How visual novel changed my life [Nano14] [SoL] [Friendship]

[Helianthus]

HVNCML is a kinetic that tells the story of our team trying desesperatly to join Nanoreno three weeks before it begins. Inspired by actual conversations and actual people, you can now experiment the creation of games...from the inside.

Features

• -lot of non-sense
  -original GUI & soundtrack
  -some special illustrations
  -our blood, sweat and tears
  -a lot of stupid extras (such as a PM system or a silly Gangnam Style cover)

You can vote on our VNDB page too

[Didules]

Oh, it has been released...well then....
CHAMPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGNE \o/
Congratulation to everyone for completing another NaNoReno projetc!!

It was really a fun game, I almost laughed to tears with all your delirium about Wapitis, the Pope and...herm, Soja Milk? (That part was almost embarrassing to read )
The way it was done (as chat) was really interesting, and original! It was well written, the characters were funny to read AND to see (Well, they all are way too cute to be real ) and it was nice to see people I "know" talking naturally (and talking about other people/games I know )
Overall most of the talks the characters (or should we "you-"?) had were cute!

And wow, (monotonous voice) the last thing you announced was so surprising (the "Japan expo" stuff).... (Well, it was because I wasn't expecting anything to be announced that soon, but otherwise....

As always your stories are second to none! Thanks for the game!

[OverHeatingMyMind]

It was soooo fun! Of course I'm not really partial given I kinda know you guys, but I'd recommend it to anyone.

It was also interesting to see how a team works and how different it is compared to my way of doing it, mostly alone. Seems like a lot of trouble but definitely an incredible journey

Good job on the interfaces and the overall GUI btw, the extras in particular look really good!

[Fenrir34]

Very cute game. I think many feel this way especially when they are getting a team for NaNo. I did mine with just one person, so it wasn't that bad. Still, we were pressed time and had to kind of rush it. Anyway, fun game. Hope you can get the others done

[Helianthus]

Didules
Yeah, is wasn’t without difficulties. Nanoreno can be such a chore sometimes, I had to work like crazy to finish the project but I’m really happy to see the end of the tunnel once again .

The part about Soy Milk was embarrassing to live, I made a fool of myself in front of everyone ;__;. But since the others found that discussion so funny, I decided to sacrifice my dignity and show it to the world *sob* Well, I’m easy to tease… But I’m glad people liked those chats, I was afraid the game would be boring XD.

talking about other people/games I know

Oh, we didn’t even tell the Lemmasoft people we were talking about them in our game… I really am a failure at advertising things X)

Well, I asked « Big Boss » for permission and he was okay with that. Since the big announcement is coming up, it was a good way to tell people we have a SUPER SECRET plan (as always) :p.

You’re flattering me, you know that XD ?

OverHeatingMyMind
You too are flattering me way too much :p. I feel like a spoiled child, ahah.

Yep, you can now see the charms of working with others people : they don’t always have the time, they make mistakes, they don’t understand each other, and they’re saying a lot of jokes to pass time XD.

Thanks, the others had fun making those stupid pictures (with the pope, wapitis and sukumizu) and I liked the Gangnam Style mandolin cover, would be a shame not to use it :3.

Fenrir34
Oh, you were in Nanoreno too ? How is your project called ? But yeah, I think the rushed « way of life » is kind of the official Nanoreno spririt XD.
The others ? You mean the Milks episodes ? We’re working on it Thank you

[Duskylli]

Hey this was pretty funny. I liked all of the extra bits like the Mooing and

Keuls face in Amber xD

. Really wasn't expecting you to mention a whole bunch of people from lemma lol. I was like heeeeey I know who/what you're talking about. I wonder what they would think if they play this xD Some of the things that you mentioned about Milk make me want to check out the game too. Oreiikono was the cutest.

[Kudlak]

(Juste pour info, je suis Coronae, celui qui poste souvent des commentaires sur le blog)

J'ai vachement aimé l'interface et la façon d'économiser les ressources graphiques et puis, il y a plein de scènes plutôt drôles. Par contre, j'ai pas vraiment eu l'impression de voir comment toi et l'équipe vous êtes décidé à faire ce VN - Enfin, je vois comment vous en êtes arrivé jusque-là, mais j'ai j'imagine que j'aurais préféré voir une scène où tu annonces vraiment à toute l'équipe quelle sorte de jeu ce sera mais je chipote un peu -.

