CONNECT WITH US ^_^ !
- Website: https://www.thefarrings.com/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFarRings
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefarrings/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefarrings/
- Tumblr: https://thefarrings.tumblr.com/
INDEX
- Story
- Demo
- Features
- Characters
- Setting
- Overview
- Progress
- Questions For You
STORY
GENRES: sci-fi || space opera || drama || mystery || light romance || GxB || GxNB (non-binary) || short
"You are Doctor Athena, a passionate young woman and the sole survivor of a terrible, mysterious incident.Three days remain on the trip 'home'—with only the ship's unsettlingly polite captain and a cryptic alien war criminal for company. But is everything really as it seems? Uncover their secrets as Athena decides where she truly belongs."
SCREENSHOTS:
DEMO
This game was originally imagined and created within 48 HOURS for the Global Game Jam 2019 for the theme ‘What does home mean to you?’ Our team of four met for the first time at the jam, and we did the writing, art, and programming for it from scratch! The music was made by musicians at the jam too! Our demo is the product of those first 48 hours. We were really proud of what we managed in that time, and we’ve been working on completing the game since then.
[PLAY our Demo HERE]
FEATURES
• 25k+ word script. (Probably up to 30k)
• Light, slow-burn romance.
• Two potential suitors: GxB or GxNB (Non-Binary)
• At least 7 endings, including 2-3 good endings.
• Point-and-click game elements to interact with scenery.
• All-original art, music, sound, and voice-over assets.
• 2 (or more) fully illustrated CG scenes.
• (Hoping for) Steam Release Version!
SETTING
Ogygia
Ogygia (oh-JIH-jee-ah) is a planet known for the beautiful blue-purple colors of the rings. Ogygians are a non-binary race with a strong sense of fellowship. They live on the Near and Far Rings of the planet, rather than its surface. The Far Rings have recently been victims of Aeaea's invasion.
Aeaea
The Aeaean Empire (ae-EE-en) is a powerful, totalitarian monolith that has become increasingly aggressive and militaristic in recent years. Their latest target has been the Far Rings of the planet Ogygia.
CHARACTERS
Doctor Athena
Born and raised in the Aeaean Empire with an Ogygian ‘mother’ and Aeaean father. She is passionate and hot-tempered, but she also has a strong sense of justice and a natural compulsion to help and protect others. Athena was a doctor volunteering to a humanitarian organization to aid Ogygian refugees on the Far Rings for the past two years of the war. However, a recent incident has forced her to leave quite abruptly...
Voice-overs provided by: Rochelle J Chiang
Captain Odysseus
The young Aeaean military captain of the small warship Ithaca. He is a well-respected, model soldier, following orders and protocol to the letter. As a professional, he is polite but cool-mannered. But beneath the surface, Captain Odysseus hides a few secrets.
Voice-overs provided by: Reece Bridger
Chiron
An Ogygian war prisoner, though they don’t look terribly warrior-like. Chiron confessed to causing the incident that brought Athena to leave Ogygia. However, Athena can't help but suspect that there is more to their story. Chiron appears cool, smug, and tight-lipped, and is above all disdainful of Aeaeans.
Voice-overs provided by: Robyn McConnell
OVERVIEW
Hello everyone! About 1 month has passed since our team created and released the original demo of The Far Rings in 48 hours for the Global Game Jam. We had scoped the project to be quite small, being for a game jam, but we had only managed to complete the first third of the game's written-in-one-day 12k script, so we set a deadline for the end of February to release the full game!
Well, it's March, and we got a lot done but as we worked, we kept wanting to add 'little things' here and there... and the script doubled in length to over 24k O_O . But we're so close to having a minimum full product! So here's the new plan. We want to release the first version of the complete, ‘originally planned’ game to itch.io within the next couple weeks. We’re calling it ‘Original Version’ for now.
Then, we had a lot of other ideas as we continued working, and we were offered voice-over volunteers from a voice actor online interested in our project! We decided to stick all the ‘extras’ we had in mind at the end of the priority list for a special Bonus version, and we'd like to try to release that final version onto Steam! We’re calling that the ‘True End FINAL Version’, since one of the biggest ‘extras’ is a new, ‘true-end-like’ branch.
Being a small project, we don't want to drag it out too much, so including all the bells and whistles we don't expect it to take longer than... two more months for the True End Final Version? And the next few weeks for the Original Version !
We appreciate any help, interest, and especially LOVE to hear any thoughts or comments!
PROGRESS
Showing progress for both the planned 'original' and 'true end' versions:
- Character Sprites: 100% (original) / 98% (true)
- Environment Art: 100% (original) / 100% (true)
- CGs/Illustrations: 80% (original) / 60% (true)
- Writing: 100% (original) / 80% (true)
- Programming: 98% (original) / 85?? (true)
- Music: 100% (original) / 90%? (true)
- SFX: 100% (original) / 100%? (true)
- Voice-Overs: N/A (original) / 60% (true)
QUESTIONS FOR YOU
Please don't feel like you have to answer EVERY question here! Just answer any that you may have any relevant thoughts for! If you're not sure about them, you can just comment freely too, we really love to hear any thoughts or feedback, we promise! Thanks so much!
? ABOUT THE STORY ?
- Does the overall story seem to make sense? Does it seem interesting, and if so (or not) how or why? What are you curious about? What if anything turns you off?
- What character(s) do you find the most interesting and uninteresting? Do the two 'suitor' characters seem intriguing or likable to you as a reader? Why or why not?
- Does the story being 'light romance' count as a plus or minus to you? The story is has some world-building/political drama backstory and more serious, dramatic plot elements, and we didn't want the relationship-building to feel too contrived, so we aimed for more realistic and subtle budding romance. Does that seem too ambiguous, or is it more a nice change or pace, or other?
- How much does art matter to you for appeal of a VN, especially comparing 'quantity' and 'quality'? How do the 'little extras' like fancy GUI, more or less poses for sprites, amount of CG scenes, etc. effect whether you choose to play or like a game?
- How does our website and social media attempts look? Any tips or advice to get seen more?
- General feedback on your impressions of the game so far!
THANK YOU so much for reading! We really, really love to hear any comments or feedback on any part of our project, and we're working fast and hard on finishing it ASAP! Please follow our project and share around too if you have any friends you think would be interested in a game like ours ^_^ ! Have a great day!!
The Far Rings Team