about me

Important Questions

Who are you?

I, specifically, am Chelsea, lead developer and director of Some Strange Circus. I am the only permanent team member; everyone else is hired on a contract basis as needed.

What do you do?

I write visual novels and text-based interactive fiction games. I also write PC game reviews, partly for a hobby and partly to practice writing.

What have you done so far?

I currently have three free text-based games released. I have one visual novel and one text-based game in development, and several other projects in the pre-development stage. Before the whole indie game developer thing, I mostly wrote poetry, none of which has been officially published.

When will you release a game?

The best way to keep up with game development is to read my development blog. I prefer to avoid giving specific dates until everything is completely done.

Will your games cost money?

Not all of them. While I aspire to develop commercial titles, I also have some free titles in mind, and my first visual novel to be released, Yumi-chan's Wonderful Cake Shop, will be released for free. I hope to eventually have a small library of free games that people can try out before diving into a full-priced purchase. itch.io, one of the sites where my games will be hosted, gives you the option of making a donation when downloading a free title, but you are not required to do so. I also have a Patreon campaign that you can donate to in exchange for game development previews and other extras, and at most tiers you get early access to certain games, but no one will ever required to do so to access a game.

What platforms will your games be available on?

At the moment I am only planning on developing PC games. I may consider releases on iOS and Android if enough people ask for it (although iOS would be trickier since I don't have an iOS device myself).

Why are you taking so long?

To put it simply, writing can be REALLY HARD. Also, I have a full-time day job in order to afford such luxuries as rent and bills, and my personal life gets a bit stressful at times. However, rest assured that I don't intend to just up and quit.

Do you take donations?

Should you wish to contribute to game development, I have a Patreon account.

Can I help you make a game?

Possibly! I am a writer, but not an artist and not really a composer (I have basic knowledge of music composition, but probably not enough to develop anything close to a full soundtrack). In the future, I will be reaching out to other people to help me work on the art and music and possibly other assets of a game that I am unable to handle myself. However, please don't contact me out of the blue asking to work with me on a game; I will ask myself if I need team members for a project.

How can I contact you?

Please go to the contact page for details on how to get in touch with me. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions that I haven't answered here or elsewhere on my website and/or development blog.