Dark Nights [Otome,Fantasy,Romance,Mystery][DEMO]

[Pinlin]

It's been a while! Our team is still working on proof reading the demo. Here is our current progress:


I made a discord server, which is only available to contributors, but will be public when the demo is released.

Thank you for supporting us!

You can follow the project on: http://darknightsblog.tumblr.com/ | http://darknights-time.weebly.com

[Pinlin]

After a long wait, the demo is up! Thank you for your patience.
Please let us know your thoughts and experiences!

You can download on: https://pinlin.itch.io/darknights



Demo Features:

♦ Prologue + chapter 1 of 4 routes
♦ 1 ending/ 1 achievement
♦ 63,053 words
♦ 14 CG art
♦ Original background art
♦ Original soundtracks

[Zelan]

Wow, it's so cool to see that the demo's out! That's an amazing wordcount for a demo, I can't even imagine how long the full game will be.

[Pinlin]

Wow, it's so cool to see that the demo's out! That's an amazing wordcount for a demo, I can't even imagine how long the full game will be.

There are many choice arcs! I wanted to write in a way that the player's choice affect the story heavily. I think the actual playtime is shorter. If you have tried the demo,
let me know what you think!

[philip]

@Pinlin-

Downloaded today and played through the four arcs. Art is very nice and despite the comment from an earlier poster, I found the English dialogue to be clear and very readable.

I was disappointed with the choices offered; in all but a few instances, they did not affect the outcome. I'm assuming that they will play a part later in the game?

Will look forward to completion of this effort.

philip

[Pinlin]

@Pinlin-

Downloaded today and played through the four arcs. Art is very nice and despite the comment from an earlier poster, I found the English dialogue to be clear and very readable.

I was disappointed with the choices offered; in all but a few instances, they did not affect the outcome. I'm assuming that they will play a part later in the game?

Will look forward to completion of this effort.

philip

Thank you! I wanted to go for a simple and clear style to reach non-native English audience.

What do you mean with the choice outcomes? If you played Kurato's route, the last choice splits in two total different arcs. So far this is only a demo, the ending arcs are not in sight yet. The offered choices are not obviously wrong or correct. They usually give pieces of information to support the story. However, in the full version it affects the endings or extra scenes.

Thank you for the feedback!

[Pinlin]

Some CG previews for the full version of Dark Nights ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Have small non-spoilery snippets of the main characters.

The staff is working hard on the scripts while I’m doing the illustrations.
39/60 completed so far.

You can play the demo of the visual novel here: https://pinlin.itch.io/darknights

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Mashiro-chi]

Your op was amazing!! If you don't mind me asking... What program/software you use to create all that animation and how did you put everything together...??

[Pinlin]

Your op was amazing!! If you don't mind me asking... What program/software you use to create all that animation and how did you put everything together...??

I drew most of the individual illustrations in paint tool sai. Screenshot of my interface with all layers:



After I got all art and effects I want, I put it together in After Effects CS6. The sound was applied in Premiere Pro. I never really touched After Effects before I worked on the trailer, so there is a lot to improve.

[gran_centurio]

I just came across this just now, and I must say, the visuals are top notch! (It's like, it would take me years just to be this good at drawing xD)

Any plans of going into steam or any other platforms to garner additional audiences that might be interested and spread the word even more?

[niannn]

(I should have checked the whole premise more when I saw this VN in itch.io) Now, I'm glad I did check it out! The whole premise is interesting and you made an interesting premise, characters, and a seemingly interesting MC!

1. Which character is your favorite/looks the most interesting and why? The MC, since she looks like my go-to main character when it comes to Otomes. As for the main bachelors, I like Zeikun and Sachiro the most xD I just like their design and personality (although I have one other favorite because he looks so cute and that's Kaichi xD although he's not a route)
2. What are your overall thoughts of this concept? I'm downloading the demo now and I'm definitely looking forward to it! I love the overall concept, your characters, and your art style :D

[chiharuchi]

Omg the art and illustrations.. I am just in awe. When the game come out, I'm pretty sure it could pass as one of those games produced by a big company. Unless you are from one? XD It looks so high budget I just CAN'T. WAIT. AAAAAAAAAAAAA *send hugs and smiles to the team*

[Pinlin]

I just came across this just now, and I must say, the visuals are top notch! (It's like, it would take me years just to be this good at drawing xD)

Any plans of going into steam or any other platforms to garner additional audiences that might be interested and spread the word even more?

I'm sorry for such a late reply. I often check messages and think to answer it, but it's only in my head.
I took years to practice and evolve my drawing skills. It didn't happen all at once, haha. I mostly struggled with anatomy. Environment art was a whole new chapter to me. Before that I always drew the character but left everything else blank.

Depending on the interest and demand, I might add it on steam. Their new system is pretty complicated. Since this game is free, I rely on donations. I don't know if steam accepts new free to play games. I think the best way of advertising is by the players themselves. If the game is good, they will tell their friends and spread the word.

(I should have checked the whole premise more when I saw this VN in itch.io) Now, I'm glad I did check it out! The whole premise is interesting and you made an interesting premise, characters, and a seemingly interesting MC!

1. Which character is your favorite/looks the most interesting and why? The MC, since she looks like my go-to main character when it comes to Otomes. As for the main bachelors, I like Zeikun and Sachiro the most xD I just like their design and personality (although I have one other favorite because he looks so cute and that's Kaichi xD although he's not a route)
2. What are your overall thoughts of this concept? I'm downloading the demo now and I'm definitely looking forward to it! I love the overall concept, your characters, and your art style

The demo is only the tip of what's coming. I'm glad that your first impressions are positive! Zeikun and Sachiro are completely opposite in design and personality.
If the current side characters were the bachelors and the bachelors were side characters, I'm sure the interests will shift xD

I look forward to hear your thoughts and experiences!

Omg the art and illustrations.. I am just in awe. When the game come out, I'm pretty sure it could pass as one of those games produced by a big company. Unless you are from one? XD It looks so high budget I just CAN'T. WAIT. AAAAAAAAAAAAA *send hugs and smiles to the team*

I hope you enjoyed the game play too!

I often get to hear that, haha. I'm specialized in art, going a bit crazy on that aspect. Usually art takes most of the budget, but since I'm doing it all by myself, it's basically 'free' (I could use the time to spend on paid jobs, but my project gets higher priority). Let me know your thoughts and experiences on the demo!

[niannn]

(I should have checked the whole premise more when I saw this VN in itch.io) Now, I'm glad I did check it out! The whole premise is interesting and you made an interesting premise, characters, and a seemingly interesting MC!

1. Which character is your favorite/looks the most interesting and why? The MC, since she looks like my go-to main character when it comes to Otomes. As for the main bachelors, I like Zeikun and Sachiro the most xD I just like their design and personality (although I have one other favorite because he looks so cute and that's Kaichi xD although he's not a route)
2. What are your overall thoughts of this concept? I'm downloading the demo now and I'm definitely looking forward to it! I love the overall concept, your characters, and your art style :D

The demo is only the tip of what's coming. I'm glad that your first impressions are positive! Zeikun and Sachiro are completely opposite in design and personality.
If the current side characters were the bachelors and the bachelors were side characters, I'm sure the interests will shift xD

I look forward to hear your thoughts and experiences!

Now, I feel really excited if it's really just the tip of the iceberg! (and true the interests will really shift if they are the main characters xD but I get that having way too many routes can be exhausting as well, especially that you mostly work on this alone.) Anyways, looking forward to the full game :D

[Pinlin]

Full version progress update!



Some bonus art: