Aurora

                                 Character Introduction

Aurora

 

 

Today, we're gonna be taking a look at one of my favorite characters, Aurora.

Aurora was, if I'm not mistaken, the third character to be created right after the protagonist. She was supposed to be the cheerful girl that gets just way too scared at everything, which serves the horror ambience of the game.  

  

 

 

Just between us, her design is very reminiscent of a character from my favorite anime of all time, Tatami Galaxy. I felt like putting a little something as a nod to it, which is the reason Aurora's hair is very similar to Akashi's. This is even more evident in her early model, back when most of the characters were gonna have very pale skin, much like that anime's artstyle.

Her design didn't actualy changed a whole lot from day one. Aside from her more mature version in the concept art, this is the first draft of her model, while below is Pezkoh's take on it. 

 
He did an amazing job cleaning up the model, which is why the final version is basically this model, but slightly tweaked and updated.

By the way, something that will become apparent as the character names come up, is that all of them have a specific meaning. It took a lot of time to come up with names that worked both in portuguese and english. Aurora's name, of course, comes from the phenomenon, and pairs up really well with her best friend, which you'll get to know next update!
 

Character Introduction: The protagonist

 Character Introduction

The protagonist 

   

 

 

Just look at this handsome young man! It's him the majority of the story will be following.The protagonist was not the first character that was created for the game, that was actually Solar, but his design went through several changes before I settled on this one.In the concept art, he looks a lot more mature. That's because originally I was going to have all the characters be college aged, but decided against it going forward because while I usually enjoy stories with more mature characters, I felt like the story would have more of an impact in them if they were just a bit younger, and they could also act sillier without everything feeling childish and out of place.

 

 

 

From the beginning, I wanted the main character to be this kid who hasn't really come to terms with the loss of his friend. You'll notice his expression only changed in the last version. That's because, while it serves the story for the protagonist to have a bored outlook on life, a bored main character usually makes for a bored player. If he looks at everything with indifference, so will the one reading his thoughts, so I had to compromise.The way I found to get that message across was to give him some really shaggy hair and messy clothes. The kind that you wake up, throws on and with a passing "whatever" before going out. We all had those days.

       

As far as his clothes go, every character wears some kind of coat, because of the climate in the island, which honestly is just an excuse to have them wearing additional layers so I can work on the clothes design with more freedom. I was never really good at minimalism, and they all needed to be wearing their uniforms, so the layers add to their individuality. For the main character, I gave him a detective-inspired long coat, since he's the one that'll be doing the deduction for most of the game, it felt only appropriate.

I also toyed with different colors for the coat and additional details. While the beige looks really good, I had spent so much time working with the green variation that I got way too attached to it, so I ended up going with that version. 

 

 

Also of note, is this version, made by the artist that was helping out in early development, Pezkoh. I love how clean his linework is, but ultimately I had to overhaul the design of every character, and I couldn't hope to end up with a version this clean myself, so I used one of my early designs as a starting point, but kept a couple of details like the belt, and coat fasteners.

And that's it for the protagonist-- oh, you might be wondering what's his name.

Well... that part is a secret!

About the project

 

Project Bruma (which in portuguese means "mist") started development on march 12, 2021, and it's been developed mostly as a solo project. The concept came to be many years ago as a very different game that had the same overall aspects as this one (a mystery visual novel that focused on characters relationships) but has since then gone through many changes both in themes and teams. It started as a group effort between three friends in college, but due to scheduling conflicts, it had to be shelved. I felt like the world and story that was conceived back then was too interesting to never see the light of day, so, now that things are more stable, I'm able to breath new life into it.

About the author:

A 25 year old brazilian biologist that has long ago traded the lab for a cintiq. I've been teaching myself how to draw for a few years out of passion for the craft, and luckly I've managed to make a living out of it for the time being, which is where so far all the funds for this game are coming from. Since I've set out to make this game, I've asked the help of many friends into teaching me how to code, compose and market the game, things I basically never had to do before, but that are being delightful to learn. Videogames were one of the main things that got me into art, and still inspire me to this day, so I figured it'd be nice to give something back and hopefuly inspire someone else along the way.

 

Introduction

 

"Did you hear?
There was this kid in our school who lost his best friend. She just poof, vanished. There one day, gone in the next."
"Looks like he wasn't taking it too well and had to be transfered. A friend of mine from that other school told me he managed to make some new friends there and even went on a trip with them to an island or something. Good for him, right?""But get this: People are saying nobody's heard anything from them for a while now too. Serves him right for messing around with that occult stuff. But then again, wanna know what happens next? Well, a little bird just might've told me..." 

 

Occult:Rewrite is a investigation visual novel inspired by the games I loved from the PSP/NDS era, like Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright, Zero escape and the likes. As such, it's gameplay loop is more than just reading through a story. The player has to actively take part in the investigation by examining the scenery, finding clues and unravel the mystery by using the power of logic

 
Of course, you won't be investigating alone. 

 

You have people to share the burden with. A vital part of the story is the friends you make along the way

...sometimes, frenemies.

As an investigator of the occult, you'll come across rumors from all kinds of cultures

Can you find out the thruth before it's too late?

Characters

 

One of the core aspects of this game is the character interaction. I want the player to slowly get to know everyone, what they like, dislike, and their maneirisms. Really create a link with them, and rather than go for something too obvious like the "amnesia" tool a lot of people like to go for these days so the protagonist can learn along with the audience, I went with something more appropriate and made him a transfer student. Any of you who had to change schools in the middle of the year, or in your senior year might remember how hard it (usually) is to catch up with everyone.

 

In the next few days, I'll be presenting each character individualy, and explaining a bit of what went into their design, but for now, here's a crash course of the friends that'll be joining you on the school trip:

 

The Protagonist:

 

He's the one you'll be following for most of the story, and seeing the game through the eyes of.
An introvert, who suffered a mysterious loss of his best friend, Lucia, and had to change schools to deal with the pain.

Solar: 

A weird girl who spends most of the time in her own world. This might make it seem like she's hard to approach if you're not in her particular wevelenght, but those who do, will find in her a girl that's particularly sensitive.

Aurora:

 

Solar's best friend, and at times, complete opposite. A cheerful, down to earth girl who dreams of being a photographer. Don't say this to her face, but she get's scared really easily.

Hadaward:
 

 

 

A transfer student, much like yourself. People get tired of saying such a long and hard name, so everyone calls him "Hada". He comes from a country that most people never heard of, but he assures you it's very wealthy, and he won't let you forget that.

Arthur:

 

 

A kid who consumes way too much for his own good. Both food and media. He acts silly most of the time, going off on tangents that most people can't follow, but a lot of it makes a lot of sense if you "get it, man".