Good evening, reader! Thank you for checking the game page and this devlog out. It's the 10th of September and we are ten days into the 2026 Spooktober Game Jam! What an exciting time it is. If you have a passion for visual novels, now is the time to check out the event and even join yourself! The more the merrier, I say. 

The Brides of Anemone Beach has been awarded the description 'Storybook Horror' because it is presented as a kind of fairytale at times, even though it is very much not that. Well, it might have worked as a grim fairytale. My biggest inspiration going into the development of this game was the Road to Empress FMV games, which take you back to ancient China as a concubine who (spoilers!) becomes empress despite the odds stacked against her. This is not set in China and you're not a concubine, but it does have some homages in character designs because I wanted to touch on the game that inspired me. There's something hilariously tragic about how hard those games are. 

This game is not hard; you can get game overs, but not because you made the 'wrong' choice. There are no wrong choices, just different paths to take.

I should have given an update earlier, because now I have too many wonderful, exciting parts of the game put together! We are now committed to regular updates on the progress of the game via devlog as the release date gets closer and closer. As of now, The Brides of Anemone Beach has all of the writing bar the final endings complete, as well as partial narration by the lovely Izel, and all of the custom UI it's going to be getting. I've also got the important stuff, like a Content Warning page, all the backgrounds and... a custom cursor? 

I don't think that was a need.

Several screens have already gone through revisions, with priority given to readability and access rather than aesthetics (though it still looks pretty neat if you ask me.) Below you can see a spoiler-free example; the warning page that appears when you load up the game. The above is the draft, and the below is the new version. Much cleaner and more readable, as well as having a nice watery background.

Already we can see the game starting to get some personality! This was also the case with the choice buttons -- the original was drafted to be more like a bubble floating (with the fish-eye to match) and the new version carries over the water surface theme but is a lot clearer for readers. 

Thankfully it's not going to be that big in the game, or I'd go mad from looking at the rough edges. It's not that the first bubble is unreadable, but it doesn't quite have that crystal-clear readability that the second does, and the bubbles have become a bit of a scrapped design choice. For the body text and UI, we're utilising a font called Lexend, which is widely known for being accessibility friendly. Unfortunately accessibility is never a one-size-fits all situation, so there's a chance it still won't be perfect, but I'm doing everything I can to make sure that as many people can play the game as they want to.

This also goes for the game's design -- we're looking at timed choices and quicktime events to create tension and stress within the narrative (remember that bit where I mentioned your choices wouldn't affect the many game overs you can get? Yeah. This does) but only with the stipulation that it can be turned off if the player so wishes.

I hope you'll check out our next devlog, and the game! Stay tuned for the backgrounds and characters of Anemone Beach!

- Ryan Breadinc
Team Lead, The Brides of Anemone Beach

Here are some songs that helped shape the aesthetic of the game.

• Reason For Dreaming - The Happy Fits
• Hush - Muse & Ellie Goulding
• Keeping You Around - Nothing But Thieves
• Asleep - Emily Browning

None of these are very 'beach island' of me. Do you have some beach songs to add to the playlist? Comment below!