itch.io

1. Project name

Defeat the Darkness DATE!

2. Description

It's a high-school AU spinoff of my 2014 RPG Maker isekai comedy webseries, Defeat the Darkness, using several of the same characters to tell the story of a new kid in town who has to make friends or be sent to military school. Angst! Drama! Cute nerds who really want you to be happy! An analysis of how media shapes our perception of the world!

3. When you started the project 

I began the Otome Jam script on 2/20/25, two days before my apartment flooded and had to sleep next to an industrial dehumidfier for 46 days. The game was done on time for Otome Jam, however, I wanted to add voice acting and various IRL trouble has continued to push that deadline back in a debilitating fashion.

4. Your personal due date (can be the end of the jam, or earlier)

This Valentine's Day. All the actors recorded Aug-October, I have processed and coded in the lines, it now enters playtesting. Yesterday was the 8th anniversary of DtD's final episode but it's a romance game, I'll settle for Valentine's Day

Really loving the music so far! One minor quibble -

In Windows, the folder Properties, under the Customize tab, are optimized for "Documents" or "Music" and it can take up to four minutes for Windows load the folder. Changing it to "General Items" lets it load just fine. I don't why Windows throws a fit about it but please take a look into it!

The music, as advertised, is very cute and I hope to use it one day. Thanks for sharing!

Lovely work! Really enjoyed the use of contrast and a rotating background to make the most of the O2A2 limitations. Max did a wonderful job voicing Hugo, as always. Can't wait to see the full game and what lies in store for our "queer little ducklings" :^ )

Shino and Vimi's talks about game jams are fantastic. If you'd enjoy more content about working with random strangers online, I did a talk in 2021 called "So You're Working With Random Strangers Online."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0mA7g1fT_M&list=PLsXG4_BY8mozA9X3iqTzlvlppKP4kmWvm&t=77s

S'up gamers? I'll be hosting some listening sessions for the demo reels submitted to Maxi's roster sheet (Mon/Tues/Weds @ 1 PM PST in DevTalk). If you're looking to add voice acting to your game, I'll be there to answer some general questions and have a cheat sheet here with some important tips: 

>Every VA signed up for a reason. They know what game jams are, and are interested in some shorter unpaid work.

>Voice acting is often the last element added to a game, because you need the lines to be set in stone before they start working. When you reach out to one, make sure you have something for them to do

>With partial voice acting, you'll have flexibility to alter parts of the script that aren't fully read out by your talent

FULL VOICE ACTING:

Every line is read out loud by the VA

PARTIAL VOICE ACTING:

Some amount of voice acting. It could be a handful of lines, like in Phoenix Wright, or important scenes only, like Danganronpa

>"Voice acting" also entails "chirps:" The little generic voice lines in DR1 that emotionally paint the dialogue. Things like "Hmm" or "No way!" that get frequently repeated instead of reading out the whole line

>Please remember the jam deadline is December 31st! There's plenty of time to reach out to a VA later once you're further along in your development process. Even if you're not ready to cast now, and you find out you're not ready to cast later, this experience can be used for next time, whenever 'next time' happens to be

When looking to contact a VA, here's a nice generic message template for when you go to recruit:

Hey! I'm a game developer in DevTalk's Winter Jam and recently checked out your demo reel. I'd love to have you voice [NAME] in my game, [GAME]!

[Pitch your game here]

[Description of the character here]

[What's the workload? Partial voice? Full voice? How many lines? How far along are you in getting the game done? (hopefully very very close)]

Let me know if you're interested. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Good luck on your games! Happy devving!