Seeking aid after a wreck, you stumble upon the quaint, tightly knit community of Bright Oak—some 45 years outside of your intended travel plans, and struggling with their own troubles in the wake of a mysterious catastrophe. Finding a path back to your own timeline won’t be easy. Abandoning the townspeople to their fate might be even harder.
FEATURES:
Nameable protagonist with choice of pronouns (she/he/they) and a mind of their own;
Multiple branching routes in response to significant player choices;
An ensemble of five primary characters, providing a variety of perspectives and alternate story paths;
Visual sensitivity and dyslexia-friendly gameplay options;
Failure in the game is nearly impossible—but success is far from assured!
Bright Oak is a heavily character-driven visual novel with elements of science fiction. Discover the tragic secrets behind Bright Oak’s preternatural dilemma; find friendship, or possibly love (characters are not gender-locked to pronoun choice, romance and friendship paths given equal weight); save the town and make your way home—and if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
For Kemonomimi jam, Riversitters Studio presents...
Miraneko!
Not only did we work on Mermay, we also had a micro-demo of around 30 - 60 Minute Playtime cooking!! (Double trouble...)
"You're the Cat-Eared Garden Robber!!"
⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊୨ᰔ୧₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹
Natalie used to think of summer as fun in the sun, a break from college, or time to pick up a quick part-time gig.
Once upon a time, this three-month break would be her chance to take up new hobbies, hangout with her friends, or splurge with her summer job’s paycheck. However, with growing academic pressure to declare her major before the fall semester starts, Natalie finds it impossible to enjoy summer with the rest of her friends.
To make things more complicated, she just so happened to meet Sonny, a cat-eared kemonomimi, trying to find their “life’s purpose” in her compost bin. The two find solidarity in their situations as Sonny can’t go back home without a self-proclaimed destiny and Nattie wants nothing to do with finding her calling in life.
Guide Sonny and Natalie through various events and minigames and lead them to one of many fates waiting for them.
It'd mean the world to us if you'd check it out and rate it!! (And also check it out for the bigger release planned for Josei jam...)
The Time Has Come.
The Finale for When Stars Collide has released on Itch.io.
Through the distractions, the interstate move, the drama, the random attempt by my body to self-destruct, the sleepless nights, the random and intense flare ups of chronic pain....IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED.
The finale includes Chapters 11, 12, and 13 for each character. 2 endings per character + two tragic endings lurking in there.
113,000 words of content, bringing the game up to about 670,000 words total including the bonus scenes.
This will be the last major content update for this game. It is finished.
You can find the new update over on Itch.io.
the guide is not yet updated. I haven't had time but I think most people will be fine without it by using the status metres and other features.
I do not have an ETA on the Steam release yet. It is planned still but again...time and distractions have just made it more difficult.
Thanks to everyone who supported the game during the serialisation. I appreciate you!
Too young to carry authority, and too young to be insecure about it. A glimpse of freedom, framed in a window of doubt. Sauntering up to the listening counter, easing in the cd (you break it, you buy it); picking up the disintegrating headphones (spongy, peeling), placing them gingerly over ears, and pressing the control buttons.
Play. Then skip—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Track eight.
...I found it.
Because Track Eight isn’t in that record store: it is two years earlier, a passenger secretary taking musical dictation, memorizing only the things that matter in the moment: a long piano intro, the track number and preceding song—Friday I’m in Love—and my first love in the driver’s seat. Light chasing shadow across the dashboard. Aftermarket stereo system. The scent of eucalyptus and secondhand clove cigarettes and late night burrito stops. Fumbling innocence, first kisses, bruises and bandages.
Something well remembered, even after the passage of years.
It's been three and a half years since I touched on music for my second Marginalia post—then still nine months away from releasing the demo for Bright Oak, scrambling to outthink and outplan my own extreme greenness as a game dev. Now that I have the benefit of more experience—and am far more comfortable in my own process!—I think I'd like to revisit the topic.
