RALWORKS

We. Are. Live. store.steampowered.com/app/4316020/... #steamgames #ATalkBeneathTheTree

Hey friends. "A talk beneath the tree" launched yesterday. I want to thank everyone who wishlisted, everyone who purchased on day 1, and everyone who's supported me up 'til now. A launch like this has been a lifelong dream. Because of this community, I achieved it yesterday #indiegamedev

A talk beneath the tree is going live on Steam and itch in just over 3h. store.steampowered.com/app/4316020/... The countdown timer is my homepage at this point: ralworks.com/games/a-talk... So stoked to finally share this with you all

When Magical power stems from Demonic Possession, an out-of-control Mage is a disaster waiting to happen. 1 conversation sets the course of 2 lives "A talk beneath the tree" goes live tomorrow store.steampowered.com/app/4316020 We did it! Still pinching myself #indiegames #visualnovel #darkfantasy

3 days to launch. Wishlist to stay on Celeste's good side. She knows how to USE that lightning. store.steampowered.com/app/4316020/... #ATalkBeneathTheTree #IndieGameDev #VisualNovel

Way back when, I told you guys I'd post some in-world documents. So here's the pamphlet Celeste's mom got when she found out her daughter was possessed by a Demon 4 days to launch. Wishlist to tell the algorithm this is cool store.steampowered.com/app/4316020 #worldbuilding #darkfantasy #steamgames

Pretty sure Sylvain doesn't do anything except read, and pray to his lightly cult-coded god. Working in a research lab is the full extent of his social contact, since his falling out with Celeste. You *might* be able to repair that relationship. Or not. #ATalkBeneathTheTree #IndieGame #Characters

Leave it to Celeste to set us dreamers straight. #gamedev #shitpost #ATalkBeneathTheTree

What I imagine Celeste does in her spare time. This may not be an obvious character beat immediately, but by the time you hit route 4 I guarantee you'll understand why. Launch in 10 days. store.steampowered.com/app/4316020/... #gamedev #waxcrayon #steamgame

Big news! The release date for "A talk beneath the tree" has been finalized for June 5. Do you like #darkfantasy and games about intense conversations? Help out an indie dev, and wishlist us on Steam store.steampowered.com/app/4316020 Words cannot express how stoked I am to share this <3 #gamedev

Here's a fun music+visuals loop from "A talk beneath the tree" Almost left the dialogue in (there's voiced narration now!) but that would have been major spoilers You'll all be able to play soon enough, so there's no need to get ahead of ourselves #indiegame #indiegamedev #vn youtu.be/Hgg4IfyBfQY

Did a little sketch of Celeste from #ATalkBeneathTheTree, just because I felt like it. I don't draw for fun as much as I should these days. I'm as much of a workaholic as Celeste is, apparently. #sketch #indiegame

Even just watching the trailer, I get a horrifyingly familiar sense of creeping dread. Too real guys *cries*. But doesn't this look like it'd be so cathartic to play? And more than 80 endings? Count me interested. #indiegame #branchingnarrative #it

"A talk beneath the tree" is a branching narrative game about 1 conversation gradually spiraling into 26 elaborate endings. store.steampowered.com/app/4316020?... Worldbuilding, Subtle mystery & High emotional stakes. Hand illustrated. Voiced over like an audiobook. #WishlistWednesday #vn #indiegame

A lot of voice work went into #ATalkBeneathTheTree. Want to see how I handled the file organization? Attaching a little demo here, for the curious. #gamedev #vndev

Check this out: Hapshapen Games is taking physical media video games to a whole other level. It seems like there's an actual, physical set of handmade miniatures that was filmed to create this. Mindblowing. Hands down one of the coolest game format concepts I've seen for a while.

I'm thinking of making a short series of "in world pamphlet" style infographics for #ATalkBeneathTheTree lore. What are the signs of Demonic Possession? How to cast [x] spell - as if I thought you were a Mage IRL. Stuff like that. Sound fun to anybody else? Cause I'm stoked #gamedev #vn #darkfantasy

Digging this sound design experiment. This cardboard mouse sounds more "human" than many games' human enemies. Delightfully strange. And like so much of this project's design, incredibly tactile. Whether Paper Rogue keeps this sound or drops it, I'll be following to see what they do next.

when you do an entire QA round with just writers to catch all the plot holes ... and the darned writers catch all the plot holes. #gamedev #sketchart #writersky

The tree in #ATalkBeneathTheTree was originally just the location where Celeste and Sylvain happened to meet. But it eventually became one of the central metaphors of the game. It's a tree. It's branching. Get it? #choicebasedgame #indiegame

Paper+crayons+scanner+acoustic guitar = video game? One of the main things I'm playing with in #ATalkBeneathTheTree is making everything on my side of the screen as physical as possible. I like to think it brings a little humanity to a character-heavy #choicebasedgame. Wishlist on Steam! #gamedev

Here's a little #animation that I added to #atalkbeneaththetree recently. Hmmm ... who's this watching Celeste and Sylvain? I'm more used to bones/light table (hilarious combo ik) and vector animation is comparatively new to me. Really pleased with how this came out. #indiegame

I'm learning a lot lately. Making a game is hard. Launching one is a whole other kettle of fish. But what I find is that in this community, we all just want each other to succeed. Everyone you meet is rooting for you, even if your specific game is not really their thing #gamedev #atalkbeneaththetree

"A talk beneath the tree" is a #DarkFantasy #NarrativeGame by RALWORKS, coming soon on Steam. In a world where Magic and Demons are inextricably intertwined, 2 old friends have a difficult conversation ... that gradually evolves out into 26 visual short-story endings. youtube.com/shorts/J4qoJ...

