Pyreside Waltz (DEMO)
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
A serendipitous collision, a mystery, and a city of life and colour come together under the falling blossom...
Pyreside Waltz is a fantasy-romance visual novel set in a fictional kingdom inspired by Russian fairytales. The player can pursue one of five different suitors, each with unique Live2D models and animations (which can be exchanged for static sprites if desired). Though the game will include some light body horror imagery and dramatic elements, it is a romance at its core, with a focus on getting to know the various characters and seeing how their lives intertwine. The demo carries a roughly PG-13 rating, and the full game is planned to include romantic scenes, where the player can toggle the visibility of adult content from an R to a PG-13 rating as desired.
Motya is a strange doll, and the protagonist of the story! With their low-key personality and their dry wit, their origins are something of a mystery.
Ermolai is a jovial and well-meaning leader brimming with an exuberant energy. A clayman hardy enough to flower through all four seasons, he feels a responsibility for Motya right away.
Perepyol is a weary scholar who's seen too much over his many years of service. A shrewd polyp with a dry, acerbic manner, Motya presents him with a curious mystery.
Vakhet is very serious about his work as a palace guard. Due to being a wisp he's often regarded with caution, but his kind manners and calm demeanour may assuage any worries about his intentions.
Timoor is a backalley doctor and a jovial alloy, quick to boisterous laughter that belies his great professionalism. Though kind to all he meets, he may have a particular soft spot for Motya.
Rosherik, a denizen of the backalleys, is a bold individual with an untrusting nature. Though caustic and outspoken, there may be another side to this glacial once the walls come down.
LIVE2D ANIMATION!: The character sprites have a fully animated, expressive Live2d mode, with a static toggle for older or lower-specification PCs featuring a broad multitude of sprites!
PG-13/R MODE!: While not required for the demo, the final game will feature a toggle to disable or enable more mature content!
HISTORY JUMP!: Optimizing the ability to scroll back through the game, the history allows you to select from up to 30 lines in the past and jump to that part of the story again immediately to explore your options!
STORY!: The final game will feature a complex narrative exploring the intersections of characters and Motya's relationship to each one!
Inkethic is a two-person indie and visual novel development studio! We are comprised of Inktrashing (Miru) and Cacoethic (Fal).
We previously collaborated on the cozy horror visual novel Meeting in the Flesh (2019), where you can date one of three monstrous suitors!
12.31.22: A modest version update to coincide with the demo release on Steam. Streamlines the opening choice, corrects some typos and includes an improved version of a background CG.
05.28.22 : Very small version update including typo fixes and writing tweaks.
05.17.22 : The demo releases! We would very much appreciate any feedback you can offer. Please let us know if you encounter any bugs, typos, or visual aberrations by emailing us at inkethic@gmail.com!
Please check out the readme for additional information on known issues.
Download
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Development log
- Happy new year, thank you, and a demo v2 release!Dec 31, 2022
Comments
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Just replayed the demo and loved it even more the second time! The prose is beautiful, the world fascinating, the characters intriguing, the art gorgeous.
The demo was so good that I enjoyed it the whole time since it perfectly introduced the characters plus the banters can be so interesting and intriguing (can be funny at times too lol, Motya I swear). And the Live2D animations really bring each character to life!
I absolutely love their designs, so detailed including the tap sound for Ermolai's staff and with them being animated, you could see the characters' own mannerisms and how they would react to such dialogues, enough to had made me look and stare at them (especially Perepyol and Ermolai) even while idle.
I ended up actually liking and enjoying Motya as the MC too, I would protect them 10/10 and the guys were quite an interesting and adorable bunch, makes me want to know more about them. I do have my eyes on you, Perepyol! Looking forward to the full game now, so gonna play Meeting in the Flesh in the meantime!
After playing "Meeting in the flash", i had to come see there were other games you were working on and i'm so happy to see that you released this demo, can't wait to play the finished game. (sorry for the broken english.)
it is very interesting... looking foward for more!!!
After having played "meeting in the flesh" years ago, I am so excited to come back and see that you are working on a new visual novel! I enjoyed the new approach you took to this visual novel, and I really enjoyed the character designs. I can't wait to see where you may take this game as it develops, and I'm excited to see what might happen to Motya!
Oh my gosh, I didn't know a demo was already out! I'm so excited! I already played a little and the sprites look so pretty *-*
The music is one of the best parts of Meeting in The Flesh, and it looks like it will be the same here too! I'm really looking forward to the end product since this already looks great!
