Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

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Camille
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Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#1 Post by Camille »

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A visual novel by Cyanide Tea.
A seven-year drought plagues the entire region surrounding the country of Nishtif, leading people to wonder if their goddess Scheknt has abandoned them. In contrast, young noblewoman Neqtia has lived a comfortable life insulated from hardship and suffering. One of the poorer surrounding countries, Djedi, sends their usual tribute of natural resources and livestock to Nishtif in exchange for the larger country's aid and protection. Rumors that two attractive slaves are among the cargo intrigue Neqtia. What lies in store for her after the slaves are brought to live at her family estate...?

This game has 5 endings and 8 CGs. As usual, all writing/programming was done by me, Camille, while all of the art and UI design was done by Auro-Cyanide. Auro also came up with the story and characters this time around.

For more information about the game and to download, please see the official website.
The game contains 1,130 dialogue blocks, containing 16,850 words and 90,967
characters, for an average of 14.9 words and 81 characters per block.

The game contains 6 menus, 73 images, and 42 screens.
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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#2 Post by MaiMai »

I'm hitting the download button SO FAST.

I'll definitely return with thoughts hopefully, this is the NaNo entry I was looking forward to the most!
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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#3 Post by trepiechick »

Waaah! I love C.Tea's art! If I could draw that well I'd never stop! Can I donate through paypal? I just saw a credit card option.

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#4 Post by Camille »

trepiechick wrote:Waaah! I love C.Tea's art! If I could draw that well I'd never stop! Can I donate through paypal? I just saw a credit card option.
If you're so inclined, you can send a donation through PayPal to kobuhakuchou@gmail.com. ;3; Thanks so much!

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#5 Post by deestar »

I just finished playing and unlocked all the endings :)
The art is really good and I especially liked the background art! I hardly post on here (ok, I've never posted on here) but since I have some time I thought I'll just give some feedback. So here are some of my thoughts on the game:
Overall, I quite enjoyed the story. I'm used to playing games set in modern times so it was a welcomed change and the names seem really realistic (how did you come up with them?). I liked how with each playthrough the story developed a bit more and you learnt a bit more about each character. Like at first I found Neqtia quite unreasonable when she was like yeh being a sacrifice is an honour/the poor people don't understand what the nobles do for them etc etc, so it was good to see her change in the last ending. The way you made the romanceable endings definitely made me want me to play more and unlock the other paths since it just seemed like something was missing. Actually, until the last ending I thought that the hidden aspect would be that Araerda and Jyrik were a couple haha. My favourite playthrough was definitely the last one, although when Neqtia volunteered in place of Araerda and Jyrik I thought her dad was going to stop it from happening so when she actually had to do it I was like omg no way ): ):, but then the rain came and I was so happy, I'm a sucker for happy endings haha.
There was typo I found, nothing major though.
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But yes, congratulations on completing such a well made game in such a short period of time!

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#6 Post by trepiechick »

Okay, now that I've actually played it, here are my thoughts:

For such a short story, it wasn't bad at all. The only thing that seemed abrupt was Neqtia's attitude change, since as seen in previous routes, she had no reason to challenge what she had been taught. To accept something so different so willingly gave me the impression that she's naive and rather gullible though they acknowledge exactly that in a few lines so I don't know. The characters were great! All of them were believable and likeable. I think my favorite CG is Araerda's bad end. Even though she knows what's coming, she's still standing tall and glaring. That's really inspiring. So all in all, a great lunch break VN. Can't wait to see what you're planning next!

I'll be sure to donate when I have more than 5 dollars in my paypal account. You deserve more than $1.67. Didn't know it was so low, sorry. :\ :oops:

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#7 Post by k_arashi »

I played through the whole thing, and eeee it was a fantastic experience! I am just so awe-stuck by everything. Auro's art is just gorgeous as usual and the attention to all the detail is just... WOW. The backgrounds.... omigosh I think I just paused every second or so in order to just admire the beauty ;__; The GUI and overall color scheme was super pretty too! And the contrasting dark blue really complimented everything else. Seriously though, this game is a work of art itself <33
But Cyanide Tea games never seem to disappoint me <3 So no worries there ^^

Alrighty, so hear are my thoughts on the game (please excuse the length!):
I really liked the overall feeling and interaction between the characters. I also really liked how the main character was portrayed, it really suited the very extravagant setting that she grew up in and is surrounded by everyday. And as the story evolved it was neat to see her grow and begin to sympathize with the poorer peoples lifestyle in the outside world that she is not accustomed to.
The true ending where she sacrifices herself instead of the other tributes was very touching as well. Haha every time I kept getting the more "minor" endings. I kept thinking "Omigosh, what am I doing wrong?" xD Only after a lot of trial and error did I finally figure out that you had to see all the endings in order to see the "good/true ending" lol. The CG where the rains falls on her probably is my most favorite CG in the game. There is something refreshing and inspiring about it (:

