Saint Kotar: Digital Deluxe Edition is now available! This special edition includes:

• Saint Kotar: Base game
  
• Saint Kotar: The Ritual DLC
  
• The Art of Saint Kotar: Digital Artbook in PDF format
  
• The Sound of Saint Kotar: Saint Kotar official soundtrack in both MP3 and WAV format
  

Many have asked for it, we delivered. The original prologue Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask is back on the store! steamhappy



During the development of the main game Saint Kotar, the beginning of the game was rewritten, technically improved and redesigned, and in that process Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask lost its true meaning as a prologue. Now it serves as a nostalgic trip to the past and to show the original idea that grew into something different.

Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask is not free anymore, like it used to be before we retired it in 2021. It's not expensive either. It'll cost you less than a cup of coffee, and for the price you also get the Supporter Pack DLC for free! This way you get both for one single (low) fee and you support our work.

Lastly, you can buy the Saint Kotar Kickstarter Special Edition bundle that includes:

• Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask
  
• Saint Kotar: Supporter Pack DLC
  
• Saint Kotar: The Crawling Man
  

Yeah, baby! Back by popular demand: the original prologue The Yellow Mask is back on the store, now with the Supporter Pack DLC included for free - wohoo! This patch includes just small visual UI changes and general improvements. Enjoy!

There's only 7 days left until Saint Kotar launches! We can't wait until you'll all be able to enter Sveti Kotar and face the mysteries it has to offer. Currently we're working hard on the final polishes to finish the experience for launch on the 28th, but there's also a launch trailer coming up next week!



Of course, if you haven't already, make sure to add Saint Kotar to your Steam wishlist to be notified next week when the game comes out.

[h2]Important[/h2]

We're about to permanently delist Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask store page. This was already mentioned in a few previous posts, but the reason for doing it is that the prologue doesn't reflect the quality the full game achieved. It's not relevant anymore; the main game evolved into something much bigger and better! So be sure to follow us there and wishlist the main game:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

- Marko, Red Martyr Entertainment -

Say hello to October, the month of release of Saint Kotar, and to Next Fest - the official Steam event that celebrates upcoming indie video games.

[h2]Saint Kotar PC Demo available now[/h2]

As part of the Steam Next Fest October edition we've made available a fully voice acted, brand new, never-seen demo of Saint Kotar. Aside the two main characters and the town of Sveti Kotar, this demo has nothing to do with Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask (the demo/prologue we released in June 2020).



Go play it, get a taste of what's coming on October 28th:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

[h2]Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask store page to be delisted[/h2]

The heading says it all: this store page is going to be taken down soon.

The reason: The Yellow Mask does not represent the level of quality Saint Kotar (the full game) has now. The only elements that are still relevant are the art, the atmosphere and parts of the story. Everything else, like the character animations, gameplay/narrative design, dialogs and much more, have been changed and vastly improved.

Believe us: Saint Kotar the full game is a game on another technical, art and narrative level. Keeping The Yellow Mask alive would be like shooting ourselves in the foot. We gathered every single feedback you gave us and we worked from there to make a better game. Simple as that.

And if you are wondering what we did in the last 12-ish months:

• Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask is a game that has 10 locations and 1 hour of gameplay time
  
• Saint Kotar the full game has 120+ locations and an average gameplay time of 20 hours
  

Time flies! Saint Kotar is entering the Beta stage very soon and we even have the release month, along with a brand new key art and teaser trailer.

[h2]Important - The Yellow Mask page to shut down soon[/h2]

Huge improvements and new features have been done and added to the full game Saint Kotar. We think that the prologue doesn't reflect anymore the game as it should. The story hasn't changed, the atmosphere is still the same, and the mood is still dark and creepy. We've kept all the good parts from the prologue while working on others and adding new stuff.

Having said that, we decided this store page, the page of the prologue Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask, will be shut down soon. A new demo of the full game will be made available for free, not here, but on the store page of the full game.

If you haven't already, visit the Saint Kotar's store page and click to follow and add the game to your wishlist. This will ensure that you don't miss out on any of the upcoming news and updates leading up to the game's release this Autumn!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

[h2]New and Final Key Art[/h2]



The two protagonists are back on the cover. How do you like it? Comment below!

[h2]Teaser Trailer[/h2]

If you played the prologue this teaser will be very familiar to you. It was created to attract new players rather than showing something new to the existing ones. Still, we like it very much! More trailer(s) will be released before the game comes out, showing never-seen stuff.

https://youtu.be/KnaRdELPc9Y

[h2]Release Date[/h2]

Saint Kotar is coming out, of course, this October, in the spookiest month of the year! More news coming soon about the precise date so that you can mark it on your calendar.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

The BIG announcement is finally here - Saint Kotar has a publisher!

We're pleased to be teaming up with SOEDESCO for the launch of our first title: Saint Kotar. We've been working on this game for two and a half years now and we feel confident that SOEDESCO is the perfect partner we needed to support its growth into something special. Together we'll work to launch the game on PC and consoles very soon.

[h2]Publishing Agreement[/h2]

We can't go into specific details here, but as a general overview I can confirm that everything we promised in the Kickstarter campaign (and some more) will be delivered.

Saint Kotar is coming to PC and consoles, with a specific date to be announced soon. The game will be fully voiced (in English) and localized into all the languages that were unlocked with the stretch goal (plus an X number of additional ones). Marketing, PR, distribution, porting to consoles and all other much needed elements that are part of a professional project, are in this agreement.

[h2]About SOEDESCO[/h2]

SOEDESCO is an independent video game developer, publisher and distributor founded in 2002 with its headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Their portfolio consists of titles such as Owlboy, Kaze and the Wild Masks, Monster Crown, Among the Sleep, Remothered: Tormented Fathers and Monstrum. They also have their own IPs, including Truck Driver, Adams Venture and Real Farm.

For more information visit the official website: www.soedesco.com

[h2]Wishlist Now[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

On June 18th, 2020 the Saint Kotar project was launched on Kickstarter. It was the accursed 2020, the year of Covid. A year everyone wants to forget or put in a bad place. We will certainly remember it forever as it was not only our first Kickstarter campaign, but the first ever game project we started. A year later, things are going preeeetttyy gooood!

[h2]Alpha Stage[/h2]

So, one year later, we can proudly announce that Saint Kotar has entered the Alpha stage of production! Wait, what? Not a big deal? What is the Alpha stage? Each studio has its own way to define the stages of production, so a common definition that everyone abides to doesn't really exist. It is a big deal because the Alpha stage, at least in our case, means:

• the game is playable from start to finish. Side tasks are not yet implemented (just a few of them), but the entire critical path is.
  
• all characters and locations are obviously implemented, but still need additional work to make them look the way you, and we, want them to look.
  
• all soundtracks are implemented.
  
• the User Interface is pretty much final.
  

• game has a total number of 126 locations!
  
• you can die in Saint Kotar, numerous times. Almost all deaths have a unique death cutscene.
  
• on top of the big number of locations, the game also has dozens of closeups, which is a feature the prologue was missing soooo much.
  
• first Alpha playtesters say the game is great. Yes, they say it is great and that the story is awesome. Let's calm down though, we still have a long road ahead of us, but seeing these feedback is certainly encouraging and exciting!
  

