Bonus Mini-Game Announcement
about 3 years ago
– Tue, Feb 09, 2021 at 09:57:32 PM
Hello backers!
We're entering the final stretch of the campaign with 10 days and 8k left to raise. (You can best help us get there by giving us a share on twitter, facebook or telling a friend.) It's an ambitious goal for a visual novel, but I'm sure we can do it!
Announcing: Bonus Micro Game by Jeeyon Shim!
We have a very exciting announcement: if we fund, friend of the team Jeeyon Shim will be designing a solo micro rpg in the setting! You might remember Jeeyon from that time she ate a whole lemon for this campaign. Jeeyon is one of the best analogue game designers working today, creating games about land-connection, ritual, and deeply human relationships. Recently she has made journaling games, such as co-creating Wait For Me and Field Guide to Memory, and has an upcoming #ZineQuest3 game, The Last Will and Testament of Gideon Blythe.
Jeeyon's game will be a short experience you play by yourself, in the style of a pen-and-paper game. It will compliment the themes of They Sky Left Us, and exclusively be available to our backers and people who preorder on Backerkit. This game is a free bonus for all Kickstarter and Backerkit supporters!
Which "The Sky Left Us" Character Are You?
Just for fun, we've made a character quiz which you can take here.
Thank You 600+ Backers!
Have another kiss by our art director Sadia Bies. This is based on the iconic Audra McDonald, Anne Hathaway, and Raúl Esparza Twelfth Night promotional photo.
This Week
There will be more frequent KS updates as we approach the end of the campaign. Keep you eye out here, or on our twitter, for bonus information about the fashion of Planet Zé, more art goodies, and other projects we are looking forward to.
Thank you all!
Aysha, Quinn, Sadia, and the rest of The Sky Left Us team
Half Way Through: Meet the Team, Promotional Art
about 3 years ago
– Sun, Jan 31, 2021 at 12:55:27 AM
Hi everyone! Last update there were 345 of you—now there are over 500. We're blown away by your support!
Now that we're halfway through the campaign (19 days and $11k left!), it's time for a more involved update. Quick updates at the top, and get to know our team below, and insights into the demo!
Quick Updates
- There are only two Off-Worlder pledges left, to get the exclusive Spire Bomber Jacket.
- There's one Dignitary pledge left, where we'll put a character of your design in the game.
- We're working on a character quiz! Fun times.
- Promotional kiss art:
"Do I intimidate you, Spire?" Alt text description in this tweet.
"This is her ship. If you want to tag along, you'll have to play by her rules. Think you can do that?" Alt text description in this tweet.
Why We're our Team's Biggest Fans
I'd like to take this chance to tell you more about the team behind the game. I'm going to brag about them. Because, honestly, I think this game's greatest strength is who is behind it, and that's what makes The Sky Left Us special. STRAP IN!
This game wouldn't be here without our narrative director Aysha U. Farah, who proposed this game to us at the end of 2019. We'd already worked together for a few years, and knew we could make this great. In my opinion, Aysha is one of the best writers out there. Aysha's experience writing and directing VNs for What Pumpkin has been key for this project. Besides our demo, you can read some of Aysha's writing in Uncanny Magazine 30—genderflipped beauty and the beast, anyone?
Then it was time to put together the rest of the team. The people who would tell Spire's stories, and bring the world of Zé to life. We knew we would have a small team, and wanted a game that would highlight their differences in harmony, not one that felt all the same.
Donyae Cole's writing blew us away, and when we learned she had interest in the real impact of climate change on communities, we knew we had to work with her. From sci-fi to horror, Donyae's writing is daring and deeply human. She's a writer to look out for, and poised to take over the horror genre. Donyae has upcoming work in Fantasy Magazine in March, and you can watch her take on Lovecraft on her kofi. You can also read some of her works for free online, such as in Pseudopod and Speculative Cities.
We knew James Mendez Hodes from his work in TTRPGs, from game design to cultural consulting. Mendez wrote the ttrpg Thousand Arrows, and has done cultural consulting for Magic: The Gathering. His blog takes on cultural issues in nerd media. Anyone would be fortunate to have his insights as a cultural consultant and game designer. But honestly, we're so excited to see Mendez tackle the prose of a visual novel, something a bit different from his other work.
The first writing I read of Adelaide Killigan's was a horror ff with wild text-image formatting, which I am a total sucker for. Her writing has the perfect mix of dark humor and snappy prose. Adelaide is also a killer programmer, who has been fantastic to work with on the demo. Her other game work includes What Pumpkin and Necromancy Nancy, and she has something new to announce soon!
Alongside our writers are the other artists who made the gorgeous demo. We didn't want the game to look completely uniform, so each artist's strength could shine. At the same time, it needs to be cohesive. It's really incredible to see their work come together in the demo, and showcase a planet that is divided and in a delicate harmony.