Hey - remember when I was going to work on "a little side project" for "a couple of weeks" ... ? Well it quadrupled in scope. And then I finished it. #Atalkbeneaththetree is coming to Steam Spring/Summer 2026. Exact date TBA. I am so stoked you guys (!!!) Thanks for being here for it

I entered the final stretch of dev for #ATalkBeneathTheTree this week. All the dialogue, options, and endings are hooked up. 2/3 of the voice acting is done. There are only a few more things to wrap up before the big QA marathon. Stay tuned. Trailer coming soon. #ScreenshotSaturday #VisualNovel

Here's a 10 second teaser for #ATalkBeneathTheTree. The content is ripped straight from gameplay, but I replaced the pretty standard #VisualNovel captioning and image sequence that the real game has with something a bit more dramatic. I still think this fits for #ScreenshotSaturday #IndieGameDev

I woke up thinking about the #OST I did for the short visual novel I worked at #AlbertaGameJam 2024--Marbury & 3rd (saarth-rajan.itch.io/marbury-and-...). This is some of my favourite music I've made in the past few years. #IndieGameDev youtu.be/4s-WNqtI-Wk

#doodles #sketchbook #ballpoint Sleeping cats are round.

#sketchbook #myart #ballpointart (Yes, I blurred out the journal entry around this)

Added about 2500 words of new content to #ATalkBeneathTheTree (WIP) this week #ScreenshotSaturday #IndieGameDev

#ATalkBeneathTheTree (WIP) is a distillation of one of my game dev obsessions: my quest to carve out my own style of granular yet impactful player choices, particularly inter/intra-personal. Pictured: artistic riffing on a draft flow diagram from one of the routes. #IndieGameDev #ChoiceBasedGaming

There is a very good reason why my WIP #NarrativeGame project, #ATalkBeneathTheTree now needs 5 times the sprites for the point of view character. I'd love to hear your guesses - but my lips are sealed as to why. #VNDev

I'm switching gears for the next month or two to put out something a bit different from my longer term work. youtu.be/_AjnlgBnrzg Stay tuned for more #ATalkBeneathTheTree #IndieGameDev #VisualNovel

A local dev I really respect, @pyranostudios.bsky.social is gearing up to release #SoundsTerrifying, an #AudioGame with spatial exploration and suspense. Got to participate in an early demo and it was a mind-bending and immersive experience. Go check out what they're doing! #IndieGameDev

Táls Caem Táls Sulu ("Tálsa") is a professional Guide, who sees people through the dangerous wilderness. She came out cooler than I intended. What do you think? Should I promote her from 1-off encounter to recurring character? #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk #IndieGameDev

Last weekend, I completely redesigned the UX for the character creator in #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk. There aren't actually any new customization options compared to the old one, but it really feels like there are. #IndieGameDev #CharacterCreator youtu.be/1UeaSP4JZNU

Here's a WIP in game #isometric scene from #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk. Blocking is done in 2 tone paper. Colours yet to be applied. #IndieGameDev

Early planning for a new area in #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk (WIP). At this stage of scene design, the edges of the viewport in each area aren't broken up yet. As you can see, the illustration has escaped the page. #IndieGameDev #ArtisticProcess

For #ScreenshotSaturday, here's one of my favourite sections of gameplay in #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk (WIP) for visual design and #OriginalMusic. I can't wait until I get to go back to this part and fill it up with puzzles and story! www.youtube.com/watch?v=LslR...

#doodles #BallpointPen #MyArt

#SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk (WIP) relies heavily on traditional media--specifically, wax crayon and tinted paper collage--for scene creation. Here are some hard copies examples I pulled out of my archive to show how it works. #TraditionalMediaIllustration #IndieGameDev

The star ritual is deadly if mishandled. Fail it while injured? You die. Recorded the music for this today. #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk #IndieGameDev #IndieGameDevMusic

Here's the "Star Ritual" mechanic, used to clear areas blocked by dark magic. Favourite detail: the way the character scowls when his health bar gets low. Side note: how do you like my new UI layout? #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk #ScreenshotSaturday #WIP

A very accelerated demo of the visuals of day & night in #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk (WIP) #ScreenshotSaturday #IndieGameDev

A quick demo of the travel system in #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk (WIP) for #ScreenshotSaturday. I plan to add some details to the camps: tents; the horse & cart; evening & morning lighting, etc. But here's my proof-of-concept for now #IndieGameDev

I spent the weekend jamming at #ggj. My team built "Perpetual Poem Machine" (ralworks.itch.io/perpetual-po...). Balance colours in a bubble-machine to create perpetual motion--using only a natural language control panel that interprets words in a regular but non-semantic way. #IndieGameDev

The main character recalls their mother, in #SaintOfMazesAgeOfDusk (WIP). Her skin and hair colour change to match depending on the player character's design. #IndieGameDev #characterart