Need team for educational/dating sim VN

[TheOtakuologist]

Hi guys!

I'm looking for a team to help me create my educational visual novel tentatively called: "Language of Love." This is a commerical project.

The story centers on the protagonist, a seventeen year old American high school student who suddenly is transported to Japan, and the only way he can get back to the U. S. is to fall in love with one of three Japanese high school girls. But the only way he can fall in love with her is to learn the language enough to converse with her. Enough to date her, anyways.

Think of it as a sort of dating sim/rosetta stone kind of dealio. I would like for the educational part to be more of a forced inclusion into the Japanese language rather than a phrasebook kind of thing.

The goal of the game is to fall in love with a girl and only then can he return home to the U. S. which opens up a whole other set of problems. Maybe the girl he falls in love with transfers to his school or something. Hey, that's why I need a team for situations like that!

My personal goal for the game is to teach the Japanese language in the most efficient way possible while being a whole lot of fun. When the game is over, the player should be able to at least have a ten minute conversation with a native speaker. Let me say right now that I realize that this is a very ambitions project. I realize (and in fact, hope) that this game will be pretty damn big. But I would like to have a fully working demo online within a month or less and a full product within two. If you feel this is too ambitious... well this project is probably right for you.

The type of team I need is at least:

Character artist
Background artist
Coder
Someone to create Japanese lessons
Music composition
Writer
Animators (maybe)

And probably a whole bunch more.

I don't have a lot to spend, but I can pay outright, or if it's a sellable product, I can probably offer a percentage of the profits. Send me a PM for more details.

I did use the basics of the software to create a very small demo of the game. This is exactly the way I DON'T want it to look, all amaturish and whatnot. I want both the demo and full version of the game to look super professional. Also, I'm having trouble uploading it to the forum so if you want a copy to see what it looks like, pm me.

If this sounds like the AWESOME project you want to be a part of, please let me know.

TheOtakuologist

[teaaa]

what kind of an artist are you looking for? The project sounds quite nice to me, but also very complicated.
Here's a sample of my stuff, but of course you can decline if it's too loli-ish or w/e.


sorry if I missed it while reading your post, but do you actually know any japanese, or will you be completely relying on the "Someone to create Japanese lessons"?

[TheOtakuologist]

I speak very little Japanese, but I'm learning. So yeah, I'll be completely relying on someone else's work when it comes to that.

I do like your work, but it is just a little too loli for me. I'm looking for something a little more mature but not necessarily pornographic. And I just realized that it sounds like I called your picture a porno. That is not what I meant... sorry.

Can you do something like that?

[Rin]

0w0 An educational project? Sounds interesting and quite new, especially dating is included! xDDD
I do like the story and I really would like to help in the Japanese lessons section, but I'm seriously flooded >_>

Just something to be honest, I hope you wouldn't mind. The visual styles (in this case, I mean the combination between Artists and Programmers) are important indeed, but since most of us here are hobbyist, and if you want the project to be "super professional" without assuring whether or not the project will be commercial, it is hardly possible... not to mention the information so far is just some idea while none of the requirement staff is ready (Spriter, programmer, composer, writer...) I mean, Hobbyists would help you for the project - since people here are very very kind and friendly - ,they would, it just difficult to be -super professional-. I myself (or perhaps, everyone) want the same thing for my dear product, but I need to be more realistic. Still, as mentioned, visual stuffs are important, but gameplay as well as storyline/script are the key to success, too. So take visual stuffs easy :p

Besides, if you want to upload a heavy file, you may want to check on http://www.mediafire.com/ or some other host like megaupload, 4shared. You can also record it as a video file and let the other taste it through youtube. : )

I wish you luck on your research!

[teaaa]

haha it's not porno, it's just a girl whose ice cream has fallen on the floor

and yea, I think I understand what you mean, drawing lolis in an ero way (for an eroge) would be a problem for me aswell.. I probably wouldn't do it.

anyway, would something like this be okay? (but I understand if you decline since you're looking for professionals)

[Kindred87]

Hmmmm, may I recommend that you take up a working position, file-share your demo via link, and in general figure out what you specifically want? Seeing as you want a project designed, written, coded, drawn, colored, composed, and possibly animated, all by other people, all with professional quality, all with unspecified pay...*eye twitch*...you'd better make yourself and your project look hecka' good. o.O

If you want your project to be professional-grade, then you should start with making it look professional-grade. Put yourself on the development team, create specified plans, don't be a cat-in-the-bag and openly share your demo (Choose your weapon: MediaFire, MegaUpload, FileServe, Uploading, ShareFile, Upload Station, RapidShare, FileSonic, Wupload, or Hotfile), and please...chill on the vagues bro.