I regard music as a crucial part of the storytelling body: if the overall narrative comprises the heart and mind—dialogue the mouth, art the eyes, and sound design the ears—then what is music, if not the nervous system? That which prompts us to share in the experience of a character's feelings: pain, pleasure, fear, hope, connection. Music is the wordless cue to feel, and a well-considered soundtrack gives a story backbone.
Music was the backbone of several first loves of mine. “First love" is a funny sort of title, because it can be applied at will across a spectrum of individuals both real and imagined, from celebrities to blorbos to friends to near-strangers. One of my own earliest childhood “crushes" was on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—or rather, the figure I imagined was behind the music I was dutifully learning at my weekly piano lessons (spoiler: pretty well nothing like the documented historical figure, as evidenced by my rejection of Beethoven at the time as too mercurial a personality). And as I grew, I learned I could weather any social event, so long as there was a piano to befriend: I could dutifully play Gershwin and Rogers and Kenton and Rachmaninov and Mussorgsky and Debussy—but I couldn't compose.
I used to perceive that as a shortcoming. I’ve since learned that it served to whet a different skill: after all, I am intimately familiar with my own feelings, the shape and perimeters they create—figuring out how that ought to sound is merely a vocabulary to be honed over years.
And introspection has taught me well that songs are spells which carry the rare magic of time travel.
Memories are fossils encased in sensory experience: for me, near-drowning tastes like salt and fear and strawberry ice cream, escaping death and embracing the sweetness of summer and survival. And in a world where mighty quests exist in literature alone, hearing a song that meant something to me at a fixed point in time served as a save-state for that emotion, as well as a quest prompt.
The Cure. Track 8. Follows Friday I’m in Love. Tastes like late summer, and a love you know won’t work out—an earnest emotion, where failure feels like tragedy, even if it is inevitable.
It took me two years to find the right song, the right album. And to this day, I smile whenever I hear The Cure, and I remember that absurd, self-imposed quest. The one that tastes like the sun filtering through eucalyptus trees during the fleeting months of summer break, and lukewarm, oversweetened boba tea, and secondhand clove smoke, and first loves; and while I do not have the same hair-trigger sentimentality I did as a teenager first hearing it--now, now I have a story around it, which includes all those elements, and that setting, and it amounts to time travel.
That absurd, drawn-out process is a cornerstone shaping how I think of songs in storytelling. It's one piece of many--for example, learning that while I loathe Shostakovich in recordings, I also cry listening to Shostakovich's work live--but the practical application and experience of music is one that guides me.
I am myself, of course, An Old Elder Fae, and will show my years in stating this, but: I believe music being more effortless to find makes people more inclined to second-guess their own connection to it--the mechanization / sterilization of the human experience can sometimes make us feel so terribly alone and disconnected, when the reality is, a ten year old can definitely still harbor a (awfully misguided) crush on Mozart; bad songs can still carry good memories by association; and however annoying it may be when the mix tape or cd you were given has a flaw or scratch in the recording, it can transform into part of the music--and the clean version becomes apostasy.
I think I kept my core values intact when it came to commissioning tracks for Bright Oak; I believe what the intervening years have taught me is how I want implement music in my games as an active aspect of the storytelling, rather than treating it as a sort of omnipresent, passive wallpaper. Because in life, it isn't. In the same way that scent can transport us back to a childhood memory, specific songs, and even musical genres, can immediately form a channel taking us back years, even decades.
And thanks to those bittersweet, fondly remembered, inevitably doomed first loves of mine--I've learned to actively think about how music informs my personal storytelling. Just as I furiously memorized the mood, the instrumentation, the context, and the follow-up to Trust, game music is most impactful in context.
Because soundtracks tell the story as much as backgrounds or character sprites do, and deserve equal consideration.
Music has memory association, and by extension, it is full to the brim of stories.
That ill-advised kiss under a supposedly haunted bridge, the one that lead to calamity? Will always sound like Miles Davis, at his most plaintive.
The first time playing hooky on a field trip because a friend could drive, stopping to get coffee during school hours? Will always sound like New Order. Rebellious, a generation older; safe-rebellious.
High school prom, college road trips, interstate moves, traumas, joys, COVID--all of them have distinct soundscapes and fingerprints for me.
