Real Sound: Echoing Sky
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
A mysterious crash, the sudden disappearence of a village, a deserted island hosting the first artificial ecosystem...the mysteries of New Ascension Island keep piling up as a young undercover exorcist is sent by the Church to investigate what's really happening on the island.
- A visual novel without visuals
- Original music by me!
- Explore the island with a menu-based adventure game system
- 5 endings
- Short 6000 words story, each run takes about 30 minutes, total playtime is about 1 hour if you want to read everything!
- Unlockable Music Room to listen to the soundtrack
- Unlockable Codex
Ever since I heard of Kenji Eno's Kaze no regret, I've always wanted to create something similar: it was the first audio-only game and, being mainly a musician, I think that sound is the most fitting way of expression for me. Now, thanks to Games for blind gamers jam #3 and Blind accessible game jam #2 I finally got the chance to do it!
The reception the game had during the jam really got me excited and I spent the following month finishing the story and adding more music and content.
CONTROLS
| ENTER/SPACE/A button (controller) | Advance dialogue, select item |
| ESC/START controller | Open game menu |
| A | Accessibility menu |
| V | Toggle self-voicing |
| Q | Toggle auto-forward |
| TAB | Skip already read text (and intro) |
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME
This is an adventure game that plays very similar to a radio drama, you listen to the story and at certain times (when you hear the bell sound) you can interact with the environment to examine things, move, or make decisions.
This version of the game uses Ren'Py's self-voicing function, which means that the game will use your operating system's text-to-speech voice to read in-game texts and menus. I know these voice sounds are not that great, I hope to add voice acting in the future. You can toggle self-voicing by pressing the V key. NVDA users can enable text output to the clipboard by pressing "shift+C"
To set the self-voicing volume (usually it's very loud!) you can access the Accessibility Menu by pressing A on your keyboard. The two settings that regulate volume are Voice Volume and Self-Voicing Volume Drop (this one determines how much the rest of the game audio is lowered when self-voicing is on).
Dialogue will advance automatically. You can press ENTER, SPACE, or A button on a controller to advance manually. If you want to disable auto-forward mode, press Q on your keyboard.
One last note: if you are sighted and want to play this game, turn your monitor off!
CREDITS
Scenario by Wandering Artist
Music by Wandering Artist (available on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music)
Proofreading and editing by Natasha Luna
Testing by Gardiz/Derpy
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Review on ChoiceBeat #11!Jun 24, 2024
- Physical release available!Apr 27, 2024
- Guide and flowchartApr 20, 2024
- Full version available!Apr 16, 2024
Comments
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i was looking at your bandcamp?
are all the other albums soundtracks for all your other games?
Some are, most of my music is made for the online game Pony Town. Some albums are just music I make.
also, is this game finished?
will there be more updates?
The story is finished, I would like to update it with voice acting but at the moment I don't have the money to hire voice actors.
will check this update out!, thx.
this is actually my favourite vn.!
if its ok to ask, will your other games also be updated/finished?
Thank you so much!
Yes, my intention is to finish/update all my previous games but of course it takes time and I also want to make new games from scratch too. For now I'm working on finishing Grand Sylvan Hotel before summer when I'll make something new maybe.
will that also be as accessible as this game?
are there any other games by you which are now fully finished, like the story is complete?
Grand Sylvan Hotel will be accesible too, maybe the audio won't be as refined as Echoing Sky but I will make sure to make it playable.
The other games I'd considered to be finished are Koyamachou Watch Repair Shop and Undead Air, they have self-voicing but they need some work to be more accesible, accesibility update is planned for both games I just have to find the time to do it lol (I'm a solo dev)
ok.
please take your time.
im not sure if this'll help, but you could ask around/make a post here, to maybe get a bit of free voice-actors.
you could check out casting call club, or the audiodrama subreddit for more i guess.
hth!.
hi.
did you manage to finish Grand Sylvan Hotel or any other games?
hello!
I'm working on it, the goal is to finish in time for Halloween season.
In the meantime I'm working on a new game for the Mech Jam, it will be a sci-fi story, I will release a demo soon.
hope its ok to ask, but when'll this be finished fully?
Almost there! If everything goes according to plan, I will release the full version next Tuesday!
can you make the shared visions magazine blind accessible?
since the pdfs contain images, its not posible for us to read.
im talking about the manual attached with the game.
done! I also did the same thing with koyamachou watch repair shop's manual (which has a lot more stuff)
hope to play more vns and endings.
i like the creepy atmosphere
look forward to play all your games when they're completed!
i've finished this game.
its really nice.
however, im waiting for more story.
also, all of your vns are accessible, but are they all demos/unfinished?
if so, will you be finishing them later with this one?
thank you!
Good question, I guess I'm planning to continue working on all of my games but there are some visual novels that I consider to be complete for now, and they are: Shared Visions, Haunted Club Manager 88, Koyamachou Repair Shop and Undead Air.
My current plan is to finish this one first (Echoing Sky) since I've already written all the endings and I'm at proofreading/revision stage.
would also love to know the ending
For once I know what the ending will be! I just need to polish the last chapter and the full story should be ready, I'll keep you updated via the game blog!
Wow, this is great!
I really liked the music and sound design.
Can't wait to find out where it goes.
thank you, as you can imagine that's what I've been focusing the most, I already have the ending in mind it just needs some more polish and it will be ready!
i like this!
can blind people play your other games?
Thank you! You can try playing them by pressing V and activating self-voicing, but they need some optimization, I'm working on that, I will post updates when they're ready!