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! Development on Serafina’s Saga: Awakened is still going strong. However, prior to digging into the latest progress I would like to remind you that the demo is currently available on both Steam and itch.io. Additionally, to whet your appetite, clips are now debuting every Thursday. The first four clips can be found on Woodsy Studio’s YouTube channel. Be on the lookout for a new clip this week!
A lot has happened since the last development update. Jezu Grandil’s path joins Reuben Jeridar’s as fully complete. Nikolaos Perin’s path is fully scripted as well. That just leaves Valerie’s path as far as writing goes and creator Jenny Gibbons is excited that Malcolm Pierce (co-writer of Crimson Spires) will be contributing to the script!
While big milestones have been crossed in the development of Serafina’s Saga: Awakened, it has been a lot of work to get there. Completing Jezu’s path involved not just a lot of blocking, but blocking action-heavy scenes. He is the General of the Royal Guard, after all. Many of these scenes have full voice acting, not just from Jezu, but fan-favorite Xavier Wolven as well. New music has also been composed for these action scenes.
As for Nikolaos’ path, the post-scripting work is well underway. The script has been converted into data tables and imported into the game. From there, a full scene list has been created and integrated with those data tables. This is the behind the scenes coding action that let’s the game know what to do based on the choices you make.
Speaking of choices, there have been tweaks to the game that allow you to customize your character when you play new character paths. You can change Serafina’s hair color and specify your current relationships with Arken and Belatrix. Serafina has a lot of fun hair color options!
From there it’s blocking, blocking, blocking to make Nikolaos’ scenes come to life. Nikolaos may not be as ready for action as Jezu, but he is quick to be sneaky. And I’m not going to spoil how he deals with these new fire effects… Anyway, as all of the script for Nikolaos’ path has been sent to the voice actors, the voiced lines are being edited into the blocked scenes as they arrive. Jenny is also looking for a new voice actress to give life to the leader of House Perin.
Arken’s voice actor, David Dixon, was recently interviewed by Woodsy Studio. The interview can be found with both text and audio options at the following links. Part 1 discusses David’s various roles at Woodsy Studios over the years, while Part 2 digs into other voice acting work in both video games and various animated series.
It’s all these parts coming together that bring Woodsy Studio’s latest game to you. Until next time, be on the lookout for new clips from Serafina’s Saga: Awakened every Thursday!
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! Prior to getting into today’s topic I want to assure you that development continues as usual for Serafina’s Saga: Awakened. The writing of Nikolaos’ path continues, Jezu’s path continues through the blocking phase (including some action-heavy scenes!), and voice acting is being edited for both Jezu and Xavier. For now though I would like to look back at Woodsy Studio’s previous release, Crimson Spires.
Crimson Spires means a lot to me for multiple reasons, but for now I would like to focus on the characters. Following these characters, seeing the challenges they faced, the paths they explored, and finding out with them what they learned about themselves has given me a lot to think about, both as I played Crimson Spires and during the time since then. From each of them I learned things that I try to apply to my own life, or at least that I should. Living up to the self one wants to be isn’t always the easiest, but that doesn’t mean we don’t continue to work our way down those paths.
The first path I following was Maddy’s (Madeleine Gray). She may have had a vicious streak, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t thoughtfully planned and executed. She inspired me with the confidence she gained to take the actions she knew had to be done. Even more importantly was experiencing the journey towards being comfortable and confident having the relationships she desired and openly living the life she wanted, and deserved, even if the face of the the Thomas “Tip” Wagner’s of society.
Liam Bataille’s path spoke to me about breaking out of the situation you are in and having the courage to find your own path in the world. Sometimes it just takes trust, both giving trust and being trusted, and a chance. A recurring theme to me from this, and the other paths, it’s easier to stand up to others and the world around you when you have a partner who has your back.
August Flynn’s path may have been the most unusual of them all, fitting for someone suspected of being a serial killer, and from it flowed no shortage of food for thought. As August liked to say, “Life is irrational.” There is a chaos to life and despite best laid plans we never know what tomorrow will bring. We can struggle with the chaos as it arises or we can choose to ride it and see where the adventure takes us. It’s all about keeping an open mind and never losing your curiosity about the world, as long as you don’t let that curiosity consume you.