[h2]Status of the project[/h2]

Hello, spring! The weather is getting warmer, the days longer, and Saint Kotar richer with content and closer to release. How poetic! But it is the truth, there are lots of stuff going on behind the curtains and the development is progressing fine. So far we've created a big number of new locations, all the characters and some, but not all, the animations for them. Except for the below screenshot, there's nothing else juicy to show at the moment, but we are getting there, and the next post update might include some early gameplay footage. So stay tuned!

All the ideas/concepts we explored back when we were creating the new official cover of Saint Kotar:


[h2]Find Your Humanity[/h2]

#FindYourHumanity is our new marketing campaign that we've launched last week. The goal we set is to reach new players and raise awareness about Saint Kotar, as in our recent research we found out there are lots of people who like this combination of a dark story in a point & click adventure genre (not all of them have to be comedy, right?), but have never heard of this project. Help us to reach them, get the word out and invite people to visit the game's store page on Steam to add the game to their wishlist. Clicking on "Follow" on helps too. Adding the game and following it there allows players to get notified about the release discount as well as the news regarding the upcoming new version of the demo/prologue.

[previewyoutube=21Pbhndsw1c;full][/previewyoutube]

[h2]The 4 Stages of Locations[/h2]

Written by our artist Mirko alui:

Painting a background for Saint Kotar is rarely an easy thing, not only because we put great care to make our scenes look as good as possible but also because it is a dynamic process, requiring constant collaboration between the artist, writer and programmer. Every background must not only look good in an illustrative sense, but it also needs to fulfill gameplay and story needs. To make things easier for ourselves, we approach the creation of every scene in clearly delineated stages.

[previewyoutube=9iKgXH4pq-A;full][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Step 1[/h3]

The first step consists of research and gathering reference. Since the world of Saint Kotar is based on a real region in Croatia, for most of our backgrounds we gather photo reference from real locations. Along with the gathered reference, a scene usually begins with a tentative description of its appearance and the story/gameplay elements on the scene.

[h3]Step 2[/h3]

The second step is creating quick concepts to define the compositional elements of the scene. These concepts are usually very rough and sketchy, and painted in black and white, but they do a good job at giving us an impression of what the scene will look like. Once we are happy with the overall look, we begin with creating the polished scene assets.

[h3]Step 3[/h3]

Although all of our scenes are digitally painted 2D images, Unity is in essence a 3D engine, and our characters are 3D models which move in the three dimensions of space. This makes it crucial for our 2D assets to be fairly accurate in regard to perspective and scale. Thus, our backgrounds are painted over a 3D base created in Blender. This base not only helps our artist paint in the right perspective, but it is also used directly in-engine by our programmer to help define walkable areas, interactive hotspots, etc. Sometimes the 3D base is very detailed, other times it is little more than a few boxes that stand in for more complex landscape elements. Either way, the next step is painting over the 3D base. We use a lot of photobashing and texturing in order to be ale to create our highly detailed scenes, but we also take great care not to make things look too banally realistic and boring, and to preserve a hand painted feel. This step is by far the most time consuming. A lot of revisions are done during this stage sometimes changes in the script necessitate modifications to the scene, and sometimes the opposite is the case: a painted scene can give us some surprising new gameplay and story ideas. It can also happen that a finished scene simply does not work as intended in game. All of this requires us to go back to the drawing board and redo certain elements.

In-game screenshot of Grimalda, a castle used by the Inquisition in the 15th century:


[h3]Step 4[/h3]

The final step consists of creating animations and effects. A painted background looks pretty, but it is, of course, static. We put in a lot of effort to imbue our scenes with motion and life: lapping waves on the lake, rolling fog, flocks of birds, clouds gliding across the sky, and so on. These effects were made using a variety of methods. For fog, smoke, clouds, flames, etc. we use particle effects in Unity. For our water effects we made a shader that makes our 2D water look almost three-dimensional. Most of our animations are created externally. Some are rendered in Blender, others are hand-painted in Photoshop. Either way, they are imported as sprite animations into Unity. Where it was necessary, we also used a few 3D models directly in Unity. Our approach is flexible, and it always depends on the needs of the scene.

And... that's it! Hopefully weve given you an interesting insight into our process. With your continuous support, we'll continue creating many more wonderful places in the world of Saint Kotar and beyond.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

Since after the end of the Kickstarter campaign we've been hard at work to improve and add lots of new features in Saint Kotar. Things that weren't good enough in the prologue were improved, and things that we thought were missing were implemented with the ultimate goal to make the full game an overall better experience. And, hopefully, a truly unique adventure game!

This news post summarizes all the work we've done up until now, explains the 4 pillars of Saint Kotar and, as a reward for being patient reading it, shows an in-game screenshot of a never-seen-before location in the game.

[h2]The 4 pillars[/h2]

Saint Kotar's design is based on, as we like to call them internally, the 4 pillars. They pretty much explain the vision of the game and how it'll be played, and every design and story choice is built on top of them. Essentially, they represent the core of the game!

Decisions: they influence how you get through the story and how you influence the world and the characters you meet in this world. Some decisions make some puzzles easier to solve, others make them harder.


[h2]Technical overhaul[/h2]

The technical overhaul was the first thing we started working on after the Kickstarter. It's finished now and we are very happy with the results and what they allow us to have in the game:

• better, more fluid and natural-looking character animations
  
• shorter loading times and a better overall optimization of the whole system
  
• close-up scenes (something we thought was missing)
  
• cinematic cut-scenes (same, we were missing them in the prologue)
  
• support for gamepads and achievements
  
• better looking and more user-friendly UI
  

[h2]Rewrite and redesign[/h2]

In the prologue the player has a role that is too passive, especially in the dialogs. So what we did was to rewrite and redesign the whole story from ground up. This doesn't mean we've changed the story, it just means that the way we are telling it was changed, and for the better. With the new design the player takes a more active role in the game, just like how it needs to be and how it had to be in the first place in the prologue. This leads me to the next point - the UI changes.

[h2]UI changes[/h2]

Dialog options now feature a portrait of the person the playable character is talking to, the last sentence that was spoken during the conversation, and the possibility to see the history (log) of that particular conversation by clicking on the expand button. Conversations are still played out outside the dialog box, just like in the prologue (with the sentences appearing above the characters' heads), and the box appears on screen only when the player has to choose what he/she wants to say or do. Take a look:



When you are wandering around the town or doing stuff (not talking to people), instead of the inventory icon from the prologue, you now see the portrait of the character you are controlling at the moment. And, when the game allows you to switch manually between the two playable characters, a smaller portrait of the other playable character currently not being controlled is visible on screen as well. Clicking on that portrait makes the game to switch control from one character to the other:



A new feature is the Memory system! It allows you to see all the tasks, be it completed or active, and the map of the town and its surroundings. This will be very useful as Saint Kotar not only has main tasks (or quests, if you prefer), but also side tasks that are not mandatory to be solved in order to progress through the story and finish the game. Although, if you do complete them you will be rewarded for doing so.



