soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic] - Releasing Today at 8PM PDT

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puffinlady
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soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic] - Releasing Today at 8PM PDT

#1 Post by puffinlady »

Image
Releasing September 29th
WEBSITE | DEVELOPMENT BLOG | MILK+ TWITTER | MILK+ TUMBLR | ITCHIO


"I want to sing like everybody else."
A small village cut off from the rest of the world, Phada, spends its days slowly, idling away time by speaking with another, eating with another, and using their bodies to their fullest. With a population of only 145, the governing body that leads the people is the Group, the name of the minuscule clergy that inhabits the church at the edge of town. They worship a protective God composed of two halves: the "Barrier" defensive energy and the "Expulsion" offensive energy.

In a town where all you can do is socialize, young Mercy is denied this. Since birth, she has seen things nobody else could, raised by the Group after losing her parents. Upon turning 10 her vision seemingly became corrupt, causing panic among the villagers, especially the older ones. It was decided by the Head Priest and Holy Woman the only way to deal with this cursed vision within an innocent villager is to defend the other villagers.

In other words - isolate Mercy until she stops seeing things.

Now an empty shell, 15 year old Mercy attends school and is constantly bullied by her classmates, some truly afraid of her, some seeing her as an easy target. The sudden death of the 25th Holy Woman startles the village, causing many to believe Mercy's curse is spreading and for her abuse to become more aggressive. Then, one day, the Head Priest reveals God has given them two young Holy Women rather than one.

When classes end the next day, one calls out to Mercy.

"I can see it, too."

(The full version of the key visual in the banner above can be seen here)
soundless - A MODERN SALEM IN REMOTE AREA - is a denpa horror inspired by the old-school denpa visual novels Sayonara wo Oshiete and Jisatsu no Tame no 101 no Houhou (and, to a lesser extent, Tsui no Sora). A smaller part of a larger universe, it's the first project Milk+ will be taking on. We're (or should I say 'I'm') a little indie group that aspires to make visual novels. And now, we'll make that dream come true, in a genre I've loved for a long time: horror.
FEATURES & WARNINGS
- Kinetic, NVL
- 640x480, retro look (as if it were made in an older Japanese engine)
- Full-color CGs
- Short length
- No ero

! Unsettling scenes and an extreme case of bullying
! Graphic violence in the later half
! Surreal horror elements
! If you cannot distinguish fantasy from reality, have too fretful or sensitive of a heart, have experienced severe trauma from abuse, or possess a black-and-white mindset, please refrain from playing this game
CHARACTERS

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Mercy, the narrator and protagonist. Her parents died when she was eight, and she was taken in by the Group and now lives in the church. In order to cope with her poor treatment, she's cut herself off from any emotions. She believes it is her solemn duty to continue to endure the abuse, as she knows no other way of living.

Image
Auma, the New Holy Woman of the Barrier energy. Representing safety, tranquility, and a protective force, she's notably kind to Mercy, but that's only due to her God-given nature, or so it seems.

Image
Nyn, the New Holy Woman of the Expulsive energy. She represents aggressive defense, the removal of toxins, and the force of annihilation. While she herself doesn't constantly abuse Mercy, she can get hostile with her words and prefers to stay away from her.

Image
Delilah, the top student at the school in both academic and religious studies. She is aloof and dutiful. Her rigidness and above and beyond grades come from the fact that she is the only daughter of the Expulsive family, one of the two clergy families.

Image
Clara, a timid girl that's often seen clinging to Delilah. She will do anything Delilah asks of her. Because of a certain grudge, she treats Mercy cruelly when Delilah is not around.

Image
Faust, a boy who enjoys tormenting Mercy. He sees the village-wide abuse as an opportunity to vent his frustrations with the world around him. Known for being particularly disobedient compared to his peers.

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Head Priest, a nameless man who runs the Group and village with an iron fist. He is seemingly benevolent and once treated Mercy like his own daughter, but now stays distant.

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Yiea, the 25th Holy Woman. Like the Holy Women before her, she takes on both halves of the God and acts as a channel for the energy and Its words.
PROGRESS (COMPLETE!)
Backgrounds - Complete!
GUI - Complete!
Scenario - Complete!
Artwork - Complete!
Sounds & Music - Complete!
Programming - Complete!
DISCUSSION
1. Does this sound interesting to you? (I sure hope so gosh)
2. Which character are you most interested in? It can either be because of design or because of what you know of their personality so far.
3. A strange question, but was this post "okay" in terms of getting information across? This is my first time announcing a game on here so I want to know what I can do better next game I make!
4. Do you have any other questions, comments, or concerns?

