Crimson Gray Preview (Patreon)

EDIT: Links have been sent out! If your card had an issue at the time and you haven't received it, just message me. Meanwhile, check the bottom of this post for new questions after you've played.

Time for another project preview! This one is actually mostly done and you guys will get a chance to play it before too long. More about that and possible future routes for this game at the end. For now, here's my begrudging effort at promotional text:

Preview 

Crimson Gray is an adult visual novel about a young woman who's crazy  for love. Clinically insane for it, as a matter of fact. All she wants  is to be together with a boy in her class who suffers from severe depression. She's willing to do whatever it takes to make him happy,  including murdering everyone in school.

Will he reject her or succumb to his depression? Will she lose control and ruin  her chances? Or... could the two of them actually be exactly what the  other needs? Depending on your choices, their relationship will end in  tragedy, violence, or just maybe happiness.

Crimson Gray is a psychological thriller, exploring the psyches of the  characters and the strange circumstances that brought them together. It  has a focus on subtle actions having consequences, your choices impacting the characters' mental stability in ways that could make choices down the line have very different results. The adult elements are one aspect of this, but not the core focus. 

Lizzie has multiple poses and many expressions to convey a wide  variety of different emotions, which you'll have to navigate during the  game. The backgrounds are also part of the game's core themes: John sees the  world in black and white to represent his depression, and the world  becomes increasingly unfocused when he succumbs to it.

Art for the visual novel has been done by the talented Redd. You've already seen her work on the Qum art  several weeks ago.

Thoughts

This is my effort to do something a little different. Visual novels are nothing new, of course, but this is my take on a number of things. Those of you who who support me as a creator, thank you! Even if this isn't exactly your cup of tea, I hope you'll enjoy the large block of content in between releases. Even if you only care about TLS, pay attention to the artists for these side projects.

My plan is to message a beta version of the game out to supporters this weekend. It's awkward that this is happening when the month changes over and some people have to reduce their pledges, but the core releases were priority for me and so this got delayed. If you've reduced your pledge for June, just message me and I will grandfather you in for this one!

Beyond that, though, the future of this game is an open question. I think it was a fun project and at minimum I will be releasing it in the current (completed) form. However, as I discussed last update, I think this project would be a good candidate for some improvements and a potential crowdfunding campaign.

This weekend, I'll send links and then we can use this post to discuss a variety of things.  For right now, please let me know what you think of the premise and art! Would this make you interested in the game? Questions, comments, or suggestions?

Questions/Feedback

1) How long did the game take you to finish? Please answer both for a single playthrough and for multiple if you went for all the endings.

2) What were your thoughts in general? Though you can see that I'm going for something specific with this game, I'm always open to feedback. Also note any bugs or oddities you encountered.

3) One thing I want to improve in the game is to add more small sound effects to help sell various parts. Did you note any places where footsteps, breaking glass, or other sound effects would help?

4) How did you feel about the art of the game? Again, artists on side projects are people I'm considering working with on other things, including potentially TLS.

5) As I mentioned, patrons on your tier will receive the final version of the game as well. But hypothetically, would a crowdfunding campaign for this project be the kind of thing you'd think worthy of support? Do you think it's a good idea for this game?

6) What do you think of the idea of making a SFW version of this game? The NSFW version would be the main one, of course, but I think this story might have broader appeal.

7) Do you have thoughts about how to pitch this game now that you've played it? I'm afraid I've failed to capture the essence of its intended appeal in my promotional text so far.

Okay, I know I just dumped several hours of content on you, so no rush, but I look forward to responses! Good or bad, I would like to know what you think!