hi all!

my name is Rose. i write about unhinged women, sapphic darkness, deconstructions and tragedy. so, if any of those resonate, you’ll like MORTAL COIL.

i made the demo for MORTAL COIL with my artist + programmer team for My First Game Jam: Summer 2023, and it was such a fantastic experience: i couldn’t be happier with what we’ve done!

here’s the summary of the story!

You’re Ikuyo, an up-and-coming FPS gamer on the world’s biggest video & streaming platform: Eidolon. Your sister Sonoko is the Eidolon goddess @flowerfall: loved by millions for her modelling, self-care, and genuine authenticity.

And she’s just been cancelled.

Ikuyo struggles to reach her sister amid the storms of controversy, confused that Sonoko isn’t acknowledging the drama that’s raging on. Sonoko’s only response? It’s to join the 99th season of the televised death game, MORTAL COIL.

Frantic, afraid, and desperate: Ikuyo must choose whether to follow Sonoko into the depths of destruction, risking her life to save her sister who seems all too eager to play.

Will Sonoko slip away from Ikuyo’s grasp? Or will their fates be far worse than that?

i hope you enjoy if you choose to play the game! i’m looking forward to hearing what you guys think about it, especially on what we could improve on. :)

the demo includes “Part 1: Prologue” and “Part 2: Entrance”, about Ikuyo and Sonoko’s entrance to Mortal Coil, with a playtime about 30mins-1hr long.

thank you for reading! i hope you stick around to see what i’ll do. i’ll be updating this thread with progress as we continue to develop this game.

~ Rose.

hi Eidoloners!

it’s been ten days since Mortal Coil released, and i’m here with a little update. this will be Part 1 of 2 for our POST-MORTEM, focusing on the feedback we received for Mortal Coil. part 2 of the POST-MORTEM will be focused on the actual game design process.

first off, it’s insane seeing that we’ve crossed 30+ downloads for Mortal Coil! this was beyond my expectations, and it genuinely warms my tiny rose-rotten heart that you guys care about our cyberpunk death game. your supportive comments have made multiple days of mine (:

now, on to the feedback!

1. monologue vs. dialogue.

see, i do not hail from the beautiful wild-lands of visual novels: i started my craft in the gritty arenas of creative writing. i quickly realised that the stylising of the monologues vs. dialogs in Mortal Coil was an issue when it was pointed out to me: the “” indicating dialog isn’t obvious when it’s in a game.

the solution for our demo update: we will be adding the character-assigned colour to the dialogs, indicating it!

2. oh, Quietus.

because of the insanely tight 2 week game jam time-frame, we weren’t able to have all the CG’s we wanted for Mortal Coil. this was evident in the Quietus sequences, as we had to use edited stock photos… Ikuyo and Sonoko were truly doing the jump between Hong Kong and Korea just like that!

the solution for our demo update: our artist, nitunio, has made new concept art of Quietus, which we’re super excited to add into the new demo!

3. bleep bleep bleep.

because the game is so text-heavy (… of course), it means that we needed a better way to engage our players.

the solution for our demo update: a lovely suggestion i received (from our newly-christened programmer, rat) was to add a sound bleep to all of our characters’ dialog boxes! this is being added as we speak.

these were the primary things that we will be working on for Mortal Coil’s next demo! other updates that will be included are:

• add 3D-staging to the demo so it’s more dynamic.
• add a “new message!” line for the streaming chat so the player knows where to look— as without, it feels overwhelming.
• make it so you can “click anywhere to exit” for the email.
• add an “open PDF” button for Mortal Coil For Dummies.
• etc…!

we can’t wait to make and release the new demo to you all soon!

~ Rose.

hi Eidoloners!

i’ve added a web version of Mortal Coil. you can now enjoy the game in the comfort of your browser at the main page c:

~ Rose

some of you have been asking what inspired me to make MORTAL COIL, a visual novel about a cyberpunk death game that Youtubers er Eidoloners are obsessed over.

i have a list!

1) social media, particularly Youtube and Twitch.

▼ i’m very interested in exploring how these are avenues for intense parasociality - and how that manifests in the creators and their audience.

△ reading this neat research article which argues that Twitch is the closest step towards reciprocated, two-way parasociality gave me a ton of ideas too.

2) the party game, Mafia.

(featured: me and my coven lynching the last neutral for our victory.)

▼ the set-up of the game (Townies, Mafia) and its focus on deduction, lying, trust and betrayal has influenced the set-up of Mortal Coil!

△ i’ve always been obsessed with this party game when i was but a tiny child… and i still love it now. which is why!

▼ town of salem, AKA the online version of Mafia, was also another inspo! can you blame me for enjoying the gaslight gatekeep girlboss it offers… inspiration :3

3) the novel and movie, The Hunger Games.

▼ a little Rose lore for you all today. when i was a child i was absolutely terrified of The Hunger Games. i was so convinced that it could be real…

△ the death game set-up and its criticism of its audience (the Capitol) gave me ideas on exploring “the audience” of the 21st century, an audience arguably far more insane than THG’s because… it is the internet.

4) the manga and anime, Kakegurui.

(featured: yumary. :3)

▼ it’s true! it’s a little out of place with all the death games, but gosh…

△ its obvious gayness aside, its characters, particularly the force-of-nature Yumeko Jabami, has inspired the cast of this game.

▼ Ikuyo may not be the gambling freak that Yumeko is, but she is a FPS gamer at heart, and y’know… what is Mortal Coil if not the ultimate game?

5) the visual novel and anime, Danganronpa.

(art by vhsghostricks)

▼ can you find the parallels between Ikuyo and Sonoko with Mukuro and Junko?

△ i was very inspired by the sisterly relationship these two had, and their dynamic influenced how i came to create Ikuyo and Sonoko’s characters.

▼ other than that, the confined nature of Danganronpa’s game and its detective set-up. plus, a death game at The End Of The World…

6) the tv show, Squid Game.

▼ uh yeah so aside from the crime of breaking my whole heart, Squid Game has the great honour of being one of Mortal Coil’s death game inspirations >:)

△ children’s games, death games… mafia party game, death game… can you see the similarities?

7) the ???

▼ see if you can guess this one! it was the primary inspiration for Ikuyo and Sonoko’s home. :3

△ tip: you can find a hint in the “Quietus” segment of Mortal Coil…

thanks for reading! c: