Right Place. Wrong Time.

Seeking aid after a wreck, you stumble upon the quaint, tightly knit community of Bright Oak-- some 45 years outside of your intended travel plans, and struggling with their own troubles in the wake of a mysterious catastrophe. Finding a path back to your own timeline won’t be easy. Abandoning the townspeople to their fate might be even harder.

FEATURES:

• Nameable protagonist with choice of pronouns (she/he/they) and a mind of their own;
• Multiple branching routes in response to significant player choices; 
• An ensemble of five primary characters, providing a variety of perspectives and alternate story paths;
• Visual sensitivity and dyslexia-friendly gameplay options;
• Failure in the game is nearly impossible-- but success is far from assured!

Bright Oak is a heavily character-driven visual novel with elements of science fiction. Discover the tragic secrets behind Bright Oak’s preternatural dilemma; find friendship, or possibly love (characters are not gender-locked to pronoun choice, romance and friendship paths given equal weight); save the town and make your way home-- and if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

Demo out now!

Hello, and thanks for taking a peek! I'm B., and I'm finally at a point where I'm comfortable sharing the existence of this project, which has been near and dear to my heart for a few years now.  

Where in the process is Bright Oak?

Words? The script is complete, and I'm currently hard at work programming the beast, with a massive assist from Wudgeous (highly recommend the demo for their game, Herotome, if you aren't familiar!). The demo comprises the first act of three, and clocks in at just shy of 40,000 words; the total script is in the neighborhood of 225,000.

Art?  The absolutely-positively-radiantly-and-gloriously talented Remnantation is at the helm for the character art, and finishing up some final touches before pivoting to work on CGs. Backgrounds are proceeding apace, with at present some 79 finished (inclusive of lighting variations), and likely in the neighborhood of 15 to go.

Music? John Åhlin has created an absolutely brilliant, Ennio Morricone / 1960s Western-influenced fever dream. Yes, there will be a soundtrack DLC.🎶

Thanks again for checking this all out! I'd love any feedback folks have to offer on the pitch so far, and I'm happy to answer any questions I can, as well! Advice is also very very welcome, as I'm a first-timer to making a game, and this has proven a delightful, if exhausting, challenge.

All the best, and I look forward to sharing more soon!

CHARACTERS:

Updated with character bios and sprites-in-process!

Updated with some initial screenshots!

Update:

• 10/?? backgrounds complete;
• Brightened UI (will update screenshots soon);
• Received some *fantastic* initial music sketches from the composer;
• @Remnantation solved the riddle of Jasper's Big Hair (though not the riddles IN his Big Hair, of course)
• Continued work on programming initial chapters

To Do Next:

• Paint evening / night variations for sketched backgrounds;
• Continue work on sketches;
• Revisit an epilogue (for Reasons)
• Continue programming Chapter 2, establishing rhythm on changing scenes

Woo, been a while since I last updated here! Bright Oak has officially released the first act demo; just a handful of backgrounds left to go, CGs, and coding the rest!

Progress update!

• If you missed the last update, Bright Oak's demo is out now! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has taken the time to play it, and extra special thanks to those who've rated the game and/or recommended it to friends and/or reblogged Tumblr posts-- every little bit helps in a big big big way!
• I am currently in the process of proving I am who I claim to be on Steam, and as soon as my identity is conclusive in their eyes, the demo will post there, as well;
• Blinking animations are back for John, Marybeth, and Patti! Only Sparrow and Jasper remaining;
• The nights are now darker and starry-er than they were for the demo, after I found a process I liked better:
• 
• Confirmed the first sketch for Sparrow's CG with Remnantation, and (long, drawn out whistle);
• Adding some additional choices to the early second act (for Reasons);
• Working on background sketches for Act II (with a current eye to the interior and exterior of a certain sheriff's battered pickup truck)

Next up: start coding in expressions and music/sfx cues for the second act!