Penlight [16+] [BxG] [Free / Donate] (Latest Release: November 9th 2024)

[Angela DeMille]

With the end of his high school career approaching, Kyou Koyama is a friendless and troubled young man. However, having recently taken an interest in hypnosis, he supposes he can salvage his relationships with his classmates using the power of suggestion. With the help of a modified penlight of his own design, he sets out the change his world, one class rep at a time...

Penlight is a visual novel set in a high-school with a heavy hypnosis/mind control theme with some kink sprinkled in. While still in early development, the current release is fully playable from start to finish. It should be noted that all characters featured in the game are in their senior year of high school and are over 18 years of age.

 

Content warning: Occasional nudity, bad language, sexual themes, ethical ickyness, psychological horror

Download:
Free releases available via my SubscribeStar, Patreon or itch.io

Latest release details, including a flowchart game guide to all the available story paths, can be found in this Patreon article.

Current public release: November 9th 2024

Next public release due on December 14th 2024

Currently Features:

• Over 400,000 words
• More than 180 CGs
• Five main routes, playable from start to end, with at least one consequential choice for each
• Over thirty possible endings
• Hypnosis & Mind Control (Consenting and non-consenting)
• Mild D/s
• Dehumanization
• Petplay
• Doll play
• Hypno bondage
• Tickling
• Personality alteration
• Male protagonist
• Six female characters
• 2D Animé-style art
• Languages: English & Spanish

 

Latest Update Notes (November 9th 2024)

• WRITING: Concluding scenes written for the new sub-path of the Hiroko Gullible storyline where Kyou takes the safe option during the show
• ART: The new Robot storyline ending CG from last month's release has now been updated with finished art
• ART: New CG that takes place during the cam show of the new Hiroko Gullible story path, sketches only and not currently in the image gallery
• FIX: Corrected a visual bug that occurs during the Delusion route on day 2 after a CG is played
• Word count is now around 435,000
• LOCALIZATION: Various edits and corrections to the existing Spanish script
• Some typo and grammar corrections

Please note that I tagged the game 18+ on my Patreon and Itch.io pages, more because of the non-consenting mind control that some might find objectionable (although as mentioned above, some nudity is also present). The content is probably more PEGI 16 / ESRB M were it rated for audiences.

Support The Project
Penlight is very much a work in progress. Over time I intend to improve the game's writing, art and audio into a more complete game with multiple story branches and additional choices that yield interesting consequences for the player. Check in every second Saturday of each month for a new public release with updated content!

While I'm confident I can make a functioning and enjoyable visual novel on a super limited budget, any funding I do get will be invested into making a higher quality product. If you would like to make a contribution, please visit my Patreon and consider pledging. $5 and over patrons get access to new content up to 4 weeks ahead of the free releases.

Comments and feedback are welcome, too. I appreciate any support!

Edited November 9 by Angela DeMille

[Mr Poltroon]

Surprisingly, this seems to interest me (the word consent is present). However, I don't know if I'd want to play it at this point.

The problem with releasing something like this as 'in-development' is that some updates will consist of updating or bettering what is already there, meaning that for those who have already read, the incentive to replay is negligible at best, since the replay value of reading experiences is based entirely on the person itself and how they take to the story. The formats that are more adequate for these sorts of 'early access' are formats that go chapter by chapter. Either each update will offer the next bit of the story, or a whole new route/path. Content that does not require rereading.

What I fear, at this point, is that if I tried it now to provide feedback, I would not experience the story at its best, but wouldn't want to reread it all again for the final release, either.

[shiroxohayo]

The character art for this is quite impressive. It gives off a bit of a 90's anime feel, at least in my humble opinion.

[Angela DeMille]

Hey, everyone! I wanted to mention that a new public release of the game has been made available today. Highlights include upgraded sprite art for two of the main characters, the first CG and two additional story paths for the existing consensual and villainous routes. Full update notes below.

I also want to say thank you for the interest shown thus far! However, I can understand not wanting to play the game in its current state, not just because some of the existing writing is likely to get revised later on, but also certain decisions are going to have a lot more weight to them for a new reader once there are fully fleshed-out alternatives available.

