K*A*O*R*I

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RedSlash · #16 Post by **RedSlash** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:50 pm

Oh now you tell me! I actually went through all the endings and inputted the password in the properly way! I actually thought the stars where like placeholders for the password.

yuki_no_yousei · #17 Post by **yuki_no_yousei** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 7:58 pm

Just finished playing thru the first few endings.
A wonderful job! Lovely artwork & design...deep character development...Great Job!!!

rioka · #18 Post by **rioka** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 8:51 pm

Wow, this came out of nowhere. O_O ...I think I'll wait on playing it though till I'm done with at least one of my current ren'ai projects.

mikey wrote:Sai>> 3 weeks yes, but 1+1/2 months planning Forgot to mention.

Hmm, you know what popped into my mind when you mentioned this? NaNoMangO. What if we started a NaNoRenO for a one month-made ren'ai game? That would be interesting...

Grey · #19 Post by **Grey** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 1:21 pm

Ha, Well done Mikey. Game three.

It's nice to see some decisions in there that actually alter the storyline, and finally keyboard support for the engine.

I got 8 first, and now I've just got some Omake endings to go (and possibly number 3)

The story is definitely the main part of the game, and it's interesting certainly, but it didn't particually grip me in any way. I can't quite explain why though...

Hmm, you know what popped into my mind when you mentioned this? NaNoMangO. What if we started a NaNoRenO for a one month-made ren'ai game? That would be interesting...

It's a nice idea in theory anyway

rioka · #20 Post by **rioka** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 4:59 pm

Grey wrote:It's a nice idea in theory anyway

I think it can be done. You just have to stick to basic newbie rules:
-stick to a short story
-if you can't draw backgrounds, use photos
-if you can't program, use an available ren'ai engine
-if you can't make your own music, ask to use another's for your game
These will cut down on development time plus you can also do some cuts like keeping artwork black & white.

Grey · #21 Post by **Grey** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:05 am

I guess so. It would be interesting to try anyway, if there were enough participants.

BlackSpider · #22 Post by **BlackSpider** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:54 am

OMG the third Mikey's ren'ai game and all this in one year. It certainly looks that so far you're the main contributor to the english ren'ai archive

. Well done... KAORI is a short but very nice story. I really like it. Got ending 1/9 for the first time I palyed so I was a little disappointed. Got ending 8 when I played the second time. I'll have to play the game some more to find all endings. Again let me point out that even 2 midi tunes would greatly improve the overall effect the game has on the player. It's not that every game scene needs to have music, but some really do... Looking forward for any new ren'ai games you might release in the future

.

mikey · #23 Post by **mikey** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:09 am

RedSlash>> The stars WERE placeholders, of course. But hey, you played it the right way, so you can be happy, right?

Grey, eclipse>> The newbie rules are very good. Actually, most of them I tried to implement in Kaori.

BlackSpider>> It's just that I really hate MIDI. And a simple mp3 would have increased the game's size, which I didn't want. But I am already thinking about making re-editions (Black Pencil with music and fixed bugs, RiverTrap fulscreen support etc.). I'll see how it turns out. In the meantime, thanks for the support.

Tyler · #24 Post by **Tyler** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:28 am

Bless you Mikey, your the hero of the fourms. You give us game to have a fun time while we wait for *cough* TOL2 and *cough* Metropolitan Blues

rioka · #25 Post by **rioka** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 12:47 pm

Mikey, I think you're spoiling the ren'ai fans. Now they're demanding more and more from us developers. Must you set the bar up every time? Seriously...

Xarbia · #26 Post by **Xarbia** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 9:08 pm

[this text may contain spoilers]

Mikey,

I'd just like to congratulate you with yet another wonderful story. I think it was very well put together, you managed to surprise me even in the last true ending I read, and in the end everything fell into place. There is only one thing (story-wise) that bothers me, the very fact the whole story is based on. There are two girls who you have some feelings for, they also both have some feelings for you, and they are twins without even knowing about each other, which strikes me as a rather unlikely situation. However, once you accept that fact, all other events are logical enough, I was tempted to play through every single path to discover the whole truth and when I did the whole truth was revealed. I also love the subtle choices that don't seem very different when you have to make them, yet in the light of later revelations really have different meanings. I really enjoyed the game, keep up the good work.

