A sullied, fraught necromancer defies your death to hold you in his arms once more. But you know that this reunion must also be the last.
This Life Escapes Me is a visual novel about loss, guilt, obsession, and resolution. If you like broken men who abuse the laws of nature to prove that “love conquers all”, click the link below to play the game and read the epilogue fic:
He’s been through so much. Can’t you let him down easy?
for the past few years, perhaps as a way to appease the thousands of visual novel developers for the poor search abilities on Steam or perhaps to get more money from the thousands of porn games on the platform, Valve has hosted an annual Visual Novel Fest, a week-long event "promoting" visual novels on Steam. this event has always been questionably helpful to developers, but this year I believe takes the cake.
ALTcontext: I'm a visual novel developer. I also help other VN studios with steam stuff. so I interface with steam's backend and these sorts of things.
first off, the requirements. if we go to their publicly available steamworks documentation, we can see the eligibility requirements here:
ALTbasically:
makes sense, right? except some fantastic visual novels like of the Devil, Date Time, and others were rejected from the festival.
okay, so maybe they're being incredibly strict with their definition of a visual novel—
ALT
ALTas usual from previous years, some games that are wildly not visual novels are included in the festival. well, there's probably a thousand or so games in the festival, so some will always slip through the cracks, but at least the rest of the festival is alright, right?
the main tabs for the festival up top are:
every tab except for Free to Play and Upcoming only feature games that are for sale AND discounted. if your game is released and in the festival but not discounted, it is shown nowhere unless a steam user scrolls through the giant wall of "All" games (which is mostly filtered by popularity).
Free Demos? no, that only shows discounted games as well. (a lot of the games in this fest are daz 3d "visual novels")
well, at least there's an "Upcoming" tab to share visual novels that haven't been released, right? no. that big, main tab only has 1 widget - Popular Upcoming. for some reason, they didn't populate the tab with any other widgets like the others, which have sections for Horror, Otome, LGBT+, etc.
this also means that only 22 unreleased games are actually getting space in the entire festival.
now, there is one exception to this - if users scroll all the way down on any of the tabs, there's a "Browse Games" widget that lets them filter and see every game in the festival. but this is just the Steam search section, nothing groundbreaking.
but it does allows users to see all of the visual novels in the festival and not just the featured few - mine can only be seen if you do some filtering in this search section.
so this VN Fest has become nothing more than a VN Sale - I don't know why they don't just call it that. nowhere in the documentation did it say you have to discount games in order to be actually featured in it, and as usual indie devs are given the shortest end of the stick from Valve.
...all of this is to say....
35k+ visual novels on itchio!! can you imagine playing even half that many? and so many of them are free and made lovingly by sickos. go find some wonderfully weird or creatively romantic visual novels to play today.
also, Valve absolutely can make the festival banging, they absolutely can have tons of widgets and customization, they just don't. their festival platform allows for a wide range of widgets, filtering, featuring and more, which 3rd party festival organizers (festivals hosted by developers with Valve's permission) use to extraordinary lengths.
one example is the recently finished Storyteller's Festival, an annual festival ran by visual novel developers Two and a Half Studios focused on celebrating visual novels and other story-driven games. every year they have big sections focused on horror, romance, demos, upcoming games, and more (and most notably, aren't limited to just discounted games).
another example is the currently ongoing (until March 8th) Women's Day Sale, where they have lots of categories and featurings for all of the games present in the festival. their main tabs have a variety of genres, making it super easy for players to find games they may like.
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ALT(This is a crosspost from my Patreon. To see the rest of the free, accompanying art dump, click here.)
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Yes, this is technically my second End of Year Review post, as my first was back in 2022! If my posting records have anything to show for it, it’s clear that in 2023 I ended up engulfed in research and pushing for yet a few more collaborative projects until daylight hours grew shorter. At that point, mustering the energy for EOYR2023 was not in the cards for me, but there is nothing stopping me from returning to that time and speaking on last year as well.
