G.C. BACCARIS
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Death opens doors.
Perhaps some should stay closed.

  • Overview
  • Credits
  • Story
  • Features
  • Characters
  • Other
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SOME PART OF ME IS MORTAL YET
Resurrection Gate is an in-development interactive novella about loss, liches, and what lingers at the edge of existence. It is being developed in Twine®.

Gameplay is choice-based, with robust state tracking, and a narrative which follows multiple protagonists.

Resurrection Gate explores:
  • What might happen when an old friend comes back from the dead
  • How to get excommunicated from a monastery in 24 years or less
  • Ways to keep your co-workers from suspecting you of being undead

… and other such tribulations.
✦ Use the navigation buttons along the right side of the screen to skip to different sections of the page.
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FULL OF TEARS & HUNGER & THE FEAR OF DEATH
 
MORE DETAILS
DEVELOPER: G.C. "Grim" Baccaris
BASED IN: New York, USA (GMT-5)
CONTACT: gcbaccaris @ gmail
SOCIAL: @gcbaccaris - #ResurrectionGate
RELEASE DATE: TBA
DEVELOPER: Web; PC; Mac
LANGUAGE: English
TEAM & CREDITS
@  G.C. BACCARIS  lead developer, writer, UI designer, programmer
@  JAY SCHRIBER  story illustrations
@  ROWAN OATS  character portraits
@  MEAGAN TROTT  mirror illustrations
@  RUUNE  composer & musician

❤  SPECIAL THANKS  to J. James, my incredible patrons, Josh Grams, Anna Webster, Zaire Lanier, Nessa Cannon, J.J. Guest, Greg Buchanan, & more
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I HAVE BEEN MORTAL, AND SOME PART OF ME IS MORTAL YET. I AM FULL OF TEARS AND HUNGER AND THE FEAR OF DEATH, ALTHOUGH I CANNOT WEEP, AND I WANT NOTHING, AND I CANNOT DIE.
— Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn
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STORY
Death comes for all, but it most assiduously pursues men who bear titles. The Marquis of Mir and his entire house have been wiped out, leaving scant few survivors. The Duke of Wratun has fallen on his own blade, only to be replaced by the Reckoner Laurence, now Duke-Regent in place of the Queen's five-year-old nephew.

Gameplay is choice-based, revolving around dialogue and actions that govern specific variables. Resurrection Gate has multiple protagonists: point-of-view will initially switch between Yasha, a shellshocked hussar burdened by his past, and Sully, an outcast monk exploring their first taste of independence.

After reaching a conclusion in their intertwined route, an NPC will become playable: the Duke of Wratun, a man determined to thrive in spite of his recent murder.

Every character has been shaped by their past, whether they are in the prime of their life or have lived undead for years. What the future holds for them remains to be seen — but in the present, their fates are all connected.

MORE INFO
Currently in development!

GENRES:
dark fantasy; gothic; horror; new weird; visual novel; choice-based

LENGTH:
 
>2 hours; >15,000 words

ADVISORY:
Contains body horror, violence, and other varieties of unpleasantness; a more specific advisory with optional spoilers will be available in-game.

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DEVLOGS

#1: RESURRECTION GATE; About the Game
#2: Meet the Playable Characters - Introducing Yasha, Sully, and Laurence.
#3: State of the Gate - A mid-2022 update on Resurrection Gate.
#4:
Coming Soon - Meet the Supporting Cast

Support on Patreon!
SCREENSHOTS

This game is a work-in-progress; screenshots are not final.

 
FEATURES

👁️ View the world through different eyes: multiple playable characters whose points of view cycle from scene to scene, providing unique context and perspective throughout each chapter.

🩸 Playable characters have fully-formed personalities and backgrounds, but can be played in different ways by emphasizing different traits

👁️ Each playable character has specific Traits, some of which are "Immutable," and others which can be emphasized by the player for the duration of the playthrough, allowing exploration of different strengths and weaknesses which may affect future interactions.

🩸 Choose which paths to follow: characters' actions can impact their progression through the narrative, as well as their personal wellbeing.

👁️ Robust state-tracking: a character's status, governed by both player choice and narrative events, will affect the choices, dialogue, and actions available to them. For instance, an injured character cannot perform certain actions, and a character lacking peace of mind may be unwilling to engage in others.

🩸 Interactive dialogue: haggle with merchants; name horses; argue with your companions; appeal to the clemency of a hard-hearted ruler!  Conversations build relationships — positive or negative — with NPCs, who may help or hinder the player later.

👁️ A second storyline featuring a new playable character becomes available after reaching an initial ending.

🩸 An original soundtrack composed by Ruune!

👁️ Lush UI created using custom CSS and HTML

🩸 Unique text mechanics allow for a smoother reading pace

👁️ Created entirely in Twine®

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🩸 PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
Each character has a distinct background and personality which will inform how they behave — and how the other PCs may react to them when encountered as NPCs. During the course of the game, you'll make decisions and perhaps mistakes for each of these three characters. Initially, the point-of-view will cycle between Yasha and Sully, but after a certain point later in the narrative, the Duke will become the primary POV character. 

Rowan Oats is responsible for the game's charismatic character portraits.

🪞 MIRRORS
Each character's narrative POV is represented by shifts in UI color and by a different mirror graphic in the upper-left corner of the screen. In-game, clicking on the MIRROR button in the lower-right corner of the screen brings up a menu that allows the player to reflect on the current POV character's status.

