Synstoria

Synstoria is an independent studio working on "Imperial Grace", an otome/resources management game featuring a badass MC ruling the Empire of Calidya. 👑

[synstoria]

Imperial Grace Masterpost

Hi folks, we are a LGBTQ+ woman lead studio, working on romance narrative games, our main game is Imperial Grace ✨

👑Imperial grace

Imperial Grace is a visual novel / otome game, focusing on politics and romance in an imaginary medieval world. As the new Empress of Calidya your choices will determine your future and your kingdom's, so rule wisely.

❓ Want to know more? Click here to see Imperial Grace FAQ!

To learn more about them you can search for the tag Love Interest on this tumblr!

Want to support the game? Wishlist Imperial Grace, it helps tremendously!

Want to chat with the lead dev and to get all the progress in real time? Join our discord <3

Any questions left? Our ask box is always open for question!

[synstoria]

I find this staging bug hilarious

[synstoria]

Hello everyone, I received the test copy of the lore book!✨ ✨ ✨ It looks awesome, the colors are really deep, and the gold foil is so pretty 💖

I will order the whole bulk sunday, so you have until the 24th to place your order in our kofi before we close the shop!

I'm very happy how it turned out, it was my first physical print book but I managed to do everything properly except one little mistake ^^"

I added a blank page at the begining so all the pages are shifted (the one that should be on the left are on the right and vice versa), which is quite annoying because the whole book is made of paired pages that goes together, but that's what a book test is for, at least it's an easy fix :p Also please don't mind the little dent at the top, I mayyyyy have been overexcited and drop it on hard concrete while I was showing it off to all of my coworkers. 😅

Bonus: My cat crashing the photoshoot

[synstoria]

I apologized if you were asked this before but will Imperial Grace be playable on Steam Deck? I'm planning to get one in the future.

Hello I don't think it's been asked before and yes! I don't know if steam will verify our game (like give us the little seal of approval), but Renpy games can turn on steam deck, I do plan to have it compatible, one of the team member really love steamdeck so he will test the game extensively to make sure the experience is comfortable <3

[synstoria]

📢 Physical merch available now 📢

Hello, I'm thrilled to announce that from today to the 22th april we are opening a temporary physical merch ko-fi store!

This shop is the last chance to grab our physical art and lore book crafted with love <3

We are also selling stickers sheets (limited stock!) and a bookmark set with our gorgeous love interest🥰

Visit Synstoria's Shop!

I've opened a shop. Come take a look!

FAQ

1️⃣ Why are you opening a physical merch store when you haven't even finished the game yet?

World scary. 😰More seriously, we promised those rewards during our Kickstarter, since then the price of production and shipping has considerably increase and Trump is regularly threatening to increase tariff or other crazy thing that might cut completely shipping to USA where most of our fanbase reside. So yeah, with everything going on we felt pressured to deliver those asap...

But before we order the lore book, we wanted to give a last chance to our more recent supporter (👋) to grab one! Given the hassle it's unlikely we print more of those later.

2️⃣ When do you plan on shipping the rewards?

If everything goes according to the keikaku, here is our expected timeline:

22th April → Lore book and bookmarks are printed

02th May → Postal address locked to print the labels 

06th May → Packaging and shipping starts 

After that it should take around 2 weeks to receive your package, you will receive a tracking number to follow your order.

3️⃣Do you ship worldwide?

Yes, with the exception of North Korea, Syria, Crimea, Sevastopol, Yemen, Russia, Belarus, Haiti because of geopolotical shenanigans.

4️⃣ How much will the shipping cost?

Please note that we found a cheaper option for the small packages compared to our previous interest survey! <3

5️⃣ What if I want a digital version of the lore book?

People buying the physical version of the lore book will automatically receive the digital version of it the 20th May.

For now we are not selling the digital version only but it will be available on steam and itch.io when we release the game! 😊

6️⃣I already order a physical item during the Kickstarter campaign, do I need to do anything?

Your pledge is secure you don't have to do anything except double checking on backerkit that your adress is up to date to make sure your package finds you well 🥰

If you have any other concerns or question, feel free to email me at [email protected] or ask on our discord, as always thanks for your support!

[synstoria]

Hello, I forgot to announce it here, but I have decided to extend the shop opening until the 4th of May, we need to finish one piece of art, plus I realize now that opening a shop only at the end of the month was maybe not the most clever idea x)

Thank you for your support so far, have a great day everyone!

[synstoria]

Hello, a little update about the merch situation! I should receive the test copy of the lore book 21th May along with Asha, Alex and Theo bookmarks.