Let us take up space in our soundtracks, be it as devs or as listeners; let us get personal. Let's be specific and considerate in how our stories sound: let's cultivate our moods, and also cultivate where there is silence.
It doesn't require being able to read music to recognize the emotional language of mood and memory which music commands and speaks with fluency. And harnessing my understanding of it has reshaped and enriched how I think of game dev.
Because Sound needs a medium to travel: and one of the best conductors I've found is storytelling.
Special Edition - 2026 Amare Games Festival Bulletin
Welcome to the Amare Games Festival Bulletin! 🎉
This special edition of the Amare Bulletin is dedicated to Amare Games Festival, highlighting all the incredible games submitted during the event!
With 68 total entries, this year’s festival showcases a vibrant and diverse range of Amare experiences, including:
✨ Fully released games – complete experiences across fantasy, slice-of-life and more
✨ On-going & episodic projects – including visual novels and interactive fiction still unfolding
✨ Updates & expansions – new content for existing favourites
✨ Demos & prototypes – early looks at upcoming indie titles
This bulletin is a free download, so take your time exploring! Be sure to check out the games, support developers by playing and rating their work, and dive into everything the Amare community has created this festival. 💖
~ The Amare Bulletin Team
A special edition showcasing all the recent releases and updates from Amare Games Festival from the 2026 event!
I was thrilled to be able to join this year's Amare Games Fest with Other Spheres! The inclusivity of the tag is such a gift and resonates a lot with my own interests in both the sort of games I want to create, and the games I want to play. And as such, it has also led me to discover a number of other remarkable games I'd like to call out as personal recommendations (a handful of my favorites from SWAK among them!)
To list just a handful of my own recommendations from the Amare Games Fest submissions:
The Ships of Men: I know I reblogged this game a few weeks back, but it truly is one of the most powerful, unique, gorgeous tales I've encountered in this medium--and it is my earnest wish for it to get all the love
20 and Some Change: Few other stories I've read--let alone played in games--capture the magic of the every day better than this stunning little slice-of-life gem; it is beautiful, bittersweet, and relatable in ways I don't have words for
Demise of a Blue Rose: Feels like a beguiling, tragic fever dream the kind of dream you have after consuming, er, "dubious bread" The art is exquisite, the concept one-of-a-kind, and the writing is engaging and evocative
With Her and the Sky: With every scene, it was more and more clear that this is the start of something truly, truly special. I'm really looking forward to the next update, and seeing both the story and art grow into the footprint they've started with!
Thy Lyin' Eyes Be Damned: One of my faves from the SWAK jam as well, this [censored]ing charming game has a sweary, angry cat girl (unstoppable force) run up against a stoic and unexpectedly bulky cleric (unmoveable object). Add in one sugar goblin (and his eldritch horror pet, and his scary-slash-attractive parents), and--hijinks ensue
The Prince is a 10, But...: In addition to featuring two of my own absolute favorite voice actors to work with, this game had me cackling with a hilarious concept backed with a tremendous amount of heart (and to make this a twofer, another game I'd recommend with searing wit and stellar VA work is Love is Trauma; to make it a threefer[?] I'd also throw in My Wish to You, a lovely, often cheeky stat-raiser, also with unexpected heart to ground the silliness)
It Starts with a Summon: Another of my personal favorites from the SWAK jam, and an incredibly polished exemplar of tropes done quite well. The voice work really shines here, and while everyone is great, I also want to call out the wonderful Kyle Remund, who also occasionally streams under the moniker OliverOwlbear. His participation in the Q&A stream with MisterShins (VOD still in process) was a delight, and since he's on my own list of VAs I'd like to work with in the future, I'm shouting him out for other devs, too.
I'm still working my way through entries, so this is absolutely a WIP rec list, but I wanted to call out what I've seen so far (and include studio tags in the comments when I know 'em). ❤️ Have fun--and please let me know if there are others I've missed and should play next!
TSOM FOR THE AMARE GAMES FESTIVAL 2026! ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ,<)~✩‧₊
Growing up in a small seaside town, in the face of external danger.
Hello hello! TSOM is coming to the Amare Games Festival 2026 edition!
