Violet Hill -- =Closed= (Sci-fi and Romance)

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Chocolatemilkgod
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Violet Hill -- =Closed= (Sci-fi and Romance)

#1 Post by Chocolatemilkgod »

Brief overview
Hello Lemma! I’m the editor for Red Lattice Studios, CMG, and we’re working on a sci-fi romance visual novel called Violet Hill. The core team has been together for several months now, and in this time we've released several demo versions (of which the most recent may be found here*). Despite having vastly improved the art, UI and much of the music over the past few months however, we came to realise that in order for the visual novel to reach its full potential, we need the help of some talented writers... hence why I’m posting here!

*Disclaimer: Please note the demo is to give you an idea of what we want to accomplish, and it may not be completely representative of the final game (the demo covers the first chapter or two of the proper game, but much of the content is likely to be spread for the actual game)... that's why the pacing may be a bit, uh... heavy. Sorry. Also several of the backgrounds and music tracks used aren't ours (yet), but these will be phased out as the project goes forward. Anyway, enjoy!

A very brief story synopsis
The story’s setting is in a fictional town called… well, Violet Hill. The main protagonist, 18 year old Aoki Oka, is detached and scathingly cynical, and he possesses a unique ability called ‘Mindstorm’. Mindstorm allows him to remember his memories with fastidious detail and re-experience them. How he came to possess this power isn’t clear to him, but he does know that Mindstorm affects people around him… with potentially devastating consequences. Leading on from this, the visual novel will contain multiple routes, one for each of the five main heroines*; all the routes will involve Mindstorm to varying extents in their own unique way. There are also several supporting characters including a teacher, a scientist and Kyousuke, Aoki’s friend.

*(Plus a potential secret one that Sind doesn’t let me talk about)
Image
Please note that the above image is a very simplistic diagram, and is not representative of the framework we have (which is a lot more than this). I just wanted to give a brief overview of the structure without spoiling anything.
What we have so far
- A detailed framework for a medium-sized sci-fi romance visual novel. Many of the overarching themes have been planned out for quite some time now including the phenomenon known as Mindstorm, the principal characters and several of their routes.

- Three full sets of sprites (more being made!), each including something ungodly like 60+ expressions and a couple of pose changes, and also an alternative outfit for each of the heroines. Because our artist is crazy (good).

- A variety of other art including our wonderful, beautiful title screen, a couple of CGs and Mindstorm/Violet Hill exploration scenes.

- Several pieces of music, with more on the way! Samples for Vokoca and Palas’ work are here and here, respectively.

- A good UI, designed by our project lead (who is a professional media designer), although we’re likely to continue adapting and polishing this as the project goes forward.

- Some backgrounds (BGs) made taking some photographs and putting a filter on them (á la Katawa Shoujo).
Image
^Some example art. You can check out our main thread (listed at the bottom) if you want more examples.
What we need… and why you should be interested!
Well, even though we have most of the major elements of the story planned out (and indeed, some of it written out), writers would be given a huge amount of freedom as to how they tell the story. Indeed, the major elements and characters themselves can be adapted to match the writing styles of said writers. I want to make this implicitly clear because I in no way, as the editor, want to stifle creativity… that’s exactly the opposite of what we want!

We want people who are passionate about writing and want to be part of a well-established bigger project, and I, in particular, want their own sense of individuality to shine through. Ideally, we’re after two or three writers who are able to work in concert with each other, myself and Helvetica (who has most of the detailed underlying framework) to create a story that has the uniqueness of multiple writers without the schizophrenia that can oft come with it.

Now, what we have planned is quite a lot. Between multiple routes (~1-3 hours each?), a common route (~3-8 hours?) and even the potential for a true route (depending on writer feedback etc.), this will be a substantial bit of writing. Warnings aside however, joining the project will allow aspiring writers to join a project that is reasonably established, has a strong framework in place and will allow them to hone their writing! Not to mention you can shape the story and make a bit of a name for yourself. If you’re interested, please leave a reply here and/or send me a message with at least two pieces of writing. An example pro forma is shown below, but I’m fine in whatever format really.

Pro forma
Username: XXX
Minimum of two writing samples: XXX and YYY
Any past experience in VN/writing projects?: Y or N, more details etc…
Reason you’re interested: XXX
Amount of time you’d realistically be able to put in: (Ie don’t lie to make yourself look good; I’d much rather have someone say ‘only a little bit’ than say ‘TONS’ and then never talk to us for weeks at a time)

Please note that we are a non-profit project meaning however much we’d want to pay our talented applicants and staff, we don’t have the money to do so.

Our main post for our visual novel can be found in the WIP forum >>here<<

EDIT: For now, recruitment is closed. You can still send an application, but it's unlikely that it will be successful. We may open recruitment again for other positions in the future. Thank you so much to all those who applied, all of what I read was really fun. All of the <3s. ~~CMG~~
Last edited by Chocolatemilkgod on Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hendo
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Re: Violet Hill -- Looking for writers! (Sci-fi and Romance)

#2 Post by Hendo »

H'okay, I'm interested.

Username: Hendo
Minimum of two writing samples: There are three writing samples of mine you can access via this link. Two are just regular stories, one is the first act of a playscript I wrote. The oldest one is probably about 8 years old, while the other two were written within the past 2 years. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o8i7uk8bnkfa ... 7wiTa?dl=0
Any past experience in VN/writing projects?: No to creating VNs, but I've been involved with a few other writing projects in my time. The most notable would probably be the zine a few friends and I produced back when I was a uni student. I was the editor and one of the main contributors, although thankfully my writing is quite a bit better now than what it used to be. Not sure this one counts, but I teach creative writing to middle and high-school students. Yeah, that probably doesn't count.
Reason you’re interested: Well, I read/played the demo version you put up and the interactions between the characters were entertaining - not the best (as usually happens with rough drafts), but a hell of a lot of potential to be great. Out of all the other games that are looking for writers, this one seems to be the one most up my alley. Also, the sample character art you put up has eyes like mine (different colours), so that may have had something to do with it as well.
Amount of time you’d realistically be able to put in: I have no idea. It would vary from week to week, depending on how much homework I have to mark, lessons I have to prep for, or whatever else I have to work on for school... But I would probably say about half an hour to an hour each weekday, and maybe up to 3 or 4 on weekends. I don't know if that's a lot or not.

I'll send this to you via PM as well.

Thanks for your consideration!

Hendo.

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