✞ Story Incipit:
When you're young, you think death will never reach you, even if you know that is out there...
Death...Something so abstract and ideal...
But then, one day, it's the one reaching you.
It starts from afar, hitting people you may never meet, but that you know live in this world.
Then it gets nearer, hitting circles closer and closer to you.
When you least expect it, it breaks your heart taking away somebody you really care for.
The mere circumstantial sorrow for the death of an unknown person morphs into pure despair, anger, sadness, frustration.
At that point, you take in serious acknowledgement death's existence.
It's always there, hidden behind every corner.
And that's when it becomes a phobia and you begin constantly being afraid it might strike again.
Strike on the people you love, even if they are still young and healthy.
It becomes an obsession ...
"Well, well...Look what we've got here! A new face!"
"You came here because you want to talk about...death, right?"
"Ahahah, don't stare at me like that and stop knocking on the wood. There's nothing to be scared of. Death is so beautiful and pleasant; it frees us from our state of imprisonment, whichever interpretation you want to give it."
"Is there something after death? Yes? No? And if yes, what?"
"...A-ah, no? You're not here to talk about death?"
"What? Girls? Love?..."
"Oh, I see...well, it's a slightly boring topic, don't you think? People always talk about it, they've been doing it since the dawn of time, and it was analyzed and deconstructed thousands times!"
"It's so foolish and simple that..."
"..."
"Wait, maybe you're not totally wrong...after all we often talk about love and death as two things linked by a deep bond."
"Dying for love...Loving so much you end up killing...unrequited love that pushes you to commit suicide..."
"I changed my mind. Talking about something different from death could be stimulating..."
"You convinced me."
"The girls are ready for you, I hope you'll like them."
"One of them...maybe more than one...could be Death itself. Will you find it?"
"In any case, even if you don't find it, just know it'll be the one finding you, fear not."
"Maybe, given the circumstances, I shouldn't say that but...Have fun."
✞ PLOT:"You came here because you want to talk about...death, right?"
"Ahahah, don't stare at me like that and stop knocking on the wood. There's nothing to be scared of. Death is so beautiful and pleasant; it frees us from our state of imprisonment, whichever interpretation you want to give it."
"Is there something after death? Yes? No? And if yes, what?"
"...A-ah, no? You're not here to talk about death?"
"What? Girls? Love?..."
"Oh, I see...well, it's a slightly boring topic, don't you think? People always talk about it, they've been doing it since the dawn of time, and it was analyzed and deconstructed thousands times!"
"It's so foolish and simple that..."
"..."
"Wait, maybe you're not totally wrong...after all we often talk about love and death as two things linked by a deep bond."
"Dying for love...Loving so much you end up killing...unrequited love that pushes you to commit suicide..."
"I changed my mind. Talking about something different from death could be stimulating..."
"You convinced me."
"The girls are ready for you, I hope you'll like them."
"One of them...maybe more than one...could be Death itself. Will you find it?"
"In any case, even if you don't find it, just know it'll be the one finding you, fear not."
"Maybe, given the circumstances, I shouldn't say that but...Have fun."
Albert is a 25 years old forever single boy living a NEET life, passing his days playing videogames in his room. During a cold December day, his mother, tired of having such an inconclusive son, decides to find him a job at a funeral home. There's not much the boy can do to escape his faith, so he rolls up his sleeves and start his miserable experience between ground and corpses but the funeral home and its employees are...strange. Besides, why did people suddenly stop dying?
✞ CHARACTERS:
note: the following illustrations are just sprite sketches. Since the story is at its early stages, bios may change slightly.
Albert:
Our protagonist. He quitted university and stopped having a social life. He shares the same roof with his divorced and unemployed mother and they both live off the money his wealthy father sends them each month. Generally a good guy, but has his naughty moments in which imagination takes over. He's also a big eater.
Miyako-romanceable:
Half japanese, half European, she's a mysterious girls who predicts the future in a local TV channel. She looks fragile and sickly and claims she's already dead and doesn't feel any pain. Is it really true?
She's very hard to meet since her aunt doesn't want her to leave home, but she has a personal blog where is possible to send her messages.
Kumiko (real name is Morgana)-romanceable:
Daughter of Yellatore, she'll be your co-worker and will teach you the job. She claims to be older than what it looks, but refuses to tell her actual age. Takako looks too joking and happy for a person working everyday with dead bodies. Luckily her attitude helps lighting up the mood.
Takako (real name:???)-romanceable:
A young widow who often visits the cemetery, to see the grave of her recently lost husband. Don't make her mad, because she won't be afraid to curse at you and treat you like dirt. It doesn't look like she wants to have any business with strangers....and what with the lips-shaped lollipop that always brings with her? Why does it change color?
Geymu Ovah -kinda...romanceable? Not really...:
A crazy girl (in the clinical meaning of the word) who lives behind the fences at the borders of the cemetery. She's always hungry and she'll take care of you during bad endings. You'll love her.