[h2]New version of the prologue coming this summer![/h2]

The version of the prologue Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask that was released in June 2020, and is still available, will be replaced with a new version this summer! This new version, let's call it for now version 2.0, will include all the improvements and new features mentioned above in the article (obviously, the ones that the full game will have as well). It'll be a completely new experience, and it'll be made available for free, again.

[h2]New screenshot[/h2]

Thank you for sticking with the article up to this point (if you just scrolled down to see the screenshot, we won't judge you, but you are missing a lot of valuable information about the game). This is an in-game screenshot of the never-seen-before lodge location in Saint Kotar!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

Join us for the live stream of Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask, the prologue of Saint Kotar, as part of the Big Adventure Event! While watching, chat with us and ask us anything you want, from dev related stuff to what type of pizza we like.

Keep in mind (!): a new version of the prologue will be released, again for free, this summer! Learn about all the improvements and new features (that will be included in the full game as well, obviously) in our latest news post here: https://www.redmartyr.com/news/32/summary-of-improvements-and-features-in-saint-kota/

Join and be notified when the broadcast starts here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1358530/view/3061852983783319355

Start of the broadcast: Saturday, January 23rd at 9 AM Pacific time (6 PM CET time)
Duration of the broadcast: 1 hour, until 10 AM Pacific time (7 PM CET time)

Event name: Big Adventure Event
Event link: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TheBigAdventureEvent



Wishlist the full game Saint Kotar steamthumbsup
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

Click play and turn the sound on to get into the mood:

[previewyoutube=77o_aKDKnXA;full][/previewyoutube]

Yes! Even in the darkest of places, such as the world of Saint Kotar, one can find light and joy if he wants to. The year we are leaving behind was in many ways sad, hard and tragic... It was dark, but it wasn't lightless. If you are a Kickstarter backer of Saint Kotar, or have supported us in any other way, you can be very proud because you gave us the light when we were on the verge of falling into darkness. That light is driving us now into the new year, towards the completion of this project.

We wish you and yours happy Holidays and a happy, healthy, and playful 2021!

[h3]Progress[/h3]

This update is not only about good wishes, but about good development progress as well. We decided about, and have already started implementing into the game, two things:

• death scenes!
  
• Memory system (work in progress title)
  

[h3]The new Saint Kotar cover[/h3]

Take a good, good look at it:



Have you noticed? We slightly changed the logo as well. Now, you might wonder, why the new cover? Long story short, we believe the new one better represents the game and is more visually appealing than the old one. The new cover is darker, more story-aligned and full of hidden symbolism. Nothing was added on the cover for the sake of making it look nicer, every single element and detail are there for a reason.

Some behind the scenes of the creation process:

[previewyoutube=xOFEWxGiSDI;full][/previewyoutube]

[h3]UI changes[/h3]

Aside the technical overhaul and improvements on other important stuff (such as, the smoothness and speed of animations), we've also started redesigning the user interface. Still a work in progress, but this is close to how the new dialog options box will look like in Saint Kotar:



And, still regarding the UI changes, portraits are replacing the inventory icon in the bottom-left corner:



[h3]Narrative redesign[/h3]

We are changing things in the narrative department as well. The goal is to create a better and more enjoyable experience for the player by redesigning how the game is played and by rewriting dialogues and descriptions to make them more exciting to read. This redesign includes the content from the prologue as well and so when the times comes we will release a new version of the prologue (Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask), for free.

[h3]Saint Kotar factsheet[/h3]

Release date: August 2021

Platforms: Steam, GOG, Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox

Languages: English (text and voice), French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian

Features: Achievements, Full controller support, Cloud saving, Dev commentary

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

Get in the spooky spirit with our collection of digital goodies from Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask, on sale until November 2!

Saint Kotar: Supporter Pack is part of the Halloween Sale, and by getting it you directly support the development of Saint Kotar! steamhappy

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1350040/Saint_Kotar_Supporter_Pack/

It's October, the spookiest month of the year! On the other hand, nothing spooky is happening in regards to the development of Saint Kotar. Quite the opposite; work is progressing as planned and the team is happy, creative and productive!

If you want to read the longer version of this update, make yourself cozy and head over to the original Kickstarter post. If you prefer to know only the most essential bits, then this is the place to be!

[h3]The overhaul[/h3]

The prologue of Saint Kotar was well received, but it's far from being perfect. And we want the full game to be as perfect as possible, or at least considerably improved, so after the Kickstarter we've started doing an overhaul of the whole system which will bring to the game:

• concurrent actions
  
• close-up scenes
  
• cutscenes
  
• better character responsiveness and animations (smoother, faster, more natural)
  
• and, as you may have already noticed if you've played the prologue after the last update (pushed a month ago), far better loading times!
  

We've pushed a new update which we fully recommend you to download as it makes the game:

• faster! The game now has significantly faster loading times between locations
  
• smaller in size! The game now "weighs" only 3.1 Gb (in confront to the 7.5 Gb before the update)
  
• cleaner and more enjoyable (with less bugs)
  

Hello everyone,

The Saint Kotar Kickstarter campaign has successfully ended on Saturday, July 25! Its been a few days already, but we are still beyond thankful to our community for helping us achieve more than just our base goal.

1,163 backers have pledged 50,178 to help bring Saint Kotar to life, which means we achieved three of our stretch goals. Thanks to the great efforts of our wonderful backers, Saint Kotar will be released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms, alongside the PC platform (Windows, Mac, and Linux)!

Even though the campaign has officially ended, you can still support us in the post-Kickstarter campaign via Paypal. This way you can further support the development and pre-purchase the full game; all you have to do is choose one of the available rewards.

The full game will feature up to 20 hours of gameplay, full voice-acting, and developer commentary in which we will explain the development process as you play. Its important to mention that Saint Kotar will be localized into German, Spanish, French, Italian and Russian, with possible localization into other languages as well, such as Simplified Chinese, Brazilian, Turkish, Polish, and Czech.

We also achieved the Backstory DLC stretch goal; the DLC will be exclusively free for the backers and will offer additional 1 to 2 hours of gameplay time playing with Viktoria, the mysterious character that is not seen, but is often talked about, in the prologue.

We have set up the Steam store page for the full game, so you can already add it to your wishlist.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

Once again, thank you for being a part of this success story, helping us achieve our goal and making our dream a reality!

[h2]Funded 114% with over 1050 backers![/h2]

With less than 2 days until the end of the Kickstarter campaign, Saint Kotar is (at the moment of writing this news) 114% funded, with only 500 away from the next stretch goal that unlocks the Backstory DLC + Partial Voice Acting.



[h2]Portrayed by Mirko - LAST 48 hours special add-on![/h2]

Until the end of the campaign at 9 AM CEST (3 AM EDT) on Saturday, July 25, for 35 ($40) you can get yourself (or someone else of your choosing) a nice digital portrait illustrated by our artist Mirko. It'll be made with such a quality that you can even print it at your favorite local print shop. Learn more in our post update #26.



[h2]"Your bust in-game" add-on still available[/h2]

You can further contribute to the campaign by choosing two more special and limited add-ons. As revealed two days ago, for 50 ($58) your head (or someone's else of your choosing) can appear in the form of a bust in Saint Kotar, or for only 5 ($6) your name on our Saint Kotar office poster (your name will oversee us while we work hard on the game). To learn more about these two add-ons, read our post update #24.



