Hello visual novel fans! I’m happy to announce that Serafina’s Crown is out TODAY on Steam, with a full set of achievements and trading cards that are all new to this version. And for the week of release, it’s 15% off. I’m excited to finally bring the world of Darzia to Steam. Go check it out here and enjoy! http://store.steampowered.com/app/449340/
First of all, let me be frank: I haven’t had much formal training in music. I rarely know which terms to use when, or how to technically describe some of the tactics I use while composing. But I grew up surrounded by musicians, started churning out my own music in middle school, took a couple college courses in composition, and kept churning more out. I’ve recorded about 19 full CDs of music altogether. So I’d like to think I have a decent amount of experience.
I’ve always composed with keyboard synthesizers using a wide array of digital instruments. I use software like Cakewalk or Ableton Live to record each instrument on separate channels. For me, the process of picking out the right sounds can take up at least half–if not much more–of the full time required to complete the song. Even once I’m done recording, I go back and keep changing the sounds–or adding new ones–until I’m satisfied.
It’s fantastic that the digital platforms for composing gives me that freedom. But as a result, I’ve noticed that almost all my songs tend to accumulate more and more instruments as they go from start to finish. In the beginning of the song there may only be two instruments; by the end there are ten, all playing at once in a mad dramatic frenzy.
After spending time with some other local musicians in Game Jams or panels, I’ve realized that my instrumental tendencies are not necessarily good ones. While I’m proud of my ear for instruments, I shouldn’t let the arrangement overwhelm the the structure of the song itself–or in many cases, keep me from thinking about the overall structure in general.
Here’s a version of the main theme for my upcoming visual novel, Echoes of the Fey. It is more or less a normal composition of mine in terms of number of instruments.
The overall feel of the soundtrack was very inspired by the “Legend” soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. But it was after I saw the movie “It Follows,” composed by Disasterpeace, that I started considering how many instruments I used. I was in awe of how a few simple digital sounds could create such compelling music, without complex instrumentation (that’s not to say, of course, that Disasterpeace didn’t work some brilliant technical wizardry to stretch those sounds the way they did).
This forced me to think more deeply about the notes I was playing rather than obsessing over adding more instruments, drums, or sound effects to amp the drama as the song played. It also made me spend more time with the one or two instruments I did select, adding reverb, flangers, or other effects until they sounded just right. Here’s the result for Magic Energy:
I haven’t adhered faithfully to this rule all the time, I confess. But I’m trying to at least break my old habits. So far, I’ve learned that less can be more, even when it comes to increasing the drama of a song. I even made a song that only uses one instrument, and I’m damn proud of it. I can only hope that my music sounds as good as what inspired it!
Which version do you like better?
Voice actors are now cast for Echoes of the Fey. See the original VA posting here.
For thirty years, the continent of Oraz was wracked by the great war between its peoples. The East was ruled by the kingdom of the humans, divided up into counties and family houses. Beyond the great forest of the west were the Leshin, undying men and women with a strong connection to the Fey, capable of powerful magic. When Humans learned to tap into the Fey with technology–powerful Fey reactors–the Leshin staged a decades-long invasion to disarm Humans of their Fey reactor technology.
As the years drew long, the Leshin resolve for war weakened and was propped up by a shrinking group of religious fanatics. In the last days of the war, these fanatics staged a suicide attack on the city of Onigrad. In what would come to be known as the Immolation, extremist Leshin mages detonated the city’s Fey reactor, killing thousands of humans.
Horrified by the actions of their religious leaders, the Leshin people revolted and the new government surrendered to the humans, ceding all lands seized in the invasion. The Immolation ended the war, but with a loss instead of the victory the extremists hoped for.
One Human soldier, Sofya Rykov, survived the blast radius of the Immolation. She awoke severely injured and as she recovered, she found that she now had a connection to the Fey that was stronger than any Leshin mage. She could use magic previously unthinkable by humans. This is an ability she can barely control and must hide from everyone around her. Disowned as a traitor by her family, Sofya opens up a shop as a private investigator in Vodotsk, a town on the Human/Leshin border.
Tiatha ir-Adech’s son is dead. Or is he?
A Leshin soldier, Folren ir-Adech was supposedly killed while rising up against his extremist superiors when they attempted to execute several human prisoners of war. But Tiatha claims she never felt him die through the Fey, and his bonded pet fox remains in Vodotsk as if seeking its master. Not many humans would help Tiatha, but Sofya Rykov isn’t most humans. Besides, she just learned how to turn into a cat and that has to be useful in tracking a fox.