Mom:
Albert's mom. She's never happy of her son and sometimes Albert wonders if she loves him at all. Although she easily complains about how useless Albert may be, she's not any better, passing her days gossiping with her friends, doing nothing else.
Elek Ambrus:
Albert's neighbor. Generally an asshole. They both went to the same high-school and he used to bully him. Now he is a good looking and successful surgeon, happily married to a very charming woman. He never stopped bullying Albert.
Yellatore:
Your employer, Takako's father and owner of the Last Supper, the funeral home you'll work in. He is a very...peculiar person. Obsessed with death and finds fun in it. He's not a bad person by any mean...maybe.
Madame Star (real name:???):
Miyako's aunt, she reads the tarots on a local TV channel. She wants Miyako to be happy, but is also very protective. There's something...hidden.
???:
A crow skull and a spine? Just what is this...?
[More secondary characters]
✞Notes:note: the following illustrations are just sprite sketches. Since the story is at its early stages, bios may change slightly.
Albert:
Our protagonist. He quitted university and stopped having a social life. He shares the same roof with his divorced and unemployed mother and they both live off the money his wealthy father sends them each month. Generally a good guy, but has his naughty moments in which imagination takes over. He's also a big eater.
Miyako-romanceable:
Half japanese, half European, she's a mysterious girls who predicts the future in a local TV channel. She looks fragile and sickly and claims she's already dead and doesn't feel any pain. Is it really true?
She's very hard to meet since her aunt doesn't want her to leave home, but she has a personal blog where is possible to send her messages.
Kumiko (real name is Morgana)-romanceable:
Daughter of Yellatore, she'll be your co-worker and will teach you the job. She claims to be older than what it looks, but refuses to tell her actual age. Takako looks too joking and happy for a person working everyday with dead bodies. Luckily her attitude helps lighting up the mood.
Takako (real name:???)-romanceable:
A young widow who often visits the cemetery, to see the grave of her recently lost husband. Don't make her mad, because she won't be afraid to curse at you and treat you like dirt. It doesn't look like she wants to have any business with strangers....and what with the lips-shaped lollipop that always brings with her? Why does it change color?
Geymu Ovah -kinda...romanceable? Not really...:
A crazy girl (in the clinical meaning of the word) who lives behind the fences at the borders of the cemetery. She's always hungry and she'll take care of you during bad endings. You'll love her.
Mom:
Albert's mom. She's never happy of her son and sometimes Albert wonders if she loves him at all. Although she easily complains about how useless Albert may be, she's not any better, passing her days gossiping with her friends, doing nothing else.
Elek Ambrus:
Albert's neighbor. Generally an asshole. They both went to the same high-school and he used to bully him. Now he is a good looking and successful surgeon, happily married to a very charming woman. He never stopped bullying Albert.
Yellatore:
Your employer, Takako's father and owner of the Last Supper, the funeral home you'll work in. He is a very...peculiar person. Obsessed with death and finds fun in it. He's not a bad person by any mean...maybe.
Madame Star (real name:???):
Miyako's aunt, she reads the tarots on a local TV channel. She wants Miyako to be happy, but is also very protective. There's something...hidden.
???:
A crow skull and a spine? Just what is this...?
[More secondary characters]
The game is at its early stages , so I suggest you to read the topic and then forget about it because it'll require a lot of work and time not only to write and draw, but also to translate since I'm currently writing it in italian (but the game will come out only in english language).
The game features a classical visual novel style, with choices during dialogues to charm the romanceable characters. Geymu is not directly romanceable, but acting inappropriately around the other girls in various moments of the story will help you getting close to her.
Rating: 16+ (mostly for the very gory bad endings, plus some hints of sexual themes)
Genre: Romance, Paranormal, Slice of Life, Tragedy.
Current word count: 50.000 words of ??????? (Common route is done. Wrote four bad endings. Working on Kumiko's route).
Art asstes and gui: Just rough sprites art for now.
Music: Got all the tracks I could need. They are mostly gloomy.
Backgrounds: Still debating on it. I'm pointing toward the use of photographic backgrounds since I can't draw them and they'd be a lot, besides this would give me the possibility to draw more art assets, as CGs and sprite poses/different clothes.
✞THE GAME DOESN'T FEATURE GOOD ENDINGS✞
That's right. No good endings. Just bad endings and even worse endings.This doesn't mean the story doesn't have its light and merry moment! It's not sad just for the sake of being sad.
✞ Some questions for you (you can skip the ones you don't feel like answering. They are merely suggestions):
1) What do you think about the project in general? Free to say whatever you want
2) Any favorite character? In case you don't want to write a reply just for that, here's a link to a poll http://strawpoll.me/6610567
3) Is there something in particoular you'd like to see in this visual novel?
4) Are photographic backgrounds a big letdown?
5) Should the protagonist be renamable?
Thanks for reading. I'll do my best. This visual novel is...very personal.
side note: in this story I often write about working at a funeral home but, in reality, I don't have a full knowledge about this matter and information on the internet is very scarce and things differ from country to country anyway, therefore I ask you to forgive me for any mistake or imprecision