Karamu
Prequel/Sequel (and Patreon) Announcement
Hello, hello! It’s Chattercap!
It’s been a few months since I released Karamu! Thank you again to everyone who downloaded, rated, and commented! I’m extremely grateful for all of the support the project has received!
I’m here again because I’d like to make a few announcements that you might be interested in!
First, I’d like to formally announce that two follow-ups to Karamu are in the works: one prequel and one sequel.
Prequel: TSUNAGU (tentative)
Summary: On the eve of his tenth birthday, Rakuo Kumode undergoes his family’s horrific “initiation ceremony.” When he refuses, he’s punished…and he has an encounter that will change his life forever.
Sequel: HANASU (tentative)
Summary: After the events of Karamu, Raku and Nelli have settled into an uneasy truce, although Nelli struggles to trust Raku after learning about his secrets. However, their peaceful lives are disrupted by a new arrival: Raku’s family.
Content Warnings (beware of mild spoilers)
Tsunagu and Hanasu's scripts are still in development, but currently they will contain the following: violence, torture, cannibalism, murder, and physical/emotional abuse. And let's say that Nelli and Raku's relationship gets a little worse before it gets better. The violence level will be higher in both projects compared to Karamu, so please take care.Although these projects are still in early stages, here are the preliminary character designs for Nelli and Raku in Hanasu!
I have a couple of IMPORTANT caveats about these projects (beware of minor content spoilers)
First of all: both Tsunagu and Hanasu will feature child abuse much more heavily than Karamu. While this topic was alluded to in Karamu (it is implied that Raku and Nelli have both been abused), child abuse will be a prominent theme in the follow-ups. PLEASE take care and do not follow or play these projects if you are uncomfortable with portrayals of abuse and its effects on a person.
My second caveat is specifically for the yandere enjoyers among you! For anyone who played Karamu to the end, you probably found that Raku lands on the “softer” side of the spectrum. Unfortunately, as much as I like a good old bloodthirsty, obsessive yan myself…he will stay that way. He will still be “yandere,” of course, and both the prequel and sequel will feature violence, gore, and horror elements (more than Karamu, probably)! But don’t expect to see Raku pulling the knives on Nelli, and if anything, he will become a little less possessive/obsessive as he overcomes his past traumas. I hope you’ll still like him, but I know that’s not what all yandere fans are looking for!
(On the other hand, Nelli might become a little more yan for Raku…just saying…in case you’re wondering if the yandere content will be lacking…)
I’m planning to develop both of these games for release next year! However, while I’m working on them now, they probably won’t hit “serious development” until later in the year because…
My next project is “The Deepwater Witch”!
In a world ravaged by pollution and climate change, a “prince” has an encounter with a “mermaid.”
This will be a slightly dark retelling of the Little Mermaid set in a post-apocalyptic future, where you play from the perspective of the “prince.” In reality, the POV character, Ramil, isn’t a prince at all; he’s a down-on-his-luck scavenger, struggling to survive while facing crippling debt to the Somnatan Syndicate, the local criminal gang. After an incident in which he nearly drowns, he has a fated meeting with a mysterious girl on a beach. As the girl’s identity unravels, will Ramil’s story end with the happily ever after…or tragedy?
I plan to release the Deepwater Witch for the Once Upon a Time VN Jam, so expect to see it released around the end of the year! Like Karamu, it will be a dark romance with a couple of twists, featuring one LI with a defined MC (though you’ll play from the POV of the guy this time). However, the scope is quite a bit larger (currently estimated to be about 3 hours of playtime). Quite a bit of progress has been made on this project already, and I’m excited to share the details!
Content Warnings
The Deepwater Witch's script is still in development, but currently it will contain the following: violence, drowning, adult language, necrosis, torture, and ritual sacrifice, as well as allusions to cannibalism and suicidal ideation. While the content will primarily be romantic, it will touch on quite a few dark topics, so please take care.Lastly, I’d like to talk about my socials! In the past, I’ve mainly used Twitter (or X, as it is now called) to talk about my projects! However, X is in a bit of rough spot at the moment, and I’ve been looking for alternatives.
After a lot of deliberation, I’ve decided to…open a Patreon! I thought that Patreon would be a good place to talk about my WIPs while also giving anyone who’s interested an opportunity to support me. Any proceeds will go towards supporting my projects (commissioning artists, hiring VAs, buying sound assets, etc.) As a solo, self-funded dev, any support is greatly appreciated!
I’ll still be making regular announcements on X and Tumblr, but if you like what I do and want to look at what’s going on under the hood, I’ll be posting a lot of content on Patreon that I won’t share anywhere else: sketches, writing snippets, high-resolution artwork, etc. I already have a lot of content about the Deepwater Witch queued up, and I’ll be posting about Tsunagu and Hanasu there, too!
Thank you for reading to the end, and I hope you have a wonderful day!
Chattercap
Comments
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Raku's family??? Oooohhh 👀 Interesting! Wonder how the spider family would react to their relationship.
🤭 Hmm, we'll see, we'll see..! Maybe it'll go well...
(I'm lying, it doesn't go well 😂)
I know Karamu is not about to give her up for nothing. Unless they make her become like them--but I highly doubt that is gonna be possible. Lol
quick question will we get to choose what choices we made for the first game in the sequel. or are we starting fresh?
Thanks for the question! The sequel's gonna pick up a few months after the sequel. It's intended to take place after Ending D, although it could take place after any one of the endings. The save files for the two games won't overlap.
thanks for answering. I can't wait for whenever the sequel comes out really love the first game. It was awesome. I really curious to see how the other endings could possibly take on this next story. Really looking forward to the prequel too