What's New (September 14th 2019):

• Nozomi's new sprite has been updated with a full range of outfits 
• New initial sprite art for Sayori (limited functionality) 
• First CG has been inserted into the game, depicting the start of the game's two darker routes 
• New path added for Nozomi's consensual route, starting from the third day
• New alternate choice added for the Villainous route along the robot path, leading to a very different conclusion
• Added a secondary character to accommodate the Villainous route additions 
• Nozomi's consensual route ending has been slightly expanded
• Removed Kyou's side sprite (Did he ever need one?) 
• Two new music tracks added. One for the title screen and a few of Kyou's bedroom scenes, and a creepy one for the new robot path ending, because it wasn't quite creepy enough already... 
• Fixed a bug in Nozomi's consensual route where Nozomi's hypnosis trigger was being overwritten 
• Fixed another bug in Nozomi's consensual route where Sayori always talks about Nozomi forgetting a number while giving her rundown of events in day 6, even if you changed Nozomi's name instead. 
• Nozomi's and Sayori's nametags have had their colours altered slightly, matching their new sprite's hair colours 
• Kyou's nametag colour has been changed to green to more clearly set his speaking lines apart from the others 
• Word count is now almost 74,000 (up from about 63,000 in the previous release) 
• Miscellaneous spelling and grammar corrections and script tweaks

[Angela DeMille]

New public release day is upon us again. Yaaaay \o/

You can find this release, in PC, Linux, Mac and Android flavours, on my Patreon or itch.io pages.

Been really excited about showing this one off to folks as it's another BIG expansion, increasing the game's total written content by about a third from last month and pushing Penlight's word count above 100,000 for the first time. It's even bigger than the villainous update I was crowing about the other month, and that was pretty big! And in contrast to the villainous update, this one's a lot more wholesome, with both of Nozomi's friends getting to star in their own routes and enjoy/suffer Kyou's involvement in their lives~

The art upgrades this month have appropriately focused on the friends as well, with both girls getting sprite makeovers. There's more work needing to be done, but it's really nice to be able to see them all line up together in their new looks for the first time ^.^

So yeah, I hope you folks enjoy this one! November's update will see some fixes regarding the consistency of the game as a whole, another new story path and some new CGs. Bye for now~

What's New (October 12th 2019)

- Sayori Consensual Route - Work in progress, playable route from start to finish, with one alternate, partly-written path
- Hiroko Consensual Route - Work in progress, playable linear route from start to finish
- Sayori's sprite has been significantly upgraded with a full range of outfits, expressions and an additional pose
- New Hiroko sprite with one pose and a complete range of outfits
- Hiroko's nametag colour has been tweaked to a different shade of pink, matching her hair in line with the other leading ladies
- Added more CG assets, allowing for many scenes along Nozomi's consensual route to be depicted in this style
- A few new sound effects added to accommodate the new Hiroko route
- You can now switch the game sprites between the new and old versions at any time by visiting the game menu, preferences and choosing "New" or "Old" under Sprite Style
- Word count is now over 106,000!
- As usual, made some more little script tweaks and spelling/grammar corrections here and there on the existing text

[Angela DeMille]

Hey, gang! This month's public release includes a ton of bits and bobs added to the game since last time, with the highlights being new CGs (all three girls have one now) and one all-new path, via the villainous side of things where Kyou adopts a more pragmatic form of villainy. I have mixed feelings about it, but see what you think~

There's also been a ton of revisions to the existing script as I try to make sure the older written story paths read more coherently amongst the newer stuff, as well as some other things that might make routes you've previously read worth re-reading~ I've detailed the changes in the notes below.

Next month's gonna be... almost Christmas, geez, I've been working on this thing in earnest for nearly a year! But yes, holiday season. I'm getting busy so there probably won't be as much to show over the next couple months, but there'll be something for sure!

As ever, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages.

What's New (November 9th 2019)

• New path added to Villainous Route: Sleeper Agent - Playable from start to end with two possible conclusions
• Included the first scene of the Consensual Nozomi Reversal path 
• New CG set featuring Sayori, which replaces the sprite art in several scenes, mostly during her consent route
• New CG featuring Hiroko, which can be found during her consent route 
• New pose added for Hiroko's sprite 
• Punched up some of the dialogue in the Villainous Devoted path, and slightly expanded several scenes to make them a good bit meaner
• Tweaked some of the dialogue in the Delusion (formerly Non-Consent) route and added some extra lines. In particular Hiroko has more unique lines instead of reading too much off of Sayori's script during the confrontation scene with Kyou
• Among other things, added a third option when deciding what to call the girls in the Villainous Robot path, which ups the dehumanization aspect even more
• Corrected quite a few typos and grammatical errors on Hiroko's route, and added a few extra lines here and there  
• Made a number of other minor changes in to all routes. Mostly animation changes to take advantage of Hiroko's improved sprite, but a number of little textual changes were made as well, mostly Hiroko's lines so they seem more in-character for her 
• Modified a number of character expressions across all routes to better fit the lines being spoken; Hiroko's lines in particular 
• Added a couple more background images to accommodate the Villainous Spy/Sleeper Agent path
• A number of text edits across the board, acknowledging more recent character developments in later-written routes 
• Hiroko's height has been reduced slightly on her new sprite
• Fixed an animation bug that occurred during Nozomi's consent route if you chose not to respect her boundaries 
• Word count is now over 121,000 
• General typo/grammatical corrections

[Angela DeMille]

It's been a little while, but public release day is upon us once again~

In terms of new writing, there's admittedly not much to offer this month, with an alternate ending for Sayori's route and a small extension of Nozomi's reversal path the main additions. However, there's been several rewritten scenes this time around. Mainly this concerns the opening parts of the game and is intended to characterize Kyou as more deluded and socially awkward while toning down the sociopathy when it comes to his thoughts and actions early on. It's still a bit of a work in progress but I hope it improves on the original script.

