Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

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Feral Phoenix
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#16 Post by Feral Phoenix »

Oh, I really love this!! The soft character designs are very sweet and I loved Eight and Zero's relationship. The backgrounds are beautiful, especially the view of Earth from outside--it's really stunning! In your note you mentioned being worried about the pacing, but I thought it was okay. The story was very sad, but I liked it. ;w;

So far I've only got the Acceptance end; I'll try to get the others too later.
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yuucie
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#17 Post by yuucie »

@AntiquedFae: Thank you! I hope you enjoy it.

@Feral Phoenix: Oh no!! The notes weren't meant to be there. FML, that's really embarrassing. Thank you for pointing it out to me, I will remove it in my next fix. Thank you! It means a lot that you like the story. And thank you for the background compliments---it was the first time I've ever had to draw so many in a short time span.

It's amazing you got that end so quickly, haha. I thought people might have trouble since the goal seemed unclear. Thank you for taking the time to play the game!

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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#18 Post by Miyazaki Momoko »

Downloading~!!!! XD Can't wait to play it~ This is the type of visual novels (or basically, novels) I'm always liked! With strong family relationships~ ^^ Congrats on release, hope to hear more from you! =)

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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#19 Post by TuttyTheFruity »

Wow.

Incredible solo effort. The writing is touching without being saccharine, and the dialogue is realistic and down to earth. Excellent art assets and choices of music too. It's a hauntingly atmospheric work and is probably a front-runner for my favourite work coming from NaNoRenO this year.

Super well done!
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#20 Post by Haze »

Ok, I finally got to play this!
It was really good. The relationship between Leo and Ember(you'd better believe I got the acceptance end; more on that later) was very well written, and I can definitely see them as siblings. First I got the default Lonliest Number end(I cried when the brother was fading away, and leaving Ember behind), and then, when I saw that it was the default end and that it definitely wasn't a good ending, I was like "Heck no! I'm going back and getting a good ending!" I got the default ending 3 more times before I got the Acceptance ending(thank you PyTom for the skip button!).

The acceptance end was nice. It was pretty obvious the cause of death was a car crash; I figured it out when Ember had the dream and talked about gasoline and blood. I was glad that Leo and Ember got to be together, though.

I haven't gotten the attachment end yet, but let me guess-- Leo and Ember don't move on because one of them isn't ready, meaning they stay together in the strange place? Might try for it later...

EDIT: Aaaaaand I just accidentally spoiled myself in the Extras on how to get the "Denial End". The way you get it makes a lot of sense. Why didn't I think of that? :lol:

EDIT 2: Just got the denial end. Wow, the implications of it are creepy. Either everything really was a dream(which I highly doubt), or Ember created her own version of reality where she didn't die and it's a few years later, and she did all of that just so she can be with her brother. Either that, or she's gone insane in the dream world, reliving the past in a desperate attempt to avoid the memories of her death. Again, creepy implications...

EDIT 3: Yeah, I'm clueless when it comes to getting the attachment end. Could I maybe get a hint...? XD
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#21 Post by philip »

A compelling story, well told. Guess I am a bit dense, it took me a while to figure out where they were - duh! Certainly not a light-hearted tale, but still a very well done one.

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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#22 Post by yuucie »

@Miyazaki Momoko: Thank you! I also enjoy close family relationship stories too (they are usually the novels that touch me quite deeply), so I really do hope you like it!

@TuttytheFruity: Oh, my goodness! I'm really honoured to be a part of your NaNoRenO list of favourite work ;__; Thank you, so much. Your words mean a lot to me.

