The Graveyard Shift (Melancholy Marionette, Eufasy, LazyCrocodile, bun, rcmvoice)

After the death of their partner and best friend, officer Shearsmith struggles to adjust to working life with their newly assigned partner. Forced to spend the literal graveyard shift on a cemetery stakeout together, can the two of them see past their differences and learn to get along? Perhaps Volkham can help Shearsmith overcome their loss. Or will the night watch prove too much for the pair? It's up to you to decide.

Some things are better left buried...

- Pick your portraits - (for Officer Shearsmith & Officer Volkham from the options above) - 8 original CGs to unlock - (14 including variations) - Full English voice acting - - Atmospheric audio - (designed for head/earphones) - OST - (with 7 original BGM tracks) - Approximately 5k words -  - 3 different endings - (depending on your choices) - Unlockable extras section - (with bonus sketches, music box, and bloopers)

Please note that this game contains the following content warnings:

- Blood - - Injury detail - - Threatening behaviour - - Bad language -

For players with photosensitive epilepsy, please be aware that the title screen for this game features randomised flashing lights to simulate lightning. If you would like a version of the game without these effects, please let me know, and I'll send you a copy with them removed.

Need a walkthrough for the game to unlock all the CGs and reach all the endings? Head here!

Found a nasty bug that needs squashing? Head here to report it!

Or need help with opening the game on Mac? Head here for a list of suggestions from fellow players who have managed to get my games to open on Mac in the past.

Due to the way the backgrounds and sprites are organised, it is advised the game is locked to 16:9 and 16:10 resolutions to avoid cutting off large parts of the images on-screen. The game is designed to be played in 16:9 1920x1080. When playing in any other resolution, the UI may appear somewhat out of place + parts of the image will be cut off.

Please note that the game was designed to be played with head/earphones on and all audio turned on. Some of the SFX are timed with the voice acting, so if you change the text reveal speed or skip through text, SFX may play slightly out of time.

- Controls - Advance Text - Left mouse click, mouse scroll wheel down, spacebar

Rewind Text - Mouse scroll wheel up, left arrow key  (text cannot be rewound after making a choice, so please save the game if you want to pick a different choice faster) Skip Mode (fast) - Up arrow key Skip Mode (toggle) - Right arrow key

Auto Mode - Down arrow key

Open Backlog - B key

Toggle/Hide UI - H key

If you need help with anything, enjoyed the game and want to talk about it, or just want to tell me something in general, please either use the comments section (and don't forget to rate and review the game too if you had fun because it helps a lot :3) or feel free to message me here: [email protected]

The Graveyard Shift was made in under 1 month for Spooktober VN Jam 2022

- Created by Melancholy Marionette using Naninovel x Unity -
Based on a script by Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton (Adapted, altered, and added to by Melancholy Marionette)
@Marionette_Mask

- CG & Car Interior Art -
Eufasy
@eufasy - Instagram - ArtStation

- Additional CG Sketches & Line Art -
LazyCrocodile
@MrsLaziness0 - tumblr

- Bonus Art -
sophrossynes
@sophrossynes - Instagram - tumblr

- OST -
Melancholy Marionette

- CAST - 

Officer Shearsmith (female)
Amanda McKnight

Officer Shearsmith (male)
Dominic Devlin - YouTube

Trainee Officer Volkham (female)
Rebecca Chiara Marano - @rcmvoice - itchio

Trainee Officer Volkham (male)
Jerron Bacat - @JerronBacat

Control
Melancholy Marionette

- Additional Assets Used - 

Sprite Art - Usugata Curry TV (edited by Melancholy Marionette)

Graveyard Backgrounds - Rachel Chen (edited by Melancholy Marionette)

Additional Background Art - Minikle & Background material shop (edited by Melancholy Marionette)

- UI Art Elements -
UI design by Melancholy Marionette, created with the following assets:
kagotori & Scratcher (edited by Melancholy Marionette)

SFX - Mainly from freesfx.co.uk (edited by Melancholy Marionette)

Additional SFX - Sidearm Studios, www.fesliyanstudios.com, car window up/down sfx freesound.org/people/RutgerMuller, 2 out of 3 rain hammering on car roof sfx freesound.org/people/mirkosukovic (edited by Melancholy Marionette)

UI  SFX - GameDev Market Sellers Epicstockmedia & TomWinandySFX

Voice FX - Created by Melancholy Marionette using a mixture of Audacity and FLstudio

Loops from the following looperman users were used to compose parts of the OST:
JacquesToni, zonkymob,flsouto, frankcoronabeats, Rasputin, YassineSayar, alyson66, 40A, Arasanah, Aberyus, packness, DruciferBeats, UziSprayer

Other loops and samples used to compose parts of the OST came from Laniakea and Prime Loops (Producer Loops) - purchased from Humble Bundle Music Producer Asset Bundles