Timoor my beloved♥♥♥
Playing inkEthic games such as this and "Meeting in the Flesh" is like stepping into a new world that feels like home. The soundtrack, art, and characters are truly charming.
Intriguing demo! :D
Thats a very interesting DEMO and World, it really brims with creativity
Such a nice demo!!
The backgrounds and the characters are just so well made, everytime a new character appeared I just needed to stop reading to admire all the tiny details. The animations are also petty cute, they really help the characters feel even more alive.
As a little feedback, I think it would be nice if you can add an option to change the font size or event the font, don't know if thats possible.
I really enjoyed "Meeting in the flesh" and I can already say that this game will become one of my favorites when it finally releases :)
YES YES YES!!!! Cant wait for the game!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to try our demo and leave such kind feedback, Vika! We're really happy if you enjoyed it so far, and we'll keep working hard towards creating a final game we can be proud to share with you!
Ohh, how exciting. I like the demo
Thank you very much! We're glad if you enjoyed it!
Oh man this is so awesome. I'm a huge fan of Meeting in the Flesh and I've been following the updates on the development of this game on tumblr. The opening is a bit slow I think, with Motya coming to their senses and meeting the first two characters, but I think it really settles into itself after that.
I am in LOVE with Timoor, what a cutie!! I thought Ermolai was going to be my favorite until he showed up and I just fell so quickly. I can't wait to get my hands on the full game just for him.
My main issue with the game is after about 45-60 minutes of play time it begins to lag/slow down, especially with 3 characters on the screen. It makes saving and jumping back in the history a task as the game tries to crash. It never did though. I did turn off the live2d animations for a bit but they're too nice not to play with. I hope there some way to fix this, because I'd hate to turn them off for the full game release.
A great demo, I'm very excited to see where the story goes! Keep up the great work Inkethic!!
Thank you so much for the detailed feedback, encouragement, and your kind patience with our experimentation, especially concerning the Live2D! This is really useful feedback! We're also really thrilled you enjoyed the characters and story so far, and we can't wait to share more with you!
Although the game appeared to have slowed down over time, I suspect the problem isn't a memory leak (hopefully!) but an issue we became aware of in our internal playtests before release. On my computer it appeared acceptable, but if possible I'd love to get some information about your computer specifications and some more detail about the amount of lag/fps loss sustained! If you have some time, please do respond or email us at inkethic@gmail.com with a little info about your CPU and GPU, and we'd be deeply grateful! If possible we'll update the demo with a suitable fix, or else just make sure the final release is as seamless and accessible as possible!
The history may definitely take longer when there's many characters on screen, but it should never crash the game if the player doesn't click around too much. Although there's no way to notify the player, the long wait is just to handle the model load. We'll keep working intensely on optimising that for the final release so that the wait doesn't feel as hairy!
Thank you so much again!
:clap: HELL :clap: YEAH :clap:
I've been super excited to nosy at this new demo since I found out it was happening, and it has not disappointed! Incredibly eager to get my hands on the full release when it comes out!
Just a list of typos I noticed while going through:
- When Motya is being inspected by Perepyol on the no run route, the first instance of collar is misspelled as color.
- "Ermolai's smile, already warm, soften(s) a touch."
- "Whatever sunlight reaches past the shapes of building(s?)..."
- "The air in the office that had felt so cozy just moments (a)go..."
- "There's some comfort to be found in the fact that they feel
ssurprisingly little..."- "I was told to search for you, so I could deliver my employer(')s..."
- "Ermolai: You have my thanks, Ermolai!" (Should be Perepyol, I'm guessing haha)
- "... by a man who had first shown them
so(such) kindness."Thank you so much coffeebara! We really appreciate you giving our new lil demo a try, and we're so glad if you're interested in playing the full game in the future! It's high praise and we're really grateful for it!
We also really appreciate the time you took to catch and relay these errors! We've noted them and will have them fixed for when we update the distro file. Thank you again!
another absolutely gorgeous & rich world filled with characters that are immediately charming & intriguing. the live 2D is an incredible highlight on top of already gorgeous art, and the demo left me borderline feral to find out what happens next. GREAT WORK INKETHIC, I'M SO EXCITED FOR THE FULL GAME!!
Thank you so much Kelly! We're really glad you had a positive experience with our lil demo so far, and thank you for giving it a try! We'll keep working hard to improve on what we have and create the best game we can going forward, and thank you with all our hearts for your feedback and thoughts!!