Ens Causa Sui; crew complete!

[Applegate]

Hold on, Ens Causa Sui?
Hi! I'll link you to our thread immediately:

Ens Causa Sui WIP thread

Update: In the interest of showing editors my work, here's the first part of Scene I. Writing is completely devoid of narration, and I'm relying entirely on dialogue, art and sounds to bring across ideas:
Google Drive link!
Update2: We've got our editor, and we've got a crew of VAs! Just looking for a composer!

So who are you?
We're Applegate and Chocojax. While I'm in charge of writing and planning, Chocojax is in charge of coding and artwork. Both of us have experience releasing Visual Novels:

Applegate's released:
Reaching Out, a story about bullying.
Nice Day, a story about regrets (and having a nice day regardless).
Of Love and You, a story about friendship.
Eye Love, a short dare scene.

Chocojax's released:
A Simple Love Story, a simple story of love.


So as you can see, we're a duo that's actually gotten some stuff done!


So why are you working together?
Choco and I've known each other for years, before either of us even touched Ren'Py or other VN making software. We've been encouraging each other for a while now, and now are moving forward with a collaboration, hoping that together we can make something better than either of us individually.

But you still need help.
That's right. Choco can do Artwork and Coding, but not Music or Sound Effects. I can do Writing, and a little Artwork. I'm hopeless with Music and Sound Effects, and when it comes to writing, I don't trust myself to edit my own work to a sufficient degree. That's why we want help in those areas.

So what do you need, precisely?
We need:

Music expert: I have no idea what this role is normally called, but we're looking for a composer to write music, but also someone knowledgeable on Sound Effects and when to use them. You don't need to be proficient at both, as we're mainly looking for a composer (and can guess at SFX in a pinch). We guesstimate the amount of songs needed at around 5, needing no vocals. As the story can be classified as a drama in some parts, we're looking for touching music. The exact amount of songs needed can be decided after a good talk about wants/needs and what you can offer.

Editor: I love and hate my own writing, and would either gloss over mistakes or endlessly rewrite everything. That's not going to help my writing improve. We're looking for an editor to read over 8 scenes plus an epilogue and offer feedback on how to improve those scenes. Ideally, an editor will also identify weak points in the story and offer advice on where the story needs to be fleshed out and expanded upon to better reach the audience. The base we need, however, is reading the scenes and offering feedback there.

And what can I get out of it?
Neither Choco nor I have deep pockets, so money isn't possible. However, we're both experienced individuals when it comes to Visual Novels, and we'd be happy to offer our skills in return for yours. We'd be happy to discuss the exact terms of compensation, depending on what you're looking for. We can take pictures of paper for you!

I want to be involved, but my skill isn't listed!
If you have something you'd like to offer, we'd be happy to hear it! Understand, though, we're aiming for minimums here that we think we need to get Ens Causa Sui working in the way we envision. Anything on top of that is icing on the cake, which we're happy to have but not holding out for.

Sounds great, how do I contact you?
By posting in this thread, since I recall rules prohibit threads that ask you to PM us or otherwise use off-board means of contact. Once we've agreed to work together, communication runs through a Skype group chat. (Text, calls not necessary.)

[Lucy1212]

I could be your editor. I work for free when it comes to editing and proofreading, so payment or really compensation of any sort isn't an issue.

I'd really like to edit for you. At this point any work I can get is good work.

[Annie Quinn]

I really like the concept of this. All I can offer is voiceover and perhaps some SFX depending on what exactly you need.

I have a demo and resume which you can view here.

Thank you for considering me and good luck with this project! It seems very interesting.

[Hazel-Bun]

I'd be willing to be an editor as well. I can edit a scene beforehand, or show examples of how I edit if need be to assess my skills. Good luck with your project regardless ^^

[Applegate]

Hello!

Thanks for the interest in editing. I goofed up and forgot to add relevant samples of the writing, so editors know what they have to work with. I've therefore included a link at the top of the recruitment post. While I still intend to go through all the writing to make the characters always speak in the same way, this is representative of writing nonetheless, I feel. You'll probably note there's no narration whatsoever─I'm relying solely on dialogue and images to get things across.

For convenience, the link's here too: Click!
It's probably a good idea to read it first and re-affirm whether you're interested in editing.

