Conway v.01 ( Public Release ) (Patreon)

Phew!

My friends of the sun, 

it is done! Well, "done" in the sense that it is the very first release in what (if it all goes well) will probably be a multi-year project.

You had the super duper rough version a few weeks ago, and this is that, plus a bunch extra.
It includes the entire first day, perhaps not fully polished to perfection, as I'm sure it might get tweaked as things go along, but touched up enough to where I can at least say I did my best for now with what I had available.

I've gotten more used to the programming and implementing more choices, so especially once the dinner hits the routes include more options with minor or more significant impacts on what happens. Don't expect the world, of course, we're still only at a little over 20k words, but it certainly has more than the other version had.

But, yes. God, I mentioned it in Discord already, but this really has been one of the most fun and at the same time terrifying project I've sat down with. Writing is absolutely gut-wrenching because it really just is...out there.
I can't just plop out a picture and go "Well you think up what this means" (because someone's imagination always beats the boring reality) because everything's just bloody spelled out right there.

Are the characters bland?  Do they make sense? Are they likable enough for people to be interested in the first place but not revealing too much simultaneously?
There's just no place to hide, and that's bloody scary.

So I hope against hope that there is something here (Don't mind the crippling anxiety in the corner). Something worthwhile. Because as mentioned above, the other side of the coin is that it has been just so goddamn fun.
Art is fun, of course, and I really enjoy what I'm doing. But there is something about building this. Building something grander with interlocking parts that really make it make so much more satisfying. And sure, perhaps that is the new-car smell, but what the heck, I'll take it.

These characters (well, Nomax and Rajeeyah initially) always in my mind were supposed be used for some storytelling. However, it just never panned out. I tried some stories here and there, but it never quite felt right. I tried my hands at comics, but comics are really bloody difficult. To work with frames in such a unique manner, and of course to have a style to be fast enough to execute on multiple panels on a page without putting your readers to sleep because months pass? Magic.

The visual novel format just appeared like a good middle ground. I still get to make use of what I do best, namely art, while also getting to do some writing and explore stories. Now I don't purport myself to be an amazing writer, but I hope that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts here and I hope you will enjoy it.


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Tomorrow I will make a more detailed post about what this (potentially) means for this Patreon and the plans for the future.
For the near future I expect not a whole lot? It's not like with art where commissions basically fund the art that gets made. If this project is going to be successful it would need to be a Patreon-only thing and currently, I am not nearly at the point where that is possible.
So it will be a lot of waiting and seeing what the actual public response is outside of Patreon, but we'll see. Like I said I really hope that there is something here, and I'm not in a situation where this needs to get shuttered.

So yeah. I know none of you really came to because of some Visual Novel project, but I hope you are willing to give it a shot? I mean it'll Include art naturally, so plenty of that will still be made, but yeah, I really hope you'll come along for this experiment and I'll let you know all the details tomorrow.

(Of course, the game is attached below, pick your system and download away.)