The Festival is a wonderful opportunity to discover new Amare games and enjoy new experiences in the VN community! <3 I hope that all of you will take your time to check out all the wonderful entries, yes? ദ്ദി(｡•̀ ,<)~✩‧₊
Now, onto my update:
Welcome to The Ships of Men update 1.2.4.
This version of TSOM includes several new features. I will go over all of them in this post, in categories!
ºCharacter Creator Updates:
Four new hairstyles are now available for masc and fem frames. The hairstyles are the following, and have 7 color variations each:
-Afro-textured braided hairstyle with moon-shaped tika.
-Straight, decorative style with soft pink ribbon
-Bridal Hairstyle, the 100+ Download fem milestone reward.
-Pagri style, the 100+ Download masc milestone reward.
Three new outfits, available for masc and fem frames. The outfits are the following:
-Teal and soft pink dhoti + pallu, accompanied by pearl jewelry.
-Shiny Bridal wave sari and Bridal wave kurta (for fem frames)
-Shiny Bridal wave sari and Bridal wave kurta (for masc frames)
Mehndi extra accessory in three colors, available for masc and fem frames
ºUI UPDATES:
-The buttons of the UI have been tweaked for better readability. The colors of the buttons when hovered over and idle have been changed to a darker color, for improved contrast against the white background of the menu page.
-The ability to change the game font to an easy to read, more accessible font from the Preferences menu. Now you will be able to choose between two fonts for the game's text: The regular AndreaTyped bold, or the new option, a SansSerif font, Liberation Sans.
ºNEW FUNCTIONS:
-The game now has a Gallery page. It has a simple and easy to interpret design, so that you can revisit all the CGs you have unlocked and see how many more you have left to unlock.
ºDialogue Revisions:
The dialogue and plot of the game have undergone a major revision to improve tone, readability, and continuity/consistency. Some inquires have been answered, new information and details have been included, and the relationship between MC and Vihaan has been tweaked to reflect the respective maturity of their age and their characters in the first moments of the game.
A couple new scenes have been written into the game as well, mainly regarding your friend Charvi. You'll find the relationships MC has with their peers much more organic than before, I believe.
In addition to that, this is a very small change, but your character's name tag will now read your chosen, typed-in name, instead of just 'You'.
And with that, we reach the end of the February update. Thank you all for your support and appreciation <3 Happy gaming!
The Amare Games Festival is currently running on Itch.io!
I've had The Ships of Men on my to-play list for a couple weeks now, and finally had an evening free to start it--and oh my stars oh my stars, this is handily one of the most gorgeous games I've ever played, as well as having one of the most original, detailed, and richly-thought out settings I've encountered in a visual novel! The character creator, the South Indian influence, the overall design...the fact that somehow this is all the work of one dev?? I'm only perhaps a third of the way through, and already completely in love with the story and characters--highly recommend picking this one up! ✨
Hello, friends! After one of the world's most excruciatingly protracted out-of-state moves (seriously, it's taken over two years!), I'm extremely happy to report I now have an actual study and a real desk again! ✨ Other Spheres proved a very fruitful maiden voyage, and now--
Now, it's time to finish Bright Oak, for real.
Refocusing on my massive and unwieldy passion project two and a half years after initially releasing the demo, I have to admit, there is--quite a lot I would like to revisit before re-releasing the demo with voicing. Way back in 2023, baby Butterfly Rocket didn't know what they didn't know, and after working with so many skilled and talented individuals on Burdock, Tell It Slant, If One Goes Astray, and now Other Spheres, I can better see where there's room for improvement. ❤️ I'm a strong believer in the saying, Perfection is the enemy of Good (and by extent, finished)--but I also want to keep growing and improving with each step forward, and both my standards and (hopefully!) my skills have advanced quite a bit from where they were set back in 2023.
Bright Oak has been my heartwood project for many years now: I'm determined to see it through while also giving it its due. And now that I have (quite literally) space to focus for more than a jam-length sprint, I can see the path to getting this finished with greater clarity and urgency than ever before.❤️ And so: you can expect the Irregular Monday Updates to start being more regular going forward!
