STUDIO DMM786

On the day of her 18th birthday, Eira receives a mysterious VHS tape. What she hears on it pulls her into a collapsing world of family secrets, buried memories, and a truth her parents never meant her to uncover.

Eira’s life spirals out of control as she comes to learn how her family’s story ties to a serial killer who once terrorised her hometown

Deeper she listens, the more reality fractures...

I finally got around to getting a ballpark figure on the amount of sprites needed for the base visual novel (i say base since im not including the additional stories in that number). This was one of the biggest hurdles towards making the pre-launch page since I need to figure out a preliminary funding goal.

Today, I worked a bit more of the story. I already have a few ideas for how the story can end with three key endings in mind, but I was toying more with what would be the actual end, and how to make it unique and yet satisfying. One idea I toyed with is based on the two characters in the sketch, they'll be touched upon in the demo but if I decide so, more will be heard through the full-length visual novel. Be sure to follow to learn the relevance of the rabbitman and the girl accompanying him.

I've been blessed with this illustration of my persona with some of my visual novel characters + messages from them all on the poster cards. Credits to Erueki (X/Insta/VGen)

Today, I completed work on that one character sprite list I mentioned yesterday. I also watched the Zombieland Saga movie today, it was super hilarious with a crazy story that I never expected based on the first two seasons. This is the kinda movie that gets you to think that there's no such thing as a concept too crazy to be realised, and that's something I've believed since making my previous visual novels and will continue to believe with future works. So let this be your warning before I knock your socks off, gnaw away at them, then place those saliva-laden pairs right back on ya

Another one of the rewards for the Kickstarter that I'm thinking of, and is among the rewards I'm most certain I'll do, is an art book. It'll have the usual stuff you'd expect like preliminary sketches, the different initial design choices, and the details behind the decisions as well as some proprietary ideas which cannot be revealed. Spent a part of today sorting out some of the initial sketches for the art book from the first looks I've received from my artists. The character sprite asset list is coming along finely, there's only four characters left to do but there's one main character among those who will likely take up a large amount of time trying to sort out. That pre-launch page is coming closer and closer to completion.

Due to most of the important choices happening outside of the demo, I decided to add a few more to the demo to keep it engaging. I also thought of one that might have an impact that doesn't show up until later in the story. I also received some of the audio commissions that I requested since I wasn't able to find specific sound effects that I wanted or found them but needed them to be edited slightly. This might have a big influence on how the story is told, so I might need an audio engineer or something similar for the full VN. And lastly, I have received a first look at one of the kickstarter rewards, but I cant reveal what it is. So consider checking out the pre-launch page when it launches.

Worked on the Kickstarter pre-launch today as well as some of the story beyond the end of the demo. I have a bunch of ideas for what can happen beyond its end, such as more choices as well as scenes that add depth to the story.

The picture here is one of the character sprites, it's inspired by an anime trope where characters stress out and their eyes fog over. Hope you like it ✌️

I've been something who has been against censorship in media, especially in instances where it can detract from it. And something one of my playtesters has made me aware of is that the opposite can be true: for some people, the lack of censorship can break the immersion. So in light of this, I've decided to make a setting for toggling the censorship within the demo and potentially in the full visual novel.

Received the initial look at the Kickstarter poster reward, I wanted to make something similar to a movie poster as well as fitting with the analog tech theme, so the background of the poster contains scanlines + I'm thinking of giving Eira red pupils like in photographs + reflections of certain scenes or characters in the broken shards of glass. Let me know what you think, whether you have suggestions for the final version.

Today, more progress has been made on the sprite list for the visual novel so I can get an accurate funding goal for the Kickstarter. I've also been looking into how to make the demo playable on browser, specifically being careful to make sure all the content is supported so it can be viewed on browser. Lastly, I've been receiving a stream of updates on the tentative Kickstarter rewards and they're looking great.

Enjoy the little argument between Eira and Elsie as they tell each other to go die, but Elsie saying it in hiragana to show her childishness

Worked on making the visual novel demo playable on browser today, I didn't want to have to make people download it since this makes it so much easier to access. It's like the CIA with the crack epidemic: the best method is to make it easier to access.

As you can see in the video, I made an animation using sprites from the demo, you can really tell they're best friends based on how Elsie knows how to press Eira's buttons. I'm gonna continue to work on the visual novel demo alongside the Kickstarter, mixing up what I get up to so I don't burn out.

This is another reward poster for one of the lower Kickstarter tiers for the visual novel: the idea behind the sketch is Eira tripping over and a bunch of plushies resembling the other visual novel characters are spilling out of her arms. It's inspired by one of my favourite artists, Shintaro Kago, although their version had stuff spilling out of a cracked open head.

So far, today was spent sorting out the assets list, particularly on the character art side for an accurate funding goal. I wonder if this is the way people normally do it or if they do an estimation. Until the next update, let this cute art keep your mood up.

Thank you for the continued support, because we have finally reached the last of the character designs for the character profiles. Lyndon is a homebody, working from home so I gave him a tracksuit since no-one cares how you dress when you're WFH. I wanted him to have a cool face so I took inspiration from this picture of Sukuna and some other characters. And please, don't pick on how he kinda looks like Deku with the blue tracksuit and red shoes combo. This is completely different.