Afterland [GxG/BxB/GxB][Fantasy, Romance etc]

[Charlie599]

Afterland [GxG/BxB/GxB][Fantasy, Romance, Drama, Adventure]
///I'm looking to turn this into a commercial/pay what you want game - criticism or help/tips towards that goal would be very much appreciated!///

This logo is redundant as the name of this game is being changed

Synopsis:
You wake up in a strange land and now you’re stuck! Let’s try and get you home shall we?

--Afterland is a place of apparent nonsense thanks to the influence of a Magic now lost. After years of war, the people have welcomed a hard-earned but uneasy alliance with their neighbors the Checkered Kingdom - a land comprised solely of Cards and their masters, the Tarot. As a consequence the previous Knight of Cups has become the King of Hearts, husband to Renée. However, since the marriage ceremony the King has not been seen, casting suspicion on the Queen. This is the land you find yourself thrown into. With little time to spare for shock over meeting unbelievable creatures, you must now discover a way back home...and possibly the reason you got here in the first place.

Protagonist:
Players can choose their gender at the start of the game, with default names being Alex/Alice. These names are changeable. Players choose between 5 backgrounds (Merchant/Orphan/Rich/Normal/TBA), which changes dialogue and affects gameplay. (e.g. The "Rich" MC background results in some dialogue options coming across as demanding/gullible/blunt/confident; there are also entirely unique dialogue choices. These characters earn Respect and Rivalry Points faster - it's a double-edged sword)

Romanceable Characters:
Mad Hatter (Male) - Hatter: The Milliner of the royal family, he is both whimsical and serious.
Queen of Hearts (Female) - Renée: The elegant but subdued Queen of Afterland. Younger sister to the Miranda, affectionately known as the White Queen, who stepped down as ruler due to illness.
Caterpillar (Male) - Nameer: A Fae traveler that never left Afterland and now refuses to change. Rival of Cassandra The Cat.
Cheshire Cat (Female) - Cassandra: A cutthroat woman. Bitter rival of Nameer.
March Hare (Male) - Theodore "Theo": Personal assistant to the Mad Hatter. Quite shy. Cousin of Vera.
White Rabbit (Female) - Vera: The Chancellor to the Queen of Hearts. She is professional to a tee. Cousin of Theo.
Secret Character (Male) - unlocked after a single playthrough

Other Characters:
Miranda (AKA: The White Queen): The Queen of Diamonds, previous co-ruler of Afterland. Almost insufferably kind.
The Red Queen: A mythical she-devil of red; is said to send an executioner after you.
Victor (AKA: King of Hearts): Not much is known about the King besides that he was previously the Knight of Cups (equates to "prince") of the Checkered Kingdom.
Laurence (AKA: Tweedledee): The handsome but excessively strict librarian of Afterland. Younger twin brother to Daniel.
Daniel (AKA: Tweedledum): Laurence's unemployed and free-spirited older twin.
Miss. Dormouse: A sweethearted shopkeeper - she knows every bit of gossip there is to know.
Mr. Dodo: Captain of the SS Bottle. Always losing things.
Mome Raths: Creatures that reside within the Maze. Put there as helpers for people who are lost.
Knave of Hearts: An unfortunate man that has a disease named after him.
The Joker: Unknown.

Features:
--365 days (so far) in-game, timed by minutes*, not day segments [This is not a stat raising game >.> ]
--Quests to earn gold, items & ingredients - alternatively, get a job [takes up a set amount of minutes/hours in-game and involves nothing more than a single click] --can be leveled up
--Animated/Blinking characters! Yes this is a tiny (and frustrating) goal of mine but I love the realism it brings to the game.
--An overenthusiastic goal of 77 64 endings, excluding variations.
--Over 64 CGs. Yeah.
--An Achievement Checklist/Page
--CG gallery (+sketches)
--After-story Collection
--Non-linear branching storylines, with multiple ending variations**
*Seconds in real time = minutes in-game; days start at 6am and end at 11pm.
**Think "Cinders"



*I don't like the use of the word "Bad" to describe endings because that forces the notion upon you that you're doing something wrong. More accurately, those types of endings should be called "Other" (updated). This is why I've classified these endings as types rather than adjectives. Afterlands' endings are neither good nor bad, they are simply different; they're yours - to be determined by your actions.

