The time is here to experience Serafina’s story unlike you ever have before! Now animated, voiced, and developed with lush 3D environments in UE4, Serafina’s Saga: Awakened is now available for PC.
This project has been several years in the making, and I have faced a lot of challenges on the way. Thanks to all of you who have supported me on the journey, and I hope you enjoy this epic adventure!
Greetings everyone! I have a new release date announcement for Serafina’s Saga: Awakened: March 19, 2024! Only a few months away!
As the launch date moves closer, I will be releasing a video clip from the game every week to give you a preview of exciting moments to come. Follow my Youtube channel at https://youtube.com/@WoodsyStudio to see them as they release!
In the clip I released last week, Serafina meets Reuben for the first time. Jezu has a negative viewpoint of Reuben “Jeridar” and isn’t afraid to let his distaste show…
This week’s clip reveals a clandestine discussion between Xavier Wolven and Belatrix Grandil. These two might not see eye-to-eye, but they know many of Krondolee’s dark secrets, and work behind the shadows to keep them buried.
Greetings everyone! A few weeks back, Woodsy Studio launched the Serafina’s Saga: Awakened Demo on Steam, and now it’s also available on itch.io. If you missed it earlier, now’s a good time to check it out!
The demo allows you to play through not only the Prologue, but also Chapter One. If you have already checked it out, and wish-listed or followed Serafina’s Saga: Awakened on Steam, thank you! If not, today’s post is a chance to go deeper into the content of the demo.
Versions of Serafina over the years
If you’ve seen the trailer and previous posts here you know that Serafina’s Saga: Awakened is a complete remake of the original Serafina’s Saga into a full otome-style visual novel. Everything is new from the writing, to the character designs and animation, voice acting, backgrounds and music. The demo is your first chance to see it all come together. Between the Prologue and Chapter One you can experience over an hour of all new gameplay. This includes enough choices to give you a feel for how your actions change your bonds with the characters.
The prologue introduces Serafina’s circumstances, a seemingly quiet life with her father (Arken), the forest she knows how to navigate like the back of her hand, and an elusive capybara. Leap through the foliage with Serafina, see what home life is like, and meet another human for the first time! You also have the chance to make the game’s first choice in this segment as you weigh how much to trust your father.
After the prologue, Chapter One takes Serafina out of the forest into a land where she only has her own intuition, and you, to guide her. Over 10 choices await you in this Chapter, including changes to Serafina’s hair color! While you will meet Belatrix Grandil, and you may catch some references to characters to come, the Chapter mainly serves as your introductions to Nikolaos Perin and Valerie Sparkov, representing two of your potential paths as the Serafina’s Saga awakens.
Can you determine which responses are the best for building your bonds with Nikolaos and Valerie? Will you choose caution, or throw caution to the wind? Should Serafina pursue either of them? Depending on how you respond to the choices in Chapter One you can find hints regarding alternate paths that may open up to you as the game progresses. If you make the right choices you can even be rewarded with one of the CGs included in the demo. Of course, that depends on who you think Serafina should trust.
Thank you for checking out the demo, and it would be greatly appreciated if you would wishlist and follow Serafina’s Saga: Awakened on Steam or itch.io. The full game is scheduled to be ready for you in March 2024. Until then keep an eye here and on social media for further updates on the game’s development and a deeper dive into the main cast.
Greetings everyone! It has been some time since I posted an update. But I’m happy to say that development for Serafina’s Saga: Awakened is still progressing strongly.
If you have been following me over the past few years, you know that I’ve hit a few creative hiccups. Finishing Crimson Spires and publishing with East Asia Soft was a gratifying achievement that I remain quite happy about. But as often happens after riding a big high, a rough downward slope followed after.
Malcolm Pierce left his role as partner of Woodsy Studio, leaving me (Jenny) as the sole writer and developer. Although this is how I originally began Woodsy Studio, returning to solo development after years of partnership has been a difficult journey. I was also in the midst of some heart-wrenching life changes that took a toll on my creativity.