To that end, here's the current Progress Report:
Initial Replay of Demo Notes: Jotting down initial impressions of what could use revisiting; editing some transitions; notes on audio cues (and also the audio balance, my stars)
Redesign of Main Menu: Not reinventing the wheel, but crafting something a little less out-of-the-box Ren'py; utilizing the actual game logo for title screen, tinkering on the color-sepia transition timing and design
To Do List (week+):
Finalize new Main Menu design, speak with programmer
Review music cues, edit as necessary;
Prep list of exact audio balancing needs for audio engineer;
Finish take selection on voice acting (pending final lines from John/MisterShins, who needs to build his booth now that we have a space for it);
Clean up transitions especially on the boundary segments;
Clean-up edits to opening sequence, etc (will keep this minor);
To Do List (month+):
Re-release demo once edits are in place, menu refreshed, audio is rebalanced, and voice acting is implemented!
Continue coding Act II
Paint and implement missing Forster backgrounds
Line and paint missing Jasper-route backgrounds
Contact VAs to start scheduling resumption of recording
To Do List (year+):
(if applicable) Prep for a small crowdfunding campaign (TBD)
(if applicable) Commission necessary art for funding rewards (might do these anyway just as fun merch)
Finish and release the whole game!
Thank you all again (and again, and again, and again) for your patience these last couple years! ❤️ It's been hectic and uncertain for so long, but now that I'm finally settled and no longer betwixt and between homes, it feels like I can chart the course going forward with renewed confidence and focus.
All the best, and wishing you a warm and wonderful February!
My lovely partner MisterShins will be streaming Other Spheres TONIGHT, February 7th, at 10pm Pacific--along with interviewing our dev team!
MisterShins' streams are always a good time, and I'm delighted he's decided to run streams for the Sealed with a Kiss jam after playing through Spooktober entries these last few Octobers. The interview segment will be a little split this time to better accommodate the team's respective time zones, but it should be lots of fun--I'd love to see you there!
January came and went like a wrecking ball--but I'm now finally, officially settled into my new home after an exceptionally protracted out-of-state move, and the new home came with a new story to tell: Other Spheres, created in a month and freshly released for the "Sealed with a Kiss" visual novel jam!
Callisto (fully voiced with both masc and fem options) is on a long-term deep-sea research dive, with only the sea, cherished memories, and an irascible on-board AI for company. But while they adore the sea, it turns out the sea might reciprocate the feeling—and in ways Callisto isn't prepared for.
A sci-fintasy romance adventure, created in a month for the Sealed With A Kiss Visual Novel Jam!
Content Warnings: This game is intended for mature audiences, as it includes suggestive dialogue and both spoken and visual depictions of mild intimacy; potentially disturbing sounds, imagery, and language which may not be suitable for all players. The setting involves the deep sea, and there is a possible death that can occur. Some animations (e.g., shaking, pulsing, and flashes) may not be suitable for all players.
This was a journey both rewarding and challenging in equal measure (not least because I'm now between five and eleven hours outside the rest of the team's time zones!), and is by far the most ambitious jam project I have worked on before. I've been incredibly lucky to work with a remarkable--and large!--team, including some of my favorite recurring voice talents (Chase Via, Vanessa Benoit, Dylan Keeler, and our dual Callistos, Gina Leigh Smith and CobaltKobold)! I am honestly still reeling from how charming, emotive, and powerful every single performance is, and so excited to finally be able to share them with the larger world!
Once more, EeeCee stood at the helm in directing live recording sessions with the actors, and rounding out our audio we have the absurdly talented team ofJohn Åhlin providing a phenomenal original soundtrack, and Senaeris creating deliciously atmospheric soundscapes and voice processing.
Visually, I had the treat of benefiting once more from toffl's stunning background art, and for the first time got to play with AliceQuinnArt's wildly detailed and expressive sprites, and squeal over Rex 'Daemon' Beck's little fishies of the deep dark depths (which was such a treat!).
