SITE http://sellingsunlight.com/ | TWITTER https://twitter.com/sellingsunlight | GAMEJOLT http://gamejolt.com/games/sellingsunlight/242770
In narrative RPG Selling Sunlight, you're a masked merchant traveling in a fantasy world that doesn't move anymore.
One side of the planet boils, costantly facing the sun; the other is a frozen desert. The only habitable zone is a thin line of perpetual dawn, an orangish place full of fire spirits, wailing sun-priests, withering plant people, spiders and bees.
If you want to make a profit, you'll have to wander. Discover new wonders and cultures, make friends, bargain goods and swap tall tales with other travelers.
In this world that stands still, where will you run from your past?
One side of the planet boils, costantly facing the sun; the other is a frozen desert. The only habitable zone is a thin line of perpetual dawn, an orangish place full of fire spirits, wailing sun-priests, withering plant people, spiders and bees.
If you want to make a profit, you'll have to wander. Discover new wonders and cultures, make friends, bargain goods and swap tall tales with other travelers.
In this world that stands still, where will you run from your past?
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. FEATURES
Recall
Who are you? A sinner, that's for sure. But what about the person behind the mask?
Where you once a librarian with golden hair as shiny as the Sun you adored? A black-skinned matriarch, believing only in the power of Science? Or did you came from stranger lands, and prayed to even stranger gods?
Tell me everything about your reckless life choices. Will you continue to defy the Sun now, or will you try to regain Its favour?
Wander
Explore the Line of Dawn, home of seven cities and countless wonders.
Dance under the giant mirrors of the Red Temple, eat fishes that are also books in the Cyan port; or visit the Violet Army, living in giant carcasses of frozen war-beasts.
Plan your journey carefully, balance the load of your cart, and beware: sudden encounters and discoveries can always interrupt your journey.
Befriend
During your journey you'll meet nomads, musicians, botanists, scholars, missionaries and many others - each one with their own agenda.
Barter goods and news with fellow travelers, and journey together to fight loneliness. Keep in touch with letters, and celebrate every new encounter with a drink.
Not having a face is not an excuse for being antisocial.
Bargain
You know what's the good part about having a mask? Lying comes off a lot more easily.
Scrutinize other merchants and change your attitude accordingly. Offer goods, precious information, or brazenly seduce your opponent to obtain a nice discount. Import and export goods from far regions to maximize your profits.
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. ART
The game will be completely hand-drawn and painted with watercolours.
Have some screens and concept art:
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.TEAMCoseBelle (Italian for Nice Things) is an all-female team of ex-students from the International School of Comics. It's composed by:
- A character artist
- A background artist
- A writer/programmer
Plus various freelancers/helpers.
Our main inspirations for this project include Spice and Wolf, the Rune Factory series, Sunless Sea and Ursula Le Guin's works.
.UPDATES
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An interview with Failbetter Games
Hello!
Sorry for the lack of regular updates - I'm still alive, but have been horribly busy.
I was sent to the far North to learn to speak like a True Englishwoman and make better games. The Failbetter Games folks - makers of Fallen London and Sunless Sea - decided to pick me up as part of their incubation program.
This interview to the whole team was originally posted on the Failbetter Games Blog:
How did Selling Sunlight come about?
Where does the name Selling Sunlight come from?
Tell me a bit about the player character in Selling Sunlight.
The world in Selling Sunlight is stuck – the planet itself used to turn, but no longer does. What kind of design and story opportunities does this offer you?
What inspired the watercolour art style?
You’ve chosen a combatless experience in this game – what inspired that choice?
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@sellingsunlight) for more regular updates!
[doublepost=1491411999,1490228645][/doublepost]
"…the end."
"That’s it? That story had no moral, what was the point?"
"Stories don’t need a moral to have meaning."
"Ah, there it is."
@ASmallFiction
Works of fiction need to have a meaning. This is especially true for a game like Selling Sunlight, which doesn’t have a strong overarching plot but lots of small intersecting storylines. Having a central theme helps with keeping the tone consistent, making the narrative more coherent and compelling.
Finding your game’s theme means answering the most difficult question:
what is the game exactly about?
“BEES EVERYWHERE” is usually a good answer when in doubt, but this proved not to be the case.
Regrettably.
When Selling Sunlight was still "unnamed merchant simulator RPG" I tought our main theme was "the value of things".
How much is a man’s life worth? How much are you willing to sacrifice for business?
It was a pretty dark theme, now that I think of it.
(© Recettear: an Item Shop’s Tale)
Working on the main storylines, I realized the game we were making wasn’t really about money: we were using bartering as a way to connect with people - as an excuse for befriending other merchants and getting dragged into their personal storylines.
The main character is an outcast, forced to a life of never-ending wanderings. But by traveling, they can touch the lives of those who usually stand still, bringing a new point of view to people in need of a change.
