The project will be voluntary work, but that's mostly because my friend and I have absolutely no idea how to go about monetizing a visual novel, and neither of us have a stable source of income. Should you be interested in helping us market and monetize this project, we have a position open for that as well! If we're able, then we'll do our best to compensate everyone who decides to work with us.
About Gilded: The Pyrite Crown
Gilded first started off as a roleplay between a few writers. After we finished with the plot, I got the idea to develop a visual novel after my friend lamented not being able to pursue all her character's romantic interests. And so, here it is: a modern royalty visual novel with twists and turns and tragic backstories!
The Plot
The kingdom of Aequis is a prosperous country, led by the royal house of Schulz, and three leading noble families: Alderidge, Bonavich, and Hearst. Unfortunately, the head of the Hearst house, Aslan Hearst, has recently suffered memory loss after going through a tragic accident, the details of which aren't made known to the public.
At least, that's what it looks on the outside — in reality, Aslan Hearst has been replaced by a common thief named Dawn, who just so happens to look exactly like him. In a typical Prince and the Pauper set up, Dawn must adjust to the life of a nobleman, all the while trying to survive the sudden development of rebel attacks and assassination attempts within the kingdom. Not only that, but Dawn must also struggle with his new relationships and family — as well as what it means to be an impostor in love.
The game may include depictions of blood, violence, murder, assassinations, and implied sexual content. Further trigger warnings may be added as we go along.
Main Characters
- Dawn (25) — A notorious thief turned noble overnight. The main character of the story.
- Aslan Hearst (25) — The genius prodigy of Aequis. Despite his intellect, however, many have claimed he lacks empathy and human emotion, much like a robot.
- Lucien Alderidge (25) — The head of the Alderidge house, and more commonly known as Aslan's rival. Dawn is shocked to find out that apparently, Lucien and Aslan were dating...?
- Jasper Pruitt (28) — Dawn's childhood best friend (?), and personal knight to Lucien. He and Dawn shared a very complicated relationship with no labels. Imagine Jasper's surprise when he sees his thief of a best friend suddenly become the head of the Hearst family.
- Aidan Loughrey (26) — The advisor of the Hearst family, and the reason Dawn was dragged into this whole mess. Dawn finds him incredibly annoying.
- Castian Schulz (23) — The crown prince of Aequis. Apparently close to Aslan, but avoids Dawn at all costs. Very mysterious, but underneath that princely exterior is something much, much more.
- Elliot Caldwell / Bonavich (21) — The long lost son of the Bonavich clan. If we're able to write it, his route will be unlocked after completing the first four.
So far, we have 17k words written. 12k of it is for the draft of the common route, but we're slowly making edits as we go along, both to the story and the writing. We have the general plot in mind, but it could use a lot of polishing and editing, since this is going to turn out as a fairly large project, and we want the story to be as engaging as possible. We've also designed some aspects of the characters, as well as the side characters, but we could use some refining on that as well. Basically we've just barely started, so we would appreciate people that can help us flesh out our ideas more!
Open Positions
- Project Lead (TAKEN).
- Editor (TAKEN).
- Sprite / CG Artist (TAKEN).
- Background Artist (OPEN). Self explanatory. Since this is a modern royalty setting, backgrounds will include modern settings such as hospital rooms and car interiors such, but will also include European style palace / mansion settings. Since this is a heavy project and might require a lot of backgrounds, we're also open to using free assets, but of course, we would prefer our own bg artist. This isn't a priority for now, because we're looking for a way to get monetized so we can hire quality bg artists! But if you're interested anyway, feel free to DM me!
- GUI Artist (OPEN). Self explanatory. Our idea for the in game graphics is kind of vague, so we'd definitely appreciate some suggestions and designs!
- Programmer / Coder (TAKEN).
- Composer (TAKEN).
- Marketing / Social Media Manager (OPEN). Probably one of the most important, because we have no idea how to market a visual novel. We'd prefer someone that's had experience with marketing visual novels in the past, and can help us monetize it so we can pay everyone who's working with us!
If you're interested in joining this project, you can contact me through Discord ( pastiche#3853 ) or through my email ( adomnania@gmail.com ) In case you're just interested in this project and not necessarily joining it, I'm also open to showing you the script we have so far! We would love the feedback.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a lovely day / evening ahead of you!