Our UI team is comprised of Rinnuah's lush design and the inimitable Windchimes' coding expertise, and I cannot possibly fail to highlight the incredible, incredible work of our programmers: Elckarow, EqualsM3rc, and Ullr managed to take the flat pages of the script and make them move and breathe in ways I have never before been able to dream of accomplishing!
Over the last few years of creating stories, each project along the way has come to hold an important place in my heart, different as they all are--but I have to say, this one feels very special to me. I am delighted to be able to share it with the world now, and I hope it comes to hold a special place for some of you, as well.
Reposting for those who might've missed it in the initial flurry--Other Spheres is one of the many fabulous visual novels created for the Sealed with a Kiss game jam, available to play now on itch.io! The game will also be streamed this Saturday, February 7th, at 10 p.m. Pacific by my partner, MisterShins, and accompanied by interviews with the team. I'd love to see you there!
Iris joined the Love Squad, a team of magicals that protect their city with the power of love!
Don't forget about my game, "Lovely Magicals", not only because it is a very fun little urban fantasy visual novel involving magical boys/girls/nonbinaries, but because it will very soon, somewhere in Feb, hopefully get to be in another bundle! :D
January came and went like a wrecking ball--but I'm now finally, officially settled into my new home after an exceptionally protracted out-of-state move, and the new home came with a new story to tell: Other Spheres, created in a month and freshly released for the "Sealed with a Kiss" visual novel jam!
Callisto (fully voiced with both masc and fem options) is on a long-term deep-sea research dive, with only the sea, cherished memories, and an irascible on-board AI for company. But while they adore the sea, it turns out the sea might reciprocate the feeling—and in ways Callisto isn't prepared for.
A sci-fintasy romance adventure, created in a month for the Sealed With A Kiss Visual Novel Jam!
Content Warnings: This game is intended for mature audiences, as it includes suggestive dialogue and both spoken and visual depictions of mild intimacy; potentially disturbing sounds, imagery, and language which may not be suitable for all players. The setting involves the deep sea, and there is a possible death that can occur. Some animations (e.g., shaking, pulsing, and flashes) may not be suitable for all players.
This was a journey both rewarding and challenging in equal measure (not least because I'm now between five and eleven hours outside the rest of the team's time zones!), and is by far the most ambitious jam project I have worked on before. I've been incredibly lucky to work with a remarkable--and large!--team, including some of my favorite recurring voice talents (Chase Via, Vanessa Benoit, Dylan Keeler, and our dual Callistos, Gina Leigh Smith and CobaltKobold)! I am honestly still reeling from how charming, emotive, and powerful every single performance is, and so excited to finally be able to share them with the larger world!
Once more, EeeCee stood at the helm in directing live recording sessions with the actors, and rounding out our audio we have the absurdly talented team ofJohn Åhlin providing a phenomenal original soundtrack, and Senaeris creating deliciously atmospheric soundscapes and voice processing.
Visually, I had the treat of benefiting once more from toffl's stunning background art, and for the first time got to play with AliceQuinnArt's wildly detailed and expressive sprites, and squeal over Rex 'Daemon' Beck's little fishies of the deep dark depths (which was such a treat!).
Our UI team is comprised of Rinnuah's lush design and the inimitable Windchimes' coding expertise, and I cannot possibly fail to highlight the incredible, incredible work of our programmers: Elckarow, EqualsM3rc, and Ullr managed to take the flat pages of the script and make them move and breathe in ways I have never before been able to dream of accomplishing!
Over the last few years of creating stories, each project along the way has come to hold an important place in my heart, different as they all are--but I have to say, this one feels very special to me. I am delighted to be able to share it with the world now, and I hope it comes to hold a special place for some of you, as well.
Hi! Hope everything is well :). I have some questions about the game's development, if you don't mind.
How did you go about getting started on Bright Oak?
How solid of an idea was the overall story to you, and how did you approach outlining it at first?
What kind of trial and error happened? How did you explore character personalities and interactions, etc?
And, in the beginning, did you focus more on developing the game's art style or writing style? How much experimentation with the writing did it take until you got the text that ended up in the game?
