Zenocel Project

Six young adults accept an unusual scholarship to a new university.

After meeting each other for the first time, they learn they were all invited for the same reason: their families' involvement on an experiment that left four of them with animal mutations. With seemingly no way to reverse the effects, all there is to do now is... live an average college life with new friends.

Evelyn, our protagonist, wanted to get away from her home city, to somewhere she could fade into a sea of strangers who didn't know her past self. But after meeting the other scholarship recipients and getting a new roommate, it proves impossible to go on completely unnoticed. Instead, this group of odd college students becomes a close circle of supportive friends.

Characters

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Our protagonist. A self-proclaimed background character who enjoys spending time away from others, she's frequently thrown into social interactions for the foreseeable future. This new school gives her the opportunity to toss out her old reputation and build a new one, perhaps one less shameful than "hopeless gaming addict."

An extroverted aspiring journalist, she's Evelyn's beautiful roommate and her opposite. Though her loving smile lights up the space around her, she keeps her struggles and the past incident that brought her here to herself. Almost exclusively wears dresses and skirts.

A flirt, seemingly only here to socialize and party. Though he's abruptly rejected by our girls, he's always looking for dates with others. A terrible student who hopes there's a dream he can pursue that doesn't involve so much studying. Likes running for exercise.

Victor can barely look others in the eye, let alone talk to others. Initially distrusting of anyone and terrified of strangers, he's slowly able to relax with the support of his new friends. He hopes he'll be strong enough to pass on that support some day. Might've been a shut-in.

Incredibly patient and easy to talk to, whether you're shy or social. Lukas's most used skill is his ability to cook, and he's most at ease sharing a meal with the people he loves. Seemingly any other time, he's hard at work, whether it be in his classes, tutoring others, or at his job. His neverending effort is bound to backfire on him. Terrible at asking for help.

Here because his friends convinced him to see why in the hell he was given a scholarship. He has little to no desire to graduate, but he'll make the most of it studying music and writing for his friends' band back home. Perpetually cold, but only physically.

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Status: Partial Story Available to Play

The full story will last about one semester, and currently only about a month-and-a-half is playable. I've hit a writing wall and burned myself out with art assets and nitpicking, so I'm posting what I have and taking a break. 😬 It's sort of an interest check to see if I should put the rest online some day (2025???) or just share the rest with friends.

Though I have events and endings in mind, I'm having trouble stitching everything together if that makes sense.

Thank you for taking a look at this story, regardless. :)

Credits

They're listed in detail in the in-game credits section but anyway... I made the art assets, characters, and script. Music and SFX are gathered from multiple free-to-use sources.