It's finally here: The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe)'s first major release since the original demo all the way back in 2022! We're going to keep this update short and sweet since we already went over what new things to expect in our update last week, but here's the gist:
This update consists of the first five chapters of Shae and Maeve's routes (Vol. 2-3).
Don't let that chapter count fool you, though: In total, this update is about 100k words long! Featuring 175 choices, multiple scene variations, and plenty of romantic/platonic relationship developments, you'll have loads of content to chew on while we're finishing up part 2.
The current price of the game is $14.99 USD, to account for the amount of content available. Over time, the game's price will increase as new updates are added, but you'll only have to buy the game once! Meaning, if you purchase now, it's going to be a lot cheaper than it will at the end of development.
That's basically all for now, except: If you play the update and ideally enjoy it, make sure to rate and review! It'll help us with the algorithm, and also make us smile! :D
Slán go foill! (Bye for now!)
- Clotho
P.S. Want to talk to people about the update? Join our Discord. We're 300 strong!
November 1, 2024: Shae & Maeve's Routes (Part 1)
Good morning, fateful friends!
If you haven't yet heard from our other social media accounts, the first full-game update will soon be upon us: As of November 1, 2024, we will be releasing part one of Shae and Maeve's routes, respectively called the Book of the Soldier and the Book of the Warrior. Here's what to expect if you choose to purchase it:
The first five chapters of Shae and Maeve's routes — totaling 100k words, individually 50k words (for comparison, the demo is 37k!)
175 choices, impacting both your relationship with Shae/Maeve and the projected ending (NDM can be played romantically or platonically, and each route will have good/bad endings!)
Multiple scene variations depending on your current relationship/ending paths
Additional sprites and outfits for both current and new characters (every member of the cast makes an appearance in this update!)
Several new background locations to explore
Four stunning CGs by our guest artists
Twenty-five new voice lines for Shae and Maeve, and ten new voice lines for the rest of the main cast
Drama! Danger! Mystery! Betrayal?! Love...?
Pricing & Reasoning
On Nov. 1, the price of NDM will be $14.99 USD. Once paid for, all subsequent updates will be free, excluding side story DLCs. Note that this price will increase with each new update, however, so if you decide to wait until your preferred route(s) are out, it will be more expensive.
The gist of our price reasoning is as follows: As stipulated in our January 2023 Kickstarter, NDM is a serialized project. If it wasn't, the game wouldn't be ready to play until the late 2020s (just half of one route is longer than the original demo, after all) and we want you all to be able to experience the story as soon as possible! However, we recognize some folks are wary about buying unfinished games, which is why we decided:
The earlier the game is bought, the less it costs. This is our thank-you for supporting us at this stage of development.
We won't micro-transaction the main game content, i.e. the routes. You pay once, and the price reflects the amount of content currently available.
Since you're buying the game on Steam, these updates will happen automatically.
Mechanical Updates
Along with the routes, there are two mechanical updates coming to the paid version of The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) that we wanted to talk about briefly. The first update concerns the MC/Daonna sprites: Along with the recent additional sprites we provided, we've introduced a 4th MC/Daonna option which will allow the sprite to appear in-game as a blank silhouette or a customizable sprite that players can manually add-in via the game files. Daonna's clothes will still be visible for story reasons, but the arm/face/neck/etc. will appear "blank" unless overridden by custom files. (Instructions will be provided in the same folder.) This option exists for players who don't like the "canon" options. Beyond this point, we are unlikely to include full customization due to the cost, but we hope our artistically-inclined players will have fun inserting their own designs.
The second update concerns saving and replaying: As demonstrated in this short sneak peek of Shae's route, we now have an instant-save feature in the individual chapters. This will allow you to manually save while in a chapter, and if you have to exit the game mid-chapter, your spot will be "bookmarked" automatically. All you need to do to reload is click on the chapter and press "load bookmark" in the top right.
That said, we do not currently have multiple save files, meaning the decisions you make in previous chapters are carried over to subsequent chapters/affect future scenes and the ending(s) — when we get there. However, if you would like to replay individual chapters without your choices saving/carrying over, you can turn on "replay mode". This means that all of your choices will be contained to the chapter you're currently playing, and not saved after it concludes. Feel free to use this mode to experiment with choice selection!
The Demo
As we conclude this announcement, we wanted to remind everyone that the demo is most likely not going to be updated again, with the last update being on Sept. 4, 2024. It will remain available for new players to gauge whether they're interested in the paid version of the game, but any new general features, mechanics, or slight updates made to the demo contents (i.e. Volume 1) are going to be in the paid game only. Ultimately, this is because keeping the demo up-to-date alongside the paid game would be a bit of a hassle. :P
Anyway, that's all for now! Slán go foill!! See you November 1!!!
- Clotho
Demo Update: New MC/Daonna Sprites!
Good morning, fateful friends!
We have an exciting update for The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) today! Specifically, the demo now officially boasts three new sprites for MC and Daonna!!!
