Romance is Dead [otome, Burtonesque] - bugfixed v1.1

[Junesong]

I love this game, but I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out how to get Adam's better ending - I always get the bad one. Any advice on how to get his 'good' ending?

[Taleweaver]

I love this game, but I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out how to get Adam's better ending - I always get the bad one. Any advice on how to get his 'good' ending?

If Maurice had been a little more helpful in Adam's sadder ending, wouldn't have Maddie made it to the bridge earlier? Maybe early enough to still talk Adam out of jumping?

Now how could you make Maurice more helpful?

[Junesong]

I love this game, but I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out how to get Adam's better ending - I always get the bad one. Any advice on how to get his 'good' ending?

If Maurice had been a little more helpful in Adam's sadder ending, wouldn't have Maddie made it to the bridge earlier? Maybe early enough to still talk Adam out of jumping?

Now how could you make Maurice more helpful?

Ooooh of course, I think I've got it now! So obvious it's painful... thank you!

[qirien]

What a unique and enjoyable otome game! Love the macabre romance and New Orleans flavor in the text, images, music, and UI! I also like how

not just "love" answers with one person will get you a good ending; you also need "friendship" with other characters.

I found a few typos:

Code: Select all

"boyfriend and I had broken up a two weeks" -> "after two weeks"?
"none of them was really how I thought I should have been" -> "it should have been"
"professor Rostand" -> "Professor"
"My weekends assigments" -> weekend's assignments
"mademoiselle Washington" or "miss" or "mister" -> capitalized
"whacko" -> "wacko"
"I said Don goodnight" -> "told"
"do downhill" "go downhill"
"died an explosion" -> "died in an explosion"
"on how redesigning" -> "on redesigning"
"was an expert on how to give a damn" -> "how not to give a damn"
"been together" -> "been with"
"police had went" -> "police had gone"
"you'd be surprised now willing" -> "you'd be surprised how willing"
"I would just teach you all you know" -> "all I know"

Thanks again for a great game!

[Taleweaver]

What a unique and enjoyable otome game! Love the macabre romance and New Orleans flavor in the text, images, music, and UI! I also like how

not just "love" answers with one person will get you a good ending; you also need "friendship" with other characters.

I found a few typos:

Thanks. If I ever make a Romance is Dead: Special Edition, I'll fix these

[unknown5]

I found a few typos:

Thanks. If I ever make a Romance is Dead: Special Edition, I'll fix these

ah, nooooo! all typos are KOS. eliminate! eliminate!
enjoyed the writing, humor, dialogue, characters, pacing. impressive research, and all that good stuff. =)
i have no attention span tho, so exposition makes me spam buttons, heheh.

just curious on certain things i noticed about the plot and how you constructed it.
1) maddie's real bright, but seems to take too long to catch on that adam is of a different era, especially once she realizes that he's not a living person. was it because the climax for adam is his discovery of his past, and so you had to kinda delay her catching on too soon? otherwise, the climax comes too quickly. did you play around with the idea of pushing the revelation/crisis up sooner and maybe adding a different climax for adam at the end? or would that just create too many problems/changes with the rest of the plot? heheh, i'm just curious to learn more about the writing process. =)
2) maddie's inability to smell. was that a plot fix to address the smell of formalin? i'm trying to think of ways around it, but that's a tricky one.

definitely enjoyed your vn very much!

[Taleweaver]

just curious on certain things i noticed about the plot and how you constructed it.

1) Maddie thinks Adam's just a slightly crazy rockabilly guy at first, and when she finds out he's a zombie, she entirely rules out that he's anything but a recent dead person due to his relatively fresh looks. She can't smell the formalin, so that's the only explanation she can think of. Story-wise, that's about it, and you're right, of course I did that to delay the climax a little. It works out best if Adam figures out the truth before Maddie.

2) Sure it was, and it also helped set up Maddie's character as slightly reckless and adventurous. I think it was a quite well-placed Chekov's Gun, wasn't it?

[unknown5]

ooh, never heard of chekov's gun. =)

lol, i avoid that tropes place, and i'm only familiar with monty python's gumby theater presentation of 'the cherry orchard'. heheheh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnKWH2HfoMU

a literary version of occam's razor? interesting ... can cut both ways, i suppose. if the gun is metaphorical, i absolutely agree. unfired guns can serve a purpose too. i like to conceal my tracks with red herrings sometimes--unless i want them to see the light of the train coming towards them from a distance while they're stuck on the tracks, heheh. (lol, wtf my metaphors are all running into each other. )

[Stellariz]

I really enjoyed this game a lot. Beautiful graphics and has a consistent good plot. I like the idea that instead of just focusing on one guy, you have to make sure you pay attention to some of the choices you make towards the others. It is so much more interesting that way!

I tried Adam's route first and didn't realised i had to be nice to Maurice and ended up replaying at least 4 times to get Adam's good ending.

Maddie is a really interesting character too!

[Taleweaver]

Maddie is a really interesting character too!

Thanks! There aren't that many black female leads in otome VN, which is why I went for that route. I also tried to give her some personality and not let her swoon over every prettyboy she meets.

[AstrellaLunari]

Yeah, I liked how everything tied together. I ended up playing through every path in one sitting so I could get every part of the story- I loved that doing so was necessary to get the whole thing! Often times, when playing vns, I feel like I'm playing a different game for every path. You really used your medium well!

I ended up starting with Adam, figuring out Maurice, and then ending with Don's salvation (it was usually pretty easy to figure out what I needed to do to get the good ending of a path after experiencing the soul-crushing bad end .) Ending with the salvation scene was quite fitting and wonderful! (and made sense, because it required the most finessing)) My second favorite ending after it was when you give Adam his heart and release him from his insecurities so that he can be free and love himself. That was killer! (pun....intended... as an afterthought.)

Thanks for such an enjoyable experience!

[Taleweaver]

You do know that this second ending you like is actually the good Maurice ending, right?

[Uncomplicated]

First off - thank you for creating a black protagonist! Second - thank you for giving her a great personality!

I have only gone through the game once, but I am eager to go through this game again multiple times on my next day off from work.

[qirien]

Just thought I'd let you know I posted a review of a couple of your VNs (including this one) on a video game blog! Hope this will help your great stories reach a wider audience.

[Taleweaver]

Hey, thanks. I can always use some attention