If the test copy looks right I will order the right quantities for the lore book, if Asha bookmark is right I will order MM and MC bookmarks. I really did my best to make sure the color conversion from RGB to CMYK was done appropriately, but from experienced I know darker skin color can have printing issues, in consequences, since I had to do two orders anyway, I wanted to make sure Asha looks great first.

We also sit down with the publisher to do all the other administrative stuff in prevision of the shipping (like customs registration and stuff) so everything should be smooth sailing from now on!

I'm letting our kofi shop open until I make the final lore book order with the final quantities, because I realized there was no reason not to ❤️

[arimiadev]

The 2nd annual Otome Games Celebration is live on Steam! 💖

Enjoy over 140 otome games from around the world with discounts, new demos, and more~

See the wide world of otome games:

Otome Games Celebration

the 2nd annual Otome Games Celebration is now here!

[synstoria]

[steamberrystudio]

When Stars Collide by Steamberry Studio

A science fantasy romance adventure.

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!

And now on to the next!

[synstoria]

📢 Physical merch available now 📢

Hello, I'm thrilled to announce that from today to the 22th april we are opening a temporary physical merch ko-fi store!

This shop is the last chance to grab our physical art and lore book crafted with love <3

We are also selling stickers sheets (limited stock!) and a bookmark set with our gorgeous love interest🥰

Visit Synstoria's Shop!

I've opened a shop. Come take a look!

FAQ

1️⃣ Why are you opening a physical merch store when you haven't even finished the game yet?

World scary. 😰More seriously, we promised those rewards during our Kickstarter, since then the price of production and shipping has considerably increase and Trump is regularly threatening to increase tariff or other crazy thing that might cut completely shipping to USA where most of our fanbase reside. So yeah, with everything going on we felt pressured to deliver those asap...

But before we order the lore book, we wanted to give a last chance to our more recent supporter (👋) to grab one! Given the hassle it's unlikely we print more of those later.

2️⃣ When do you plan on shipping the rewards?

If everything goes according to the keikaku, here is our expected timeline:

22th April → Lore book and bookmarks are printed

02th May → Postal address locked to print the labels 

06th May → Packaging and shipping starts 

After that it should take around 2 weeks to receive your package, you will receive a tracking number to follow your order.

3️⃣Do you ship worldwide?

Yes, with the exception of North Korea, Syria, Crimea, Sevastopol, Yemen, Russia, Belarus, Haiti because of geopolotical shenanigans.

4️⃣ How much will the shipping cost?

Please note that we found a cheaper option for the small packages compared to our previous interest survey! <3

5️⃣ What if I want a digital version of the lore book?

People buying the physical version of the lore book will automatically receive the digital version of it the 20th May.

For now we are not selling the digital version only but it will be available on steam and itch.io when we release the game! 😊

6️⃣I already order a physical item during the Kickstarter campaign, do I need to do anything?

Your pledge is secure you don't have to do anything except double checking on backerkit that your adress is up to date to make sure your package finds you well 🥰

If you have any other concerns or question, feel free to email me at [email protected] or ask on our discord, as always thanks for your support!

[synstoria]

Hello, I forgot to announce it here, but I have decided to extend the shop opening until the 4th of May, we need to finish one piece of art, plus I realize now that opening a shop only at the end of the month was maybe not the most clever idea x)

Thank you for your support so far, have a great day everyone!

[synstoria]

Information about headcanons, playthrough etc.

Hello everyone, just a little message to say from now on I will not answer asks about headcanons and the likes (my MC is dating XX and she is doing YYY, or what if ZZZ was in this universe etc.)

I want to reiterate there is absolutely not problem with you doing that at all, in fact I love the fact our players are already invested in the characters and universe even so the full game isn't realeased yet, I just don't have much to add to this kind of asks, I feel redountant saying all your ideas are cool and/or lovely so I prefer to not say anything. I don't want people to think I don't like their specific thing, I just received a lot those past few days from various people, there is like 3 sitting in my inbox right now and I think it's important I cater my energy toward something else <3

Anyway, you can go wild on the fandom if you want, do your headcanons, your crossovers, your extra roleplay, fanfic, fanarts, anything really, you can do it publically on your own blog or platforms, I just won't interact much with this particular kind of content for the time being^^

Take care everyone and have a lovely day <3

[synstoria]

About possible Theo/MC's kids world:

How much would Theo want his kids, especially his sons, to connect with their Faraam roots? And which steps he would take to help with that?

