Hello all!
I decided to join in on SuNoFes to get some practice writing before I delve into other projects. With the jam reaching its halfway point, I feel I should probably start a post here to show off the progress.
The Bellow of Brittle Stars is a deepsea/deepspace adventure about a team of grad students sent on a field study to a very unique excavation site: a large fossilized whale floating out in space. Several teams of researchers have come and gone, digging tunnels and taking samples back to the planet for further study, as well as studying the rock formation, skeletal structure, and strangely active ecosystem of wildlife that has come to exist on this carcass. Fish, crustaceans, jellyfish, and other beings that resemble sea creatures have been scavenging material from this corpse just like the humans have, but it's unclear what they're looking for. The team that our story follows is small, going with limited equipment basically just for the experience of it as they collect a few samples and take notes on what they see. They've been given only one important directive: a large deposit of a particularly interesting mineral was detected deeper into a cave farther towards the skull of upper torso of the whale, and there are a few drills and other tools left on the site to go retrieve it.
The story is a kinetic novel told in a series of chapters, switching perspectives to the five different members of the team. The visuals are all pixel backgrounds, except for a few CGs. The plan is for the story to be about 90k words.
Characters
Marri Lang - Biologist - A kind of neurotic, but mostly serious, girl. Her main goal is to take notes on the various types of fish and other sea creatures that are crawling and swimming all over this behemoth, as well as investigating the whale itself. She's very confident around other people, good at being charismatic and fun, but is also worried about the safety and security of the team, especially when she's not there to keep an eye on them. She's also very good at reading people.
Dmitri Thomson - Geologist - A talkative jokester in the company of other people, always ready to debate and argue with a smile on his face. Gets very excited about geology, especially about examining the rock material that has strangely formed on a giant whale skeleton. In private, however, he enjoys being away from the stress of other people, and shows himself to be very sensitive and innocent in certain situations.
Susie Roselli - Archaeologist/Anthropologist - Impatient and antsy. Not always such a big fan of bureaucracy and proper procedure, and more interested in figuring things out on her own. She started getting interested in studying the inanimate remains of creatures and civilizations because of her skill at deducing things from small clues. Also a fan of just adventure and exploration, ready to immediately run off and find something cool.
Vernon "Vern" Shaw - Equipment Engineer - A confidant and organized guy who is in charge of making sure all the tools and the suits and everything run smoothly. It's easy to irritate him, but for the most part he's open-minded about things. Spends a lot of time keeping track of things in his mind, but when a moment of action is needed he is ready to act without too much thought.
Theresa "Terry" Gardner - Ship Engineer - A quiet girl that comes off as standoffish, but mostly because she's awkward. She acts determined in the face of danger, does things independantly without always communicating, and is ready to share a personal story if she finds it appropriate. Takes the team on her family's ship, which she's received permission to use without a proper crew because of the simplicity of the mission.
Check out the team!
Artist - @mentalpoppixels
Writer - @TellerFarsight (That's me! Follow me for updates and details on the project.)
Progress
Writing 6/28 (outlined fully)
Backgrounds 1/30 (right now there are 30 planned but that might change)
CGs 0/5
GUI 0%
Music 100%
Programming 0% (Not planning anything fancy, so this won't take long)
Voice Acting 0% (Might do if we hit the Kickstarter stretch goal)
I decided to join in on SuNoFes to get some practice writing before I delve into other projects. With the jam reaching its halfway point, I feel I should probably start a post here to show off the progress.
The story is a kinetic novel told in a series of chapters, switching perspectives to the five different members of the team. The visuals are all pixel backgrounds, except for a few CGs. The plan is for the story to be about 90k words.
Characters
Marri Lang - Biologist - A kind of neurotic, but mostly serious, girl. Her main goal is to take notes on the various types of fish and other sea creatures that are crawling and swimming all over this behemoth, as well as investigating the whale itself. She's very confident around other people, good at being charismatic and fun, but is also worried about the safety and security of the team, especially when she's not there to keep an eye on them. She's also very good at reading people.
Dmitri Thomson - Geologist - A talkative jokester in the company of other people, always ready to debate and argue with a smile on his face. Gets very excited about geology, especially about examining the rock material that has strangely formed on a giant whale skeleton. In private, however, he enjoys being away from the stress of other people, and shows himself to be very sensitive and innocent in certain situations.
Susie Roselli - Archaeologist/Anthropologist - Impatient and antsy. Not always such a big fan of bureaucracy and proper procedure, and more interested in figuring things out on her own. She started getting interested in studying the inanimate remains of creatures and civilizations because of her skill at deducing things from small clues. Also a fan of just adventure and exploration, ready to immediately run off and find something cool.
Vernon "Vern" Shaw - Equipment Engineer - A confidant and organized guy who is in charge of making sure all the tools and the suits and everything run smoothly. It's easy to irritate him, but for the most part he's open-minded about things. Spends a lot of time keeping track of things in his mind, but when a moment of action is needed he is ready to act without too much thought.
Theresa "Terry" Gardner - Ship Engineer - A quiet girl that comes off as standoffish, but mostly because she's awkward. She acts determined in the face of danger, does things independantly without always communicating, and is ready to share a personal story if she finds it appropriate. Takes the team on her family's ship, which she's received permission to use without a proper crew because of the simplicity of the mission.
Check out the team!
Artist - @mentalpoppixels
Writer - @TellerFarsight (That's me! Follow me for updates and details on the project.)
Progress
Writing 6/28 (outlined fully)
Backgrounds 1/30 (right now there are 30 planned but that might change)
CGs 0/5
GUI 0%
Music 100%
Programming 0% (Not planning anything fancy, so this won't take long)
Voice Acting 0% (Might do if we hit the Kickstarter stretch goal)