Female, mid 20s – The daughter of a powerful human noblewoman, Sofya was supposed to have a comfortable life in the Imperial Court. The events of the Immolation, however, imbue her with mysterious and unstable magical power that she must hide from all other humans. To make matters worse, she is disowned as a traitor. Hides her injuries–both physical and mental–behind a reckless optimism and a fondness for drink. Now works as a private investigator in the border city of Vodotsk, using her magic to secretly take investigative shortcuts.
Male, late 20s in appearance (actually much older as a Leshin) – Heremon is a Leshin (elven) medic with a stoic and analytical personality. Feels responsible for Sofya, who saved his life during the Immolation. Stays by her side out of a mix of affection, concern, and curiosity regarding her magical powers. Is deeply distrustful of other Leshin, due to the trauma of the Immolation.
Male, mid 30s – The Patriarch of Vodotsk County Krovakyn Church. A fanatic true believer, Arkady has quickly climbed the ranks in the church by feigning an interest in politics and a loyalty to the Emperor. Keeps his composure 90% of the time, but at times betrays the wildness of his devotion to the goddess Eszther.
Male, early 30s – Imperial Inspector for the city of Vodotsk, plagued by a youngest-son inferiority complex. Was never the best soldier or socialite, now he’s assigned to be the Imperial police force for a city that isn’t even technically part of the Empire. Gruff and desperate to prove himself. Butts heads with Sofya, who he sees as a threat to his legitimacy as inspector.
Female, 20s in appearance (again, much older since she is a Leshin) – Powerful and well connected Leshin. Looking for her son, Folren, who is believed to have died during the war. Convinced he is either still alive or buried improperly, she hires Sofya to find out what really happened to him, but may have alternate motives for the investigation.
Male, early 20s – Like Sofya, Eduard is a high-born noble who found himself in the wrong place in the last years of the war, and now at the center of Sofya’s investigation. Eduard conceals a dark secret from his time as a prisoner of war behind a flamboyant and flirtatious playboy persona.
Female, early 40s – Lady of the Krovykan Church in Vodotsk. Devoted to the people of the city and her own brand of populist church teachings, which she developed while secretly ministering during the city’s Leshin occupation. Jealous of the outsider Arkady’s position as Patriarch.
Female, mid 30s – Arch-Commander of the southwest region, Imperial Army. An army lifer who has spent most of her time in command positions due to her family’s wealth. When she was young, people didn’t think she deserved her job and she reacted by becoming one of the most ruthless and pragmatic leaders in the Imperial Army. Now struggles with peacetime and her place as an Imperial officer in an Empire that isn’t recognized by her family’s lands.
Female, mid 20s – A commoner who lived in Vodotsk during the occupation and Folren ir-Adech’s ex-girlfriend. Spent her entire teenage and adult life living under Leshin control and learned to be resourceful and clever. Was well-regarded as a smuggler and white hat grifter. Has had some trouble adjusting to human culture since the end of the occupation.
My first three games (Serafina’s Saga, Quantum Conscience, and Serafina’s Crown) were all made with Ren’Py. Ren’Py is fantastic software that is free, easy to use, and reasonably versatile. When I first started making Serafina’s Saga, I knew very little coding outside of HTML, and I was very grateful for a program that required no programming knowledge to get started. After going through the typical tutorials and regularly checking the forums for help, I was well on my way to completing my project.
With Quantum Conscience, I wanted to make something more unique, and to do that I needed to push beyond the standard VN boundaries into the land of programming. I was lucky enough to get some programming assistance from “CheeryMoya” & FunnyGuts” (twinturtlegames.com), who already had a basic infoscreen system I could use, and they gave me some helpful tips on adding a system for reading thoughts. At this point I still had no idea what I was doing with the code, but I was able to get a system up and working. Gradually, as I began to customize and tweak the code, I learned what each line or function meant and what purpose it served. Eventually I was able to add a little code of my own.
Around the time I finished Quantum Conscience, I knew enough coding to be dangerous, but I still couldn’t program something new on my own; I just knew how to mess with other people’s code. So I decided to take programming seriously. Inspired by a local group of women called Coder Girl, I signed up for Harvard’s free CS50 course online. I made it a little over halfway through the course, and although I never finished, I learned enough about programming to jump-start Serafina’s Crown and add the mini-game debate system completely on my own.