Maybe, when the kids are older, take them to Faraam for that? It also could work as father-son/daughter bonding time!

A LOT. For Theo is root are very important and he would definitely bring his children a lot to his childhood house in the Faraam's mountains, take them hunting, teach them sparing (boy or girl as long they are up to), make huges family gathering with all the cousins, do the more old fashion Faraam ceremony, try to influence their fashion etc.

[synstoria]

Our expressions are more on the realistic side, which means it’s quite subtle especially on small pictures. I initially wanted to put them all, but for MC who has like 50+ combination it was unrealistic so I ended up cherry picking my favorite and the most “visual” of them for each of chara! 😊

[synstoria]

MC/Theo world question:

We know Theo's dad hates the MC by default, and there's a non-zero chance he would kills her, if he believed he could get away with it.

But does the same applies to any kids MC has has with Theo? If any of the Theo/MC kids visited Faraam when young, would they be in danger from their own grandpa?

I imagine Theo would pick up on that, but never actually dwell on it (he can never straight up say, or even think: "I can't trust my father to not harm my children"), bc it's too painful.

This doesn't mean Theo would shove his head into the sand and letting smt happen, he never lets a situation where his dad could do smt even happen, which means Theo's kids will only visit Faraam with Theo around, so he can keep a eye on his dad.

This would demage their relationship even further, bc even if nothing ever happens, the fact that it could would be a shadow that would hang over them forever.

I don't think he would hurt his grandkid because for Jeffrey his family is everything, even offspring of his sworn ennemy is still his grand kid. But MC ? She can never be truly safe when she goes there until his death and it will certainly damage Theodore relationship with his dad.

The storyline for Theo marriage DLC will be so fun to write ~

[synstoria]

Will wd see Theo and Marj interact in the game? I think it would be so interesting!

Yes there is actually one scene where they interact together but you have to pick Theodore to come with you to something I won't spoil :p

[synstoria]

Alden:

😂

[synstoria]

I saw an old post a few years back you mentioned Theo might be bisexual, is he? Please don't mind me I'm just curious.

Is it weird if I say I don't know? Like I might have say it, but it's the kind of situation where I'm not sure about and I change my mind every other month.

The sexuality of the other characters is super clear in my head like from their personality, background, I define a few major traits and all the rest just flow naturally to me, but for this particular point I have strong pulls for the two options.

What I'm sure about tho, it's given his education it would be extremely difficult for him to admit if he was. His father opinion is very important for him, he loves the idea of the traditional family with a lot of children, and he would be afraid to lose the relationship he has with his men. Like the Faraam has a strong sparring/wrestling culture and he would be devastated if his brother in arms suddenly starts being uncomfortable around him, considering it was already hard finding his place as futur Duke.

So right now, I'm leaning toward bicurious with the idea he stops himself from exploring his curiosity at all.

Sorry for the complex answer to the simple question ^^"

[synstoria]

I'm thinking of doing a Asha route idea for my own version of my MC I'm playing as right now.

My MC is a very cautious woman who is a realist who understood that change need to be slow as much as Alden urge her to make radical changes. There was so much risks and MC despite having to make some morally terrible choices (like killing the servants to prevent gossip) she wanted to minimize bloodshed as humanly possible and not be like or even worse than her father.

She decides to use her own reign to prove the kingdom that women are capable and hopes one day future changes can be made by future generations.

She doesn't make radical changes and maintain tradition to stay in favor with the nobles as she works hard to improve Calidya. And will perform change and get rid of extremists from within court.

I think Asha would've inspired my mc to have hope for the future after learning Asha's home and how their kingdom works. MC will have one son (she doesn't want to have many kids seeing how her mother Sophia died from the years of childbearing.) And will raise and teach her son on her own accord to make sure he's fully prepared for the throne when he comes of age.

Maintaining tradition will be her biggest weapon to create a secret foundation to pave the way for future generations of female members of the Calidya to be able to rule to prevent what happened to her mother, and her legitimate younger brother.

You know, it was very interesting for me to read all that, because I’m currently writing the epilogue, so while it will never be as detailed and justified than your own writing, it’s a relief for me to know your ideas fit the game choices and possibility! I really wanted players to have a lot of options in how to rule their country, there is more granularity than I can show in social media, so it’s pretty encouraging for me and your OC sounds great <3

I hope you have fun when you play the full version! 

[synstoria]

Fun fact, I collection stickers IRL, the first thing I did when I received the sheet was to stick some in my little book 🥰 Honestly it’s really a unique feeling to see the world I created, the characters I imagined like that. ☺️