GO! Magical Boy [new release including source files]

Alessio · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:10 am

Proudly presenting an entry to the IntRenAiMo 2006 competition:
The Visual Novel GO! Magical Boy (release 006, updated 28 Oct 2008) can be downloaded from:

http://www.kolumbus.fi/sapora/RSC/G!MB-6.0.zip (Windows)
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sapora/RSC/G!MB-6.0-linux-x86.tar.bz2 (Linux)
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sapora/RSC/G!MB-6.0-mac.zip (Mac)

Older releases:
http://www.download.com/3000-20-10536283.html (Windows non-Vista, note: older release 5)
http://www.renai.us/game/gomagicalboy.shtml (Windows non-Vista, note: older release 4)

Czech version by denzil (big thanks, based on release 5):
http://denzil.ic.cz/pages/gmb_cs.html

Screenshots:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sapora/RSC/gmb_ss1.png
http://www.kolumbus.fi/sapora/RSC/gmb_ss2.png

Description:

Title: Go! Magical Boy
Maker: Alessio Sapora
Website: Visual Novels: Finished and Upcoming
Release Date: 2006-03-29
Playtime: approx. 70 minutes
Categories: BxG (bishoujo), VN (Visual Novel)
Rating: all ages
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux/Unix (cross-platform ZIP file)
License: Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5

Synopsis:

Life would be pretty nice if it wasn't for the fact that you seem to be the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. You just moved, have made no friends yet, are late for dinner, and about to bump into the scariest situation you could have imagined. On top of that, a strange woman picks you up and burdens you with an impossible task. And man, now you're REALLY late for dinner. Did I mention the girls? No? Well, there's even more trouble ahead.

History:

Release 006, uploaded 28 Oct 2008, includes sources (images, script) and upgraded the Ren'Py engine from 5.4.4. to 6.8.0. Part of Lara's phone dialogue was rewritten.

Release 005, uploaded 25 Oct 2006, corrects spelling mistakes, cleans up some code, displays the player name, and shows dialogue with quotation marks. Also, a new Ren'Py splashscreen was added. :)

Release 004, uploaded 02 April 2006, corrects the bug Kikered found (see his post of Sun Apr 02, 2006). Also one minor spelling correction.

Release 003 was uploaded on 31 March 2006. If you have already played GMB before and are not sure if it's worth downloading the new version, read the section below.

Apart from some minor spelling corrections, release 003 features a change in the Friday orienteering excursion. The dialogues with Aina and Lara were pretty identical in release 002. Aina's path now features a rewritten dialogue. If you only want to see that section, you can fast-forward to it by using 'Orienteering' as the player character's name.

papillon · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:57 am

Rats, I was having a good time playing through this but it suddenly crashed during the 'learning circle'.

From the error report:

AppName: magicboy.exe AppVer: 0.0.0.0 ModName: sdl.dll
ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 000076d0

(Windows error report, that is. "has encountered an error and needs to close" type thing.)

Alessio · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:09 am

Oh, that's a pity! I've tried "fast-skipping" through the released version until the spot you mentioned (and further ahead from there) but it works fine on my machine (WinXP). Maybe it's less of a RenPy problem than a Windows one...

If you can reproduce the error, could you please save the game just before the crash, and then post your SAVES directory here? Then I can use your saved game to try hunting down that error.

Edit: If that fails, I can give you the unproteced version (i.e. all original un-obfuscated story and graphic files) so that the error is easier to track.

PyTom · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:14 am

Also, if you have some sort of full error report, I can try cross-referencing that with the symbols for SDL.dll, and see what's going on.

(This is a crash that's occuring at a level below Ren'Py, so posting the script source is unlikely to help.)

papillon · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:42 am

May have been just my computer being fluky - now that I've zoomed through to that point again it doesn't seem to be crashing now.

Otaku Dash · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:50 pm

Playing it now... expect a review soon

and congrats about the entry ^^

EDIT: Finished it! YAY I'm first it seems. ^^

Got ending 3... 79:30.

I was quite happy with the neding I got... somewhow... I think it fits what I was aiming.

The game is very amusing and I liked it a lot. The thematic is nice... though someone would expect some clichés along that mark... teh small plot twists made sure they didn't happen.

The music is soft and although the themes are a bit simillar... they never tired and are nice to hear... giving the mood to the history.

In sum a very good entry, I'll be looking foward to see new releases from you! Congrats =)

*Goes try to get the other endings first thing tomorrow ^^*

Alessio · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:24 pm

Wow, that's a long time, 80 mins... much more than I'd have guessed. Thanks a lot for your comments, that's really motivating me! Cheers!

papillon · **Posted:** Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:38 pm

Had a great time with the game. I hesitated to post a review earlier because I'm honestly much better at criticising stuff than at just saying "Yay! Good stuff!" so I tend to shut up when I like things.

So, take it up front that I liked it lots and am just not good at saying so in as many words as I nitpick, okay?

Therefore, nitpicks:

Some of the recycled dialog in the scene where you are explaining to your chosen girl bugged me. They have such different personalities, it was very jarring to me to realise the exact same text was being used with different names. I'm sure this was just a time thing, and they eventually got separate text on the Big Night, but it was noticeable.