To further iterate on that last point, it's difficult to take your post with a straight face when you describe your project as "...being a whole lot of fun," or, "...a sort of dating sim/rosetta stone kind of dealio." If you want nibbles, then tell us why it's going to be fun, tell us exactly what it is, don't be vague. As a screenwriter and composer, I can't tell you how many times I've been turned down by posts that lacked specificities or were just too secretive in nature. Passionate creators look for projects that trigger their passion, and no ambiguous or otherwise cloak-and-dagger post will be able to accomplish that.


Point is, while I can avoid your post like it was some sort of irradiated waffle, I would very much like to see something become of your project, and that's not going to happen unless you take things up a notch and really give it your all





P.S. I lol'd at the swimsuit-hentai discussion, short as it was ^^

[gekiganwing]

Welcome to the forum, Otakuologist.

...the only way he can get back to the U. S. is to fall in love with one of three Japanese high school girls. But the only way he can fall in love with her is to learn the language enough to converse with her. Enough to date her, anyways.

Incidentally, there's an iOS game called Summer Story which might be the exact opposite of what you're creating. In that game, the main character is learning English from three exchange students. If you aren't a native Japanese speaker, it may not be very useful...

Also, in Go Go Nippon, the main character is a tourist, and learns through two young women. The guy already has a pretty good grasp on spoken Japanese at the beginning of the story.

That said, your idea could be a diverting edutainment game. It will help if there's a solid justification for everything that happens. For instance, perhaps your main character is being pressured by his parents or his friends. And why the three specific girls? Do they just happen to live nearby, or are they willing and ready to tutor him?

Make sure to consider how the events in your game will work. It sounds like the player will have to pass lessons and tutorials in order to continue. Will they be presented as a series of choices, or do you want to create something more complex? Will there be a difficulty curve, and how will it work? What will happen if the player fails?

Also, decide what sort of scope you want. I think you're trying to write a story about a boy x 3 girls harem, with story or gameplay continuing after he chooses one of the girls. Some people might want other pairings, such as girl x boy, or boy x boy... while other people might want all the characters to be just friends. These are difficult choices, so hopefully you can find options which are acceptable.

Finally, good luck with your project. Hopefully you can find reliable people who you can work with.

[TheOtakuologist]

0w0 An educational project? Sounds interesting and quite new, especially dating is included! xDDD
I do like the story and I really would like to help in the Japanese lessons section, but I'm seriously flooded >_>

Just something to be honest, I hope you wouldn't mind. The visual styles (in this case, I mean the combination between Artists and Programmers) are important indeed, but since most of us here are hobbyist, and if you want the project to be "super professional" without assuring whether or not the project will be commercial, it is hardly possible... not to mention the information so far is just some idea while none of the requirement staff is ready (Spriter, programmer, composer, writer...) I mean, Hobbyists would help you for the project - since people here are very very kind and friendly - ,they would, it just difficult to be -super professional-. I myself (or perhaps, everyone) want the same thing for my dear product, but I need to be more realistic. Still, as mentioned, visual stuffs are important, but gameplay as well as storyline/script are the key to success, too. So take visual stuffs easy :p

Besides, if you want to upload a heavy file, you may want to check on http://www.mediafire.com/ or some other host like megaupload, 4shared. You can also record it as a video file and let the other taste it through youtube. : )

I wish you luck on your research!

Thank you for that info, Rin. I never thought about everyone being hobbyists here.

I do have a backup plan if the coding and writing stuff doesn't work out. Elance, or other sites of the like may be useful. But judging by the artist stuff I've gotten so far I'll definitely be using visuals here.

Thanks for the info again!

[TheOtakuologist]

Hmmmm, may I recommend that you take up a working position, file-share your demo via link, and in general figure out what you specifically want? Seeing as you want a project designed, written, coded, drawn, colored, composed, and possibly animated, all by other people, all with professional quality, all with unspecified pay...*eye twitch*...you'd better make yourself and your project look hecka' good. o.O

If you want your project to be professional-grade, then you should start with making it look professional-grade. Put yourself on the development team, create specified plans, don't be a cat-in-the-bag and openly share your demo (Choose your weapon: MediaFire, MegaUpload, FileServe, Uploading, ShareFile, Upload Station, RapidShare, FileSonic, Wupload, or Hotfile), and please...chill on the vagues bro.

To further iterate on that last point, it's difficult to take your post with a straight face when you describe your project as "...being a whole lot of fun," or, "...a sort of dating sim/rosetta stone kind of dealio." If you want nibbles, then tell us why it's going to be fun, tell us exactly what it is, don't be vague. As a screenwriter and composer, I can't tell you how many times I've been turned down by posts that lacked specificities or were just too secretive in nature. Passionate creators look for projects that trigger their passion, and no ambiguous or otherwise cloak-and-dagger post will be able to accomplish that.