Altogether, I had a year or more of very low creative output. I started and stopped projects that never got finished. But eventually, I decided to go back to my origins: the first visual novel I ever made. And since then, I have been completely remaking Serafina’s Saga. I’m writing all new scripts, drawing new art, building 3D environments, remixing old music, and composing fresh tunes. And I’m having a blast doing it. I’m also now working with an awesome voice cast to bring the characters to life, as well as some other creative colleagues (including Malcolm Pierce) who are helping me with some elements of the game.
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the trailer for a sneak peak at how it’s all coming together:
Thanks to all of you new and old followers who have played my previous games and encourage me to keep creating. I appreciate your patience as I work on this new journey for you, and I hope you will love it when it’s complete!
I cannot provide a solid release date as of yet, but my aim is to release in early 2024. So stay tuned!
Thank you so much to everyone who auditioned! It was a very hard decision because there were so many great auditions! The roles have been cast as follows:
Serafina’s Saga: Awakened is a complete remake of the original Serafina’s Saga, released first in 2013 then remastered in 2014. The new version is an otome-style visual novel made in UE4. The script will be mostly rewritten, the art entirely redrawn, and the music remixed. Intrigue, romance, and drama combine in a rich fantasy world with animated character sprites and lush 3D environments.
Young Serafina has spent her entire life alone in the jungle with only her guardian, a mysterious man named Arken, as company. When Arken is captured by a group of soldiers and carried away, Serafina must venture outside the forest to save him. On her journey to the heart of the kingdom, Serafina discovers a whole new world beyond the shadows of the jungle.
As Serafina, you will mingle with noble warriors and salacious nobles to infiltrate the royalty of Castle Krondolee and save Arken. But in the process, you will become entangled in a wide web of relationships, schemes, and beliefs that may set you on a different path than the one you began. Learn the dark truth of Arken’s past and thus Serafina’s. Decide whom to trust, fight, or love. Your choice will change the fate of the entire kingdom.
Serafina as she appears in Serafina’s Saga: Awakened
Expected Work and Payment
Payment will be $0.10 per scripted word, with a minimum of $0.25 per line (for instance, a very short line or sound instead of a word).
*Side Note This project is early in development. Please be aware that batches of scene dialogue might be requested in gradual stages, such as once every few months over the course of a year or longer as the game nears completion.
Rating/Maturity
This game will contain mild adult language, violence, and sexual themes. Romance lines might get a little racy. I expect it to get rated somewhere in the Teen category (but I can’t officially say yet for sure).
Audition Process
Please record the included audition lines for the roles that interest you and send them in either .wav or .mp3 format to jenny (at) woodsy-studio (dot) com. Please include your name and the character name in the files, such as “YourName_CharacterName.mp3”. Multiple takes and styles are highly encouraged so I have a good sense of your range. The last day to audition will be Sunday, April 3, 2022.
WHAT I LOOK FOR WHEN CASTING: When I cast voice actors, what I care about most is acting ability and emotional expression. This is more important to me than vocal range, accent, or other secondary details. Although I generally don’t judge your audition on a resume or past roles, I *am* impressed when voice actors to have theater experience, so feel free to mention that if you have it.
As for demonstrating your ability to act, try to fully embody the character your voicing and let their personality shine through every line. Major bonus points if you can somehow help me see the character in a new way I never even thought of before. Err on the side of feeding an audition line too much emotion rather than too little; I always know I can ask you to tone it down, but I don’t always know whether you can kick it up a notch (and do it well).
SIDE NOTE ABOUT ACCENTS: Due to this game’s setting of a diverse fantasy world, the accent of some characters can be whatever sounds best. Those characters will have the note “Accent: Optional.” You could do normal American, British, Australian… or whatever strikes your fancy as feeling good for that character. That said, please don’t be too sloppy or or extreme with using accents to the point it distracts; the focus should still be on the emotion of the character.
Some characters have had previous voice actors from the original animation. If so, it might be helpful for you to listen to the previous voice actors as a starting point. But don’t feel obligated to copy them exactly. I’m open to new interpretations of the characters if they’re good ones!