I really like the concept of this. All I can offer is voiceover and perhaps some SFX depending on what exactly you need.

I have a demo and resume which you can view here.

Thank you for considering me and good luck with this project! It seems very interesting.

Choco and I are rather excited by the idea of getting it voice acted, but we'd probably need a VA for each character, or else it'll feel weird. There's three characters, each of which are featured in the writing example linked above. For the most part, the Friend is a soft-spoken Asian girl, God is a bit of a country girl with a needlessly loud way of speaking, and Thomas can be anything caucasian. If we can get three voices, it'd be an endeavour we'd definitely like to add.

For Sound Effects, my preliminary list is that we need the sounds of people walking about, sounds of a computer being used, sounds of a car driving, sounds of a car crashing, and sounds to complement menu actions.

[Annie Quinn]

Choco and I are rather excited by the idea of getting it voice acted, but we'd probably need a VA for each character, or else it'll feel weird. There's three characters, each of which are featured in the writing example linked above. For the most part, the Friend is a soft-spoken Asian girl, God is a bit of a country girl with a needlessly loud way of speaking, and Thomas can be anything caucasian. If we can get three voices, it'd be an endeavour we'd definitely like to add.

Fortunately, I can help with filling out the cast, especially with one so small. I have someone recording a sample for Thomas for you and Choco to listen to. I'll record a couple of samples for the Friend and God. Do you have any particular voice type in mind for them? In terms of pitch particularly. For example, does Nina have a medium-high to high voice? Does God have a medium to medium-low voice? Also, do you imagine Nina with an accent?

For Sound Effects, my preliminary list is that we need the sounds of people walking about, sounds of a computer being used, sounds of a car driving, sounds of a car crashing, and sounds to complement menu actions.

Those sound simple. You should be able to get royalty free sounds since those sound generic. I'll see to getting some high quality SFX of those and send them your way. Though I think I can do custom menu sounds and computer SFX for you.

[Carrogath]

Dialogue-based visual novels can be really rewarding, and I'm glad you're giving it a shot. Join the club!

I usually don't offer editorial services because I don't have a lot of time to devote to other people's projects, but yours sounds short enough that I'd be willing to take a look. Sounds like it could be very elaborate and philosophical if you're going for that, and if you're not I'd be interested in seeing what your take on this idea is.

Even if you find someone better suited to doing editorial work, please feel free to ask me informally about improving your dialogue. Making dialogue sound natural can be difficult, and finding a particular "voice" for your characters can be even harder. It's a learning process.

Good luck with the project!

[Applegate]

Choco and I are rather excited by the idea of getting it voice acted, but we'd probably need a VA for each character, or else it'll feel weird. There's three characters, each of which are featured in the writing example linked above. For the most part, the Friend is a soft-spoken Asian girl, God is a bit of a country girl with a needlessly loud way of speaking, and Thomas can be anything caucasian. If we can get three voices, it'd be an endeavour we'd definitely like to add.

Fortunately, I can help with filling out the cast, especially with one so small. I have someone recording a sample for Thomas for you and Choco to listen to. I'll record a couple of samples for the Friend and God. Do you have any particular voice type in mind for them? In terms of pitch particularly. For example, does Nina have a medium-high to high voice? Does God have a medium to medium-low voice? Also, do you imagine Nina with an accent?

!! That's... really cool! We haven't even gotten to the part where we discuss our share of the work in return for voice acting, haha, and here you might have us a small team already.

The pitch question is a bit difficult, since I haven't a good ear for high pitch and low pitch. I don't think I'm completely tone deaf or something (I can hold a note, I tell myself!), but I'd say Nina's voice is probably somewhere around med-high, with God being at a slightly lower pitch; I can't imagine a high-pitched excited voice still being too, uh, pleasant to listen to.

I don't have Nina down as having an accent, if only because everyone in my family hardly has an accent when we speak... or to my ears, anyway.

For Sound Effects, my preliminary list is that we need the sounds of people walking about, sounds of a computer being used, sounds of a car driving, sounds of a car crashing, and sounds to complement menu actions.

Those sound simple. You should be able to get royalty free sounds since those sound generic. I'll see to getting some high quality SFX of those and send them your way. Though I think I can do custom menu sounds and computer SFX for you.