@Haze: Thanks so much for all your input! Reading people's reactions and opinions really highlights my day, and I enjoyed reading yours! I'm always amazed and filled with gratitude when people tell me how touched they were by the writing. I was worried I wasn't skilled enough to convey feeling in my story.
Hahaha, when I sent my friends the first ver to betatest, the threshold for error was higher, and they all kept getting defaults and wailing. Much thanks to them for lowering the difficulty to a more reasonable level.
The car crash was alluded to quite early; I had meant for people to pick it up, so I'm glad you did. And your analysis of the Denial End is really amazing; it was definitely something I wanted to portray, an uneasy feeling where you're not quite sure if she really dreamt that all up or she's still locked in memory.
The attachment end is attained when you rely heavily on Zero during your playthrough. Most of it would be caring where Zero is, wondering when the last time you were together, needing him to comfort you or rejecting both the truth and the denial answers. Hopefully you'll get it this time!
Thanks so much for playing my game, it really means a lot to hear what people think.

@philip: Thank you for playing, and thank you for the compliments!
I meant to make the world ambiguous until near the end, so I'm actually pretty pleased it wasn't immediately obvious.
I don't have much experience in writing sad stories (I shy away from angst and tear-jerker stories irl, if you can imagine), so it was a new experience and I'm glad it worked out. Thanks again!

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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#23 Post by ebi-hime »

Ooh, I liked this game a lot!
The art and the BGs were beautiful! I'm impressed you were able to make so many really nice, high quality BGs in only a month o: And I love how details in the BGs show elements of the characters personalities, like the brother's bedroom, and Seven's room with all the knitting. The floating earth BG was especially beautiful.
I liked the closet BG too, even though it was so simple. It really made the scene feel more claustrophic!

The music was nice, too. The music fit the story beautifully, it feels like it was chosen with care.
In terms of the actual story, the writing was pretty good, and the brother/sister relationship was really sweet and well done. I liked some of the techincal information there was about music, it was a good way of showing the older brother's personality.
I kind of wish there were sprites for Thirteen and Seven too, since they are rather important characters, but the brother is the central character so it makes sense he would be more important. And, since it was made for Nanreno, maybe there wasn't enough time for the sprites, as well as all the BGs?

All in all, I really liked this story! It all feels really polished, especially considering you did it in such a short amount of time!
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#24 Post by yuucie »

@ebi-hime: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the game!

Actually, Eight and Zero's ages were never stated in the game. I did that on purpose, because being close to my sister means I don't really think about our age gap at all (unless asked). Edit: Ah yes, I forgot to mention, but all the music production information is courtesy of Haze from this forums! I couldn't have written that part without Haze's help.

As for Thirteen and Seven: Unfortunately as I am the sole artist, writer and programmer for this game, I only had 2 weeks to finish every single art asset (sprites and backgrounds). My pace is quite slow, so it came down to drawing the side chars or finishing all the backgrounds in time, and I chose the backgrounds as setting is important. I planned to get Thirteen and Seven done if I had time, but as it took me 2 days to do 1 sprite (and I only had 1 day free) I didn't make it.

I keep getting asked what Thirteen and Seven look like however, so:

Thirteen:

Image

- extremely tall, as stated in-game.
- Smells like sunshine and warmth.
Spoiler:
His real name is Malcolm.

Seven:

Image

Spoiler:
She is chinese, in case her real name didn't give her away.

I won't be adding sprites to the game itself, because it was meant to be a work completed within a month, and adding on extras afterwards seems like cheating.

Thanks for playing my game, the responses have been overwhelming. ;~; It was worth all the hard work, sweat and tears.
Last edited by yuucie on Mon Apr 06, 2015 2:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#25 Post by Sunlit-Dreamer »

Oohhh so THAT'S what Thirteen looks like. Seven looks so nice~ Thought I should give a lil heads up that I did get the other "good" end while I'm here.
Moving on one is still my favorite though.
Anyway, expect a pm within a week with 4 links. I prefer to give you all the video links at once instead of just the first one which I finally uploaded after finding converters that work with OBS. Don't expect too much though, since I sound like I'm blathering, can barely be heard sometimes, and ramble about random stuff. (You don't have to watch all of them, since altogether it's an hour and a half's worth of reading out loud.) Hahaha. And had to make a quick "frame" since the OBS recorded very weirdly, having a huge black spot that I had to cover up.
Looks like your nano is a hit. Huzzah!
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#26 Post by teacup »

