WHAT? YOU CLICKED THE BUTTON! SO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW MORE? OKAY, LET’S GO!
Text Me Back is a story-rich 3D adventure game where your choices matter—they truly do! You’ll control April Hamilton, the main character—you know, the girl with the crazy hair who is plastered all over the website—from a third-person view.
The game will be released in five episodes on your favorite online gaming storefront. What? Did you say Origin? No, no, no. Are you crazy? I’m launching it on Steam, of course!
A release for consoles is not a priority right now. Still, if I get enough funding or if the game becomes a success—hopefully, it will—I’ll release it on as many platforms as possible, so you can all get to enjoy it!
You’ll also be able to play a demo that covers the beginning of Episode 1. This means you’ll get a chance to try it out to see if it’s something for you before you commit fully.
And, you know what? Episode 1 will also be completely free to play. I’m just handing out presents left and right, huh? What’s next? Will the entire game also be free? Sadly not. You’ll have to pay for the Episode 2-5 DLC, but only do that if you really like the game, okay?
WELL? WHAT’S THE GAMEPLAY LIKE, THEN?
Good thing you asked! The gameplay focuses mainly on interactions with the characters, who will develop according to the choices you make in your conversations with them. These choices will lead to different outcomes when you meet the characters again. Some you’ll befriend or even fall in love with, while others might be more hostile toward you.
You’ll also be able to examine items and characters. When you do so, April will comment on the item/person. Her comments will depend on the hidden “Karma” metric, which can best be described as her attitude toward the world—whether she’s mostly polite or aggressive. Isn’t that nifty?
It all depends on how you approach the game characters and the way you influence them. Some characters will also be unwilling to talk to you if you have befriended someone they don’t like, so be careful who you hang out with! You don’t want to be seen with the wrong crowd!
Every character will have a full dialogue tree, and there will be dozens of romance options—both male and female. So, you’ll have plenty of fictional lovers to pick and choose from. That’s what we all want, right?
There will also be mini-games and puzzles that you’ll need to complete/solve in order to progress in the story. You’ll, for example, be asked to help April complete a biology test and perhaps help her through a small cheerleading mini-game.
IT’S A STORY-RICH GAME, ISN’T IT? SO WHY HAVEN’T YOU TOLD ME ABOUT THE STORY?
All right then, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I don’t want to give too much away because I want to preserve the Episode 1 cliffhanger so you can experience it with unspoiled eyes. That’s the best way to experience any story, I think.
I can tell you a bit about the general story, though. Would you like that? Okay, I’ll stop with the questions. You’re already reading this, so you obviously do. Well, let’s get started, then.
The main character is April Hamilton, an 18-year-old high school student in her senior year. Her mom died of cancer ten years ago, so her dad has been raising her on his own. She’s a cheerleader, a soccer player, and pretty popular. However, despite all of this, she still lacks the confidence to pursue her dream of becoming a manga artist. Instead, she has been accepted to study finance at the University of Maine, which she believes is expected of her. Growing out of her childish dreams and earning a degree will help her put food on the table. Because the struggling artist certainly doesn’t eat well, and she isn’t even sure if she’s good enough. Everyone on the internet seems much better than her, at any rate.
The story begins on April 11, 2022. Besides it being the 10th anniversary of the death of April’s mother, there are other quite peculiar things going on in the town of Evergreen. Vultures are all over the Hamiltons’ driveway. In fact, they are everywhere in town. Her friends Daisy and Amber attest to that when she gets to school. And who, other than the infamous Mia Rhodes, chose this to be her first day of school? Daisy sure knows a thing or two about this girl that’ll make your skin crawl.
It’s already spring, so prom is on everyone’s mind. April and her friends make a bet: “Find a prom date before the end of the day, or you’ll have to pay for everyone’s smoothies for the rest of the summer.”
While they look for dates, April keeps receiving strange, vague texts from a mysterious person. At first, she laughs them off, but soon she’ll come to realize that they are essential to her survival.
However, unbeknownst to them, their friend Amy Joslin had been killed that very night in a brutal, ritualistic fashion. Soon a school assembly will be called, and they’ll get the message that will change their world forever—in more ways than one.
Events will be set in motion that will find April stuck in 2002. It’s up to you to help her find a way to get back to her own time before it’s too late...
