Your scholarship is in danger, your friends aren’t human, and something ancient is awakening in the dreamlands. Welcome to Miskatonic University.
Hello jackals! I am super chuffed to formally show you all the video game my friend and I have been working on. We’re sort of thinking of it as a weird expensive art project, but if you ask us, it’s got some potential. The going has been a little slow what with the baby and all, and working with artists can always be time-consuming, especially if you include yourself in that category, but the demo is finally ready!
It’s an adventure game & dating sim set in the H.P. Lovecraft universe. You play a college student who wakes up one day from a very strange dream to find that everything’s a little stranger than it was yesterday–even your best friend, it turns out, is some sort of fish-monster. Even worse, you’ve been thrust into a conflict that’s far older than humanity itself, and threatens to unravel two worlds. Along the way, you can use your free time to make friends with the other main characters, and even romance them, if you play your cards right. There are ten potential story routes based on the choices you make.
It’s… been a lot of work! But now it’s time to show it off.
We’ll be launching a Kickstarter soon to raise funding to finish the game. There’s still a lot of art to go, and only so much that we can self-finance. You can read about it here on the pre-release page, including the cool rewards we’re offering, like an original short story collection. That page also contains links to the ~40-minute demo, available on Steam and itch.io. If you think you’d be interested, definitely click that “notify me on launch” button. Or don’t–I’ll be back to bug you all about it once it’s live! Oh, and you can follow us on Bluesky, too.
So that’s been my big creative project for, ah, about two years now. Time sure flies when you’re moving, installing a garden, panicking about the state of things, having a baby…
What has everybody else here been up to, project-wise?
And since I need to pay the cat tax, here’s a peek at everybody’s favorite character, which is, okay, probably not actually a cat:
zhena gogolia
Congratulations!
Baud
Nice. Your daughter will be proud.
El Cruzado
You had me at Cathulhu
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: lol maybe when she’s older
HopefullyNotcassandra
@El Cruzado: yes!
HopefullyNotcassandra
Awesome !
mrmoshpotato
Very nice, M^4!
Major Major Major Major
@HopefullyNotcassandra: we have a fresh angle on it too! Well, a bit in the Strossian vein I suppose. But fresh!
eclare
Congratulations!
Princess
That’s pretty cool.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Love the video. The game looks like fun
Liminal Owl
That looks like fun! (Tangentially: have you read Ruthann Emrys’ Winter Tide?)
Sure Lurkalot
Loved the trailer! I haven’t played video games since the 90’s but in these crazy times, maybe I should give them another try. Being sucked into another world sounds pretty good right now.
Best of luck on the project.
Bostondreams
Oh cool! Can I wishlist it on Steam at this point?
TaMara
I have been patiently waiting for this. Can’t wait to watch the video when I have a moment later tonight.
clay
What platform(s)? I didn’t see that info at the link.
Major Major Major Major
@clay: itch and steam! Mouse and keyboard currently but we’ll have controller support when it’s done. (It is at the link but it’s in the top of the text)
(Check out the demo on Itch or Steam!)
@Bostondreams: yes! You can wishlist and play the demo on Steam. But we need Kickstarter pledges too of course so feel free to click the notify button there as well
god I hate self promotion 🫣
Major Major Major Major
@TaMara: it turns out a visual novel is even harder to write than a regular one, plus you have to make the engine too 😅
Marc
Congratulations, I know how hard that kind of birthing process can be! :)
SiubhanDuinne
I am an utter ignoramus in this field, but it sounds all kinds of awesome, and hard, satisfying work, and I applaud you and your co-creators, and wish you all success. (Also, in case I didn’t comment in your thread a few days ago, your daughter is gorgeous. In fact, she’s gorgeous even if I did comment in your thread a few days ago.)
ArchTeryx
Great looking game! Love the Cat-Thing that seems to be the Miskatonic mascot.
Joy in FL
I watched the YouTube video. I am terrible at video games, but I want to play this one! I have it saved in my KickStarter so I will get notified. Your KickStarter page is really inviting and informative.
I love the visuals, and the calm music behind the threats of horror and destruction delights me.
Major Major Major Major
@Joy in FL: wow thanks! The gameplay is super simple (walking around or clicking mostly) so it shouldn’t present too much trouble. Hmm, we should have a story mode option that makes some of the arcade style games easier/less impactful, too!
Joy in FL
@Major Major Major Major: My brother tried to help me play Wolfenstein in the 1980s. I couldn’t stab even one Nazi! (I did stab a lot of walls.) We were in pain from laughing about how pathetic a player I was.
Maybe I’ll do better with your game, but even if I am still pathetic, I love the game’s ideas and visuals.
Mercy
This is my jam! Just wishlisted and I will check out the demo. Thanks for showing this off!
Major Major Major Major
@Mercy: Thanks! If you like it please share it around, ideally the kickstarter page, which has demo links on it too…
Gloria DryGarden
@Joy in FL: I’ve never played a video game. But it’s a delight to hear about you laughing so hard while playing it with your brother. What a hoot.
MMMM, The video is beautiful. Clean art work. And cathulu…
I’m not making much these days. Some late night poetry writing, pouring through, uncertain quality. Lots of garden herbs and veggies being planted with a few splashes of color from flowers. Congratulations on your creation.
ascap_scab
All of my friends are fish-monsters. What’s so weird about that?
sab
Any chance of that cute feral cat as a Christmas ornament this year? Reminds me of one of my weird little guys.