CHARACTERS!
Nikolaos Perin
Nikolaos Perin
(Male, Love Interest) Nikolaos is a playful spirit trapped in the harsh role of a Royal Scout in King Kallias’s army. He descends from the noble House Perin, so he’s obligated to some involvement in the royal complications of Castle Krondolee. But if he could, he’d actually spend his life as a theater actor, performing dramatic roles on stage! He’s compassionate and light-hearted by nature, but he has a slight dark side: in a conflict, he’ll take the easy way out to avoid more trouble, whether it’s running away or deceiving the people around him.
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Playful, enthusiastic, but annoyed when people make his life more difficult AGE: 20s ACCENT: British or American (you can hear the original voice actor for Nikolaos here: https://youtu.be/ZMVwmMJrCbQ?t=706 but don’t feel like you have to copy it, just use it for inspiration)
***********Audition Lines************ Line 1: (playful, flirty) “Seems to me like you need to relax. Let’s get out of here. How about I give you a private tour of the castle?” Line 2: (flustered, angry)“Hey! Any more of that and I will break this thing, got it?” Line 3: (nervous, dodging) “Oh, that’s just servants’ gossip. I bet the story got passed around and exaggerated. You know how it is! *nervous laugh*”
Jezu Grandil
Jezu Grandil
(Male, Love Interest) Jezu Grandil is the General of the Royal Guard and he takes this role very seriously. His father died on duty when Jezu was very young. Jezu now wants to continue his family’s military tradition, but he wants to win and survive. This can lead to Jezu being cold, ruthless, and unforgiving on the outside. But underneath his harsh demeanor, he has a fragile heart that never wants to see his loved ones suffer.
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Dignified, Proud, Often cold, but occasionally that cracks and he shows his soft/caring side AGE: Late 20s ACCENT: Optional
***********Audition Lines************
Line 1: (cold, haughty) “Becoming a member of the Royal Guard is no simple matter. But you’re free to try, as freely as you might fail.” Line 2: (angry, threatening) “You are not ready for this, fool. Make a single misstep and I’ll smear you through the dirt.” Line 3: (guilty, upset) “I made a mistake. I never should have put you in that position. I deserve… to be punished.”
Kallias Jeridar
Kallias Jeridar
(Male/Gender-Fluid) Made King of Darzia at a young age, Kallias always intended to do what was best for the kingdom. But his idea of “what’s best” is flooding the kingdom with gold at the expense of everything else: including food, shelter, and all the things one would usually spend gold to obtain. Kallias descends from Mallion, the god of greed, and his personal greed for gold is insatiable. So he remains blind to his country’s starvation while he tirelessly works to acquire more gold.
Beyond his greed and kingly pride, Kallias still possesses a child-like personality that never quite grew up. He’s quick to throw a tantrum or chase after a promising prize. He can be playful, friendly, and humorous–when he’s not busy starving the country.
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Spoiled, Playful, Greedy AGE: 20s ACCENT: British (you can hear the original voice actor for Kallias here: https://youtu.be/ZMVwmMJrCbQ?t=884 but don’t feel like you have to copy it, just use it for inspiration)
***********Audition Lines************
Line 1: (flustered) “No, no, no! I’ve counted each one of them several times now. And every time, I come up with a different number!” Line 2: (joyful, excited) “Well well well! Isn’t this a surprise! Show me what you can do! How about one of those Wolven dance… thingies.” Line 3: (flippant sadness, disdain) “Too bad for the Elborns, divine magic was not enough to save their lives.”
Xavier Wolven
Xavier Wolven
(Male) Descended from Belazar, god of anger and death, Xavier is a devoted Wolven assassin. His passion is to kill and he’s very damn good at it. He’s not exactly the type of person you invite to a party–unless you want someone dead.
Xavier is not always just a hired hand, of course. He has his own needs, desires, and grievances. Right now, his desire is to kill Arken Jeridar. He thinks Arken destroyed the best chance of love he ever had with a woman named Vivian Trell. That was 18 years ago… but Xavier’s not the type to let go of a grudge.
