Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

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ds-sans
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Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#1 Post by ds-sans »

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In the midst of their hearts, something is blossoming between two students. Both of whom go about their daily lives at an international school in Tokyo.

Just what is flowering? Of course, it's love.

Starting your new life after transferring into an international school, you find yourself dismayed when it turns out to be the same as any other. Except for one thing... or person, rather. As your newly founded relationship increasingly tightens with the girl you just met, find out what there is to learn about each other as your lives intertwine with one another, discovering things about her stashed away behind a veil of timidity.


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(CV: Amber Barile)
Ceri, a student of the Welsh International School of Japan (WISJ) is a warm-hearted girl, prone to being found immersed in the pages of a novel or the strings of a classical celtic harp. She has a desire to study literature, though she had been known to have had a large period of time away from school due to an illness. As stated by her.

Of Welsh origin herself, Ceri's a lot more readable than her language. Or so it might seem. Timid and docile on the outside, nobody can really tell what surprises she might have in store. As you get to know her however, the truth about her becomes much more clear to you. Learn about her past, be with her in the present, and join her in the future. That is, if she opens up to you. She's an extremely shy person, so getting her to open up isn't going to be easy.

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You "play" as a half Japanese, half English transfer to the WISJ.

His second week at an international school has just started. Many students seem to be pompous in his eyes. It costs a lot of money to attend, after all. Within his first week, he has managed to make a grand total of zero friends. Socialising isn't easy, at least that's what he thinks.

Unlike his father, a well-regarded owner of a publishing company, he wastes his time daily doing nothing productive. Things change however, when he meets "someone" who piques his interest.


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- Story, Programming and GUI: ds-sans
- Backgrounds Art: Kimagure After, Mugenjohncel
- Character Sprites: Jun Project
- CGs: Joko JMC/jmc5221, Ezekuro
- Ceri CV: Amber Barile
- Publisher (Steam Release): DEVGRU-P
- Music: Kevin MacLeod


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- 1920 x 1080 resolution.
- Cinematic CGs.
- 3 Endings
- 38,842 words
- Rating: 13+ Mild use of language and provocative content.

Any feedback is appreciated! Either leave a response below, PM me or send me a message on twitter @dssansVN.

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#2 Post by Kokoro Hane »

I have been waiting for this one! The art is beautiful and Ceri just looks so sweet and cute! Also, the fact she is voice acted only makes me more than happy to play this! I've downloaded it and will give my impressions as soon as my first playthrough is done~
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Piece By Piece [COMPLETE][Spooktober VN '20]
RE/COUNT RE:VERSE [COMPLETE][RPG]
Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [COMPLETE][NaNoRenO2020+]
Crystal Captor: Memory Chronicle Finale [COMPLETE][RPG][#1 in So Bad It's Good jam '17]

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#3 Post by ds-sans »

Kokoro Hane wrote:I have been waiting for this one! The art is beautiful and Ceri just looks so sweet and cute! Also, the fact she is voice acted only makes me more than happy to play this! I've downloaded it and will give my impressions as soon as my first playthrough is done~
Thank you! Both Ceri's VA Amber, and the artists did wonderful jobs! I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#4 Post by Kokoro Hane »

ds-sans wrote:
Kokoro Hane wrote:I have been waiting for this one! The art is beautiful and Ceri just looks so sweet and cute! Also, the fact she is voice acted only makes me more than happy to play this! I've downloaded it and will give my impressions as soon as my first playthrough is done~
Thank you! Both Ceri's VA Amber, and the artists did wonderful jobs! I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
I've certainly been enjoying it so far! I hope to have my first playthrough done this weekend (I'm going through it a bit slowly due to some busyness) and have some thoughts ready! I also took some screenshots of some typos haha.
PROJECTS:
Operation: Magic Hero [WiP]
Piece By Piece [COMPLETE][Spooktober VN '20]
RE/COUNT RE:VERSE [COMPLETE][RPG]
Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [COMPLETE][NaNoRenO2020+]
Crystal Captor: Memory Chronicle Finale [COMPLETE][RPG][#1 in So Bad It's Good jam '17]

But dear God, You're the only North Star I would follow this far
Owl City "Galaxies"

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#5 Post by ds-sans »

Kokoro Hane wrote:
ds-sans wrote:
Kokoro Hane wrote:I have been waiting for this one! The art is beautiful and Ceri just looks so sweet and cute! Also, the fact she is voice acted only makes me more than happy to play this! I've downloaded it and will give my impressions as soon as my first playthrough is done~
Thank you! Both Ceri's VA Amber, and the artists did wonderful jobs! I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
I've certainly been enjoying it so far! I hope to have my first playthrough done this weekend (I'm going through it a bit slowly due to some busyness) and have some thoughts ready! I also took some screenshots of some typos haha.
Glad you're enjoying it! Which version are you playing? The Steam version has a lot of typos (generally because I can't update it myself), but most had been cleared up in the itch.io release. If they're in the itch.io version I can get them corrected easily.

