Lost & Found [Updated 6/14/15!]

Ideas and games that are not yet publicly in production. This forum also contains the pre-2012 archives of the Works in Progress forum.
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sasquatchii
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Re: Lost & Found - A Dog's Life [Slice of Life, Comedy, Free

#31 Post by sasquatchii »

Thank meiri!! I am so glad that someone is interested in Cookie. And I sort of wanted to touch on the fact that pet owners often feed their dogs all sorts of stuff that isn't good for them, but they generally seem for do fine, although sometimes it can really mess with their stomachs.

I'm saddened to hear that animals don't seem to like you! If you met my two pups, all they'd want to do is snuggle up to you and be petted. They like pretty much everyone they meet! Except the Chihuahua (Bruce) dislikes larger dogs for some reason :(
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Re: Lost & Found - A Dog's Life [Slice of Life, Comedy, Free

#32 Post by TheMuffincake »

1. How do you like the concept/story?

I know many people have said this already, but. This. Is. So. ADORABLE! XD This is right up my alley. I have actually had ideas of making a VN similar to this (the difference being a fluffy one about homeless kittens XD) but unfortunately have not yet gotten the opportunity to do so. I also have always loved stories being told from an animal's point of view whether it be in books, movies, or games. If you haven't been able to tell already, I am an animal lover. XD

2. What do you think of flat, vector art? Would it turn you off and discourage you from wanting to play the game?

Not at all! I think the art style is very charming and appealing! It's refreshing to see something so simple in the midst of all these crazy hd colourful backgrounds so many VNs have these days (I sound like an old lady, hah.) and I believe the art is a perfect companion for the story. May they be with each other always.

3. Which characters sound interesting to you and why?

I am already very attached to Dog, and I must say as for the humans, Angry Meat Man is my favourite. I adore his design, and I believe that his path could be really sweet. Considering his backstory, if he let Dog into his heart, and his meat shop(Yum!), he may get a brand new leash on life!! ...Ahhhh puns. How I love them. Oh yes and Mr. Kitty. Who doesn't love Mr. Kitty? I know I certainly do.

4. What do you think of this being an open & more loosely structure game where you get to choose where and how you spend your day?

I love games such as these. It makes the player feel way more in control as well as feel closer to the characters they wish to become close to.


I am seriously so excited for this game. Can't wait for more updates!!! Keep at it! c:

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Re: Lost & Found - A Dog's Life [Slice of Life, Comedy, Free

#33 Post by sasquatchii »

TheMuffincake wrote:3. Which characters sound interesting to you and why?

I am already very attached to Dog, and I must say as for the humans, Angry Meat Man is my favourite. I adore his design, and I believe that his path could be really sweet. Considering his backstory, if he let Dog into his heart, and his meat shop(Yum!), he may get a brand new leash on life!! ...Ahhhh puns. How I love them. Oh yes and Mr. Kitty. Who doesn't love Mr. Kitty? I know I certainly do.

I am seriously so excited for this game. Can't wait for more updates!!! Keep at it! c:
Thank you for the kind words!! And I love puns too- It's been so hard to try to keep them to a minimum as I write the script, but I'm trying to limit myself xD

Progress has been slow but steady so I will definitely update this thread as progress is made!
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Re: Lost & Found - A Dog's Life [Slice of Life, Comedy, Free

#34 Post by AsHLeX »

I just realized I forgot to answer your questions lol
1. How do you like the concept/story?
Yup! Definitely like it. Something new and refreshing. :)
2. What do you think of flat, vector art? Would it turn you off and discourage you from wanting to play the game?
No. I like the style :D I think it's different but pretty in its own way.
3. Which characters sound interesting to you and why?
Cookie! Coz she's like the grandmother who always gives out food <3 Nomnomnomnom
4. What do you think of this being a survival type game where you have to keep Dog's hunger & thirst meters up?
That would make it more interesting! :D I'd definitely play it.
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New demo out 24/12/23!!

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Re: Lost & Found - A Dog's Life [Slice of Life, Comedy, Free

#35 Post by sasquatchii »

AsHLeX wrote:I just realized I forgot to answer your questions lol
1. How do you like the concept/story?
Yup! Definitely like it. Something new and refreshing. :)
2. What do you think of flat, vector art? Would it turn you off and discourage you from wanting to play the game?
No. I like the style :D I think it's different but pretty in its own way.
Thank you for the compliments on the art & story!! I am just really excited that people are interested in the project. Even if only one person plays it and enjoys it that would be wonderful. I am going to try my best to make something that is fun to play and has a good story :)
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Re: Lost & Found - A Dog's Life [Slice of Life, Comedy, Free

#36 Post by Eight Rooks »

It sounds like a good premise for a VN - easy to grasp, but with room for adding a bit more depth if you feel like it and/or people seem to be asking you for it, both in terms of the story and the game design.

