PQRS the Game [School, Drama, Comedy, Romance]

[badspeler]

Discovered Renpy about a month ago and since then I've been working on my first Renpy game! It's the first time I've ever tried something like this so your feedback is most definitely appreciated. The main reason for doing this was telling a story, of course, but also to act as a springboard so I have some leverage when I request for collaborators in the future.

I just hope this doesn't count against me (gosh, this could be the Lady in the Water / Happening / Last Airbender in my resume). Really small file size, because I'm not an artist nor a musician nor much of a programmer, so I would really like / need help for future projects, haha...

Without further ado,

PQRS THE GAME

PQRS Main Menu

Set in a fictional elite high school in the sunny lands of Singapore, PQRS the Game explores how a class of brilliant students comes to terms with each other's conflicting beliefs as they decide who their Class Representative should be. Possibility of romance.

DOWNLOAD v1.4 (Windows, 19.91mb): http://www.mediafire.com/?8c6a2qzo843cv83

DOWNLOAD v1.4 (Mac, 22.92mb): http://www.mediafire.com/?bavro5ea58oal5q

DOWNLOAD v1.4 (Linux, 18.68mb): http://www.mediafire.com/?52hbofgvaa72rdn



Big thanks to anyone who's ever answered anybody's question on the forums / contributed to the wiki; invaluable resources.

if reader_played == True:
"Thanks for playing!"
"Now go feedback."
else:
"What are you waiting for?"
"You can't give constructive criticism if you haven't at least looked at it!"

Changelog:

Changelog for Version 1.4:

• Themed the preference, save, load, and credits screens.
• Tweaked the music choices
• Archived game files, compressed total game size
• Implemented feedback for Raechelle's locker imagemap

Changelog for Version 1.3:

• New music tracks and Sound FX! which necessitated their own
• Credits Page
• New voting screen for Class Representative
• Bug fixes (Zakaria / Raechelle / Ellen relationship variables adjusted)

Version 1.2:

• Edited script (Namely: Convincing Raechelle and June, 'Oppulent' is now 'Opulent'- i swear i've been spelling it pp my entire life - damn you autocorrect, damn you to hell)
• Implemented fancy new level and exp gain screens (not really, they're actually quite plain, but they took a lot more work and learning than the old implementation, should make the gameplay smoother now)
• Added Act One and Act Two breaks
• Bug fixes (
  It is now possible to end with Raechelle as a lover
  , the option originally failed to trigger this ending)
• Minor game balancing (stat requirements easier/harder)

[Kurumii]

Just finished the game. It was really fun!
The chibi Ellen and Raechelle was cute. c :

[Nebi]

I like it. How long did it take you to write the script? You have a good grasp of English, although I suspect it may not be your first language. The dialogue is well written, in my opinion; it is not difficult to follow and you can feel the personalities of each character through their words. You could have drawn stick figures and the game would probably be just as effective. I only played through once, but there was enough content and surprises to keep things interesting for further replays. You either have a lot of South East Asian friends or you have a solid grasp of the unique pressures - religious and social - in a multicultural, yet rigid society like Singapore. The conflicts are well portrayed and the story covers a wide range of current trends.

You say you're not an artist, musician or programmer, but I do not really have any complaints with those. The game depicts the story well as it is, in all honesty. The character sprites are deceptively simple. I also like how you use the small graphics to relay their immediate reactions - it brings the player's attention to the sprite and registers any changes in facial expression much better. Might borrow that idea. :]

The backgrounds are also quite good, especially since you made an effort to apply perspective rather than use a simple two dimensional image. The extra effort you put into the game shows, especially with the interactive scenes. Loved the movie by the way.

For your first(?) game I'm very impressed. It is well done. Look forward to your next work - I'm sure you will have no trouble gathering help.

[Wright1000]

I didn't like this game.

