Topic: Kathy Rain

[JSH]

She is riding her motorcycle, speeding quickly through the desert. The bike lets out a roar. The wind is caressing her hair, struggling to free itself at the back end of her helmet. She is wearing red-tinted sunglasses and a black leather jacket. Her face is displaying a subtle smile, reminiscent of the Mona Lisa. Extensive mods and ornaments decorate her bike, "Katmobile" is engraved in script onto a metal detail upon the front. This bike is her baby, that's for sure. 

Oh, how she loves being on the road. Yet, when thrashing through the highway veering across the vast desert countryside, this day is strangely bitter sweet for Kathy Rain. "How did it ever come to this?", she thought sullenly. "Returning to my roots after all this time. God, it's not like me. But I owe it to him. To those sad eyes and warm hands. I owe it to that stubborn kid I used to be."

Synopsis:

Kathy Rain, a sassy college student with little regard for rules and an extraordinary talent for digging up the truth returns to her hometown after being gone for many years to be dragged into a great mystery, a legacy of her recently deceased grandfather.

Conwell Springs, a small town with a big secret where everybody knows everybody. A businessman without a legacy, a holy man without a parish, a child without a playmate and a man with an unrequited love. Everyone with an itch they just can't scratch. Everyone with but a small piece of the puzzle. Only you can find the truth.

Infiltrate a cult! Play a drinking game with a biker gang! Meet a hobo in denial and a lady who talks to her cup! Spew out one liners, interrogate suspects, analyze evidence and draw conclusions! Zap people with a stun gun! Hang out in a graveyard! Make calls and send faxes! Piss everyone off and get in trouble!

But above all, solve the mystery and change everything.

Features:

320x240 resolution
Voice acting
Character portraits
Verb coin interface
Full soundtrack

Notes:

Kathy Rain is planned to be the first of a series of detective games starring freelance investigator Kathy Rain.

We're always looking for talented contributors so if you feel you have something unique to add don't hesitate to contact me!

Team:

Joel "JSH" Staaf Hästö - Writing, puzzles, game design, coding and project management
Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens - Art direction, character art and animation
Nauris Krauze - Background art
Tove Bergqvist - Portrait art
Rudy "YoRudy" Basso - Additional writing, VO management
Daniel Kobylarz - Music

Progress:

Story/Puzzles - 70%
Scripting - 40%
Graphics - 30%
SFX/Music - 10%

Development Diary:

July 17th, 2012
Publicly announced the project.

July 31th, 2012
Core team assembled, all positions filled.

November 29th, 2012
The project is progressing slowly but steadily. Tove Bergqvist joined the team to help out with the portraits. New art style revealed!

February 16th, 2013
Rudy Basso joins the team as co-writer and VO coordinator, Daniel Kobylarz joins the team as the composer. Added a few new screens and updated some old ones with the latest art changes. Started early with some VO auditions for the lead parts.

[Tramponline]

Oooh, placeholders...
Might sound strange, but I do actually love the look of it just as it is, Krusbert.
A more simplistic graphical approach, a style of it's own.
That highway scene looks very, very cool!

Will be definitely on the lookout for this one.

[Daniel Thomas]

I remember you showing interest in AGS, it's good to see that you got a AGS project going, Krusbert.
The story sounds interesting and I would have offered to help if I had any free time to spare.

Good luck, keep us updated!

[Snake]

I agree with what Trampoline has said. This game looks and sounds like a good one to keep an eye on.

[Andail]

I agree too
The simplistic style is nice, even though you see it as placeholder at the moment. If you decide to go for another style I wish you good luck with finding artists/animators for your team.

[JSH]

Oooh, placeholders...
Might sound strange, but I do actually love the look of it just as it is, Krusbert.
A more simplistic graphical approach, a style of it's own.
That highway scene looks very, very cool!

Will be definitely on the lookout for this one.

I agree with what Trampoline has said. This game looks and sounds like a good one to keep an eye on.

I agree too
The simplistic style is nice, even though you see it as placeholder at the moment. If you decide to go for another style I wish you good luck with finding artists/animators for your team.

I'm really glad you guys like it! We'll see how it turns out, the issue for me is not only the quality of the graphics, but the time involved in creating them. An experienced artist would be able to produce not only art of a higher overall quality, but at a much greater pace than myself. If I did it all on my own I would need time to learn all the necessary aspects of drawing, animating and then spend a large amount of time on actually creating the assets. It would take more than a few years to get there judging by other similar one man projects, and I want to get the game out within a reasonable timeframe. I'm still not completely disregarding doing it all by myself but the plan right now is to try to involve a few more people.

I remember you showing interest in AGS, it's good to see that you got a AGS project going, Krusbert.
The story sounds interesting and I would have offered to help if I had any free time to spare.

Good luck, keep us updated!

Thanks Daniel, I'll be updating this thread regularly. Best of luck with your own project!

On a side note I rewrote the synopsis, it was too long and unfocused. The new one should be clearer and hopefully more thought provoking.

[JSH]

I am very excited to announce the newly assembled core team of Kathy Rain!

Shane "ProgZmax" Stevens - You heard me! I feel very lucky to have the sprite master himself on board. He will be making character designs and animations.
Nauris Krauze - The man behind the gorgeous backgrounds in Resonance! I was most fortunate to get Nauris signed up for creating the environments of Kathy Rain.
Sten Oom - A friend of mine, a newcomer in this field but with a serious talent for lifelike movement, Sten will be helping out with some additional animation!
- Lastly, I will reintroduce myself. When I'm not at my daily job I will continue working like a madman on story, puzzles, game design, coding and overall project management of Kathy Rain.

[Andail]

That's a mighty fine-looking team, Joel!

Good luck with the game

[Daniel Thomas]

Nice team, Krusbert!
Is that avatar of yours Kathy herself?

[JSH]

That's a mighty fine-looking team, Joel!

Good luck with the game

Nice team, Krusbert!
Is that avatar of yours Kathy herself?

Thanks guys!

Daniel - Oh, I wish it was! But alas, it's part of an acrylic painting by the brilliant comic artist Phil Noto.

*edit Now it's Kathy actually!

[Ilyich]

Sounds very promising, and with such a great team I'm sure it will turn out to be a splendid game!

I actually really like the simplistic look of the now-placeholder screenshots - some really nice colour choices there, but if it's going to be even better - well, I'm all for it.

Really looking forward to this - best of luck!

[JSH]

Hi everybody, the project is progressing slowly but steadily!

Got some new screenies for your viewing pleasure in the original post, courtesy of Nauris and Shane!

We also have a new addition to the team: Tove Bergqvist, a promising young art student who has been helping us out with the character portraits. You can see her excellent work displayed in my forum avatar!

[Anian]

Looks very polished and judging from the team it really can't be bad.

[Tabata]

... damned - now it happened   

You got me hooked for this game!
                             
Looks really gooooood!
A cool team for a cool game about a cool lady ~ I MUST PLAY! 

[Mati256]

Count me as one of the hooked ones too!
You have gathered a fantastic team, please take this project to a fantastic end.

[Grim]

Absolutely beautiful!

[Nikolas]

Looks excellent! Not much else to say since I've worked with Shane and Nauris and know what they can do!

Congrats!

[Fitz]

Looks gorgeous - and sounds fun, too. Gotta love the short piece of narrative there.

[Daniel Thomas]

[CaptainD]

The nw art style is terrific! Hope development goes well.