This post aims to summarize both 2023 & 2024 in review, where I again address my progress in various aspects of both project development and personal development.
Massive dump incoming:
The focus was art concepts and game assets for a handful of collaborative visual novel projects, but not nearly as many as the year prior. Just as in 2022, I did not feel the desire to draw for myself when compared to the sense of obligation I had to deliver in other projects… until the middle of the year, when it returned! Arguably! But it seems the desire did not convert into much action until the year after.
In 2023, I made…
Anonymous asked:
hey dev is this blog active? i checked twitter and it's been deleted oh well i will just leave this here if you ever see it
i just read TLEM and wow wow wow
the art? the art!!! THE ART !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *punch a wall and kick in a door*
wish the vn was longer so i can say you didn't just tease with a taste before snatching the plate away
augh should i write an essay or just gush out???
the character design, the movements, Gad's eye being so bright in the dark, the fact that Gad looks menacing to the haunted corpse, the fact that his lover doesn't remember him yet try to offer consolation, like the beloved is literally comforting a stranger I'm fucking nauseous AND IMAGIN ASKING FOR COMFORT FROM THE DEAD AND THEY GIVE IT
" i loved you....once..."
by the way i had TLEM in my "play when the time is right" and i never read synopsis i just go in blind, and i always always thought Gad was a butch old warrior lady so i just yelled "it's a maaan???????!!!!" lmaoooooooooo
👋🏾 Hello! YES, this blog is alive! Or rather, I’m here, lol. I’ve traded out the imploding Twitter/X for a Bluesky account, if you have one and are interested in following! Though just like how I used Twitter, you’ll get more of my personal thoughts and tomfoolery alongside my art and general dev updates. Just a heads up if you consider that noise; my Tumblr posts and reblogging are more strict to visual novel development and dev peers in the VN space, respectively.
Auuuuuuugh, I’m so glad that the tiny project my team and I put together GRIPPED YOU! Aaaaah! It means the world to us to hear how! 🥹 I’ve been working on a prequel to TLEM for some time now in between other collabs and gigs, and I hope to return to going full steam ahead on its development in the next month or two. The prequel will be a much longer, more involved work, so if you like following monthly progress reports, stay tuned for new devlogs about “The Corpse Lieutenant” on any of my social accounts.
😂 Ok, you’re not the first person to think Gad was a rugged grandma, if you can believe it. It’s a rare thought (as far as I know)! But I’m not even mad, like what a straight up dope thing to think he was, lol
Thank you so much for reaching out! Enthusiastic messages like yours really motivate us small creators to continue sharing our voice! 🙏🏾
"The Beauty which only Beast knows" Demo released and we can finally show off this promo art and logo made by @coda-blue!
If you like Chinese Fantasy-inspired settings and a retelling of a classic Fairy Tale, do try the demo and leave your thoughts!
Due time constraints couldn't post as much as planned, but more news will come this January! Super pecial thanks to my team and my co-lead @pumpkin-spike18!
yeah so I read a shitton of visual novels this month for our annual Halloween game jam and I compiled a bunch of advice from pitfalls I saw over and over again. enjoy!
I was a judge with fellow dev Arimia on the DevTalk 5th Annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam. And I also played 100 games in under a month. 🥴 And some of my advice is quoted in this article!
Read it for dev advice and some choice examples from this year’s competition, and then go play your heart out with over 200 exciting (and mostly free) entries on Itch! 😈✌🏾
I revamped my writing samples doc! You wouldn’t know it because it’s not posted anywhere unless you utter the magic words “paid writing role”, whereupon it manifests in your inbox.
So I’m gonna post it. In like. An About page on this blog. Once I figure out how to make and structure a decent About page. I spent all this time digging through the Inspect panel like a Level 2 Hacker to customize my blog’s CSS from scratch, so it better apply to a second page.
(This is a crosspost from my Patreon. To explore more, click here.)
