Version 1.10

~ Added an epilepsy warning at the start.
~ Fixed some typos and some of the rough text. 

Version 1.11

~ Fixed some of the text. 

I want to share some features here about what makes Project YStory unusual.

The visual novel is about a male student protagonist who has to decide what to do with himself after he's done with university. But then, murders start happening around him. Like he has a death wish, he ventures to find out who's been carrying them out.

I set out to make this game because there is not much like it out there with the following things, which make it worthwhile for me:

1. (It's completely optional and would not change your personal enjoyment of the story, that is, they are not "true paths" but "alternate story routes", but) The killers can be romanced. There aren't a lot of uh..."slasher-style" storylines out there that do that.
2. The protagonist's moral compass is decided by the game by profiling the player. It will be subtle, based on psychological study.  It weaves player responses into their story's development and outcome.
3. [Spoilers, if you played the demo too] To shamelessly use the popular phrases, the game features something like femboy yanderes for the most part. To go more in depth (because the phrases might not be entirely accurate), one of the killers secretly likes to crossdress but doesn't really want to be a girl only to somehow win the affection of the protagonist, whose girlfriends he feels jealous of and feels lacking. Another one is actually on hormone replacement therapy because he couldn't stand developing masculine features himself while fancying the protagonist. And another killer is in fact intersex, or has a condition that while born with male genitalia, he grew frailer than normal boys and once he hit puberty his body began feminizing, and his chest grew a little. Depending on the story route, he might get a sex change after all to become a girl. I thought these kind of characters would make excellent psychopathic killers in a horror/slasher story, and unusual "heroines" to romance if you desire to. I haven't named them so it isn't complete spoilers. These things about the killer are generally concealed, but it's related to the underlying social commentary too.
4. It's a story about mentally broken love-less or love-yearning minds. Or it's a little about mental disorders and the social influences that can develop them; with the story and any insights trying to humanize psychopaths. Even so, that may depend on your playthrough.
5. The story is set on a fictional island state in the USA. One that is a little politically different. There is societal improvement, and a little healthier society and culture. Despite that... it seems to be all the same. What's the answer?

But the game is meant to feel like a "vacation" nonetheless. A slasher vacation. 😁

If you haven't played the demo yet, you can get the latest version here.

You can follow or consider financially helping out the project on Patreon: theiridescentlight | Patreon where the latest announcements will be posted first or more story stuff. For patrons there are currently posts about the main game's development, early concept art, early drafts, various other prototypes, and the logic of this demo's choices.

-pantophon