Let's talk about Nicole

Who is Nicole? is the main character of my new mystery otome game that will be out... "soon" (probably after the summer though).

I know that during the past... 6 months? Loren has monopolized my blog and forums, and even if I wasn't able to advance the other projects as I hoped, some of them made good progresses, such as Nicole (the game will be very likely called just that "Nicole").

How Nicole looks like? she's pretty cute I think, check below:

As you can see, this time I decided to have lots of options, both in hair style and clothes. She has more clothes and hair styles than those showed above.

Nicole studies law and she just entered college. However, as soon as she arrives, she discovers something. An excerpt from the game story will explain better than my words:

    "This is going to be wonderful...exactly what I needed! A prestigious university like this will be perfect for me to study at."
    "I sat down on the bed and reached for the bag that contained my netbook. It didn’t take long to get it connected to the college’s internet and I clicked around to see what kind of local websites I would want to have bookmarked."
    "I clicked a link to the local newspaper, humming cheerfully as I saved the page. I scrolled down, my eyes zipping across the headlines quickly. One in particular caught my attention."
    Nicole "Multiple disappearances...? Could it just be some kind of rumor?"
    "I frowned slightly when I saw it and leaned forward as I clicked to read the full article."
    "My eyes widened when I read more of the article. Some of the worries I carried with me onto the campus lurked around in the back of my mind as I continued reading, my frown deepening with each line. The writer of the article looked credible, as did the information it contained."
    "Three disappearances...why would so many students just want to leave so suddenly? Or is there more to it than that...?  I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about it before...but I suppose they do their best to keep this sort of thing quiet."
    "And these journalists all try to use scare tactics. If it was too bad, they wouldn’t be able to conduct the classes normally like they do now."
    "Still...this isn’t a very reassuring thing to read on my first day..."
    "While simply learning that there had been numerous disappearances was an unpleasant thought, the chilling closing of the article was what stuck with me the most."
    Nicole "And they were never found..."
    "I pushed my netbook aside and wrapped my arms around myself as I shook my head quickly."
    Nicole "Well, it shouldn’t be anything that I have to worry about...I’m here to learn. I just have to be careful...people disappear all the time."
    "It’ll all be alright. I just have to find my ways to the classes and everything will run smoothly from there."
    "But..."
    "Maybe the people here won’t be exactly what I was hoping for..."

So, while it won't be a horror game, it will have a bit of suspense. It will still be a family friendly game though!

What about the other characters? Here's Chandra, Nicole's roommate:

She is friendly, and she's one of the best cheerleader. Her goal is to dual major in education and athletics so she can become a cheer leading coach. But perhaps she's hiding something...

Lastly, there are 3 more male characters that you can meet and date. However for now I'll introduce only Ted:

He works in a convenience store near the campus. His father is a police officer, and wanted him to major in law, but he is also working to raise money for his studies. Later in the game, thanks to Chandra you'll discover some rumours about him and his father...

Being a mystery game, I cannot go too much in details, so will keep the characters introductions quite short, since there are many hidden secrets beyond the surface ;)

Winter In Fairbrook beta is out!

As those who follows me and Sakevisual on twitter already know, Winter In Fairbrook beta was released about two weeks ago.

You can find out more about the game and download the beta version on the game official page: http://www.winterwolves.com/winterinfairbrook.htm

You can also pre-order the game if you want to buy it - the game is already quite stable, and a few minor bugs/typos were already fixed in those two days thanks to the wonderful feedback of some early purchasers. Thanks again for all the help, it will let us make better games! :)

While I didn't set a specific date for the final release I don't think there's much more to wait, probably a week maximum to check that there are no more typos/bugs, but that's it. And don't worry, this time I learned from my previous games and made the game much easier than Always Remember Me (though the last version of that game is a bit easier as well)!

The making of Winter In Fairbrook

It was a pleasure to work with Ayu Sakata and Beatriz García in the first title, who initially was simply called "The Flower Shop", but later we used "Summer In Fairbrook" to differentiate between it and the sequel.

The game was very well received back in January/February 2010 (seems so long ago to me!) and so when in the Summer 2010 I read on twitter that Beatriz García was out of work for the month of July, I immediately asked her if was interested in doing the art for the sequel (it was kind of a rhetorical question since she repeatedly said she would love to work on another game with that setting). This time though, we decided to have a female main character, Natalie. Even if the game can be played as stand-alone, it shares many characters and continues some plots from the first title so... the best is to play both! ;)

So I was saying, during July 2010, the art production of Winter In Fairbrook started. If I remember correctly, I got all the art finished around December/January. Beatriz García had some personal issues, so she didn't work as fast as she is doing recently. And then was the turn of Ayu to have bad luck! While coming back from a convention in June had a car accident, and other various real-life issues.

I'm not saying this to criticize them, not at all (they're both my friends), but to show to everybody who thinks that making a visual novel / dating sim (or any indie game for that matter) is really simple and quick how it is in reality. Unfortunately, bad stuff happens and it can really delay a game release considerably. I can say we wanted to get the game out by the Summer, but for a reason or another it wasn't ready until now!!

We're sorry for the delay, but I hope you'll think it was worth the wait! Personally I love the setting, the art, the writing, and the general mood of the game. The ending romance scenes are really cute and full of good feelings.

I can say that it's really the perfect title to play during Winter and Christmas Holidays, so if you're thinking about an original gift for someone... think about this :)