[h2]Only 48 hours left[/h2]

The clock is ticking. By supporting us on Kickstarter you get exclusive Kickstarter content and you push the campaign to achieve the voice acting and backstory goals: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

Thanks to the amazing contribution of our backers on Kickstarter Saint Kotar is (at the moment) 108% funded! We are racing full force towards the next stretch goal "Backstory DLC + Partial Voice Acting", but there's only 4 days left. Time is not on our side now, but ideas are.

To give a nice and meaningful reason to further contribute to the campaign, we present two new add-ons: the "Your bust with your name in-game" and the "Your name on the Saint Kotar poster"!

These two add-ons are special for being available only for the final 4 days of the campaign, while the "Bust" add-on is also super limited to only 50 backers!

Take a look at the infographic below that explains what they offer.



We look forward in seeing your heads in Saint Kotar and your names on our poster! :)

Learn more about these add-ons and how to pledge to them in this post: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/posts/2899701

[h2]Saint Kotar is happening[/h2]

Saint Kotar has reached (and has passed since) the 100% mark on Kickstarter! The game is not only fully funded but it's also coming to consoles (Nintendo Switch, Playstation and Xbox) as we've managed to achieve the first stretch goal "Console ports". Exciting times!



[h2]Next stretch goal: Backstory DLC + Partial Voice Acting[/h2]

But the Kickstarter campaign is not over yet, there's still 4 days until the end! If you've played Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask you already know there are a lot of things that happened the night before the start of the free prologue. Almost every character has something to say about last night's events, and what's happening in the prologue is directly related to what happened the night before.



Without spoiling too much, it is the night of the town's special day, the night of the ritual. It is also the night when Benedek, Nikolay and Viktoria arrive in town. The full game continues where the prologue ends, while the last night's events are part of the backstory that was never planned to be playable. But if we reach the stretch goal "Backstory DLC + Partial Voice Acting" we can make it a reality, in the form of a DLC.

The Backstory DLC would offer an additional 1 to 2 hours of gameplay time while playing with Viktoria, the mysterious character that is not even seen, but is often talked about, in the prologue. The DLC would be exclusively free for all the backers of this Kickstarter campaign. Each backer that pledged to the "Early Key to Heaven" (or "Key to Heaven") tier or to any of the higher priced tiers would get this DLC for free if the stretch goal is achieved.

[h2]Add the full game Saint Kotar to your wishlist[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358530/Saint_Kotar/

[h2]Support the game on Kickstarter[/h2]

The project is funded, but the higher we get the better the overall experience will be. Voice acting would be great to have! Consider supporting the game, join nearly 1000 backers! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

[h2]Incredible effort[/h2]

The 11:00 PM CEST on Friday, July 17, deadline has passed. It was a goal were we had to achieve 100% in order to unlock all the remaining hidden locations in the game (so far, only 2 of them have been unlocked with the community stretch goals).

When we announced the goal on Thursday the project was funded 87%. At the time of writing this post we are at 94%. Even if we didn't get to 100%, an increase of 7% in two days is a great achievement. This is a result of a lot of new backers joining the project (we are now over 900 backers), but also of the many existing backers increasing their pledges. And not to forget those who have spread the word out about the campaign! Our backers were all incredible and we cannot ignore their efforts, they deserve to be rewarded:



Yes! Even if we didn't achieve the goal, we decided to reward the amazing support they've been giving us (and not only for the past two days) by unlocking all the remaining hidden locations in the game. This means that the game will have a total number of 7 hidden locations to be uncovered! Hidden locations are locations that offer an insight into the background story and lore of the town, a non-playable character to interact with, a special item that could help with the progress at certain points in the story, or sometimes even all of the above mentioned together. To learn more about these locations, read post update #4.

[h2]Let's continue rising and pushing forward[/h2]

With 7 days to go until the end of the campaign we need only about 2000 (about $2200) to fund this project! The sooner we achieve it, the quicker we'll be able to focus on the stretch goals that are waiting just around the corner.



Contribute to the success of the campaign, become a part of the project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

If we manage to have the project funded by 11:00 PM CEST on Friday, July 17, which is today, we will unlock all the remaining hidden locations in the full game Saint Kotar (so far, only 2 hidden locations have been unlocked). This special goal will replace all the remaining community stretch goals.



Hidden locations are locations that offer an insight into the background story and lore of the town, a non-playable character to interact with, a special item that could help with the progress at certain points in the story, or sometimes even all of the above mentioned together. To learn more about these locations, read post update #4 on Kickstarter.

A total of 884 backers have supported this project so far, pushing it so high to be 93% funded, with 7 days to go.

Let's try to get the remaining hidden locations unlocked by achieving 100% today. Support the project, get the word out about the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

[h2]Surprise, surprise![/h2]

We have a surprise, an unexpected goal that if achieved will unlock all the remaining hidden locations that are currently tied to the community stretch goals. So far only two of the total number of se7en hidden locations have been unlocked.



Hidden locations are locations that offer an insight into the background story and lore of the town, a non-playable character to interact with, a special item that could help with the progress at certain points in the story, or sometimes even all of the above mentioned together. To learn more about these locations, read post update #4 on Kickstarter.

[h2]We need to achieve 100%[/h2]

The goal is very simple: if we manage to have the project funded by 11 PM CEST on Friday, July 17, we will unlock all the remaining hidden locations in the game. This special goal will replace all the remaining community stretch goals.



Considering that right now we are 87% funded and that we have a trend of growing 3 to 5% each day, this goal is very achievable! It does need a stronger push than usual, but it's not impossible.

And hey, can you imagine? The game will have all the hidden locations and it will be funded! And then we can start looking at those sweet stretch goals. Oh, what a day, what a lovely day it would be! :)

Get the word out about this special goal and we'll do the same. Let's get it achieved and the project funded together!

Visit the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

[h2]7-day extension[/h2]

Great news: the Kickstarter team extended our campaign by 7 days!

They saw the potential of the project and the efforts put into the campaign, they've seen a great community of backers... and so they agreed to extend the campaign until Saturday, July 25.



In normal circumstances Kickstarter doesn't allow extensions, but the spread of COVID-19 has created uncertainty and stress for so many people, including developers and backers alike, that they decided to make exceptions. We believe the pandemic has played its part in slowing down this campaign.

The extension is great news that certainly helps, but we must keep growing to achieve the goal(s) in front of us. After we get the basic goal, there's the Console ports goal, then there are the voice acting goals... and many more that are still waiting to be uncovered. Exciting times ahead of us! :)

[h2]Interactive animated comic book and time limited discount![/h2]

The background story and lore of Saint Kotar span a long period of history, going as far back as Ancient era Europe. Weve invested so much work into creating a unique story and world with a long history (relating it to real-life events, objects and people), which gives us the opportunity to tell several stories from different time periods, each connected to the present-day story of Saint Kotar.

One of these stories is Saint Kotar: The Sekvra Book, an interactive animated comic book set in 15th century Europe during the onset of a dark age for this continent. The widespread panic that lead to hunts and extermination of heretics at the time was merely a consequence of something far more sinister. At the heart of this darkness was a predestined witch and her sacrifice to help fulfill an ominous prophecy.

