The Letter [Horror/Drama] - OUT NOW ON STEAM!

[Yangyang Mobile]

4. I don't do Kickstarter, but I think it would do well. I also voted on Greenlight.

After only 2 days, we're sitting at top 42 in Greenlight out of 1,700+ games, and you're one of the people who made it possible! You're amazing; thank you so much for the support!! ^^

[Yangyang Mobile]

Hey blankd, sorry for the late response! Been busy these past few days that I didn't get the chance to reply ~_~

1. The mystery of how Isabella made it through college or got into Real Estate is added onto the pile since she dislikes loans but also comes from a nonworking family.
2. Shouldn't the bank be the one that would be desperate to sell it, in fact the bank would probably be trying to auction it if they could?? Who is the company selling it on behalf of? Did they buy the deed? Are they bad at research too?

The explanation for these things can be anything, such as Isabella's father could've supported the family before he got sick, or the bank and the corporation had a special negotiation and the like. Regardless, I don't think these details you're asking are very important to the story as a whole, so we're leaving it open for the readers to ponder.

I'm trying to help by offering a simple explanation or at least advising you simplify that character since you say yourself it's not important for the extra details to exist. I understand you don't have to take it, but you release more convoluted details of the character as I try to understand why the details exist in the first place.

We did consider your suggestions, and you did make a very good point, so we edited Isabella's (and Ashton's) character write-up in their image. Also, we've just released our demo (phew! >o<), and if you have time, please kindly check it out and tell me what you think!

Thanks!

[Gospel]

I noticed this project a couple of days ago, and it immediately piqued my interest, since I really love horror stories. I just downloaded the demo and voted for it on Greenlight. So far, I certainly like what I'm seeing. As for your questions...

1. Story seems intriguing enough so far, but I really can't say much about it. The premise isn't as important to me as how the story unfolds, and how everything will get resolved in the end. And that's something I'll only be able to judge after playing the full game.
2. As with the story, I'll have to wait until I've learned more about the individual characters, and seen them in action, but just from a first impression, I think I like Zachary the most.
3. I love the art style. It's beautiful and creepy. The backgrounds look great, and the animations really add to the mood and atmosphere. It's certainly pleasing to look at.
4. I'll check out your Kickstarter page later, but The Letter definitely seems like something I think would be worth supporting.
5. Can't really think of anything right now. I was a little worried about the mention of quick time events, since, depending on the implementation, they can easily ruin the experience for me instead of enhance it. However, what I've seen in the demo works well enough.

Speaking of the demo, I've run into a little issue. Whenever I switch from full screen to window mode (or vice versa), the buttons on the title screen, as well as text boxes in-game become invisible, forcing me to restart the game to see them again.
Other than that, I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary, though.

Anyway, I wish you good luck with this project. I'm certainly looking forward to the final game!

[Yangyang Mobile]

5. Can't really think of anything right now. I was a little worried about the mention of quick time events, since, depending on the implementation, they can easily ruin the experience for me instead of enhance it. However, what I've seen in the demo works well enough.

We received the same feedback from other vn users. Some don't want to do QTEs at all, so upon the game's full release, the QTEs will be optional =) We will be implementing a key that you can press to automatically win the events.

Speaking of the demo, I've run into a little issue. Whenever I switch from full screen to window mode (or vice versa), the buttons on the title screen, as well as text boxes in-game become invisible, forcing me to restart the game to see them again.

We tried doing this on our end, but can't seem to replicate it D: if you have the time, kindly message me the exact steps that you did to reproduce the bug. We'll investigate it ASAP!

Thank you so much Gospel! =) I'm truly happy you liked the demo!

[Yangyang Mobile]

Yangyang Mobile and The Letter are now on social media!

You can check out the links and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr for more updates:

The Letter's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/thelettervn
Yangyang Mobile's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/yangyangmobile
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yangyangmobile
Tumblr: yangyangmobile.tumblr.com

We also have a giveaway going on our social media accounts, to support the game's Kickstarter campaign. Check each out, to see rules and prizes.

Keep on smiling!

[FrozenApple66]

I'm a sucker for horror! And the art style is amazing. I'm going to download next weekend so I can just sit and play through it. :3

[FlyingCarParts]

Just played and finished the demo.

1. What do you think of the concept/story so far? Do you like it? Hate it? Any comments?
I like.

2. What do you think of the major characters? Do you have someone you like in particular?
Not really. They seem a little bland at the moment, but I think that's just because of the short demo gameplay.
I think I'll figure that sort of thing out when I play the finished product.

3. What do you think of the art style?
I'm picky with art style and...
I don't hate it!

4. If ever we decide to release a crowdfunding campaign for this game, will you support it?
Pledged 13 USD on Kickstarter about a couple of minutes ago. Hope that helps!

