Lemma Soft Forums

Please check out our newly released demo! You can find it here: https://steamberry.itch.io/changelingdemo

Hello everyone! Thank you for stopping by.

We're a two person indie group working on our very first visual novel (though not our first game or first large scale project together!) This is intended to be a commercial project so we are planning for a kickstarter in the near future.

Changeling is a visual novel that celebrates the silliness of romance and takes a tongue in cheek approach to tropes common in the fantasy and romance genres.

Nora Lewis is a senior at Stone Circle Academy and a self-reliant girl who has rarely found herself at a loss in any situation. Her life is upended after she joins a club at school and discovers a secret world of paranormal creatures she didn't know existed.

Nora learns that her best friend is a Witch and her other club mates are a mixture of Vampires, Werewolves, and Wizards. When the others reveal that she's not a normal human either Nora feels that everything she's ever known to be true about the world has just been proven false.

While working to uncover the mystery behind several incidents in her past which may be connected to her supernatural origins, Nora begins to realize the secret of her identity may be darker than she thought. But if she can solve her own mysteries, she may be able to salvage a crumbling relationship with her increasingly angry and paranoid twin brother. First, though, she has to stay alive in a paranormal society teeming with danger – with the help of one of six guys, each of whom has his own unique problems to deal with.

Each story route has a standalone plot that revolves around the main character trying to discover her origins while navigating unforeseen dangers and odd situations that start flying her way the moment she finds out she might not be human (because they always wait until that moment). There's a bit of mystery, a bit of romance, a bit of humor and a lot of drama and danger. The story is told in first person, through Nora's incredulous and often dryly sarcastic narrative.
-500,000+ words
-six planned love interests
-customizable MC name
-25+ endings
-smart, strong willed MC
-developed side characters
-20+ original backgrounds
-branching story line with choices that have real impact on the story path

Main Sprites – 100%
Backgrounds – 50%
CGs – 5%
GUI – 100%
Story – 62%

This is a big project for a first Visual Novel. Maybe you should scale back.
This isn't really a question but a few people have said it to us so we wanted to address it here too.
This is our first VN but it's not the first game we've worked on. It's also not the first large project on which we've embarked (nor will it be the first that we will finish). We totally get how extensive this project is and how much work it needs. We haven't underestimated that. Our goal is to see this project through to the end! <3

Are you planning a kickstarter?
Yup! However, due to the reservations some have expressed about this project (see first 'question'), we definitely want to have the script a bit further along before we attempt to do crowd funding. We want supporters to have confidence the project will be finished!

Are you hiring/bringing more people onto the team?
At some point, we will be trying to hire more people, for sure. But that'll likely be after successful crowdfunding.
We'll definitely be looking for a CG artist, a background artist, and probably a sprite artist. Possibly a creature/item artist. So basically, all the artists. (But some other positions as well!)

So when are you going to start moving forward with hiring?
That would definitely be after a successful kickstarter to acquire necessary funds. Anyone who joins the team as this point in the process would definitely have to be willing to volunteer their time and efforts for the time being, and we can’t ask anyone to do that.

If I'm willing to volunteer, can I message you?
Of course! Even though we won't ask people to volunteer their time, if there's someone who sees Changeling and just says "OMG I must be a part of that project or my life will be incomplete forever!!" and they really want to volunteer their passion and talent to work with us, certainly we would be willing to consider bringing them on board!

Will you be releasing a demo?
The demo is released! You can find the link above!

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
11 meters per second (apparently)
1. Does the plot interest you?
2. What about the art?
3. Is there any character that stands out to you right now?
4. Do you have any questions? Comments? Feedback?

More updates will be posted on:
Tumblr: https://steamberrystudio.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteamberryEsh

We'd really appreciate you following us there as well. We update tumblr every Friday with a progress report, and I try to post on Mondays and Wednesdays with trivia, world building, profiles, extra artwork, doodles, etc. Thank you so much for reading!