On the art side of things, Hiroko's tennis friend on her route now has a sprite and a name change~ Risa (formerly Kasumi) has a bigger role in Hiroko's route than either of the other main girls, so I really wanted to give her a visual presence in the game. She looks great, and will probably make a few more appearances if I find the opportunity~

Nozomi's sprite now has a second pose, in line with the other girls. It's nice that she doesn't have to directly face the camera (and therefore Kyou :p) all the time now.

As ever, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. And that about sums up this month's updates. Join us in the new year as I turn the art focus to filling out the CG library, along with adding what writing I can during the holiday period.

What's New (December 14th 2019)

• Significant rewriting of the script concerning Kyou's motivation. Main areas this affected were: Opening scenes leading up to the first choice and aftermath, much of the Delusion route, the Nozomi route's café scene and the early scenes of the Villainous route
• You can now refuse Sayori's request at the end of her route, leading to a different ending
• Replaced one of the music tracks with a new tune: The triumphant theme that sometimes plays when Kyou feels he's majorly succeeded at something
• New pose added for Nozomi's sprite
• New sprite added for Risa (formerly Kasumi). She appears frequently during Hiroko's route
• Rewrote most of the back half of the Villainous Robot path's second ending (obtained by arranging to meet Sayori at Nozomi's house)
• Written functional dialogue for Nozomi's Reversal route, up to about halfway through the fourth day
• Made some more tweaks to a few of the conversations along Hiroko's route
• Fixed a bug on Nozomi's path where Kyou testing his theory on her to the full and taking responsibility led to the game jumping to Hiroko's ending and then crashing
• Word count is now over 127,500 
• Numerous general typo/grammatical corrections

Known Issue

• Nozomi's sprite fails to appear for one line during Sayori's route, on the third day

[Angela DeMille]

Public Release 0.1508 - Sayori Route Additions and CG Bonanza!

Hello again, folks! 

There's a few things in this release that I'm pretty excited to show everyone ^.^ Firstly, with the main sprite work done I've been able to turn the art budget to CGs, so we now have art depicting the start of the game, one of the main endings and the start of Sayori's Alter path. They came out really good, and I expect to insert more CGs at a good pace from here on out~

Hiroko's route had a second ending written for it, but Sayori's Alter path is the other thing I'm hyped about. Since her route came out, I left a fragment of story depicting one of Kyou's more irresponsible choices. Since then, ideas of how it might play out have been in my head for months and I decided I really needed to set them free~ While I didn't have time over the holidays to complete it, there's a fair bit of new dialogue along with a (very) rough draft of what comes next, up to just before the epilogue. I think it'll turn out to be one of the more interesting paths in the game so I'm looking forward to getting it written to at least one conclusion in time for next month's release~

As before, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. All in all, I'm quite happy with this month's output~ I hope you all enjoy the update, and look forward to more CGs and a conclusion to Sayori's new storyline next time ^^

What's New 

• You can now choose to convince Hiroko not to go through with her decision at the end of her route, leading to a different ending 
• Added much more story to the Sayori Route Alter path, on the decision branch where Kyou keeps Sayori in her altered state (much of it far from finished) 
• New CGs added for: Introduction scene with Kyou, Delusion route main ending and the start of Sayori's Alter path
• New Kyou sprite has been added to the game... for better or worse
• A rudimentary CG gallery has been added to the main menu
• Updated the code in most of Kyou's spoken lines to ensure his new sprite shows up with an appropriate expression in the more recently-written scenes (He may still be missing in some scenes, though)
• Some minor textual additions made to the existing script on most routes
• Added a couple more songs to the soundtrack. They play during Sayori's new path
• Fixed a minor bug in the Android version where Nozomi's sprite didn't display for a few lines on the Delusion route if Kyou confronted Sayori
• Fixed a couple minor bugs common to all versions where Nozomi's sprite doesn't display for a single line on Sayori's route, and on the Villainous route
• Fixed a display bug on Nozomi's route, when Kyou decides to test his theory and pushes Nozomi further
• Added several new background images to accommodate Sayori's new story
• Word count is now over 138,500

[Angela DeMille]

Hi everyone!

This month's public release is pretty much all about Sayori, as the path I previously showed a draft of has now been written out to a conclusion. To see it, Kyou needs to start her route, suggest making her think she's someone else and decline every opportunity to switch Sayori back from her altered state. What follows is, I think, one of Penlight's more interesting storylines so I hope people enjoy it~

In other news, there's a couple more CGs this month, adding a little visual flair to the Villainous and Delusion routes early on. 

