The Hi-Finesse: 2D

About

The Hi-Finesse: 2D is a free indie visual novel set in a near-future Vancouver where virtual reality reshaped competitive gaming. You play as Lisbeth Dille, a student prepping for a high-stakes VR championship while navigating school politics and personal stakes. The game blends scripted dialogue with sudden shooting segments, all rendered in western-style cel-shaded 2D art. It clocks in at 15-20 minutes as a prologue to a larger unfinished project. Developer Dark/Star Factory calls it an experimental work-in-progress, mixing softcore sci-fi themes with abrupt genre shifts. The game’s standout is its visual style, using modern HQ cel-shading to avoid retro pixel art trends. A hybrid soundtrack layers orchestral arrangements with electronic beats, crafted with tools like Vienna Strings. Developer notes stress this is a learning project, deliberately unpolished and free, built to test unconventional design ideas. While community feedback is limited, the candid developer diary and bold artistic choices make it a curiosity for fans of indie experimentation. No ratings exist yet, but the transparent approach earns it a niche audience.

Storyline

VANCOUVER 2022 The year is 2022. The technology of virtual-reality has taken a quantum-leap, and as a result, the concept of E-sports changed drasticaly. Several countries started to arranged annual activities using the revolutionary Hi-Finesse System. However, the biggest and most anticipated competition of them all is about to take place in Vancouver, Canada. The students at Canadian Academy for Interactive Arts Development (CAIAD), will be battling against each other in a gigantic glorious virtual war utilizing all their own in-game creations. You play as Lisbeth Dille, a player for the upcoming Virtual-Reality Game Championship (VRGC). But meanwhile, the city is struggling with a political issue that might affect her life. NOTE: This is only a 15-20 minutes long prologue. It does not feature the championship. My game is not great, my game might not be good at all, but i sure have learned from feedback how to improve my skills in this field. I hope that you will give this game a chance, and perhaps give me feedback wich makes me better in making games in the future. Since this game is my first game, thus not the best, and since it has a very untraditional design that many will propably hate, we chose to not charge for this game. It will be free to download and play. FEATURES - Visual Novel conversations with western cel-shaded visuals - A softcore sci-fi with a realistic and achievable depiction of near-future VR - Experimental untraditional game - Challenging shooting segments - Hybrid orchestral soundtrack THF2D was among other reasons, born out of the wish for 2D indie-games that offered other visuals than the retro style. The game was developed using modern HQ cel-shading 2D visuals. The score was composed utilizing Hollywood softwares such as Vienna Strings and cutting-edge sound design packages to provide a colourful soundtrack ranging from AAA-orchestral music, electronical and some lower quality tunes. Whether we have succeeded in making a worthy product or not........is entirely up to the audience to decide.