Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee ~ Episode 1 ~ Waltz (Demo)

Story

Play as Amadeus, a young werewolf struggling to understand his condition, as he navigates a tale woven by Witches. He is equal parts desperate and determined—how can one reclaim agency over themself, when afflicted by a curse that steals it from them every time the moon Aska draws full?

Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee is a narrative game heavily inspired by Umineko When They Cry thematically, and Professor Layton aesthetically. Gameplay is a blend of pure Visual Novel scenes + Point-and-Click Adventure scenes. The story is linear, and will be told in 5 sequential episodes.

This demo introduces the beginning of Episode 1 ~ Waltz. It is completely remade as of November 27, 2024 with a host of new mechanics, art, music, and story. The full episode will release in 2025.

For news/updates in the interim, see the "More Info" section below.

Demo Features

• 20-40 minutes of playtime
• 5 scenes (2 visual novel scenes + 2 point-and-click scenes + opening cinematic)
• 3 detailed, hand-drawn location backgrounds to explore
• Opening cinematic cutscene
• 8 inked character portrait expressions
• 10 original music tracks, including 2 tracks with multiple dynamic layers
• Point-and-Click controls with unique cursor icons to indicate player interactions
• Alternate Hover-and-Spacebar control scheme for players who have difficulty with mouse click
• Toggle for auto-scrolling text with adjustable appearance speed and delay time between textboxes (+ instant text speed option)
• Backlog of previously-read text + diegetic "glossary" for story reference
• "Cycle through all interactibles" hotkey
• 3 save slots
• Optional splash screen to fill window beyond 4:3 gameplay (may impact performance - see system requirements)

Controls

VN Scenes

• TAB Key: toggle Auto Text Progression on/off
• SPACE Key: display full text/progress text
• 1/2/3 Key: select choice
• Mouse click on the displayed buttons is supported as an alternative

Point-and-Click Scenes

• HOVER with mouse, cursor will change to indicate if object is interactible
• If cursor changes, MOUSE CLICK or SPACE to trigger...
  • Boot: Amadeus will MOVE to location
  • Eye: Amadeus will INSPECT distant objects
  • Hand: Amadeus will INTERACT WITH nearby objects
  • Arrow: Amadeus will MOVE to a new screen
• WASD and ARROW KEYS supported as alternative to MOVE Amadeus
• SPACE supported as alternative to INTERACT with nearby objects
• I key to cycle mouse cursor through all interactible objects

UI

• ESC Key: pause/open Settings Menu
• N Key: pause/open Notebooks Menu
• Menus can be navigated by mouse click or keyboard ARROW keys
• Menus can also be opened + closed by clicking on the buttons in the screen corners

Credits

• Game Design, Art, Music/Sound, C# Scripting, Implementation, Narrative - Leo ArcanaXIX
• Clarinet (Deal With a Witch) - Lucas Bere
• Marimba (Spellbound Mischief - no longer in demo, but coming to full episode) - Jay Lee
• VO (Kain's Ghost - no longer in demo, but coming to full episode) - Nat Ferare
• Narrative Consulting - Ashlee Scheuermann,* Frances Maples, Luke Tellson
• Code Consulting - Dan Mellot, Carlos Nieto
• Mix Consulting (Deal With a Witch, Spellbound Mischief) - Sonia Mokhtari
• Playtesting - Derek, Joanna, Luke, Aaron, Ashlee
• Playtesting (original prototype) - Alex, Lucas, Skipper, Nathalie, Taylor, Dan

*Ashlee also wished to be credited as "Made Everything Worse." Thank you Ashlee. <3

System Requirements

I have not yet tested on a machine that couldn't run it, so I will simply outline the tested builds for you to compare.

*Asterisk indicates the game runs smoothly UNLESS the optional "splash screen" setting is toggled on. If you have an older machine, outdated OS, and/or limited RAM, it is recommended to NOT activate this setting.

MacOS:

• 10.13.6 High Sierra (2015 MacBook Pro, 16GB RAM)*
• 11.4 Big Sur (2020 M1 MacBook Air, 8GB RAM)

Windows (64-bit ONLY):

• Windows 7 (Intel core i3, onboard graphics, 4GB RAM)*
• Windows 10 (Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, 16GB RAM)
• If you only have a 32-bit system, but want to check out this demo, I can try to build a 32-bit version. I can't guarantee how it'll run but we can give it a go. Just comment and request.

Linux:

• Tested on Mint & Ubuntu distros
• Ubuntu 24.04 (HP Stream 13 Laptop, 2GB RAM)*
  
  • Ran on a 10-year-old laptop with 2GB RAM and only lagged during the cinematic opening, so it should run on just about anything.
• There are a few known issues specific to Linux, but the core game works and the disappearing cursor issue has been patched. Known issues:
  • "I" to cycle through interactibles does not move the cursor visually. It does highlight the interactibles however so the functionality works.
  • Resizing the window causes graphical glitches outside of the 4x3 gameplay. Toggling on the splash screen resolves this. The splash screen should not impact performance on machines unless they are very low end (not recommended with 2GB RAM, for example).
• Linux build is smaller than Windows/MacOS because the opening cinematic video must be rendered differently to run on Linux. The video quality is slightly worse in the Linux build for the demo.

More Info

Blog, Steam Wishlist, Other Resources: linktr.ee/amadeusgame

Original browser-based prototype: https://arcanaxix.itch.io/amadeus-game

Contact: leo_arcanaxix@protonmail.com | www.arcanaxix.com