By the time I finished Serafina’s Crown, I felt confident enough to call myself a programmer. I also wanted to keep pushing into new boundaries and add more “gamifying” elements to future visual novels. Specifically, I wanted to add a simple world for the player to roam and explore in between cutscenes. Although I could add these elements to Ren’Py with a lot of programming, I wondered if it was time for me to try a new engine. I considered RPGMaker, but it doesn’t yet have enough graphics or porting options for my tastes. So I turned to Game Maker.
My first few attempts to start a visual novel in Game Maker were extremely difficult and overwhelming. It took a ridiculously long time for me to get the tiniest parts of a text system working correctly. Then I found the Edge VN Engine by ThinkBoxly. It was well worth the price to get some solid code to start building a visual novel in Game Maker.
The Edge VN system was a sleek and solid platform from which to start building. But I still needed to build a lot; I remained a long way from the comfortable environment of Ren’Py to which I’d grown accustomed. I needed to add an in-game choice menu, a character costume layer system, character expression changes, branching dialogue systems, and a basic menu system altogether … all things that come default with Ren’Py. Fortunately, the EdgeVN creator, Luke Chasteen, was very helpful to me in my endeavors, and has since continued to add related features to his Edge VN engine.
Altogether, the transition from Ren’Py to Game Maker has not been an easy one. It has taken me several months to set up a coding environment from which I can comfortably write and expect to run smoothly like Ren’Py. Personally, I wanted to grow as a programmer, so I accepted the challenge along with the time sacrifice required. I continue to code other aspects of the game beyond the visual novel scenes, which in my case involves adding a 2D side-scrolling world with parallax layers, animations, and an inventory system. But now that I finally have a foundation with which to build my next visual novel, I am excited about all the possibilities ahead. The flexibility of Game Maker will allow me to add almost any gaming element to my visual novels that I desire.
A lot of things have been changing for me and my little studio over the last few months. Firstly, I got a new full time job in the games industry, and I have been very excited to work with a great group of devs, artists, and game testers. I’m learning a lot every day and that makes me happy indeed.
But I’m not done making my own visual novels, and although I technically have less time to work on them now, that will be balanced by the fact that my team is growing. Along with Malcolm Pierce, my co-writer for Serafina’s Crown, artist Wendy Gram will join the team for my next visual novel! The visual novel will also be created with Game Maker (thanks largely to the Edge VN Engine by ThinkBoxly) which will allow me to add more game-play elements into the story than in the past.
I can’t tell you much about the new visual novel story just yet, except that it will be a fantasy noir of sorts, with an all new world and all new characters. Here’s a peek at two of the main characters:
Artwork by Wendy Gram and Jenny Gibbons
And here’s one of my compositions for the game thus far:
And for the last bit of news, from now on my games will be published through a collaboration with Thesis Games. I look forward to sharing more with you as game development progresses!
Over the last couple of years, I have discovered that writing stories with branching plot paths might be one of my favorite creative processes in the world… and also the most frustrating.
I truly believe that every writer has a different style and process that works best for her, and while techniques exist to help any writer execute her vision, the truth is that there is no one or even best method for strong writing in general. Personally, I have always fought against the motto that a lot of writers intone when asked how to write: “Writing is editing,” they often say. “Writing your first draft helps you get your thoughts onto paper, but the true writing happens during your second, third, or even fourth draft.”
For me and my own writing style, that motto is bull shit. Yes, I believe that editing is important. Yes, I’m willing to admit that maybe I need to do more of it sometimes. But for me, something magical happens when I write that “first draft.” I don’t approach it lightly. I spend a lot of time thinking, planning, and feeling what I want to portray before I start writing. And once I do start writing, I feel as if my words come to life as I write them. I feel as if my characters are really in the room, saying what I tell them to say, moving as I tell them to move. I feel a bond between myself and the world I’m creating that is fundamental to my ongoing muse. I discover the story even as I’m writing it. The characters tell me more about themselves as I write them; they lead me towards the twists and turns of the plot, even if my outline disagrees with them.
Often, as I write that first draft, I will stop and rewrite some of my freshest paragraphs, tweaking small sections until the scene flows to match what’s in my head. Sometimes, I’ll need to change something earlier in the story to support something new that I’ve discovered while writing the new scene; if so, I make that change immediately.
