I’m both hesitant and excited to share with you all a project that I’ve worked on obsessively, if not psychotically, for the past four years—Two Graves.
Synopsis
Two Graves is a revenge thriller that seeks to depart from the “standard formula” of visual novels, if you will—no school setting, no harems, no sex scenes, no choices. It is a kinetic visual novel that draws from timeless classics such as Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo and combines them with compelling modern day influences, in particular Sicario and James Spader’s The Blacklist, to produce a dynamic story that is simple and unapologetic in its premise, yet sophisticated and visceral in its delivery.
Through an ensemble of incredibly complex and rich characters, the story challenges the simplistic notions of false equivalence we so often see in fiction: that those who seek revenge are no different to those they seek it against.
One might ask, why revenge? Is it not a clichéd and overused topic?
In my view, it is that exact presupposition that discourages many from writing about it. While it may be a frequently explored ancillary topic, when one takes a close look at fictional media, revenge is seldom the central focus; it is usually a foil for the main character to be exalted as a righteous figure. Of the remaining stories that do treat revenge as the central premise, nearly all of them fall into the following category: Hollywood blockbuster involving a retired mercenary returning to his old ways after something disrupts his quiet life. As ironic as it may seem, I wanted to make something different. Classic, but unique. I wanted to take the tried and tested elements of storytelling from anime, movies, TV series and literature that we all know and love and mould them into a final equation that was totally individual after adding together its component parts.
Progress
As far as content, I did use the word obsessive to describe my process.
For the sake of telling the story in the most comprehensive possible fashion, I have spent an absolutely ludicrous amount of time researching, conceptualizing, refining and editing the story and character arcs to ensure continuity and freedom from even the tiniest plot holes. Virtually every moment that I’m not working, the characters, events and concepts in the story are swirling around in my head. I play back the scenes I’ve visualized for the past four years like a movie. It’s a level of perfectionism that’s both a blessing and a curse (more often a curse, I must admit), but it’s allowed me to create something I’m very proud of.
Using a combination of Blender, VRoid Studio and Pixelmator Pro, I’ve produced a stupid number of CGs/event images; so many that I’ve long since lost count. By my estimation, there would have to be at least 700-800, along with 100+ backgrounds, many of which I’ve redone countless times to ensure the highest quality and fidelity. It was incredibly frustrating bringing this to fruition on my little Macbook Pro, feeling like I’d never reach the end of them, but I’m relieved to say that the end is nigh.
The story itself is also finished—we’re sitting at around 275,000 words. It’s a solid 30+ hour story, which is actually quite compact given the amount of stuff it covers and the lack of any filler scenes like those you would find in the common route of a standard visual novel. It’ll feel epic and rewarding.
Remaining Content
Now that I’m at this stage, I only need a few more things before I can start throwing it all together in Ren’Py:
There are two sets of sprites I need done (because VRoid Studio can’t do older characters), and about five CGs remaining that I would prefer a visual artist to do for the sake of getting the right aesthetic (I’ve already done or can easily do the backgrounds). I’ll be doing specific sprites for the characters for each scene as I program the dialogue in.
I’m also thinking of starting a Kickstarter for the music, because I’ll need $3K–$4K to pay for the array of royalty-free pieces I’ve found online that fit the vibe I’m going for. I’m happy to do sound effects and make the decisions on the music myself (I’m a professional recording artist/arranger/songwriter), but it’s just a matter of finding a way to pay for it.
I’m quite strapped for time these days with work and music, so I may also need someone to assist with the UI, and perhaps programming at certain points. If people are willing to help me out for free, that would be amazing, but I’m not expecting people to work without compensation, so perhaps that can be included in the Kickstarter.
Timeline for Completion
Having never produced a visual novel or game of any kind before, it's impossible for me to give a specific prediction. I'm certainly going to run into scheduling issues with my other jobs. Speaking generally, I reckon it’ll be at least another year, perhaps two, before this thing gets anywhere near a release, but hey, the content’s pretty much done, and I never dreamed I’d be at this point four years ago.
In any case, thanks for reading this whole spiel. Avoiding spoilers as much as possible, I’ve attached a few teaser images below for everyone to enjoy. Hopefully it gives you all a sense of how Two Graves presents. Feel free to ask questions or give me tips re a Kickstarter!
Cheers!