5. Any other suggestions, comments, critiques?

5a. I loooooved the nice little spooky part that happens when you start a game. Although to be very honest it didn't scare me, it just made me laugh. But I'm weird soooooo.

5b. I get that since this is a horror game, it's indirectly meant to be fullscreen. But please allow an option that will allow us to choose the resolution of the window. I play all my Visual Novels in windowed mode, and having it fullscreen bothers me. When I switch to windowed mode, it's still too big.

5c. The text in the menus looks really upscaled (like where you can see the pixels on the edges). My laptop's resolution is 1920x1080, don't know if that has anything to do with it. Seems like some of the elements in the menus look like they were made for lower resolutions than what I have. It's not like it's a huge "omg help" bug or anything but really, if this thing's gonna be fullscreen by default or have a huge window, let's not have pixelated text the yangyang logo also suffers this :b

5d. The text in the game is at a good speed, but man it's kinda choppy the way it progresses. A bit irksome.

5e. The animation in Rebecca's character sprites are too stiff for me. If it were up to me, that idea would be ditched and the animations can be just used on the horror elements and anywhere else appropriate. But maybe I'm speaking too soon.

5f. That last part was pretty freaky! Good stuff!!! The thing in the main menu didn't scare me, the lightning flash at the beginning didn't scare me. Those things felt amateur ish. But the last part was like, way scarier where it took me by surprise and I REALLY appreciated that. I don't know if it was deliberate or not but if it was it is very clever!
I'm typing this it's late at night, so I'm definitely going to have some bad dreams hahaha. I can tell this game's gonna freak me out.


This demo was worth playing and I'll be anticipating the full thing!

[Yangyang Mobile]

I'm a sucker for horror! And the art style is amazing. I'm going to download next weekend so I can just sit and play through it. :3

Thanks FrozenApple! Don't forget to let us know what you think of it!

5a. I loooooved the nice little spooky part that happens when you start a game. Although to be very honest it didn't scare me, it just made me laugh. But I'm weird soooooo.

5b. I get that since this is a horror game, it's indirectly meant to be fullscreen. But please allow an option that will allow us to choose the resolution of the window. I play all my Visual Novels in windowed mode, and having it fullscreen bothers me. When I switch to windowed mode, it's still too big.

5c. The text in the menus looks really upscaled (like where you can see the pixels on the edges). My laptop's resolution is 1920x1080, don't know if that has anything to do with it. Seems like some of the elements in the menus look like they were made for lower resolutions than what I have. It's not like it's a huge "omg help" bug or anything but really, if this thing's gonna be fullscreen by default or have a huge window, let's not have pixelated text the yangyang logo also suffers this :b

5d. The text in the game is at a good speed, but man it's kinda choppy the way it progresses. A bit irksome.

5e. The animation in Rebecca's character sprites are too stiff for me. If it were up to me, that idea would be ditched and the animations can be just used on the horror elements and anywhere else appropriate. But maybe I'm speaking too soon.

5f. That last part was pretty freaky! Good stuff!!! The thing in the main menu didn't scare me, the lightning flash at the beginning didn't scare me. Those things felt amateur ish. But the last part was like, way scarier where it took me by surprise and I REALLY appreciated that. I don't know if it was deliberate or not but if it was it is very clever!
I'm typing this it's late at night, so I'm definitely going to have some bad dreams hahaha. I can tell this game's gonna freak me out.

5a. Haha, thanks! That one is just to catch you off-guard. Some people who played the game were spooked by it, though I'm not sure if they're just being nice XD

5b. Hmm, we originally intended it to be full-scale, since it's a horror game. But thanks for this suggestion. Maybe we should cater to various resolutions after all.

5c. That's weird. Our game's resolution is 1920x1080, so it should look fine on your side. Maybe you can post here a screenshot so we can investigate?

5d. Noted! We'll see what we can do about this one!

5e. Yeah, Rebecca is too stiff in general. In our latest KS update, we revised Becca's sprite and we got good feedback saying she's less stiffer now. We're also improving on her animation, and we'll make an update about it as soon as it's ready.

5f. Awesome!! We're very happy you liked it! We'll do our best to live up to the expectation!

[FlyingCarParts]

5a. Haha, thanks! That one is just to catch you off-guard. Some people who played the game were spooked by it, though I'm not sure if they're just being nice XD

Spooky or not, I like it and I'd love for it to stay.

Maybe we should cater to various resolutions after all.

Pretty please.

5c. That's weird. Our game's resolution is 1920x1080, so it should look fine on your side. Maybe you can post here a screenshot so we can investigate?

Screens attached. As you can see, when you view the image in normal 100% zoom, you can see the pixelation on the edges of the logo and text.
Also, not sure why full disclaimer isn't shown, I captured while everything was there. Spooky. ;] Not important though.

Love the updated Rebecca sprite. I'll download the new demo as soon as I am able to.

[Hazel-Bun]

Hoping you can meet your goal!

[Yangyang Mobile]

Heya, guys! Just a friendly reminder that The Letter's Kickstarter campaign is ending in 62 hours. We're near our goal, so check it out and consider supporting it by backing or spreading the word!

You can check out and support us on our Kickstarter page!

[Yangyang Mobile]

We've hit our goal with 38 hours left on the Kickstarter!

If you haven't stayed updated with our Kickstarter campaign, you can find more about the news here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ya ... -2/updates

We really recommend checking it out, as it has news on new sprites and a new animation reel, updated rewards and more cool stuff.

What's next?

Well, we could always try going for the 40k Stretch Goal.

The stretch goal aims to include voice acting in the final game, which was a much requested feature by our reviewers and backers.

The Letter's final hours are here and we're on the edge of our seats!

[HiddenCreature]

Congratulations! It's great to see this game succeed I can't wait to play the final version.

[Kkoro]

Congratulations! Are you guys close to the 40K when taking PayPal in account?

[Yangyang Mobile]

Hello gang! ❤ For this month's update, we're very honored and proud to present, after sifting through hundreds of auditions, the official English voice actors and actresses for The Letter!

Before we do that though, we’d like to take a brief moment to discuss how casting went. We paid most attention to voice and characterization (acting), closely followed by audio/sound quality. These two were very important to us, and they played a great part in the decision making. If these factors were met in the audition, we then proceeded and added points for accent, adlibs, portfolio and other creative things that made the actor stand out compared to the rest. Of course, we also had to consider who we could realistically afford. (Note: Voice Actors for the backer characters (such as Marianne, Andrew, etc.) were handpicked by the backers themselves.)

We acknowledge that we're not experts in the voice acting field, and that's why we're very thankful to Sound Cadence Studios, especially to Amber Lee Connors, our sweet and patient casting director, for helping us in the casting process! ❤ Without her help, this wouldn't have been possible! And of course, our undying gratitude also extends to our dearest voice acting sponsor, Teófilo!

Now without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, here are the lovely, official cast of The Letter!

Amanda Lee as Isabella Santos

A Youtube vocalist and voice actress, LeeandLie has over 600k subscribers for her works with anime and video game adaptations and covers. In 2011, she won the AX IDOL award in Voice Acting and made her debut in the industry as Noh Mask Rider from Squid Girl. Fall in love and listen to AmaLee and her fantastic vocals on her Youtube page: LeeandLie. The team absolutely loves her covers for Sword Art Online, Guilty Crown and Mirai Nikki! Now, don't go falling down the stairs like our silly Isabella Santos!

Melissa Sternenberg as Rebecca Gales

An active member of the Austin voice acting and anime community, Mippa specializes in the study of Mahou Shoujo with a senior thesis on the subject! She has done work as the voices of Serena, Amy and Luna in the Sailor Stars Fandub and is currently cast as the Head Healer in A More Beautiful World. This powerhouse is our pick for the history teacher we'll all know and love, Rebecca Gales. Marvel at her versatility and talent over at her BTVA and CCC pages. Really, check it out!

Howard Wang as Ashton Frey

Who you gonna call? TehExorcist, probably. With a name like that, he must not be afraid of no ghosts just like our Detective Inspector, Ashton Frey. Creator of a few of his own Abridged series, he has also lends his voice for other parody productions including TeamFourStar's Attack on Titan: Abridged along with being a writer and editor for the series. You might also know him as Rico from Dead: Island Epidemic, Toshio Taro from Exogenesis: Perils of Rebirth and Touma Maizono from Burn Your Fat with Me! Check out some of his shenanigans over on his Twitter: TehExorcist.

Anthony Sardinha as Zachary Steele

Joining his buddy, fellow creator known for the JoJo's Bizzare Adventure Abridged series, Antfish takes the stage as our precious cinnamon roll, Zachary Steele. Another TeamFourStar member, he not only does voices but he also has credit in co-creating, co-writing and co-directing for the group. That's a lot of co's! You might have heard his voice as Dale & 8-Bit Kane from Heroes of Newerth, Scoops from Awesomenauts, Cephalon Abnar from Warframe as well as Bryce & Berg from Dead Island: Epidemic. Why not take a peek at his works over on his Youtube channel: AnthonySardinhaVO?

Amber Lee Connors as Hannah Wright

Casting director, voice talent and all around lovely person, Shudo Ranmaru is ready to dazzle and step into the high heeled shoes of Hannah Wright. She has lent her voice to characters such as Tomomi from Ladies versus Butlers and Beli from HuniePop. She'll be joining The Reject Demon: Toko as well, as Ezekiel and Devon. She also voiced (and cosplayed!) Android 18 for the Dragon Ball Z: Abridged series. Tune in to the lady behind the mic over on her Twitter: AmberLeeConnors.