I think the art stands out from the style or styles most VNs seem to go for, and I'd say you're doing pretty well with it. I'm not sure about the portraits - they're good, but I don't really feel giving them all giant fat necks works. The regular proportions are occasionally a little weird? And the dog catcher doesn't quite seem to be drawn in the same style as the others. But overall it's really solid stuff IMO. The dog, the cat and the butcher are particularly good. Simple, easily recognisable, great colour palette.

I don't find the characters "interesting" as such at this stage but that's not necessarily a bad thing, IMO - they're good archetypes, they just don't really have much depth to them right now. But that could still work - if you're concentrating more on the survival aspect then the characters don't need to have a ton of backstory. If you want to focus more on character work then these would all be decent starting points.

A survival game of some kind could work, but as other people have said, you need to be careful not to make that kind of thing a chore. Especially with a VN, where you'll more than likely be dealing with a lot of relatively simple maps, menus and other 2D visuals - it's a bit harder for the player to feel at all immersed in your gameworld if all the world and the protagonist's survival really is comes down to a handful of backgrounds and some numbers on a chart. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but you have to think a bit harder about it in some respects, IMO.

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Re: Lost & Found - A Dog's Life [Slice of Life, Comedy, Free

#37 Post by sasquatchii »

Eight Rooks wrote:I think the art stands out from the style or styles most VNs seem to go for, and I'd say you're doing pretty well with it. I'm not sure about the portraits - they're good, but I don't really feel giving them all giant fat necks works. The regular proportions are occasionally a little weird? And the dog catcher doesn't quite seem to be drawn in the same style as the others. But overall it's really solid stuff IMO. The dog, the cat and the butcher are particularly good. Simple, easily recognisable, great colour palette.
I definitely agree about the large-headed portraits. I showed the art to a few friends & they had similar comments about the heads. I am planning on changing the heads inside the circle portraits to match how the character sprite looks.

The Dog Catcher looks so different because when I first posted this I just had rough concept art for all of the characters, and I haven't gotten around to redesigning him yet :) He is going to look a lot nicer once I redraw him, and I'm thinking he'll have some sort of uniform as well.
I don't find the characters "interesting" as such at this stage but that's not necessarily a bad thing, IMO - they're good archetypes, they just don't really have much depth to them right now.
Good point! I didn't provide a ton of information because when I first posted this I was still playing around with story & plot ideas. Since writing this post I have been working on the characters' histories, backgrounds, desires- basically just trying to flesh them out to make them more believable. I think having dynamic, three dimensional characters is very important. Thank you for your compliments & input :)

Also, I haven't posted any updates in a while, mostly because I've been focusing on writing the script & designing/coding the game. This week, I learned how to customize menus (yay imagemaps!) And I've been messing around with the start menu screen. Please feel free to critique!
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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 8/23/2014!]

#38 Post by sasquatchii »

Hey guys! Thought I'd start doing some weekly updates to keep everyone interested posted.

So far I've coded a teensy bit of the game. I figured out how to get music, sounds, imagemaps, & character side portraits working! So that's not a whole lot, but it took me a little while how to figure out to do all that and I'm quite proud. Main menu is up & fully functional, but I still need to design and code the preference menu, load menu, quit menu, and all other GUI elements.

As for the writing, I had my sights set on a lengthy game, but now I'm not so sure! I think I'll just write the story and see how it goes. So far, I have 2,175 words written (since I write at a snail's pace!) and am going to be focusing mainly on writing these next few weeks.

I've actually been having a blast writing it! Here's a sneak peek of some of Mr. Kitty's dialogue (Mr. Kitty is probably my favorite character :3)

-----------------------------
Mr. Kitty: Honestly, they both seem to delight in tormenting me. They gave me my embarrassing name, after all. And they never cease to torture me with dangling objects.
In addition to all of that, every night they dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am given something that resembles dried dog turds.

Dog: Hey, that’s not so bad! You should just be happy that they feed you and care about you.

Mr. Kitty: But I have nothing in common with these humans! I can’t abide by their silly rules and schedules, so I am planning on teaching them a lesson!

#Dog looks confused
Dog: Huh? What are you going to teach them, exactly?

Mr. Kitty: In an attempt at retaliation, I have been bringing them dead rats so that they might stop agitating me with fake mice and feathers on strings.
Mr. Kitty: Today I decapitated a rat and dropped its headless body at the large bald one’s feet. I thought this act would strike fear into his heart, but baldy was delighted and kept telling me what a good little hunter I was.
-----------------------------

I should add that I am not one of those people who hates cats, and Mr. Kitty himself is not representative of all cats! I know there are lots of cats out there who are nice and awesome pets. But Mr Kitty is just not one of those cats. (And besides, it'd be a boring game if everyone was sweet and fluffy and nice all the time)

I haven't made much progress on character sprites, but I did manage to create this ham illustration:
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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 8/23/14!]