I've tried to make this as clear as possible through the diagram above but I'll clarify a few things.
Basically, the game is split up into 3 parts - Beginning, Middle, and End. It’s quite simple. ^-^

1. The "Beginning" has only one route. It's short. >.> Moving on.
2. The "Middle" has 15 endings - all of which must be obtained individually as they are dependent on which character you have the best relationship with. Sorry. The only way around that I know of is save-scumming at particular intervals. If I figure out how to get around that I'll let you know.
3. The "End" is the most complex. Without spoiling anything, half of the (normal?) ends are based on a vital decision in-game. You can earn 7 "Friend" endings at once (or 6 "Friend" endings and 1 "Love" ending) but you cannot earn more than one "Love" ending in a single playthough (your cheating butt will not be tolerated). Half of the "Love" endings are dependent on your gender choice at the beginning of the game. Special endings can be earned in conjunction with the Friend/Love endings - they're basically a bonus. You can earn 4 "Special" endings in one playthough.

Endings are affected by the choices you make, that much is obvious, but what I'm incorporating here goes a little more in-depth than that. "End" endings are way more complicated than "Beginning" or "Middle" endings, because there is so much more of the story to take into account. All choices have a chance to affect which category of ending/s you get (Friend/Love/Special), but they also influence the variables of those endings. For example, each "Love" ending has four (so far?) "sub-endings". Some "sub-endings" overlap between characters/genders. Dialogue choices are affected by your actions and vice-versa - some things are subtle but some are not. Doing something at the beginning for the game can affect how you react to something later on, or even if that "later on" does not happen at all.

Afterland will include "serious" items (like certain quest rewards) and "joke" items (which are just for entertainment). Serious items cannot be put down - they can only be used or given away as gifts to certain people. Joke items can be put down, sold, used or given away to anyone (e.g. cake or books on lore).

On the surface this looks like the same old Alice in Wonderland happy-go-lucky story but I can assure you it's not. The characters may have the same names but they are completely my own - I've got so many ideas for plot twists! Afterland has a dark undertone that I'm not going to be expressing too much of - things like drugs, paranoia, and mental damage. One of the things I really want in this game is character development - so Afterland's going to be quite a long game with replayability.

Progress:
Script - 32% (the script just became a lot more intricate so the overall percentage is higher now)
Programming - 9%
Art - 0%

The reason my progress is so abysmal is that I actually got about 35% done with the script/programming and then my hard drive gave out on me and I lost it all. All of it was gone besides the few things I'd physically written down and it really, really depressed me. I had character designs and a beautiful story board that I'm not going to be able to re-write exactly the same. So to motivate me and my creative juices I'd appreciate it if you asked me as many questions as possible - about anything, but especially towards the characters.

*Updated the synopsis a little bit.
*Update #1 (22/02/2015): Updated the Endings Table guide - I've jotted down each characters' storyline to catch any plot-holes - so far so good.
*Update #2 (26/02/2015): Updated the Other Characters, Features and Script/Programming Progress.
*Update #3 (02/03/2015): Logo Poll!
*Update #4 (03/03/2015): Updating the Endings Table and description
*Update #5 (09/02/2015): Updated the logo I went and made a completely new one
*Update #5 (13/03/2015): Updated the Features and Protagonist sections to include new content
*Update #6 (25/03/2015): Overhauled the Friend/Love Point system - changed it to the Respect/Rivalry dynamic.../so much coding/
*Update #7 (16/04/2015): Art prices received (thank you) - now to work on the script
*Update #8 (10/06/2015): Updated the progress bar a little. Back in business and focused on this script
*Update #9 (10/07/2015): ^Ditto. Also, I have to change the game name because why didn't I check it's already taken

[Khadrian]

77 endings is insane! I like it.

Indeed it sounds like you will have your work cut out for you, but overall the project sounds very intriguing.
Ooo, plot twists and character development? The points just keep racking up!

Personally, I think that minigames and "quests" could add more depth to the game (because a game with 7 characters and 77 endings needs more depth, right?) Especially if they were each tailored to a specific character. Speaking of characters, I'm a little curious about them, specifically their names; is it only the role/theme of the characters that they each share their names with that are similar, or do their appearances and personalities hold some inspiration as well?

All of it was gone besides the few things I'd physically written down and it really, really depressed me.

I understand this feeling ... I've nearly quit a personal project simply for losing a chapter I spent a few hours on, so I admire your ability to come back strong. That said, in my own experience, though it wasn't the same, when I finally did redo what I lost it was even better than it was before, so keep that in mind .

All in all, I wish you luck.