If you remember from our Kickstarter, one of our stretch goals was the ability to fully customize the appearance of MC and their mysterious doppelganger, Daonna. Sadly, we weren't able to reach this goal at the time - which meant that for the foreseeable future, MC and Daonna would be functionally represented by a single sprite. This was obviously not ideal, since this limits players to a single skin tone, hair colour, eye colour, etc., so after our Kickstarter ended we decided to go back to the drawing board and come up with a middle ground solution that was more realistic/feasible for us. Hence: Daonna now has three distinct designs, which players can use as a basis for their MCs if they want to. (Examples: Maybe your MC styles their hair differently, or never goes without rouge!) Ultimately though, if you still prefer your own headcanon to our sprites, feel free to consider them simply interpretations of MC/Daonna's many possible appearances! Mythology is often full of contradictions, after all ;)
In addition to MC/Daonna, there are a few other new things in this version of the demo:
Bug fixes (missing audio for Milesian, missing entry for Finn, some typos, missing credit names)
A new, fabulous sprite for the lady shopkeeper (with another for the shopkeeper man on the way!)
A new sprite for Maeve's crows
A new animation for Maeve's crows
Minor UI updates
That's all for now! Slán go foill!
- Clotho
Revised Demo: Now Out!
Dia daoibh, fateful friends!
The revised demo for The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) is officially here! Whether you're an old or new player, we believe giving this new demo a try is 100% worth it: The UI has been majorly re-worked, all of the backgrounds have been updated, we have proper NPC sprites now, tons of new voice acting, and more! I mean, just take a look at the before/after of our main menu...
Isn't it gorgeous? And SO much less cluttered?! Look here! You can even immediately tell how to access the demo's individual chapters now!! Much better than randomly discovering the body text is clickable... 😅
...Anyway!
In all seriousness, we really hope you enjoy this update! When our Kickstarter first ended, we didn't think we would update the demo again, but after a year and a half of work put into the demo contents (i.e. Volume 1) and the upcoming routes, we felt that the original demo no longer accurately reflected our product! So: If you were already excited for this game, or are just now hearing of it, we hope this update will give you a better idea of what to expect when the first halves of Maeve and Shae's routes drop this fall!
By the way: If you played the demo previously, we would love to hear your thoughts on all the changes! We did our best to address most of the major issues/criticisms we received for the previous demo (i.e. navigational problems, the door puzzle, some unfinished-looking backgrounds, glossary errors) and hope to address a few more of them in future updates (e.g. multiple sprite options for Daonna/MC)! Our game, even when available for purchase this fall, is ultimately going to be in an "early access" state for quite a while as we develop the game — so any and all feedback is very helpful! 🙇🏻♀️ You can let us know what you think via the community hub/discussions area, or over on our Discord!
Slán go foill! (Bye for now!)
- Clotho
Revised Demo: Coming August 1!
Good afternoon, fateful friends!
It's been a while, but the Moirai Myths team has been hard at work behind the scenes getting the first full-game content ready for you to play! It's not quite ready yet, of course, but we do have something to tide you over in the meanwhile: On August 1, 2024, we will be re-releasing the demo with all the revised backgrounds, minor sprites, voice acting, and all-new UI! We hope you'll love it, because it'll be our last free update before the first halves of Shae and Maeve's routes (totaling 96k words of story content) come out this fall! They will be released in our first update to the early access version of NDM; our intention is to try and update the game every 6-12 months with new major story installments. If you purchase the game in early access, you'll get all these updates automatically and for less than full price!
In other new...
You may have noticed an assortment of other visual novel/otome games linked at the top of our Steam page, and that's because The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) is part of the Mystery & Magic Otome Bundle on Itch.io and Steam! If you're looking for other fantasy romances with mysterious twists, take a peek at these other indie titles:
Slán go fóill! (Bye for now!)
-Clotho
KICKSTARTER: 100% FUNDED! 11 Days to Reach Stretch Goals!
IT'S OFFICIAL, FATEFUL FRIENDS!
As of midday yesterday, thanks to our 550 backers, we have reached our Kickstarter's main fundraising goal! The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) has been fully funded, and we have 11 days to go to reach our stretch goals! Which are:
SIDE STORIES (*30K USD / 40K CAD): At this stretch goal, we'll release short stories in-between our route releases that follow the other characters, so that there will always be a little content for everyone! The side stories will consist of backstory content, interpersonal stories between the love interests, romantic/platonic content with the MC, and anything else we might want to share that won't be fully fleshed out in the routes themselves!
CUSTOM MCs (*35K USD / 47K CAD): MC will receive a sprite that players will be allowed to customize, influencing eye colour, hair colour, skin tone, facial features, and hairstyle. This will also impact Daonna's sprite, as well as both of their CGs, given MC and Daonna are identical.
EXPANDED VOICE ACTING (*40K USD / 53K CAD): If you enjoyed our voice acting samples, this stretch goal will allow us to increase our voice acting budget from limited to partial! That means there will be more fully voiced scenes for important narrative moments throughout our game!
MORE SPRITE OUTFITS (*50K USD / 67k CAD): Exactly what it sounds like. We'll give all the ROs and select side characters alternative sprite outfits, or variations on their existing outfits.
