Oni of the Opera -HISTORY-
The History of Development
EGAO ONI
Oni of the Opera started out as a fan-game called Egao Oni in 2013.
The game itself had original characters and an original story,
but according to the creator, Mystycitty, the story was flawed and the characters were practically
bootleg versions of the characters from the game that started the whole project, Ao Oni.
Currently, this iteration is practically lost from the internet.
All that exists is fan-art from Mystycitty's former acquaintances.
ONI OF THE OPERA
Although it's not known when, it could be estimated that sometime around 2015
the idea of the game shifted from a game that had original characters to a game centered
around the characters of Ao Oni with additional characters from the official Light Novels.
The name, "Oni of the Opera" was said to be a joke that was commented in StriHiryu's playthrough of Hakkyo Oni,
the game that would ultimately shape what the Oni would look like in "Oni of the Opera -CLASSIC-".
The game got further in development than Egao Oni, but issues began to cripple the project.
Namely, the HIROSI cheat code was done in a tedious way to where there was a huge percentage of logic errors.
All the tedium involved in implementing the code slowed down development so much that it became tiring to add new scenes.
Eventually, on Hallowe'en of 2016, Demo 2.1 was released and it was played by StriHiryu on YouTube a few months after.
HAKKYO ONI: THE CUSTOM
Titled similarly to another Ao Oni fan-made game, "Siro Oni: The Custom",
Hakkyo Oni: The Custom was just Oni of the Opera but with a different name.
Despite this, Mystycitty remembers giving the game to a "fellow developer"
who promised to finish the game and give it an alternative gameplay route.
Unfortunately, not only did this developer never finish the game, they had completely gone
against the original creative vision of the game to inject their self-insert, stealing other's ideas, etc.
Ultimately, this phase of Oni of the Opera's development would go inconclusive.
Like Egao Oni, this iteration is completely lost and never to be found again.
KAMI ONI
Kami Oni would go back to the idea of having original characters, an original monster, an original story, etc.
The characters featured in Kami Oni are said to be entirely different to the characters of Egao Oni,
mostly because they're not copies of the characters from Ao Oni.
This iteration is entirely lost like the previous iterations.
Eventually, Kami Oni's blueprints would later be turned into the last iteration of Oni of the Opera's development.
KAGE ONI
Unlike the previous lost iterations, this one was finished and can be played in its entirety today.
Despite it being finished and playable, Mystycitty comments that this work, in its current state, is mediocre.
The beginning is fine, but the story and the latter half of the game takes a dip in quality.
The game itself is extremely linear, the story is nonsensical, puzzles and areas get recycled.
All-in-all, the game was rushed and the creator agrees even now.
The Revival of Oni of the Opera
After finishing Kage Oni in 2019, years had gone by.
While on this page, I never commented that Oni of the Opera was a lost iteration.
During the 2019-2022 period, Oni of the Opera download links were either entirely removed from the internet
or became corrupted due to online infrastructure movements (4shared sucks).
But in March of 2023, TheWanderingArtist revealed that he had a
copy of the demo StriHiryu played on his YouTube channel from 2016.
This demo would be what would start the project that would later become "Oni of the Opera -ENCORE-".
However, when ENCORE's development started, it was mostly a patch to the 2016 demo.
This patch would become "Oni of the Opera -CLASSIC-", made by me (AdPro).
Oni of the Opera -CLASSIC- is largely the same as the 2016 demo
but it includes fixes for puzzles, a completely rewritten chase system and cheat code system, and a bunch of other bug fixes
while still keeping the graphical and auditorial style of the game and the story is entirely unaltered.
Oni of the Opera -ENCORE- is essentially a major graphics, audio, story, and gameplay overhaul
from the original with improved artwork from the original creator, music from a few indie composers,
improved sound effects, an improved story, and much more.