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Dangerous, discerning, Cold and callous until sparked to anger AGE: Unknown, appears to be in 40s/50s ACCENT: Optional
***********Audition Lines************
Line 1: (Cold, threatening) “Do you know who I am? I could slit your throat right now and no one would challenge me.” Line 2: (annoyed, then uncertain/interested) “I don’t want tea. I want you to leave me alone until–… is that ginseng?” Line 3: (angry, hurt, passionate) “It has to do with EVERYTHING! You miserable pondscum. You seduced her. You won her affection. You made her believe you cared about more than the key. You LIED.”
Belatrix Grandil
Belatrix Grandil
(Female, Possible Love Interest) Belatrix is the Commander of the Royal Guard and she’s good at her job. Like her younger brother Jezu, she takes her role seriously and works to maintain the noble military traditions of House Grandil. Unlike Jezu, however, she harbors some doubts about the current structure of Castle Krondolee. She is a personal friend of King Kallias, but as such, she also questions his ability to rule the country. Most of the time, she keeps her doubts silent, and leads the army ruthlessly under Kallias’s supervision. But if she sees a chance to change the world for the better, she might take it.
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Strong, proud, ruthless AGE: Late 20s/early 30s ACCENT: Optional (you can hear the original voice actor for Belatrix here: https://youtu.be/ZMVwmMJrCbQ?t=945 but don’t feel like you have to copy it, just use it for inspiration)
***********Audition Lines************
Line 1: (cold, ruthless) “The Grand Traitor is the scum of this planet. He has no honor. No loyalty. No principles. He cannot be ‘talked’ to. The truth must be wrested out of him, but carefully, like pulling the heart from an animal before it stops beating.” Line 2: (Uncertain, In Denial) “That can’t be true. The queen’s daughter did not survive. I only took up this search to prove that.” Line 3: (angry, taunting) “COWARD! You would spy on us from the shadows, then flee when you fail to hide yourself?”
Valerie Sparkov
Valerie Sparkov
(Female, Romance Interest) Valerie is a farmer living on the outskirts of Darzia–in more ways than one. She is a free spirit who has never “fit in” anywhere, so she often keeps to herself and dances to her own tune. After meeting Serafina, she’s drawn to follow her to Castle Krondolee and embark upon a new adventure with her. But Valerie has no set agenda of her own. If anything, she just likes to throw chaos upon the rigid nobility and see what happens next.
OVERALL PERSONALITY: Mischievous, Cheerful, Playful, maybe a little crazy AGE: 20s ACCENT: Optional
***********Audition Lines************
Line 1: (happy, flirty) “I’m happy I met you, jungle princess. I like a little danger in my life.” Line 2:(uncertain, whimsical) “And what will I get in return? Can you give me joy? Can you give me sustenance, for my body or soul?” Line 3: (annoyed, mischievous) “This castle is a hornet’s nest. But I’ve dealt with those before. I think it’s time you and I did some swatting.”
Instructions (Refrain)
Once again, please record the included audition lines for the role that interests you and send them in either .wav or .mp3 format to jenny (at) woodsy-studio (dot) com. Multiple takes and styles are highly encouraged so I have a good sense of your range. The last day to audition will be Sunday, April 3, 2022.
Greetings all! Following an unusually long silence, I have big news to announce today.
You may or may not have seen the previous post about my struggles with inspiration and burnout. I have needed a small reprieve from game development. With personal on-goings plus the ups-and-downs of COVID dangers, there were other things I needed to focus on and explore. And while those explorations may continue, I’m happy to report that my inspiration is returning, along with my creativity. For a few months now, I’ve been working on a “new” project. And as production amps up, I’m excited to announce it to you today.
Woodsy Studio’s next release will be a complete remake of Serafina’s Saga!
I’ve revisited Serafina’s story many times before. Her story began as an animation, then became my very first visual novel. At the time, I was still experimenting and getting accustomed to new narrative formats. Now, 9 years later, I’m excited to remake the saga with new wisdom and skills.
