The Princess of Fire

[lordcloudx]

I've attached it to this message

I was surprised to find that the file size was more than 12 mb when I zipped this up. A windows installer might be smaller. Anyway, here it is. My first release since I joined this forum.

This is a straight-forward fantasy/adventure kinetic novel. Not intentionally ren'ai but it does have a touch of romance.



^_^ blinkers are nice

Playtime: saa...
Completion Date: April 21 2006
Publisher: Radical Dreamers 2002 (composed of me, Yanagi and a few lazy bums who've either quit the team without notification or show up from time to time just to let us know they're alive)
Multiple Endings: nope

I'm hoping this is good for the ren'ai archives?

Check out our new official logo on my sig too.

[monele]

Just noting something I just realized : the blinking cursor only appears while I'm *pressing* the mouse button. Not before, not once I release it. Which means it's almost never visible since there's no reason for me to keep the button pressed ^^;

EDIT : Wait wait, it's even stranger : it starts blinking as long as I move the mouse at least one pixel. I can also click (press is enough) the left or right button.

[PyTom]

I can repeat this, it's probably a bug in Ren'Py. Or else it's karmic retribution for the blinky thing.

[lordcloudx]

noooo..... actually, I wanted to ask about that. It also doesn't auto forward the text sometimes unless you move the mouse a little

[RedSlash]

There's something about your art that I really like...
You're signature is cute!

I'll follow with comments once I get a chance to play.

Edit:
Okay, finally got to play it. I liked most of the art and presentation. The story was interesting.. kinda fantasy/fairy tale-like. And fan service... haha. +1 points for you. Quite different from the usual crop of games. I did not particularly like the music. Maybe I just don't like the style and the RPG maker sound effects felt kinda weird (only because I've played so many RPGmaker games I recognize it). Other than that and the bugs mentioned above, I enjoyed the game.

[Wolfrider]

Downloading...

OK, i'm in work, and afetr downloading, will take to my home to try it there (it's already bad using the working place bandwidth, playing a VN here will be... well you get the idea)

But seeing the little screenshot you put here, i must say: 'You are a real innovator' The graphics in Hikari no Ribbon (i like the japanese name ^_^) were a unseen style, and in Wings not only graphics, but the narrative form.

I'l try this and then post a mini-review.

[lordcloudx]

RedSlash: Ah! you gave away my secret source for sfx... anyway, maybe you have a suggestion for a source in case I ever change the sfx? I didn't think it sounded too wierd. As for the music... well, I'm no musician. I started composing midi music just so I could have some original bgm for my projects, I'm glad I did though. Now I've learned that I can recreate the melody of almost any tune I hear note-by-note. The music didn't sound that bad did it?

As for the story, I feel that this one is a bit too simplistic and obvious. And that bug too. Maybe it's because I used the rpy file from my previous games or something?

Wolfrider: an innovator huh? wow! high praise. Actually, I have zero coding skills so I can't do anything fancy with my games so I try to compensate by doing something different and memorable that will appeal to the ordinary reader.

and you'd better not try playing this one at work... that fanservice shot might not help your reputation with your co-workers

[RedSlash]

Nonono, the sound effects are fitting... What I meant is that it was kinda weird because I hear it so much in RPGMaker games and then it suddenly shows up in your game!

[mikey]

Congratulations on your 4th project ^_^.

A romantic legend with a little bit of anime and RPG elements, that's how I saw this KN. Too bad it was "only" a KN, no choices. Then again, I admit that for a legend, it kind of doesn't make sense to have a branched story.

As for the presentation, I have basically nothing to complain about except that at times Phaedra's changing of expressions meant also slightly changing her position on the screen, but it wasn't anything that distracted me. What I'd point out as good were the numerous backgrounds and illustrations, with a good mix of special event graphics and the standard background-character combination. I'd almost say (also with Hikari No Ribbon in mind), that you like to tell the story with pictures more than with words. At least more than is the usual standard picture-text ratio with other game-makers. There's a noticeable graphic approach to the KNs, and that's quite rare. From all the graphics in POF, some of us could make 3 or 4 games ^_^.

All in all, a nice addition to the VN pool. I enjoy legends (though more in the fairytale style than in fantasy settings) so it was really nice sitting through this one. Good work.

