Crimson Veil News

Happy early Christmas to anyone who celebrates! It seems like time flies faster and faster with each passing year. In fact it was nearly a year ago today that Crimson Veil made it’s Steam debut. I remember that made for an extra stressful holiday gathering, as I had to make sure everything was ready to post by 8, you know, near dinner time… That’s why I’ve gone ahead and prepared this update ahead of time!

I don’t know how the weather has been where you live, but here at home, the weather has been lovely. It’s finally cozy sweater season! And speaking of sweaters, here’s a sketch of a depressed looking woman in an oversized sweater.



She’s probably not thinking about the holidays, but there’s definitely something familiar about her…

I’m continuing to chip away at the small touches in Fallholt, the star of this update. Near the residential area, you’ll find a shifty looking man who has allegedly taught a Wight how to speak! Though her speech is rudimentary, it’s still a large enough attraction to draw a small crowd. The man has named her Muddy, after her manner of speaking.



I have all of her character portraits available as a preview for my $5 and up Patrons. Check them out if you're interested (or if you just want to get me a Christmas gift XD).

https://www.patreon.com/MKRUdesign


I hope you all enjoy the holidays! Thank you for continuing to support Crimson Veil!

Good evening, everyone. This week I was feeling especially low on energy. Must be the time of the year. After a few years, I decided it was time for me to return to the gym and get back into shape! The first two days really took a toll on me and I felt the need to fall asleep extra early to recover. But thanks to the additional exercise, I was waking up with better rest and a clearer mind. Which is important as it had been rather hard to focus.

This week I sketched out another new character you’ll meet in Fallholt, Cassie Greyholme!



She has a distaste for vampires, which is rather awkward since she works directly with the Queen. Additionally, Cassie is linked to someone from Mila’s past…

Speaking of the Queen, I finished Anja’s colors and expressions.



Her demeanor and color scheme depict a cold and unfeeling vampiric Queen. A lot can change a person over a century, especially when they’re in a position of power. What’s happened to Anja over the years? Will she still be your ally?

All of my $5 and up Patrons can check out all her character portraits and get a better idea for themselves.

https://www.patreon.com/MKRUdesign

That’s all I have to share with you this week. Until next time, everyone!

One of the nagging issues in the vampire route that many of you had rightly mentioned in the recent satisfaction survey was the tedium of increasing your Pet’s bond level. This week, I attempted to patch that issue, and here is what I’ve come up with. Now whenever your Pet notifies that they wish to speak with you, you’ll be asked if you would like to quickly warp back and view the conversation. Afterward, you’ll be returned to the spot you were previously in.



I was hesitant to add this initially, since warping at certain points may not make sense. But I feel the convenience of this feature outweighs the negatives. Also, since this prompt can appear in many different locations and situations where warping may create a conflict, I’ve set it to autosave before being asked to warp in case an issue occurs. The player can then reload and choose not to warp instead. Messy, but necessary.

In other news, the construction of the new Fallholt continues! I wanted to restore some features that were until now, only available in the main route. Armour customization will be available upon reaching chapter 3, finally giving your gems their additional use. Also returning will be an option to purchase and use Serenity, with all the benefits and consequences that come with it. Not that there were any real benefits to using it… until now.

While using the drug, Mila’s attack and agility will now temporarily increase by about 40%. Pretty significant if you stack it with other buffs. Although the consequences of using it are great, as I’m sure you all know…



This is also a great time to mention that more of your actions in the main route will affect the vampire route. For example, if you never accept the Tragic Bride quest in the main route, your Serenity dealer will turn out to be a familiar face…



That’s just one example of the small changes your actions in the main route can affect! That being said, I needed to update the artworks for the Serenity ending and all of my $5 and up Patrons can check them out now.

https://www.patreon.com/MKRUdesign

That’s all I have to share with you this week. Until next time, everyone!

This week I made a goal of completing at least 1 small task for the game every day, and I managed to pull it off! I settled on the names for the next two chapters and created title graphics for them, created new sprites for some characters, cleaned up some bugs I discovered while playing through the android port, sketched out 2 more characters, finalized the character portrait of another, and (nearly) finished mapping one of the bigger and more interesting areas of the next update!

Fallholt has gone through some extensive social changes over the last century. As Mila and the player will discover, Fallholt has become a thriving city which has integrated vampires into their society! Indeed, Fallholt has become a city where vampires and humans live alongside each other, ruled by the vampiric Queen Anja.



Though initially a controversial decision, the current generation of mortals within Fallholt have grown to see their vampiric neighbors as equals rather than as monsters. All turnings must be sanctioned by the Queen herself and the creation of ghouls is highly illegal. To enforce these policies, the Queen established the Knights of Friedrich and recruited vampire hunters to slay those that choose to live against her laws.

Indeed, Fallholt is a city where vampires can live and even shop freely! The newly established Fallholt Center of Commerce is open 24 hours a day, employing vampires at night and humans during the daylight hours. With a constant flow of income throughout the day, the economy of Fallholt is more prosperous than at any other point in it’s history!



The center acts as an upscale shopping mall, with multiple stores and activities to spend your hard earned gold. I’ve made the area feel bustling by adding in multiple NPCs that go in and out as you shop. This touch really makes the center come alive, even if the shop owners you’ll interact with are well, “dead”.
I hope this short teaser of the next chapter has intrigued you and left you with many questions. I can’t guarantee they’ll all be answered, but my goal is to make revisiting this familiar city an interesting trip!

Until next time, everyone!

I’m back! I hope any fellow Americans had a restful Thanksgiving weekend. Rest is mainly what I had been doing this week, as I came home with a pretty bad flu. It’s been nothing but wheezy coughs for me and my throat is pretty sick of it. Thankfully, I’m still able to do shopping from the comfort of my bed and I picked up a basic android tablet on the cheap to finally try out Crimson Veil’s android port for myself. Big shoutout to the66 for making the Android port. Playing my game on a handheld, in the comfort of my bed totally changes the experience for me.

This is the first time I am playing the main route from start to finish without skipping over anything. Playing the game while divorced from my pc to make on the fly changes allows me to enjoy the game for what it is, flaws and all. I don’t want to toot my own horn too much, but so far, it's been hard to put down. I’m really proud of what I have been able to do with this game and it fills me with joy that I was able to get it done at all. Once again, thanks so much to the66 for bringing us this port and allowing me to enjoy my game in this way.

Anyway, enough gloating… Despite feeling sick, I did make progress on the game this week, with some sketches. Here are two illustrations depicting some optional characters that can be found in the next update. A wight, and a woman covered in bites.





What’s the context behind the inclusion of these two? Well they can both be found within a new area found within Fallholt which I will get into next week. I’m curious to hear your predictions about them. Maybe your thoughts align with mine… or not!

That’s all I have to share with you this week. Until next week, everyone!