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I thought I'd post a WIP topic since I have started working on BCM more. I will probably be a lot more transparent with this project and telling more about the story/characters, in comparison.

Break Chance Memento, also commonly referred to as "BC Memento" or "BCM", is an upcoming BxB (boy x boy) visual novel. It takes place in modern-day Nagasaki, Japan, but the genre is a mix of sci-fi and mystery: the big feature in this game is the ability to travel back and forth through time. (Note: I did a lot of research for the setting/culture, but of course a lot of places have been made up, so it's not going to be 100% true to life.)

The gameplay involves saving serial murder victims by traveling through time and piecing together clues to solve the whole mystery. Time travel is only possible if you have the proper break chance memento for the point in time you’re wanting to go back/forward to, so you also have to figure out and find the BCMs. (hence the name of the game) Also, during lulls between the murders, you get downtime in which you can live life as a normal student and further personal relationships. Romance is not the main point of this game, but of course part of the gameplay involves talking to the potential love interests and getting them to like you.

Disclaimers: The game is not going to be explicit. There will of course be sensuality, but any sex scenes will be "fade-to-black and implied" after a certain point. There's also the possibility of incest in some of the game's routes. This game is commercial. Right now we are planning on selling the final product for for $15 USD. We recommend that players be at least 15 years of age due to the game containing inappropriate language, mild sexuality and sensuality, and a moderate amount of blood and gore.



Events in Break Chance Memento center on the Amamiya family: brothers Natsume, Masaharu, and Shuuki.

Four years ago, Shuuki Amamiya’s world was turned upside-down upon the accidental death of his twin sister, Fuyuka, at just 12 years of age. Afterwards, their parents blamed Fuyuka’s death on Natsume, the eldest Amamiya brother, because he was the one who'd been with her when she died. Though the specific details behind Fuyuka's death remained murky, at best, there was no going back. The Amamiya family would never be the same.

In the summer of 2012, after their parents go abroad temporarily for work, the three Amamiya brothers have to move into the dormitories of their private high school. One September morning, Shuuki happens upon the dead body of his older brother Masaharu, who was brutally murdered. Shortly afterward, an oddly-dressed stranger appears out of thin air and tells a grief-stricken Shuuki: “Do you want to bring your brother back? To fix your family relations? You can…if you learn to travel through time.”

Before he knows it, Shuuki is right in the middle of a plot far more sinister than he could have ever imagined. Soon enough, he finds that the key to traveling through time and stopping innocents from being killed lies in break chance mementos–items that are a link between the past, future, and present.



These are the main characters/love interests. There are a few other characters who aren't shown here for various reasons. Shuuki is the first MC. After you beat the game once as Shuuki, you can play as Natsume. Decisions made can carry over from one story to the next. (goes both ways, Shuuki -> Natsume and Natsume -> Shuuki) Anyway, here's the line-up!


Shuuki Amamiya (天宮秋希), 1st year, 16 years old. The "hero"?
A fashion-conscious primadonna whose claim-to-fame is dating close to 25% of the student body (male and female). Shuuki has the nasty habit of falling in love with someone, bothering that person until the feelings are mutual, and then quickly losing interest and either dumping them or being so detached that he himself gets dumped. He is bright and quick-witted, but has a sharp tongue, tending to be blunt. Most of his peers find him hard to deal with. Though he loves his brothers, he goes out of his way to try to annoy them--just so they'll remember him.


Natsume Amamiya (天宮夏目), 3rd year, 18 years old. The narcoleptic.
The first thing everyone says about Natsu is that he has a very cold, aloof personality. It's exceedingly rare to see him angry, for him to even raise his voice or care much about anything. He falls asleep incredibly easily and it takes his brothers, or the few other people close to him, to keep Natsu interested enough in the present to stay awake. While he is intelligent, he doesn't put forth much effort towards things that he doesn't like--which is almost everything. That said, once he finally gets attached to someone, he becomes affectionate to the point of ridiculousness.


Masaharu Amamiya (天宮政春), 2nd year, 17 years old. The serious one.
Growing up, Masaharu's always felt too normal compared to his brothers and ended up with a need to set himself apart from "the two weirdos". In truth, he genuinely loves and cares for the both of them, no matter how annoying or embarrassing he may find them, but expressing said love and care is a different matter altogether. Ever since he discovered his natural talent for sports, he's been putting most of his effort into that. Masaharu is the captain of the basketball team, even though that position is normally reserved for seniors--a testament to his ability.


