Burn the Rain

Burn the Rain is an upcoming fan-made video game by ThePatchedVest. The game uses a traditional text and sprite-based kinetic novel model with mixed NVL/ADV-style text running on the Ren'Py visual novel engine.

The story follows a meticulously canon-compliant original narrative that runs parallel to that of the Daria television series. The player takes the role of Burnout Girl, who moves to Lawndale with her father from Texas after the passing of her mother. The work is among the more mature and tonally serious works of fanon, dealing extensively with themes of grief, trauma, abuse, mental health, addiction and suicide.

Synopsis

After Jennifer Burns, the "Burnout Chick", moves from her childhood home to the mid-Atlantic suburb of Lawndale, she struggles to start a new life among the eccentric crowd she finds herself surrounded by.

Soon enough, Jennifer meets fellow maverick Wade Kirkland and becomes enveloped in the associated throes of first love, whilst simultaneously being forced to come to terms with her repressed trauma and its lingering consequences if she hopes to secure a better future.

Characters

Jennifer Burns

Main Characters

• Jennifer Burns
• Wade Kirkland
• Kelly 'Red' McIntosh
• Andrea Haley
• Bob D'Adamo
• Devan 'Shaggy' Rogers
• Angelina 'Angel' Robinson
• Arnold Burns

Supporting Characters

• Timothy O'Neill
• Anthony DeMartino
• Angela Li
• Monique Sylvia
• Max Tyler
• Joshua Williams
• Axl Kirkland
• Jenna Fletcher
• Celinda Nguyen

Guest Characters

• Trent Lane
• Alison Kirkland
• Stacy Rowe
• "Goat"

Development

An example of Burn the Rain's gameplay.

The earliest seeds of what would become Burn The Rain began in 2017, where after a marathon of the series, author ThePatchedVest noted that the character of "Burnout Girl" hadn't yet received a defining depiction in fanon the same way other backgrounders (such as Andrea and Scarlett) had. Not long after, a conceptual poster for a project entitled Burnout was uploaded to the "r/Daria" subreddit.

Vest admitted that the project was something of a labor-of-love that he would work on at his own pace, in-between writing his own trilogy of original novels, rather than being fully committed to the project full-time. He also cited Roentgen's The Hallowed Halls of Fielding, TAG's Scarlett and Kara Wild's Driven Wild universe as being inspirations for the fic, as well as noting that the fic would take a notably different route than previous Burnout Girl-centric fics, which often deviated from the narrative of the show by introducing the character as a new friend or romance to Daria, Jane or Quinn. By contrast, Burnout would tell its own self-contained 'Daria-lite' story, occurring concurrently in the background of the show's events.

During pre-production, Vest underwent what they entitled "Burnspotting": screenshotting every appearance of the Burnout Girl character throughout the show's run of sixty-five episodes and two films, whilst taking notes on the context of aforementioned scenes, then finding interesting and abstract ways that the events of said scenes could influence or interact within the overall original narrative.

In March 2024, after repeated delays, ThePatchedVest announced that although he had a decent portion of the story plotted out, he was suffering burnout from writing (as a result of the time spent on his original works). Not wanting to shelf the project or release it in a subpar state, he decided to refocus his efforts in transforming the work into an interactive visual novel instead, a format he'd been experimenting with for several years and hoping to break into full time. As although this transition would require a much greater workload, it would aid in limiting writer's block, while allowing him to focus on other elements such as coding and creating art assets instead of being entirely unproductive for long periods.

Gallery

• 
  Teaser Art
• 
  Concept Art

Trivia

• Burn The Rain is the second fan-produced Daria game, following Daria: Poltergeist Weekend a short RPG released in 2023 by Ink Ribbon.
• With the reveal of the final poster, it was announced by the author that elements from Beavis and Butthead, Downtown, Office Space, Airheads and the first four seasons of King of the Hill would be incorporated and considered canon to the series, most notably the appearance of Downtown's Goat. Similarly, the fanfic was given the designation of D-11891 (D-ARIA) in the Daria Multiverse categorization system.

External Links

• Burn The Rain at Lawndale-High
• Burn The Rain at The PaperPusher Message Board