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'Kimeru' is a Japanese word that means "to decide". Decisions are made everyday by everyone. Everyone has the ability to make a decision that will change anything and possibly everything in their life.

How do people relate to one another? How do our decisions affect them as well as ourselves? This game is about being human and deciding whether to attempt to overcome obstacles and problems that come from within as well as without; or deciding to hide, to run, to avoid them instead.

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Main Character:

Adrien (name changeable) - the MC who is genderless. By that I mean the player is able to mentally choose what gender they're playing as and how they look, as well. Adrien does not/will not have a sprite because of that. The character is written as neither masculine or feminine. The MC has a diagnosed anxiety disorder and has spent the last year with the help of a therapist to attempt to work on and overcome this issue.

As the game starts, the MC has just moved away from their old town with their family, and their regular therapist as well. They have chosen to begin this new life freshly and not to return to therapy to challenge themselves to apply what they've learned to real life. The MC struggles with their disorder on a daily basis.

Obtainable Characters:


Norah - A bright, happy-go-lucky type that's a bit weird at times. She also tends to fangirl at random. She has trouble waking up, is often late, and isn't a great student. On the surface, she's quite friendly and outgoing. Inwardly, things are more turbulent than she ever lets on. She sacrifices her own happiness to help others.


Asric - Although good-looking, the scowl on Asric's face usually prevents people from wanting to get near him. He's quiet and normally unhappy looking. He's known Norah since childhood and is protective of her. He is meticulous about his things/clothing and is a good student. He's rather sarcastic and avoids getting close to anyone, for reasons known only to himself.


Mirae - Mostly keeping to herself, Mirae hasn't made many friends. She doesn't like to draw attention to herself, and doesn't make much conversation with anyone at all. She rarely speaks unless absolutely necessary. When she does speak, it's slow and careful, with each word thought out and her tone quite serious. She likes to read and listen to instrumental music.


Hayden - Careless would be a good word to describe Hayden. Or more like lucky. He's super rich and doesn't really care what he's doing in college, possibly to piss off his overbearing father. Lucky for him, (or unlucky since failing would make his father angry and he enjoys doing that) he seems to have a knack for passing courses. He skateboards in his spare time and usually is hard to talk to since he constantly has earbuds in to listen to his iPod.

Others:


Sherra - A bit overzealous, Sherra is possibly taking far too many courses at one time. She insists she can handle it, despite looking ridiculously overworked. She somehow seems to be everywhere at once due to this. She still finds time in her tight schedule to find the MC and ask them how they're doing.

Alice - The MC's former therapist. Alice offers her support and encourages the MC to keep in contact even though they're very far apart now. Caring, young and rather blunt at times, Alice has really helped the MC to open up over their year of work.

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Save/Load Screen


Options Screen


Yes/No Screen


Choice Screen


Screenshot

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Progress
Plot: 60%
Script: 60%
Coding: 50%
GUI: 80%
Sprites: 100%
CGs: 5%
Backgrounds: 70%
Music: 70%

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Updates:

July 27th - Thanks everyone for all your encouragement so far. (: I think it will take awhile before I'm able to release anything but hopefully my sprite sketches generate some interest! Also, gonna re-put in a note that I don't want critique on my art, please, thank you muchly. It's only because I learn by doing, not by reading.

August 5th - Final sprites posted. Might post some GUI screenshots soon as well, not completely positive I'm happy with it yet. Still fighting with coding the CG/Music/Endings galleries, fun, haha. Taking a break before I start CGs, partially because I've been drawing so much lately, my hand is hurting, haha. Plus I can only do some of the beginning ones I have planned.

August 8th - Uploaded GUI screenshots, game screenshots, finished scripting two paths. Saving the menu screen for the game release, sorry guys. (:

August 11th - Slightly revised the post and character descriptions, updated progress percentages.

September 9th - I'm still very much working on Kimeru but have been focusing my attention on "Seraph & Hellion" as it's a shorter game and almost complete. In the meantime though, I have outlined and began scripting most of Norah's path. I also updated the game genre to 'drama' instead of 'dating'. Scripting Norah's path has made me realize my game is not about dating or otome like (despite the fact I love those genres); it mostly focuses on mental health, making decisions, life choices and making connections with other people, not really love or dating, though characters are still romanceable. Hopefully I will have a more definite update later on this month.

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

The characters sound pretty interesting! Especially Norah, because of the last few sentences, lol. Imo, quite a few girls would connect with her. Asric sounds like the stereotypical delinquent who slowly opens up about himself, but that's just based on the description that you've given us.

I'd suggest drawing the sprites yourself, since you're (planning?) gonna make CGs for this. I don't quite like it when there's a sudden gap between the sprites and the CG art. Also, it'd be pretty hard to get artists that'll draw for free unless: your story is interesting and some artist falls in love with the characters, story, etc, or the artist is your close friend who'd do anything for you(lol). Of course, there are exceptions, but just saying. :/ (I was doing this for my friend, but I got really bored, unmotivated, and lazy, and so he started to pay me, lol.)
Also, if you draw the sprites yourself/have another person draw them, there'll be a bigger cast, yeah. P: (Screenshots would also be nice to look at!)