Generally, this is my process. Although I go back and edit some later, those changes tend to be surface-level, polishing the pace and consistency of the story. My “first draft” is my most important, my most treasured, and often the closest to my final form of the story. This is not to say that I never go back and rewrite scenes or even delete scenes if necessary—that agonizing process writers love to describe as killing your babies. For me, the reason that it’s so difficult to go back and change something from my first draft is because it feels wrong. When I tried to describe this feeling to my sister once, I told her, “To me, that scene already happened. To go back and change it would be like enforcing time travel. It’s just… wrong.”
This is just how writing works for me. When the story feels right, it feels right—it feels real—and I don’t just casually change it for the sake of wrapping my book or script into a perfect, tidy package. I’m not saying that’s a writing style to which every writer should aspire. It’s just what works for me, for better or worse, and that’s that.
If re-writing means time traveling through your story, then writing a branching narrative means forming parallel universes.
This, I can do. When I first start creating parallel universes, it doesn’t feel wrong. It feels plain fun. “What if Blaire lets something slip in this scene, and Amalek discovers his secret? Well, let’s find out!” As I write an alternate branch, sometimes I have so much fun that I worry I’m being indulgent. But I can allow myself to do it anyway, because I want my audience to experience an outcome catered to their own decisions for the story, and this allows both me and the player to have fun in the process.
Writing branching plot paths also allows me to discover new aspects of my characters that would have remained hidden, otherwise. For example: while writing “Serafina’s Crown,” I actively fought against making Arken a romance-able character, despite the fact he’s probably my favorite character in the series. Next, I made the mistake of allowing the player to flirt with him, as Odell, on multiple occasions. And while writing one of those flirtatious branches, I felt both myself and Arken finally cave. “Arken wouldn’t ignore a cute girl flirting with him repeatedly,” I had to admit. “He just wouldn’t.” So at last, I started writing a romance path between Odell and Arken. In the process, Arken’s emotional baggage started rising to the surface, and resulted in some great scenes. Now, out of all the other romance possibilities for Odell, Arken is probably my favorite and most meaningful option.
Writing branching plot paths can be exhilarating, enlightening, and altogether very rewarding for both me and my audience. Until, like a bug flying into a spiderweb, I get trapped in it.
Wait… huh?
And this is when writing branching plot paths quickly transforms from being my favorite process in the world to the most frustrating and confusing ordeal. That “reality” I so enjoyed exploring and discovering when I started writing the story starts to slip from my grasp. While writing one branch, I’m distracted by thinking about what’s simultaneously happening in another branch. “Oh, Blaire and Amalek totally trust each other right now. Except… they were at each other’s throats just a minute ago! Wait, no, that was a different plot path.” I struggle to hold all the different paths in my mind until it starts to feel like a maze. Events start to lose significance to me as I write them, because they don’t feel like reality anymore, just one of many possibilities. And then the writing process which I initially found so exhilarating becomes purely exhausting.
The moral of my story, I suppose, is that writing a story with significant plot branches is no walk in the park. It may seem like a blast at first, and you may feel as if the universe has opened up and given you permission to do whatever you please without consequence. But if you want your full narrative to remain a significant experience from start to finish, branches and all, then maintaining your plethora of plot paths becomes a trying task, indeed.
As I continue to write large interactive narratives (Serafina’s Crown will be my third), I search for ways to ease the symptoms of emotional melancholy and logical dizziness. Sometimes, I try to focus on one plot path at a time, so that I can give it my full attention before working on another. But this doesn’t always work, because for the sake of outlining and tracking production, I need to see all the threads of my spiderweb and how they connect to each other before I continue.
It’s difficult. It’s exhausting. It’s emotionally draining and technically confusing. But if you push through the difficulty, writing an interactive narrative can be one of the most rewarding creative endeavors you’ll ever experience.
I’m very excited to demo Serafina’s Crown at the upcoming Six-Pack Demo Night at Earthbound Brewery on February 18th. Demoing one of my games will be a new experience for me. I’ve had friends play the game while I watch, which is a blast, but that’s quite different from presenting it to total newcomers in short bouts of play-time.
The challenge with show-casing a visual novel, of course, is that it’s a heavily story-based game, and most of the “playing” aspect comes in the form of reading large sections of text. So how should I present Serafina’s Crown in a way that’s quick and accessible, but still gives the player a good sense of the story and overall feel of the game?
The best plan I can formulate right now is to include a video at my demo station that provides a general idea of the story and play style – in other words, a trailer:
Then, the sections I will open for demos will be the Duma Debate sections, which involve using the Divinity Dial to pick numbers that will beat your opponents’.