Point is, while I can avoid your post like it was some sort of irradiated waffle, I would very much like to see something become of your project, and that's not going to happen unless you take things up a notch and really give it your all





P.S. I lol'd at the swimsuit-hentai discussion, short as it was ^^

Thank you for the advice, Kindred. It was a lot of help.

I do have a general idea of the story, here it is:

An American otaku who is extremely average (average height, average weight, probably named John Smith or John Doe or something) feels dissatisfied with his life. No friends, his mom yells at him and regularly hits him on the head with a frying pan... that sort of stuff. Obviously no girlfriend, the only girls he can relate with are the ones in his favorite anime and manga and his figures.

One day he enters a magic subway car (or enters a magic closet or something) and winds up transported to Japan with no knowledge of the language so he can't communicate and ask anyone for help. He meets three girls, and he finds that he likes them a lot. Obviously he can't tell them that. So his task is to learn Japanese and pick a girl to spend the rest of his life with.

Of course, when this happens, he somehow gets transported back to the USA. But don't worry! He somehow gets back with the girl of his dreams. Maybe her parents transfer to the states and the girl gets transferred to his school or something. I like that scenario.

I realize that I seem a little unprofessional, as I'm not used to being professional at a lot. And as far as payment goes, I'd be willing to pay market rates, whatever that means.

The tiny demo I worked on will be on one of the upload sites you mentioned and I really appreciate your advice and candor. If you have any other advice I'd sure listen to it.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Whoa boy, I think you need to slow down a bit. I know you feel eager to start on a game, but if you don't plan than everything will go bottom up quicker than you can say otaku.

First and foremost, do not get other people involved until you have a solid plan of what you need to do. Not vague concepts, not ideas, an actual mapped out plot and a very good idea of what you will need in terms of visuals, especially if you are paying. Art is expensive and if you want to get someone reliable, that's even more so. Professional? Add on some more. Do some research first before asking for this type of thing and figure out what your budget is. If you can't afford it, and want to try and get someone on board AND have them stay than you will have to pick up your game and do more than come up with an idea. The last thing people want to do is get involved in a project that is set to fail because you haven't planned, it isn't fun. So get to planning what you want the game to be.

Secondly, what exactly are you doing for the project? You are asking for a lot of people to help you and it isn't clear what type of role you will play. People will need to know what they are getting into after all and how it will relate to you as a project lead. Your projection of a one month demo also makes me think that you don't completely know how long VNs can take and how long it can take to create the assets as well as the writing. Be careful with it, things will always take 2x-3x longer than you expect, even when you are being safe.

Thirdly (and this is totally personal opinion so feel free to disregard it) while the idea of a educational game is very cool, the set up isn't particularly inspiring. The main character doesn't sound very interesting (unlike JVNs, many guys can get bored playing the blank 'loser' role, so creating more of a character might be very attractive), and if he hasn't had much luck with girls in America, how is he going to be any better with them in Japan? Again, it also sounds like you haven't planned out how it's going to end and the 'transported magically' can come off as a cop out if you aren't careful.

Anyway, I wish you luck. I hope you will think about it a bit more before you get people to start working on anything. The educational aspect sounds very interesting and it will be cool if you can pull it off.

[Kindred87]

Lol, I must've inspired your post there a little Cyanide xP (Thanks for the additional details)

Anyways, I'm very glad you appreciated my post! I'm used to getting shot down in a painful flurry of flames whenever I try to nicely provide feedback on other game-maker forums. I've gotten everything from hate-mail to PR threats x(, so it's very heartwarming (to me) each time I read another one of the mature posts that flood these forums ^^

Hopefully you can make a breakthrough with this project, so long as you ask for help where it's needed, put your heart into it, and most importantly, not let us big bullies crush your dreams



To reply to bits of Cynaide's post (It's alright if I call you that, right?) , I'll first say that if written correctly, a protagonist can be a fairly bland, static character and still be accepted. It's much better if the main character is interesting, but you can get away with a John Doe as long as the supporting cast is a very colorful and dynamic one. Not that the supporting cast is great, but look at the Halo franchise. The Master Chief is probably one of the flattest characters in narrative history, yet millions still love the story to death and revel in novel spin-offs. Lame reference I know, but it's the best I've got for right now.