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#6 Post by Kokoro Hane »

ds-sans wrote:
Glad you're enjoying it! Which version are you playing? The Steam version has a lot of typos (generally because I can't update it myself), but most had been cleared up in the itch.io release. If they're in the itch.io version I can get them corrected easily.
I'm playing the itch.io release.
PROJECTS:
Operation: Magic Hero [WiP]
Piece By Piece [COMPLETE][Spooktober VN '20]
RE/COUNT RE:VERSE [COMPLETE][RPG]
Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [COMPLETE][NaNoRenO2020+]
Crystal Captor: Memory Chronicle Finale [COMPLETE][RPG][#1 in So Bad It's Good jam '17]

But dear God, You're the only North Star I would follow this far
Owl City "Galaxies"

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#7 Post by ds-sans »

Kokoro Hane wrote:
ds-sans wrote:
Glad you're enjoying it! Which version are you playing? The Steam version has a lot of typos (generally because I can't update it myself), but most had been cleared up in the itch.io release. If they're in the itch.io version I can get them corrected easily.
I'm playing the itch.io release.
Okay! I should be able to look into them.

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#8 Post by M.Knight »

I don't usually play romance VN unless there's something that really stands out, but I gave this one a shot because the main girl's design caught my attention.

All in all, I thought it was a nice romance that was rather fast-paced though a bit subtle due to Ceri's introversion. I wouldn't have minded more scenes to show how the two characters really clicked with one another, but what's there is good and there was no boring padding.

The artwork is beautiful. The music is serviceable but I found the "tension" track a bit distracting.

Getting the three endings was not tricky and the conclusions were satisfying. However, they have two issues, one technical and the other story-related :
-The CG during the cherry blossom tree event is seamlessly appended to the scene, without any transitions. Because of the very high resolution of the CGs, the short yet noticeable loading was a bit odd. All the CGs in the game have very high resolutions but this one is where it can be a problem.
Besides, Ceri's art style is different and it almost seems like it could be another girl.

-My other issue is with the differences between the neutral and the good ending. In the former, Ceri's mother is given custody of her child while it is the father that gets it in the good ending. This is a problem because the only thing that changed on the player's part is either listening to the father's argument with Ceri's mother or not. This action shouldn't have any actual effect whatsoever on the court's decision, yet for some reason it does. This weakens the choice's impact as it makes the results arbitrary instead of logical and coherent.

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#9 Post by ds-sans »

M.Knight wrote:I don't usually play romance VN unless there's something that really stands out, but I gave this one a shot because the main girl's design caught my attention.

All in all, I thought it was a nice romance that was rather fast-paced though a bit subtle due to Ceri's introversion. I wouldn't have minded more scenes to show how the two characters really clicked with one another, but what's there is good and there was no boring padding.

The artwork is beautiful. The music is serviceable but I found the "tension" track a bit distracting.

Getting the three endings was not tricky and the conclusions were satisfying. However, they have two issues, one technical and the other story-related :
-The CG during the cherry blossom tree event is seamlessly appended to the scene, without any transitions. Because of the very high resolution of the CGs, the short yet noticeable loading was a bit odd. All the CGs in the game have very high resolutions but this one is where it can be a problem.
Besides, Ceri's art style is different and it almost seems like it could be another girl.

-My other issue is with the differences between the neutral and the good ending. In the former, Ceri's mother is given custody of her child while it is the father that gets it in the good ending. This is a problem because the only thing that changed on the player's part is either listening to the father's argument with Ceri's mother or not. This action shouldn't have any actual effect whatsoever on the court's decision, yet for some reason it does. This weakens the choice's impact as it makes the results arbitrary instead of logical and coherent.
Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you liked what was there.
With the issues of Ceri's CG artwork, I had hired a different artist as opposed to the sprite artist to do the CGs. There is a distinct change in style but at the time it was the best I could do that was within my budget. I am working with the sprite artist again on another project and he will also be doing the CGs too.

As for the endings. I do agree that I could have structured the actual choices better since everything is rather linear anyway. There are other variables which affect which ending is obtained, and
the consequence of choices in the argument scene are flipped depending on whether you had given her a book or not.

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#10 Post by M.Knight »

ds-sans wrote: Wed Jul 19, 2017 5:32 amThere are other variables which affect which ending is obtained[...]
I didn't catch that, interesting! Though I guess it kinda exacerbates the story issue I mentioned.

Oh, there's another thing I noticed : I disabled the voices, but the few lines that are displayed in NVL style instead of inside the textbox are voiced nonetheless. Was that on purpose as those lines are important/impactful?

And good luck with your next project! :)

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#11 Post by ds-sans »

M.Knight wrote: Sat Jul 22, 2017 6:37 am Oh, there's another thing I noticed : I disabled the voices, but the few lines that are displayed in NVL style instead of inside the textbox are voiced nonetheless. Was that on purpose as those lines are important/impactful?

