Defaction
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
"Let me tell you a story about a university divided by ideals,
a university split into factions...
Once there were none, then there were two.
Soon, they will be gone."
The Story
Just as they enroll at 
University, Coral is thrown into a conflict of rivaling factions.
After an unprecedented election result, the balance on campus is already disturbed and with the emergence of an anonymous group whose sole goal is to destroy the faction system no matter the cost, a time of sudden change awaits the students of 
University.
Defaction is a narrative game about societal expectations and (not) fitting in.
- Take control of Coral, a first semester history student who finds themselves in midst a conflict of ideals that has been brewing for more than half a century.
- Choose a faction and stay loyal to them, or defect to a group you can better identify with.
- Use Coral's phone to interact with other characters and the world, explore the campus, and change the system into something that you can stand for.
As of now, development of the full version of Defaction is on hold.
The demo you can find here is a prologue chapter to the main story.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Defaction Development PauseJul 03, 2019
- Defaction Prologue Version 1.1 Release NotesJan 05, 2019
- Devlog #26 - Post Release and the Near FutureJul 11, 2018
- Defaction Demo Release (It's finally here!)Jul 03, 2018
- Devlog #25 - Working Towards the Demo ReleaseJun 27, 2018
- Devlog # 24 - More Art and Exciting News!Jun 13, 2018
- Devlog #23 - GDD Recap and Demo UpdatesMay 30, 2018
- Devlog #22 - GDD Preparations and Demo NewsMay 16, 2018
Comments
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Damn... such a shame so i guess now this project has been dropped then? Considering almost 4 years passed since the last update....
for real... :(
The demo was excellent! Really enjoyed the art style and the mystery elements were so good! I uploaded my playthough on my channel. :)
Thank you! We're glad you enjoyed it <3 And thanks for making a video of your playthrough!
The technical part of this is astonishing. Even better than Todo-Today. Great Work !
Really hope this project gets picked up again someday, i love it dearly
Hi! I know you're not working on this any more, but I played the demo and wanted to let you know I really enjoyed the art style & the mystery elements, especially the way you delivered the app that downloaded itself, etc. If you ever decide to make something similar in the future I'd be excited to see it.
This is such an amazing game, hope it will be finished one day. It's one of those games that I just can't get out of my mind, that's how good it is.
1. This game is so amazing and interesting!! I'm so excited to see it fully released!!
2. Is Snow the same Snow from //TODO today ??? Bc if so...I'm love them and thank you for bringing them back. And if so, is this college the same college Teal attended or is it diffferent? If it IS the same college, is Teal the friend Snow is referencing when saying they knew someone who attended previously?
Thank you for making amazing games and I can't wait to see all the other amazing ones y'all make!!
This concept is awesome, I hope you will finish it :)
Just wanted to say I'm here and waiting for the game for a couple of months and I wanted to say: don't give up on it! It's so good and unique, it really made me interested. Good luck with everything!
AAHH OH MY GOSH THIS WAS AMAZING I MIGHT HAVE TO REPLAY THE PROLOGUE A FEW TIMES NOW BECAUSE WOW AAAA
I seriously need more of this game- absolutely AMAZING
It's a great game!
although I am stuck with the MC saying "what should I do?" with no options available
https://pp.userapi.com/c846416/v846416757/1cf833/GtLrhYeKXbs.jpg
P. S. I'm stupid, I did not understand that you could move around the campus using the map app.
I knew this was just a prologue but I was still very sad when it ended,,, the story is brilliantly written, and the art enhances the whole atmosphere set as well. And I love the phone interface; such a fresh idea! Can't wait to play the full game!!
It kind of sucks how this is just a prologue since this is a really interesting story- based game that I'm excited to know more about. Well done Boys Laugh + game developers; you have yet again left me yearning for more just like you did with your other just as equally fun and interesting game //TODO: today. Nevertheless, I still very much look forward to the development and release of this.
It seems absolutely fantastic. The style is amazing, the atmosphere sucks you in, it really does feel like an example so far for the visual novel medium. I'd love some more masculine customization though I understand if it might cause strain. The touch of pronouns is a great addition though especially for trans and ENBY people. i have so much to say about it but I wanted to keep this short.
We're glad you appreciate the pronoun feature! Back when we put the character system together we didn't had the capacity to make more sprites. Our to-do list does include a more muscular/mature body-frame thooo :>
Thank you for playing and writing!
I love this game. Please continue. I just have one suggestion. Can you please increase the font size and maybe change the color? That would make it easier to read. :)
It's been a while! But thank you for playing and your feedback!
We'll add that to the list of UI things we want to review and improve for the full version :D
This is so amazing. I love the game's atmosphere, and the attention to detail is just.. . . Wow. I'm so excited for the full game! Keep up the good work!
