Project Lacuna recruitment

[KENTA]

Hi guys, I'm kinda new here, so I'll keep this short and simple. I'm part of a team of people working on a visual novel. We've already gotten a bunch done, but we're short on staff. Specifically, we need someone for music. To have an idea of what the plot is like, for the most part it's a simple generic High School type drama. The main character, Katsuo Tanaka, ran away from home and is now living as a bum in a city called Yamanozomu. He eventually finds shelter and a job working for a café called Américain thanks to a girl named Kiku Tsukino. From here it can branch off into 8 different paths. One for each of the 7 heroines, and 1 that is a sort of dead end path.

Now, it's a rather large and ambitious project, but we believe we can get it done. Work started I believe 6 months ago, and all in all we've made some impressive strides. If you want more information just ask, and if you'd like to join for something other than music, if you make your case I'm sure the rest of the team would be glad to welcome you.

EDIT: I've got some time, so I can elaborate a little more. The 7 main heroines are Kiku Tsukino, a fairly apathetic girl who takes everything seriously; Yasu Watanabe, a quiet girl who's a little off in the head; Tomoko Kotonari, a sociable girl who is a little tactless from time to time; Chinatsu Himekami, a very rich and arrogant girl who has issues with being manipulated; Akane Kuroda, an energetic and rough girl; Akari Seiya, a bit of an air head who usually means well; and Yukie Umehara, a very depressed and unlucky girl.

Obviously there's more to them than that, but that's a quick overview. There are also a few other major players, Nodoka Tanaka, Makeruo Tajiri, and Yosamu Daitaro come to mind.

[Verg]

Hello, here is the actual leader of the Elder Title team that has been working on Project Lacuna. As per request from KENTA, I came to explain about our visual novel a bit more in-depth. So here shall start shameless advertising, with the promotional text written for the visual novel itself.

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Ubi nihil vales, ibi nihil velis.
Where you are worth nothing, there you will wish for nothing.

This is something you'd do well to remember.

Nevertheless, please.

Feel at home.

You are at the town of Yamanozomu.

Nestled between mountains and sea, this town is almost literally at the end of the earth.
For someone like you, for someone running away, there is no better place.

After all, you cannot run farther than this.

In a town that is mixture of east and west, old and new, I’m sure you will find many interesting things to build your future on to. In this town, there are countless possibilities for young man such as you. Will you educate yourself? Will you find a job? The choice is yours, as is your future. Whatever you wish to become, you shall become.

I guarantee this. Your wish will most definitely come true.

But for that, you must work. For what is a miracle without work?

If you want to change the path of fate, you must work for it. I shall not say how much work is required, but make no mistake: You shall give it everything you have. In return I shall promise you that nothing is impossible. As long as you strive hard enough to achieve it.

So welcome.

I extend my heartfelt greeting.

And I do hope you manage to entertain me through this tale of miracles that are not supposed to exist.

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With that out of the way, let me tell you about the actual visual novel itself.

The setting is fictional town of Yamanozomu somewhere in Japan. The protagonist of the game, Katsuo Tanaka, ends up in the aforementioned town after running away from his old home. Alone and without any money, he struggles to find a way to live but is without success. Only meeting with local girl named Kiku Tsukino saves Katsuo from starvation. She offers him a place to sleep and food to eat in a café called Américain in exhange that he begins working there. From here on starts the true story.

While working at Américain, Katsuo meets with seven girls, all living in the town. First of all is Kiku Tsukino, the young woman who saved him. Not only is she awfully pragmatic, but she also seems to be overly indifferent to her surroundings. Tomoko Kotonari is co-worker of Kiku at Américain, and the star of the local school's track team. The former problem-student of the same school, and the heiress of the local shrine, Akane Kuroda, becomes also familiar with Katsuo while frequenting Américain. Yasu Watanabe, a local who gets involved in the situation with Katsuo and his former family does not make things any easier. Neither does melancholic and suicidal Yukie Umehara, who becomes involved in with a series of crimes happening in Yamanozomu. Akari Seiya, a drifter and someone who teaches Katsuo about the other side of living as homeless is also one of the girls. Last but not least is the young and arrogant owner of Américain, Chinatsu Himekami, who Katsuo becomes familiar with due to her hatred towards men.

