In my efforts to discover more promising upcoming indie games, I stumbled across another great-looking title on Kickstarter entitled Reaper’s Remorse. Developed by Timeless Hourglass Games based in Vancouver, Canada, Reaper’s Remorse is a JRPG heavily inspired by other various titles in the genre such as Witch’s House & Mad Father. A turn-based RPG similar to EarthBound or classic Final Fantasy games, the difference being is that players must also collect the souls of ghostly spirits that inhabit the game’s world by completing side quests they have to offer. There is also an element of puzzle-solving similar to detective games, whereby players must investigate certain situations strewn throughout, which in turn, affect the ending of the game.

Wanting to find out even more about this uniquely crafted JRPG, I contracted its lead designer, Jessica Devitt. She, and the project’s artist, Veronica Prentice, answered what questions I had about this game, and explained in depth what players can expect to see with the finished game. Here’s what Timeless Hourglass Games had to say about Reaper’s Remorse:

 

What were the influences behind your game? 

The biggest influence behind making this game is based around depression and helping recognize its symptoms along with helping others who have it. It is common for people to hide their true feelings. The game follows a similar style. This game comes across as friendly and happy, but deep down lies a dark story. In this game, you will face characters who are struggling in one way or another and will learn how to overcome these struggles.

 

What has the developmental process been like?

Starting the development process has been slow, but if funding goes well I plan to pick up the pace.

 

How close are we to seeing the finished product? 

The target goal is summer 2023.

 

What has been the most exciting aspect of development? 

Seeing your work come to life is really rewarding. After spending hours working on a scene and then seeing it run smoothly is always exciting to me.

 

What has been the most challenging aspect of development?   

Mostly I have had trouble with finding good art assets for making the sprites and maps that match my vision of how the game should look. Though I am hoping to hire someone who can make all the game assets and help better portray the game.

 

How well has the game been received so far? 

I’m still in my first week of bringing my game to the public so there hasn’t been much news yet, but so far, I think it’s been fairly positive.

 

What platforms are you looking to bring the game to?

I am planning to bring the game to Steam.

 

The music accompanying both game trailers on the YouTube channel seems very contrasting; almost like two different types of atmosphere are being perpetuated with the game. Is that a sign of things to come with the final product?

Yes, the mood in Reaper’s Remorse can change quite quickly so you don’t know what you’re expecting as you make your way through the world.

 

Have there been any ideas at this stage of development that has since been scrapped or reworked?

Originally the player was going to play the full childhood of the main character first but there was concern that it would take too long, and the player would get bored. It seemed more effective to put pieces of the childhood throughout the game to keep things going at a good pace.

 

Since anime seems to be at the core of the game’s conceptual design, were there any particular anime series’ that inspired the creation of Reaper’s Remorse? 

I’m a horrible artist so I commissioned my friend Veronica Prentice to do this artwork, so I asked her to answer this question:

Veronica Prentice

“Anime artwork has always been a favorite of mine. A lot of my character inspiration comes from JRPGs. Games like Ib, Mad Father, and Witches House, where the characters are still cute and fun to play while still keeping that dark element to them.”

 

If you had the opportunity to develop a game with any company or any franchise, which would it be, and why?

I have always been a huge fan of Square Enix and would love to work for them. I think the stories they make have amazing detail and depth to them, along with beautiful visuals and soundtracks.

 

Do you have any advice for aspiring developers that may be reading this? 

When I started developing my game I was unmotivated and wasn’t sure if it was possible to make a whole game on my own. But taking the game apart and working on small pieces at a time brought everything together. So my advice would be to breakdown your goals and start small and slowly build your way up.

 

Where on the Internet can people find you? 

I’m still pretty new but I have a website where you can check trailers and the demo game:

https://timeless-hour.com/index.html

The Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/timelesshourglass/reapers-remorce?ref=user_menu

You can also get updates on my game on my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/TimelessHourglassGames

 

Do you have anything else to add?

I don’t really have anything more to add, but thanks for conducting this Q&A and I hope it helps get people interested!

 

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Jessica and Veronica for taking the time out to get to me with these answers and to wish them the best of luck with the Kickstarter program. After having played the demo, I’m confident that this game will go on to impress a wide range of JRPG fans, as well as gamers in general, and I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what the final game has to offer. I hope you guys enjoyed learning more about this title as much as I had fun discovering the game and learning for myself.

 

Game on,

Scouse Gamer 88