Then there is the man who has it all, Julian Bataille, or does he? Is there more to power, money, and the ability to get whatever you desire from anyone? Is that really the best way to have relationships with those in our life? Julian reminds me of the importance of having one’s own opinion, own desires, and the ability to make one’s own decisions in the presence of those that enthrall us. While there is nothing wrong with being captivated by someone else, relationships will be stronger by everyone involved still being able to speak their mind and share with one another.
Finally we reach Erika Wright who we spend the most time with as we live the stories of Crimson Spires’ through her eyes. Continuing the idea of being able to make one’s own decisions here I would like to focus on the very end of the game. I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers and just say that if you complete all four paths a fifth option awaits you. At some point in this fifth path you are presented by a choice that you can only make once. I had heard about this situation in advance and was rather anxious. However when I did reach that point I immediately knew my answer and it was the easiest choice I made all game.
Personally I probably have ways of finding out the consequences of the alternate choice, but I feel to do so would be a betrayal of Erika who doesn’t get to know and who has to live with the choice we made. I like to think she is also fully confident in the choice and has no regrets. Otherwise she wouldn’t be where she wants to be. I regularly think about this in my own life. While perhaps there are things that could have worked out differently from time to time, without those prior events I wouldn’t be where I am right now nor would I be with the people who are most important to me.
You may have already played Crimson Spires and found what it means to you. There is so much to unpack that you may have taken away a whole different set of inspirations along your journey. If you haven’t played Crimson Spires, there is never a better time to see how it speaks to you. You can start your own journey through Bataille on Steam, itch.io, and all major video game platforms.
Greetings everyone! Welcome to the next development update for Serafina’s Saga: Awakened. However, prior to digging into the latest progress I would like to remind you that the demo is currently available on both Steam and itch.io The demo is a meaty morsel that offers about an hour of playtime taking your all the way through both the Prologue and Chapter One.
While the demo concludes at the end of Chapter One, the game is complete through the next few chapters leading to the point where your choice of paths will diverge into four choices. The status of each of those four paths is as follows: Reuben “Jeridar’s” path is complete. Jezu Grandil’s path is scripted and being converted into a playable story. Nikolaos Perin’s path is in the scripting stage while Valerie Sparkov’s path is in the planning stages.
While Reuben gets to kick back, relax, and focus his charms on anyone who calls him a bastard, Jezu has been going through some things since the last update. His path includes a Wolven on the prowl: Xavier, an assassin not unfamiliar to Castle Krondolee. This descendant of the god Belazar (more about the gods, or at least some of what I can reveal, to come in a future update!), is being brought to life in part by some excellent voice acting by Chris Heim which is currently being edited for Jezu’s path. Jezu is voiced by Jarvis Bailey, who has also sent a lot of great voiced dialogue for the scenes ahead.
As always, there are many parts to bringing a scene to life for you. In addition to editing the voice acting, a new room has been set up for this sequence to take place. While character portraits could simply appear on the screen, Serafina’s Saga: Awakened brings Darzia and Castle Krondolee to life as you guide Serafina through many different settings. Not only was a new room created for this particular Xavier scene this week, but the Perin hallway was set up for an upcoming scene. I wonder what Nikolaos’ family is up to on Jezu’s path?
Finally, last time I mentioned that if you are lucky we may just include a portion of a new Jezu and Serafina romance CG in this update. While we don’t want to show you the whole thing right now, it’s so much better to experience it as it happens in the story, here is a portion of what you will be able to discover as you play through Jezu’s path:
Until next time, I recommend trying out Reuben’s sleeveless look while it is still warm enough outside!
Greetings everyone! In the last few updates we’ve been talking about preparations for the SLICE expo and Woodsy Studio was proud to present there this past Saturday.
Before we get into that adventure though, work has also been continuing on Serafina’s Saga: Awakened!
Creating a game such as Serafina’s Saga: Awakened means dicing the various aspects into scrumptious bits and then figuring out the perfect combination to make a tasty stew, or moreso an exciting, intriguing adventure when you load up the game on your computer or elsewhere next year.