Katsuo, the heroines and whole bunch of supporting cast each have their own problems, and it is up to the reader to decide which people will Katsuo try to help. Being ignorant is also possible, but that can also lead to unforseen circumstances...Nevertheless, it is fair to say that achieving any dream is possible in a place like Yamanozomu. Big or small, as long as you try enough, there is nothing that cannot be achieved. As to how and why this is possible.....there are some things that Katsuo is best not knowing. Miracles are fragile things, after all.

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Hello, everyone. Verg Avesta here, the pathwriter for Project Lacuna and team-leader of Elder Title. As you could have guessed from the previous, we are right now working on a visual novel called "Lacuna". The project itself is not small, however. It is planned to cover 8 distinct routes, along with some extra material unlocked after beating all the routes. This would amount to lenght of your actual typical visual novel produced by known developers. The general feeling of the visual novel is your typical high school drama, but here and there elements of action, fantasy and surrealism have been added. One of the routes is actually very suspense- and thriller-oriented, so you can say that the mood of the game varies greatly depending on the route. The overall story stays consistent, however. Along with the routes of each heroine, the game has one "greater" plot, which can only be truly understood after playing through each route, as hints have been scattered all over. It is up to the player to figure this one truth.

Despite the amount of work being quite massive, we have made some great progress and are confident that we are capable of finishing this project. Not only do we have bunch of writers who work diligently on the plot, but we also have group ofo artists, and most of the concept art of current characters has already been made, the artists moving now on to the sprites that will be used in the planned preview/demo-version.

However, as KENTA said, we are lacking in the music department. That is why we are looking for a reliable and somewhat-experienced composer for our game. Or, even if you don't have experience, contact us and ask. Talents can be found in new composers too, after all.

Post further questions here, and we will try to answer them as best as we can.

- Verg

[JinzouTamashii]

Ah, a new up-and-rising!

What's this Project Lacuna I hear tell of?

[KENTA]

A very large project with a lot of staff that is in desperate need of at least one music maker. Preferably though we want at least 2 or 3, because the amount of songs we want just for a demo is around 20. The demo itself is simply the prologue, which is the first three days of a suspected 20 per route. It's....very ambitious.

[dstarsboy]

Might I suggest Melody Loops? http://www.melodyloops.com/music/

A HUGE selection of, what I think, perfect VN suitable music loops.

For a paltry $30 or so (each team member chips in $5 or something) you can probably snag 15-20 very good songs for your game.

[KENTA]

$30 would get us 10 songs, and for the amount we want that's just absurd. Also, for two routes in particular we have very big plans that would require a very specific sound that I honestly believe would have to be made from scratch.

[PyTom]

Wow. I'm about 90% sure that the music is actually licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license. That's crazy good for use in VNs, if that's right.

[JinzouTamashii]

Let's give a shout-out to http://www.flashkit.com as well... check the Sound Loops (sp?) section.

[KENTA]

Just a few rough sketches to help drum up some interest.

Nodoka Tanaka(younger sister)

Tomoko Kotonari(one of the 7 heroines)

Random delinquent(left) and Katsuo Tanaka(right, main character)

Makeruo Tajiri(Ace Bro)

YuuYuu(unknown gender side character)

Chinatsu Himekami(one of the 7 heroines)

[Verg]

After an unfortunate quiet period due to various real-life reason of many members of the Elder Title team, we are once more kicking Project Lacuna back to life, with determination to get it on the same roll that it was before. Because of the quiet period mentioned, we lost some members, namely artists. That is why our recruitment this time covers much more than just composers, though those are needed too. Right now our writers are making final edits to the prologue, that will also serve as the technological demo once we have music and artwork needed for it. All needed concept art was also finished for the prologue, although actual sprites are still missing. Backgrounds are mostly done, and only thing we are completely missing is the aforementioned music.

That is why we'll put up now another recruitment advertisement for both composers and artists. It would be good if you had some earlier works you could present as example of your style and skill. It would also be good if you didn't have the habit of disappearing after week or two (we've had few bad run-ins already).

So, if you feel interested in this rather ambitious project, do contact me or KENTA. We are welcoming all kinds of talents, not just composers or artists, though the need for those two right now is bigger than for anything else. We can also answer if you have any questions about the project itself, through PM or in this thread.