South Scrimshaw, Part 1
A downloadable VN for Windows, macOS, and Linux
"...South Scrimshaw has stunning art, an emotional nature documentary yarn, and just bafflingly excellent sci-fi worldbuilding." - @PC Gamer
In a warm subtropical shallow, a newborn whale opens his eyes for the first time.
Our research team is present to record the moment, and everything that will follow after. South Scrimshaw is the story of this animal’s entire natural life, his struggles and successes in a vast alien ocean.
Part of the Kronos VII Interplanetary Expedition
Part One contains four chapters, detailing one life from birth to the end of adolescence, along with world building details about the interplanetary human expedition.
DLC artbook is now available to support development!
Follow my Twitter for updates on future projects.
Download
Development log
- Part One ReleaseJun 09, 2023
- Steam ReleaseMay 25, 2023
- Chapter 4 Project UpdateDec 10, 2022
- Chapter 3 Pt 2 Release the futureMar 30, 2021
- Chapter 3 Release Positive VibesJan 29, 2021
- Free Postcards & General UpdateNov 21, 2020
- Chapter 2 Release Project UpdateNov 08, 2020
Comments
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Loved this <3
This game is stunning. Every single image oozes style. Also I got so sad over this whale man, it had whale depression, and whale trauma, and whale found family, and whale peer group bonding, it's the whole whale package in one game. 5/5 emotionally wrecked by a story about fictional alien whales. Also [spoilers]
YOU PULLED A BAMBI ON THE MOTHER HOW DARE YOU
Made me cry though so legit
I just discovered this - its wonderful. I wondered if the soundtrack would be made available at some point?
this was absolutely wonderful!!!!!!!!!! im going to think about this game for a long while
Thank you! Really glad you enjoyed it!
Posting this here instead of as a review bc I wanted more people to see it and maybe be convinced. If it's too long, feel free to delete.
I normally don't play VNs (I think this is the longest one I've ever finished), but omg this game feels like it was created specifically for me personally.
So much of this games' presentation perfectly captures the vibe of a certain kind of passion project nature documentary where the scientists care deeply about their work - perhaps to an extent more than their budgets will allow - and there's maybe a little bit of chaos behind the scenes. There are all these little touches where I kept thinking "the game would've been just as good if the developer didn't put the thought and effort into this tiny detail, nobody would've questioned its exclusion, but the game is so much more alive for its presence". The very small example that comes to mind is the slight difference on the scanner display when its scanning through relatively thin plant material, compared to dense animal fat.
The sense of humor is also perfect for the setting and structure. There's this really interesting delineation between things that are intentional jokes on the part of the fictional documentary crew ("it grows into a formidable predator... relative to its size"), versus things that are funny to the real-world audience that would just be facts of life to the people of this world (like the explicit clarification that the sea bunny is not a real animal, as compared to these very real alien whales).
If you're looking at this page and have any slight interest in trying this wonderful game, just do it. I finished the whole thing in an hour and a half and my only wish is for more of the story. I'm eagerly awaiting part 2 (which honestly shouldn't be free if charging would help the dev!)
Thank you for the thoughtful commentary 🙏
Hi, i saw this on youtube a while ago and I thought it was really interesting and beautiful but i had a question about the voice acting. It seems like its ai generated or some tts program, and if so, will it be replaced in the future? Some of the line delivery is just a bit strange and it seems like a shame because the writing itself is really nice.
Also i understand if its not possible to replace it given this is a pretty small project, i dont have much right to complain about this given it is a pretty small detail.
Yes, voice is AI trained on public domain audio sources I've found. That's also disclosed in the credits. I'm unhappy with how some of it sounds but it's the best option for the moment. Even imperfect voice over has made an astonishing difference in my viewership.
My plan is to crowdfund for real actors when the script is locked but that probably won't be until the end of the project. Right now I still have to work part time jobs to support myself, I don't have the ability to contract work from others.
Yeah thats comepletly understandable, its not a bad compromise by any means. Ill try and throw some money your way whenever I get the chance.
a wonderful experience full of emotion and detail. i did my best to summarize my feelings on it in a lil video and hope it's able to convince some others to try it out, too :)
Hi, N.O.Marsh, I've enjoyed your game alot and it stuck with me since I first came across it from manly badass hero and then played it myself. I really appreciate you for making this game and wish you best of luck with your future games. I've made an explained style video expressing my thoughts and opinions about it, talking about my favorite aspects. Anyone is welcome to watch it, the links are down below and i hope I could atleast express my thanks this way. Have a nice day!
