Bright Oak [time travel] [science fiction] [slice of life and death] [friendship] [romance]

[Widdershins]

Right Place. Wrong Time.

Seeking aid after a wreck, you stumble upon the quaint, tightly knit community of Bright Oak-- some 45 years outside of your intended travel plans, and struggling with their own troubles in the wake of a mysterious catastrophe. Finding a path back to your own timeline won’t be easy. Abandoning the townspeople to their fate might be even harder.

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FEATURES:

• Nameable protagonist with choice of pronouns and a mind of their own;

• Multiple branching routes in response to significant player choices (~225,000 words, 12 ending variations, and upwards of 15 ways to get there);

• An ensemble of five primary characters, providing a variety of perspectives and alternate story paths;

• Visual sensitivity and dyslexia-friendly gameplay options;

• Failure in the game is nearly impossible-- but success is far from assured!

Bright Oak is a heavily character-driven visual novel with elements of science fiction. Discover the tragic secrets behind Bright Oak’s preternatural dilemma; find friendship, or possibly love (characters are not gender-locked to pronoun choice, romance and friendship paths given equal weight); save the town and make your way home-- and if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!



Characters:

Hello, and thanks for taking a peek! I'm Widdershins, and I'm finally at a point where I'm comfortable sharing the existence of this project, which has been near and dear to my heart for a few years now.

Where in the process is Bright Oak?

Screen Shots:

Words? SO MANY. The script is complete, and I'm currently hard at work programming the beast (you'll probably find me in the help section quite soon) Currently hammering out the initial four chapters, and plugging in backgrounds and stand-in sprites as I go.

Art? Art! The absolutely-positively-radiantly-and-gloriously talented Remnantation is at the helm for the character art, and working on the lining for the final of the five sprites before diving into coloring. GUI is sticky, but coming along. Backgrounds are proceeding apace, with twenty-two now complete, and likely still a dozen or more left to go, because I hate sleep even more than I did the last time I updated this.

Music? I've now received and enthusiastically approved nine initial sketches of the fifteen commissioned themes for the soundtrack from the (phenomenal!) John Åhlin, and it is going to be an Ennio Morricone, 1960s Western-influenced fever dream. I cannot wait.

Thanks again for checking this all out!

For myself, I'd love any feedback on offer, but particular concerns for me at this point are:

• Does the pitch intrigue you?

• Is there anything else from an accessibility standpoint I should consider implementing, if I can?

• Do the character profiles engage your interest? Does anyone in particular pop?

• Insofar as it exists, is the GUI visually pleasant and clear?

I'm happy to answer any questions I can, as well! Advice is also very very welcome, as I'm a first-timer to making a game, and this has proven a delightful, if exhausting, challenge.

All the best, and I look forward to sharing more soon!

[papillon]

(Generally it's required in the rules to have some screenshots or other samples ready when posting in WIP just so we can see that the project actually is in-progress and not just an idea. They don't have to be final and you can replace them later when they're shinier, but we need something we can actually comment on!)

edit: thanks!

[Widdershins]

(Edit: updated with more content; please let me know if this isn't enough, and I'll take things down until I'm ready to show more!)

[Widdershins]

(Updated with some screenshots, including two of the finished background images!)

[Widdershins]

Irregular Monday Mini-Update:

• 10/?? backgrounds complete;

• Brightened UI (will update screenshots soon);

• Received some *fantastic* initial music sketches from the composer;

• Remnantation solved the riddle of Jasper's Big Hair (though not the riddles IN his Big Hair, of course)

• Continued work on programming initial chapters

To Do Next:

• Paint evening / night variations for sketched backgrounds;

• Continue work on sketches;

• Revisit an epilogue (for Reasons)

• Continue programming Chapter 2, establishing rhythm on changing scenes

[Widdershins]

Irregular Monday Mini-Update:

• 12/?? backgrounds complete and scanned in;

• 5 backgrounds in process, painted but not yet lined;

• 3 new backgrounds cobbled together and rough lined (see above!), ready for painting and re-lining;

• Art for 1 item complete;

• Created stand-in sprites to use until color is done;

• Music: 4/15 sketches now settled on, with two new themes received today-- both *phenomenal*

• Remnantation​ still hard at work on Jasper and his many varied accoutrements;

• Continued work on programming initial chapters

To Do Next:

• Continue work on painting and lining backgrounds;

• Revisit that pesky epilogue (for Reasons);

• Plugging in stand-in sprites and new backgrounds;

• Complete rough for Chapters 1-2 in programming

[Widdershins]

Phew! Been a bit!

Irregular Monday Mini-Update:

• Shoutout to the extraordinarily talented Wudgeous ( of Herotome fame ), who has swooped in to help with coding like the angel they are. Because of them, we’re now up through Chapter 3 rough coded (also: they've opened commissions, if you're in search of a writer and/or editor!!);

• Remnantation has finished lining all sprites, and is starting work on coloring;

• 9/15 music sketches done, as John continues to produce phenomenal work;

• 22/?? backgrounds complete

To do next:

• Continue work on the Chapter 3 backgrounds, and get them plugged in;

• Experiment with some of the ATL Wudge has proposed;

• Finish implementing coding to date, and push on to Chapter 4;

• Determine the demo length, and begin planning and preparation for (hopefully) January release of same!

[Wudgeous]

Y'all are in for SUCH a treat, I've had the honor of getting some sneak peeks at some behind the scenes content and Bright Oak is very, very, very good >:)

The game now has a public itch.io page ( https://butterflyrocket.itch.io/bright-oak ) so be sure to give it a follow to be notified when it comes out!

(PS Widdles you might want to put your links in your forum signature, so people can access them even more easily: upper right drop down arrow > User Control Panel > Profile > Edit Signature)

[Widdershins]

Ahhh, thank you!!

[Widdershins]

Re-introducing Sheriff John Forster, now in brilliant color! The ever-talented Remnantation has finished with coloring the resting posture of our gregarious would-be cowboy, and I’m delighted to be able to share this glimpse of her excellent work!

[Widdershins]

It's spooky season! Just a quick notice that each weekend in October, I’ll be posting a Halloween-themed alternate-universe short story featuring one of the five main characters in Bright Oak, along with some delightful bonus art by Remnantation.

Here's the link to the first: a ghostly encounter with Sheriff John Forster, written in the style of O. Henry's Western short stories.

[Widdershins]

Next up! Here's Spooky Season Short #2, this time featuring Marybeth and loosely modelled on Richard Matheson's "I am Legend". Art once more by the marvelous Remnantation!

[Widdershins]

Spooky short #3 is Sparrow! There really was no option for Sparrow’s story but to dive into the Victorian literature he adores, with a heavy dose of the Gothic for good measure: Dracula, alongside works by the Brontë sisters, served as my inspiration for this one. Thanks as ever to Remnantation for the glorious art!

A word of caution before proceeding: this one involves blood.

[Widdershins]

Updated our second character with her full color sprite: Meet Dr. Marybeth Forster, Bright Oak’s resident physician, and our sheriff’s long-suffering sister! It is my absolute pleasure to show off Remnantation's’s beautiful coloring work-- oh, and yes, that’s a sabre she’s holding.

[Widdershins]

Patti’s ghost story is a little different, as I used an urban legend scenario for the base, rather than a specific written work. So for fun, I framed this short as the episode transcript of a misfit ghost-hunting podcast.

As ever, editing and art credit to the wonderful Remnantation!

Notes: some minor swearing, references to alcohol, terrible jokes, and rampant silliness.