As ever, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. Next month there'll be some more on Sayori's route, plus some progress on a major rewrite of Nozomi's route that I've been wanting to try my hand at for some time. I'll be really looking forward to seeing what people make of it ^^

What's New 

• Written the new, previously drafted Sayori Alter path scenes to a conclusion (Although there are more scenarios to add)
• New general CG set featuring Hiroko, which can be viewed at the start of the Villainous Route
• New CG featuring the first rooftop scene in the Delusion route  
• Word count is now over 147,000 
• Typo and grammatical corrections

[Mr Poltroon]

5 hours ago, Angela DeMille said:

Hi everyone!

I'd like to try out a path and leave some feedback. (Maybe record a playthrough? I could do that.)
Is there any consensual path that's written out? If not, what do you feel is most complete right now?

 

(Do I sound super arrogant in this post? That's not my intention I'm just being lazy but want to help if possible through feedback.)

[Angela DeMille]

Oh, that'd be neat! I guess out of the consensual material the path I just wrote for Sayori (choices from game start: Try to talk to her, Talk about the show she mentioned, Visit the study club, then don't change Sayori back from her altered state) would probably be the most useful to look at currently. I haven't had much critique about it from many people yet, not even my regular Patreon backers

That DOES require a little ethical ickyness on the player's part though, so if that sounds too uncomfortable then reading her other path (where you DO change her back) would also be pretty helpful to look over.

[Angela DeMille]

Alrighty. It's been five weeks since the last public release of Penlight, and the game's been in a bit of a transitionary period. My time's mostly been focused on rewriting Nozomi's main path, with the intention of increasing its length, working some more fun kinky scenes and generally fleshing out Nozomi's character some more. I'm hoping by the time I'm done, Nozomi's paths will hold up as well as her friend's, and provide a more satisfying journey into consensual kink than her original route offered.

Nozomi wasn't my sole focus, though. Sayori's Alter path from last month has had a second ending written for it which I'm sure is going to provoke some responses, and there's been a lot of minor tweaks and fixes throughout the game. Penlight's CG gallery is also growing nicely now, with a handful of new images this month.

As always, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages.

So, I hope folks enjoy the new additions! Next month I hope to have made significant progress on Nozomi's rewrite and I'll see where to go from there~

What's New 

• Begun re-writing Nozomi's route, allowing for a longer runtime. Fully written up to day 5, with very rough outlining and recycled script up to the epilogue (expect major changes for next time)
• Written a second ending for Sayori's new Alter path, where Kyou sides with Sayori's alter personality  
• New CG featuring Nozomi taking part in last year's culture fest stage show. It appears in the first scene of the game 
• Added a new CG featuring Sayori with Kyou, during her newer Alter path 
• Expanded Hiroko's and Nozomi's basic CG sets, allowing for a greater range of expression 
• Most of Hiroko's penlight and couch scenes now use the new CG assets 
• Added some more music to Penlight's soundtrack, which play during the newly-written parts of Nozomi's path 
• Tweaked a line or two of dialogue in the earlier parts of Nozomi's route 
• Lots of little tweaks to the dialogue during Hiroko's route and the start of the Villainous route 
• Made some minor textual and visual tweaks to Nozomi's zombie path  
• Fixed Kyou's sprite not appearing after he refuses to comply with Sayori's request, at the end of the original Alter path 
• Fixed a text error on one line where Kyou called Sayori's alter "Megumi" regardless of the name Kyou actually gave her 
• During some of the earlier-written parts of Sayori's route, Kyou's sprite wasn't showing any expression at all. That's now been corrected
• Corrected a few instances where Kyou's sprite wasn't showing on some lines in Nozomi's route 
• Fixed an oversight that had Hiroko's sprite show over her CG during the start of the Villainous Sleeper Agent path 
• Word count is now over 170,000

[Mr Poltroon]

I'm somewhat embarrassed I never got back to you and had to be reminded by this post, so apologies for that, but I'm really slow at playing to the extent that I never finished the path until the point where I got busy with University.

So, just in case I really do not get around to finishing it, I really like a number of things!

Spoiler

The way the protagonist makes himself to be much more than he is and how he's really shown to be awkward. But it's also really lovely that once he's relaxed with a person he can easily keep the conversation going.

Sayori is super interesting. Very bound by rules, like me, but then has such boundless curiosity... The way she agrees to an experiment but first studies the subject carefully beforehand.
It's really nice to see hypnotism help her. And then we get to the part where he attempts to change her personality. Very curious and fun experiment, but then we get to choose whether to change her back.