I’m really glad you enjoyed Scrimshaw, and thank you for the video essay! The story seems to have struck a chord with some viewers so it’s very cool to see someone try to articulate their own thoughts like this.
I was just stopping in to say hi and congratulate you on your fine work. I found "South Scrimshaw" on GOG.com today. I downloaded it and played it through and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It is a really great use of the VN medium.
I look forward to the next chapters in your story. Thanks.
-David
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it.
Hello again. I have a question about your coding. I like the little flashing "triangle" in the lower right corner of the screen that denotes "move forwards". Is that a stock feature in Ren'Py or did you custom code that bit? I'd love to put something like that in my current project, but looking around the docs I haven't found anything like that. Would you care to share your wizardry on that little bit of code!? Thank you. -David
Yeah the click to continue icon is pretty easy to add. This is the tutorial I copied my code from: https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22196
Good luck with your Ren'Py project! It's a really fun engine.
Hey thank you so much, I will check out that link and see if I can figure it all out. Keep on writing...
-David
Hello, sorry to bother you again, but I have another question. The code you directed me to is great, but I have one issue. In your game, most (all?) of your dialog is said by the narrator. I am able to get the CTC icon to display on a defined Character like this:
image ctc_anchored:
"images/metro_studio_icons/CheckBox-WF-128.png"
yalign 0.96 xalign 0.95 # Adjust these numbers to fit your own textbox
linear 0.75 alpha 1.0
linear 0.75 alpha 0.0
repeat
define vo = Character("Voice in your head", color = "#6699cc", ctc = "ctc_anchored", ctc_position = "fixed")
vo "That static, you've heard it before, but where?"
But to the best of my knowledge the Narrator has no define function, so how do I set the CTC options for the narrator and still have no character label displayed (like in your game)?
Thanks for the help. Your Itch.io page has no donate option, I'd like to send you a few bucks.
-David
Yeah I had to define my narrator's text as a character, and I set the character name to None so no name appears over the text. So yours would look like:
define vo = Character(None, color = "#6699cc", ctc = "ctc_anchored", ctc_position = "fixed")
At least that's how I did it. I’m really poor at programming so if that doesn't work you may want to try the lemmasoft forums.
Many thanks if you'd like to contribute! Every small bit helps. I think the best way to give would be the Part One art book because you get something in return. But for a simple straight donation I have a ko-fi tip jar.
https://nomarsh.itch.io/art-of-scrimshaw
https://ko-fi.com/nomarsh
its a beautiful history, with great drawings, a wonderfull and realistic world, i loved it, but i would love a mobile version if it is posible
Thank you, I really appreciate it!
I'd love to make a mobile version too but that's a little beyond what I'm capable of right now. Sometime in the future, hopefully.
it is my first time that i see such brilliant piece of speculative biology here at itch.io, and i'm absolutely loving it! Although i can't financially support this amazing project at this time, i just wanted to write some words of support since i've discovered it, and i hope more people interested in this kind of stuff see this visual novel, it is so interesting, and i will definitely stay to see more chapters!
and i definitely want to see a continuation of our calf's story, considering that the end of the first chapter definitely laid some interesting grounds
Thank you! Hah no worries, I made it free for a reason 😄 Hope you like the next chapters as much!
An absolutely fantastic production, which I found thanks to Curious Archive's coverage of it. I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I heard 'VN stylized as a nature documentary about an alien whale' but that description piqued my curiosity and the VN absolutely delivered more than I could have possibly hoped.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Just played this and I am BLOWN AWAY by the storytelling and worldbuilding in this spaceworld. My investment into our whale's life has got me waiting at the edge of my seat for the next installment. Gonna show this to all my friends so I can share my theories about space DNA...
Thank you! Really glad you enjoyed it! Also there's nothing more valuable to me right now than word of mouth recommendations so thank you for that as well 😄
I just watched a video of this (by Curious Archive), and I have got to say, WOW! THIS IS INCREDIBLE. I love the amount of detail that you have put into everything! The flora and fauna is so unique, and even things outside of the water are thought of. I am about to start playing the game, and I just cannot contain my excitement. Do you have a discord server or something, because I would love to join in and learn from all of this!