[Helianthus]

Duskylli
Thanks a lot :3
I wanted to make a lot of Lemmasoft references and I realised some of our readers might not know the « famous creators » from here so I tried to compromise and explain the references. But yeah, I have no clue if those people would feel flattered or not, I’m too shy to dare ask them to play my game to know the answer

Some of the things that you mentioned about Milk make me want to check out the game too

Ohoh, what things ? Not the cow-girls part, I guess
So the only non-related character is the cutest ? We can’t stay behind, we’ll have to defend our honour as a team and train to become even cuter than him eventually !

Kudlak
Hello Coronae, might I ask what brings you here ^^ ? Since you already commented on our Devblog, I didn’t expect to see you posting again in a different place.

Well, to tell the truth, the whole reason why you can’t have a scene where the team accepts my idea at the end is partially because the whole game is a montage : they knew from the beginning what I was trying to do and played along (well, some didn’t understand the point at all, but that’s another story). So, showing them being all « wow, that’s a good idea ! » feels fake. Besides they’re always telling my character they don’t really mind anyway XD.

And talking in French on Lemmasoft is cheating, you know

[Kudlak]

I guess I can put some effort for the sake of my english. ^^

I think this is because, I don't really like to wait the validation of my message and because I tought you will check Lemmasoft more often.

Anyway, with yours explanations I guess that all of theses logs are an act ? Or just the last of them ?

[Fenrir34]

It's called Timeless. Worked on it with Sleipnir56. The game was made quickly because we only had a few days left.

And that's good. I know how hard it is to get a team up and make the project. I'm trying to do that as well

[Helianthus]

Kudlak

I think this is because, I don't really like to wait the validation of my message and because I tought you will check Lemmasoft more often.

I try to validate messages like every day on the devblog, you know . And if it’s true I had the habit of posting much on Lemmasoft to show our progress, I don’t do it as much now that the team has its own Tumblr. Besides, nobody ever reply on the Milk topic, so it’s disheartening. At least on the devblog, there ARE comments . So I’m actually going to reply faster on the devblog (besides writing in English takes more time). I’m sorry but if I don’t answer, it just mean I’m swamped by work, I do see and read your comments ^^’.

Anyway, with yours explanations I guess that all of theses logs are an act ? Or just the last of them ?

I don’t think you’re getting my point : saying these logs aren’t all 100% true doesn’t mean they’re 100% fake. By montage, I didn’t imply we were all pretending and that those chats were artificially made, I wanted to say that for the game to feel dynamic and natural, there is nonetheless a need to do some preparation. Like when you’re watching a movie that follows a character during 24h or 3 days or something like that. It’s made for you to feel that way but in reality there have been weeks or months of shooting. Doesn’t mean the story is meaningless for all that .

It’s kind of the same here. You’re supposed to live with the characters, believing everything is happening beneath your very eyes, but deep down you know very well that I wrote the story with the intend of showing some things or not. Some conversations did happen exactly the same way but at a different date, some were lightly altered. Some bits were made up, others cut. You can’t see the difference but I did have to work a bit to remove useless mundane parts and shaping some kind of continuity.

Kind of tricky, I know, but that’s an important thing when you’re writing auto-fiction and I found it very interesting


Fenrir 34
I just saw that Timeless was about Lavi but I don’t know this character at all . I guess I didn’t watch the good animes, ahah. Congratulations for finishing it in time by the way !

I know that feel. Good luck with finding a team for your project !

[Fenrir34]

Thank again ^_^ and it does take some time for Lavi to show up so some people might not know him.

[Helianthus]

I'm quickly uping the topic to say that the game is now available on Gumroad in Pay what you want and has its own trailer (to show better the glorious silliness ) !

