Karen and the Bodypillow

The Devlog for the upcoming comedy, surreal visual novel...Karen and the Bodypillow!

[goblingamedev]

Hi!!

Karen and the Body pillow is officially released and ready for download!

Click the link to go to the game’s itch.io page

https://aracade.itch.io/karen-and-the-bodypillow

We also want to thank everyone’s support for following this game page and being updated on the game’s progress.

We hope you enjoy playing the game as much as we enjoyed making it :)

[goblingamedev]

Just a reminder that Karen and the Body pillow releases tomorrow (on world Coconut day) or September 2nd.

On the left is a quick sketch of a posh (ish) Karen. She seems happy about the news :)

We worked really hard on this visual novel and hope that you enjoy playing it as much as we had fun making it!

It’s been a ride that was 100% worth it ;)

[goblingamedev]

Hello all!

Today we have a very special announcement :)

After receiving most beta tester feedback, we can safely say that the release date for Karen and the Bodypillow will be on the World Coconut Day... also known as September 2nd!

Just to reiterate...

Karen and the Bodypillow will be released on September 2nd!

Save the date and save the coconuts!

Disclaimer: World Coconut Day is on a separate day of National (American) coconut day which takes place on the 3rd of August.

Photo from healthline 

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/can-coconut-oil-help-you-lose-weight#bottom-line

[goblingamedev]

Hello all!

For today’s screenshot we decided to show off art that has been a “work in progress”.

We also wanted to announce that the beta version of Karen and the Bodypillow is out and being tested :D

A release date of the game is going to come out very soon so stay tuned! ^^

[goblingamedev]

As a follow up to the previous post! Have a look at these ending “title cards”!

In the bonus menu of “achievements” (which you can see above) you can see all the endings you’ve unlocked which is represented by these title cards that you unlock (which you can see in the 3x3 grid above).

If you notice something, it’s that each of these endings are coloured! What does that mean? The colouring behind each ending is more than just “bad” versus “good” or “true” endings. Instead, they are grouped together for narrative purposes and because if you unlock all the endings of a certain colour you unlock even more extra content in the bonus menu!

If you go into Devnotes you can see what endings you need to get to unlock these special achievements! Hope to see you then :)

[goblingamedev]

Hello all.

Today for #screenshotsaturday (as a part of our bi-weekly updates) we’re showing off some newly implemented features for the bonus menu! Moreover, we thought this would be a good post to address the structure of the game.

Because of the large number of endings Karen and the Bodypillow will have, this means from a game design perspective, we thought it would be valuable to implement “rewards” for getting certain endings.

As you can see, when we say the game is divided into 2 parts:

PART A: “Throw away Dennith’s new pillow”

PART B: “Plan something for later”

These 2 routes are interconnected but have completely different story arcs and routes to take!

At the start of the game, only PART A will be available.

In order to unlock PART B, you must “achieve at least 3 endings” from PART A.

Once that’s done, you get access to PART B and... the bonus menu unlocks from the title screen!

As you can see there’s a lot more than just a simple music room and CG gallery which is pictured above and everything is fully locked ;) 

Keep an eye on the character sheets (purple) as they change throughout the course of the game as you learn new stuff about the characters! Moreover, there are unlockable afterstories (kinetic novels that you can read that take place after the games’ events) for certain characters which can be accessed via this menu.

The core game has a lot of bizarre humour and weirdness as there is, we hope that this extra content can help enhance the experience and encourage replays of the game!

Overall: development is going really well and in a few weeks a release date will be announced! :)

[goblingamedev]

Hello all.

For screenshotsunday (I don’t know if that’s a thing but there’s assonance like Saturday), here are 3 different screenshots! Or a “trio” of screenshots.

Because of all the endings this game has to offer (18 plus extra bonus endings), Karen and the Bodypillow can be divided into 2 parts which then branch off to different paths.

All of the screenshots shown above are from part A (or route A), you’ll have to play the game to get better context.

1. The first screenshot shows 3 options. The 2nd option is coloured differently as that’s the colour of the option when the mouse hovers over it.

2. Looks like someone had a go at making their own pillow?

3. No context needed

[goblingamedev]

Also! Here’ a WIP of the living room background that Aracade (Karen and the Bodypillow’s artist) finished. It was one of the first backgrounds of the game and a primary setting in the visual novel. ^^

It’s in a minimal, simple style but it works! As the sole artist, a lot of backgrounds and character art needs to be done quickly, hence the chosen style. 

(also note the “ceci n’est pas un bodypillow” poster on the wall)

[goblingamedev]

Hello all, for screenshotsaturday we decided to showcase a feature that has been fully tweaked by now....the Twooter feature!

As Karen, you’ll have to promote Dennith’s new pillow for the upcoming anime convention WeeCon. One of the way to promote him is by tweeting (or twooting) things! 

Keep an eye out for what other people are twooting as well ;)

This will be one of the “interactive minigames” sprinkled throughout Karen and the Bodypillow.

[goblingamedev]

Here is a summary of some of the features for our game!

22 different endings!

Unlockable achievements to reward multiple playthroughs

1 to 2 hours of gameplay

Comedy/surreal story with meaningful choices [

"Minigames" that involve interactivity outside of reading text all the time!

An OST of more than 10 tracks!

Some genre-changing moments

Overall just a love/hate letter to weaboo culture????

[goblingamedev]

"Denmark is a prison to Hamlet, but this small town is a whole other hell of its own. At least for someone like me, living in a place that loves body pillows..."

Karen would consider her life fairly standard. There's just one thing. Her brother, Dennith, is a star prodigy. His talent? Making body pillows! From their first design up tothe final stages of manufacturing, Dennith has mastered the craft of creating body pillows...and Karen couldn't be more embarrassed about it.

Now she lives in a place where everyone is just as weird as her older brother. The humiliation, the dread, the awkward conversations or screaming fangirls...it's about high time that it ends.

In 2 days, Dennith will be exhibiting his most recent design at the biggest anime convention in the world: WeeCon. The summer is almost over, the troubles keep escalating and Dennith seems to be completely incompetent about his finances. 

So this time, for once in her life, Karen decides to take action...

[goblingamedev]

KAREN

"Just who are you talking to? And what are you talking about? Nobody's getting married!"

The seemingly only "normal" person who lives here. She hates helping Dennith work on body pillows...but hey, at least it pays the bills.

DENNITH

"Our collective fortune shall be so grand that even the Duke of Naples is thrown into fits of jealousy!"

The eccentric (and unexpectedly old-fashioned) older brother of Karenina. He makes body pillows for a living...but does he even like anime?

??????????????

"Time is running out! And we must find a way to save Master Dennith!"

??????????????

"...Goodbye Karenina...”

??????????????

“NO! I will use both of my THREE HANDS!“

??????????????

“If you ever want to see your brother again, you’re going to have to trust me.“

You’ll find out who the other characters are! This is one of several posts related to the premise of the visual novel...you can find more throughout this blog :)