The game will indeed be a complete remake. You can expect the same general storyline, but the script will be heavily edited with lots of new branches and content. Some characters–like Jezu–will be much different than before. Others, like Valerie and Belatrix, will get much more screen time than the original.
The 2D art will all be redone, including some animated motion as seen in the GIF above. The music will be remixed with new tracks added, sometimes using FMOD for dynamic layers. All of this will be combined in UE4 with 3D environments to create a rich and immersive experience.
Old vs. New Nikolaos Perin
New vs. Old Arken Jeridar
This project is still early in development, so I can’t yet estimate a release date. So stay tuned, and I’ll be posting updates as this game progresses!
You can now pursue romance, mystery, and vampires in the cursed town of Bataille on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch! Thanks to EastAsiaSoft, today we release on all major consoles with a new story branch (also available on PC).
The new and final story branch of Crimson Spires unlocks as New Game + after all four major romance paths are completed. It allows you to explore a new version of events in which Bradley Jones survives the Contingency and becomes the town Sheriff. Combine all the clues you have gathered thus far and embrace all the relationships you have nurtured along the way to make a final decision about the town of Bataille.
I wrote the last path of the story while processing my own strong emotions regarding love, heartache, and pandemic stress. I am proud to release it now as the final chapter of the Bataille journey.
Many thanks to everyone who has made today’s release possible: to Joshua French, Nils NGai, and all the folks at EastAsiaSoft for believing in this game and porting it to consoles. Thanks to Christian Allen at UE4 for moral support and initiating UE4 updates that greatly helped our development process. Thanks to every single one of the voice actors in this game; you all helped inspire me to keep going; you are all incredible and I am so honored to have worked with you. Thanks to my wonderful partners, friends, and family members who have supported this creation every step of the way. And finally, thanks to all of you wonderful fans who enjoy my work and enable its creation with your support!
It’s probably cliche at this point to say: we live in difficult times. Even so, it is true. For the past seven months (all of this year so far), I have struggled with creative inspiration. There are so many possible explanations for why I feel blocked. It’s all too easy to make a list of the prime suspects:
Existential depression from global pandemic
Year-long isolation from normal social structures
Loss of ambition due to reaching certain career goals (actually a good thing… ?)
Large emotional upheaval from experiencing huge romantic relationship changes in the last year
Loss of creative partnership
Post-vaccination restlessness to get away from my computer and related work
… I could probably keep going. But you get the point.
As this seven-month-long creative stagnation has dragged on, I have often crafted a mental list like the one above and tried to pick a single culprit. Once I do, I try to forge a plan to overcome that specific struggle, whether within my ongoing work or outside of it. But none of those plans have worked. Some of them are beyond my control. Others have no simple solution. In any case, fixing one would not fix the others.
One of the most confusing aspects of my blockage was that I normally obtain therapeutic healing through my creative process. How could I evolve from these life trials without my art? Had I changed so much that I no longer needed that creative outlet?
It was only through a long period of time, extensive talks with my former creative partner (Malcolm), and discussion with colleagues that I started to hone in on a singular problem I could fix.
The story I was writing no longer resonated with me.
Amidst life and world upheaval, this last problem hid more secretly, tripping all my attempts to wrestle the other demons. It was easier to blame my stagnation on the bigger issues in my life rather than the relationship with my creation itself. I DO process my feelings through story and creative expression. But the story I was trying to tell no longer expressed my feelings, even though I conceived it less than a year ago.
To give you a little more background, the story was called Incognis. It was a sci-fi romantic drama about a woman who found rare love and happiness within a polyamorous quad, only to throw it away for the sake of selfish ambition. The inspiration for this idea came from tumultuous emotions at a very specific time in my life.