I hope those weren't too many questions, feel free to skip any. My New Year's resolution for this year is to finally get started on the VN I've wanted to make for years, so I'm going around asking some of my favorite creators for tips! I always find that the hardest part of any project is initiating it, so I'm a bit lost at the moment. Thank you for your patience! :D
Hello, and thank you so much for reaching out! ❤️ I'll gladly answer to the best of my ability (and apologies for the big ol' wall of text incoming!)
I am first and foremost a writer, and Bright Oak was my first ever foray into visual novels rather than straight prose. That said, it wasn't something I took too seriously at first. And by that, I mean it was literally an opened-my-computer-started-typing, just-for-fun, might-delete-later affair. I then rediscovered I am very bad at "Just For Fun," and so accidentally ended up in a committed relationship with four little misfit imaginary friends, and one imaginary friend who is not a misfit, and refuses to be classed as such (sorry, Patti!)
When I started, the idea was roughly as solid as maple syrup. 😅 I had no outline, just a (digital) scrap of paper I kept jotting down incoherent ideas and weblinks on. I had the concept sketched out in my head: a town out of time, trapped with an invisible barrier, and I had the inkling that there was a nearby top-secret research facility involved...but that was about it. It was enough to start off with key building blocks, though: because I knew it was a small 1960s town, I could list off the key figures that might live there. Knowing the situation and setting is oftentimes enough to gift a lot of answers to plot questions early on!
That said: I used to struggle A LOT with writing, because I thought I needed to know things in advance, to outline and plan before I ever began: Bright Oak taught me that not only was that not true, but that my characters in particular benefit when I don't try and tell them what to do before we are even properly acquainted. Maybe I should not admit this either, but--any time the descriptions feel especially evocative and sensory in Bright Oak, I can promise with 80% accuracy that that is a glimpse of The Author Spinning Plates, because if I set a pretty enough scene, maybe I can coax the plot and characters into returning to the table when they’ve wandered off. 🥴 That said, I rarely experience writer's block anymore, because knowing my own process also means I have learned how to circumvent it when it shows up for me. Always trust that you are full to the brim with stories, and even if that doesn’t mean you are always full of outlines, that’s okay! The stories are still there!
To build on that: since figuring out my process, writing is pretty much always fun, even when it is hard--whereas it used to feel like it was work. Knowing your personal writing "language" is absolutely key.
The character interactions and personalities were a genuinely enjoyable challenge, because this is first and foremost a character-driven story. So how they bounce off one another and how they respond to the crisis quite literally shaped the story outline on the fly. After I got a few chapters in, I had at least the rough sketch of each act (there are three!) and vague notions on the something something something we win(?) of the ending--albeit no real detailed notes nor feel for how each act got from Point A to Point B. So I wrote one act at a time, one character at a time, letting whoever I led off with create the specific shape and detailed events in that act.
One of my favorite approaches to developing multi-faceted characters that feel lived-in is: "This is the most obvious choice, but...what if the opposite were true instead?", because all of us do come equipped with internal contradictions. As an example: Sparrow is a dedicated pacifist...who is also the #1 most willing of the group to throw down. One of the characters has a sprite variation with a black eye, and Sparrow is responsible for giving it to him. Having a moment where violence breaks out and choosing to have Sparrow confront it head-on instead of flinching unlocked a side to him I don’t know that I could’ve planned ahead of time, and I believe (I hope!) he’s a much richer character for it.
As far as trial and error goes: most of the actual issues I've faced have been on the production side. The original plan had been a relaxed, fun joint project ("jUSt fOR fuN") with friends. But then…Life happened, as it sometimes does. And I found myself with a giant, near-complete script on my hands that I was fully and deeply committed to, but which I'd written specifically so that it wouldn't work except as a visual novel, and now here we are. 🫠
Over the last seven(!) years, I have invested thousands of dollars out of pocket to commission the incredible talents who have had a hand in bringing Bright Oak to fruition–and I don’t exactly have that money laying around. It took a lot of saving and paying in installments and trades to get as far as we are. I did consider crowdfunding--and honestly, still am weighing it to finish things--but the reality is, I'm relatively unknown, and running a successful backing campaign takes time, a large audience, and trust formed through completed past projects. Moreover, life comes with many, many unplanned-for and unanticipated twists and turns (hi I live in Hawaii now? what??), and I would absolutely hate to have accepted support for the project and to have it be a moving target for the release date (as it has been...).