You're right, this does require some moral ickyness, but it's at least quite interesting. Seeing the way this changes how she interacts with the world is very interesting. Not the path I'd have picked first, but it's a fun new perspective. I'm not exactly fond of how the protagonist added liking him to the list of traits, but if he keeps BSing us with "It only works if she wants it!" I may actually come to buy it (not really; this is the same sort of logic I see applied in other equally problematic areas, but it's fun in the game -- consent is everything!).

Other notes... Dialogue is really good! Sweet and to the point. I like spending time with characters, so I tend to appreciate stories even when they're clearly padding the dialogue, but here it's just so nice. Every scene is progressing forward with the plot. Sometimes, this sort of writing is quite good as well.

 

[Angela DeMille]

Ah, thanks for giving it a look! I'm pretty happy if it plays well to a general audience and people can follow what's going on. And if your experience with the game so far is anything to go by it seems to do well on that front~

  Hide contents

I do think the game could stand to have a couple of low-stakes scenes where the characters are just hanging out. A little bit of padding instead of rushing breathlessly from plot point to plot point. I seem to have a lot of trouble writing scenes like that, but it's something I'd like to try at some stage.

 

[Angela DeMille]

Hey, gang!

The writing focus on this past month has been solely on getting Nozomi's rewritten storyline shipshape, and while progress has been way slower than I'd have liked, there's now some meat on its bones this time around with some all-new scenes fully developed and even a CG to go with them.

And talking about CGs, the new art is the thing I'm most proud of this month. We managed to cram four new CGs into this (Hiroko's new one is my fave), and even got to replace the last of the placeholder sprites which I'm really pleased about~

As always, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages.

Anyway, that's all for now! Next month, the battle to finish Nozomi's rewrite continues...

What's New

• Written Nozomi's reworked path with proper dialogue up to halfway through the eleventh day (of a likely thirteen plus epilogue)
• New CG featuring Nozomi during one of her new story path's weekend scenes
• New CG featuring Hiroko at the start of her route
• New CG featuring Nozomi and Sayori in the Delusion route, day 6. 
• New CG featuring Kyou and Sayori for one of Sayori's Alter path endings
• Added Atsuko's new sprite to the game for her scenes
• Added a few new sound effects to play during Nozomi's new scenes
• Added a couple more backgrounds for use in Nozomi's rewritten path
• Added a couple more sound effects for Nozomi's new path, and one that replaces a sound in the Villainous Robot path
• Fixed a minor issue where Nozomi's sprite failed to display during the Delusion route when Kyou chooses to pursue her directly
• Fixed a minor bug that meant several CG variants weren't being unlocked in the CG Gallery 
• Word count is now over 179,000
• Miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections

[Angela DeMille]

Hey, all!

This month I feel is a bit light on new content, both on the writing and art front, but I did at least do what I set out to do this month: Finally pen a conclusion to Nozomi's rewritten main route. I think there are a lot of problems with it, and I'd hope to address at least some of them on a second writing pass, but there's one complete path from start to end and I hope you folks enjoy reading it!

Outside of that, I've dropped some teasers for two new storylines. There's one examining a decision Kyou can make to walk back his villainy, but the one I hope to work on over the next month is an alternative path for Hiroko. I haven't written an awful lot for her this year, so I'm keen to focus on the little spitfire for a bit~

On the art front, my artist didn't have the time to get as much done for me as I'd have hoped, but I'm sure what's there will interest some of you. Besides finishing the Delusion route CG from last month, we got started on the ending scene for one of the game's villainous storylines, specifically the robot one. No spoilers for those who haven't read it yet, but for those who want to see it in game, make sure you select #001 as the final choice to guarantee its appearance.

As ever, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages.

So that's it for another month! There's five weeks before the next release, so I really hope I can get Hiroko's new story done in time for then~

What's New

• Completed Nozomi's reworked route to a single playable path from start to end
• Tinkered with some of the game's introductory dialogue
• Extended some of Nozomi's scenes slightly in her rewritten path, and implemented the option for Kyou to use a finger-to-forehead gesture instead of a hand wave when the opportunity arises
• Added Hiroko's version of the Delusion route scene CG on day 6
• Added the first of three variants of the Robot route main ending CG  
• Started work on an additional path for Hiroko's route. To see it,  choose "Convince her she's ticklish in a place she's not", during the third day
• Started work on an outline for a Kyou redemption arc, during the Villainous Devoted path (there's barely anything written, though)
• Word count is now over 187,000
• Usual miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections

[Angela DeMille]

Hey, peeps!

This month's mostly about Hiroko's new storyline, which was teased last time around. The whole thing's been written as a very seat-of-my-pants kinda way, borne purely of a desire to write more stuff featuring her. I think there's some fun ideas in there, even if I haven't managed to put it all together yet... Yeah, I wasn't able to finish the thing in time and as a result there are still some sections left outlined in lieu of having proper script. It's playable start to end in this release, but it's far from the finished article I was hoping to get done. Not to mention the finished ending is going to be very different from what's outlined in this release.  