[Charlie599]

Oh my gosh someone replied! /dies

Speaking of characters, I'm a little curious about them, specifically their names; is it only the role/theme of the characters that they each share their names with that are similar, or do their appearances and personalities hold some inspiration as well?

Some aspects of certain characters stay the same, so none of them are exactly the same as their inspirations. For example, Phillip (Hatter) is slightly mad [but he has a very good reason for that, and a whole darker back-story] and he does talk in riddles occasionally. He'd be more similar to Tim Burtons' Hatter than Disneys'. Other characters, like Nameer (Caterpillar) are only alike in a strange visual way (okay, I'll say it...he's green). He's a total tsundere. XD

Thanks for replying, and for the luck (I'll need it)

[fleet]

Some people strongly dislike mini-games (I'm not one of them). For those folks, I suggest you include the option to by-pass the mini-games.

[Mad Harlequin]

I don't mind minigames, but I don't really think they'd be adding much to the experience in this case. From the sound of it, you have a rich narrative planned. It'd be a shame to divert your audience's attention from it, in my opinion.

[Charlie599]

Thank you fleet and Mad Harlequin for your replies ^-^

Whilst brainstorming over some ideas (am I allowed to make new threads for entirely new vn concepts when I haven't finished this one?) my friend came up with an interesting concept character that I'll probably use to replace the mini-game idea. Rather than mini-games I'd implement a main quest (which could branch off to option quests to learn/discover new things about a character) that follows each characters' story-lines and results in meeting this new character at one point or another.

Two questions:
One thing I'm iffy about is a game that places you inside a maze (first-person view) - would that frustrate too many people to be considered fun?
Would people be interested in reading background lore from the in-game library, or would I be wasting my time?

P.S. Khadrian, you were totally right - this story's turning out better than before.

[Mad Harlequin]

Two questions:
One thing I'm iffy about is a game that places you inside a maze (first-person view) - would that frustrate too many people to be considered fun?

Would people be interested in reading background lore from the in-game library, or would I be wasting my time?

No to the maze. I like mazes, but I can understand why they frustrate people. It may be better to leave it out.

I say yes to the lore, though. I love that stuff.

[Charlie599]

No to the maze. I like mazes, but I can understand why they frustrate people. It may be better to leave it out.

Gotcha. I'm using the maze as more of a place you can visit rather than a game now.

I say yes to the lore, though. I love that stuff.

Yay! I'm so glad ;D I've already written down all of these background ideas that I didn't want to just disappear. Plus it might help those who can't just accept fantasy realities at face value.

[Mad Harlequin]

Yay! I'm so glad ;D I've already written down all of these background ideas that I didn't want to just disappear. Plus it might help those who can't just accept fantasy realities at face value.

Sure! I also think having the ability to read up on the characters and setting is good for the player, who might want to double-check what's going on with these things while progressing through the story. Telltale did that with The Wolf Among Us, and I was really grateful; I haven't yet had the chance to read Fables.

[Charlie599]

I'm looking to turn this into a commercial/pay what you want game - criticism or help/tips towards that goal would be very much appreciated!
Also - I think I've passed the idea phase (or do I need art for that?). How do I go about getting this topic transferred to the "Works in Progress" forum? >.<

[Charlie599]

Logo Poll results are invalid...cause I went and made a completely new logo.
*Thank you to the people who voted (all 9 of you) - it inspired me to do better*
Wooo~ \ O.o /

[Charlie599]

At the moment I don't have an exact figure of how many backgrounds/sprites/cg's/item images/gui images there are...but I really need to start looking for artist/s to work with me on this. ^-^
Or even people to bounce ideas off of. (I've talked the ears off of all my friends) >.>

I can see this turning into a laaaaaarge project as if it isn't already. I do want to scrounge up some funding for this because I can't expect people to do top notch original art for nothing.
As it stands I'm doing this totally solo.

[Mad Harlequin]

I'd be quite happy to be a sounding board, if you wish!

[Charlie599]

I'd be quite happy to be a sounding board, if you wish!

I graciously accept! *PM-ing you now*

[Charlie599]

Hello to anybody who might be reading this ^-^
I'm going on slight hiatus due to exams coming up in three weeks. /kill me now/
I will be working on the script in more detail whilst I procrastinate.

If you want to apply to be an artist for Afterland, or wouldn't mind simply telling me your price range (it'll help with figuring out a respectable budget to crowdfund/work towards) you can click Here and reply, or send me a pm. Thanks <3