* (Hello everyone) *

I'm sure you've seen from our Twitter or from our development team that "Umi & Candy: It All Begins", an original indie RPG game, has officially begun some development. We've been moreso focusing on the art and musical aspects for Demo Zero, but we are beginning to develop an actual playable game sometime in January or February, as our team have either family business or no proper tech to develop with. We've delayed this demo twice now and we feel bad for doing so, as we try to create quality experiences and our first experience has been delayed twice. As also seen on our Twitter page, @Blue_Star_Games, the demo has been postponed to a later unknown date, as not to disappoint a third time. 

But besides those setbacks, I'd like to welcome you to the official BSG dev page hosted here on itch.io. We plan to release Demo Zero here, as well as many other demos we may make in future.  Demo Zero will include two, maybe four playable characters, those two being Umi and Candy themselves, a non canon story to explain the mechanics and gameplay featured in the demo, as well as many other things to be seen in future. Now let's begin with the basics.

* (What is the Main Story?) *

In U&C: It All Begins, our story starts with Umi, a wanted criminal, and our main protagonist, lazing around in her secret bunker, before a giant mechanical eyeball, who is an alien named Sauron, bursts in through Umi's roof. Sauron warns Umi that if she doesn't return her necklace to her within the next few weeks, Sauron will use a giant mother ship and it's laser to obliterate her home island. Umi, both enraged and scared, decides to chase after her to try and talk to her, losing track of her, before running to Candy's home to get her help with the situation. And it's up to Umi and Candy, and their two other friends, Trip and Axl, to either peacefully talk to the Shine Invaders, or to take them down one soldier at a time, travelling all around the island of Skerado and encountering all sorts of villains and monsters. The planet of Xenotha is in your hands, and your choices matter. What do you do? Spare or slaughter?

* (Cast of Characters) *

Umi

How Umi appears in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins". Artwork subject to change in future.

Umi, full name Umina Hazuna Williams, is the central protagonist in "Umi & Candy: It all Begins". Umi is a blue, anthropomorphic, female, lesbian fox, aged 23 years old, and was born on 19th of June, 4010. She is the daughter to the now deceased Norine Hazuna Williams, and Maverick Steele. She is also in a relationship with Candy and has been dating her for almost 3 years. She is the leader of her team and is one of very few characters who can manipulate the world and have a long term effect on it.

She wears a very dark green crop shirt, a very dark green skirt, red shorts, green boots, a pair of luminous blue goggles and a yellow necklace in the shape of an eyeball around her neck. She stands at 5 foot 8 inches and has yellow eyes (after retrieving the necklace, in which case her eyes were brown before). She has vibrant royal blue hair, and spiky cheek tufts, a black wristband on each hand, and white, clean bandages all over her upper arms. Beneath her bandages are cuts on her arms, which have been slowly healing. She also has a bushy blue tail and pointy smiling teeth, and a pair of 2 black horizontal stripes on each of her face cheeks.

Candy

How Candy appears in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins". Artwork subject to change in future.

Candy, full name Candimore Cottonwood, is a central protagonist in "Umi & Candy: It all Begins". Candy is a pink, anthropomorphic female, bisexual squirrel, aged 21 years old, and was born on 17th December, 4012. She is the daughter to Caramel Cottonwood and Cinnamon Campbell, and is sisters with the now deceased Calipo Cottonwood. She is also in a relationship with Umi and has been dating her for almost 3 years. She is the second in command of her team and is a paladin of sorts for the team.

Candy dons a grey zip hoodie, with a blue badge in the shape of Umi's old mask when she did a superhero movie business. She wears a wrap-around scarf with red and orange vertical stripes around her neck, grey slippers and red shorts with darker red stripes down the sides. She has big, puffy, curly, cotton candy like hair, hence her name, purple eyes, buckteeth, and cheek blush, to suit her charming personality. She also has hair flopping down one side of her face. She occasionally wears red circular reading glasses.

Trip

How Trip appears in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins". Artwork subject to change in future.

Trip, full name Joseph Tidwhiskers, is a central protagonist in "Umi & Candy: It all Begins". Trip is a magenta, anthropomorphic male, gay serval wildcat, aged 18 years old, and was born on 23rd November, 4015. He is the son to Marceline Davis and  Russell Tidwhiskers. He is best friends with Candy as they attended the same school many years ago. He is the third in command of his team and is a trickster or jester of sorts, pulling off cool tricks, or sometimes being a distraction for enemies, which is how he got his nickname, as he trips a lot.