I think a little more emphasis of the actual 'badness' of the shadow threat at the beginning of the game would help if you really want the player to treat it seriously. The PC is at several times stressed and worrying about this horrible thing, but what I'd seen of it didn't seem very scary - so far he'd beaten them almost without trying. Not until the night of the final confrontation did they actually seem at all threatening. Maybe if they'd damaged Lara more in the nurse's office? She'd still have time to recover by the end. This is a really, really minor issue and not important at all, just my musing.

I can't give you my completion time because first I crashed and had to skip to catch up, and then I left the game running while I was dragged off to wash dishes. I believe it said 45min, but all things considered...

Alessio · **Posted:** Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:54 am

Papillon, thanks a lot for your comments! Very good points, I have to say:

Recycled dialog: The only recycled text is the one used during the phone call. The night in the park already has different dialogue. Mostly on the girls' side, since I wanted to keep the player character developing along the same lines. But I realize it's still too close for comfort, as the overall story development is heading the same way. It probably feels too similar. Point taken.

The Shadows' dangerousness was not explicit enough, maybe because I was riding on the wave of light-mood entertainment... but you're right, I can see now that might be a problem.

Cheers!

papillon · **Posted:** Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:35 am

I know the night has different dialog - I mean during the orienteering expedition, when you first tell the girl about everything.

F.I.A · **Posted:** Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:19 am

60 minutes on first play. I have to say the background musics really add thrills to the game, and they are used well for each scene.

Aside from papillon's comment, here's mine:

I have replayed the game for some times, and found out that none of the options on the first few part affects the outcome( Only with a change of text after every options.) I will suggest that different option might lead the girl to refuse the task might be a good idea, but then again, it might not be necessary.

Alessio · **Posted:** Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:20 am

Papillon: Ah, yes. Ups. I think that had slipped my mind. :oops:

Hm, might make sense to rework that one a little...

FIA: You're right, but

it was not meant as a path choice, rather as a way to steer the dialogue. You do get slightly different information depending on how the discussion goes. I wouldn't like to spoil a player's chances based on such an unimportant decision earlier in the game.

Thanks for the feedback!

mikey · **Joined:** Sat Jan 10, 2004 6:03 am **Posts:** 3164

I have reached a bad ending (although I was aiming at it), so I'll have an overall impression some time later. There seems to be a lot of spoilers marked in the messages, so there are probably quite a few surprises to uncover. What I can say now is I do like everything about this game and that even though the story isn't my blood type.

The only drawback I can see was that the dark side of the story seems to be a bit (forgive this, for a lack of better term) "harrypotterish". I mean I know I'm supposed to be scared, but I'm not. The fun and enjoyment do prevail, so maybe a lighter form of danger could have been more fitting.

It doesn't matter all that though, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the game's other endings. It's all the opening sequence's fault ^_^. It's really great, not spectacular, but very intensive and all, so maybe that's why I was surprised to find that it's actually a magical boy game... but I guess if I had read the NAME of the game

Seriously, the feeling I got from this game is that a lot of work has gone into it. The characters with their blinking eyes, several flashbacks, special effects, "magic mode", it all adds up. Plus, I got the very nice feeling, the one you get when you sense that the game has really been polished. Not many people take the time to do menu buttons. The whole thing feels very good.

The other thing is the dialogue. It is a school setting, but the conversations feel quite natural, especially the guy-guy talk with Matt. I almost wished you had some car conversation in between, because that's all there is to a guy's world.

I had fun. And my favorite quote is "With mom around, homework is priority and saving the world comes in a close second". I think it just about sums up the game. Actually, from that sentence on, it did start to feel that bit more relaxing, not really light-hearted because of all the other things, but I dare say it's more a fun than a serious take on the subject.

As said, I haven't seen the good endings, I haven't read the notes, so feel free to just ignore the statements wherever I made a mistake. It's just that I'm probably not going to have time to play for a few days, so this is my preliminary feedback ^_^.

monele · **Posted:** Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:55 pm

Aaah yes! A game that has me think for at least a dozen seconds before picking a choice. This is enough for me to like it but it's certainly not all there is to it ^^. Good characters, simple but effective designs, humor. And all around polished game ^^. And foolish me did believe this was made in one month at first ! XD *sighs* if only

I'm definately playing this one again soon to find out what else can happen.

Got ending 3 in 67:56.
Oh and yay for ending song ! Now that's a cool feature !

RedSlash · **Posted:** Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:13 pm

I also have a crash as well. It happens right after Lara says:
I can see you! Stay away!

Code:

Pygame Parachute Traceback:
Thread-0x8592e08
Segmentation fault

Edit:
Solved problem. Traced bug to SDL_ttf, upgraded SDL_ttf to v2.0.7 and works fine.

Edit2:
Okay, ending 2. 30:28 (yes, I read fast).
I am impressed with all the little details placed into the game. I was like, cool! Their eyes blink! I thought the game could've had a more variety of music tracks instead of the same one playing over and over.. but it was also impressive on how you were able to smoothly twist the emotion of the msuic track from scene to scene, and the final vocal track at the end was definatly a very nice touch. Just wondering, did you sing that?
Overall, the story is okay, no big suprizes or anything, but was entertaining neverless. Nice use of photographic bgs. I definatly had the same feeling about the recycled dialogs, but thats a minor issue.

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GO! Magical Boy [new release including source files]

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