Cinders by the numbers and the duo who tackled them

When we started researching visual novels, I was surprised by how many developers share the word count of their games. I didn’t understand why — length doesn’t equal quality, right?

 

But now that Cinders is done, I finally get it! It’s not about advertising the length of the game. It’s about bragging how much work you’ve done! Because honestly, it’s a lot!

 

Cinders by its shameless numbers:

  • Cinders script is 436 pages long
  • contains 155k words
  • separated into 135 scenes
  • holding 829 scenarios
  • featuring 120 player choices
  • with around 300 options to pick
  • altering 50 profile variables
  • which fork the story in 254 places

 

When talking about these numbers, it’s impossible not to mention the creative duo of writers who bravely decided to tackle them after Ayu’s departure from the project. Meet Hubert and Agnieszka.

 

Hubert and Agnieszka, looking scary

 

Aside from being foolish enough to write for an indie game and expect to make any money out of it, Hubert is a certified philosopher and a self-made equality activist. Agnieszka is a psychologist with a twist. She claims that the the first game she wrote made at least three people go berserk. Personally, I hope it’s the first and last time that happened.

 

Be nice to those people, folks. They have done a tremendous amount of work, and on a tight deadline too.