I was nesting romantically with a quad during the pandemic
I wrestled with polar extremes of happiness and misery
I blamed myself for the misery–but would later realize it arose from toxic emotions from one of my partners
I was at the peak of self-focused ambition, having just lost my creative partner while trying to finish the studio’s biggest release yet
All of these intense emotions led to the conception of Incognis, and with good reason. During that specific period, the story of Incognis was a fitting expression of my emotional turmoil. But at the beginning of this year–around the same time I actually started working on Incognis–those personal emotions shifted. Life experiences and loved ones helped me overcome those struggles, rather than my art.
In retrospect, it becomes easy to see such patterns. But for seven months, I operated under the belief that I still needed to make Incognis. I blamed my creative blockage on that first list, rather than the nature of my creation itself. When you have been your own boss of your own studio for eight years, you learn to push yourself past periods of self-doubt and temporary blockage. But in this case, I pushed myself too far, and everything else suffered as a result.
At long last, I have decided to scrap my previous plans for Incognis. I will take some extra time to recharge and let some new ideas simmer. Most likely, I will still use a few scraps from Incognis in the form of assets and environment designs. But the story and characters will get a complete overhaul, leading to something new and truer to my current state of self.
As always, I hope you will enjoy the result, though it might take longer to create. What use is art if it doesn’t come from the truth within ourselves?
The time has come to drop our big Crimson Spires announcement! We’ve teamed up with EastAsiaSoft to release Crimson Spires on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox One–coming soon!
The new release of the game will feature a whole new fifth story path that unlocks after completing the four main romances, called New Game Plus. This content will also become available on PC at the same time it releases for consoles.
In the New Game Plus, you can experience an alternative version of events in which Erika saves Bradley Jones from death and he becomes the town Sheriff.
Obviously, I don’t want to tell you too much about the new content, so it can be a surprise! But I will say that involves a romance with Jones, polyamory, new revelations about Bataille, and what we feel is a solid ending for the game based on player choice.
Greetings everyone! Now that a few months have passed since the release of Crimson Spires, I thought it was time to let you all know what was going on over at Woodsy Studio.
I still have some big news about Crimson Spires in store, but alas, I can’t share that just yet! All I can say is that some big developments on the game are coming, and I hope you will love them!
What I can offer is a somewhat more personal reflection of what has been going on at Woodsy Studio over the last year and what I have planned going forward.
First of all, you might notice that I’m saying “I” more often than “we.” This is because my co-creator, Malcolm Pierce, has decided to focus on other work outside of Woodsy Studio for the indefinite future. Without a doubt, he will continue to advise on the story and game design, because we are still life partners and love to collaborate. But he will probably not lead the writing of any more Woodsy Studio games as he did with the Echoes of the Fey series and miraclr: Divine Dating Sim. I will miss his brilliant flare for humor and world lore, but I am also excited to see what we each go on to make independently.
Meanwhile in the realm of non-business partnerships, the two of us have also embraced polyamory. It is something we were curious about for a long time, then made a reality over the last couple of years. Through that process, we’ve survived some of the most challenging but also most rewarding moments in our relationship yet. We experienced a harrowing breakup but also found a new partner we want to spend our lives with.
I feel this is important to mention as a writer of romance stories, because it wasn’t until I actually experienced polyamory that I realized how horribly that lifestyle is represented (if at all) across popular media. When my partners and I sit down to watch something together, we wince at the barrage of Hollywood romances that fall apart due to jealousy and cheating. We are constantly hammered by the idea that caring about more than one person romantically is bad. And frankly, it’s painful. It’s offensive. It’s sad.
As a storyteller, I want to continue to explore a wide range of dramatic possibilities, but I especially want to better represent ethical non-monogamy moving forward. My next project will revolve around a quad, a polyamorous relationship between four people. It will also have intrigue, spaceships, betrayal, heists, telepathic aliens… but I get ahead of myself. (The header art of this article is my first pass at the main character. What do you think?)
You may not hear a lot from me over the next few months, but I assure you I’m still working hard to get better at my craft and bring you top-notch romances. Between projects, I’ve been taking some art classes to continue honing my skills. Thanks to all of you for your support, feedback, and for sharing this journey with me. I hope you will love the next story I’m weaving!