Jezu’s path is currently simmering on the stove as the spices are blended and sprinkled in to enhance just the right moments. I hope you like it spicy because the past couple of weeks have seen not just the drawing of a new Jezu CG, but also work on a new Jezu and Serafina romance CG! If your lucky we may just include a portion of that in the next Dev Update.
Nikolaos’ path has ingredients in various mixing bowls at the moment. This is where the planning and outlining of the path takes place. As parts of the recipe come together more and more pages of Nikolaos’ path are written each week. This will also provide direction for the visual and audio aspects so as to feed your senses in every way.
In other development, a long interview scene involving Kaifu has been blocked out. You might be asking, who is Kaifu? We haven’t revealed much about them just yet, but they are an angsty librarian descended from both the god of sorrow and the god of joy, eternally torn between the two. They are also voiced by a previous writer of Woodsy Studio, Malcolm Pierce!
Additionally, the process to submit Serafina’s Saga: Awakened to various publishers for consideration has begun.
Last but not least, Woodsy Studio had a great time at SLICE expo! We’d like to thank everyone who stopped by the Woodsy Studio booth to talk about the Studio’s games, check out the video montage of Serafina’s Saga: Awakened gameplay, and who took home new artwork for their walls. For those who could not make it to SLICE, this is the latest print debuted by Woodsy Studio:
The picture doesn’t do the iridescent foil of the print justice, but I know I cannot wait to get it into a frame! If you missed out on this print you can still see some of these characters in action by checking out the Serafina’s Saga: Awakened demo on Steam or itch.io Think of it as an appetizer for your full Serafina’s Saga: Awakened meal next year!
Greetings everyone! It has been a busy couple of weeks at Woodsy Studio as work continues on Serafina’s Saga: Awakened and preparations are made for SLICE expo.
Progress continues on writing pages of Nikolaos Perin’s story path. He is enthusiastic to have his story told, but is he someone who can truly live up to his promises?
Jezu Grandil’s story path is also coming together. With the writing of the path complete and voice acting received, scene blocking is the latest step in the process. The current focus is on interactions between Jezu and his older sister Belatrix Grandil. Belatrix is Commander of the Royal Guard at Castle Krondolee. Someone of Belatrix’ stature deserves an awesome pose and that is what we have to present this week, with assistance from Gene Kelly of Volcano Bean, a friend of Woodsy Studio:
Now that this new Belatrix art has been created, new expressions are being made to fit the pose. This latest Belatrix art is also being imported into Creature to be animated. The style of animated art seen in Serafina’s Saga: Awakened is new to Woodsy Studio’s games. If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to check out the demo on Steam or itch.io so you can experience for yourself how cool the animated characters look!
The Jezu and Belatrix interactions are not the only scene currently being blocked out on Jezu’s path. Another voiced scene featuring Jezu has also been blocked out featuring an action-packed training sequence! I wonder who wins the most when Jezu and Serafina spar together? Speaking of action, code has been tweaked to fix attack animations for characters further from the camera. There are so many layers that go into creating the desired look and feel you’ll experience when playing through this story. Additionally, sound is just as important and a new song has been composed.
As mentioned above, time has also been spent getting ready for SLICE and I’m excited to show you the brand new postcards you can pick up at the Woodsy Studio’s booth:
The postcards feature a selection of favorite characters from Woodsy Studio’s biggest releases. I know I cannot wait to hold one in my hands! SLICE is just a week and a half away. As a reminder, SLICE will be held on Saturday October 14th from 10 am to 5 pm at The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Ave, St. Louis, MO 63108. We are excited to talk to you in person then!
This week, as with many weeks, saw progress on many aspects of Serafina’s Saga: Awakened. There are a lot of moving pieces in bringing a game to you. All aspects influence each other and thus it is never simply a matter of, for instance, completing all the writing and then moving on to the music. Creative inspiration comes from all directions.