[previewyoutube=DBNsCxqLIf4;full][/previewyoutube]

This dark tale in The Sek'vra Book is connected to the present-day story of the game Saint Kotar and will be delivered in the form of an interactive animated comic book (its one page preview is seen in the video above) which is included in the Early Fear of Sights and Sounds tier and all higher priced tiers.

If you pledge to Hands of Fate, Malleus Maleficarum or Pontifex Maximus tier, among a wealth of other things, you will appear as a specific character in the same comic book. Visit the Kickstarter page and look out for these tiers, they are discounted but only for a limited time: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

We've received a few messages from potential backers asking us what do they get by pledging on Kickstarter. They were confused by the description "Digital copy of Saint Kotar for a special Kickstarter price" in the bulleted list of all tiers and the text "... plus the Saint Kotar key for a special Kickstarter price for..." in the "Key to Heaven" tier.

No one told us until now that this description was confusing, but now that some did we had to react to clear up any doubts.

By pledging to the tier/reward "Early Key to Heaven" (sold out) or "Key to Heaven" and every other higher priced tier/reward, you get the full game on release. You will not have to pay anything more later when the game comes out and you will get the full experience.

What the description "Digital copy of Saint Kotar for a special Kickstarter price" in the rewards means is that you are buying the full game now but at a discounted price in confront to the price that will be set on release in stores.

The Kickstarter system doesn't allow us to edit the description once the rewards have already been pledged to so we don't have a choice but to reach out to all of our followers and explain it this way.

Saint Kotar is now 80% funded! Consider supporting the game on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

[h2]75% funded![/h2]

Hello everyone, we have some great news today - the Kickstarter project is going full force towards the goal, we are now 75% funded!



Yesterday, a backer bought the 5000 tier "One of the Seven Disciples". That tier is limited to 7 backers, so if you want to visit the mountain region of Croatia, where the fictive town of Sveti Kotar is placed, you can still pledge to it and get a wealth of nice goodies as well as in-game objects dedicated only to you. The tier was designed to let you experience the atmosphere and see with your own eyes the mysteriously beautiful region that inspired the creation of the game's world.


Gorski kotar, Croatia. The mountain region where the game takes place.

[h2]New NPC tiers added[/h2]

We have added 4 new tiers that give the backers a possibility to become a non-playable character in Saint Kotar. One of them, the 1100 tier "Head Worshipper" has already been sold out!



The backer who pledged to the tier "Head Worshipper" became the leader of a sinister cult in Saint Kotar.


By pledging to the tier "Bookworm" you become the bookstore owner, a furtive woman that knows so much and yet speaks so little about the town's dark secrets. We will design this non-playable character based on your look. You can pledge to this tier or increase your existing pledge and choose this tier here.


By pledging to the tier "Chief at the Edge of Hell" you become the chief of police, a respected and feared persona in this town tormented by agony and sorrow. We will design this non-playable character based on your look and your character will be voiced (if, at least, partial voice acting stretch goal is achieved) by Happy Anderson, the American actor best known for his role in the Netflix's tv show Mindhunter. You can pledge to this tier or increase your existing pledge and choose this tier here.


By pledging to the tier "Saintly Shepherd" you become the town's priest, a highly respected person and the only true leader of this strange community. We will design this non-playable character based on your look and your character will be voiced (if, at least, partial voice acting stretch goal is achieved) by Kellen Goff, the American actor best known for his roles in The Last of Us 2 and Five Nights at Freddy's. You can pledge to this tier or increase your existing pledge and choose this tier here.

Each of these 4 new tiers include a wealth of other physical and digital goodies as well. Take a look at all the tiers of this campaign here.

[h2]First community stretch goal achieved[/h2]

We are going full force with the community stretch goals as well. One of them has been achieved, and others are progressing fine as well!

Reminder: whenever we achieve one community stretch goal, there will be a new hidden location in the game waiting to be discovered. In total, there are se7en hidden locations to be unlocked. You can learn more about them in the Kickstarter post update #4.

[h2]Only 7 days left![/h2]

We need only 25% to get the project funded and then only the sky is the limit! Although we have only 7 days left we can still reach even the stretch goals! Let's do it! :)

Consider supporting the project on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx

Saint Kotar is currently 70% funded on Kickstarter, with over 650 backers and 8 days to go. Earlier today a backer bought the 5000 tier "One of the Seven Disciples". What a great start of the day that was!

We are now going full force towards the first goal! Jump on the train, contribute to the success of this project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar?ref=34wgpx



We also listen ad we care for the players. Based on the players' feedback a new update for the prologue was pushed yesterday. It includes:

• Simplified Chinese localization
  
• a bigger font size
  
• brightness slider in the menu
  
• minor updates and bug fixes
  

Saint Kotar is 56% funded with over 620 backers on Kickstarter!

We present you one of the tiers: Unknown Fate.



You get everything included in the tier Box of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, plus:

• your own portrait on a missing person poster (in-game object found in the police station lobby and other prominent locations within the town)
  
• a digital avatar of the same portrait for use on social networks and forums
  
• your own case file in-game (found in the police station) containing your portrait, name, date of birth
  
• a digital version of the case file in PDF format
  

If you've played Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask you already know there are a lot of things that happened the night before the start of the free prologue. Almost every character has something to say about last night's events, and what's happening in the prologue is directly related to what happened the night before.



Without spoiling too much, it is the night of the town's special day, the night of the ritual. It is also the night when Benedek, Nikolay and Viktoria arrive in town. The full game continues where the prologue ends, while the last night's events are part of the backstory that was never planned to be playable. But if we reach the stretch goal "Backstory DLC + Partial Voice Acting" on Kickstarter we can make it a reality, in the form of a DLC.

The Backstory DLC would offer an additional 1 to 2 hours of gameplay time while playing with Viktoria, the mysterious character that is not even seen, but is often talked about, in the prologue. The DLC would be exclusively free for all the backers of the Kickstarter campaign. Each backer that pledged to the "Early Key to Heaven" (or "Key to Heaven") tier and above would get this DLC for free. For other players, outside the Kickstarter, the DLC would be made available with a price on stores, sold separately from the full game.

In addition, this stretch goal would allow us to partially voice the characters in the full game. This means that they would be brought to life again with an amazing pool of talented actors, just like in the prologue, but with the difference of having only some lines voiced. If we reach the "Full Voice Acting + Dev Commentary" stretch goal, in that case everything would be voiced, exactly as it is in the prologue.



Visit the Saint Kotar Kickstarter campaign and consider backing the project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/

Paintings exist to enrich our lives and preserve our memories. By pledging to the "Perpetuated Existence" tier on Kickstarter you get everything included in the tier "Box of the Valley of the Shadow of Death", plus:

• your own antique portrait in one of the many locations throughout Saint Kotar
  
• a digital avatar of the same portrait for use on social networks and forums
  
• your portrait appears along with your name and surname in the game credits
  
• you get two extra digital game keys of Saint Kotar (three keys in total)
  
• exclusive alpha and beta access to the full game Saint Kotar
  

Marko Tomini, the CEO of Red Martyr Entertainment and game director of Saint Kotar wrote an honest and open letter about the true story behind the project Saint Kotar.