Chiaki Sorata (空田稚空), 3rd year, 18 years old. The chibi.
A childhood friend of Natsume's, Chiaki is known for his diminutive stature--that is, he's incredibly short for his age. Those who are stupid enough to point that out to him, however, are immediately subjected to his wrath. Chiaki is somewhat short-tempered and a hard worker who dislikes lazy people and being distracted, so it's a wonder how he and Natsume ever got to be friends. He likes teasing people and has a dry sense of humor. He's also oddly clingy and touchy-feely, but only around those he knows well and/or are not Natsume. Chiaki becomes Shuuki's dorm roommate.


Yukinari Hosokawa (細川行成), 2nd year, 17 years old. The dreamer.
Yukinari grew up in a strict, old-fashioned family that maintains influence and power in both local and national government. There's a certain amount of privilege coming from that background, but mostly Yukinari feels a burden of restrictions, keeping-face, and achieving academically. Yukinari is easily distracted, tends to dream, and is not very self-conscious. He loves the ocean and sailing. A bit masochistic, he enjoys annoying the people he likes until they snap at him. He is physically sensitive, so he doesn't like to be touched randomly. Masaharu's classmate and later, Natsume's dorm roommate.

The following "end romances" are possible:
Shuuki x Chiaki, Shuuki x Yukinari, Shuuki x Masaharu, Shuuki x Natsume, Shuuki x Masaharu x Natsume (in general, Shuuki bottoms)
Natsume x Chiaki, Natsume x Yukinari, Natsume x Masaharu, Natsume x Shuuki, Natsume x Masaharu x Shuuki (in general, Natsume tops)



Writing/programming: Camille
Art: Auro-Cyanide
UI Design: Lazcht



UI: Lazcht is currently working on the map and another secret GUI for Natsume's story. I still have yet to code the CG gallery, which she designed a while back.
Art: The main and supporting cast sprites are done. Auro is currently working on some tertiary sprite dolls for minor characters before working some more on BGs. CGs will be saved for last.
Writing/programming: Currently working on finishing Shuuki's third chapter. My BCM to-do list is here so you can see specifically what I'm working on.

Overall: Yay for meaningless percentages! I'd say we're about 35% done as a whole. Of course, I also tend to be a pessimist.

This project won't be done for a long while, but I hope we can get everyone's support in the meantime. :3 During these early production stages, this thread will pretty much be updated the most compared to the BCM website and whatnot, so if you have any questions or comments, just post 'em here.

For more specific and frequent updates, please join the Cyanide Tea forums. Other points of interest are my dev Twitter, Auro's tumblr, and the changelog. The official website is here and you can download the prequel/demo (released 10/31/2011) here. (also available in German as of 11/12/2011) You can also preview some of the game's music here.



Thanks for your time and attention! Auro and I really appreciate all of the support. <3

FAVORITE CHARACTER POLL
It's going on here~ An easy way for us to see who's most beloved. I know there's a space for this in the survey, too, but this poll is easier to fill out, isn't it? XD

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1/2 of Cyanide Tea | BCM | Ristorante Amore | The Elevator | @Twitter

The WIP is finally out! I look forward to this as much as Machina Jewel and the plot seems pretty cool.

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Dev Blog
What Do You See? [NaNo13]

You're well on your way to having a slew of unfinished games, just like me! Also, I love Auro's art ... yey.
Here's my thoughts on disabling romances:

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I apologize in advance for being extremely opinionated.
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@Aleema: I've considered all those things, really. Of course I'm writing the story the way I want and I'd like it if people could just play the whole thing the way I intended. I'd never include an option to "turn sex scenes off" (even if I wrote sex scenes, lol), for example. I probably won't end up disabling all the romantic scenes, because the more I think about it, the less I like the prospect.

That said, I also understand that there are a lot of people who are extreeeemely squicky when it comes to incest. And yeah, it's avoidable, but I think that some lines that seem nice and normal when said to a brother can be interpreted totally differently when the brother is a romantic prospect. People might pick options that end up leading to an incest route without realizing it because the option seems innocuous enough on its own and if I make it TOO OBVIOUS, well that's just jarring and out of character. If I can at least disable those endings/points from being accumulated, I can keep a lot of the dialogue the same without having things end in a way that would freak (a lot of) people out and I feel like the story would still be pretty much the same.

You are right, though, that having the option to turn it off will just draw attention to it and make it more of a big deal. D: I guess I'll have to think on this some more.

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1/2 of Cyanide Tea | BCM | Ristorante Amore | The Elevator | @Twitter

Woooooo~ WIP thread. Very exciting! The story sounds pretty amazing how you put it and I'm really eager to find out how it goes. If only I wasn't so tired D: I'll have to get super organised so I have time for it.

