Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 Hi everyone! It's Arcane City Game Studios! Some of you know us.... some of you gorehounds and lovecraftian and body horror fans love us, I'm sure that some people hate us (ahem!) and that's alright too! We will keep on trucking. We're a small group based all over the place with a teeny budget. One of us is in very bad health and is chronically ill with maybe 7 years of life left, but that's okay too We do this for the fun of it and the love of art, not the money (obviously since everything so far is free)! Our vn's are many, spread out over different times but all in a shared continuity. We're open to collaboration with other teams :-) Right now we're working on Arcane City: The Faceless God, which any fans of Lovecraft, Junji Ito, or Stephen King will likely enjoy! Our art style is different, and not for everyone, but we hope you like us anyhow! - ACGS Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 you know unlike most dev intros I actually enjoyed this one, it's weird how it doesn't link to anything though Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: you know unlike most dev intros I actually enjoyed this one, it's weird how it doesn't link to anything though Oops! That's what happens when i get locked in a sleep deprivation chamber no sleep! I forgot to add links! This is a result of me having Lynks Disease. I'll try to do better next time, I promise! Here is an important one though: take me outside of standard time and space Edited January 18, 2020 by Arcane City Game Studios Zakamutt 1 Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 Man, is there any way to download this stuff instead of playing it in the browser? The fullscreen button doesn't work, I have to completely disable ublock and noscript for the tab to get it to load, clicking new game takes ages to actually load the game with no feedback making you think it's just not working, and well html5 vns are not my fave Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 I am woman! Not man! Hear me roar! Hmm..... I need to look into that and upload downloadable versions of EEEEVVVERYthing. I didn't know it was giving those types of problems! EEK!!!! In the meantime here is the direct link to one and it's sequel. Prepare for weirdness: https://arcanecity.itch.io/the-virgin <--- firsthttps://arcanecity.itch.io/arcane-city-lynlin <---- the (longer) sequel (which i think is better!) Zakamutt 1 Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 🤔 I mean if this were a horror part I'd understand, but it sort of just looks bad here (the grammar nazi in me wants to add that the hyphen after occasion should be an en dash (a bit wider) or a nonspaced em dash) Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 **punches dash** Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 32 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: 🤔 I mean if this were a horror part I'd understand, but it sort of just looks bad here (the grammar nazi in me wants to add that the hyphen after occasion should be an en dash (a bit wider) or a nonspaced em dash) Did you make it to the finish line alive?!?! Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 ጠልሃጌቿ. ጎ'ጠ ክዐፕ ነሁዪቿ ዘዐሠ ጎ ቻቿቿረ ልጌዐሁፕ ፕዘቿ ክዐክ-ቿክዕጎክኗ ቿክዕጎክኗ ቻዐዪ ልዪርልክቿ ርጎፕሃ ፕዘዐሁኗዘ. Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 7 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: ጠልሃጌቿ. ጎ'ጠ ክዐፕ ነሁዪቿ ዘዐሠ ጎ ቻቿቿረ ልጌዐሁፕ ፕዘቿ ክዐክ-ቿክዕጎክኗ ቿክዕጎክኗ ቻዐዪ ልዪርልክቿ ርጎፕሃ ፕዘዐሁኗዘ. About the who-what? I cant read it! :-( Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 ዐዘ ጌዐፕዘቿዪ, ጎፕ'ነ ዘልየየቿክጎክኗ ልኗል – ahh that's better. I basically was saying the non-ending ending is a bit meh. Assuming you're not just supposed to wait way too long or I'm getting a bug. It wouldn't need to have like, anything special to end it after a certain time showing the black screen, you could just show some glitchy picture, play a sound, then make the program exit or whatever. Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 Just now, Zakamutt said: ዐዘ ጌዐፕዘቿዪ, ጎፕ'ነ ዘልየየቿክጎክኗ ልኗል – ahh that's better. I basically was saying the non-ending ending is a bit meh. Assuming you're not just supposed to wait way too long or I'm getting a bug. It wouldn't need to have like, anything special to end it after a certain time showing the black screen, you could just show some glitchy picture, play a sound, then make the program exit or whatever. On 'The Virgin' or Lyn;Lin? The Virgin was our freshman project xD Lyn;Lin (Sequel) is a bit more refined Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 Oh yeah, the second one. The first one does end. The second one just has a black screen with ominous noises for at least minutes as its ending, which I was in two minds about Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 9 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: Oh yeah, the second one. The first one does end. The second one just has a black screen with ominous noises for at least minutes as its ending, which I was in two minds about The second one (lyn;lin) loops back to the title screen after the credits? Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 11 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: Oh yeah, the second one. The first one does end. The second one just has a black screen with ominous noises for at least minutes as its ending, which I was in two minds about Here's a let's play: Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 Okay so what happens for me is, the black screen at ~15:50 in the video never ends; it doesn't proceed to the next image, the settings cogwheel does nothing when clicked either. I guess the VN just hangs for me then? lol tyranobuilder Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 After loading a save it worked this time? the hell Edit: I can reproduce the bug(?) easily by starting from the beginning. The transition only works if I load a save, which also makes a background image white where it would show a picture otherwise Edit 2: the save has to be close to the crash point to stop the bug from occurring as well. Edit 3: whoa these are some naughty hung processes Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 38 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: After loading a save it worked this time? the hell Edit: I can reproduce the bug(?) easily by starting from the beginning. The transition only works if I load a save, which also makes a background image white where it would show a picture otherwise Edit 2: the save has to be close to the crash point to stop the bug from occurring as well. Edit 3: whoa these are some naughty hung processes Thank you! I'm uploading a *hopefully* corrected version as we speak. Let me know how you like the ending. Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 Okay that was pretty entertaining I'm not sure how I feel about spoiling [well known visual novel] just for a joke, though I guess a lot of people including me will have played it lol You certainly have a unique style if nothing else lol Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 6 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: Okay that was pretty entertaining I'm not sure how I feel about spoiling [well known visual novel] just for a joke, though I guess a lot of people including me will have played it lol You certainly have a unique style if nothing else lol Go ahead and spoil it! Just push the spoiler button! I'm curious what you thought. We've gotten some comparisons to a certain unique VN (ahem....S N U) and also mentions of (M B) and another one. Quote
Zakamutt Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 I thought the VN reference I was referring to was obvious so I just left it like that. As for actual thoughts: It's a weird mix of being schlocky and sort-of-embracing it and being full serious in the sequence where the viewpoint character is transported and given all that delicious knowledge. I don't entirely dislike it but there is some whiplash between the two modes. There is some buildup of horror tension, but like many short duration horror stories it kind of feels a bit overly accelerated. I guess it could have been much worse though. Like basically all EVNs that aren't Actual Sunlight the prose could be edited to read better. Including, but certainly not limited to, basic errors like an uncapitalized "i" in a section that didn't seem like it should be fucked up textually. The listing of edgy verbs and nouns in one part feels a bit juvenile and honestly badly done; it doesn't really confer anything scary it just looks like someone tried writing down all the edgy words they could think of in no particular order. I guess you can argue that was on purpose as an issue with the viewpoint character's mindset but it was still unengaging. I would probably want to revamp this section with a few less gorey and more cosmic scares mixed in and the structure changed to be a bit more than just one unconnected word after the other. It doesn't remind me of Saya or anything else much; maybe other cosmic horror stories for the part where the viewpoint character is transported to the entity. Well, the start reminds me of more than one equally schlocky horror thing, I guess, lol. Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 3 minutes ago, Zakamutt said: It doesn't remind me of Saya or anything else much; maybe other cosmic horror stories for the part where the viewpoint character is transported to the entity. Well, the start reminds me of more than one equally schlocky horror thing, I guess, lol. The closest other story that lyn;lin is related to isn't even a visual novel, it's 'Through the Gates of the Silver Key' by HP Lovecraft and E. Hoffman Price and even brings back elements from Randolph Carter's meeting of Yog-Sothoth in that story Other influences are the old 'Twilight Zone' Tv Show, Junji Ito, and Stephen King. Visual Influences are heavily influenced by 1980s Body Horror Stuff like John Carpenter's 'The Thing', films like 'From Beyond' and 'Society', etc. so we're kinda coming from a waaaaaaaaaay different direction than most creators I think! I don't know if that's good or bad. Quote
Plk_Lesiak Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 Well, this thread went places. Anyway, welcome to Fuwa! I'm just finishing Lyn;Lin and I like what it was going for at first, but... Why the infodumps? That's not how lovecraftian horror works. The moment the game starts explaining everything through plain narration, all the tension and mystery evaporates from it. :C Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Arcane City Game Studios Posted January 18, 2020 Author Posted January 18, 2020 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said: Well, this thread went places. Anyway, welcome to Fuwa! I'm just finishing Lyn;Lin and I like what it was going for at first, but... Why the infodumps? That's not how lovecraftian horror works. The moment the game starts explaining everything through plain narration, all the tension and mystery evaporates from it. :C Ahhh...... but it waits to do that until the end, and this VN is connected to 'Through the Gates of the Silver Key' , which itself did some of those infodumps and explained mythos elements, for the first time in the history of Lovecraft's writing It's meant to combine the two sides of that coin - dread and explanation of the Universe... a bit more of the Science Fiction aspect of things. Then at the very end with what you find out about the narrator (Lynthenea) and the person she's talking to, it kind of flips things into sadistic horror mode. We were initially going to have a guest cameo by Randolph Carter himself but didn't want to derail the storyline from Caleeca. Thanks for the welcome!!!!!!!!! Edited January 18, 2020 by Arcane City Game Studios Quote
Fiddle Posted January 18, 2020 Posted January 18, 2020 Thank you for the Oxford comma. Arcane City Game Studios 1 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.