Because in a word that stands still, you will have to move forward.
This is our new main theme.
Speaking of our main character, their race is one of the main things you can personalize. Here we’re experimenting with skin tones.
Do you feel they’re diverse/representative enough? We’d like to hear your opinion!
(And yes, you can be a plant! Of course you can be a plant.)
Until next time, may the Sun shine on your path.
Hope you won’t get burned.
[doublepost=1497474226][/doublepost]
Hello!
During the last two months of development we have consolidated our team, saying goodbye to some occasional helpers and welcoming two paid freelancers that will be capable of giving more time and energy to the project. They are both incredible artists and have been working wonders! Let me introduce them to you.
ART
Lucy Kyriakidou (http://www.lucydoesart.co.uk/) is the artist now in charge of our character sprites. She somehow managed to translate our ramblings about elegance and Art Nouveau into this:
First sketches for the sprites.
She can also make people move. Pure wizardry, I tell you.
Strut like a merchant.
Since her sprites are more wiry than our temporary assets, we decided to slightly enlarge all our backgrounds to avoid shrinking her art.
Combining everything together, we got this - and we’re all damn happy with the result.
We hope you’ll like it as well.
Let us know!
MUSIC
We knew we needed a composer well-accustomed to strangeness for this game, and a name immediately sprang to mind: Devin Dilbert, composer of award-winning indie game Glitchhikers. We believe he’s very good, but judge by yourself: you can listen to his tracks - and buy them - on his Bandcamp page.
Glitchhikers is a game about driving during the night whilst trying to stay awake.
It’s good, it’s free and you can play it on Itch.
You’ll be able to hear one of Devin’s new tracks in the trailer we’re putting together! We’ll show it to you soon. Until then, may the Sun shine on your Path.
Hello!
Sorry for the lack of regular updates - I'm still alive, but have been horribly busy.
I was sent to the far North to learn to speak like a True Englishwoman and make better games. The Failbetter Games folks - makers of Fallen London and Sunless Sea - decided to pick me up as part of their incubation program.
This interview to the whole team was originally posted on the Failbetter Games Blog:
How did Selling Sunlight come about?
Giada (writer): I was working in a marketing agency, where I was spending most of my time playing Fallen London during office hours and farming games at home, to heal my soul.
I was lifeless. I was bored.
Sometimes you work on an idea carefully, and sometimes influences just brew subconsciously in your head and then explode. At some point I just knew I had to make exactly THIS GAME – then I had a job no more, and so I started making it, because why not. Friends got curious, someone started asking “can I draw the little cute icons for the items?” and a team was formed. Accidentally.
I was lifeless. I was bored.
Sometimes you work on an idea carefully, and sometimes influences just brew subconsciously in your head and then explode. At some point I just knew I had to make exactly THIS GAME – then I had a job no more, and so I started making it, because why not. Friends got curious, someone started asking “can I draw the little cute icons for the items?” and a team was formed. Accidentally.
Where does the name Selling Sunlight come from?
Giada: We made a big list of word related to our game’s main themes, which are:
Chiara (background artist): I remember we were torn between this title and Sunlight Seller, but Selling Sunlight just rings better.
- Traveling vs. standing still
- Buying and selling
- The sunset
- Bees
Chiara (background artist): I remember we were torn between this title and Sunlight Seller, but Selling Sunlight just rings better.
Tell me a bit about the player character in Selling Sunlight.
Giada: Your character did something BAD, and as a result has been forced to lose their identity and wear a mask.
We want players to truly immerse themselves in this world, but this would have required countless customization options. By having a faceless character, everyone can decide what’s behind the mask! This also makes you no ordinary merchant, but a MYSTERIOUS RASCAL. Non-player characters will also have a reason to be curious about you, making interactions more natural.
We want players to truly immerse themselves in this world, but this would have required countless customization options. By having a faceless character, everyone can decide what’s behind the mask! This also makes you no ordinary merchant, but a MYSTERIOUS RASCAL. Non-player characters will also have a reason to be curious about you, making interactions more natural.
The world in Selling Sunlight is stuck – the planet itself used to turn, but no longer does. What kind of design and story opportunities does this offer you?
Giada: The planet stopped turning only 300 years ago, so people are still getting accustomed to the changes. Different communities now share a very tight habitable space, and they sort of tolerate each other, but old grudges are still very much alive. There’s also a religious crisis ongoing, because the Sun was once considered a God.
Someone believes that the Earth fell in love with the Sun, and now can’t stop looking at him. Others just think that the Sun is trying to burn everyone.
Chiara: Besides the storytelling options, a still world has an undeniably charming atmosphere: everything is suspended between darkness and light, nothing is clearly defined and everything is mysterious. Exactly like our stories and our characters.