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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

Haha but you already know how it goes!! 8D Well, partially. Anyway, don't worry. :3 I know you're really busy with/tired from work, so don't push yourself too hard. <3

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1/2 of Cyanide Tea | BCM | Ristorante Amore | The Elevator | @Twitter

A WIP thread and I'm already emotionally attached to the characters… Ahh, I want to bring Masaharu back! I want to! He's already my favorite (I have a thing for sporty types) although I also thought Yukinari is adorable. The opportunity to play as two different characters is also very interesting, as the option of paid content! Maybe it's why I've not been involved in indie gaming for long, but this idea is great, as I think I've already mentioned in the Machina Jewel topic. I really think the plot's got a lot to offer, and playing it from two different perspectives looks incredible.

@Arcanum: Awww that makes me really happy to hear! c: (err, read?) There's less characters in this and I don't have to worry about like 320472834 personality variations like I do in Machina Jewel, so this story will be veeeeeery character-driven. (well, even moreso than usual) I've tried to give these guys a lot of depth so they feel like real people, so I hope that they're relatable and interesting.

Masaharu gets to be the first you bring back. You can probably guess that the other victims = the rest of the cast. The story does not end if one of them dies and you can't save them, though--it keeps going, only that character is gone from then on and there are ramifications later. :c

Playing as Natsume is entirely different in almost every way from playing as Shuuki, so it's really like getting two games in one. :3 I hope that players who really get into the story/characters enjoy playing as Natsume and getting a totally different perspective on things.

Anyway, I'm glad you like the idea! :3 It might take a while to complete, but I hope you like BCM when it's all done in very early 2012 or so.

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1/2 of Cyanide Tea | BCM | Ristorante Amore | The Elevator | @Twitter

It sounds even better when you pitch it. Plus there were a couple things that I didn't know about that really spice up the story.

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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

I do so love pitching things. XD By the way, did you get my last email? Because I kept getting some weird "YOUR MAIL COULD NOT BE SENT" error. 0_o The email wasn't super important, just basically telling you that I made this thread, but. D: It's weird because I used the same email I've been replying to you back and forth with... Anyway I'll be filling plotholes and setting some more story points in stone this week, so I'll let you know all those juicy details to see what you think. ;D



To anyone else reading this, don't get tooooo attached to these characters. I have a bad habit of treating my OCs very badly. That got toned down (a tad) in Machina Jewel because Airi is a fluffy person, but I think BCM will have a lot of bad endings and very dark and twisted storylines.

A year ago, I wrote a story centered on Natsume and Yukinari for Shousetsu Bang*Bang called "Happiness Is". Though I say it's centered on Natsume and Yukinari, all of the characters listed in the first post make appearances. My writing style is rather different now and the game takes place in a slightly different universe, but if anyone wants a glimpse into what BCM/its characters are like, you can read it? Part 1 + Part 2! Any comments on that would be appreciated. :3 The story has a very cheesy happy ending because B*B requires happy endings. None of the few happy endings in BCM are going to be this cheesy. XD

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1/2 of Cyanide Tea | BCM | Ristorante Amore | The Elevator | @Twitter

Huh, weird. I didn't get it, though I have been getting mail. Something must have go wrong somewhere, though I wouldn't have a clue what. Of course I would love to hear anything you have come up with. So far it is so good that I want to start living and breathing it.



Bwhahahaha.

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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

Well I just sent you a test email, so hopefully it goes through. ): What the heck is going on? I haven't re-configured my mail client or anything...

Awww o/////o. It'd be great if everyone likes BCM as much as we do. XD Although I told my brother I was making a BL game and he side-eyed me like crazy, so. Can't please 'em all, I suppose.

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1/2 of Cyanide Tea | BCM | Ristorante Amore | The Elevator | @Twitter

My email address doesn't like you anymore D: I sent one to see if you can receive mine at least.

I'm not telling my brother. All he gets is 'Not a game for you' from me. Though I do show him some of the art. I'm pretty sure he'd give me that sideways look as well XD

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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

I received it, but I guess you're not getting my replies. ): I tried emailing you from the actual Phoenix Mail website to see if that would make a difference... Don't tell me we have to resort to PMs! D:

Ah brothers, always good at not understanding the fangirl psyche in the least. XD



Oh yeah, I wrote this fic about Shuuki a few months ago: http://sonicpunch.livejournal.com/6711.html I guess this is closer to what the game is going to be like since this fic is from Shuuki's POV (sort of) and is more recent.

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1/2 of Cyanide Tea | BCM | Ristorante Amore | The Elevator | @Twitter

/creeps in
I'll be keeping an eye on this 8DDD