Black Heaven is a dark fantasy visual novel project inspired by Doki Doki Literature Club and Dark Souls.
Samples
I started Black Heaven as an experiment in game design. I wanted to know what it would take to build a game from scratch, including narrative, art, UI, and marketing. After being inspired by indie games like Doki Doki Literature Club, VA-11 Hall A, and Katawa Shoujo, I decided to start with a visual novel.
I created the game’s plot and characters and outlined the narrative using Twine. For the engine, I chose Ren’Py, a free-to-use visual novel engine that uses Python.
The project is still under construction, and is being assembled with help from Joel Clapp and others.
You can read more about the game’s development here!
What’s Black Heaven about?
In Black Heaven: A Necromantic Dating Sim, you must collect three ghosts in a magical grimoire and return them to a mysterious necromancer named No-Eyes, who offers to bind one of them to you forever. The journey will take you into the depths of this ruined world as well as the memories of each of the ghosts you meet, but you can only give your heart to one of them. Who will you choose?
- Ru, the shy, brilliant scholar?
- Leathe, the fiery, sharp-witted conwoman?
- Ryu-Ito, the fierce but kind-hearted martial artist?
Be careful—in this world, ghosts can take on many forms, from beautiful shades to Lovecraftian horrors,
so you’ll need to use your kindness and cunning to survive!
Planned Features
- Three potential love interests to choose from, each with unique character designs
- Lovecraftian “horror forms” for each love interest
- Narrative featuring a three-path dialogue tree that rewards players for being Gentle, Cunning, or Bold
- Low-key necromancy
View the Proposal
You can view the 2-Page Proposal for the game here.
Check Out the Art Brief
You can check out the Art Brief for the game here.
Play the Intro Scene on Itch.io!
The first scene of the game’s narrative is playable using Twine on itch.io! Note: this is only the text for the game, so it doesn’t include character or background art.
Chris Mahon 