1. Does the plot interest you?
It does. I don't have a great idea of it yet, but fantasy is my favorite genre, so that's a point for you right there. And this whole business with her twin brother has me interested. (Does he have a sprite yet?)
2. What about the art?
It looks good. c: I don't have much else to say about it; I play VNs for the story, not the art, although of course good quality art is always a plus.
3. Is there any character that stands out to you right now?
William, as the only human love interest, has my attention. I'm also curious about what the differences would be between Marc, having been born into a vampire family, and Elliot, having been infected. I also want to know more about the side characters, namely Nora's best friend and twin brother.
4. Do you have any questions? Comments? Feedback?
Umm, a lot of assorted comments. Brace yourself.

How are you planning on pulling off the idea of Danny's family being "supportive, but very strict?" The way that I understand the words as they're used today, they're practically opposites when used to describe a family. Are they, like... supportive only within their strict guidelines?? His dilemma feels very real, though - it would be interesting if he had one parent who tried to be understanding of his werewolf nature and one who was completely not okay with it.

Something about Elliot's whole character just seems...off, I guess? It's hard to put my finger on exactly what it is, but I think it has to do with him being described as "a failure at everything." While the rest of your characters seem dynamic and interesting, he seems more unoriginal and flat. And the fact that he's still an optimist (psst, you spelled it with two 'p's, by the way c:) seems like it just wouldn't...work? I feel like there should at least be something that he's good at - maybe skateboarding, or cheering people up with jokes. In fact, it seems like you kind of tried to imply that in his description, but it didn't quite get across.
I dunno if this is really helpful or even makes sense, but he's my least favorite character of the bunch and I'm not entirely sure why. :/

I'd be interested in the VN mentioning something about Marc's past experiences in hostage situations and/or how they've affected him.

William's quote is missing a word. c: Looks like it should say "than the."

The main characters are all very close in age, which is a little boring in my opinion. It's probably too late to change at this point, but I just figured that I'd put it out there.

On the other hand, they are NOT close in height. And this is weird. Maybe it's just me, but I'm about Nora's height and no guy that I know towers over me like all of these guys; the tallest has probably six inches on me, tops. The shortest one, William, is six inches taller than she is, and the tallest, Ewan, is a full foot and a half taller. You don't necessarily have to change this, but it's going to affect your VN; for one thing, the art will need to reflect the drastic height difference. For another, kissing is going to be extremely awkward, especially Ewan's kiss scenes. Plus, it would be just plain unbelievable if somebody didn't say something about it at least once.

A piece of advice: Don't neglect your side characters. As a matter of fact, remember not to neglect your MAIN characters. A trap that a lot of VNs fall into is shunting the minor characters and the other main characters to the side in favor of the main character and her romantic interest for that path. In some stories you can get away with this, but in this one, where these characters see each other in a club (which I assume probably meets regularly), it would be unrealistic for them to never interact. Plus, they've probably known each other for a little while now, having been in the club together for who knows how long. Let us see some friendships between the main characters; just because they're not with the MC doesn't mean that they don't matter. ^_^ The same goes for the side characters, although obviously if they're not in the club and/or don't really talk with the other characters they won't have an already established friendship. (Speaking of friendships, don't ignore Nora's bond with her best friend; they're called best friends for a reason, right?)

Will any other side characters be in the club, or is it only Nora, the guys, and Nora's friend? It would be interesting if there were one or two characters who were unaware of the true nature of the non-humans in the group and/or joined the club because they were intent on taking the non-humans down, Ghostbusters style.

My final questions: What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?

I'm going to break your post into the specific parts I'm answering just so it's more obvious what exactly I'm replying to! BUT first I want to thank you for your post! Thanks for taking the time to give me such a long, thought out reply. It means a lot! <3

Zelan wrote:1. Does the plot interest you?
It does. I don't have a great idea of it yet, but fantasy is my favorite genre, so that's a point for you right there. And this whole business with her twin brother has me interested. (Does he have a sprite yet?)

Sorry for not clarifying who the "side characters" posted are - Ally is Nora's best friend, Spencer is her brother, Brenna is a not-quite-human classmate, Merle is Corvin's older brother and Leo is a guy who appears in Danny's route.

