![DAWN CHORUS [DEMO]](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzI2ODE0NjIyLnBuZw==/original/xijlyK.png)
DAWN CHORUS [DEMO]
a time capsule from the future;
a chronicle of a dying city;
a story about two friends (and everyone else);
a looming cosmic phenomenon;
a record of a band named Dawn Chorus;
→ a browser-based interactive fiction game set and made on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung land by haraiva, isyourguy, unseconds.
This is a demo of DAWN CHORUS that was originally showed at ALT: GAMES 2026 in Parramatta, Western Sydney, New South Wales on Dharug land. The full game is being currently worked on.
Credits
- haraiva directs, writes, illustrates and designs the game.
- isyourguy composes the music, designs the sounds, programs the game engine.
- unseconds makes additional illustrations for the game.
- this game is made in html, css, js and ink with inkrunner and jupiter
References and inspirations
Novels and short stories
- Polynia by China Miéville
- On the Beach by Nevil Shute
- The Great Undoing by Sharlene Allsopp
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
- A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists by Jane Rawson (thanks Alex for the rec!)
Games and interactive media
- 17776 and 20020 by Jon Bois
- Old Radiohead websites
- REPLACEMENTS (we're not who we used to be) by Georgia Symons
- Disco Elysium by ZA/UM
- Kentucky Route Zero by Cardboard Computer
- Domino Club games: tear ripple, The Ouroborous Incident, against the will of the chainsaw, Ziptie Choker, Memorel Restoration Project, and many more
Music
- Food for Worms by Shame
- Tomorrow's Harvest by Boards of Canada
- et cetera, etc by dust
- Love What Survives and The Sunset Violent by Mount Kimbie
Films
- Idiot Box, 1996, dir. David Caesar
- The Club, 1980, dir. Bruce Beresford
- Pictures of Ghosts, 2023, dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
- Pajeú, 2019, dir. Pedro Diógenes
- La Jetée, 1962, dir. Chris Marker
Miscellaneous
- The one time they put lawn all over Swanston St in Melbourne for an art thing
- The Radical Melbourne books by Jeff and Jill Sparrow
- Going to the footy and watching your team lose
- The Solar Walkman WM-F107
- Low-Tech Magazine, and this interview about it with founder Kris de Decker
- Em Reed's Dark Matter Reading List
- Taking the train or tram home late after a night out
F.A.Q.
When will you release this game?
I'll release it when it's done.
Is it true you're releasing this game for free?
Yep. I'll put it on itch.io and probably also self-host.
Will this game be on Steam?
Yeah. It'll be free on there too I guess.
Why is this a game, and not a novel or a film?
Great question! In fact it's such a great question that you should try and come up with an answer yourself as a little exercise. I've got my own private answer, but what's yours?
I have a book/film/game recommendation for you that this game reminds me of!
Hell yeah, I'd love to hear it. You can send me an email about it, leave a comment, or chat to me IRL if you see me around.
Development log
- UPDATE -- continue button and outlinks67 days ago
- DAWN CHORUS -- demo out now!80 days ago
Comments
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As a non-VN guy, I have to say: This intro pops off! I'm interested in reading more Dawn Chorus. Though, as a non-reader, I find the linear, scrolling sections intimidating. Both the writing and graphic direction really pay off in setting a compelling story firmly into a place I feel like I've already been.
gotta build those reading muscles up 💪📖
hey! we briefly interacted a couple of years ago over our shared connection and love for bitsy (i made "care" which was inspired, in part, by your "novena"). i keep coming back every now and then to check out what you have been up to and i'm always greeted with the most wonderful things!
this was great, i was completely enraptured by it. i have 2 free days coming up and i feel this has colored the way i want to experience those days in a very peculiar (good) way.
thank you for the chance to live in this light stupor this game left me in - i'll go out and enjoy it now, thinking on things in a park somewhere.
good luck with the rest of the project - excited for the full release! o/
(PS: over the years, a silent interest in someday visiting melbourne has cropped up thanks to your work often mentioning it's name. fun little side effect!)
hell yeah, so good to run into you again! i do remember ‘care’, feels like a lifetime ago.
hope you enjoyed your free days! and don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re ever in melbourne–i’d be happy to show you around :)
so excited for this
This game is so epic I can't wait for the full game to release, First time playing a game set so local very cool.
coolllll
what the HELL this is so good??
so excited for when the full game comes out!!
also seeing two brazilians in the inspos afterwards surprised me (im from the same city as kleber) so this game got 1000x better lmao
thank you! i’ve been really into the movies i’ve seen coming out of brazil in the past, like, ten years. you folks are making great art. southern hemisphere, baby!!!
(sorry for only seeing/replying to this now, for some reason itch.io flagged it as spam so i had to manually approve it lol)
is there mac version planned?
yeah you can play it on safari
This was amazing! Felt hooked on the story
I really like it! story, and the vibes, and the colors... congratulations!
This was so incredibly awesome. The writing feels so relatable, and is full of an eerie suspense. The graphic design is such a treat. The shader on the pictures is so riso-esque. And the music is just so well produced (isyourguy’s guitar sounds are so delicious).
I loved playing it. There is so much in the style that I find inspiring and aligning with my own creative direction. Thank you for sharing that game. It was very inspiring indeed.
The story was nice, but personally I felt like the computer gimmick was underutilized. Maybe have some of the webpage links open up new dialogue options or provide further clues in the story?