Out of the other characters I personally liked Jyrik, but he definitely wasn't what I expected (in a good way), I was super surprised to see that he was more sensitive and cried way more easily than the girls. I think that made him more appealing though, special even... haha. I really liked reading a bit of each of the characters back story. It made me bond with the characters a lot more.
I also loved the part where in the bad-ish ending after Araerda had been sacrificed Jyrik was just seen looking up at the stars (at first I didn't really see a real reason) but in the true ending it was explained that in the country of Djedi, the people who passed on joined the stars. So yeah the fact, that everything in the story was connected to each other was brilliant. I applaud you, Camille for your wonderful pacing and story-telling! (:
Throughout the story though, I kept thinking that Araerda and Djedi were a couple (especially after witnessing the CG with the embraced hands and the star-gazing scene in one of Djedi's endings)... Lol but it turned out I was wrong, they seemed to have more of a brother-sister love. But despite my slight disappointment, I still really liked their relationship though. It was super cute <3
Thank you for making just a beautiful, polished game. I really, really enjoyed every minute of it~! (:
And congrats to both you guys in completing it! ^^

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#8 Post by gogospirit »

Congrats on the release~!
AHH I finished playing this and I would say my favorite character is definitely Jyrik <3 He is such eye candy + he's so sweet and I like his soft side even though it surprised me at first! I would have liked to see more of a "true" romance ending with him but that just wasn't meant to be... *sniff* ):

I really like how Neqtia changes over the course of the game. By the end of the game, I found myself liking her a lot more than I initially did. However, seeing as she is a sheltered rich girl, it is understandable that she acted as she did in the beginning.

Oh, and I absolutely LOVE the semi realistic style artwork, it's so utterly gorgeous and breathtaking! The GUI and BGs are beautiful as well! Lovely use of complementary colors!

Overall, it was a very refreshing and unique story! I can't wait to see what you two come up with next!!

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#9 Post by Alaina93 »

Downloading right now!!!!!!

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#10 Post by MaiMai »

Okay I finished it a while ago and here are my thoughts. Spoilers, I liked it!
While the individual romance routes seemed weak it was actually a good indication of Neqtia as a person and protagonist. It seemed like if we the player were only interested in pursuing Jyrik or Araerda or neither before unlocking the True Ending, Neqtia would have continued being her sheltered self and failed at actually solving any of the extrenal conflict. Which in a way is a big failure for a protagonist, but that's what made the True Ending all the more satisfying. So overall, this was a good and solid NaNo entry and I'm so happy this was made.
I've pretty much sang all my praises for the art haha. And I love the influences and setting because it goes to show how there's nothing wrong with stepping out of the box instead of just trying to stay comfortable with the usual fare :)
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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#11 Post by khnachi »

Finally!Downloading it now.
and congratulations! :mrgreen:
edit
just got all the endings and let me just say that I was so happy when I got the true ending
Personally speaking I find that pursuing the two love interest leads to bad endings, I don't really know what to think of having to live for the rest of your life knowing that someone just died for the sake of your own.

At first I find Neqtia to be a bit of a weak personality much like that of someone blinded by the comfort and entertainment that life has to offer, but then again one of the unique experience I got in taarradhin was that all the characters have there own share of change in the outlook of life when the game ends. It's a short game but it does left me this sense of happiness that I witnessed the growth of these characters.

the story was great, the flow of each scene doesn't seem to be too compressed considering the time frame
art is beautiful as always, I love those vibrant colors and painterly style bgs
and the music was really good too, that last music for the rain did really uplift the scene.
I did find this typo though.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gs5nh1cwy0bmm ... led.png?m=

all in all it was a very good nano entry, thank you for letting me experience this game.
Congratulations! :mrgreen:

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#12 Post by Auro-Cyanide »

@deestar Thank you for playing! I'm happy that you felt compelled to play through the endings, that's good news for us XD
I'm a sucker for happy endings too... or at least bitter sweet ones
@trepiechick I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had Araerda's CG in my head right from the beginning and I definitely wanted it to have a strong emotion about it, so I'm happy that it had an impact :) And please do not worry about the amount. It is a Nano game so we aren't expecting anything, so we are honoured by any amount.