Curtis Arnott as Luke Wright

Guess who it is? Ghost Na- I mean, it's Takahata101, of course! One of the co-founders of TeamFourStar, which has over 2M subscribers, he is a well known individual in the voice acting and the abridging community especially with his roles as Nappa and Cell in DBZ Abridged. The man also gives life to Ryuji Shiba from Burn Your Fat with Me! and Eiji Tadashi from Exogenesis: Perils of Rebirth. He does an excellent cosplay of Loki too and stars on Megasteakman's Psy-Pop, which we recommend you go watch! For his every day shenanigans, follow this Twitter: Takahata101! With a Villain 101 resume like that, he might as well just put on a suit and be Luke Wright.

Elsie Lovelock as Marianne McCollough

Oh, Sweet Poffin, how do we describe thee? With a hauntingly beautiful voice, this vocalist and voice actress features wonderful covers of songs, mostly of the Disney variety on her Youtube channel. She's known as the voice of Daphne from Apotheon and was a contender in Britain's Got Talent though she wasn't able to go through to the semi-finals. Don't worry, you've got talent and our love, sweetie! Why else would she be starring as our Marianne McCollough? Her cover videos are a must watch and you can check them out on her Youtube channel: SweetPoffin. Her gender-bend covers are exceptional.

Amanda Julina as Amy Lorraine

One wonders if Amy Lorraine sang for a barbershop quartet, because Amanda does! Part of Low Key in New Mexico, she’s an excellent performer with a lot of talent and heart. Maybe, with this, Marianne can make some beautiful music with her old friend Lorraine. Or maybe not. Who knows? When it comes to video games, she’s featured in DreadOut as the Sundel Bolong and in Dust: An Elysian Tail as Colleen. Go and have a look at her quartet’s Facebook page: lowkeyquartet.

Jeff Werden as Andrew Clark

Although most of his professional work has been in the realm of audiobooks and the audio novel: Atlantis: Bearer of Fruit, Jeff is not unfamiliar with videogame voice acting. He's in Fallout 4 game mods such as the Atomic Radio, don't you know? But, with his love of books and with the sound of his voice, it seems only right that he be cast as Andrew Clark, our resident professor. Judging by his Twitter over at: vojeffwerden, it looks like we can look forward to his Reader's Guide for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child too! We just love Harry Potter.

Steven Kelly as Johannes Schröcken

Voice actor and music composer, Sarifus won Bioware's Take Your Place in the Inquisition and voiced Lord Pel Harmond in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Now, that's something you can't say everyday! He's also featured as Saren from Loren the Amazon Princess and Mayor Bram in Dust: An Elysian Tale. And, when he once voiced a Luke from Castle Dracula, he will now be serving the Luke Wright as his right hand man, Johannes Schröcken. Keep track of this one over on his Twitter: Sarifus. And go listen to his reading of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. Like, right now.

Natalie van Sistine as Rose Cooper

Creator, producer, writer, sound designer and the voice of Kate in the indie audio drama, The Elysium Project, NvanSistine is a real jack of all trades. Outside of her own projects, she's done work as Anna Kelso from Deus Ex: The Fall and Poison Circe from Heroes of Newerth. She'll also be in A More Beautiful World as Elena. Now, she's the never before seen Rose Cooper, Isabella's former mentor and fellow estate agent. If you'd like to hear more of her, why not check out The Elysium Project on her Youtube channel: dragonknighttara?

Additional Notes: The role of Rose Cooper was not in The Letter's open audition. We didn't really expect Rose to have a bigger role in the game, much less someone needing her own voice actress. But after hearing Natalie's audition for another character, we just had to get her as a cast!

Jason Marnocha as Norman, G & Lee

Last but hardly the least, this Lord Jazor is an impressive one! First off, we really suggest that you check out his Youtube channel: LordJazor because his impressions are just gold. He does impressions of Batman's Rogues and has read the infamous Harry Potter fanfiction, My Immortal. You really must go and watch those! He's also done voicework in several fanfilms of... you guessed it, DC shorts! From the Joker to Deathstroke, he can do it all, but our lead writer favours his Riddler and Scarecrow recording the most. The Letter will now be having him as the enigmatic Norman, G and Lee. Triplets? Clones? Time Traveller? Lord Jazor has them all covered.

Additional Notes: Like Rose, the roles of Norman, G and Lee were not in The Letter's open audition because he was announced rather late compared to the rest of the backer characters. Jason's audition for our other characters were good, so we decided to cast him in as Norman, G and Lee instead! The perfect fit!

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So there we have it, the official and nearly complete cast of The Letter! For their sample voice clips as well as a few additional details on their audition, you guys can head on over our Kickstarter update here!

Please let us know what you think! Did you like the cast? Do you think we've made the correct choices? Go and comment! We look forward to reading all of them! ❤