So, I've been working on a fairly large overhaul of the game. It's intended to add all the pieces from the original design document that didn't make it into the Lite edition and elaborate on some more of Fionn and Leander's stories.

The game's hard mode is now called Ephemeral, and is simply a stat change to the main characters...because even normal mode has perma-death now. I'll be reducing the effectiveness of Holy/making Memorilux learnt sooner, and Leander's HP has been increased to the Phantasmal setting permanently unless you're playing Ephemeral. I watched Liberty's Let's Judge and found the two rarely actually died unless it was Holy spells, which is why I decided this approach wasn't too absurdly cruel. Reviver has been changed to Harmony, which is auto-revive, and you'll be able to get auto-revives in certain stores and attached to certain equipment.

I'm not just putting it in without adjustments, jeez.

I've also been working on maps and cutscenes; the first sequence has been adjusted slightly, with certain scenes removed or altered, and new boss battles implemented; in the original design document you were meant to be fighting a lot more wolfies than what actually made it in! :V

That said, the soundtrack's been expanded and adjusted to fit these new editions.

This is the theme for werewolf battles.



And this is one of the new areas. The timer will probably be changed to a day/night timer instead, but the basic idea is that you've got a limited amount of time in open area dungeons- Tents can be used to reset the timer, since Leander enchants tents to be sun-proof.

With that mechanic I do have to adjust some of the dialogue slightly, but the visit to Ayrshire is still necessary because of supplies, and Tents don't endure having such heavy-duty magick used on them more than once (hurr).

Hopefully the update will be done soon, but the Lite edition is still available for download and is a complete game in itself; there are things in it that will not make it into the update, including Azriel's dialogue after you beat him.

To finish, have Leander taking a bath and Fionn being a perv.

The download's been edited to 1.2. This version adds both pieces of art in the Images tab (including the one currently the pic of the moment >-> <-<) to the actual game rather than just being promo art.

I would've liked to do a couple more CGs but I've run out of time, oh well.

I hope everyone enjoys the project in its current state. The game itself is completed, though someday I wouldn't mind doing a graphical overhaul in full Ace, as well as installing all the Ace engine fixes (such as TEXT CACHE :V)

Animated battles would be nice but don't get your hopes up XD

The first download (1.0) is uploading now. Completed in the original competition deadline constraints despite those 50 hours spent on Kingdom Hearts. Damn you Roxas.

Anyway... I should probably speak a little about the project huh? I haven't said all too much in the public forum besides what's in the description, so I'll elaborate here.

The title, 'Nachtheulen' is a bastardized German translation of Night Howl. This was the title of another story, before it was changed back to Reaper.

This interpretation of Night Howl (i.e, the version with Leander and Fionn as the primary protagonists) began as an exercise in eventing with 2k3. I didn't get very far, though I had planned out a custom time, hunger and battle system with events. It was eventually dropped due to unimportance compared to other projects such as ReEvolution and Sleeping Lion Heart.

However, the Ace Lite competition presented another restrictive challenge so I decided to use Night Howl's original concept. I did remove the hunger and time systems because the original plan was to have more towns, but the main plot flow remains unchanged. So now I have another completed game under my belt and another chapter of Atrum Somnium Terra available to the public.

The characters, Leander and Fionn, have been around for quite a while. Both make appearances in Blood Rose (Fionn is now slated to be playable in Gabby's story arc), but they are rarely as young as they are in this story. Even in a written crossover between this and Porcupine Princess, Leander and Fionn were another 40+ years older than this.

The designs were created for the original 2k3 version, but all the art and sprites you see in the game released today were made within the time frame. Most of the concept art wasn't, but it wasn't used in the game either >->.

One thing I did change and quite recently too was a bit of Fionn and Leander's backstory. I did share around a short fic aptly titled Auf Wiedersehen, Ralph, but the content got mostly changed for the sake of torturing my characters more.

...I'm not going to deny it, ok.

And before anyone asks, yes, Fionn is a redesigned Ralph. Back when Archeia_Nessiah was first releasing her VX Portrait emotions and edits, I happened upon Ralph's red-eyed version and thought 'I SHOULD TOTALLY MAKE HIM A VAMPIRE' and now Fionn exists.

That is literally the story behind him.

Well, I'm going to relax for a bit, so this is all I'm writing for now. I hope everyone enjoys playing Nachtheulen, because I enjoyed making it.

If someone does complete the game's Phantasmal Mode option, with or without defeating the optional boss battle, please inform me and I'll draw you up a gift~

I am not expecting to have to draw anything.