@k_arashi Aww, thank you! I'm glad you liked all the art and GUI! It was a bit of an experiment for me so I'm happy it worked out for you.
Haha, it's interesting to hear that people had different fav CGs. It's one of the best bits about making stories because you get to learn a lot about people. Jyrik kind of evolved in my mind as someone who was quite sensitive and kind and I think it's important to have examples of vulnerable masculinity in stories. The emotions he shows are quite reasonable given the circumstance, I'm pretty sure most of use would be the same if not worse! So yeah, super happy to hear you liked him :D I'm not surprised to hear people pairing Jyrik and Araerda, but one of my main goals for the game was to not make romantic relationships the end all of all relationships. In fact they take a back seat and because of Neqtia's naivety they are quite shallow at that. The feature is actually friendships, and to that end I think Jyrik and Araerda are perfect. The final ending stars the friendship between the three of them as the thing that lets the circumstances change in the right way. So yeah, I would like to see more things feature other types of relationships, though I still love my romances dearly.
@gogospirit Thank you! I'm happy you enjoyed playing it and that Neqtia developed as a character for you. That is fantastic news! It's also good to hear you understand where she is coming from.
Given that in a way she is meant to represent the player to some degree, we didn't want to be all 'privillage is baaaaaad, you should feel bad' but more presenting it in a way to better understand what is involved in someone having privillage
@MaiMai
jhdfgksdjfgjsdfg, omg thank you for reading it that way!!! Seriously, nothing is better than when you get your intentions across asfahjsf. I'm so happy.I specifically wanted the non-spoiler routes to feel kind of superficial because I wanted the player to understand what Neqtia was going through, since she pursues Jyrik or Araerda in the same way, as if it was a game. The idea kind of came about when I was talking to Kitty about how knowledge of the mechanics for romance games effect how you play and so most people don't play 'honestly'. You already know that in order to progress, you focus on one character at a time to get on their route. So I tried to use that to put some meaning into the story. Though I think overall it came across kind of clumsy to do it better would require a lot more thought. I'm... not really a fan of games that do that, I think that they prepare the player to much and their is less chance for agency... I have many incoherent thoughts on this subject. But yes, I'm very happy you read it like that!
@khnachi Thank you for playing! I'm happy you liked it.
We did indeed want the non-true routes to highlight the character development of Neqtia. Really it's about how her knowledge and perspective changes the events that unfolded around her, and I think that holds true for all of us. You can't really change anything if you don't know or care about it. Though often times we know, but don't care quite enough to change anything. I'm happy that you liked her development though and that she was more likeable by the end!
Thank you everyone who has downloaded and played! It means so much to us! I'm especially grateful as this was something I was quite devoted to and was all about me getting back into VN making. The people who play our games are what makes all of it worthwhile (though I enjoy creating too of course)

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#13 Post by Camille »

Thanks to everyone who's played and left feedback so far! ;w; It's very great to read and helps give us more to think about for future games.

@deestar and khnachi: I don't see the typos in the screencaps you guys posted, even after reading through and staring at them for a while... XD;; The Iiiii is supposed to be dragged out like that, it's the way she's saying it. And I can't see anything wrong with the second cap at all. /)_(\

A friend did find two other typos in the game, though, so I'll be fixing those up and quietly updating the Gumroad upload. |D

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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#14 Post by Green Glasses Girl »

Not sure if it was the update, but I downoaded the game and can't open it. I get this message anytime I open it through Ren'Py:

Code: Select all

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While loading the script.
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'Style'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
  File "C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Renpy\renpy\bootstrap.py", line 254, in bootstrap
    renpy.main.main()
  File "C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Renpy\renpy\main.py", line 203, in main
    renpy.game.script.load_script() # sets renpy.game.script.
  File "C:\Users\User\Desktop\Renpy\renpy\script.py", line 177, in load_script
    self.load_appropriate_file(".rpyc", ".rpy", dir, fn, initcode)
  File "C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Renpy\renpy\script.py", line 445, in load_appropriate_file
    if not self.load_file(dir, fn + compiled, initcode):
  File "C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Renpy\renpy\script.py", line 310, in load_file
    data, stmts = self.load_file_core(dir, fn)
  File "C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\Renpy\renpy\script.py", line 288, in load_file_core
    data, stmts = loads(f.read().decode('zlib'))
AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'Style'

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.15.3.303
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Re: Taarradhin [GxB, GxG] [NaNoRenO 2014]

#15 Post by Camille »

@Green Glasses Girl: First of all, I'm not sure why you're opening it with Ren'Py... It's a standalone program and most of the files are archived so I'm not sure how well that would work. Also, from your traceback I see that you're using Ren'Py 6.15. The new Style declarations were added in 6.17 and we use those in Taarradhin, so if you're using an older version of Ren'Py it won't have that and so will have errors. ^^;; We've also made some modifications to the base Ren'Py files for Taarradhin, so... Basically any version of Ren'Py except mine won't be able to open it properly.

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