Hello!

We've started working more intensively on our video game—Sen z úst again, so we want you to know about it! Here's a little nostalgic retrospective on how it all started, why it started, and what's to come in (hopefully) a short time.

Game Jam

It's common for small projects that start as a game jam idea to grow into something bigger. Our game is no exception. Okay, maybe a little, because we still want to keep it low key and experimental.

In the beginning one knew the other, and the other knew the other other. Somehow, four very likable guys got together and formed a little video game collective called Chamraď.

The first challenge was to get along and create a video game for the game jam in four days in the theme "Apart yet together." using the rule "Use something real, tangible in the process."

So we started scribbling, sketching, writing, talking . . . What came out of that is known as Sen z úst. We had stories lurking inside us and we wanted to pour them right into the game. Therefore, we decided to create a visual novel type game set in a liminal twisted world full of dreams and those who dream them.

We think about video games like any other art form. That's why (partly because of the game jam rule) we wanted to make a game with our own hands. In the morning, all four of us walked into the nearest arts & crafts store and bought all the cans of children's beige modeling clay.

The days that followed consisted of modeling, drinking unadvisable amounts of caffeine, drawing, not sleeping, coding, showering in ice-cold water, and most of all, having fun. We also had our friend on the line doing the main theme and SFX for the game.

As is the case in every game jam, we didn't manage to finish it, and a lot of ideas didn't make it into the game jam version. Still, people liked it, and most importantly, we liked it a lot. Then it was decided—Sen z úst will live on and the Chamraď collective will remain together!

Passing Time

Game jam was at the end of 2024, and now it's nearing the middle of 2025. Life, school, other projects . . . all of these obligations have kept us from continuing to work on this game of ours. But not anymore! We've done what we had to do and now is hopefully a favorable time to get back to work and finish what we started. This is one of the main reasons to write this devlog now.

We want to include a lot of epic ideas in this project. However, it has to be said that we like to daydream a bit and to keep everything grounded is going to be challenging. We want to finish this game because we want to tell a story. Or stories, I guess, more accurately. And we want to use this beautiful medium that video games are to tell it. Without worrying about how this game is going to do in terms of money or how many people it's going to reach. Among other things, this game and the process of making it should show how we see games and how we want to make them. It's also our first project as a collective, so we'll see how we get along.

On the game's page you may or may not, depending on when you're reading this, see a few screenshots and gifs from the first version of the game. So you get the idea. But basically we're redoing everything. Redrawn backgrounds, new clay characters and models, more scenes, more dialogue, richer tones, and what can I say, we're just going to do it the way we envisioned it. As a teaser, we're attaching a reworked band scene here.

All that being said, we still want the game to be small, not too long, so that we keep in mind the things we started it with. It's meant to be a visual novel. There's not a lot of gameplay in it. Our goal is to create an experience. To give the player something they'll remember, something they'll feel. A story that can make their heart beat. I hope we're not asking for too much. We can at least try to do that.

If you've made it all the way here, thanks for reading this stream of memories and ideas. Welcome to the journey of making this tiny piece of art a reality. It might be weird, but it will be fun. We hope you get a chance to play the whole game soon.

Have a nice day!