He wrote it because he felt you deserve to know more how we got here (how we managed to develop the prologue), in order to better understand how serious we are about this project and what does it mean to us all.

You can read the letter in our latest Kickstarter update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/posts/2884210

[h2]Classic Horror mode is here[/h2]

Have you watched our stream of the prologue on Facebook earlier today? It was our first ever! But not the last one, as we will stream again before the end of the campaign (most probably on Steam next time). If you hadn't have the time to watch it live, no problem, you can watch the recorded video here now: https://www.facebook.com/SaintKotar/videos/289929019031602/

As seen in the video, for the most part we played with the new "Classic Horror" mode! It's a mode that allows to play the prologue Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask in the vein of the old horror movies and from now on you can try it yourself, just be sure to update the game before launching it.

[h2]Czech and Spanish (LA) localization[/h2]



The new update that includes the "Classic Horror" mode was pushed an hour ago. It also contains, among some minor tweaks and bug fixes, localization into 2 new languages: the Czech and the Spanish - Latin America. Right on time to make your weekend better! :)

[h2]A serious push on Kickstarter is needed[/h2]

At the time of writing this update, the project is 48% funded with 14 days to go. We need a push now, a serious push to get closer to the goal(s). We're working really hard to promote the project and the campaign, but with all the things going on right now it is very hard to be heard. It's like we're hitting a wall.

If you are a backer already, your pledge alone is a huge contribution to the project, and we're very thankful for that, but please also consider getting the word out. There are players who would love to support this project, we are sure about that. They just don't know it yet, they need to find out about the game first :)

Back Saint Kotar on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/

Tomorrow, Friday, July the 3rd, at 10 AM CEST tune in to watch a live stream of us playing the prologue Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask with the new Classic Horror mode! (read Update #4 on Kickstarter to learn more).

This mode will be available in the game (on Steam and itch.io) later that same day. The stream will end at 3:30 PM CEST.



The stream will go live on Facebook (click here to choose to be reminded), but you'll be able to watch it embedded at the top of the Kickstarter campaign tab as well.

If you decide to watch it on Facebook though, by using the comments-chat section of the video you'll be able to ask us questions on which we'll be answering you in real time.

We'd love you to join us! You can ask whatever you want to, as long as it fits within civilized behavior. Don't forget to call your friends for tomorrow's live session, we want you to hit us with as many questions as possible! :)

Thank you for the support!

We are almost halfway through the Saint Kotar Kickstarter campaign, in every possible sense: 46% funded with 16 days to go. So we have decided to celebrate and gift all of our 500+ amazing backers by revealing some of the previously hidden stretch goals!

Yes, as you can see in the infographic below, the console ports are very close to the base goal! This should be a great news as many have asked us about the consoles version.



More in detail:

• Project funded: the game Saint Kotar gets developed and released in 12 months after the Kickstarter campaign ends.
  
• Console ports: the game Saint Kotar is ported to Nintendo Switch, Playstation and Xbox platforms. Backers who pledged to Early Key to Heaven and Key to Heaven tiers and above choose for which platform they want the game key.
  
• Backstory DLC + Partial VO: all backers get for free the Saint Kotar Backstory DLC that gives the chance to play the events that happened the night before the events in the prologue, in the shoes of Viktoria. In addition, the game gets partial voice acting.
  
• Full VO + Dev Commentary: the game Saint Kotar gets full voice acting and the developers commentary throughout the whole game (switched on or off by choice).
  

We present you the Eyes and Ears of the Asylum tier - Kickstarter exclusive reward, limited to 1 backer.

The tier, among other things, gives you the right to appear in the full game Saint Kotar as the asylums watchman, a mysterious and frightening person that keeps the unwanted visitors on the outside.



We're currently 45% funded with nearly 500 people who believe in this project. Still 17 days to go, we can make it to the basic goal, but why stop there? Let's push higher to achieve stretch goals and make this game longer and richer (you'll get the chance to play with Viktoria the night before the events in the prologue) and available to a wider audience (console ports, localization to other languages).

New campaign update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/posts/2878970
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/

Thank you all! :) Please, get the word out.

Do you like (or miss) the old, classic horror movies such as The Omen (1972), Psycho (arguably a horror, but ok), Eraserhead, Nosferatu... and so on? You like that old black & white style of the old movies? Well, this Friday you might want to consider playing, or re-playing, Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask with a new mode which we named, obviously, the "Classic Horror mode".



It's not just a "filter" to make the screen black & white but also a set of tweaks on the visual effects to make the game look genuinely like the old creepy horror movies. To turn on this mode you'll just have to turn it on in the options section of the main menu.

The scheduled update on Friday will not only bring the "Classic Horror mode" but also the Czech and Spanish (America Latin) localization.



And, last but not least, the update will bring some minor tweaks and fixes to the game itself. We never stopped working on the prologue and will continue to do so until we fully switch to the development of the full game. But, to continue with this project, we need the success of the Kickstarter campaign. If you want to contribute to that success, visit the campaign's page and back the project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/

So far we've been backed by nearly 500 backers and the project is currently 44% funded, with 18 days to go. It's worth to mention that one of the backers bought the tier "Death Whisperer", priced at 2.000 , which will make him appear in the full game as the town's only pathologist-coroner.

Thank you for all the great feedback and support. Get the word out about the prologue and the campaign, we are louder together!

Do you fancy a nice Saint Kotar t-shirt? In that case, one of the physical rewards on Kickstarter, the "Cloth of Envy", might be just what you need.

It includes:

• Physcial copy of Saint Kotar (Steam or DRM-free)
  
• Saint Kotar Kickstarter exclusive "Logo" design t-shirt
  
• Postcard from the town of Sveti Kotar, signed by the devs
  
• Digital content (Soundtrack, Artbook, Interactive comic book, your name in the credits, exclusive backers' Discord channels access, beta access to the full game, 8k Saint Kotar wallpaper, our eternal gratitude)
  

Saint Kotar is a big project, just like its prologue. Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask, that serves as a demo and introduction to the full game, has 2 to 3 hours of gameplay time, it is fully voiced, localized into multiple languages and... to make it short, has everything a full game usually has. It's big when you consider demos usually have 20 to 30 minutes of playtime. And it's completely free.

The prologue has some locations, characters and items that are to be found and interacted with, but are not crucial for the story to progress. It is how it's gonna be in the full game as well. One of these items is a mysterious mask. The meaning of the mask and its background story will be unveiled in the full game, but you can find it already in the prologue, if you know when and where to look for it. We won't spoil the fun, but the picture in this update hints where you should search.

And, out of curiosity, how many of you have already found the mask? Tell us in the comments, without spoiling the location to others! :)

At the time of writing this post, Saint Kotar is 36% funded by a total of 448 backers. You can join them, by backing Saint Kotar you are also supporting a game that will have up to 20 hours of gameplay time and over 70 explorable locations: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/

Thank you for the great feedback you've been giving us! We see everything and we listen.

[previewyoutube=v6wXWVa9kN4;full][/previewyoutube]

Saint Kotar is LIVE on Kickstarter! 33% funded in 7 days, with over 400 backers so far!

