Winter In Fairbrook is finally released! And fan art contest!

In the picture above,my cat Gilda in the snow. It's a picture of last year, since there's still no snow here!

As you probably know if you follow me on Twitter / Facebook, or are subscribed to my newsletter, the final version of Winter In Fairbrook is out, just in time for Christmas!

If you haven't played the first title yet, you can now get both for 15% off. For more info check the Flower Shop series page.

I also need to update the first title to online activation and new Ren'Py, and probably make it easier too since is much harder compared to Winter In Fairbrook.

Meanwhile, the other games in production are making good progress:

Loren Amazon Princess RPG

The plot is still being written, but I'm happy to say that counting the expansion, it will be the longest game I've ever made, even longer than Planet Stronghold. Also there are a lot of romance options, for all tastes. The only thing that concerns me right now is the battle system. I have asked the coder to make a 8 vs 8 battle. However, I'm thinking that might be too hard/confusing or simply the battles could last too long, so following the coder's suggestion I might drop the number to 6 vs 6 maximum, which should already offer a good variety in the battles.

In practice I'm wondering if the battle isn't too much "for the hardcore RPG fans" than the occasional RPG players. I have to say though that even Planet Stronghold was supposed to be a light-RPG, a visual novel with RPG elements but then quickly evolved into a full JRPG and people seemed to like it.

I guess the moment of truth will be when I'll publicly release the Alpha Version, with some battle examples, so I'll be able to get feedback on it and see people's reactions.

The Queen Of Thieves

I got more art finished, below you see Arianna, also know as The Queen Of Thieves! Yes she is the mother of the three sisters Joanne, Kira and Thalia, the main characters of the game.

Artist is working on the various kiss scenes for the romance subplots, and then will do the introduction which will be in the form of short comic. I have yet to code all the gameplay but I think I have some good ideas for it, and I'm eager to start prototyping something to see if they're good or not! :)

Draw fan art and win a free game! Facebook contest

I've setup a new contest in my Facebook page. I'm giving away three coupons to get a free game to the top 3 entries. What you need to do? Draw fan art of any characters from my games (including Winter Wolves and Tycoon Games) and submit it to the contest application on Facebook.

There's a voting system, so the three most popular fan art images will win a free game coupon! The contest will end the 25th December 2011, unless the amount of entries is too low (for example below 10) in that case I'll extend the deadline by some more weeks.

Four new games in progress!

In the image above, my cat "Micia" back in 2002. She was living with my parents now, and she died last week, at 15 years old. It's kind of sad since she was the first cat I rescued and officially adopted. I want to remember Micia with that funny picture of her in the bath tub :)

Now, speaking about my games, some interesting news:

First of all, I updated both Vera Blanc games, added a new "visual novel mode" (that eliminates the need to solve the minigames) and put on sale until Sunday for 4.99 each. So if you haven't already, check the demos here:

http://www.winterwolves.com/verablanc.htm

Four new projects!

I've started 4 new games. Yes, four! I'm crazy, I know. But as you know I'm now using external writers, so I'm "only" writing the scenes and doing the games storyboard. Obviously I won't release all those games this year, also because I expect some of those writers to quit/disappear halfway, like usually happens...
Of those 4, only one has already some art ready and is the Queen Of Thieves game, which will be a fantasy RPG/lifesim (though I have yet to think about the gameplay in detail).
The other 3 are: "The Hospital" a horror game, "Amber's Magic Shop" another fantasy lifesim/potion making game with both good/bad endings, and "Roommates" a more light themed game with college settings.

All the game titles are temporary names which might change.

The Queen Of Thieves game

Is being rewritten by another person, which hopefully won't disappear from one day to another. I am sorry for previous writer since she was doing a good job, but I can't keep chasing everyone, especially if they don't email for 2 months ^_^;

I want to push this game hard since as I said is the one where I have most of the art done (still need to be finished though) and it could be one of my next games to be released, alongside with Loren and Planet Stronghold: Warzone.

Amber's Magic Shop game

As you have noticed, recently I released mostly light-themed games and all of them had happy endings. While I like them of course, I also like games that offers sad/bad endings. Sometimes, a bittersweet ending or even a sad ending can be more rewarding (story-wise) than the more "classic" happy endings.

So in the fantasy life/potion sim game I'm writing right now, I'll have bad endings, since the overall game setting is dark fantasy. I wanted to try with one game to see how the public would react, since honestly I'm a bit tired of writing only happy ending games! Besides, there will be happy ending even in this game, alongside with the sad ones.

The Hospital game

This is a kind of an experiment, I admit it. I have absolutely no clue how a horror VN game can sell. It will be probably shorter (and so cheaper) than my other games, and still have some romance options as well, but obviously quite different from my other light-themed games. The game starts and you wake up in a hospital bed, with no memories of who your are...

(I know, not the most original start, but the rest of the story I think it will be!)

The Roommates game

I got lots of feedback from people who wanted a game with college/light setting. I am designing one right now, which will include both male and female main character. So you'll be able to play it as GxB, GxG or BxG, BxB. In practice, all relationship tastes included!

