Demo Release Date
Friday September 9 2022 is our estimated release date for Mistwinter Bay's free, public demo. The demo is out now! You can find it here: https://swordlake-entertainment.itch.io/mistwinter-bay
What is Mistwinter Bay?
Mistwinter Bay is an RPG with visual novel-like gameplay, as well as some aspects of city building, resource management and romance/dating simulations. You get to create your own character and rule the town of Mistwinter Bay during an in-game, 5-year period. Choices you make determines who lives in the town, how much they like you, what resources you have and ultimately the fate of you and the town itself.
The following video is the official demo trailer.
Characters
What can you do in the game now?
In its current demo state, it is possible to play the first out of 5 years in the game. This includes the main story, randomized events every one or two months, and the possibility to start a war with the empress of the empire that Mistwinter Bay is in. This war-event includes several different endings, including exile to various countries.
The player gets to create their own character. There are two body types (male, female themed), 4 eyes and mouths respectively, several front and back parts of hair (making it possible for the player to mix and match as they please), 3 facial hair types, 2 crowns, 2 earrings, 4 outfits. All of the previously mentioned categories each have several color options per asset. So, even at this stage, there are plenty of ways to make your character!
In terms of characters, all 7 foreign leaders who rule the countries on the continent of Hruminus are implemented, as well as 3 characters who live in the town from the start, 5 additional characters who can move in, and 2 advisers. The characters who are meant to be "dateable"have 2 so-called hang out-events. It is possible for the characters who can move in to town to visit the inn, so that the player can get to know them a bit before deciding to move them in. It is, after all, important to choose who moves in since it's impossible to have all 5 characters move in at the same time.
There is a fully functioning town building and upgrading system for all the buildings that are included in the demo. There is also a trading system for resources that are required for building. In terms of resources, the player also has some personal money, which can be spent in certain events, as well as for buying gifts to increase or decrease characters' reputation.
There are currently 14 short and 4 long monthly events. The events are randomized, which means that they don't appear in any certain order. This, in turn, means that the player "has" to play the game twice in order to experience all the short events - if the RNG allows it. Once an event is completed, it won't appear in that playthrough again, making every playthrough truly unique. Each event has several endings which increase and decrease resources, reputation and so on.
What do we plan to add before the game is complete?
The complete, finished game is planned to include the following:
- The full 5 year-reign of Mistwinter Bay
- 23 new characters who can move in to town and who the player can marry
- Inn-events for new characters
- 24 new buildings, often matched with a new character
- All 5 hang out-events with all townsfolk and foreign leaders, as well as a proposal-event
- Personal quests
- Marriage, as well as adopting and raising a child with your spouse
- -100 reputation events with foreign leaders (not Empress Ophelia) and categories of townsfolk
- Enough short events to cover the 5 year-reign and more
- Enough long events to cover the 5 year-reign and more
- New short or long events that are "unlocked" by specific requirements (completed another event, used magic enough times, etc)
- The rest of the main story
- Sections in the main endings based on the main story, personal relationships and some (long) events
- More character customization options
- More entries in the encyclopedia
- Whatever we may have forgotten to mention
Yes, it's a lot of things and this game will be massive. As for whether or not we can complete it, we are confident that we will. Almost all of the basic mechanics are implemented in the demo, so the above list is mostly narrative/graphical additions. The main issue is finances, since we have to try to earn money during development. Therefore, Patreon.
Who are developing Mistwinter Bay and how?
It's developed by Swordlake Entertainment, which consists of two siblings, where one sibling does everything except character and background art. It's made using the GameMaker Studio 2 engine.
The idea for the game was born during the summer of 2020, but actual in-engine work began properly in fall 2021. As of now (August 2022) the game is almost at a public demo stage. Our plan is to keep developing the game for a year or two with Patreon support, letting players have a chance to impact the game through character customization options, brainstorming and voting on in-game events, etc.
Our Patreon page can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/swordlakeentertainment