How are you planning on pulling off the idea of Danny's family being "supportive, but very strict?" The way that I understand the words as they're used today, they're practically opposites when used to describe a family. Are they, like... supportive only within their strict guidelines?? His dilemma feels very real, though - it would be interesting if he had one parent who tried to be understanding of his werewolf nature and one who was completely not okay with it.

I don't personally consider "supportive" and "strict" to be mutually. To me, being supportive means encouraging a child to follow their own dreams, encouraging them when things don't go well or if they make an honest mistake. Being strict is about holding a child to high behavioral standards or giving fair consequences for deliberate rule-breaking. For instance, Danny has a strict curfew, is expected to make his bed every morning, is required to be polite, respectful and honest...has to tell his parents where he'll be, who he'll be with...and that's all non-negotiable. But when it comes to encouraging him to overcome hardship, or supporting his personal goals, telling him it's okay to not always make straight A's, accepting his friends, telling him they're proud of him - they do that, too.

Something about Elliot's whole character just seems...off, I guess? It's hard to put my finger on exactly what it is, but I think it has to do with him being described as "a failure at everything." While the rest of your characters seem dynamic and interesting, he seems more unoriginal and flat. And the fact that he's still an optimist (psst, you spelled it with two 'p's, by the way c:) seems like it just wouldn't...work? I feel like there should at least be something that he's good at - maybe skateboarding, or cheering people up with jokes. In fact, it seems like you kind of tried to imply that in his description, but it didn't quite get across.
I dunno if this is really helpful or even makes sense, but he's my least favorite character of the bunch and I'm not entirely sure why. :/

Elliot's description was actually really hard to write so I agree that I didn't really capture his personality well in his write up. I do think that optimism isn't tied to success and that people can maintain a sense of positivity even if they perpetually mess things up. It just depends on where they set their sights. And darn that typo! I re-read those descriptions so many times and still didn't catch it! >=V I'll have to work on his description a bit to see if I can hammer it down better (and...fix that typo).

I'd be interested in the VN mentioning something about Marc's past experiences in hostage situations and/or how they've affected him.

I haven't started his route but it's currently my intent for those to be brought up and explored during his route.

William's quote is missing a word. c: Looks like it should say "than the."

Argh!!

The main characters are all very close in age, which is a little boring in my opinion. It's probably too late to change at this point, but I just figured that I'd put it out there.

That won't really change. Too much of the story centers around their school club to appropriately work in an older character and I think it would be hard for me to write a 14/15 year old love interest for Nora unless they were mature enough so as not to really be noticeably different from the others anyway. But I'll bear it in mind for future projects since I certainly have other VNs I'd love to write.

On the other hand, they are NOT close in height. And this is weird. Maybe it's just me, but I'm about Nora's height and no guy that I know towers over me like all of these guys; the tallest has probably six inches on me, tops. The shortest one, William, is six inches taller than she is, and the tallest, Ewan, is a full foot and a half taller. You don't necessarily have to change this, but it's going to affect your VN; for one thing, the art will need to reflect the drastic height difference. For another, kissing is going to be extremely awkward, especially Ewan's kiss scenes. Plus, it would be just plain unbelievable if somebody didn't say something about it at least once.

Is it weird? o.O; I largely used my own high school experience and the height range of my circle of friends. Most of the guys were 5'9" - 6'0" but we did have a guy in our group who was 6'4" (named Devin - he was so tall and lanky. LoL). I'm 5'6" and I didn't have a single guy friend shorter than me and only one or two who were around my height. Then again, my dad is 6'1", and my brothers are 6'2" and 5'11" so it might just be that our frame of reference is totally difference. That said, I also find huge height differences pretty adorable so I plan to take full advantage of Ewan's ridiculous height during his route. OwO

A piece of advice: Don't neglect your side characters. As a matter of fact, remember not to neglect your MAIN characters. A trap that a lot of VNs fall into is shunting the minor characters and the other main characters to the side in favor of the main character and her romantic interest for that path. In some stories you can get away with this, but in this one, where these characters see each other in a club (which I assume probably meets regularly), it would be unrealistic for them to never interact. Plus, they've probably known each other for a little while now, having been in the club together for who knows how long. Let us see some friendships between the main characters; just because they're not with the MC doesn't mean that they don't matter. ^_^ The same goes for the side characters, although obviously if they're not in the club and/or don't really talk with the other characters they won't have an already established friendship. (Speaking of friendships, don't ignore Nora's bond with her best friend; they're called best friends for a reason, right?)