#39 Post by Omniknight »

Honestly, this just keeps getting better and better. Pleased and surprised to find rare gems like these every once in a while...

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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 8/23/14!]

#40 Post by sasquatchii »

Omniknight wrote:Honestly, this just keeps getting better and better. Pleased and surprised to find rare gems like these every once in a while...
Daww, thank you for the kind words! It's my first game so it's probably going to be a little rough around the edges, but I'm going to try my hardest to make it a good one :)
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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 8/23/14!]

#41 Post by sasquatchii »

Hey guys! It's been a week, so I thought I'd do another update! I finished desinging the help menu and main in game menu for the GUI, but there's still a lot more I need to design :)

I have a rough draft version of the game I've been messing around with, basically still trying to get the menus to work! if anyone's interested you can get the windows version here: http://www.mediafire.com/download/4muih ... .0-win.zip

It's not much, but I've had fun messing around in Ren'py and actually getting things to work.
(If anyone with a mac or linux would like to see let me know & I'll upload a version!)

I've also written a lot more this week- my rough draft is now 5,104 words long! Although I will be editing the hell out of it this upcoming week so we'll see what happens.

Lastly, I've tweaked Food Lady, Frowny Man, & Cookie's look! Cookie I just made to look less stiff and a little more natural. For Food Lady and Angry man, I completely changed the shapes of their heads. I think there was a lot of inconsistency before with face shapes so I settled on giving them more natural looking faces than crazy cartoony faces! I'm not 100% happy with Angry Man's but I'll continue to tweak and play with it until I get it right :)
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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 8/23/14!]

#42 Post by Ran08 »

sasquatchii wrote: Lastly, I've tweaked Food Lady, Frowny Man, & Cookie's look! Cookie I just made to look less stiff and a little more natural. For Food Lady and Angry man, I completely changed the shapes of their heads. I think there was a lot of inconsistency before with face shapes so I settled on giving them more natural looking faces than crazy cartoony faces! I'm not 100% happy with Angry Man's but I'll continue to tweak and play with it until I get it right :)
Hahaha, they look so cute, though! :") Love them. I just adore the art style for this game, haha. So refreshing to see something so different from the usual. ^^

And I'm downloading the demo(?) right now. Will give my thoughts once I finish. :")

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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 8/23/14!]

#43 Post by sasquatchii »

Ran08 wrote:Hahaha, they look so cute, though! :") Love them. I just adore the art style for this game, haha. So refreshing to see something so different from the usual. ^^

And I'm downloading the demo(?) right now. Will give my thoughts once I finish. :")
Thanks for taking the time to play it! I wouldn't call it a demo, though (sorry to disappoint!) It is just a few sentences of the beginning of the game, and the result of me experimenting in Ren'Py!

Also just throwing it up there in case anyone sees any gaping errors or mistakes i've made with the game design :)
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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 9/1/14!]

#44 Post by Ran08 »

Tbh, I only played it just now, hahaha. (Had to do something earlier, lol.)

Whoops, you're right. It didn't show me much of anything, but... awww, it did show me how adorable this game looks! :) Now, I'm excited for the real demo! Hahaha. I just love the simple main menu and the GUI. :") Also, the cursor is so cute! Mhmm-hmm, Dog is so adorable. <3

One thing I noticed though, um, is Dog talking to the audience, like, out loud? Because his name was there the whole time, haha. I do hope that in the real game, it won't be there when he's just thinking. ;)

Meh, just that. Anyway, really cute work so far! =) Good luck, and keep up the good work!

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Re: Lost & Found [Updated 9/1/14!]

#45 Post by sasquatchii »

Ran08 wrote: One thing I noticed though, um, is Dog talking to the audience, like, out loud? Because his name was there the whole time, haha. I do hope that in the real game, it won't be there when he's just thinking. ;)

Meh, just that.
Ooh, good point! A lot of the time Dog is just thinking to himself, so I agree that the name shouldn't be there when he is thinking (and I just removed it from that part of the game, which was surprisingly easy to do)

Humans won't be able to understand him, so all of the choices will be actions & what you do when you're around people.

Although he will be able to talk to other animals, such as Mr. Kitty! I'm also thinking about having some scenes where he interacts with rats & pidgeons xD

And thank you again for playing & pointing that out to me :) The real demo probably won't be for a few months, as I do everything at a snail's pace.
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