Black Tabby Games opened up about their plans for Scarlet Hollow following the release of Episode 5 last week. The indie horror studio held an Ask Me Anything session to celebrate the launch and share what’s coming next for their episodic visual novel.
The team confirmed they’re planning a small expansion patch for Episode 5 targeting April. They didn’t commit to a hard date but said they’re working on additional content and adjustments based on player feedback and testing.
No release window was given for the finale. The developers emphasized they want enough time to bring all the branching storylines to a satisfying end. They promised progress updates but avoided locking themselves into a timeline.
The studio also dropped hints about their post-Scarlet Hollow future. They’ve already designed the foundation for their third game including plot, world, characters, and gameplay systems. The big shift? It won’t be a visual novel.
When asked what direction they might take, the team floated the idea of a CRPG without a combat system. They suggested the tone would land somewhere between Slay the Princess‘ abstract horror and Scarlet Hollow‘s grounded mystery, leaning toward dark fantasy elements.
Black Tabby operates with a lean core team. Abby and Tony handle art, writing, and coding. Brandon Boone composes the music while Phil Michalski manages sound design. Amelia Jones provides recurring vocals and Lucia Retamales contributes to animated cutscenes.
The studio writes directly into Ren’Py rather than using separate writing software. They organize the massive branching script through careful folder structures and track variables through a combination of organization and personal knowledge of the story logic. For their next project, they’re interested in switching to Unity.
Slay the Princess‘ success gave Black Tabby the financial runway to revamp earlier Scarlet Hollow episodes. The team expressed confidence about the full release, pointing to roughly 250,000 outstanding wishlists compared to Slay the Princess‘ 100,000 at launch.
Console ports and a physical edition are on the wish list once Scarlet Hollow reaches full release. The studio ruled out DLC, saying they want to finish the story cleanly and move on to their next project.