I definitely won't. Nora's relationship with Spencer is a pretty critical element in all routes. Nora's relationship with Ally takes center stage at multiple points in each route (where they talk about much more than boys, and we also delve somewhat into Ally's backstory). It's always been really important to me that Nora not start revolving around her love interest the moment the route is chosen. She rides to school with Ally so there's frequent opportunity to spend time with the two of them and play up their friendship. Danny and Elliot are best friends, which is showcased at multiple points in the routes I've written so far. And while I haven't gotten to their routes yet, I hope to show that Marc and William are fairly good friends as well. When it's been possible, I've tried to show Corvin's relationship with his family too.

Will any other side characters be in the club, or is it only Nora, the guys, and Nora's friend? It would be interesting if there were one or two characters who were unaware of the true nature of the non-humans in the group and/or joined the club because they were intent on taking the non-humans down, Ghostbusters style.

Brenna is in the club, as well as Ally. There is another planned side character named Adrien who will appear in Marc's route - and he's in the club as well. I had planned on an additional club member to appear in Danny's route but there ended up not being room for him in the plot. The club sponsor, Vilos, is another side character who shows up fairly frequently. I don't know why I didn't add his sprite to the side character line up...Poor, forgotten Vilos. ;A;

My final questions: What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?

Esh! To finish this Visual Novel! Purple--wait, no! Aaaauuuuuuuugggghhhhhhhhhhh! ;D

Just posting to say that I added a few of the current backgrounds that are finished to the first post. I'd prefer to eventually hire someone more adept at backgrounds than I am but for the time being, I'm doing as many as I have time for.

I also did update the profile sheets based on feedback. ^_^

Esh wrote:Sorry for not clarifying who the "side characters" posted are - Ally is Nora's best friend, Spencer is her brother, Brenna is a not-quite-human classmate, Merle is Corvin's older brother and Leo is a guy who appears in Danny's route.

No problem! c: I had thought Spencer might be Nora's brother since they both had reddish hair, but I figured I'd ask to make sure. Brenna seems interesting too!

Esh wrote:I don't personally consider "supportive" and "strict" to be mutually. To me, being supportive means encouraging a child to follow their own dreams, encouraging them when things don't go well or if they make an honest mistake. Being strict is about holding a child to high behavioral standards or giving fair consequences for deliberate rule-breaking. For instance, Danny has a strict curfew, is expected to make his bed every morning, is required to be polite, respectful and honest...has to tell his parents where he'll be, who he'll be with...and that's all non-negotiable. But when it comes to encouraging him to overcome hardship, or supporting his personal goals, telling him it's okay to not always make straight A's, accepting his friends, telling him they're proud of him - they do that, too.

Ah, makes sense! I had thought of "strict" as meaning "conservative," but obviously that's not the case here. Thanks for clearing that up!

Esh wrote:Elliot's description was actually really hard to write so I agree that I didn't really capture his personality well in his write up. I do think that optimism isn't tied to success and that people can maintain a sense of positivity even if they perpetually mess things up. It just depends on where they set their sights. And darn that typo! I re-read those descriptions so many times and still didn't catch it! >=V I'll have to work on his description a bit to see if I can hammer it down better (and...fix that typo).

Oh my goodness, the new description is great! ^_^ The addition of his backstory was definitely a good idea, that really showcases the depth of his character. (He may actually be my second favorite now!)

