the haunting of brushfire lane

hello again everyone! i am so sorry for how long it’s been since i’ve updated - a bunch of life stuff happened, which is why i’ve been gone for so long, and i’ll elaborate later in this post but suffice to say for now i’m back and i’m planning on posting biweekly devlogs to show progress on this! 

i am still really invested in telling this story, so no worries on that front! i hope to be able to have a demo out by the end of the year, but that’s not a hard deadline. it could be later, but it could also be much sooner! it all depends on how much time i get to work on it.

here’s where i am game-wise: over a year after i started working on it, i’m finally almost done with the outline of game mechanics and the story. all i have left to write is the finale, at this point, and then i can start actually scripting. i have the base character sprites done for 4/5 main characters, too, three of which you can see above, and have to do emotions for them and sprites for around ten other characters. 

here’s where i am, personally (tune out here if you’re not interested): i started college! it’s fun and it’s scary and it’s a lot of work, hence the long break between updates. i also spilled tea all over my laptop back in october and lost almost all of the art i’d done, which led to me getting really frustrated whenever i’d look at it for a while. i’m back now and, as you can see above, have been reworking all my sprites! i’ve got a new style and i’m honestly way happier with these than i was with the old ones anyway. 

thank you so much for sticking with me through all this! the haunting of brushfire lane has been my pet project for the past year and a half now and i can’t wait to get to share more of it with everyone. 

THANK YOU!

as a thank you for reaching 200 followers, i’ve uploaded a pair of pages detailing portions of the lore for brushfire lane. here is a page on how magical ability works in-universe, and here is one about the hierarchy and existence of the fey folk. you guys are awesome <3

wow you guys!! 200 followers - that’s incredible! expect something cool within the next few days. 

wow, guys <3 we just hit 100 followers?? i almost can’t even believe it, thank you so much! in honor of that here’s some concept doodles for a few minor characters - this is pepper and jade, a couple freshman kids who indigo can talk to at a certain point depending on her choices. 

here are some of my early concept sketches for indigo (ft. a very old and very out-of-date clem)! her jacket was originally going to be more detailed, but it felt too busy, so i scrapped that. fun fact: she used to have glasses!

my name is soma hannon and i’m making a game! it’s called the haunting of brushfire lane and it’s a visual novel set in the 1980s about loss, magic, technology, and the power of asking for help! it features:

- INDIGO TALBOT: our protagonist, who’s just trying to cope and who makes some pretty rough choices. she’s the player character! that’s her in my sidebar.

- YELLOW MARIANA: indigo’s girlfriend. she’s been dead for a week, but she doesn’t have to stay that way.

- OLIVE CHOI: close friend of indigo’s - a korean teenager skilled in equal parts at necromancy and working with her hands.

- RUBY ALVAREZ: a punk-rocker girl who likes burning things, being gay, and doing crimes.

- CLEMENTINE ANAND: the sweetheart childhood best friend of indigo’s whose magic specializes in speaking to spirits.

there’s gay love, existential optimism, and found family! there’s choices! there are consequences to the choices you make! we’re tentatively looking at NINE-ish ENDINGS, and a release date between december of this year and march of next - i’ll try to have it out sooner rather than later, but it IS just me.