MINI GAMES (*60K USD / 80K CAD): Mini Games will allow players to explore the world of NDM by simulating Daonna's daily druidic duties. This will in turn give your MC unique "traits" that open up new pathways in the routes. Example: A high "fairyfolk handling" skill will make your MC more personable to the aes sídhe in the routes.
SWITCH PORT (*70K USD / 94K CAD): Exactly what it sounds like. When our game is 100% complete, we will work to port the full game to the Switch! (Routes will be available for PC/Mac before this, and all of our supporters at the Soldier's Essentials tier and higher will receive a copy of the game for the Switch, as well as a PC/Mac copy, if this goal is reached.)
*Noteworthy: All our Kickstarter graphics were created and listed in USD for the convenience of our audience, which we determined to be primarily American. However, over the course of our campaign (particularly as we were unlocking the flirty sprites) we realized that the exchange rate was fluctuating near daily between USD and CAD, and to a significant degree, so it became difficult to determine when our goals were being reached. (Incidentally, this is also why our full campaign funding is not exactly 25K USD, as listed in our graphic. We have the funding we need, it's just not worth 25K USD anymore. Thanks, Canada.) So, because of this constant fluctuation, we will consider a stretch goal reached if we hit either the USD or CAD amount. Ergo, if we hit 40K CAD in three days, but that 40K CAD is not quite worth 30K USD, we will have still reached that goal regardless.
Thank you all once again from the bottom of our hearts. Can you help us reach some of our stretch goals before the campaign period ends? Either way, we're so excited to share our full project with you all!
If you haven't been following us on social media, you might not know that our Kickstarter received a significant funding boost today thanks to our new flood of Queen's Favour supporters! Our campaign is now 97% of its way to being funded (we just need $1,034 CAD / $767 USD), and we still have 13 days left in our campaign to reach that goal! If we're fortunate, we might be able to meet some of our stretch goals as well - which includes side stories, MC sprite customization, expanded voice acting, additional sprite outfits for the ROs, mini games, and a Switch port!
Speaking of voice acting... We come bearing a surprise! Over the first two weeks of our Kickstarter, we revealed voice acting samples for our main cast, as well as samples of the voiced Gaeilge pronunciation tool. So, to celebrate the huge milestone in our Kickstarter campaign, we've decided to add those voice acting samples (and a few of new sprite expressions 😉) to the demo! All you have to do is update the game. This is likely to be our last update to the free demo, unless problems are encountered. After all, if all goes well...
We'll be gearing up to get that full game made very, very soon.
The Good People: Na Daoine Maithe is officially live on Kickstarter!
Happy New Year, Fateful Friends! We bring momentous tidings: Our Kickstarter campaign is now live! If you enjoyed playing our demo and want to see our full game get made, we would HIGHLY encourage you to check out our Kickstarter and consider donating and/or sharing us with others! If we get funded, here's what you can expect to see from our full game:
Six Character Routes: There will be six character routes in total, each one exploring the individual stories of our diverse cast of Love Interests (LIs)! There are two men, two women, and two non-binary folk to choose from. Half of our cast is aspec, as well!
Secret Story Route: If you play through all six character routes, you'll unlock the secret story route! It's designed to tie up the broader narrative aspects of the game, and you can choose which character route is "canon" to your play through!
Flexible MC: Choose your preferred name and pronouns (including neo pronouns) and romance whomever you please! (We even have a stretch goal to customize MC's sprite appearance, too!)
Platonic Options: Not into romance, or don't want to romance them all? Not to worry! All routes can be played platonically.
Multiple Endings: Each route has two endings based on the health of your relationship with the LI, regardless of whether it's romantic or platonic.
English-Gaeilge Lexicon: Our game features translatable Gaeilge (Irish) words and phrases, and in the full game, translations will be voiced for ease of pronunciation!
Voice Acting: The main cast will have limited voice acting in the full game. Check our Kickstarter page periodically for voice actor reveals and samples!
Other Features (Stretch Goals): Side stories in-between route releases, MC customization, expanded voice acting, more sprite outfits, mini games, and a Switch port.
Our Kickstarter page contains a ton more detail - including a breakdown of the rewards you could receive for donating to us, and a timeline for the full game's release - so be sure to click the link below!
Have you heard the news? The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe) has officially pre-launched on Kickstarter! If you're interested in supporting us or knowing when the project goes live, follow the link below and click "notify me on launch". The more folks we see signing up for notifications, the more confident we'll be that the campaign is ready to launch!
Howdy, Fateful Friends! Have you enjoyed the demo for The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe)? If so, we'd like to hear from you! More specifically, we want to know what you'd like to see out of our future Kickstarter!
By answering this short and anonymous feedback form, you will help us determine what routes are most "in demand" (which will help us figure out the release order), and it will give us an idea of what you all will want to see in the full game!
Want voice acting? Original music? Platonic routes? Side stories? Mini games? Custom MCs? Now's your chance to let us know! We can't guarantee that everything in this form will become a Kickstarter goal, so if you *really* want it, it's important that we know now. Likewise, you'll also be able to tell us what sorts of things you'll be interested in as tier rewards, too!
With all that in mind, we do ask that only folks who have played the demo answer this survey, so if you haven't had a chance yet, please do!