Esh wrote:Is it weird? o.O; I largely used my own high school experience and the height range of my circle of friends. Most of the guys were 5'9" - 6'0" but we did have a guy in our group who was 6'4" (named Devin - he was so tall and lanky. LoL). I'm 5'6" and I didn't have a single guy friend shorter than me and only one or two who were around my height. Then again, my dad is 6'1", and my brothers are 6'2" and 5'11" so it might just be that our frame of reference is totally difference. That said, I also find huge height differences pretty adorable so I plan to take full advantage of Ewan's ridiculous height during his route. OwO

Wow, really? Huh, maybe guys where I live are just short, then. *shrugs* Do your thing, I guess. I was more concerned about the art and writing reflecting the height difference than the difference itself, although it is a little odd since I don't know anyone personally who's six four. cx

Esh wrote:I definitely won't. Nora's relationship with Spencer is a pretty critical element in all routes. Nora's relationship with Ally takes center stage at multiple points in each route (where they talk about much more than boys, and we also delve somewhat into Ally's backstory). It's always been really important to me that Nora not start revolving around her love interest the moment the route is chosen. She rides to school with Ally so there's frequent opportunity to spend time with the two of them and play up their friendship. Danny and Elliot are best friends, which is showcased at multiple points in the routes I've written so far. And while I haven't gotten to their routes yet, I hope to show that Marc and William are fairly good friends as well. When it's been possible, I've tried to show Corvin's relationship with his family too.

Good to hear! I had figured that you probably were already aware of that since you had five side characters with their own sprites, but I wanted to post about it anyway because I've had way too many otherwise amazing VNs that were somewhat soured due to side characters with wasted potential.

I like the fact that a bunch of the guys are friends with each other, too! It would be interesting to see how they act towards Nora in their route vs. their buddy's route.

Esh wrote:Esh! To finish this Visual Novel! Purple--wait, no! Aaaauuuuuuuugggghhhhhhhhhhh! ;D

Brenna seems interesting too!

She is really fun to write. She plays a bigger role in Elliot's route and I just wrote a really hilarious and awkward scene between her and Nora. I love that her personality lets me do some really random and fun things with her character.

Oh my goodness, the new description is great! ^_^ The addition of his backstory was definitely a good idea, that really showcases the depth of his character. (He may actually be my second favorite now!)

I realized when I was struggling to re-write his description that he was really the only one for whom I didn't mention the family situation at all. I think that's a testimony to how weirdly hard his profile information was for me to write. I'm happy it works better now. ^_^

Wow, really? Huh, maybe guys where I live are just short, then. *shrugs* Do your thing, I guess. I was more concerned about the art and writing reflecting the height difference than the difference itself, although it is a little odd since I don't know anyone personally who's six four. cx

In addition to Devin, my high school friend, I actually have several cousins in the 6'3"-6'4" range. It's very possible that my experience is just skewed due to having lots of tall family members, and somehow ending up hanging around a crowd of tall guys in school. I'm not ruling out making some of the guys shorter though, if others feel they're all very tall.

Elliot and Corvin would probably be only two I'd be willing to shrink much though. I just envision Marc and Dan as being tall and I really don't want to shrink William and fall into that "all Asian guys are short" trope (since he's the only east Asian character, I just really don't want him markedly shorter than the other guys). I really do consider Ewan unusually tall, for the record. But the height discrepancy between him and Nora is kind of a running gag as is the fact that he's basically a Faerie and most people think of Faeries as being small, sparkly, winged creatures - yet here he is, this massive, leather-clad ball of snark. =3

Good to hear! I had figured that you probably were already aware of that since you had five side characters with their own sprites, but I wanted to post about it anyway because I've had way too many otherwise amazing VNs that were somewhat soured due to side characters with wasted potential.

I totally agree. I've always been determined, at the very least, to have Ally play a more critical role than offering Nora clothes, and explaining romance to her. I'm also really not a fan of when the main character has no friends or positive female relationships...or, worse, when the "friend" character is reduced to giving hair, make up and boy advice.

I also break characters into Main, Secondary, Tertiary and "Extra." Secondary characters basically are the ones that either have either lengthy scenes in multiple routes, or a pretty major role in a single route (like antagonists). And I do my best to develop these guys enough that they feel substantial. Tertiary characters are like...Nora's parents, who appear frequently but have a pretty small role in the overall story. I try to develop them to at least some degree because even if their part is small, I want them to have personality and not feel totally like cardboard cut outs.