Apart from the story, there are some remarks I would like to make. Of course the game could do with some music, although I now just played my own music which also seemed to work quite nicely. But there is one important point. The way your stories are written, you seem to try to persuade the player to play the game not just once, but many times until he has seen all there is to it. You achieve this by leaving open questions in one thread that are only answered in other threads, and even more explicitly by the password-system. However, since every thread starts in the same manner, this means the player must go through the same part many times. Since this game, unlike River Trap, has no save points, you really have to go through the beginning sequence nine times and then even four times more to see all the true endings. The right-key binding makes this easier, but still it does not at all add to my enjoyment of the game. It takes away my immersion in the game, because I don't read anything but still have to hold down that key until I arrive at the right point. To summarize, if you want the player to see every ending, I think it would really help if you would make it easy for him to do so, by allowing him to start over not only at the beginning, but at any point where he has already been.

Oh and never mind the built-in password bug, I never clicked the "enter password" option until I knew the password, because I thought that would be a pretty useless thing to do. How wrong I was...

Anyway, thanks for this beautiful game.

-- Xarbia

mikey · #27 Post by **mikey** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 8:47 am

Xarbia >> Thank you for the reply. I will have to correct just one thing, the sisters DO know about each other, but Inami never told Kaori about Souji. Kaori has no way of knowing the Souji she starts to like through his articles is someone her sister met when she was younger. When the main story begins, the sisters live in the same city in different places. In one of the endings this is explained with something like "Inami never told Kaori about me", don't know the exact wording. Also, the whole point of Inami taking her sister's uniform by accident imposes they know each other (and lived together at that point). But I agree on the fact, that the story is pretty condensed and I also had to keep track really, drawing diagrams and timelines

Well, I think it is unavoidable that you read some of the text again and again, we tried to make it as painless as possible with the keyboard skipping (admittedly it skips faster on a P4 3000 Mhz than on a P233

I understand that a "skip previously seen sequences" feature would be very convenient and I'll have that in mind. Perhaps it can be done via the registry, dunno though...

Phew, thanks for not trying that PW "feature" but hopefully people now all have the correct version, so they can enjoy it the way it was intended to.

eclipse, Tyler >> Do you want the whole truth? Kaori wasn't planned! I was taking a walk and all of the sudden I had the idea, I was at the place (where the BGs are from) and while on my way home in the bus I thought about how I could transform it into a game as simple as possible. The word simple then took on a dominant position and I was drawing diagrams and preparing everything. I was also a little surprised at the pace the game started to materialize. Originally, I wanted to have it done by January, so I could release it January 15th, Black Pencil's anniversary. But since it was done... what would YOU do? I really wanted to wait, but I could get hit by a truck you know... Still, I think when people don't know what you are doing, you have less pressure.

rioka · #28 Post by **rioka** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 5:09 pm

mikey wrote:eclipse, Tyler >> Do you want the whole truth? Kaori wasn't planned! I was taking a walk and all of the sudden I had the idea, I was at the place (where the BGs are from) and while on my way home in the bus I thought about how I could transform it into a game as simple as possible. The word simple then took on a dominant position and I was drawing diagrams and preparing everything. I was also a little surprised at the pace the game started to materialize. Originally, I wanted to have it done by January, so I could release it January 15th, Black Pencil's anniversary. But since it was done... what would YOU do? I really wanted to wait, but I could get hit by a truck you know... Still, I think when people don't know what you are doing, you have less pressure.

What I would've done: I would have released the game and worked on another one after a day or two of break. Too many ideas coming out of my head - and you just gave me another one when you mentioned making a ren'ai game at a convention. >.<

I agree with you on the non-announcement, it cuts down on pressure... but pressure also keeps you focused and working on the project.
Btw, regarding the anniversary of Black Pencil, do I take it that's your deadline for your next game?

Tyler · #29 Post by **Tyler** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:33 pm

mikey wrote:"Inami never told Kaori about me", don't know the exact wording.

Your the creator of the game and you don't know the script lol! of course I some times forget, but I'm allowed to

#30 Post by **PyTom** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 11:39 pm

I don't know how long the script is. I'm certain it's hundreds of lines long, and wouldn't be surprised if it's over a thousand.

So, I think we can cut a guy some slack for not remembering all of them.

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