If you could find any, that would be fantastic. If they're royalty-free sounds, I'd of course want the site so I can properly list it in the credits.

Dialogue-based visual novels can be really rewarding, and I'm glad you're giving it a shot. Join the club!

I'm considering doing the epilogue as simple narration/old-fashioned story telling now, though! Haha. It's certainly been very interesting to write, and makes me grin when I look back ten years ago, when dialogue was incredibly sparse in my writing. Now, it dominates so much that I hardly ever write a lot of narration, even when writing 3rd person omniscient.

usually don't offer editorial services because I don't have a lot of time to devote to other people's projects, but yours sounds short enough that I'd be willing to take a look. Sounds like it could be very elaborate and philosophical if you're going for that, and if you're not I'd be interested in seeing what your take on this idea is.

It's steering more in the direction of slightly dramatic with a hint of philosophy. When Choco and I conceived the idea, we didn't want to dip too deeply into religion. We don't want to end up offending people's sensibilities, and although the presence of 'God' exists, only 'God' herself can actually be described as religious (

and guilty of sacrilege

).

As far as editing goes, we've got a few offers but aren't decided yet. Do you have handy samples of any editing work you've done and/or writing style? I think a writing style that's different without clashing offers opportunity to learn, whereas editing samples are useful to determine if we're on the same page in the area.

[Hazel-Bun]

I can provide a sample of my editing by tommorrow of what you provided, if this position is still open

The story seems very... different to say the least. Being that I'm Christian, I'm very intrested in seeing how this "false prophet"/"god" firgure's storyline will play out, regardless of helping out or not!

[Carrogath]

Do you have handy samples of any editing work you've done and/or writing style?

Sure! Basiliska is a VN I finished several months ago, so you can download it and see if the style is to your taste. As for editing, I've only done a few casual things for friends (and I self-edit, obviously) and don't have any examples available, but take a look at my writing, and if you like what you see, you can get back to me about it. Honestly, though, for editing I'd be looking at all the usual stuff: grammar, style, consistency, narrative flow, etc.

When Choco and I conceived the idea, we didn't want to dip too deeply into religion. We don't want to end up offending people's sensibilities

Aw, that's no fun. Well, as long as your story manages to be engaging, you can approach religion however much or however little you want.

[juuno]

Hi! I'd love to be your editor, if the slot is still open. I love writing and whatnot, that I'd be more than happy to contribute to your work. I don't charge anything actually, so rest assured my e[quote][/quote] ^-^

[Fluffyrobotdog]

Hi there!

I would be really interested in doing some music for this project!

I've been writing electronic for a while, but I can compose in most styles and I'm a guitarist and pianist as well.

If you want to hear some samples of my electronic work you can find my stuff under a few different aliases:

https://soundcloud.com/moviemajic12
https://soundcloud.com/fluffyrobotdog
https://soundcloud.com/synchroncity

I would also do effects if necessary. I have plenty of sampling and synthesizing experience.

You can contact me at my personal email mahoney_matthew@live.com
or my skype, "moviemajic1" if you're interested.

Thank you.

[Applegate]

On the topic of an editor: I've got an editor. Thanks all the others for their interest, and I'm sorry if I haven't been very forthcoming with communication; was also planning for a short weekend retreat!

On the topic of music: We're still looking for someone to compose tracks, and I stress we would be more than happy to work for you as compensation, within our possibilities.
Speaking of that subject, though...! Fluffy, I'll make sure to contact you in a bit. There's some things I still have to take care of, but it'll be tomorrow at the latest.

[Trass]

I see you already have someone who offered music, but I'm a composer and is also interested in your project. So I'll just drop my link here in case you wanna check it out! xD

https://soundcloud.com/trass84

You can contact me through my skype, 'pepenosuke-kun' (Trass) if you wanna talk!

[Applegate]

Hi Trass! Sorry for the (somewhat!) late response. We've currently got someone working on music, so while I really like your work, we're not in a position to get two people for such a low amount of songs, I don't think! (Unless Kryptage waltzes in and wants to say I'm wrong !)

Thanks a lot for your interest though, and I really like your works. I'll update the poor neglected thread title!