Someone believes that the Earth fell in love with the Sun, and now can’t stop looking at him. Others just think that the Sun is trying to burn everyone.
Chiara: Besides the storytelling options, a still world has an undeniably charming atmosphere: everything is suspended between darkness and light, nothing is clearly defined and everything is mysterious. Exactly like our stories and our characters.
What inspired the watercolour art style?
Anita (character designer): We decided to do what we’re best at: traditional drawing. The whole project is based on the feeling we could make an awesome product without fancy materials or shiny graphics. Of all the choices we had, watercolours happened to perfectly fit the mood we wanted for the game, as well as being our first choice in traditional colouring.
Chiara: I admit watercolors aren’t my favourite medium, but as Anita said they perfectly fit our game’s atmosphere. Background after background, I’m starting to appreciate their versatility. Trying to get the lighting just right in every picture is proving to be especially difficult and exciting.
Chiara: I admit watercolors aren’t my favourite medium, but as Anita said they perfectly fit our game’s atmosphere. Background after background, I’m starting to appreciate their versatility. Trying to get the lighting just right in every picture is proving to be especially difficult and exciting.
You’ve chosen a combatless experience in this game – what inspired that choice?
Anita: The game we wanted to make had to be relaxing, yet challenging. Also, it seems like fighting is almost your only choice when it comes to RPGs: we’re so used to get out of every uncomfortable situation by drawing a sword! How about something different, once in a while?
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter (@sellingsunlight) for more regular updates!
[doublepost=1491411999,1490228645][/doublepost]
______________________________________________________
Devlog #1: Moving Forward. Standing still.
Devlog #1: Moving Forward. Standing still.
"…the end."
"That’s it? That story had no moral, what was the point?"
"Stories don’t need a moral to have meaning."
"Ah, there it is."
@ASmallFiction
Works of fiction need to have a meaning. This is especially true for a game like Selling Sunlight, which doesn’t have a strong overarching plot but lots of small intersecting storylines. Having a central theme helps with keeping the tone consistent, making the narrative more coherent and compelling.
Finding your game’s theme means answering the most difficult question:
what is the game exactly about?
“BEES EVERYWHERE” is usually a good answer when in doubt, but this proved not to be the case.
Regrettably.
When Selling Sunlight was still "unnamed merchant simulator RPG" I tought our main theme was "the value of things".
How much is a man’s life worth? How much are you willing to sacrifice for business?
It was a pretty dark theme, now that I think of it.
(© Recettear: an Item Shop’s Tale)
Working on the main storylines, I realized the game we were making wasn’t really about money: we were using bartering as a way to connect with people - as an excuse for befriending other merchants and getting dragged into their personal storylines.
The main character is an outcast, forced to a life of never-ending wanderings. But by traveling, they can touch the lives of those who usually stand still, bringing a new point of view to people in need of a change.
Because in a word that stands still, you will have to move forward.
This is our new main theme.
Speaking of our main character, their race is one of the main things you can personalize. Here we’re experimenting with skin tones.
Do you feel they’re diverse/representative enough? We’d like to hear your opinion!
(And yes, you can be a plant! Of course you can be a plant.)
Until next time, may the Sun shine on your path.
Hope you won’t get burned.
[doublepost=1497474226][/doublepost]
(Triple post! Aagh. I'm so sorry.)
_____________________________
Devlog #2: New friends!
_____________________________
Devlog #2: New friends!
Hello!
During the last two months of development we have consolidated our team, saying goodbye to some occasional helpers and welcoming two paid freelancers that will be capable of giving more time and energy to the project. They are both incredible artists and have been working wonders! Let me introduce them to you.
ART
Lucy Kyriakidou (http://www.lucydoesart.co.uk/) is the artist now in charge of our character sprites. She somehow managed to translate our ramblings about elegance and Art Nouveau into this:
First sketches for the sprites.
She can also make people move. Pure wizardry, I tell you.
Strut like a merchant.
Since her sprites are more wiry than our temporary assets, we decided to slightly enlarge all our backgrounds to avoid shrinking her art.
Combining everything together, we got this - and we’re all damn happy with the result.
We hope you’ll like it as well.
Let us know!
MUSIC
We knew we needed a composer well-accustomed to strangeness for this game, and a name immediately sprang to mind: Devin Dilbert, composer of award-winning indie game Glitchhikers. We believe he’s very good, but judge by yourself: you can listen to his tracks - and buy them - on his Bandcamp page.
Glitchhikers is a game about driving during the night whilst trying to stay awake.
It’s good, it’s free and you can play it on Itch.
You’ll be able to hear one of Devin’s new tracks in the trailer we’re putting together! We’ll show it to you soon. Until then, may the Sun shine on your Path.
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