All of the mirrors in Resurrection Gate are designed and illustrated by Meagan Trott.
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🫀 MEMORIES
The MEMORY button opens each character's journal, where fleeting thoughts on various characters and events are recorded from time to time as the narrative progresses.
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🦴 NPCs & OTHERS
NPCs are non-playable-characters - with one exception: Laurence, who becomes the singular playable character in Part II of the game. Other NPCs include Rheya, Nazaret, and Besarion, in addition to various others who do not have portraits.

Although these characters are not defined as love interests and romance will not be a main feature of the narrative, certain playable characters are able to deepen their relationships with certain NPCs. Whether that is a platonic bond, a professional agreement, or a romantic relationship will depend on the characters that are interacting.

All of the game's characters come pre-loaded with up to centuries of emotional baggage.

Jay Schriber illustrates scenes from the game featuring a variety of characters.

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YASHA

A SOLDIER IN SEARCH OF PEACE

Today, Yasha is a scavenger whose only ambition is to ensure that his small group survives from day to day. What feels like a lifetime ago, he was Lieutenant Holst, a cavalry officer who served the Marquis of Abynor. Now the Marquis, and Abynor with him, are no more — but all of his former servants still bear his sigil writ upon their flesh. Yasha is no exception.

Yasha is one of the few survivors of a catastrophic siege, and he still struggles to parse the grief and guilt he feels in the wake of such violence. Unmoored from their former home, he and his companions must find somewhere else to settle before their luck runs out. Seeking asylum, they head for Wratun.

Gruff and hypervigilant, Yasha struggles with his own self-worth, but cares deeply about looking after others. He can be harsh and self-deprecating, yet despite his outward prickliness, a spark of hope may yet kindle somewhere within him.


"..."

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BESARION

THE BEHOLDER

An ancient lich who cannot feel pain. Using the pseudonym Argyros, they've insinuated themself into Wratun as its new Minister of Intelligence.

"Pleasure is not the absence of pain."

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RHEYA

SEEKING POLITICAL ASYLUM

A former political minister and aide to the assassinated Marquis; Yasha and the Duke also served the Marquis in the past, and all three men were familiar with one another for years. A scholar and a sensible, sensitive man, Rheya feels poorly-suited to the mercenary life he and Yasha have been forced into after the destruction of their home. He's in his mid-50s himself and yearns for the lost stability he once aspired to when life was less painful and tumultuous. The events that led to the destruction of his former home weigh heavily on him, and he feels a great deal of survivor's guilt.

"Quote"

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NAZARET

THE HARUSPEX

Pharmacist at the Citadel, she concocts and delivers remedies and vulneraries to the Duke and his ministers. Though most mortals take no interest in her claims to see the future, Nazaret does in fact have the gift of clairvoyance,  limited only in that she cannot view the possible futures of her fellow undead without great peril to herself. She is sister-in-death to Seregist and Laurence.

"Don't let your minions ruin your day. Ruin it yourself."

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SULLY

AN OUTCAST ACOLYTE

Judged a poor fit for monastic life, Sully is embarking on their adult life elsewhere, cut adrift to experience their first taste of true independence. Uncertain of where to begin, they head for Wratun, where a monk who once lived at their monastery now serves the Duke.

Sully is  gregarious and clever, but also precocious, brash, and irreverent. They are the most emotionally mellow of the protagonists, for life has not stricken them with the same traumas — but they are perhaps too bold for their own good, lacking some of the self-preservation instincts of their more world-weary counterparts.

They yearn for somewhere to belong, but are growing weary of rejection — and part of them is very comfortable remaining somewhat of an outsider.


"If a "falsified" exorcism makes someone feel better, is it really a scam, though?"

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CYRUS

THE DEVOURER

Besarion's brother-in-death, a belligerent cannibal. Once banished from the realm of the living, the unique supernatural climate of Wratun has allowed him to begin wreaking havoc once more.

"Quote"

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LAURENCE

THE DUKE-REGENT

Determined to thrive in spite of his recent murder, he is a lich who has chosen to resurrect among the living. In life, he was an unfortunate servant of a callous Marquis, and he bore the proof in plain sight: his face and body were covered in the Marquis' iconography. In death, he rejuvenated himself, wringing the ink from his flesh and conjuring a younger-looking incarnation from his own corpse.

These days, most are obliged to call him “Your Grace.” He is now the temporary steward of the Duchy of Wratun. A severe and stately fellow of advancing age, the Duke is prim, cold, and dignified by all outward appearances. Yet within, he suffers in the wake of a terrible death and a life's worth of unfinished business. He revels in cheating mortality, but it is of extreme importance to him that no one discovers that he — or certain members of his court — are actually undead.

After enduring a lifetime of servitude, he now desperately seeks control. To spite his former master, he believes that he’ll find comfort in rulership, but he is coming to realize that power alone cannot soothe his wounds.


"I want to taste the liberties I never knew in life. I want my dignity back."

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SUPPORTING CAST
  • Brother Nennok, the Bishop of Wratun
  • Queen Aurelia, who legitimized Laurence's rule; in life, Nazaret served Aurelia's grandmother
  • Minister Marius Piruz, one of the few government officials to survive the Old Duke's rule
  • Seregist, sister-in-death to Nazaret and Lirat
  • Various Mercenaries
  • Various Ministers

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HE IS DANCING, DANCING.
HE SAYS THAT HE
WILL NEVER DIE.

— Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
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© 2022 G.C. BACCARIS
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