Crimson Gray Released! (Patreon)

It's finally out! Some of you have already heard about this, if not helped beta test it, but for some of you this will be the first time. So, let me formally introduce Crimson Gray!

A synopsis some of you have read is below, but none of you have seen the trailer, so feel free to take a look!

https://youtu.be/FGnOLbI2et8 

Synopsis

John is a young man suffering from severe depression. As he loses his sense of purpose in life, he begins to see the world in unfocused gray. Just when he begins to lose all hope, John meets a girl... a very special girl.

Though Lizzie appears affectionate and devoted, it quickly becomes clear that she's so violent and unstable that a normal boy would run away from her. But when John sees her, he sees someone else suffering from a mental condition. John is willing to risk his safety for a chance to help Lizzie gain some mental stability. Lizzie is willing to murder everyone in school if she believes it would make him happy.

Your every choice will impact both characters' mental states, changing their fate. John might reject Lizzie, succumb to his depression, or die violently. Lizzie might lose control and ruin her chances, or become obsessed with shadowy conspiracies that may or may not exist. Or just maybe the two of them might be exactly what the other needs, and their story could end in 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. 

Release Info 

For the first two weeks, the game is only available on Nutaku. I think this is a good deal to take, because they provide promotion to a large audience in return for no permanent cut of profits. You can see the store page here:

https://www.nutaku.net/games/download/crimson-gray/ 

Ouroboros managed to hit the #1 bestseller spot on Nutaku and held it for a little while, but the platform has a lot more games now, so the competition will be fiercer this time. Fingers crossed. >.<

After two weeks have elapsed, I'll be putting the game up on other stores, most notably Steam! As per Steam regulations, I have to put up a "coming soon" page, you can see it here:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/655770/Crimson_Gray/ 

The Steam version will be SFW with a NSFW patch provided. I can't get into details because I'm under an NDA, but my understanding is that this is acceptable under Steam's policies.

Feedback on the page is welcome, because I have been avoiding doing more work on PR. Good to get things in order for the main release, though. Feel free to participate in the community/comments if anything ever gets posted there.

Free Patron Copies

As always, let me emphasize that my goal with side projects is to explore new ideas, not to get more money from patrons. If you're a $10 backer, you'll be receiving a copy of the final version shortly. If you backed in the previous months, you won't get a copy automatically, but message me and I'll send you one! The same applies to people who had to drop for financial reasons, people who have been $5 supporters for a long time, etc. Generally speaking, if you have supported me as a creator, message me and I'll be happy to give you free copies of things!

In addition, I should be able to give out free Steam keys to anyone who wants them. All I ask is that, if I give you a free key, you don't review the game. The Steam review system prevents this from affecting the review score and it can actually make a game look suspicious. If you have your own review site or aspirations of being a curator, though, I'd be very grateful! This game has a much less NSFW focus, so I hope it will be able to reach an audience who might like my work but would be turned away by the adult aspects. 

I know some of you reading don't want to give any money via Patreon, and in that case, I encourage you to use whatever store you think is best. How well things do in between all the different stores affects how I and other adult creators make decisions, so support the kinds of sites/policies you want to see more of.

Press Coverage 

Feels funny to write that, but there are a few articles up. Some are just the Nutaku press release, but some actually wrote content of their own! Feel free to check them out:

https://techraptor.net/content/new-unconventional-adult-vn-crimson-gray-releasing-soon 

http://www.oneangrygamer.net/2017/06/crimson-gray-uncensored-visual-novel-thriller-lands-on-nutaku/34036/ 

https://www.gamingcypher.com/nutaku-launches-hair-raising-new-visual-novel-crimson-gray/ 

http://thegg.net/press-releases/nutaku-has-launched-their-new-erotic-visual-novel-crimson-ray/ 

https://www.lewdgamer.com/2017/06/29/crimson-gray-release-nutaku/ 

I may update this post if other things come up.