[ebi-hime]

Omg i really loved this vn. All the meta!!! XD
The concept reminded me a lot of the Charlie Kaufman movie Adaptation? Which all about the creative process of a screenwriter, trying super hard to write a movie, but is unable to, which was all autobiographical hahaha. I don't know if you've seen it or not, but it's a really great film :'D

I was actually quite far into the story until I noticed the little character icons actually have changing expressions. That's so cute! ;_;
It seems there was a lot of attention to even small details like that, it was impressive!
And I loved the GUI too, and how yellow and orange it was - so cheerful! It fits with the light-hearted comedy atmosphere hehe :'D
The calender screen, too, looks really good. It was really nicely designed.
I spent so much of the VN wondering how you got the chat log effect to work in ren'py... Somehow, it looks really high tech to me o: I have tried to make a similar effect in ren'py before but could never figure out how...
A small thing about the GUI though, sometimes it was annoying to have to read the private messages before I could click onto the rest of the story. I liked all the quick links were in small icons at the top of the screen (makes it feel more like a real chat engine hohoh) but to begin with I didn't realise they were links at all, and just there for decorative purposes haha XD Maybe if they were a different color they would stand out more? But then maybe they wouldn't fit well with the rest of the GUI...

The comedy was super great, too :'P The characters (although they are real people, not 'characters', I guess) were so great - their individual personalities shone through a lot! I feel I can't say too much about character, since they are representatives of real people, but... they were all so cute, the team dynamic is so adorable to read ;_; I loved Helia as team mom haha XD And Melow was so cute? So so cute? ;___; But everybody was cute!
I was happy with the choice to choose who Keul could 'date' hahaha XD It made me laugh XD

And usually I don't like pop culture references in stories, or think they are fairly cheap/lazy ways to get laughs (esp. if it's a reference that is implemented into a story really badly?), but it really worked here because of the chat log setting, and the feeling to try and stimulate real life conversation. I love that strange version of gangnam style haha XD
And all the refs to real ren'py game devs was pretty awesome too o: I hope some of them played this so they can see themselves being mentioned! (Nice to know your feelings about the Backstage Pass op were the same as mine. Like, so much money... How can you afford... XD)

Sorry for the super long comment o: I just felt, it was a really nicely thought-out and well put together game, and your creative team sounds so cute ;___;
I feel I should go and play some of your other VNs now ehehe n_n;;

[Helianthus]

Sorry I didn’t notice your post sooner, I don’t stop by very often anymore…should correct that actually

Never saw the movie you’re talking about but it sounds exactly like what I was trying to do . I’m glad you liked the GUI (adn the meta)!

I spent so much of the VN wondering how you got the chat log effect to work in ren'py... Somehow, it looks really high tech to me o: I have tried to make a similar effect in ren'py before but could never figure out how...

Well, I wanted our programmer to make tutorials to explain his wizardry but he seems to never find the motivation to write so it’s been years and I’m still waiting for his first post =’D. If you’re interested, let me a mail or a MP, I’ll send you the script so that you can analyze the code

Actually, I never thought the buttons would go unoticed, I guess it’s a big miscalculation on my part . Guess I’ll have to be more careful next time! Same for the private messages =’).

I was very afraid the comedy wouldn’t work because people would see that as private jokes only and I didn’t want to give that impression, so I’m glad if it turned out okay! My biggest regret is that I had to stuck with my point of view because I wasn’t confortable writing the others (after all the point wasn’t to offend anyone in the team). So I kinda become the main character and that wasn’t my intention at the beginning. Since I’m the « manager », it still works but I wish I could show my teammates more =’).

I loved Helia as team mom haha XD

It’s so weird to read something like that >___< (I’m too young to be a mom). Melow’s cuteness really shines

I was happy with the choice to choose who Keul could 'date' hahaha XD

The real Keul was less happy that the Battle Programmer storyline was just a short scene and not the main part of the game. He missed his chance to finally become a main character =’(.

And all the refs to real ren'py game devs was pretty awesome too o: I hope some of them played this so they can see themselves being mentioned!

As far as I know, none played the game so I couldn’t see their reaction. Which is too bad, I’d really like to see that

Thanks for you kind comment, it really encourages me to keep going o/.