Secrets of Sakura Glade

Secrets of Sakura Glade is a visual novel I created for the visual novel university course. It's optimized to run in Chrome on Desktop and was built using FudgeStory.

Timing: March - July 2023
Role: Creator and Narrative Designer, Character Designer, Coder, Main Artist (Solo Project)

Play

Github Repository

Design Document

Synopsis

Through a wondrous fortune, you wake up in the Forest of Fairie, a magical forest inhabited by the Capfolk, mushroom humanoids. After discovering the theft of the Moon Bead, a sacred artifact of the Sakura Glade village, you take on the role of an investigator. Your goal is to find the culprit and return the Moon Bead before the Spring Festival. You'll collect clues, interrogate four suspects, unveil their secrets, and make a choice that will decide the outcome of the festival. Will you solve the mystery and save the day?

Features

Interactive Storyline: A narrative-driven visual novel where your choices impact the outcome of the story.
Unique Setting: Explore the orginial setting of Sakura Glade and meet its inhabitants, the Capfolk.
Investigation and Clue Collection: Collect evidence in your inventory and interrogate suspects to uncover the truth.
Multiple Endings: The outcome of the story changes based on the player's choices. The game features three endings at this point in time.
Custom Assets: Original characters and assets created specifically for this game.

How to Play

Start the Game: You can play the game here.
Progress through the Story: Click through dialogues and decide where you want to go to collect clues.
Interrogate Suspects: Use the gathered clues to question the four suspects and uncover their secrets.
Make Your Decision: Based on your investigation, make a choice on the day of the festival to determine the fate of the Moon Bead and the Spring Festival.
Save/Load your Progress: The game comes with a saving/loading function as a json download. However, this feature is not tested and it's recommended to play in one session. Playtime is approximately 30min.

NB! The game is only optimized to run in Chrome on Desktop.

Development

Engine: Fudge Story
Languages: HTML, CSS, TypeScript
Tools: Visual Studio Code, Krita, Midjourney

I had complete freedom in the genre, setting and storyline with the only requirements of having at least two different branching storylines and another unique feature, for which I chose to develop the present item system known from e.g. the Ace Attorney series. I also designed the world, the characters and wrote the script. The process of both can be accessed in greater detail in the Concept Document.