I am excited to demo the game, and in addition to that, I’ve started to think seriously about my release plan for this title. I’ll be frank with any of you reading this: I don’t make enough money from my games or books combined to support myself. That’s probably no huge surprise. Although I’ve had successes here and there, I’m far from producing a massively popular hit. I don’t charge much money for my books or games, and some of them are completely free. That’s because I want my creations to be accessible to a wide range of people, and also because these days, a lot of players and readers expect to get things for free. So it’s often the only way to get exposure.
But I’m nearing a crossroads of sorts. With Serafina’s Crown, I need to start making enough money to legitimize my company as a sustainable business, or I need to focus on a full-time job (or lots more freelance work) and set this aside as more of a hobby. It pains me to say that, but otherwise I just can’t justify spending as much time and effort on projects that pay me next to nothing in return.
With my re-release of Serafina’s Saga, I added in-app purchases in the form of costumes. These have provided some revenue, but nothing significant. So that leaves me to wonder whether I should continue to add more in-app purchases, perhaps in the form of story content such as additional plot paths, or whether I should abandon that model altogether and sell my game at a set price. It’s going to be a difficult decision. And if you’re reading this as one of my players, or perhaps a fellow game developer, I hope you’ll give me your opinion.
Below is a list and summary of the most significant characters from Serafina’s Crown. I am excited to announce that this visual novel will have voice acting, and I am currently searching for VAs for everyone on this list except for Arken, Kallias, and Serafina. If you’re interested, go here for more info and audition lines for each character.
Odell never wanted to live the life of royalty in Castle Krondolee, even though her mother was an important House Leader. She hates politics and prefers to explore the world with no attachments.
When Queen Belatrix dies and Odell’s mother steps down as House Leader of Perin, Odell has no choice but to assume a role of utmost importance in the Darzian government. How she handles her duties depends upon you!
Arken has a dark past, including betraying his own family and raising Serafina Elborn in secrecy. But he has repaired old bridges; most people in the Darzian nobility respect him now, and he serves as an adviser to Odell when she has no one else to turn to. For a reason he’s not eager to share, however, Arken seems intent on preventing Serafina from taking the crown of Darzia.
Learn the full truth of Arken’s past in the free novella, “Grand Traitor.”
Serafina has come a long way since her childhood in the Darzian jungle. Now she is married to Reuben Jeridar with children, and the crown of Darzia is within her grasp.
As rebels calling themselves the Red Scarves cause trouble throughout Darzia, Serafina seeks the crown so that she can spread peace and reform. But her husband, Reuben Jeridar, may have a different vision of their future together.
Reuben is a man who uses flattery, seduction, and lies to obtain what he wants. A close descendent of Mallion, a god of chaos, Reuben can also change water into wine (literally). He rose from rags to riches and now sits two chairs from the throne of Darzia. The question is: what does he want now that his wife might become Queen?
Many people suspect that Reuben secretly arranged Belatrix’s assassination to free the crown for Serafina. It will be Odell’s responsibility to uncover the truth.
Kindal is a talented diplomat. Otherwise, he likes to spend as much time lounging or playing relaxing games as possible. In truth, Kindal is a spoiled aristocrat who simply believes that poor people deserve to be poor and that the noble class is truly superior to the lower class. But his desire to have fun and indulge himself can be highly contagious. He survives solely on his friendliness, charm, and ability to diffuse situations by helping people relax.
Roza is a powerful warrior, leader of a House secretly affiliated with Belazar (god of wrath). She has no patience for bull shit, but she does enjoy a good challenge. She believes that strength and aggression are the keys to survival, and she would be lost without clinging to such traits at all times.
Roza is determined to prove that Reuben assassinated Queen Belatrix. Might she have her own reasons for wanting to see him fall?
Kallias is known to most as the greedy, careless king who led Darzia into economic ruin because he valued gold over natural resources. After his downfall, however, Kallias spent several years secluded on an island with as much gold as he desired. He realized that gold meant nothing without other people to believe in its value. He has now decided to abstain from gold for as long as he can and put the people first. He returns to Darzia a very changed man.
Picard is technically the god of joy, but don’t let his title fool you. Being joyful does not equate to being nice.
Picard is playful and silly, but he is also sadistic, as well as masochistic. He loves sex and he also loves torture. He’ll try to squeeze pleasure out of any situation. And if something fails to amuse him (rare but possible), he will destroy it. Because he now possesses the power of an ancient deity, who can influence the flow of the winds and the movement of the sun, he’s quite capable of destroying whatever he wishes.