Among other rewards, you can get a physical copy (Steam or DRM-free) of Saint Kotar - Kickstarter exclusive!



steamhappy Back us now on Kickstarter: https://bit.ly/3duUjUs

Thank you all for the support! Please, get the word out, like, retweet and share!

We hear and see everything, and we listen, so here's what the new (already pushed) update includes:

• Major update of the voice overs, sounds and soundtracks. Balanced, refined, enhanced.
  
• Fixed the responsiveness of the mouse double-click. For those who want to run, they can do it easier now.
  
• Small update on the Brazilian and Polish localization.
  
• Fixed, improved and tweaked several actions and animations for better smoothness and experience.
  

Hi everyone!

Yesterday we pushed a new update to the game which consists of:

• added Brazilian localization.
  
• added audio menu to the in-game menu for easier/quicker volume tuning.
  
• updated Polish localization.
  
• fixed some minor bugs.
  

The most important day for the Saint Kotar project has come!

Today at exactly 8:40 AM CEST time the prologue Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask was released. You can now play it for free and enjoy a whooping gameplay time of 2 to 3 hours. The prologue covers the beginning of the full game, it is fully voiced and localized into multiple languages (more languages coming soon), giving you the right sense of our vision for the full game.

To continue the development of Saint Kotar beyond the prologue we need your support on Kickstarter. If you like what you see and hear in The Yellow Mask, head over to the game's Kickstarter page and help us to continue working on this dream project.

Your support means everything to us and you can help in any way you can - by pledging to one of the nicely tailored tiers and by spreading the word out about the project. Thank you!

Saint Kotar Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar/

Good news everyone,

your wishes have been granted weve added Polish and Turkish localization for Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask! Along with English text and voices, now we have German, Russian, Polish and Turkish localization set for the release. The Italian and Brazilian Portuguese are also in the queue and hopefully will be ready for launch as well.

As you already know, Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask is going to be released June 18, along with the Kickstarter campaign, so theres still time to wishlist and follow the campaign!

We are thrilled to announce that Happy Anderson, the talented American actor who has worked in film, television and on and off Broadway, has joined Saint Kotar as a voice actor!

Anderson caught our eyes with his outstanding performance as the serial killer Jerry Brudos in the critically acclaimed Netflixs show Mindhunter (seen in the header image of this news). He also played, among others, in the movies Bright and Bird Box, in Cinemaxs show The Knick, and as a voice actor in video games Max Payne 3, Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2.

In Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask, the free prologue of the full game Saint Kotar scheduled to release on June 18, Anderson takes the role of Davor, the owner of the tavern Gorski.

Hello everyone,

the wait is finally over! We have a new trailer to go along with our big announcement Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask will be released June 18, 2020!

As we mentioned before, the start of our Saint Kotar Kickstarter campaign will coincide with the official release of the prologue, but you can already prepare by visiting the Kickstarter pre-launch page and clicking the Notify me on launch button.

Without further ado, please enjoy the brand new trailer for Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask!

[previewyoutube=ln8U0DbH-Pw;full][/previewyoutube]

Youre probably aware of the fact that we held a closed playtesting session with chosen players that signed up via newsletter and Discord well, were proud to say we have our first Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask feedback! Here are some impressions from our players so far:

"Saint Kotar is simply amazing and I cannot wait to play the rest of the game. Great work!", "Runs perfect.. Left me hungry for more..", "I am completely in love with your game, its beautiful art style and its atmosphere. And I love the suspense! You have done an impressive job there!"

We are more than pleased with the fact that playtesters are thoroughly enjoying the prologue! Of course, it goes without saying that there are still some general improvements and bugs that need to be fixed.
Due to the amount of work that remains we have to slightly push back the release; theres a lot of polishing that needs to be done, plus were still waiting for voice-overs and localization. We do have an exact date for June, but for now we are keeping it to ourselves. The date will be revealed in the next ten days with a new trailer.

Our plans regarding the Kickstarter campaign are unchanged the launch will coincide with the official release of Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask. If you havent already, make sure you visit the Saint Kotar pre-launch Kickstarter page and click the Notify me on launch button. That way you have an option to get a notification (and an email right in your inbox) the moment our project launches.

Hello everybody,

the application form for playtesting Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask is now online! If you havent already, hop into our Discord server or subscribe to our newsletter this step is important for you to be able to get a chance to participate. When youve got that out of the way, head to our application form and fill out the necessary information.

We will contact the chosen participants by the end of next week via Discord or e-mail, so keep your eyes peeled on your Discord messages or your inbox! Please note that as much as we'd like to inform each applicant, because of the high number of applications, we are able to do so only for the selected ones.

Good luck!

Just a quick update before the Easter weekend Saint Kotar Kickstarter pre-launch page is now active!

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redmartyr/saint-kotar

You can visit the pre-launch page and opt to get notified the moment our project launches; just log in to your Kickstarter account (or sign up if you havent already), and click Notify me on launch!

As we mentioned before, the Kickstarter campaign will be launched in May, with the exact date to be
announced in a few weeks. The release of the free prologue Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask will coincide with the start of the campaign to raise funds for the development of the full game.

Stay home, be safe, and help us spread the word about the campaign!

Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask has entered the alpha stage! What exactly does that mean?

[h3]Polishing, and more polishing[/h3]
First and foremost, it means polishing. Right now we are conducting internal playtests that allow us to hunt and exterminate pesky bugs, as well as further refine all the aspects of the game. Were adding new assets, fixing existing ones and putting finishing touches on location and character designs. There are some things you notice only when you playtest, so we are laser-focused on every single detail to make sure nothing is amiss.

[h3]The original plan was to release the game in April[/h3]
Our initial plan was to release in April and we were on the right track to accomplish that; however, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) changed everything, and not only for us. Our entire country and region have been hit pretty hard everything is closed and strict measures regarding work and movement have been placed in order to slow down the spreading of the virus. Measures keep getting tighter each day in an attempt to fully stop the disease. Weve resorted back to remote work, and for the past 10 days weve been working from home.

If that wasnt enough, an earthquake hit Zagreb the damage was quite severe, and the sound studio where our game sounds are made is now inaccessible, given that its located in an evacuated building; that means we must find an alternative location.

[h3]Release in May[/h3]
Unfortunately, as a consequence, our work has slowed down and some of the things that still need to be done are currently on hold. Some things are impossible to do remotely. Because of the possible further prolongation of the measures and the uncertainty weve decided to go with a safer goal: release the prologue in May (as well as launch the Kickstarter), with the exact date to be announced by the end of April when, hopefully, things will settle down.

Closed beta testing, exclusively for our newsletter subscribers and Discord members, will start in a few weeks. So if you want to get a chance to beta playtest the prologue, simply join our Discord server or subscribe to our Newsletter. If you get chosen to be a part of the beta your name will be listed in the credits of Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask!

This whole situation with the virus is horrible, but were all in this together, so the most important thing right now is for everyone to stay home and stay safe. Play games, read, watch the tv, spend time with your family. You know the saying - theres always sunshine after the rain.

A few weeks ago we published a news post that we are in need of voice actors for the two main characters in Saint Kotar. The response to the call was beyond our humble expectations, as during the next several weeks weve received more than 300 applications!

Cheers, today we celebrate as we made the final decision!