I am not actually behind any of these creative decisions myself. You may have seen my name pop up as the author of last week’s blog post. I’m lucky to be privy to some of the behind the scenes work at Woodsy Studio and I’m just excited to be here relaying the latest on Serafina’s Saga: Awakened’s development to you. Seeing all the thought and heart come together amazes me. It’s much more than simply putting a game out there. When I play Woodsy Studio’s games I feel enveloped in the stories. I feel the need for these stories to be out there for everyone and I hope you experience them too. While I await Serafina Saga: Awakened‘s release with you, I highly encourage you to check out (or revisit!) Woodsy Studio’s most recent release,Crimson Spires, on Steam and itch.io, not to mention PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Back to the topic at hand, I’d like to tell you more about what specifically has happened in the development of Serafina’s Saga: Awakened this week. Writing-wise, more pages have been scripted for Nikolaos Perin’s path. I have not read these yet, but knowing Nikolaos I’m guessing there is a flair for the dramatic. There is probably also some mischievous things in play considering he’s a follower of Lokke…
The “Perin” in Nikolaos Perin indicates he could be a significant member of House Perin, despite his current role as a Royal Scout in King Kallias’ army. The Duma House Leader of Perin will play a role in the story and I’m excited to bring you her portrait as the first of two new pieces of art this week:
Work also continues on Jezu Grandil’s path. As mentioned last week, scripting is complete. Turning the script into game scenes involves a process Jenny calls blocking, and some of Jezu’s scenes were blocked in this week. I’ll talk more about blocking in a future post, but suffice to say it probably isn’t what our favorite faithful general thinks of as “blocking.” It’s a combination of coding and decision-making that results in something akin to “blocking” for a stage performance.
Also as mentioned last week, scripts have gone out for additional scene dialogue. The voice talent is hard at work recording and returning their lines. Some of this additional dialogue is back already and new voice acting for Kallias has been edited into the game. I haven’t heard these lines myself, but knowing Kallias I can only imagine they are pure gold.
Music can be just as important as voice acting in generating the right feel for a story at any given point. Part of that can come from the key used with a significant difference to the feel of a piece of music just from adapting it from a major key to a minor key. This week saw the creation of a minor version of the Krondolee theme for dynamic music changes via FMOD.
Now I’m excited to share another new piece of art with you. This is the character art for the Duma House Leader of Pajari!
Finally, as we look to SLICE coming up on October 14th, progress has been made on the shiny art prints that we hope to have available that day. I’m very excited about these and hope to share more with you soon. Oh, and if you haven’t you can still check out the Serafina’s Saga: Awakened demo on Steam and itch.io!
Greetings everyone! Development continues for Serafina’s Saga: Awakened. If you are interested in romancing the General of the Royal Guard you will be eager to know that scripting of Jezu Grandil’s path was recently completed. This means it is time for more voice acting. Scripts for additional scene dialogue have been sent to the voice talent for Jezu, Kallias Jeridar, Xavier Wolven, Belatrix Grandil, and Arken. While awaiting the dialogue to come in, scripting has begun on the path of a character you’ve met in the demo, the playful–and perhaps deceiving–Nikolaos Perin.
In the Jezu romance path, you must help Jezu face the life choice he has made to serve King Kallias as a faithful General, never questioning orders. Should an oath be unconditional? What does it mean to be honorable? Help Jezu confront these difficult questions when you partner with him, and all while civil war erupts in Castle Krondolee.
Meanwhile, as mentioned in last week’s blog post, the Serafina’s Saga: Awakened Demo is available not only on Steam, but also itch.io. Itch focuses on independent digital creators and independent video games. In other words, developers such as Woodsy Studio! itch.io gives more control to game developers over how their content is sold, and more revenue from those sales generally goes back to the developers. Most Woodsy Studio games are available on itch.io.
Woodsy Studio occasionally steps outside the digital realm and next month we will be exhibiting at SLICE! Formerly the St. Louis Small Press Expo, SLICE stimulates the independent literary, small press, and indie publishing communities. We are excited to be showcasing Woodsy Studio’s latest visual novel, Serafina’s Saga: Awakened. You will have the chance to meet the creator, see choice sections of the demo, and take home some shiny art for your walls. Please join us for SLICE 2023 on October 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Sheldon, 3648 Washington Ave, St. Louis, MO 63108. While you are there you can also check out some of the other best independent literary talents from St. Louis and around the country. We look forward to seeing you soon!
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.
