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Felix hates his birthday. In fact, the opposite also seems to be true: every year, on this date, the boy is haunted by bad luck.
After a lifetime of trying to convince himself that he is not cursed, on his 18th birthday, he and his best friend Noelia
remain locked inside the school. The situation soon turns out to be more ... problematic than expected.
At this point, some doubts about his bad luck seem legitimate. Felix thinks he's cursed. Is this the truth?
Or maybe this "unfortunate" situation will also turn out to be a good opportunity? On the other hand, fortune favours the bold.


This is a story based on Italian and Latin myths, folklore and fairy-tale figures.
Accompany Felix and Noelia on their little nocturnal adventure in a very safe and certainly not close to collapse
Italian high school. Let them get lost, seek their answers and get out (maybe).



The Ash Black Cat and the Happy Ogre - Fortuna Favet Fortibus - is a game in development on RPG Maker VX Ace.
In this game, you'll move Felix and Noelia as they search for a way out - or maybe something else.
Plot and characters are the main focus, so you can expect a lot of cutscenes.
The game is light horror with darker scenes from time to time. Also, dark humor (, because I need
to exorcise nightmares about high school). And a little bit of romance. You know, childhood friends...
The gameplay focus on exploration, choices and puzzles from time to time; there will be
different kinds of small challenges. There are some hidden game overs and the game is multi-ending,
so saving often is recommended.
My main sources of inspiration for this game are Ib (puzzle-wise), No delivery (for the humor) and Wizard of White Box (narrative-wise). I always loved RPG Maker games, so maybe this game will remind you a bit of the older ones, in terms of graphics and gameplay.



* Some of them are planned for the full release.
- Original artwork.
- A fantastic and very safe building that could kill you at every step, namely a classic Italian school.
- A story based on Italian / Latin folklore, legends and fairy tales.
- Atmospheric sound design, with some SFXs made expressly for the game.
- Mack-style sprite
- Post game scenarios.
- Cats. In multiple senses.
- Multi Endings: true, normal, extra ending and two mirror bad ends. Choices matter. the story will be clear and complete in each ending, however different choices will lead to unlocking different cutscenes and dialogues. All the endings will tell you a little more about the characters, the story and the setting.
- An attempt at non-linear gameplay. More often than not, you'll be able to solve puzzles/tasks in what order you prefer, or use different items to solve the same problem. (You won't see this much in the demo, but there are already some examples.)
- Collectibles! Witness the Seven Mysteries (or maybe eight), search all the Survival Manuals, and collect the hidden game overs.
- A silly fishing mini-game in toxic waters leaked from a broken pipe.



- Swear words from time to time, mention to smoking (tobacco), scopophobia (for one CG).
Blood, death. (Depending on the ending).




If you are interested, follow Time Lapse Games for updates on this game and other RPG Maker projects! Thank you for you attention.

* Tumblr
* Instagram
* Caard


Both demos (english and italian) are here!

DEMO ONLY:

* Genre: Adventure, light horror, vague dark humor, hints of romance
* Estimated playtime: 30/40 minutes
* Warnings: Swearwords (just a little bit), mention to smoking, scopophobia (for one CG).
* You will need RPG Maker VX Ace RTP for the demo.

* Some things in the demo will be expanded later. The title screen and title theme, for example, are not definitive. The demo is meant to introduce story, characters and the type of gameplay.

* English is not my native language, so forgive my mistakes.
For the game release, I will double check the translation with native speakers.


Stay tuned!

Latest Blog

Projects for the new year

Hello everyone!
First of all, happy new year! How is it going?
I'm really sorry for the lack of news here, but I can ensure you this game isn't dead, quite the countrary. Personally, 2023 was quite a wild ride for various reasons, and with me being a pretty anxious person... well, it was really tiring and difficult. For now things are a liiittle bit better, so I hope 2024 will be a great year for everyone.
So, what's going on exactly...
I worked on The ash black cat and the happy ogre continuously until the end of the third floor/level (3 of 5, and the 5° was more like an epilogue, so a lot of work done). And then... I realized I wasn't fully satisfied. I wanted to add a lot of things (like a custom menu, actual lights/shadows on the first two floors, more CGs), the characters and the story were evolving, becoming more deep and meaningful... and the game didn't really reflect my vision.
Also, a couple of characters (namely, Abele and Gioele) became pretty different from my first idea. Like, Abele was pretty annoying, almost antagonistic; ATM, is one of my favourite characters from this world, has a weird subplot about angels and crazy sorcerers, and he and Felix have a funny rivalship going on. So, we were in need of a serious rewrite.
This how my other game, Every Thought Flies, was born. It's a semi-short game, and it works as a prologue for this. I put in it a lot of extra things I wouldn't be able to insert in The ash black cat, so if you want to have a look... (it's complete).
In the end, I chose to love the game (and also myself) more, and take my time. So, forgive me if I wasn't able to publish for Halloween, but I really hope the final product will be worth the wait. I'll publish the game in chapters this time, so this won't take me a million years to update. My goal for this year it's to publish at least 3 chapters!
So, what I'm doing exactly?
Well, the story will be faster, better and richer. During the first chapter you'll move Felix and Noelia as usual, but there are also scenes with Abele and Gioele (they will become playable in the second chapter!) aaand also a couple of new characters.
Major updates for the gameplay too: I removed all the insta-deaths (I mean, there weren't a lot to begin with, still I removed them), opting for a nicer life meter. So you can take a couple of hits before the game over. The gameplay will be overall better, with way more puzzles (almost one for each room) and things to do (I tried to think school-related puzzles. It was pretty fun).
I implemented some QoL changes, like skipping cutscenes and the option to save during dialogues (useful for those pesky choice times). The custom menu is already evented and working, but I won't spoil for now, I need to color the background! (Let's say it's autumn-themed).
And now, time to show you something!
Like, the graphical improvements.



The school entrance...



The hallways.... (uh, is that a door for a new room? Maybe!)



I'm revamping the old art...

I'm still debating about little things (like, is it really necessary to use a custom font? Would you like it?).

One last thing: I removed the demo download because, as you can imagine from this post, it's pretty outdated right now. Between here and Itch.io we reached almost 200 dl! I'm really grateful. If you liked the demo, I really hope you'll enjoy the first chapter! (And if you didn't like the demo, well, maybe this time will be better-).
Still there? Well, thank you! This was a pretty long post!
And thanks to everyone who's following this project (or the others!).
Maybe 2024 will really be a good year, after all.
Bye!
  • Production
  • 0 of 5 episodes complete
  • Tailusei
  • RPG Maker VX Ace
  • Adventure Visual Novel
  • 10/28/2022 06:07 PM
  • 01/13/2024 03:34 AM
  • N/A
  • 9501
  • 6
  • 0

Posts

Pages: 1
Ayo this looks very promising! I love the mapping. *subscribed*
Ps: Un altro gioco promettente in lingua italiana. Non vedo l'ora di giocarci :))
author=Dream
It looks beautiful!


Thank you so much, really glad to hear that!

author=NoBody13
Ayo this looks very promising! I love the mapping. *subscribed*
Ps: Un altro gioco promettente in lingua italiana. Non vedo l'ora di giocarci :))


Oooh, thank you!
(Spero ti piacerĂ ! Grazie per i complimenti, a me piacevano un sacco le tue mappe sulla scheda di The Magic Pot **)

Sorry for the late answers, I was working on the demo! The english one will arrive soon, promise!
The demo is already here, cool! I'm gonna play this now :))
Pages: 1