itch.io

I just enabled the discussion board for that game. If you’re on AnimeOTK, there’s also a forum thread there. And here’s the Discord link: https://discord.gg/RBpuS9Ud

Because the content of this game is likely to be disturbing to anyone with a conscience, I thought it worth discussing.

Had I wanted merely to titillate with sexy plotlines, then I wouldn't have made any game at all. There are much better mediums for that content such as hentai or porn.

But in making this game, I saw an opportunity to explore darker themes. The setting of this game is extremely dystopian. This does not mean that everyone is depressed. Far from it. The main characters laugh, they celebrate, they fall in love, they make friendships. They live their lives as we would all want to, but in the shadow of a fundamentally messed up world.

The reformatory itself is a rather beautiful place. What makes it ugly is the absence of morality among the humans running it. That's what makes this a dystopian setting.

These are men who have young vampire women under their authority. However, rather than caring for them as people, the huge power differential between human and vampire results in rampant abuse.

There are times when the "Sunroom" is mentioned. Willow reasons that if the alternative is to be burnt to death by the sun in a ritual execution, then being treated poorly by staff is actually a mercy. I decided not to make it too obvious in the game, but with a little critical thinking, one can conclude that there IS NO Sunroom! It's a horror story to make the students feel grateful. 

I got the Sunroom idea from the story put forth by some religions that non-believers will be tortured in the afterlife. Nobody can actually see the afterlife to confirm, but many still choose to believe it just in case it happens to be true. But again, there is no revelation in the game that the Sunroom is a lie. The students have every reason to act as if it's real.

When I began designing this story, I started with human students. However, I soon realized that this story could not possibly work with humans for two reasons. First, the things that the staff put them through would break a human. Second, the absolute moral depravity of the staff requires that they view their victims as less than human. Thus, the decision to make them vampires was born. 

The vampires are dehumanized to such an extent that it starts to feel normal to both humans and vampires. Even some of the vampire students began to internalize the dehumanization and have a sort of Stockholm Syndrome.

I added the character Mark as a point of contrast. Here is a human character who hasn't been corrupted by the system yet. Even with Mark though, we can see him being influenced by the prevailing mindset of the human staff.

Some humans actually seem nice to their vampire students, but that is only because the power differential between them is so overwhelmingly vast that the humans don't view the vampires as a threat. They are more like harmless domesticated pets. This becomes especially apparent in Natalie's lesson with Professor Wilson.

The character of Professor Stein shows that the facade of law and order doesn't go both ways. It binds students but can be ignored by the humans when convenient. In the end, it's all an arbitrary exercise of power over the powerless.

Behind the smiles of the students, there are some real problems caused by their captivity in the reformatory. Those who have internalized the punitive messaging they receive on a daily basis may come to believe themselves broken and unworthy of a normal life. Others develop masochistic tendencies as a coping mechanism for the pain they are regularly subjected to.

There are four possible endings for Willow, and each ending illustrates a different possibility for how the abusive environment of the reformatory may affect her. Vincent merely draws out the aspect of her internal state that he finds the most fitting. Perhaps it will be the slave mentality that wins out. Or maybe it will be the masochism. Or conversely, the sadism. Or perhaps it will be the "institutionalization" that ends up defining Willow. Whatever the result, ALL of these mentalities are rooted in her experience in the reformatory.

However you choose to engage with this story, it's my hope that I will have at least brought a different perspective that you may not have seen before in a game like this.

Unfortunately this is quite common with this type of game developed by one person. The reason is that commissioning art for all the many scenes this has is expensive, especially when going for a consistent style.

Adding art to this game is a goal for the future though if it becomes feasible to do so. I estimate at the low end, this costing around $3,000. As a solo developer who is doing this as a hobby, that's not the sort of expenditure I can make at this time.