I will occasionally posting updates in this thread, but if you want more frequent updates, it's best if you follow the Twitter linked at the top.

If you made it this far, thank you for viewing! If you plan on replying, thank you for replying! I try my best to do updates whenever I can.
Last edited by puffinlady on Fri Sep 29, 2017 7:25 am, edited 26 times in total.

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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#2 Post by Zelan »

1. Does this sound interesting to you? Surprisingly, yes. I'm not a huge fan of KNs and I tend to stay away from horror, but something about your premise has really got me interested. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm currently analyzing the crap out of The Scarlet Letter for English. cx That book takes place around the era of the Salem witch trials, if I'm not mistaken.
2. Which character are you most interested in? It can either be because of design or because of what you know of their personality so far. I quite like Mercy's design. Auma seems like a really nice girl; I rather hope she stays that way, but if you can pull off a fantastic and believable face-heel turn, I wouldn't mind her being evil. Yiea's eyepatch intrigues me - will it be explained in the game or left as a mystery?
3. A strange question, but was this post "okay" in terms of getting information across? This is my first time announcing a game on here so I want to know what I can do better next game I make! I think so, yeah. It's definitely something tough to do; if you don't give enough information, no one will be interested, but I've read one too many book summaries that give away the twist, which spoils the book a bit. You seem to have done pretty well, though, since I'm decently interested in it (and with a genre I don't tend to like, no less).
4. Do you have any other questions, comments, or concerns? From Clara's description: "She will do anything she asks of her." Remember to be careful with pronouns. c: It's not difficult to figure out the meaning, but the sentence would sound better if you changed it to, "She will do anything Delilah asks of her," or even filled in both names. Other than that, everything looks good!

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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#3 Post by Amiralo »

1. i...really want to play this game. I can't remember the last time an english visual novel maker attempted denpa. a good denpa is always a treat! I wish you all the luck on your project!

2. the character i am most interested in is the kind holy woman Auma. I am getting the feeling that she is superficially nice, though that may be a false pressumptions. Regardless, i have always been interested in characters who seem nice and normal on the outside, but are very different in the inside. in terms of appearance wise, i like the mc's design the best haha.

3. I thought the premise was written in a beautifully minimalist style. it gets the information across and leaves the rest to the imagination of the reader.

4. will it be 18x in terms of sexual content? will there be sexual content? I personally don't care for them, but they don't necessary ruin the game if the content are strong enough. i personally enjoyed saya no uta despite it's squiky sex lmao.
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#4 Post by puffinlady »

Thank you for your kind responses! I'm actually kind of shocked I managed to hook people that well...I'm glad!
Zelan wrote:Yiea's eyepatch intrigues me - will it be explained in the game or left as a mystery?
There will be an answer for that! Of course, I won't give any more details than that~
Zelan wrote:From Clara's description: "She will do anything she asks of her." Remember to be careful with pronouns. c: It's not difficult to figure out the meaning, but the sentence would sound better if you changed it to, "She will do anything Delilah asks of her," or even filled in both names. Other than that, everything looks good!
Aw man, I reread the things I wrote tons and tons of times but I guess there's just some things you can't catch alone...Fixed, thank you!
Amiralo wrote:will it be 18x in terms of sexual content? will there be sexual content? I personally don't care for them, but they don't necessary ruin the game if the content are strong enough. i personally enjoyed saya no uta despite it's squiky sex lmao.
Even though ero (especially hard or bizarre ero) tends to be a staple in denpa, I won't be including anything explicit, and if there does end up being implied sexual content it will probably just be a small thing between minor or background characters to add to the denpa half. Right now I lack the skill to write a scary or repulsive erotic scene lol. It would probably just come off as cheap; I'd rather rely more on other things to deliver a disturbing atmosphere.
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#5 Post by puffinlady »

Hey! I didn't have any internet for the past few days so I wasn't able to make any posts in this thread. But thanks to that I got a lot of things done without being distracted by the temptation of playing mobile games or fooling around on social media, so I was able to churn out the rest of the sprites.