The "extras" definitely have the least development. But rather than have "Boy 1" or "Girl 2" or "Math Teacher" - I've at least named them and tried to create reasonably distinct personalities so that they feel consistent when they pop up. LoL

I added two screen caps of the game - both from the first chapter. Characters are appearing from the MC's family. As I get a couple more backgrounds finished, I will hopefully get some screen caps that involve the love interests up. OwO

I really commend you in getting so far on such an ambitious project :0.

1. Does the plot interest you?

To be completely honest, the 'normal person who one day finds out they are actually magical (or royalty or whatever)' setup is generally a setup that makes me not want to play a game and I do find it a bit off putting here ':]. But that's a personal bias, and I like the sounds/looks of the rest of the project.

2. What about the art?

I think it looks quite nice overall and seems fitting for the tone of the game. I don't like the designs of every character, but that can be said about almost any game.

3. Is there any character that stands out to you right now?

Probably William! I love ghosts and things having to do with ghosts. Also his design is one of my favorites.

4. Do you have any questions? Comments? Feedback?

I'm curious about the 25+ endings. Is it a few happy endings and then a lot of bad endings? Are there 'good' endings and then better/true endings? Are there premature endings? Etc.


Anyways, good luck with the project. I'm rooting for you!

Googaboga wrote:3. Is there any character that stands out to you right now?

Probably William! I love ghosts and things having to do with ghosts. Also his design is one of my favorites.

Ayyy, another William fan!

I really commend you in getting so far on such an ambitious project :0.

1. Does the plot interest you?

To be completely honest, the 'normal person who one day finds out they are actually magical (or royalty or whatever)' setup is generally a setup that makes me not want to play a game and I do find it a bit off putting here ':]. But that's a personal bias, and I like the sounds/looks of the rest of the project.

It is definitely a fairly common set up.

I've tried to play around with the common tropes in this sort of scenario to make it more fun though because the project actually started, in the first place, as a way for me to make fun of this type of story. I've really tried to examine what typically bothers me about this set up so I can handle those things differently or use them for humor.

Not sure if I've succeeded, but I'm trying! xD

2. What about the art?

I think it looks quite nice overall and seems fitting for the tone of the game. I don't like the designs of every character, but that can be said about almost any game.

Haha. Yeah, there always tends to be those one or two characters in each game that don't really appeal to me as well. I think it's hard to make a cast of characters where every single one appeals to every person. In any case, there are certain things I'd like to tweak about some of the characters too but I'm refusing to allow myself the luxury right now since there are other things I need to get done first! OwO

3. Is there any character that stands out to you right now?

Probably William! I love ghosts and things having to do with ghosts. Also his design is one of my favorites.

Yay! He's less...I don't know...flashy than some of the others? So I think he doesn't get quite as much love from most of the people who have looked at the game so far. Several of the others seem to get a lot more attention than he does. I'm always happy when someone says they like him. <3

4. Do you have any questions? Comments? Feedback?

I'm curious about the 25+ endings. Is it a few happy endings and then a lot of bad endings? Are there 'good' endings and then better/true endings? Are there premature endings? Etc.

I kind of break endings up two different ways - by their placement in the story, and by the overall tone. Each route has three endings that happen during or after the climax of the story. And of those three, there is always a tragic end, a neutral/friend ending, and a romantic ending.

The other endings can happen anywhere in the story and tend to be tragic since the most common way a story reaches a premature conclusion is the player making a choice (or a few choices) that lead to something bad happening. But some of these endings are more neutral in tone even if they still end the story before the climax.

I'm trying to not be too formulaic with the endings in each route, and to also avoid having the one "supreme" ending with a lot of tragic or unfulfilling ends peppered through just to up the ending count. I really want even the more sudden endings to be varied and interesting. I'm always disappointed when games have a high ending count but many of them feel sort of like they come at you from left field. I really hope I can make each ending feel like a natural consequence of the decisions and moments that lead up to it.

Anyways, good luck with the project. I'm rooting for you!

Thank you so much! I absolutely appreciate you taking the time to comment. <3

Hello again! Just posting to say I've tossed up a few newly completed backgrounds, as well as a few more screen caps from the first few chapters that will comprise the demo.

