Tornacense And Kirby Want To Wish You A Devilishly Good Halloween!

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Spooktober 5th Annual Visual Novel Jam

A game jam from 2023-09-01 to 2023-10-28 hosted by Remort Studios & Crystal Game Works. Welcome to our 5th annual Spooktober Visual Novel Ja

This was so much fun last year! I've already got some game ideas brewing!

Once upon a time...

I wrote a story about a powerful spirit trapped in a tree and the bard that helps to break the curse.

It was written for a very special little bard who was just learning to read. Some years have passed and the bard has grown and now we're adapting the story into a visual novel using Ren'Py.

We're working on bringing the fairytale to life for the Once Upon a Time VN Jam, including the magical song.

I'm working on it using a kalimba as it's a great portable little instrument... Perfect for a travelling bard.

Hopefully I can make a song worthy of such a special quest.

Game jam stuff - today the writer wanted a tiger for the labyrinth!

A tiger getting ready to strike...

So I know I'm not gonna get time to hand draw a vicious tiger so I thought I'd see what I could cobble together from available images on pexels and pixabay.

With a bit of tweaking and some filters I came up with a tiger. This project is getting big so I'm having to resort to some quick and dirty tactics. Here's hoping it works!

Lydia's Labyrinth is coming to the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2024 - now with a tiger!

Travel DevLog 2 - Working with the devil on my shoulder.

Week 2 of development has been going well on Travel Devil 2. We’re setting it straight after the first game so you get to see how the dynamics of Tornacense and Kirby are changing as they get used to being around each other.

Tornacense and Kirby facing an unhinged street preacher in the first game.

It’s great returning to these characters. I’m trying to make their drawings more exciting and dynamic. I’ve got a lot more time to make the character drawings now as I’m not working to game jam timeframes. I’m also going to learn to use the Renpy Action Editor to add more options to the movements in the game.

I’ve been working on many different aspects of the Travel Devil 2 to keep things interesting and motivating. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Many more concept sketches were drawn. Now I need to get them looking swish on the computer.

Backgrounds and video footage of Amsterdam have been sourced to showcase in the vlog parts of the game.

Set up a Bluesky profile – now I just have to learn to use it :S

Spent a lot of time updating software – yay!

Planned some fancy menus for 1st game recap, unlockables and character profiles

Coded some of the game framework in Renpy

Drank a lot of tea (Woo rock and/or roll!)

I've been using the plot outline to build the framework for the game. Robert has been working away on the writing. He's already written the recap of the first game and the opening scene which we’ve been hammering out together.

We’re hoping to get Travel Devil 2 out this year if we can. However if you can’t wait, you can pop on the old humask and check out the (short) first installment here on itch.io.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope March is treating you well!

Getting some practice drawing done on a pretty spring day.

Going deeper into the forest

Lydia's Labyrinth has made it to over 100 downloads!

🖤❤️💜Thank you to everyone who has supported this and helped us to make it here!💜❤️🖤

We're a two person dev team who make short games for free and for fun so having this many people downloading Lydia's Labyrinth is incredible for us! Genuinely, thank you so much.

If escaping a deadly labyrinth while being chided by a cute yet deranged vampire sounds appealing to you, then check it out below!

https://valhallions.itch.io/lydiaslabyrinth

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Lydia's Labyrinth by Valhallions, DoubleFree

Welcome to my labyrinth darling! Do please try not to die too quickly, will you?

Thanks for stopping by and allow me to raise a glass to you for being a part of this journey.

Cheers!

No filters and hot off the drawing table! These are some work in progress sketches for an upcoming project...

Lydia's Labyrinth has received some wonderful feedback during the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam. We aimed to make a choose your own adventure story with a healthy dose of mystery and a cute and deadly host and thanks to some helpful comments and suggestions from amazing players, we're going to bring out a game book of the story 😁

It's going to be the first book in our "Choose Your Fate" series and we hope to bring many of our ideas and stories to the table under this project. The sketches above are for dividing sections of the story and feature props and elements from Lydia's game.

Thanks to everyone who has played our game! It's the most downloaded one we've ever made and it really means a lot to me and Robert.

If you want to see the original jam version of the game you can check it out here...

itch.io

Lydia's Labyrinth by Valhallions, DoubleFree

Welcome to my labyrinth darling! Do please try not to die too quickly, will you?

Thanks for stopping by and take care!

itch.io

Spirit Driver by NoodleDonut, Nox, Wayminh, Mashu, graduisc

A short, casual conversation simulator where your choices can affect the fates of people and spirits alike. Good luck!

The season of scare's dark tendrils are ebbing away to make room for winter's symphony but if you have time for one more supernatural story, give Spirit Driver a go.

This wonderfully cozy Halloween story took the first place winner in the Spooktober Visual Novel game jam and I wished I played it sooner!

The game features a cast of humans and supernatural beings and a cab driver who seems to walk in both worlds. There's heart warming dialogue, subtle and witty jokes and lovely pixel graphic art.

If you're thinking about giving it a go, please do!

Here's a quick screenshot from The Hate Show - an interlude to the Travel Devil story. Development hit a couple of roadblocks but things are back on track and I'm feeling fiendishly hopeful!

The next devlog will follow soon.

Take care of yourselves... and each other.