As for the interest from the opposite gender, I have a suggestion for TheOtakuologist. Make the main character an Otaku (Not the diehard-variety lol), as this can accomplish several things in one go.
For starters, we can understand that many young Americans (I don't know about other cultures) come to learn of Japan through exposure to anime and manga. This exposure generally leads from one thing to another until the individual wants to go to Japan, at least once, and maybe even partake in its society and/or culture. If the protagonist loved anime and manga, then chances are he'd eventually express a want to visit Japan, possibly even reside there. And what do most serious Otaku wish for other than a plane ticket? The ability to speak Japanese, that's what. Because it'd allow them to experience anime and manga in their original, raw form. Not to mention browse Japanese websites, and so on.
Now, if your Otaku protagonist really wants to learn Japanese as well as go to Japan, but can't due to his Totalitarian, pan-wielding parents, then magically appearing there is bound to be a very nice turn of events. If pulled off nicely, you could inspire some jealousy in the player. A little "Man, I wish that'd happen to me." treatment if you will.

As for that gender thing I was supposed to have covered already...
With our Otaku buddy John Doe, one could understand how John would base his image of the ideal woman off of the female characters in his many anime and manga. If this was so, than the protagonist could simply not want American women (girls?), and thus avoid them. Then when he appears in Japan, his dreams of visiting Japan, learning Japanese, and netting a Japanese girlfriend could finally all be realized! Ehhhh, well except for the visiting part...he'd have already realized that dream by this point ^^

Moving on though, the story could proceed in two ways. One, Mr. Doe has an American-born Japanese friend (female) back home that he hung out with, but never expressed deep feelings for (due to her not fitting the image of his ideal woman). When he arrives in Japan, things would play out until his "ideal woman" transformed into something that matched perfectly with his friend back home. That'd be uber-sweet.
Or, you can have that friend be American, and have the same line of events occur. I really like the ideal-woman concept because it gives the character an additional urge to visit Japan, among many other things.

Anyways, if you don't steal my idea, then I at the very least hope that it inspires a better one.

[r3nka]

Good luck with your project! I do feel it’s a bit ambitious to teach enough Japanese to have a 10 minute conversation with a native speaker though. Although, I’m only saying this because I’ve taken Japanese for 2 years and it’s still hard for me to have a decent/fluent conversation in Japanese. However, if you’re able to pull it off, that’d be pretty amazing.

I think it might help if you start off with the character having a little knowledge of the Japanese language at least (for example, knowing how to read hiragana and/or katakana).

Also, I do agree with Cyanide in saying that you should clarify a bit more on the ‘jobs/roles’ people will have. ‘Probably a whole bunch more’ … more..artists? As in a team? Or other skills?

I do admit you have quite an interesting idea, but I also feel that before you get a team together, maybe you should think more about the plot, or have a map of some sort laid out. Unless you were planning on having the whole team brainstorm with you (but in my personal opinion, because you initiated the idea, people will help out with little things, but the main points of the story would be up to you)?

I’m also a bit curious as to how the character learns Japanese. Through the girls?

Well, good luck with your project though!

--edit: Just realized: you may also want to consider Japanese voice actor/actress, since the character needs to practice listening..and speaking ^^;;

[Kindred87]

Oh, and teaching the player how to write the characters would be nice in addition to the voice acting.

[Auro-Cyanide]

@Kindred, Yeah that's fine ^_^ (though most people do call me Auro, but either is fine).

Having an Otaku character... could be really, really awesome, but what I'm thinking probably isn't what you are. The general japanese public don't like otaku, it's an insulting word there. If you went there claiming your love of anime and manga, most people would think you were weird. I would love to read a story were an american self-proclaimed 'otaku' went to Japan and learnt that it wasn't like how it is in anime, but that's just me and would take that fantasy element out of it. It would be funny though.

As for a blank character, yes, it can be done, but it's not the best choice for story telling in my opinion as it can be very limited and boring to play as that type of character.

My point was with the girls, if he has no experience and is a geek, he probably isn't going to do any better with girls in another country. And they would think he was creepy if he was obsessed in their country and stuff like anime and manga. However, going from a fantasy angle, you could do it (probably would be easier if the main character actually had some interesting points for them to be interested in). Having so much fantasy and uber perfect world isn't something I'm into, but it probably would find it's audience.

Having a 'loser' type pursue awesome girls that some how find him interesting is a 'classic' story type. While not very interesting, if you are going to be focusing more attention on the learning japanese aspect, it could work just fine.

[Mink]

I would love to read a story were an american self-proclaimed 'otaku' went to Japan and learnt that it wasn't like how it is in anime, but that's just me and would take that fantasy element out of it. It would be funny though.

Your wish is my command!

But uh, on topic. I'm going to have to agree with Auro Cyanide Auro and Kindred here. :/ Otherwise, I'm all for something educational, so good luck. /nerdy