I wouldn't mind playing it if you drew all of the sprites/CG art yourself. (:

A lot of dating sims are done in a high-school area, haha. College would be kinda neat, especially since I'm going to college soon. P:

Good luck on continuing your VN. ovo /

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@ chocojax Thanks so much for the reply! And I'm glad you think Norah is interesting~ And I haven't mentally smoothed out Asric's entire character yet but I have a fondness sadly for the bad boy/grumpy guy outside, secretly warm and fuzzy inside type of boy in VNs. xD But I think you're right, it takes me awhile to draw and my art isn't so great, but maybe doing the entire VN myself would improve my art actually. And I would like to include a few more characters. I will attach a CG I did, because I'm probably going to end up re-drawing it since I think my sprite designs will change.

I will definitely work more on this and update it when I can. (:

EDIT: I think I might make it a college, cause I could still use the Japan settings/BGs if it was a college with international students as well. I'd have to change the story a bit, but we'll see if it works out. (:

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

You're welcome~. Lol, I kinda do too. P: Yeah, practice makes perfect and whatnot. Also, don't be all down if you're making slow progress art-wise, because it's nicer to see something that someone spent a lot of time on > something that was rushed and done in 5 minutes, lol.

(Also, if you don't mind the suggestion, maybe you could make the backgrounds a little bit more crisp? :/ I don't know about this for other people, but my eyes kinda hurt whenever I see something that was drawn with a really fuzzy brush, especially since I'm already nearsighted, lol.)

I'll be keeping watch. :v

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I actually blurred the background because I thought it might improve it ... my bad. xD

Thank you! c8

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

I think your problem is that it isn't blurred enough. It's only slightly blurred compared to the foreground elements and so people's eyes will strain to make it clear. If it was more blurred you create the illusion of focus and depth that naturally happens with our eyes and cameras.

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The other 1/2 of Cyanide Tea l My Deviantart Account I My Tumber Account I Break Chance Memento I Ristorante Amore

@Auro-Cyanide Thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind! ^^

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

If you need to rely on copyright-free background art, then don't worry too much if it's not a precise representation of the setting you want. But if you can create (or commission) background art that's suited to your setting, then go ahead and do it.

I'm curious as to how you'll portray Adrien. You mentioned the person has "a diagnosed anxiety disorder," but after reading a Wikipedia article, it appears there are quite a few kinds of anxiety disorders. Please let us know more information when you are able and willing.

Also, I'm wondering if Adrien is just a blank-slate person whose gender is determined by the player. You did say the person "...is written as neither masculine or feminine." That said, I want to see how more details about this person will be written.

One last thing... I hadn't heard the name Asric before. One web search later, it appears it's the name of a blood elf in WOW. If you want to use the name, just make sure it's a real life given name.

@ gekiganwing Finding copyright-free backgrounds has been a bit tough but I found a few that work/that I like but I think I should look around a bit more first. But that is true, I suppose time will tell on that.

I hadn't, so far, decided on a particular reason or specific diagnosis for Adrien's disorder. Possibly something of a lesser form of Complex PTSD, (which would have a potential story attached to it) but to not make it too complicated, there is simply Generalized Anxiety Disorder which might fit the purposes of the game without having to get too technical.

I'm not quite sure what blank-slate means. I just mean Adrien doesn't match any stereotypical gender roles so the player can identify with Adrien simply on a human level. Or so I'm striving to write them that way.

And to be honest, I'm extremely fond of abnormal names. I have a stock list of male character names practically. I attempt to write them down when I think of new ones. Usually they are never used. I've never played WOW ever in my life. I thought I made up the name Asric, same as I created my username/alter-ego's name, Reyire. It's a bit disappointing to find out someone got there before me. XD Thanks for telling me though. I'd rather not change it unless there's some legal reason I'd need to though.

Thank you for commenting and being interested! ^^

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

Edited to include some preliminary art of Norah and Asric. (:

EDIT #2: Will possibly update with new characters and descriptions sometime this week.

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

That CG~! Did you perhaps use my sprites for this VN? :D ( viewtopic.php?f=52&t=16129 ) If so, then I'm glad they were of some use, even as placeholders.

Good luck with your project!

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Nanolife | Dev Blog | Pegasi's website | Twitter

Yes, I did! Thank you very much, they were very helpful! c8 I apologize for how horrid I drew the male character's hair though. xD Hahaha. And thanks again! ^^

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

New character descriptions added and sprite sketches!

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- I play any type of romance VN: BxG, GxB, GxG, BxB. Love is love. -

Awww, Mirae looks cute! She looks pretty mature. x: Eym gonna get her, best character.
Also, for Hayden, why is it unlucky for him to have a knack for passing courses? If he does, then why unlucky, lool. Are you saying that it's a bad trait to have for him since he's willing to do nothing to fail? x:!?

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Hm well it sounds interesting but I have a question.
When the maincharacter is genderless and won't have a sprite, how are you going to make the CGs? All without the main person?
I mean, you made it a dating game, right?

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