Elsewhere I've made some little script tweaks here and there, and new artwork has continued to roll in. A couple more of the earlier storylines now have images to accompany their endings and I'm pretty chuffed about that~ 

As before, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages.

Next month's update is going to be more about polish, as I work to finish and amend existing storylines while continuing to populate the game with more CGs. The art gallery is starting to look pretty full of life now ^^ Anyway, enjoy the update and I'll see you next time!

What's New

• Written Hiroko's second storyline to about 80% completion, with some scenes (including epilogue) in outline form only
• Completed the CG for the Villainous Robot path main ending
• Added a new CG scene for Hiroko's main ending on her original storyline 
• Added a CG for Sayori's original ending on her Alter path 
• Added some additional text for the Villainous Robot path ending
• Corrected a minor graphical issue during Hiroko's original storyline where Kyou was wearing the wrong outfit on his sprite during one of the scenes
• Some minor textual changes to the start of Hiroko's route
• Made some minor edits to Hiroko's ending dialogue on her original storyline
• Added a little more dialogue to one or two of the early scenes in Hiroko's route 
• Replaced the school bell sound commonly heard throughout the game
• Word count is now over 198,000
• Miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections

[Angela DeMille]

Hi, everyone!

This past month has had me making little improvements and additions to the game that didn't involve an awful lot of writing. Not that there isn't any new written content, but most of what we're looking at here is a lot more art (including a proper title screen at last!) and something I'm particularly happy about: The beginnings of a Spanish localization for Penlight!

It's in its early stages, and you need to go through the game's menus to get to it, but the first two in-game days are now available to play in a second language, and I'd be thrilled if it helps to open up the game to new readers. There'll be more to come, with the hope of making the game fully dual-language in the near future!

As for the rest of the new content, there are now four new CGs spread across the game, and if you check out Hiroko's and Nozomi's newest storylines again you'll find they've had some more work done to their script, with Hiroko's now written to a full conclusion and Nozomi's having her ending tweaked among other things.

There's more little writing updates here and there (check the update notes), but like I said not an awful lot of new writing here. Just little incremental updates that hopefully make the overall game just a little bit better.

As usual, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages.

For next month I'm cracking on with a storyline I left hanging some time ago while the art upgrades continue. Plus we should see more progress with the Spanish localization. Stay tuned!

What's New

• Fully written the scenes for Hiroko's newest storyline
• Penlight is now partially playable in Spanish! Language select is available via the preferences menu, and Spanish text is present for the first two in-game days
• Replaced the placeholder title and main menu screens with new art
• Added a new CG scene for Nozomi's main (Trance path) ending
• Added a new CG scene for Hiroko's route
• Added a new CG to the start of Sayori's route
• Added a new CG for the ending of the Villainous Devotion route
• Made numerous edits throughout Nozomi's Trance path storyline, including some changes to the final scenes
• Added a few new background musics. They play during Nozomi's Trance path
• Replaced the outline for two of Nozomi's Trance path sub-paths with proper writing
• Numerous edits to previously-written scenes in Hiroko's new storyline
• Tweaked the Villainous Devotion route script slightly, and altered the ending a tad
• Added a tiny bit more outlining for the Villainous Redemption path
• Played with the menu colours a bit so they work with the new title screen better
• Android Version: Added an option to the UI allowing players to hide the UI until the screen is touched again
• The legacy sprite option has now been removed as maintaining them in the game was causing too many issues
• Word count is now over 200,500!
• Miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections
• Miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections

  Known Issue
  

• Changing the language on a line of script where an animation occurs (like screen shake) will throw up an error

[Mr Poltroon]

This is about version 0.1513.1;

I started a further write-up from back then that I felt I hadn't finished. However, inspiration never came and it simply stayed here, unfinished. I might as well post it, in that case.

I'll let you know that this was so good that after reading the girls' paths (I never ventured into the other possibilities) I had to go searching for other stories to fill the void.

Spoiler

I believe a factor that heavily influences the experience is whether or not you stumble upon Sayori's alter route before you do almost any other or not. This is solely because the information about the penlight suppressing the hidden observer is never revealed in the path, meaning its final choice has a different context depending on whether or not you've read other routes. The argument that this is something the subconscious in Sayori wants can only survive scrutiny if nothing seems afoot.
Outside of that, the scene when the protagonist brings himself to confess his negligence is brilliant. The way the alter shows she very much retains Sayori's sharpness and deductive abilities despite the differences in personality is excellent, and her subsequent arguments to not 'kill' her? Wow. As I had never seen anything suggesting the hypnosis was forced, the entire situation did a complete turnabout. It went from "This is the unquestionable moral right." to "This is the unquestionable(??) moral right."