I'm really impressed that you finished this in one month alone.
This game is so beautiful! I really love the atmosphere - the backgrounds, writing, and music all came together really well! The GUI is also nice to look at!
As for the story, it was very interesting. I can really relate to Eight as a person, and it's kinda cool to read a story where you can relate to the narrator - it made me put myself in her shoes more.
I only got one ending, but I'm happy with it; to be honest I don't wanna make myself sad by getting the less happy ones, so I think I'll just play through once.
Still, awesome job for NaNo :)
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#27 Post by Kinjo »

Just played through this game. Wow, what can I say? I enjoyed this game a lot!

Everything was solid. Good sprites and backgrounds, great music (and use of it), and an excellent story. Obviously you picked a small setting and small cast of characters to make sure you could get this done in time, which was smart planning. And only drawing sprites for the two main characters was good too; it made them stand out more.

Their characters were well-written, and at points I could relate to both of them a lot (even though I don't have any siblings). I didn't read anything about this game before playing it, so I went in blind. The mystery of where they were and why things kept happening to them held my interest and pulled me in for the longer emotional ride.
It was clever to start off by showing the good memories and then eventually showing the bad ones. It became increasingly confusing as to what was happening because the setting no longer seemed safe. The change in music really helped set the tone for the scenes, too. But also, it added so much depth to the characters because of how well each memory was written, and it felt like I was actually reading about the lives of two people. The other characters were also well-done, and I liked how they served actual purposes for demonstrating the rules of the world (13 being trapped forever and 7 being able to leave). Everything in the story had a solid purpose, and that made it really enjoyable to read.
So congratulations on finishing, especially because you did most of this on your own!

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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#28 Post by yuucie »

@Sunlit-Dreamer: I had fun drawing Thirteen. Too bad I didn't make it in time to draw his sprite.

Thanks for taking the time to play and record through the game!! I just like hearing people's thoughts on it, so don't worry about me. :) And thank you! It really made the suffering of flying solo worth it in the end, even if it didn't feel like it during the month. :lol: I hope it's been the same for you!

@teacup: Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad you related to Eight so strongly. She was a different kind of MC I've written; withdrawn and almost unfriendly to strangers, even if it's her social anxiety holding her back. I'm sorry you found it difficult to play due to the sadness; I was really aiming for touching than sad since I wanted to show the support of close siblings and how much it means to them to have each other. At the same time, I completely understand. It came out much less cheerful than I intended. That just makes it even more amazing to me that you played my game! Thank you!

@Kinjo: Oh wow, thank you! Yes, I did indeed calculate just how much I can handle on my own (and it was still oh so very hard), so it means a lot to hear that you thought it was executed well. I'm glad you were able to relate, and found it engaging even without the summary.

The analysis on the characters and world is great! You were able to read so much into the writing, and that's the highest compliment to any writer. Thank you for taking the time to play and giving me your thoughts!

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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#29 Post by Rinima »

*bangs head against wall*
I can't seem to get any ending apart from the loneliest number ending ;~;
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Re: Those Without Names [Slice of Life,Siblings][NaNo2015]

#30 Post by yuucie »

Rinima wrote:*bangs head against wall*
I can't seem to get any ending apart from the loneliest number ending ;~;
Whoops. Understandable, as the goal of the game seems unclear.

Hints at endings:
De End: Insist constantly it's a dream.
At End: Rely on Zero a lot during the game; fixate on where he is and how long you've been apart, need him to comfort you, avoid the topic of what the world is in favour of him humouring you.
Ac End: Listen to Zero's theories, accept the nightmare for what it is, believe Zero.
Hopefully that helped!

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