Thank you! No discord or anything like that yet. I may start one after I start a Patreon since people have been asking for one.
Is there any way we could buy physical copies of promo art or art from the art book just released? I would love a poster or two from them.
Not at the moment. I'd love to do something like that in the future though.
That sounds great! I'd messaged your Instagram and asked there too just in case.
Thanks for making this! This is the best visual novel I played this year and my favorite part was the seabun! I made a video in case anyone is curious
Hey thanks! I really appreciate you covering it!
This is such a gorgeous, emotive & lyrical artefact. I love the intersections of art, science & sci-fi and to see them wrapped up this beautifully was amazing.
EDIT:
Reading your dev-log, I am so happy I stumbled upon this and just wanted to say that 4 chapters in 4 years is not a failure, things take as long as they take to incubate and we are all working under a system which makes it difficult to take creative risks and do things that maybe not everyone will love/like. <3
Thanks so much, I really appreciate it. Glad you found it.
Yeah it has been a long haul. But now that I can see some light at the end of the tunnel I don't think I would have wanted it any other way.
this made me cry
I'm glad you found it moving!
Came from a YouTube video and wanted to say what a gorgeous story and world it had me captivated for the entire thing thank you for this <3 I'm so excited for the next chapter to see what has become of our whale
Thank you so much!
I just watched manlybadasshero's video on this and I can't express just how amazingly interesting this is. Great work and good luck on future developments !
Hey thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hey there, this is really great work. Do you have an email or some other contact where I can message you? I tried Twitter but it's giving me an error. Cheers.
Sure, my work email is nomarsh.art at gmail.com.
Thank you
EDIT: Sent you an email : )
A fascinating use of the VN format that really emulates the feeling of nature documentaries. Thoroughly enjoyed the latest chapter and experiencing the previous chapters with the new voice text, which only made the docu-feeling stronger. (The voices with the helicopter/base communication really sounded legit). Cheering for the little whale. Thank you for this experience!
Hey thank you! Glad you enjoyed the update. The little whale should be growing into a medium size whale soon, when I get more time to work on this 😄
Woop. Chapter 4 is here. Never cheered on a whale before. Love the story. Roll on Feb. :)
Hey thanks again man! Much appreciated as always.
Wow. How cool is this. Lovely sound and artwork. Tells a real story that gets you invested.
Hey thanks for checking it out! 😄 Kind of exciting to have someone share my work on youtube haha.
At least another 30 people got to see what you put the time and effort into. Not much but helps a little. :)
this was such an incredible experience - a really impressive use of the visual novel format. i can't wait to see more, i love my little brillo friend!
Glad you enjoyed it! I am still at work on the next update, life has just been conspiring to delay everything. It might be done in a few months.
This is a very beautiful novel that pleases the eyes. I'm happy to see science-inspired art. That's what I want to do with Video Games... create something so beautiful and enjoyable that you don't realize you learned science from it.
Thank you! Life science has always been a well of inspiration for my work too. I really enjoyed the experiments you have going on your page.
It’s one of the ideals of sci-fi to spark imagination or thought about the real thing. I make up a lot of silly stuff for Scrimshaw but it’d be flattering if readers take that away from it.
My 8 years old daughter also enjoyed your novel. She draws the art and do the voice-acting for my ecology-inspired video-games. We'll be looking forward to see more of your creations :)
This is incredible. I've been searching for genuinely original uses of the VN format and this delivered above and beyond. TBH if you would be interested in working/collaborating with a sound designer at all, I'd love to help out.
Hey thanks man! Scrimshaw has been a labor of love for a long time now so it really means a lot that there are readers it resonates with.
I’ll definitely keep your offer in mind regarding sound. It may be a few more updates before I know what help I need on that front. I need to be a little less overloaded with other things first. But if you have a reel or something email it my way.
This is frankly stunning. You have genuine talent and I hope to see more!
Thanks! Glad you liked it, appreciate the support. I have enough free time right now to really grind out some work so next chapter should be up early September.
So happy to be once again visiting your fantastic zoological worlds. The way you tread the line between imagination and realism is delightful. Looking forward to Chapter 2!
Thanks man! Yeah it's a more elaborate production than my books used to be but similar idea.