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Belladonna’s Flight — A demo is RELEASED! Belladonna’s Flight by Night Asobu is a poison-dealing fantasy romance, inspired by the historic case of an uncovered poisoner network in 17th century Paris, France. Made for both the Otome Jam and newly-formed sister jam, Josei Jam, Belladonna’s Flight takes place in the fictional French city of Solroy, where you follow Catherine Auclair, a witch who makes her living selling lethal wares under the table. But once word lets out that the law is coming to execute every last one of her criminal ilk, Catherine has to call upon untrustworthy business rivals to try and work out a safe escape. Will her wit and wiles help her succeed, or will she get what’s coming to her in a fateful betrayal?
I voice Marie Chaligault, a sharp-tongued fortune teller and potential love interest who keeps in the good graces of her noblesse clientele. I had a blast during the live sessions in bickering and boasting as Marie with my fellow voice talent, so I hope you enjoy it too! And hey: no matter who your favorite character is, Belladonna’s Flight is continuing development! So be sure to keep up with Night Asobu, as you’ll hear more from us moving forward! Until then, please play, rate, and share the demo!
Hello Counsel — Version 1 is RELEASED! Created by miseri accordion for Otome/Josei Jam, Hello Counsel is a short romcom visual novel that follows criminal sensation, Poise, who just got arrested! She’s not talking to the cops unless her lawyer (and boyfriend) Salem is present, but when he swings by, can she keep herself from flirting too much and distracting him from giving good counsel?
I was the Character Artist for this visual novel! I was in love with the premise and the character refs presented in miseri’s recruitment document, and I also I hadn’t drawn character sprites for a published game in a good while. This ended up being a great opportunity for me to flex my ol’ drawing muscles, in a more expressive and cartoonish style than my darker personal projects allow. I love the outrageous world and petty banter of this story, so this was honestly a breath of fresh air for me, style-wise. Please go play, rate, and share the game!
I push myself in my roles if it means in the end, I produce something that I am proud of. But as I don’t constantly produce a specific style of product, I tend to overestimate how much work I can get done in, say, an hour. It’s interesting to me because these are specialty skills that have taken years for me to train and cultivate, so what I personally can get done in an hour has all that history behind it, compared to someone else who may be much earlier in their own journey. Yet still I feel… slow. But I’m not sure if I’m “slow” so much as I’m underestimating my average output for a work I deliberately intend to look, read, or sound a certain level of polished. At the end of the day, I need to have more realistic—or perhaps, forgiving—expectations for myself. I also need to permit myself to be able to make certain executive decisions in the creative process that speed up the process because of my years of experience already informing my judgements. I trust myself to find that balance, and this latest jam experience has been a great help in reminding me of my strengths and points of which I ought to improve.
Thank you for reading! If you dig my stuff and where I’m headed, don’t be afraid to show your support by sharing this post, interacting, or sending a tip my way.
I'm holding a short, anonymous survey for visual novel developers to see what social media sites they're currently using and how Twitter changes have affected them.
the results will be compiled onto my blog as well as another post here.
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ALTThere's still time for us to make it to 100%, and we'd love to see you amongst our backers 💖
Of Sense and Soul: A Queer Victorian Romance Game
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kianamaiart
HOOO BOY IM OVERWHELMED
In a good way! Thank you all for watching and for all the kind words and support. I was very much crying in my room this morning and feeling the love.
I especially wanna thank all of you here on tumblr! All your asks and questions and investment got ME more invested in my own characters. Like in a way I’ve never felt about my own characters.
But yeah there’s too many messages for me to get to so im probably gonna take a little break today but gaaaah I hope you enjoyed!! I’ll try to sporadically reply to stuff but my phone’s blowing up everywhere hahahaha
Also HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!! Our stories deserve to be heard and we should be able to exist in ANY genre. I hope this pilot shows that people wanna see Black magical girls and I hope to see more of it, even if im not the one to do it~
