Quick Dev Update
WHI Hard Mode is complete and in testing. I am also currently working on finishing the backend UI update I mentioned last year, should be finished this week. If nothing bad happens, the WHI Hard Mode update will launch next Monday!
Everyone here at the studio is back to work and gearing up for the next chapter 2 update. A new TF comic is on the way, more sprites are coming, and WHI will be getting a mod update too.
Witches of Ravenbrook: The Moon Maidens
Behold, the Moon Maidens. Followers of the Witch of Sloth, they guard the night and can put their enemies to sleep, or inflict waking dreams on you.
However, the Witch of Sloth… can’t be found. The Moon Coven is a group of Moon Maidens you will be able to find in the hub, and they need your help. They know there is a Witch of Sloth, but they don’t know who she is, or where. Of course, the Moon Coven have their own goals, believing their favoured witch should be the dominant one and not the Witch Queen. Your goals of defeating the Witch Queen happen to line up with theirs, for now, but can you trust them?
Of course, you’ll also be able to face them in battle. And you know what that means…
Moon Maidens are similar to Kitsunes except they are a Chinese take on the similar mythical creature. Personally I love the hell out of the designs and color choices, and can’t wait to put them in the game. Plus, now you know how we’re going about making the NPC groups. It won’t just be rescued students, there are other witch covens out there with their own goals who will give you tasks. Some of them (all of them) don’t like each other. Maybe you can join them?
Credit for the covens idea goes to InkyFluffs who talked me out of a series of much worse ideas :3
TG TF Polling!
Witches of Ravenbrook has added a lot of new followers and fans, so we’re interested in where the audience stands on the TG aspect of the TF. While I really like MtF myself, I recognize that not everyone shares my particular tastes.
As an example, here’s Chris after the transformation in the restaurant. I asked Inky to make a version for both, for demonstration purposes. The game does have a finite budget, and adding more costumes does take artist time and coding time (plus the possibility of bugs) so it’s not trivial to do this. However, if the audience feels really strongly about it, we may change course. Our current plan was to do a sometimes-TG, where masculine characters (not just Chris, there are still the sponsored characters, and some NPCs!) are TG’d depending on the form. In the dolls case (and the moon maidens) it was always feminizing but for the restaurant, a masculine variant is conceivable.
As such I’m going to run a poll. Let us know what you think! I’ll report the results in a few weeks depending on when people stop answering it.
Sponsor Stuff is Still Ongoing!
In case you missed it, the sponsorships for the game are still ongoing. We have some really cool entries on there, and also have a lottery that you can enter if you’re strapped for cash! The lottery is free to enter.
We’ll be picking the sponsors probably sometime in March (maybe April depending on how the chapter 2 stuff shakes out) so get those ideas in.
Questions, Answers, WHISPERS
Fan Art!
By Xandra. How do you even explain this one? A ghost maid from another world dressing up for a holiday that doesn’t exist on her planet, but she’s mixing together the reindeer part and the christmas tree part and the ugly sweater part?
The Link Pile
Where to find us:
Our Patreon and Subscribestar are great places to support development! You can also get cool bonus stuff like concept art and early releases of Pandemonium!
If you want extra pictures of cats, you can follow us on Bluesky.
And there’s always Our Discord. You can shout at Salty *in person*.
You can ask us anonymous question on Whisp.sh. If you’ve ever wanted to get smarmy answers to questions, or just know more lore, that’s the place!
We also have a Wiki! We’d appreciate it greatly if people keep it maintained for us. :3
Bottled Starlight Games:
Runes of Pandemonium, the big adventure TF RPG, always free on Steam and Itch.io.
Witch Hunter Izana, a battle-TF RPG. Available on Steam or Itch.io.
Witches of Ravenbrook, a battle-TF dungeon-crawler. The prototype is out now and free on Itch.io.
String Tyrant, a survival horror game, is on Steam and Itch.io.
Other Bottled Starlight Stuff
Salty writes a book series, with audiobooks and illustrations, called Tales of Strings.
Instruments is out now on Itch.io. You can get the audiobook on Amazon as well.
Passed Hand is now on Itch.io!
You can get the Pandemonium novel series by Bottled Starlight writer MarioneTTe on Amazon. Coming (at some point) to Itch.io once the exclusivity deals expire -_-
We have some ridiculous merch on Redbubble and Teepublic if you want to be the center of conversation (derogatory / celebratory).
Pandemonium Development 