Thank you! We're really happy you enjoyed the demo!
It will still take a bit longer for the full game to come out but we're glad you're excited about it and we'll announce more about our development plans and progress in future devlogs.
Thanks for playing <3
When is the full game going to come out?
Hi, sorry for the late reply! We don't have an exact date yet but our current plans are to focus more on Dfeaction development again starting around spring 2019. So it will probably still take a few months after that but we'll announce more about this when we have a clearer idea how long everything will take.
Thanks for your patience and for you interest <3
This was really interesting and I'm super excited for what else the game has to offer.
I look forward to future news and when the main game becomes available because now I really want to know the truth.
Question:
Is there going to be more customisation options?
Hi! First off sorry, about only getting back to you now. We'd like to have some more customization options but since the game's scope is already fairly big, we'll have to see if we can add more without increasing our workload too much.
But we're happy you enjoyed the demo and are looking forward to the full game! As it looks now it will probably still take a bit longer for it to come out but there should be more concrete news about our development plans in the first few months of 2019.
Thanks for playing <3
ahh! Loved this!
Thank youu! We're really happy to hear that <3
This game seems amazing! I didn't even realize it was the demo with how good the beginning was handled. Also, I loved the addition of Snow in the game, the reference made me smile.
Also the simple colors of the game and gray palette was a really nice touch! Aswell as the option of appearance and pronouns.
All in all, this game has totally blown me away. But I mean, I expected it as your games always leave an impression on me. I can't wait for the main game!
Sorry about the super late reply! We're really happy you enjoyed the demo! Having Snow in there again is something we're also really excited about and we're happy to hear that you also liked the art and character customization.
Due to our schedules right now it will still take a bit longer for the main game to come out but our devlogs should keep you updated on that (right now we're anticipating that we'll get to focus more on Defaction again around spring 2019).
Thanks so much for commenting and for playing <3
Does this contain romance? What's the game's genre(s)?
Defaction is a realistic adventure. With action and political themes, played out in a university setting.
There will be romance in the main game! Although it's not the main theme.
The demo already teases with a few characters (of an even bigger cast of characters) that'll be romanceable later in the main game.
Thanks for your interest! :3
Really good premise so far! I like the idea with the phone with various applications about and the use of the chat where various other characters can be seen chatting, it gives off a feel that there's life into the chat. The art and the writing is so well done to boot! The ability to choose the character customisation along with what pronouns they prefer is really really good. I'm happy with that cause I can freely pick. Nice job on that!
Very fond of the black and white choice for the game with a limited selection of other colours, it gives you the free reign on what you think their clothing's colour would look like and it's nice. Played both routes and both are interesting thus far though I am wondering if you can join in on the underground resistance group since that seems more like my thing, it'd be interesting to see.
Sadly, Karin seems to be taken :( She's so cute too but ah oh well hahaha, anyways game is so good thus far and only a prologue too! Keep up the good work!
Sorry for the super late reply!
It has been so long but we were happy about your comment! We made a bunch features for Defaction our older games don't have and are glad they got appreciated! :'D
We wouldn't like to spoiler anything but we thought Defaction to be a game that allows the player to chose the ideological path they most identify with. So....well,...you might join the rebellion (in the main game)?? But getting there shall not be easy >u>
Again, thank you for your thorough comment and thanks for your interest! :3
Interesting premise! I like the granularity of character customization and the phone interface. The few uses of color really pop against the grayscale.
Thank you for playing! We're glad you liked these features >u<
We're sorry for the delayed reaction!
As always, you all have completely blown away my expectations.
Thank you for putting so much work into this! I look forward to updates and stuff in the future ^_^
Aww thank you! We're glad you enjoyed the demo :D
I really like artstyle. Very great backgrounds, good music, very good sprites, interesting idea of hiding each function in phone, very clear and transparent, good-looking gui and very aestetic choice of color scheme (mostly white, black, grays)
You had very good idea with this phone stuff. SMS, web, GPS and all this stuff really helps you to tell the story to player.
Simple but not-too-simple charcter look creator.
A little bit "unisex" style of MC and option to choose your own pronuncunces for sure pleases a lot of people. But MC still has their own personality, style and opinions. It's good balance.
Interesting and original idea for plot. Interesting and good-looking charcters.
Two very different, competing factions of students - very interesting idea. Also each group has it's own style and domains. The idea of underground resistance movement seems interesting, too. I've played both routes of demo. :)
good beggening for promising story. I'm waiting for more from you :D and for full game :D
isn't it the same Snow as in TODO? I'm just asking to be sure :)
Karin is nice and sweet... but already taken :(
I like how out-going and laid back Karin and Pearl are.
Purple Haired Girl is so smart and cute. And... a little mysterious.
Will it be passible to befriend and romance someone in the final game?