 

Loren RPG framework status

We made lots of progresses this month so far. Right now, we're waiting for some new icons/UI for the equipment screen and then we'll be able to post a public alpha preview, which will be very useful to find some possible nasty hidden bugs. I tested the battle a lot, but I only recently added many new items, and I also want to start creating some new enemies, so is likely that some bugs could pop-up.

In the image above you can see the equipment screen mockup, which obviously is not final but just a work-in-progress.

Obviously my other games like Heileen 3 and Planet Stronghold: Warzone are progressing as well, with the former getting lots of the 100-scenes done, and the latter almost all the romance CGs finished.

Fantasy or reality?

In the image above, my dog Artù (italian name for Arthur) watching my dwarf rabbit Cleo in the garden.

As those who follows me on twitter might know, I'm currently writing the scenes for Heileen 3. Initially I did a lot of research, since it's based on the pirates of the Caribbean, however I quickly realized that trying to keep it historically accurate was too much pain. And not just that, but it would have also been less fun to play for the users! So, I am just going to use that as "setting/background" but everything will be pure fantasy (for example Morgan the pirate was definitely not a kind man, and cats don't talk!!).

There's a reason why I (and I suspect many other writers) prefer to write fantasy stories. Be it classic swords & sorcery, or science-fiction, with a fantasy world as long as you plan it out beforehand, there aren't problem of inaccuracies, mistakes, wrong dates, and so on. Let me tell you, it's really MUCH MUCH easier! :)

However, I also like stories with a historical background setting, and a simple solution is to mix the fantasy with reality. In Always Remember Me, the story is set in a "unnamed warm town", like could be San Francisco, but there's no reference at all to real names or real events. In Flower Shop all the story takes place on "Fairbrook", a fantasy town somewhere in California, and so on.

There was a game I wanted to release by Halloween, but of course I won't make it in time (I didn't even start it!), which is a horror/mystery/otome game but will take place mostly in a hospital. The town could be any town in USA, and the equipment is modern, but ... there will be definitely some fantasy elements! ;)

And now a quick summary of the work-in-progress... progresses!

Heileen 3: New Horizons

That's what I'm mainly working on right now, even if the game will be out next year because the artist Rebecca can only work starting from January (except a few days in November but surely won't be enough to finish all the art!).

However, I like how the story is coming out so far, the gameplay system seems fun too (similar to Spirited Heart but with some changes) and we're also planning to have some mini-animations for each of the 14 activities! Though this mainly depends how long will take to draw the 14 different job endings, and the  6 romance endings CG (4 heterosex and 2 homosex).

Planet Stronghold: Warzone

Artist resumed working after a summer break, and currently has finished 2 romance CG scenes out of 8! There's a new team member called Milo, and a new NPC called Lakadema which is an alien with incredible powers but also very shy and fragile. You can see the images below (Lakadema image is not yet final):

See the full gallery on Posterous

As always I don't have any estimate, but considering I haven't finished writing any scene yet, for sure the game won't be out this year. Yes, RPGs take A LOT of time to make!

Loren The Amazon Princess

The plot writing is going forward steadly, we're at beginning of chapter3, and the game consist of four chapter so the end is on sight. Of course, I'm only talking about the end of the main plot, there is still the expansion to write (which I think will be around 1/3 of the main game length).

The battle system is at good point too but still need more accurate testing and probably also balancing. And all the enemies needs still to be created (have the art, but didn't plan their skills yet).

Below you can see the commander of the Amazon army Breza and the infamous witch hunter Raven (available only in the expansion).

See the full gallery on Posterous

That's all for this week!

Winter is coming next week!

See the full gallery on Posterous

At least the pre-orders! No I didn't went insane because of excessive work (even if it's not a remote possibility after all!). I'm talking obviously about The Flower Shop: Winter In Fairbrook, which we're currently testing and polishing. I know in the past I posted the game will be out soon, but this time is really soon. Before starting with pre-orders there are only minor things to do, like adding sprites and some backgrounds but all the assets are ready. So we only need a bit more time to put everything in the right place and test it so that every ending can be reached.

As always, follow my twitter / blog / facebook / google plus for the early announcements! For those who yet haven't played the first game, during this weekend we're running an amazing promotion: the first title, Flower Shop: Summer In Fairbrook will be available for only $9.99 ! Spread the word and if you haven't already, buy the game and play it to get introduced to Fairbrook and its people!

Other news...

Queen of Thieves art is also progressing really well, below you can see Kira, the Warrior. Again, there will be lots of possible character customization available in the final game.

Planet Stonghold: Warzone won't be "an expansion" anymore but a real full-length stand-alone title. I worked already on improving the Psionic Powers by adding Area Of Effect (hits two targets) and mass target (hits all targets). This both for the offensive and defensive Psionics, which means now you can do a "group Heal" to your party or also a "group Harm" to the enemies. Just beware that the enemies won't like this sort of thing and they'll aggro against your poor Psionic very quickly ;)