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When a notorious serial killer's conviction is overturned, the former child detective that put him away must return to the streets to prove his guilt.

It's been ten years since Priscilla Vate took the case of--and helped lock up--the Dart Killer. Now working as a family photographer, Pri is forced to return to the fray when it seems that the notorious serial murderer may soon walk out a free man. Not only that, but it's all thanks to evidence and testimony from an unlikely source: her former partner. But Philadelphia is a very different city now, and Pri has to race against time to solve this closed case. The proof waits behind sealed lips and locked doors, but can she unlock them fast enough to keep the culprit in jail?

When the Shutter Stops is a modern-noir visual novel featuring a dramatic mystery for players to solve. Either read it as a traditional visual novel, or do your own sleuthing with the game's optional point-and-click gameplay. Both options provide a full story experience. A colorful cast of characters, high-definition assets and special effects bring the streets of Philadelphia to life. For the romantics out there, the game has an optional romance subplot between Pri and one of two potential love interests (one male and one female).


Features:

• A spunky, sassy heroine with an occasional mean streak.
• 2 optional love interests (one male, one female) with routes filled with awkwardness, dysfunction and steamy bits.
• Relationships with sub-characters, platonic or otherwise, that matter.
• Two ways to enjoy: Read the story as a visual novel, or engage in investigative gameplay.
• A glossary you build as you play, filled with clues, lore and trivia.
• Full 1080p HD assets.
• An all-original soundtrack composed by various VN industry talents.
• Secret and hidden content.
• Dynamic special effects.
• Both Steam and DRM-free itch.io releases planned.
• Physical copies of the game planned.

Characters








And a colorful supporting cast of saints, sinners, whackjobs and weirdos.

SIDE CHARACTER BANNER COMING SOON (Maybe)

Features:

Expressive Characters



Living Backgrounds



Scene Exploration and Glossary Building




Bad Ends and Romances

This is a cool and different premise for a VN, and I like the hardboiled noir atmosphere. I'm looking forward to checking out the demo when it's released!

I have some questions for you.

1. What's the inspiration for this project? What kind of influences do you have as a writer?
2. You mention examining evidence. Will there be any kind of game mechanics, or is it all narrative? How much emphasis are you going to place on the detective/mystery aspect of the story vs. other things like character development?
3. You mentioned in the topic title that there are romance options, and I know a lot of people here enjoy that. Do you want to tell us more about the love interests and what role romance plays in the story?

Hey Peri!

Perihelion wrote: 1. What's the inspiration for this project? What kind of influences do you have as a writer?

Big mix of things. What really kicked it off is my love of mysteries, but you'll see influences from these:

For VNs, I'm a huge fan of Stein's;Gate and the Ace Attorney series, so you'll see some of their influences in here.
For books, I'm also a big Sue Grafton fan (Author of A is for "Alibi", B is for "Burglary" and a bunch of similarly named mystery novels.) I also am a fan of some romance books whose titles I won't embarrass myself with.
Films, classic noir and old mystery films(particularly The Maltese Falcon) are my jam and you'll likely see Priscilla making an occasional reference to them.

Perihelion wrote: 2. You mention examining evidence. Will there be any kind of game mechanics, or is it all narrative? How much emphasis are you going to place on the detective/mystery aspect of the story vs. other things like character development?

We're planning on having two ways to enjoy it.

The first way is Detective Mode, which allows players to engage with backgrounds and search for clues and interrogate characters at set points in the story. This mode will allow players to explore the world and characters in depth and at their own pace, and will offer more info about the city and the characters than the other mode.

The second way is Story Mode, which allows readers to follow along with the story, allowing Priscilla herself to make decisions on how to pursue investigations and interrogations while still make narrative decisions in the story like other visual novels.

Both modes will build in the in-game glossary as you read, and both modes have access to all of the different endings.

Perihelion wrote: 3. You mentioned in the topic title that there are romance options, and I know a lot of people here enjoy that. Do you want to tell us more about the love interests and what role romance plays in the story?

For now there are three options. The antagonistic senior detective Bennett, Priscilla's troublesome friend Madison, and neither. Romance isn't the core of When The Shutter Stops, but it's available and steamy. The relationships, romantic and otherwise, will influence outcomes and set you down different paths to the truth.


Hopefully that answers your questions. Let me know if you have any more!

Aha, I've been wondering about your avatar. ^_^ That mystery is solved.

If it's been 10 years since Pri acted as a detective, and she was a kid then, how old is she now?

Also, "Pri Vate." Good job...I think.

Zelan wrote:Aha, I've been wondering about your avatar. ^_^ That mystery is solved.

I see what you did there.

Zelan wrote: If it's been 10 years since Pri acted as a detective, and she was a kid then, how old is she now?

She refuses comment on her age in the script, both as a child and as an adult, but she's written to be somewhere in her late teens-early twenties.

She's a shrimp as a kid, and still pretty puny as an adult.

Zelan wrote:Also, "Pri Vate." Good job...I think.

Hehe, 'a former child detective'. :)
This looks really neat!

The entire premise sounds super interesting and I wish you the best of luck.

NaiDriftlin wrote:I also am a fan of some romance books whose titles I won't embarrass myself with.

That being said, I couldn't let you simply walk away from making such a statement like that. As a romance author, I know there's this huge social stigma to "admitting" that you like romance novels, as though liking love stories made you any less of a reader of thrillers or mysteries. It doesn't. There's nothing wrong with saying you like romance books.

Be proud, girl!

LeonDaydreamer wrote:Hehe, 'a former child detective'.
This looks really neat!

Thanks!

We hope to have a demo available in the next month or two.

Added partner and romantic interest Madison's Sprite.
Sketches of Samuel to come.
Mid-read screens coming soon.