Odell falls in love with Lorenzo when she meets him on her travels away from Darzia. Lorenzo appears to be little more than an idealist Vikand chief who likes swordplay and women. But there does seem to be something special about him, especially once he gives Odell a precious gift in the form of a magical necklace…
For my next release, Serafina’s Crown, I want to use the programming knowledge I’ve accumulated from my first two games to add a lot of fun and new features to the experience. One really big thing I wanted to add was a scene in a large room that pans from one character to another, sort of like the game Danganronpa. But if you’ve ever used Ren’py, you know that setting this up isn’t easy.
Picture something like what’s in my picture above, but zoomed in so only one character shows on the screen at a time. Sounds simple, right? But this is actually difficult to achieve in Ren’py if you want to keep your characters dynamic (changing expressions or moving if needed).
I went to the Ren’py forums for help, and they suggested I try using the layer systems. It required a lot of tweaking, but I finally got it to work. So I thought I would share my system here in case anyone else finds it useful.
For reference, my background is a 5000 pixel-wide layer. My characters are sized 800 x 1200 pixels. The screen size of my game is 1280 x 720.
First, I defined my own layer called pan in the options script:
init -1 python hide:
Then I defined camera angles and character placements using transforms in my own init code. This part required a whole lot of trial and error. The “a_characters” position the overall layer, or camera angle; the “p_characters” place the character on a certain point. For some reason, the xpos needed to be very different for each, even though you’d think they’d be the same. But these are the coordinates that worked for me:
init python:
def cameraMove(x):
transform a_center:
transform a_Arken:
transform p_Arken:
transform a_Serafina:
transform p_Serafina:
transform a_Reuben:
transform p_Reuben:
transform a_Kendal:
transform p_Kendal:
I created the function cameraMove(x) so that I would have a global variable keeping track of the camera’s location. Otherwise, when the camera panned from one direction to another, it would always start at the center and *then* pan to a character (very headache-inducing). This way it’s a lot smoother each time.
And finally, here’s the code I use for the scene itself:
label Duma:
$ currentX = -1700
with None
show Arken onlayer pan zorder 1 at p_Arken
show Serafina at p_Serafina onlayer pan
show Reuben at p_Reuben onlayer pan
show Kendal at p_Kendal onlayer pan
show Duma onlayer pan zorder 0 at a_center behind Arken, Serafina, Reuben, Kendal
with dissolvea “Praise be upon the gods; praise be upon Darzia. I call to form a special session of the Royal Duma of Queen Belatrix Grandil… who can no longer preside, may she rest in peace.”
a “Members of the Petit Duma, please announce your presence.”show layer pan at a_Serafina
s “Serafina, of House Elborn.”
show layer pan at a_Reuben
r “Reuben, of House Jeridar.”
show layer pan at a_Kendal
k2 “Kendal, of House Terrace.”
show layer pan at a_Arken
show Arken 2 onlayer pan at p_Arken
a “May it be heard …”
And there you have it. The camera pans around the room from one character to the next.
I noticed that while using the layer system, you need to mention the layer and sprite placement every time (hence I couldn’t just say “show Arken 2” when he changed expressions; I needed to say “show Arken 2 onlayer pan at p_Arken.” But if it works, it works. So I’m just excited I’ll be able to pull this off!
Serafina’s Crown, the sequel to Serafina’s Saga, is now released!
The sequel takes place seven years after the end of the Serafina’s Saga visual novel. Grand Prince Robil Feldren dies of illness, and a few weeks later, Queen Belatrix Grandil dies in in the midst of a “hunting accident.” Serafina Elborn and her husband Reuben Jeridar are posed to take the throne, except for one big problem: many nobles suspect Reuben Jeridar arranged the assassination of Belatrix Grandil.
You play as a new character, Odell Perin, who is unwittingly thrust into a position of power amidst the chaos of court. Due to her neutral stance, Odell Perin is elected to serve as Regent long enough to settle the ongoing disputes, and therefore determine who will become the next King or Queen of Darzia. The gameplay will feature a dynamic debate system that allows Odell to argue certain points in court based on her accumulated stats.
Key Features:
You’ll see many familiar faces in Serafina’s Crown, including Reuben, Kallias, Arken, Nikolaos, and–of course–Serafina. You’ll also meet many new characters, as well as Picard, a major character from the Ashes of Dearen novels.
***