Comments (7)
Visual novel style games are pretty hard to pull off. But if you balance the right elements (writing skills, use of sounds, background art) you can really make something special. And this feels like the start of something special!
Every aspect of this little preview teases a small part of something so exciting, and I can't wait to see what happens after our little adventure down the alleyway! The use of stats is a really neat little touch (I have a feeling my courage bar is going to be way low in the full game haha!), and the way the story is written makes me want to keep playing, which is of course an important aspect of a game like this.
Keep up the great work, I'll be lurking around waiting for the full game =)
I have to say i liked the game, but i think i've rushed it a little bit, still have to try out what actually happens when you go further in to the deep alley.
Great game overall with nice music, i'd only tone down the sound fx a little bit since steps are kinda "overpowering" but that's just my thought on that.
Good job, can't wait for more updates!
https://youtu.be/BsL6Tlli2F0
I played this game and it's probably the best gamejolt game I have ever played!
You have been part of something terrible, something so unspeakable that caused you to blackout and forget all recent events. Now you have the choice of pursuing this dark truth or trying to bury it in the past.
Maybe it’s not too late to turn back now.
--
Blackout is a Choose your own adventure game set in a dark modern universe, influenced by White Wolf’s World of Darkness, H.P. Lovecraft and weird shows like Twin Peaks.
You play as a man who finds himself lost in a dark street somewhere in the city of New Wenders. It doesn’t take long before you start having flashbacks and regaining your memory. Something terrible happened, and you were part of it. This event somehow opened your eyes to a whole new world that has been hiding beneath the shadows.
As the player, you have the choice to dig deeper into this unspeakable deed or try to leave it all behind. Blackout is a game about choices, every chapter of the game takes place in a different location, and the order in which the chapters take place will change based on your choices. Even more so, the path you take inside each chapter varies greatly, and the effect of your choices could ripple across all chapters, meaning you could have a completely different experience on a new playthrough.
In Blackout, you have 3 attributes that will change during the game: Courage, Sanity and Fitness. These attributes will also lock or unlock choices or paths, as will some items you may acquire along the way.
Blackout is a game about hidden monsters and hidden fears, and ultimately about overcoming the worst adversary: one’s true self.
You can also add Blackout to your wishlist on Steam!
The preview version (Demo) of the game, contains the first chapter (from a total of 10), but it still lacks some of the functionalities of the final game. The idea of releasing this is to get some feedback and support while we finish the rest of the game, and also most of all to help spreading the word. So if you like this and are interested, please tell someone about it, tweet, post somewhere, we really appreciate it!
If you want to get in touch, or know more about the game, you can find me @robsonsiebel 
Music and Sound Effects made by the amazingly talented Ted Wennerström
If you find any bugs or typos, please send an email to [email protected], if you can attach a screenshot as well, even better!
You can also check our Devblog or subscribe to the newsletter for more in depth information, articles and other games.
Sneak peek of a WIP piece for Blackout. If you played the demo you probably know where this will show up!
On other news, the text is done and edited! If you want to know the final word and passage count, check our devblog:
https://minichimera.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/blackout-sneak-peek…
Working on Flashback Puzzles recently, a very important part of the game! (WIP)
Full post: https://minichimera.wordpress.com/2019/08/24/blackout-devlog-fla…
If you played the Blackout demo, you probably noticed the map is just a placeholder and serves to nothing but aesthetics. But we wanted to make it something the player can use as a reference for story events.
Full post: https://minichimera.wordpress.com/2019/05/31/the-map-of-new-wend…
Work in progress for an in-game gallery where you'll be able to see the art unlocked throughout the game.
For the next update I will show the New Wenders map, and how the game uses location events to refresh the player memory and entice exploring!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zBLpJX55G4
Spent a good amount of time this week with UI stuff like text auto-typing, buttons and images appearing smoothly/timely and... settings to turn most of it off if you so desire.
Also added UI sound effects and ambiance track to chapters!
“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity” – Edgar Allan Poe
Started working on polishing some aspects like adding fade in/out and adding some animation to tape-covered text. What do you think?
Minig-games are now linked to the relevant attributes, so they will be harder or easier depending on the value of your attribute =)
Adding "cutscenes" for some images. Still WIP.
I first used this effect on the teaser trailer, but I liked the effect so much that I decided to add it to the game as well, it brings a nice dramatic effect and also invokes the comic book style =)
Working on the new Flashback scenes (placeholder assets). In the current demo they are just a scrollable text, but in the final version they will be interactable and will have pictures and sound effects =)
In Blackout, your choices can affect the order of the chapters, so I wanted to share the Chapter flow to give you an idea =)