Added questions to the original post.

Questions:

Based on what you've seen here, what would you expect to see in When the Shutter Stops? What are your first impressions?

Does this visual novel look like or remind you of other visual novels? If so, which?

More questions to come.

Added a screenshot of one of our CGs and added two more questions.




New Questions:

What do you think of the young version of Priscilla? (In Screenshots)

Do the quotes on the cards tell you anything about the characters and their relationships? (More coming soon.)

1. Will When the Shutter Stops be a commercial product?

2. After a few moments of reading the premise, I thought, "This story seems to ask 'What if Penny from Inspector Gadget had to deal with serious problems, and then grew up?"

NaiDriftlin wrote:Based on what you've seen here, what would you expect to see in When the Shutter Stops? What are your first impressions?

Sounds like a story in which the protagonist investigates a crime, and does not use violence to deal with it. I expect that the story will be mostly a drama, though it could have some moments of levity.

NaiDriftlin wrote:Does this visual novel look like or remind you of other visual novels? If so, which?

I've been thinking what the art reminds me of. Right now, I'm stumped... it doesn't resemble any illustration or comic that I can recall. Therefore, let your distinct art style be something that sets your visual novel apart. Make it a point of difference.

NaiDriftlin wrote:The first way is Detective Mode, which allows players to engage with backgrounds and search for clues and interrogate characters at set points in the story... The second way is Story Mode, which allows readers to follow along with the story...

If you're releasing this as an indie visual novel, then optional gameplay might be something to include. If a person wants a challenge (logic deduction? find the object? interactive fiction elements?), then it's available for them. If they're more interested in a story, then they can focus on it.

NaiDriftlin wrote:Romance isn't the core of When The Shutter Stops, but it's available and steamy. The relationships, romantic and otherwise, will influence outcomes and set you down different paths to the truth.

I'm glad to hear that the protagonist's relationships will make a difference in the story. Since this is a crime story, she will benefit from friends and allies, and have to deal with people who are uncooperative or antagonistic.

Wow, thanks for all the feedback!

gekiganwing wrote:1. Will When the Shutter Stops be a commercial product?

Yes, it is! We'd like to continue making more visual novels after this one, and going commercial is the best way to make sure that happens.

gekiganwing wrote:2. After a few moments of reading the premise, I thought, "This story seems to ask 'What if Penny from Inspector Gadget had to deal with serious problems, and then grew up?"

Oh, great! That's pretty close to what we're aiming for. Instead of 'Uncle Gadget' there's 'Mr. Landlord', and instead of a world full of colorful and dastardly deeds of a faceless villan and his cat, it's a city that doesn't care with people who aren't your friends. We were thinking 'What if a child detective were hardboiled' and then 'What if that kid grew up?' I'm glad it's getting most of the message across.

gekiganwing wrote:

NaiDriftlin wrote:Based on what you've seen here, what would you expect to see in When the Shutter Stops? What are your first impressions?

Sounds like a story in which the protagonist investigates a crime, and does not use violence to deal with it. I expect that the story will be mostly a drama, though it could have some moments of levity.

Great! It is mostly dramatic, but there's comic relief and some slice-of-Philadelphia-life that should be a different experience for our readers, while ideally still being entertaining.

There are some scenarios which you can get into that Priscilla isn't the nicest girl around. We hope that the demo will shed some light on the types of people Priscilla can be lead to be through the decisions you make and relationships you build in the story. Ultimately, she has a concrete personality of her own, but one of the tragedies of life we'd like to discuss is that time and experiences change people, in sometimes unexpected ways. I'm probably going to see if I can get our artist to draft up one of her more action-oriented CGs we have planned so that we can show people she isn't just about setting traps and Scooby-Dooing masks off people.

gekiganwing wrote:

NaiDriftlin wrote:Does this visual novel look like or remind you of other visual novels? If so, which?

I've been thinking what the art reminds me of. Right now, I'm stumped... it doesn't resemble any illustration or comic that I can recall. Therefore, let your distinct art style be something that sets your visual novel apart. Make it a point of difference.

Will do! o7

gekiganwing wrote:

NaiDriftlin wrote:The first way is Detective Mode, which allows players to engage with backgrounds and search for clues and interrogate characters at set points in the story... The second way is Story Mode, which allows readers to follow along with the story...

If you're releasing this as an indie visual novel, then optional gameplay might be something to include. If a person wants a challenge (logic deduction? find the object? interactive fiction elements?), then it's available for them. If they're more interested in a story, then they can focus on it.

We'd hope that Detective mode gives our readers that option for light game play and independent deduction. Being able to steer character interrogations and scene investigations, in addition to making choices throughout the story through a standard choice system will ideally provide users with that deductive/logical challenge.

Story mode would just let players bypass the obstacles and gameplay elements so they can read it as the visual novel we're intending it to be.

gekiganwing wrote:

NaiDriftlin wrote:Romance isn't the core of When The Shutter Stops, but it's available and steamy. The relationships, romantic and otherwise, will influence outcomes and set you down different paths to the truth.

I'm glad to hear that the protagonist's relationships will make a difference in the story. Since this is a crime story, she will benefit from friends and allies, and have to deal with people who are uncooperative or antagonistic.

Thanks! I personally enjoy games and stories where relationships are meaningfully designed, and I'm a huuuuge romance nerd, so I hope to be able to provide some of that in our VN.


Thanks for the responses, gekiganwing!

Updated with new questions, added a feature section, and added Sam's sketch!

Wow. This looks incredible. Just incredible.

Hazel wrote:Wow. This looks incredible. Just incredible.

Thank you very much!

We should have an update later today about our music director. He's worked on a pretty big project in the past, and man, his stuff is so good.