Regardless, I remain optimistic about the final piece.
yeah, making this demo thing has been helpful in getting a feel for what i want to put more attention/work into, and the interface stuff is so clearly what needs to be central to the game’s presentation! there will definitely be more of that in the final game :)
this is so fre bruh i'm so excited for the full game
This was so fun I loved it! Can't wait for the full game
super cool demo, glad i played. excited for the full thing!
RELEASE THIS BANGER'S SOUNDTRACK AND MY LIFE IS YOURS!!
Jokes aside though OH MY GOD that was an AWESOME piece of work. Great in writing, visuals AND music. Could barely tell it's a demo. Can't wait for whenever it's officially released!!
This made me relive so many memories. I never really got around to exploring exploring the tunnels. But i did my share of adventuring. One gripe tho, Melbourne has no scene.
i think it goes without saying that this is really fucking cool
I like it, but I don't get it.
good
ohhh i love this so much its gorgeous, the characters are so characterized, i especially love the soundtrack reminds me of FLCL
the whole thing is just so cinematic and im so happy to see disco elysium and 17776 mentioned
also i never realised how similar canada and australia are..
soo blown away - the smile that curled on my face during the archived encyclopedia segment hasn't gone away. i hope the final version has even more hyperlinks 💞
if i had a nickel for everytime I played a game that was named "dawn chorus" i'd have two nickels which isnt alot but its weird that it happened twice
haha yeah i did consider if i wanted to have a different title for this because i’m aware of the other Dawn Chorus, but i figured the games are different enough in presentation and subject matter that it should be okay!
lol sameee clicked on this page just cuz it had the same name
same here lol
im excited to try this one out.. now we have Two Of Them.... (dawn choruses)
Please let this become a full game! 10/10
Hii I've run into a problem. When fireworks go off screen goes black leaving only UI overlay and music/sound loops endlessly. When trying to relaunch game it loads endlessly on DAWN CHORUS : LOAD screen. I've tried to restart or try different browser but problem presists. I bet it's issue on my part (I haaaaaate WEB dev) but maybe you have any tips how to solve it?
hmm. are you playing the game through the itch desktop app?
edit: just saw you mention other browsers. it could be any number of things, but if you want to send me an email with more details, you can do so at hey.cecilerichard+dawnchorus[at]gmail.com
It eventually loaded and works, sorry for confusing. Might be because I had it in fullscreen mode, went afk, came back and started playing again. I should have grabbed logs before refreshing, sorry :/
no worries, glad it worked in the end!
This was a stunning demo! Beautifully written and illustrated. The gameplay feels very unique and engaging; such a refreshing format for a text-based game. Honestly, to me, this is a flawless demo and I can't wait to experience the full game upon its release <3
haha amazing, you actually played the other games too!! so good, thanks so much :)
I simply had to, I was so invested! Can't wait for the full release <3
AMAZING!!!!!! I love the way this game is structured and it really stands out from other VNs imo... 20/10 experience. incredible art BTW
Nice game. I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure why, but it gives me a Necromancer vibe. Also, just out of curiosity, how did you integrate Ink with Jupiter?
ooh do you mean Necromancer the Dickson novel or is that a typo and you somehow mean Neuromancer the Gibson novel… or is it something else entirely?
also re: Ink in Jupiter, that’s isyourguy’s doing and it mystifies me just as much. You could download the game files on the itch desktop app and take a peek inside if you want 🤔
LOL, my bad it was Gibson's Neuromancer😂.
That's cool. I didn't know I can use itch desktop to download html games 👍
holy fucking shit this is so good?? im losing my mind. im am so so so excited for this to come out. this is really something special.
Hello, I have just seen your game and loved the atmosphere. I'm a localizer so I'd like to localize the demo of your game to Turkish completely for free as I'm looking to gain more experience. Please consider it!
If you are interested please tell me how I can reach out to you.
Don’t know why you got downvoted, Turkishtranslatorbro. Good luck
Thank you, I dont know too i will try my best though
hey, i’m not looking to localise this game in any ‘official’ capacity, but thanks for offering!
i’m not against it by any means though and if you want to just take a segment from it to use as an exercise/portfolio sample then go for it. i’m not really bothered.
Thank you! I'd love to work on it. Since the game runs in the browser, I don't have direct access to the source files on my PC. If it's not too much trouble, could you send me the text files (like .json, .xml, or .txt) or the project files? This will allow me to provide an accurate translation sample for my portfolio. Of course only if its okay.
The opening of this demo is absolute cinema, love it
thank you! i keep thinking “wow i’m making cinema” while i’m making my games, i’m glad it’s coming across!
can't wait to play the full game!
Yeah I’ll need to have more of this injected straight into my veins when it’s ready, thank you very much
This rules! I got a good look at the demo over some shoulders during ALT:GAMES but I'm glad I was able to play it myself. Good luck with development!
RIP BENNY BARASSI YOU FUCKING LEGEND
🫡🫡🫡
Incredible mood and vibes! Love it!
have been following your amazing work and it just keeps getting better TT can't wait for the finished version
Incredible experience.
A bit of feedback: I accidentally double clicked and missed the last bit of dialog :c Maybe add a hold to advance on scene changes or a small delay between messages.
thank you! ooh a proper ‘continue’ button at the end of a scene makes sense, i like that.
the aim with this demo is to not tweak it for too long because it’s too easy to get stuck in improving something forever and i’d just want to get on with the full thing, HOWEVER there’s a few small things i’ve been thinking of adding/changing for this version of the demo, so i reckon i’ll implement your suggestion as well.
That was really great, I'm looking forward to playing the final game once it's finished!
stirring up amazing feelings - thanks
Brilliant. Fed my soul a bit. Needed it. Thanks.