 

Perhaps the most striking thing in Hiroko's route is how less knowledgeable she is about the subject, and how that affects her reactions going forward. For both Nozomi and Sayori especially, they find the protagonist's actions deeply irresponsible and troubling. Hiroko less so. Whereas they understand the implications of hypnotism and his implicit desire to get a girlfriend through it, for Hiroko that seems to be a less clear image.
The scene that brings this to mind is the one where the protagonist ends up kissing Hiroko and its consequences. Whereas the other two would immediately associate the event with the end goal of hypnotism being a girlfriend, all Hiroko wanted was the things removed. That she chose this moment to state her unexpectedly not terrible opinion of him, likely due to witnessing his regret at the event, also shows that she believes him. The other two are clearly much more judgemental when his pursuit of hypnotism appears to push him closer to a potential girlfriend.

 

[Angela DeMille]

Oh, neat~ Thanks for sharing what thoughts you had. It might be an old build now, but I think those observations are still pretty relevant.

And I'm delighted you enjoyed what you saw of the game!

[Angela DeMille]

Hello, again! New release time~

The highlight of this month's release is that an eagerly-awaited storyline's gotten a significant update for the first time in, uhh... eight months? ^^; Yeah, Nozomi's Reversal storyline is readable up to the first weekend now. Hoping I won't need another eight months to finish the rest of it, but no guarantees~

Besides that, I did some outlining to one of the unwritten Villainous Sleeper Agent choices and added another batch of new CGs across the game. There's some little fixes and improvements here and there, plus the Spanish localisation continues apace. The first four days of all storylines are translated now, about two fifths of the whole game, and I'm optimistic about some of the storylines being fully readable from start to end by next month's release!

As usual, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the public news post on Patreon.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the update!

What's New

• Nozomi's Reversal storyline has now been fully dialogued up to day 7
• Outlined one of the previously greyed-out Villainous Sleeper Agent choices through to a conclusion
• Added a new CG to Nozomi's Trance path and the Villainous Devotion path
• Added a new CG to Sayori's Alter path
• Added a new CG to Hiroko's original storyline
• Added new CGs to Nozomi's Reversal storyline
• Upgraded Risa's sprite with a new outfit, a second pose and a couple more expressions
• Added a few more assets to Hiroko's basic CG set, and re-wrote a couple of early scenes on the Villainous route to make use of them
• Added a laughing face to Kyou's sprite (rarely used, but it's in there)
• Added a fingersnap pose to the couch scene CG
• Added one new music track that plays briefly during the Reversal storyline
• Fixed Nozomi having two left feet for one of the CGs in her Trance storyline
• Spanish translation: Game is now fully translated up to day 4, with some typos corrected from previous days
• Fixed a minor visual issue on the CG Gallery screen
• Word count is now around 210,000
• Usual miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections

Known Issues

• Changing the language on a line where an animation occurs (like screen shake) will throw up an error
• Some code changes on the Villainous Robot path will mean any old saves will produce errors. Sorry about that ^^;

[Angela DeMille]

New public release time!

Since last month Penlight's had a lot of little changes and updates. There's script edits, another load of new CGs, a few little additions to storylines old and new, and the full translation of the game into Spanish!

There are some issues with the script in its current version, but Spanish readers should now be able to read and enjoy Penlight and I'm proud to be able to offer that to people in what is still a free indie visual novel ^^ I really hope there are people out there who will find it useful.

But back to the other stuff. Nozomi's main storyline got some significant edits to strengthen the narrative and fix an inconsistency or two. The villainy stuff got another looking over as well, with the Robot storyline getting a new scene and Sleeper Agent a new ending that I'm not totally pleased about, but whatever. It's something. Also, Hiroko's most recent storyline might also be worth reading again just for the new art that got added this month~

Oh, and following from the progress I made on the Reversal storyline last month, I made a start on another anticipated storyline this time. It's the part where Kyou suggests turning Sayori into a doll o.o There's a scene or two to get things started, and there'll be more to come next month. Should turn out to be fun~

As usual, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the public news post on Patreon.

That's all for now. Hope you folks enjoy the update and I'll see you next time!

What's New

• New CG for Nozomi's route, near the beginning
• TWO New CGs for Hiroko's route, on the "Ticklish Hands" storyline
• New CG for the third of Sayori's Alter storyline endings
• New CG for the Villainous Robot storyline
• Spanish localisation: The entire game is now playable in Spanish!
• Expanded the Robot path by making some script edits and adding a whole new scene
• Edited a number of scenes on Nozomi's Trance storyline
• Completed a version of the alternate ending on the Villainous Sleeper Agent storyline where Kyou chooses to fight 
• Began writing the Doll storyline on Sayori's route
• Added music and ambient sound to Hiroko's "ticklish hands" storyline ending scene
• Added one new piece of music. It plays during the first scene of Sayori's Doll storyline
• Added a language select screen when people start the game for the first time
• Inserted a disclaimer message that appears at the start of the game
• Fixed several bugs in the CG gallery that prevented certain CG variants from unlocking
• Fixed a display bug that occurred during Nozomi's Reversal storyline
• Word count is now around 217,500
• The usual miscellaneous spelling and grammatical corrections

Known Issues

• Changing the language on a line where an animation occurs (like screen shake) will throw up an error

[Angela DeMille]

The next public release of Penlight is upon us!

