A Psychological Horror Visual Novel

Six perspectives. One cursed film. A truth no one wants to see.

A narrative-driven psychological horror visual novel set behind the scenes of the silent film era.

[Logo / key art placeholder]

The Hook (Logline)

In 1920s Paris, the cast and crew of a cursed orientalist fantasy film begin to unravel — and only by living the same production through six different pairs of eyes can the truth of what happened on set finally come together.

Elevator Pitch

The Cursed Reel is a character-driven visual novel where players relive the making of a doomed silent film through six playable roles — the diva, the leading man, the director, the producer, the camera operator, and the extra. Each character experiences the same six-month production differently, uncovering secrets, magical objects, and a creeping supernatural anomaly that only becomes visible when all perspectives are combined.

4. The Concept

• Set during the production of a cursed orientalist fantasy film at a Pathé-style studio
• Six playable characters, each living the same fixed timeline from their own point of view
• Cross-character discovery: secrets uncovered in one route recontextualize events in another
• A hidden seventh route unlocks after all six are completed, revealing the true architect behind the production
• Every character has two possible endings — one earned through growth, one through downfall

5. Why Six Perspectives?

• Encourages full replay without repetitive gameplay — each route reveals new meaning
• Mirrors the collaborative, fractured nature of filmmaking itself: no single person sees the whole picture
• Creates natural mystery-box design: players want to complete every route to understand the full truth
• Rewards attentive players with cross-referenced clues, not exposition dumps

6. The Characters

(One slide per character, or a grid layout)

• La Diva — a fading star chasing one last legendary performance
• El Galán — the leading man hiding who he really is
• El Director — an artist losing control of his own vision
• El Productor — the man holding the production together while knowing too much
• La Cámara — a woman working in disguise to do the job she was born for
• La Figurante — an extra determined to become more than background

Each has a strong ending, earned entirely through their own choices — and a fallback ending, born of compromise or downfall.

7. The Supernatural Layer

Three cursed objects appear within the film-within-the-film, each tied to a specific character’s arc:

• El Espejo de la Verdad — a mirror that reflects the soul, not the face
• El Pájaro en la Jaula — a caged bird whose song grants a wish, at a price
• La Vasija de la Sombra — a vessel that captures the shadow of someone whose purpose has already hollowed out

The horror is never fully explained — it is felt, through ambiguity, atmosphere, and consequence.

8. Structure at a Glance

• 6 episodes per character, mapped to fixed production milestones: arrival, first day of shooting, two weeks in, one month in, three months in, the final day — plus a shared epilogue
• Fully non-linear character selection — players choose their own order
• A meta-narrative anomaly escalates at the same story beats regardless of route, tying all six playthroughs into one coherent timeline
• A seventh, hidden route for El Guionista — revealed to be the true force behind the «mysterious investors» — unlocks after all six character arcs are completed

9. Visual & Artistic Direction

• Spine-animated 2D characters for expressive, theatrical performances suited to a story about actors and performance
• Silent-film-inspired aesthetic: period costuming, iris transitions, title-card influences
• Built in Unity 6.3 using the Naninovel framework for branching narrative and dialogue systems

10. Why This Game, Why Now

• Visual novels with strong replayability and mystery-box structures have proven durable commercial success (multiple perspectives, secrets, and endings drive completionist engagement)
• Horror-adjacent narrative games with strong character writing continue to find dedicated, vocal communities
• A genuinely fresh setting — silent-era film production — distinct from the contemporary/fantasy settings that dominate the VN market
• Built on a proven, actively developed engine and framework, reducing technical risk

11. Comparable Titles

(Fill in with 3–4 titles that match tone/structure — e.g. narrative VNs with multiple POV characters, mystery-driven branching stories, psychological horror without combat)

• [Comparable 1]
• [Comparable 2]
• [Comparable 3]

12. Development Status

• Full narrative architecture designed: six character arcs, endings, episode structure, and symbolic object system
• Sample scene written and scripted in Naninovel, establishing the production pipeline and flag/variable system
• Character art and Spine animation implemented in-engine
• [Add: current build status, playable demo availability, timeline to vertical slice]

13. The Team

(Fill in: founder/lead designer bio, key collaborators, relevant past work)

14. The Ask

We are currently in pre-production / design, with the full narrative architecture, character arcs, and core systems already defined — and we’re looking for a publishing partner to help bring The Cursed Reel from design into full production and beyond.

What we’re looking for:

• Development funding to move from pre-production into full production — covering scripting, art, animation, and implementation across all six character routes plus the hidden seventh route

• Marketing and visibility support, from early community-building through launch, to help The Cursed Reel stand out in a crowded narrative-game market

• A partner who understands narrative-driven, replayable story games and can support a title built on atmosphere and character rather than combat or twitch mechanics

Target platforms: PC, consoles, and mobile — designed from the ground up with multi-platform release in mind.

Why partner with us now: Coming in at pre-production means a publisher has the opportunity to shape the project’s scope and roadmap from an early stage, rather than inheriting a finished design — while still benefiting from a fully mapped-out narrative structure that de-risks the writing and design side of development.

[Add here if available: specific funding range, estimated timeline to vertical slice/demo, and team size/structure]

15. Contact

Fidel Lorite
fidel@tiamat.studio ·

Thank you for your time — full playable demo available on request.

Notes for WordPress formatting

• Each numbered section above works well as its own page section or accordion block
• Slides 6 and 11–14 are the ones you’ll need to fill in with team/business specifics
• Consider a sticky nav with anchors matching each section title for easy publisher navigation