I never thought it would take this long to get to release…but I also never planned on Covid-related burnout, nor on deciding to proceed with voice acting. Gotta take the good and the bad, and I feel a lot better flailing around on my own dime. Granted, part of this definitely has to do with the fact that Bright Oak is eventually intended for a commercial release but also: All artists should be paid for their work, and making sure that everyone who works on my project(s) has reason to feel good about the experience is hugely important to me—and that aspect does have a (sometimes quite literal) cost to be factored in!
The writing, absolutely. I learned (through Bright Oak!) that while I cannot write traditional drafts without committing arson, going over the previous night's work prior to writing further provides a bite-sized approach to editing AND helps create a clear continuity in tone and mood from one scene to the next. Giving everything a nice comb-over after each completed segment also gave a gradual and organic polish. And if someone's dialogue feels clunky, it's something I note as a red flag with understanding who that character is, and that means a good stare-at-the-wall, go-touch-grass-and-lean-on-trees-sighing session to think it through again. And knowing the characters helped more than I can say in formulating their sprites: the clothes they wear, how they present themselves, etc.. I've come to firmly believe that every aspect of the game should tell a cohesive narrative story: being pretty alone isn't enough, the characters should look lived-in and represent who they are as people. Ditto the backgrounds and music: the more aspects used to tell the story, the more accessible it's going to be!
A handful of final notes:
Jams can be SUPER HELPFUL in terms of both team-building and also testing out new approaches! I would recommend a jam that isn't competitive or intense as the best starting point. It's a great space to collaborate with fellow devs and refine your skillsets and personal dev process. If Bright Oak taught me I don't have to outline in advance to write, jams taught me that I actually can outline in advance when needed.
If you'd (for some reason) like even more detail on my dev processes, I've previously addressed aspects it in my first Marginalia post, as well as these two past Ask posts.
Lastly, I want to recommend my partner @mistershins' Spooktober Playlists, since for a couple years now he's been performing post-playthrough interviews of the dev teams, in hopes of not only supporting current game devs but also those looking to get started!
I hope some of this proves helpful to you! I am incredibly flattered that you came to me for input, and sorry that I can only cite my own collection of various esoteric rituals—feel free to DM me with any questions you have along the way! ❤️ I'm truly passionate about writing and narrative design, and I love chatting with fellow devs, so my virtual door is perpetually open to any and all comers!
I had the good luck to be @bibixpgames's VN Secret Santa this year--and the delightful Lovely Magicals ended up being a gift for me, too! ❤️It was a pleasure to try my hand at creating a papercraft Alex in magical form. Happy Holidays, and thank you @crescencestudio for hosting!
John: MERRY CHRISTMAAAAAS!
Marybeth: Sounds like Santa dipped into the eggnog early. What in Sam Hill is going on?
Patti: We wanted to do something to lift everyone’s spirits. I know Christmas isn’t for a while yet, but…the town could use a little Christmas magic, you know?
Sparrow: A hand-knitted sparrow! And not just any mere sparrow…a song sparrow. Perfection. Thank you, Santa!
Marybeth: Why’s my present so small?!
John: A little present for a little girl! Ho ho ho!
Marybeth: Don’t make me get my sword…
Patti: Here. Have a gingerbread cookie. There’s enough for everyone.
Jasper: Oh—uh, me too? …Thank you.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! I got Butterfly Rocket Studios @brightoakgame as my giftee! When I looked at their games and saw Bright Oak had a sci-fi time travel story, I was instantly hooked. All of the characters in the demo are so charming and I need them to be happy (please please let them be happy) so I drew this. I'm sorry I am more of a writer than an artist but I still hope it makes you smile. Best of luck with the full release!! <3
Just LOOK at Marybeth's face oh my stars. Thank you so much, @lovebirdgames! (and...hopefully you'll get to find out how things go for them all within the next year!) Happy Holidays! ✨