Trip's casual attire consists of a large brown painter's jacket, a lime woolen sweater, a small, purple, over shoulder fatty pack, some purple denim pants, a pair of casual red sneakers with shoe tongues sticking out, and some square glasses held up by his nose. He has two purple triangle markings on his cheeks, as well as two large pointy tufts of hair located in the middle of his forehead and two also on each side of his head, and a long magenta tail that pokes out from behind. He also has lime eyes to compliment his sweater.

Axl

How Axl appears in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins". Artwork subject to change in future.

Axl, full name Axelious Ottlerum, is a central protagonist in "Umi & Candy: It all Begins". Axl is a white, anthropomorphic male, straight axolotl-like animal, aged 21 years old, and was born on 17th March, 4012. Not much is known about his family. He is Candy's ex boyfriend and he knows Candy as they attended the same school many years ago, and dated too. He also got his baseball hat from her. He is the fourth in command of his team and is the speed of the team. Compared to his teammates, he hasn't got much health, but is incredibly fast at attacking and dodging, and can also breathe, and also lives, underwater. 

Axl wears a black and white backwards baseball cap, with a blue star at the front, that was handed down from Candy, a denim jacket with yellow buttons, and grey sleeves and hood, blue jean shorts, dark cyan sandles, and a white vest. He has a large spiky grey/black hairdo, with a few spiky clumps of hair for a fringe, one half over his eye and one above it. Beneath his hair are his blue gills, and he also has a white tail, also covered in blue gills. His jacket is always unbuttoned and his vest is always tucked into his shorts. He also always has his hands in his pockets, and his blue eyes are always half lidded, with black eyelids and a dull, blank or angry facial expression. He barely emotes at all.

Sauron 

How Sauron appears in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins". Artwork subject to change in future.

Sauron is one of many central antagonists and is the sixth queen of her race, the Shines, who live on the Sun. She is also the mother to 5 children, and takes care of them herself. When she awakens from an attack on her planet, she realizes that something of hers is missing, and that someone from the Hazuna family, who used to work with her, took it from her. She finds out who stole it, and travels to Xenotha, where she breaks into Umi's bunker, threatening to explode her planet if she doesn't return her necklace, but takes Umi's kind gesture of simply talking her as a threat, racing to the centre of Skerado island to set up a giant deadly laser to split the island apart. Later in the story, she will bring in four of her children to help defend the mother ship and help destroy the planet.

Sauron is a giant mechanical being, with a deep female voice. She is shaped like a large yellow eyeball, with a large blue platinum iris at the centre, and blue platinum points on the tops and sides of her, as well as many visible seems and bolts. She also has yellow orbs floating from each point, and all sorts of light reflect off of her. She is the only one of the Shines who doesn't have any humanoid features.

* (Collectables) *

Gems

How Team Leader colored Gems appear in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins". 

Gems are the main collectable in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins" that appear on the map, in the overworld, in some minigames, dropped by some enemies, and in the game's general loot pools. They serve as a currency throughout the game and come in a variety of different colors, although color is simply cosmetic, as they all serve the exact same purpose. The Gem color depends on whoever your Team Leader is. Umi's Gem color is blue, Candy's is magenta, Trip's is lime and Axl's is silver. They can be found in chests and a variety of places and can be spent in shops throughout your journey. There is also a yellow variant of Gem, although they can only be collected by unlocking the secret 5th playable character in the game's final release.

How the Secret 5th Playable Character's Yellow Gem appears in "Umi & Candy: It All Begins". Artwork subject to change in future.

There will be more collectables added in future, such as hidden treasures and extra lives, and maybe even weapon upgrades and such, but for now with Demo Zero being so basic, we should focus on the essentials. More collectables will be added in future, don't worry. 

* (Thank you for joining us) *

Thank you for reading this quick little rundown on some of the basics that'll be arriving to Umi & Candy: Demo Zero. We are actively working on the demo and as we get closer to a completion date we will be posting more updates and posts to keep everyone in the loop, both here and on Twitter, either on the dev account, @Blue_Star_Games, or my personal account, @_Blue_Star_. I constantly share artwork and spritesheets on the dev page, so it's best to follow that one. Story details and more characters will also be arriving soon, we have plenty of amazing writers working behind the scenes to write a great story.

If you have any more questions regarding Demo Zero, or the Umi & Candy brand and lore, be sure to hit me with a reply or DM, here, on Twitter, or on Discord (blue_star), or contact our dev team on Twitter too. We appreciate fan feedback as it helps us improve our projects. I'd like to say thank you again for joining us, and Merry Christmas, and have a Happy 2024. We look forward to seeing you again soon∼⭐