[xxxSakura]

It's obvious you're Singaporean (just like me) ^^ I was kind of shocked when I read about the settings but of course I had to give it a go - and I loved it! I thouguht it was pretty up-to-date with what's happened in Singapore recently, like how you quoted Yam Ah Mee's "persuant to section" quote from the GE. That was pretty cool. One question though, was that really a high school you made up, or was it based on some private school here?

[victorita9]

I really liked it! It was a good length and it felt very interactive. Like I'm going to that school.

Is the high GPA's in the story the same as the GPA's in Singapore? If so then my old high school class was very far behind!

[badspeler]

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated <3

Yes, I'm Singaporean, haha, although you don't really have to be to appreciate the game. It's all strictly fictional though! The GPAs are realistic for a school of that caliber

[Lumen_Astrum]

The art looks strangely like my classmate's drawing >D
Okaaaaaay, I might play this, so...
*downloads*

[nefferinthia]

Wasn't expecting much of this but now I've downloaded it and am playing I must say I really like the way you wrote this. I didn't realize I was a guy for a long while though; since I play lots of GxB games and Ashley is a gender-neutral name haha. I wish the game would've been a little longer though, but I really liked giving other people advice/looking through their eyes for a while. A very good job for your first Ren'py game (:

[badspeler]

Thanks for your honest feedback! Actually Ashley is just a placeholder for the player, you can choose whichever gender you want Ashley to be (hence the name)! That being said, as I am a guy, I unfortunately may have unconsciously erred on making Ashley / players react to Ashley as if he were masculine.

[Esphirisa]

Hm, I thought 'Ashley' was a female name. LOL, though I'm also a Singaporean, I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of GPA D: Back to the topic... as mentioned, the story was easy to follow, and I'm sure it will be too even if the reader/player isn't a Singaporean. I love the witty parts, and the time skips were well-placed and natural. I like the part where you get to click items. The stats and leveling was interesting too. I believe the characters were expressed very well; I can see their individuality etc. The conflicts was maintained throughout the VN, making it realistic. There were grammatical errors, but it's all very minor (the only one I can remember is 'oppulent'>>opulent) so no worries there. You do have a couple of long sentences that you might wanna edit. You're a good storywriter IMO and the art was cute lol. I like your metaphors. You might want to add some shading though. The BGs were alright. I thought that music was adequate but a little repetitive. As a Singaporean, I liked the parts that made me reminisce... the country eraser game, the doing-what-is-right-rather-than-what-is-popular quote found somewhere in my SS textbook... You added lots of elements like love, obstacles in life, studies... as a reader, I can relate to the characters in your work. Anyways, good job for your first VN. It was pretty inspiring^_^ LOL, I ranted a lot. Sorry about that.

[badspeler]

Nono esphirisa rant some more there's nothing I love more than people talking about my game

Thanks for all your feedback everyone!

I've updated the game to version 1.3. Refer to the first post for download links.

Changelog for Version 1.2:

• Edited script (Namely: Convincing Raechelle and June, 'Oppulent' is now 'Opulent'- i swear i've been spelling it pp my entire life - damn you autocorrect, damn you to hell)
• Implemented fancy new level and exp gain screens (not really, they're actually quite plain, but they took a lot more work and learning than the old implementation, should make the gameplay smoother now)
• Added Act One and Act Two breaks
• Bug fixes
• Minor game balancing (stat requirements easier/harder)

Changelog for Version 1.3:

• New music tracks and Sound FX! which necessitated their own
• Credits Page
• New voting screen for Class Representative
• Bug fixes (Zakaria / Raechelle / Ellen relationship variables adjusted)

[Qookies]

I can't finish it... I can't find anything to do in Reachelle's locker :'(

[badspeler]

You're not the first one to tell me that It could be a problem with the code but I can't replicate it and I can't detect the error.

Normal game solution:

Click the space below the empty hook, next to the two keys. If that doesn't work, try rolling back to the table and clicking the iPhone again...

If the above solution doesn't work for you I'd really appreciate if you can send me your save file or something. Hopefully that'll allow me to find the problem...!

[Qookies]

It worked... But it was hard finding it. Thanks a lot.