[lordcloudx]

thanks mikey.

I actually omitted a few lines of text involving descriptions of the characters' physical features etc. from the original.

It's not really that I like to tell stories with pictures, but I like to imply things not written in the text with the pictures and I don't like to tell a story too straight-forwardly because it feels like I'm forcing my own vision into the reader's mind.

Another reason for the abundance of artwork in this one is because of the already completed story when I decided to do this project. All I had left to do was make graphics, make some music and code... So I was thinking, my music probably sukz, coding? yeah right... but wait... I can draw! Yeah that's it... go! graphics overkill mode. (include me in the list of poor saps who try to do everything by themselves

I'm striving for a sort of blend between text and pictures. I'll try this again on my update to wings special edition featuring the option to view an edited version with a more conventional storytelling approach, completely different artwork and a "clear" ending or the original version for comparison.

Here are my reasons(excuses) for not making branching stories.

1. (my best reason) I'm freakin lazy to do the coding. (gawd we need at least a steady artist or coder in our group... my only backup artist Richard is too busy with his final projects in computer engineering right now.)
2. Thinking up multiple paths makes my head hurt.
3. I like blinking cursors hee hee

[Wolfrider]

I finally have played it till the end. Average: good.

I always take the games to my house, since PCs at work have very BAD sound. Luck for me, there was a bit of excessive fanservice there...

Tha "Fantasy Legend" setting worked fine. Phaedra, being a classical "RPG princess" character, succeds in making her own personality over the stereotype; The fanservice pantyshot was a bit sudden (I don't know if it was your intention, if that was, then it's mission accomplished, keep the good work)

spoilers
I think of this piece more as a prelude to a mejor work, than as a individual VN, I will play through Dream Chasers. The reason for this is that the story feels a bit rushed. But at the same time, there are a LOT of graphics in-game. So I can't think of PoF as a rushed work, but a work 'that must look rushed'. The level of detail on some scenes (a full CG for a hand..., or the flowers...the sword) is confirmation of this.
The fanservice shot was good, but the reaction of the Minstrel is... priceless

[lordcloudx]

about the fanservice: It was meant to open up the reader's eyes just in case the story became a bit boring. I included that scene even in the text-only version. Also, I was thinking rpg when I was writing the story and scenes like that always seem to happen out of nowhere.

Btw wolfrider since you've decided to play dream chasers. There are two good endings one bad ending and about 4 secret dungeons and 1 secret character. I can still remember how to get em all... I think

[F.I.A]

My problem with this game is perhaps it is a little short. There is many to be told around Phaedra and Lexor being together and such. Plus, sometimes I got a problem in knowing which dialogs are whose.

For one thing, Lexor telling "his own story" is pretty much a giveaway who he is.

All and all, this story works for a tale of love.

EDIT:

You might need to replace the "H" with words like "risque" and such. Though, that is just my opinion.

[ShiraiJunichi]

I wasn't sure if battle scenes could be carried out effectively in Ren'Py, but I'm quite impressed with how it played out in this work. It probably helped a lot that the script was written without a visual novel in mind. I think in VNs, people are tempted to let the art tell the story- so the actual script tends to abbreviate visual description. However, a VN isn't anime- we still need good descriptions of what's going on to enjoy the story. And I think that worked very well with Princess Of Fire.

I had the initial impression that there was only a miniscule amount of Ren'Ai in here- but I don't think you give it enough credit. This definitely has the romantic flavor that is what defines Ren'Ai games.

The ending reminded me of Lady Hawk- if you've ever seen that movie. It was kind of sad, and I'm more for happier endings. However, it is left a little open ended- so that ideal happy ending may be within grasp. Maybe I'll have to try out "Dream Chasers" to find out?

[lordcloudx]

yes... I did try to give this story a (kinda) happy ending in one of the sidequests in dream chasers although I had different ending in mind for the novel version of dream chasers which is still pending/abandoned right now.

Oh and I noticed that some ppl are having trouble finding Kira. so... talk to the cactus in westerine.

and what kind of movie is lady hawk? I've never seen it.

My ending was inspired by a random ad I saw on a chinese movie channel where the guy turns into a statue and the girl turns into a swan.

F.I.A. - about Lexor, I meant to do that. jus following the rules of rpg cliche-ing (i think I jus made a new word)