I've updated the progress section but it feels like it didn't move much despite how much work has actually been done.

Other updates -

Putting a lot of focus into working on the demo and getting it to a playable state. I have one more sprite to code into the game, and then the focus will be on fine tuning and maybe putting some sound effects and placeholder music in. It's coming along well though. I'm really hoping it'll be finished by the end of this month.

Other than that I'm really trying to write as much as possible and get a few more backgrounds done.

As always, thanks to everyone who has expressed interest here and on tumblr. I post progress reports to the tumblr blog every Friday for those who want more frequent updates than what I post here. <3

Oh, your natural backgrounds are gorgeous! I love the way you draw trees. ^_^ I think my favorites are the stars and the bridge.

The bedroom looks amazing too, though - that's a bedroom that I'd like to have. Blue is my favorite color. cx

Zelan wrote:Oh, your natural backgrounds are gorgeous! I love the way you draw trees. ^_^ I think my favorites are the stars and the bridge.

The bedroom looks amazing too, though - that's a bedroom that I'd like to have. Blue is my favorite color. cx

Thank you so, so much. It really means a lot to me to hear that.

I've painted with watercolors for years and years but only took up digital art about a two years prior starting the art for Changeling. And honestly it's SUCH a huge change. It's taken me a really long time to adapt and I feel I'm still improving all the time (and still have loads of room to improve).

Backgrounds have been really hard to get the hang of because I can't do huge, splooshy washes and lift out details like I'm used to. It just works so differently. I just hope I continue to get better and better at it. <3

Hey there - it's been a while so I wanted to check in with a short progress report. This project is definitely still moving forward. I work on it just about daily so we're definitely making progress! My partner has a lot of health issues at the moment, which has slowed us down a bit though. I'm hopefully going to be able to pull a few more super-talented people onto the team to help us out though! (I update our blog every Friday - and sometimes have a short post on Monday or Wednesday as well so it's the best place to keep track of updates).

What's new here: I posted up some new things in the first post--actual profiles for the more important side characters (I know there's a typo on Brenna's profile. I just haven't fixed the image yet), a couple of new backgrounds, and a few new screen caps from the game.

What's been up in general: Lots of art, lots and lots (and lots) of writing, lots of coding stuff.

The entire common route has been coded. A small group of beta readers have been going through it to find any issues and help improve it. So far, the feedback is really positive though! The official demo, which will be a condensed version of the common route (sans the fourth chapter and numerous less important scenes) will hopefully be ready to be released by mid-January. Otherwise, the project is lumbering forward slowly but surely!

That's all for now! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! <3

1. Does the plot interest you?
Yes! I've always been a fan of the supernatural/urban fantasy, so this is right up my ally. I'm already a little too invested in figuring out the mysteries in Nora's past.
2. What about the art?
I think the art is quite pretty-- particularly the expressions.
3. Is there any character that stands out to you right now?
I'm somewhere between Ewan and Danny, I think. Normally, characters like Danny don't draw my attention, but I have a feeling I'm going to like him. If nothing else, I think he's going to be fun to tease. Ewan is more my usual speed. There's nothing I love more than sarcasm and leather jackets.
4. Do you have any questions? Comments? Feedback?
Oh, boy, do I. I've played the demo (congratulations on that, by the way!), which is how I ended up here, actually. So I know a bit more about the game than what's posted here, but I'm curious about a few things. A) What is the time span of this game? Personally, I tend to be a fan of slowburn relationships, which can be hard to pull off when you've only got a month or so and are trying to deal with paranormal drama to boot! B) What is the extent of the relationships? I've played VNs that leave off just after the relationship begins, then maybe shows an epilogue. And those are fine! I've enjoyed many a game with that sort of ending. But I find that it's a lot easier for me to get invested in a couple if I can see how they interact past the honeymoon stage. C) How far into the school year is Nora when she arrives? From the demo, it seems like classes have already started, but is it still the beginning of the year?

Anyway, those are my big questions for now. I hope you continue to have a good time working on this project!