Although to be honest, there's not much new writing to be found this month :/ I've been spending my time developing Sayori's Doll storyline, and it was very slow going. Still, the first in-game week is done now, including its first CG. It's not as much as I wanted, but what's there should serve as a decent taster for what's to come.

Besides that, the Spanish localisation's been tidied up a bit and there's been another round of CGs added to various routes. The one on Hiroko's second storyline is especially good.

As always, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the public news post on Patreon.

For next month I'm cautiously optimistic about having the Doll storyline written to a conclusion, so look forward to that. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this update, such as it is~

What's New

• New CG for Sayori's route, on the new and in-progress Doll storyline
• Added a new CG scene on the Villainous Devotion storyline, towards the end
• New CG for Hiroko's route, at the end of the "Ticklish Hands" storyline
• New CG for Nozomi's route, during her "Trance" storyline
• Sayori's Doll storyline has been scripted up to day 7
• Word count is now around 223,000
• Spanish localisation: Various edits and corrections to the existing script
• Updated the end credits with the latest backers
• Lots of typo corrections (did a sweep of the whole script to find them)

Known Issues

• Changing the language on a line where an animation occurs (like screen shake) will throw up an error.

[Angela DeMille]

Hello once again!

I'm excited about this latest public release ^^ While I didn't manage to complete the Doll storyline as I hoped, I made some huge strides and I reckon it's going to be another reader's favourite. Sayori really does get the best stories xD

Besides that, we've got the usual range of CGs illustrating scenes past and present, so look out for those. And for our Spanish readers, the script is still bang up to date with all the latest script translated and minor corrections and edits made elsewhere. Overall, I think this is a pretty solid update!

As ever, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the public news post on Patreon.

Next month, the last public release before Christmas, we'll see the ending of the Doll storyline (although my Patrons have seen it already, hint hint~) and should have some progress made on another storyline. It'll be good to move onto something else after working on the doll stuff so long.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the new release!

What's New

• Sayori's Doll storyline is now scripted and playable up to the fourteenth day, and outlined to a rough conclusion
• New CG for Sayori's Doll storyline
• New CG for Nozomi's Trance path
• New CG for Sayori's Alter storyline
• New CG for Hiroko's "Ticklish Hands" storyline
• CG for the Delusion storyline's rooftop scene has been expanded
• New character, Akiko, who appears in the Doll storyline
• Added a couple of new sound effects, which play during the Villainous Sleeper Agent and Sayori Doll storylines
• Word count is now around 235,500
• Spanish localisation: Various edits and corrections to the existing script

Known Issues

• Changing the language on a line where an animation occurs (like screen shake) will throw up an error.
• The rooftop CG that displays during the Delusion storyline will have to be unlocked again if you unlocked it previously

[Angela DeMille]

Hello again!

This is another monthly update I'm really proud of. First things first, I've gotten one path through the Doll storyline completely written up to a conclusion! I'm mostly really happy with how this one came out, and I'm sure it'll become a few reader's favourites~

There's "only" three new CGs with this release, but they're all spectacular, and you'll deffo want to revisit the Devotion, Reversal and Hiroko's first storylines to see them!

And finally, I also developed an entirely new story path almost entirely from scratch! The Redemption storyline, where Kyou initially starts on the path of villainy (the Devotion path to be exact) only to turn away from it and try to right that wrong, is now available in this release. It's... definitely not what people would expect to find in these kinds of games, but it's a very Penlight kind of story and it's the kind I've wanted to tell for ages. I hope folks will enjoy what's currently written and look forward to a concluding part after Christmas

Once again, you can find this month's release in PC, Linux, Mac and Android versions, on my Patreon or itch.io pages. I've also linked the most recent flowchart guide on the public news post on Patreon.

Happy holidays, everyone! I'll be back in the new year with another fun update~

What's New

• Sayori's Doll storyline is now scripted and playable up to a conclusion!
• New story path "Redemption" scripted to the end of the eighth day, and outlined to a conclusion
• New CG for Villainous Devotion storyline
• New CG for Nozomi's Reversal storyline, near the end of the currently-written script
• New CG for Hiroko's original storyline, near the end
• Akiko's sprite has been upgraded, featuring a new pose, casual outfit and some new facial expressions
• Word count is now around 252,000
• Spanish localisation: Various edits and corrections to the existing script

Known Issues

• Changing the language on a line where an animation occurs (like screen shake) will throw up an error.