Thank you so much for all the kind words and for writing such a detailed comment!
We're really happy you liked the demo and yes, that's the same Snow as in //TODO: today!
In the full game you'll be able to befriend pretty much all of the main characters of the faction you're in and some of them will be romanceable as well (although that's not the focus of the main story). And as far as Karin goes, well, there might still be a chance some day...
Thanks for playing <3
Interesting game, I really liked snow's character. I'm hoping we can get to check out the dorms soon.
Thank you! We're happy you found it interesting!
You'll definitely get to check out the dorms and spend more time with Snow in the full game but as we wrote in our devlogs, it'll still be a bit longer until it is released.
Thanks for playing <3
I loved the demo and I cant wait for the full game. I love the art style and the story was really interesting. You have done a great job and I cant wait to see more!
Thank you! We're really happy you enjoyed the demo! And sorry for the late reply.
As we wrote in our devlogs, the full game won't be released before next year but we hope you'll enjoy that too once it's out!
Thanks for playing <3
Absolutely in love with the demo, and cannot wait until full release!!! And I think I share everyone's joy in seeing a familiar face, Snow, here as well :) One question: would it be possible to add even more customization options to the MC? For instance, more body types, eye shapes, hair styles, and perhaps even clothing? I think adding more options to customize might make even more room for relating to the MC and experiencing the world through the MC. Anyway, continue to make the beautiful work that you do, all the best!
We're happy you liked the demo!!
About the character customization options: You're absolutely right about the player's relation to the MC! We definitely want to have a bit more options for the final game, like i.e. additional hairstyles and sets of eyes. We also need to consider that the more styles there are the more work has to be done for special illustrations depicting varying MCs in the main game. But we'll try to do our best to have players enjoy the story through the eyes of their unique MC. ö-ö
Thank you very much for pointing out the importance of this! And of course playing the demo! :D
woah this was incredible!!!! I'm so excited for the full game!
Ah! >u< Thank you for playing!!
The demo was so good! Beautiful graphics and a really engaging storyline; I'm excited to see how the relationship between the two factions and our MC's role progresses! It was also wonderful to see Snow from To:Do. Great job guys!
Thank you so much! We're really happy you like it :D
And including Snow again was something we're pretty excited about!
Thanks for playing <3
It took me a second to realize, but Snow's in here too! Very happy x3
Yeah, we're pretty happy to have Snow in Defaction as well! Thanks for playing <3
where/when is demo? xD
Right now we plan to release the demo around mid-June (you can find some more infos in our devlogs).
Thanks for being interested in our game!
I already posted a comment last month (ABOUT HOW FREAKING AMAZING THIS GAME LOOKS AND HOW MUCH I LOVE YOUR WORK SO MUCH DID I MENTION THAT IT'S AMAZING?) but I was just wondering how much the game is going to cost when it does come out (and also when do you see a demo or whatever going up)?
Thanks for commenting again!
We haven't fully decided on a price yet but we'll definitely announce what the game will cost once we get closer to its release.
As for the demo, there was a small delay so we currently plan to release it in June. Ideally it will only take a few more weeks so it hopefully won't be that much of a wait. We're happy you're excited for Defaction and we hope you'll like the demo!
Holy moly! This game looks AMAZING! If there was a demo, I would totally download this! I loved the game you made; TODO Today, I cannot wait for the finished version to be completed! Do you know when they would be complete? And AHH you guys are AMAZING at art! This is incredible! Thank you so much for sharing your talent! <3
Aa, your comment made us really happy! ^0^ About the releases:
We've written in a past devlog that //TODO: today would be complete by August this year. We'll continue work on it after we've released the Defaction demo this May. We're going to reveal more about the Defaction main game in the future! :>
Thanks for your interest and we hope you'll like Defaction when it's released!
Thank you so much! I am very excited for the release! Amazing job with //TODO: today and Defaction! I wish you the best of luck with your next games!
Thank you! (｡’▽’｡)♡
I can't wait for this!!! :)
Aaa :D Hope you'll like it when it's published!
Can't wait to try this! Thank you for all your hard work <3
Aww! Thank you for your interest! >u<
This looks awesome! I'm really excited to play this! The style looks fantastic and I'm so glad you considered different genders, races, bodies, etc. Story sounds intriguing too! Wishing you luck in your development process and eagerly awaiting the demo release!
Even though such character variety comes with a bunch of work we really wanted to do this! We're happy you appreciate the ideas and the look! :3 Hopefully you'll like the demo when it's released!
I honestly cant wait to play this! And I'm so glad you guys include they/them pronouns.
We're happy you're excited for Defaction! Inclusion is important for us with this project, so they/them pronouns were something we definitely wanted to include. And we hope you'll enjoy the demo when it's released!