I've updated the site and the top post with the sprite portraits. Check them out!

I've also completed some more screens. The screen I just finished I cannot provide a preview for, but when I clean up the other screens I'll post some caps.

I hope to have the sample page up within a month or two months. In the meantime this thread will mostly be used for tiny updates and answering replies.

Thank you for replying and viewing!
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#6 Post by Shinoki »

1. Does this sound interesting to you? (I sure hope so gosh)

Yaas. It sounds really interesting. Nyahaha, I look forward to it. Especially since it's kinetic.

2. Which character are you most interested in? It can either be because of design or because of what you know of their personality so far.

Design-wise, I'm actually pretty curious about Delilah. It might just be my screen, but her skin has paler splotches? It's different.
On the other hand, in general, I'm actually most interested in the main character, Mercy.

(I low-key want to beat up Faust. Something about him rubs me the wrong way.)

3. A strange question, but was this post "okay" in terms of getting information across? This is my first time announcing a game on here so I want to know what I can do better next game I make!

Yea, the post was okay at getting info across.

4. Do you have any other questions, comments, or concerns?

Nope. Not at the moment.

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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#7 Post by puffinlady »

Hello!

I realize I haven't been making very many updates in this thread. That's because I've been so busy with many things, I haven't had the chance to actually update anything with the progress I've made.

As an apology, here is a WIP preview for one of the CGs.

Image
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#8 Post by puffinlady »

Image

Regular progress has resumed on Soundless as of today.

Here is the updated progress information, in case you don't want to dig through the initial post to see it:


Backgrounds - Complete!

Scenario - 40% | Third draft.
Artwork - 32% | Finished sprites. Now all that's left is CGs. Scenario will be completed before CGs are completed, of course.
GUI - 87% | Only the gallery screen is left.
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#9 Post by Zelan »

Yay, you're back! ^_^ I was wondering about this project.

Congratulations on all of your progress! You've already got backgrounds done and out of the way. c:

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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#10 Post by puffinlady »

Hello! I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it.

Here are some progress shots.

Main Menu | Load/Save Screen | Options | In-game screenshot
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#11 Post by Hojita »

1. Does this sound interesting to you? (I sure hope so gosh)
Yes, pretty much. Usually I don't like terror stuff, but this one seems pretty interesting.

2. Which character are you most interested in? It can either be because of design or because of what you know of their personality so far.
Mercy so far. There is no much info about the others characters, but they seem very well balanced.

3. A strange question, but was this post "okay" in terms of getting information across? This is my first time announcing a game on here so I want to know what I can do better next game I make!
Yes, I think it was, and so the progress post you're making.

4. Do you have any other questions, comments, or concerns?
There is any tentative realease date? I assume mid 2017 or something like that.

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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#12 Post by puffinlady »

Hojita wrote:There is any tentative realease date? I assume mid 2017 or something like that.
The ideal release date is early 2017 (Feb-Apr), a more realistic release date is mid 2017 (May-July). With the current speed of progress, the most likely months would be March, April, and May.

Right now, it could go either way. I just have to pray that I am not too swamped during December what with Christmas season and all of that;;
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#13 Post by puffinlady »

Hello hello everyone, long time no see.

I am very much alive and still working.
I live in America, so you can probably tell why I've been so absent and stressed out lately.

I've moved the main group website to a brand shiny new domain, and that includes the Soundless website.
I've also made a Tumblr, and a Ko-fi page.

The CGs are being conceptualized (translation: I'm making sketchy doodles). The story is in its final stages. The sprites are being made into proper single-layer image files. The music is being selected and converted.
Yes, that is how much work I've done recently. I just didn't have the energy to update the progress.
On top of that work, there's also new concept artwork featuring Auma. I feel it captures the feeling of the game much better than the original one.

As an apology, here's a screencap of a finished CG.

Thank you for all your support,
Isla
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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#14 Post by Zelan »

Oh yay, this is still in progress!! That concept artwork of Auma looks awesome.

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Re: soundless [Horror][Denpa][Kinetic]

#15 Post by puffinlady »

:!: We're changing the face of "soundless" completely!! :!:

Everybody knows that denpa horror is dead and gone and the retro game scene is starting to die out too. So, to keep up with the times, we've decided to turn everything into a shallow ecchi comedy.

Here is our demo PV!



An official blog post about the change can be read here.
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