to help me with it

The text have gone through a beta reader, but more people has called my attention on some typos, so it seems I have overlooked some mistakes. I'll check the whole text again before the release! Thank you for telling me! I can answer for the Spanish text, since my day job is teaching Spanish language and literature, but I don't feel a hundred percent sure with English.

And... should I change the font? I can look into it, why not?

XD I'm happy you liked the prank scene, other reviewers felt a bit annoyed because of that scene, but I refused to delete it since I really enjoyed it. About the friendship...yes! The topics of the story are love, mystery and friendship. No matter what route, the four of them will be true friends, and there are many of scenes showing that. I hope people don't find that too saccharine, but I tried to be realistic, so what are you supposed to do at a boarding school? Cramming like crazy and bonding with friends!

[glithch]

AAh seems so cute! Im not usually into manga style but this one is very nice! Seems different from your usual vn style!

[- Eris]

I already played the demo and I'm really excited to play the full game!!
The prank scene really scared me, I was waiting for the ghost to appear and give me a heart attack hahaha
What else? Oh yeah I kind of have a few ideas to why the name of the game is 'A Hand In The Darkness' now that I've already played the demo but I might be wrong so I'll wait for the full release to tell you and confirm (or not) if I was right hahahah
Keep up the good work!!!

[Ertal77]

Thank you for your kind words, glithch and -Eris!

I'm rather nervous these days because I'm behind with the Spanish translation, the CGs are also being a bit delayed and I don't have the time or the energy to promote the Steam Greenlight campaign... But everything will be done with time, I guess *sigh*

I'm considering making the changes in the dialogue box and the other little bits that need improvement, and release the game in English first, so it won't be still more delayed.

[Konoi]

Aw, you're having trouble with the spanish version?
Do you need help with that? I speak spanish, so I can help if you want.

[Ertal77]

Aaaw, thank you, Konoi! No, no need, I'm Spanish myself and a certified translator. The problem is more finding the time to do it, juggling with my job and the visual novel stuff!

[Konoi]

Aw, yeah, that's hard... I hope you'll manage to do it!

[Ertal77]

Sure, thank you! ^_^