For the role of Benedek weve recognized a perfect fit in the voice of Mike Bodie, a talented actor whose portfolio includes AAA titles such as, among others, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Wolfenstein 2, The Division 2 and Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Breakpoint.

Nikolay will be brought to life by the talent of Michael Schwalbe, an experienced voice actor whose portfolio includes an amazing range of titles such as Devil May Cry 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Slay the Spire, Shadowverse and many more.



We are incredibly proud and excited to have such amazing talents on board with us, and we cannot wait for you to hear our characters come to life!

Red Martyr Entertainment is looking to hire male voice actors for the roles of two main characters in Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask.

Roles: Main characters - Benedek Dohnany and Nikolay Kalyakin

Type of work: Paid

Requirements:

• male actors with a voice suited for characters in the 30-40 age range
  
• highly proficient in spoken and written English
  
• high level of acting abilities
  
• skilled to express emotions and different mental states
  

[h2]Why the silence?[/h2]
Over the past year we decided to put a halt on our PR activities due to unforeseen technical difficulties wed faced. Until the problem was fixed we decided the best course of action would be to remain silent in order to avoid giving the community a false hope for a release. During that time weve received several messages from fans with raising concerns about the projects status. Weve felt frustrated and angry at ourselves, but at the same time we knew we were on the right track so we kept working in the shadows.

[h2]The good news[/h2]
The time has finally come to tell you the good news - we can confirm that the playable demo of Saint Kotar, titled The Yellow Mask, is well on its way and the development is coming to a conclusion. We updated the whole Steam page and edited the description (all of them: ENG, GER, RUS and ITA), published a new set of screenshots (take a look in the gallery) and added a brand new trailer (seen below as well as in the gallery) to show you the progress and give you a glimpse into this mysterious world. We still dont have a release date, as we want to be sure everythings in its place before announcing it, but that day is fast approaching!

[previewyoutube=7ZkdWsanZh4;full][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Up to an hour and a half of playtime[/h2]
To remind you, the release of the demo will coincide with the launch of the Kickstarter campaign. The Yellow Mask covers just the beginning of the whole story, and to be able to let you play the rest well need additional funds. Its important to note that the demo will have an hour to an hour and a half of playtime, with a branching story where your actions and words are fateful and affect two plotlines. Were more than confident when we say that the long wait will be worth.

[h2]Another good news[/h2]
We have also undergone a rebranding process, changing our studio name from Tanais Games to Red Martyr Entertainment. The decision to rebrand wasnt an easy one but we felt it was needed and the right time to do it is now. It flourished from a desire to turn the page and start fresh, leaving behind our past mistakes while nourishing the knowledge and experience we gained by doing them. We explained everything in a detailed news post on our new eye-catching website: What happened to us?

From now on we will be posting regular updates and news here on Steam, on our website, as well as on all our social media outlets. Were back, were here and were not going away anymore. The demo is coming and going stronger than ever before!

For some time now we've been receiving questions about the status of Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask, most of them expressing worry about the successful delivery of this demo, as well as the full game that would follow a successful Kickstarter campaign.

We know that we've been radio silent for the past couple of months, but there's no reason to worry; this is only because all of our efforts are concentrated on finishing the demo as soon as possible we want to show it to you as badly as you want to play it, and we've been working diligently towards realizing this goal day after day (weekends being no exception!).

We are extremely grateful for the patience you've already shown, and we hope to repay it sooner rather than later. However, we thought it best to keep all the new details under wraps until everything is finalized. You can also help us by wishlisting the demo if you already haven't, and designating appropriate tags for it here on Steam. That way, its more likely that it will reach an interested audience - you can do it with the help of the little + sign in the tags section to the right!

As always, you can rest assured that we'll be sharing whatever new developments we can as soon as they are ready. Until then, stay tuned!

In our previous post, we informed you that we would need more time in order to get Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask up to the level of quality we deem satisfactory. While we cannot divulge the full details of what goes on behind the scenes, we can provide you with some reasons why the mentioned longer wait is worth it.

Let's start with the art department. The intention is for the final game to have a hefty number of locations you will be able to visit; we want this number to be high, but never achieved at the expense of quality, a goal we can more easily reach with the additional time provided. Of course, only some of these will be shown in the demo; we can't share too much, but we definitely want to pique your interest. We have already doubled down on polishing the scenes (and their resident characters) that will find themselves in the demo, and they will soon be ready. The level of detail our talented artists put into these is truly astounding, and they are making sure each of those details are precisely where they need to be to achieve absolute immersion.

We are also preparing a Saint Kotar-themed comic book! It covers part of the game's background story and will be available as part of our Kickstarter reward tiers. Set during the witch hunts of 15th century Europe, it explores the ominous reasons behind the panic that drove people to such acts.


A small excerpt from the comic book

Art assets are an important background for the equally important story. Considering it is the very foundation of our game, our scenario is still being worked on to guarantee an adventure worth your time. With our characters rounded out and their purpose set, the coming period will serve as an ideal opportunity to finalize the construction of a reasonable and compelling narrative around them, one that leaves no room for plot holes or blandness. We achieve this type of work largely through Articy Draft; a piece of software which permits creation of the game's scenario and gameplay itself, logic and puzzles included. While the demo is naturally a priority, the outline for the rest of the game is also being realized through these means to ensure the demo aligns correctly with it.


Branching dialogue creation in Articy Draft

When all of this is ready, we can complete the integration of the game into our engine of choice, Unity, which serves as a technical background for implementation of our work in Articy. Afterwards, we will be able to evaluate and review how all of its elements behave together. This is the point where your help comes into play; as mentioned, our newsletter subscribers and Discord server participants will both have the one of a kind opportunity to playtest the demo with us! If you don't want to miss out, subscribe to the game's newsletter list or join our Discord server by following this link: http://www.saintkotar.com/#blog

Hey, dear followers, here's a short update about the game's current state!

Our recent technical overhaul for Saint Kotar took more time than anticipated, but it won't stop us from coming through with our vision. The Kickstarter campaign is actually entirely ready, waiting only for us to finish the demo, alongside which we will launch it.

Some of the things that remain to be completed include recording sessions for our voice actors, as well as some technical work in Unity and playtesting. This last requirement is something you may be able to help with as well! As the demo begins to draw near, subscribers of our newsletter and participants of our Discord server will both have an exclusive chance to aid us in straightening out those final hitches by testing the demo before its release!

We will be able to decide on a Kickstarter and demo release date in the following months, and we will let you know about it as soon as possible on all our outlets, including here on Steam.

If you want to learn more in depth about the project's progress and plans for the future, check out our latest blog: http://www.tanaisgames.com/blog-post/plans-for-the-near-future

Last, but not least, check the image below that showcases progress on one of our scenes and characters:

Dear community, we are happy to announce that Saint Kotar: The Yellow Mask will be available at launch in English, German, Russian and Italian! As a consequence, the game website (http://www.saintkotar.com/) and Steam store page are now fully localized into these languages as well.

Spanish and French are being considered, but right now chances are slim to get them for the demo. One thing is sure, if the upcoming Kickstarter campaign ends successfully, the full game Saint Kotar will have all of the already available languages plus the two aforementioned!