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Even though you spoilerized your entire review, I'm going to leave out the spoiler tag for my answer, 'kay? You only gave away a single plot point...

For RiD, I really wanted to make a story set in New Orleans, and that city has such a rich black culture that it felt a shame to waste it by making the protagonist your generic white guy. Also, it had bugged me that as one of the oldest developers in the Ren'Py scene, I still had no otome game in my portfolio, and here, everything just fit. That's why Maddie is who she is.

You said you didn't like the interface because it was hard to read. Was it the font? The choice of color? Or what?

As for my depiction of New Orleans, I did a lot of research on the city before and during writing. I wanted to get the city right (even though I had to use a few pictures of other places as stand-ins) and make sure that, if you want to, you can visit New Orleans and follow Maddie's footsteps - walk in the parks she visited, see the street she lives in. My biggest fakeout, though, was probably the music - the jazz I decided to use is not New Orleans jazz. I still hope it did the setting some justice.

And as for the art - I told my artist I was writing something in the spirit of Tim Burton, and that's what she came up with. I love it.

Hehe, sorry, I totally did spoilerize the entire review when it didn't really need to be spoilerized. I originally was going to talk more about the characters but I loved the entire game as a whole, and didn't want to ruin anything for anybody who hadn't played it yet

Also, that's awesome that you did all the research and made it as authentic as you could- it totally shows. And now I want to go visit New Orleans again. Although I didn't even notice the music! I don't know a whole lot about jazz, though.

As for the interface, let's check out an image from the blog- http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BZU91jNCCS4/U ... ot0003.png

The interface pictured here in the bottom right is almost invisible. If I hadn't played this game already and was seeing this screen shot as an introduction to the game, I'd probably assume the game didn't have much of an interface beyond the text box. Sometimes when I was playing through and wanted to save I'd have to squint and hunt around to figure out which word was the save.

I think this can be easily remedied by making the text a different color than gray or black. (Maybe white or a lighter gray?) I would recommend making the text darker, but you have some dark backgrounds, so a darker text would be lost on them. You could also try changing the placement of the text or adding some sort of background behind it so that it would always be visible!

Ah, that's what you're getting at. I see.

Yeah, you're right, it's pretty much invisible. Do you know why I never noticed? I never use it. I either use a right-click or the ESC button to get to the menu, and that's where I save.

If I ever re-release the game, I'm gonna change that. Promise!

I know this thread is old but I love the fact that your vn is set in new orleans. I'm from there and even the classrooms remind me of the ones at UNO and probably at the others as well. I can't wait to play it

Yeah, I did a lot of hunting for the pics that eventually became the BG art. Funny thing, though: the classroom and lab pics aren't from UNO, not even from the right city. Good thing they still look as they do, apparently.

I really enjoyed your game! I live and work in the New Orleans area too, and I loved the vibe that the art and writing lent to the game's setting. The characters are fun, and the various resolutions to the story lines was great.

The music, while good quality, definitely did not feel like Southern Louisiana to me...too smooth-jazz loungey, more St. Louis than St. Claude. It didn't really detract from the game, though.

I found it especially interesting that the resolution to some of the characters' problems, and particularly Adam's revelation, aren't necessarily in that character's own path.

I think my favourite character is definitely Maddie though (although Maurice is a close second). I so love that she's anything but 'generic white guy'. I'm fond of biology, so that made it even better. Thanks for making such a great game!

The jazz isn't New Orleans style, you're right. I chose the music mostly for its morbid qualities. AFAIK, the band is from Chicago.

This just in: Romance is Dead is now available on Sandbox Adventure as a browser-based game!

Play it again, or for the first time!

I really like the unconventional art style. c:

Romance Is Dead is now available on Kongregate.

If you have a Kongregate account, don't hesitate to rate the game!
You can also rate the tags by clicking on the "+" button, so it will appear in the interactive fiction page.