Courtney Brendle has brought the Peakborn mountain-top city to life: pastels, a hazy sky, proud architecture, and a poor ecosystem. It was important for us to contrast the Peakborn's wealth with that of the environment, as seen in the sparse, wilting plants of the garden. Courtney has done background art for other games and Cartoon Network. Her illustration are lively and bright, with a strong sense for the story of places.
Our other background artist is Aster Santiago. From Mexico, Aster works in animation, concept art, and illustration for games like HyperBeard Studio's and beyond. Aster's work is always fun, with a strong sense of character. For the demo, Aster created the environment of the inter-galactic spaceship. This is a completely different world than that on the mountain peak—industrial and well-lived. Still, we have some foreshadowing of what's to come on the planet, with the green, hazy light.
Now to populate the world with our characters!
Our first sprite artists is Roy Wang, whose characters are charming and fashionable. And... maybe a bit evil. Roy will primarily be drawing our Peakborn characters. They brought us Pria for the demo, and did the portraits for Rowan and Nadya. Yes, there will be lots of gold, ornate jewelry!
Sora has worked on the Avatar comics (Legacy of The Fire Nation and An Avatar’s Chronicle). Her work really brings the drama. You should especially check our her animation—our shoot for the stars stretch goal is to add animation to the endings! Sora did the Spire sprites, and Lior, Serene, and Vee's portraits. They'll be mostly doing the Sunken characters for the game. Can't wait to see Sora's take on fog diving suits made out of giant bug parts!
And our last character artist is Emily Combs. There's something sexy about their characters, and we're a big fan of her monsters as well. (Will anything like that end up on our game? Who can say...) Em did the twins for the demo, and Breeze, Avery, and Indigo's portraits. You guessed it—they'll be doing our Unmoored characters. Who are mostly pirates.
As important to building the world will be the music of the game. One of our favorite musicians Mabel Harper is joining us, bringing her eclectic pop style and incomparable mixing. For the Peakborn world, we wanted to lure the player in with pop party satisfaction. With some traditional instruments, Saghert & Cream brings to mind fashionable, rich partiers without a care in the world. But Slither & Cream shows the more sinister side.
Quinn Milton is also making music for the game, bringing the sci-fi mood and drama with tracks inspired by trip-hop—Fog + Clear, and Stars + Myths. We want the vibe to be recognizably sci-fi, with something ominous on the horizon. Later, the traditional instrumentation will come through, showing a world caught between old ways and new technology.
Quinn and Mabel have worked on music together before, which you can hear in "Raw" from Don't Do it, Neil's last release. They're incredibly excited to work together again on this soundtrack.
Check This Out
The RPGSEA spaces are some of the most exciting and innovative collections of voices in the tabletop games scene at the moment. Pairing sharp mechanics with unique, breathtaking settings, creators from all across South East Asia are putting out games that challenge the way we think about tabletop gaming and rapidly building a legacy that will undoubtedly change the face of tabletop RPGs forever.
18 days left to back this funded game series!
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All of our thanks,
Aysha, Quinn, Sadia, and the rest of The Sky Left Us team
Our first week!
over 3 years ago
– Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 11:44:21 PM
Thank you all for joining us in the first week of our campaign. There are over 345 of you? We've raised half our funds? Incredible!
I'll keep this brief but wanted to touch on our stretch goals and a few other things to check out.
Stretch Goals
We're hoping to fund our first two stretch goals, to complete The Diver and The Pirates routes. Vee, Avery and Indigo were routes we had in the game from the beginning, then moved to stretch goals since our base funding is already ambitious. You'll meet the three of them in the base game—but if we get to the stretch goals, we can tell their stories of survival and compromise, high crime and freedom.
We can do it! The best way to get us there is by telling someone about the game. Do it so you can kiss them all.
Check This Out
Over on twitter we're releasing more character information this week. That's the best place to keep track of all the game's sneak peeks! I'll be sure to share the best here, of course.
Aveliana — On Kickstarter
Check it out: This is a gorgeous 2.5D infiltration-adventure game that is still working to meet it's goal! I'm really enjoying the art and music, and the idea of moving between 2.5D and 2D to move along different paths.
Campfire Macabre — Flash Fiction Anthology
It's only 9 months until halloween! Over fifty flash fiction horrors to tell with your friends. I'm biased because our own Donyae Coles is a contributor, and everyone should read her writing, not just in our game.
As always, our thanks.
We wouldn't be here without all of your support and we are extremely grateful for it! Our inbox is open for any questions about the campaign.
All the best,
Aysha, Quinn, Sadia and the rest of The Sky Left Us crew