And good luck with your next project! :)
Those lines were meant to be impacting, however the voice playing on those lines is more of a coding aspect since I was playing them in the sound channel rather than the voice channel.

And thank you!

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#12 Post by Kokoro Hane »

Finally had a chance to complete this now! I had over an hour clocked in on my last save, so I didn't have much to go (my final count is 1 hour and 49 minutes). I'll be going back for the other 2 endings later (since 1 CG is locked) but I almost feel reluctant to do so, since I absolutely LOVED the ending I got!

First off, I'd like to praise the game's writing. I absolutely loved the flow and wording. I did notice some minor typos here and there, but it wasn't too jarring--just that proofreader in me that spots every little thing on instinct, haha. But really, I feel this game was well written and of a very high standard. Even sentences which would be considered quite cheesy came off rather sweet, charming, and endearing rather than sappy and stomach-turning. The story was just so sweet!

Next off, of course the artwork was spectacular and absolutely gorgeous!

Now let us speak about characters--
First off, Ceri is SO CUTE! I loved her shy and timid nature, it was absolutely adorable. Amber totally nailed her and I couldn't help but go "awww" several moments throughout. It's weird to see a visual novel with only one character voiced, but I must say it totally worked here and oddly didn't feel out of place. It certainly provided quite the unique experience.
I also actually really liked the MC (whom I named "Kevin", so from here on out, I'll just call him Kevin since I want to call him by a name rather than MC haha). Anyway, so "Kevin" I actually liked a lot. I wouldn't say he has the most spectacular and outstanding personality, but I found him to be quite likeable and I enjoyed his inner narrative quite a bit. It's really rare for me to actually like playable leads in VNs, especially of the Bishoujo genre, so that made me really happy.
Also, I really adored his father--I dunno why, but I always enjoyed his dialogue. He was full of personality. At first, I found it odd how he had a pretty Britishy speak since he's the Japanese one, but due to Kevin's comments about his apparent love of English culture and the fact he married an English woman--well, being surrounded by that probably would rub off and I came to love it. Weirdly though, every time he spoke, his accent came off Scottish in my head and I don't know why, maybe it's due to the personality you gave him I dunno xD
I also quite liked Ceri's father. I even laughed a few times at some of the stuff he said ("I know having dinner with a 37 year old Welsh guy isn't on anybody's busket list" made me laugh more than it probably should have haha). I like how caring he was of Ceri and
how supportive he was with their relationship, approving of it before it even happened.
.
Really, I must applaud you for giving both our lead and heroine a cool father~

Overall--
This was a sweet and relaxing experience. Really, I regret not having finished it sooner, as it felt so serene and calming reading this story. Watching as the two slowly became close and Ceri opening up made me melt. Like seriously, the closer I kept getting to the end, the more I was melting. It was so heartwarming!
I was one point screaming in my head GO KISS ALREADY!!!! But yeah, I got what I assume is the Best Ending, and what was quite unexpected to me since it came from Ceri, I was quite taken aback the moment she shouted "I love you!" and if I were with a crowd of people, I could imagine a round of applause and cheering at that moment. It was adorable! The CG for it though, while nice, was the one that looked most out of place to the sprite, but nevertheless stunning. But yeah, I loved that ending, I felt oh so satisfied with it and happy!! I really love these two as a couple, I especially love how they seemed to get equally nervous and flustered at one point and how they could be extremely awkward with each other, I love awkward couples so props to that!
Anyway, thank you so much for sharing such a beautiful, heartwarming game with loveable characters and excellent voice work albeit for only 1 character. It'd be quite the challenge not to utterly fall in love and smile throughout this gently-paced game. I'll definitely be recommeding this one~
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Piece By Piece [COMPLETE][Spooktober VN '20]
RE/COUNT RE:VERSE [COMPLETE][RPG]
Since When Did I Have a Combat Butler?! [COMPLETE][NaNoRenO2020+]
Crystal Captor: Memory Chronicle Finale [COMPLETE][RPG][#1 in So Bad It's Good jam '17]

But dear God, You're the only North Star I would follow this far
Owl City "Galaxies"

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#13 Post by Knight_of_Ni »

Hello,

This is actually my first ever post on this forum, but since I stumbled upon the game just yesterday, the impression it left made me feel obligated to let You know how much I appreciated it. It's the best experience I've had in a very long time! It's obvious that, being an indie game made by a very small group, it is rather short, there's just one character sprited, there are some typos (I won't point out the things people before me mentioned), but still, one can plainly see that You poured Your heart and soul into it.
First of all, so rarely do games (or anime) of this sort show the importance of family, especially fathers. Second, the protagonist is rather easygoing and more or less carefree, at times slow to come to the most simple solutions, but reasonable and likeable, it's easy to "get into his shoes" and make decissions which I'd personally make. This is a great and often missed detail (f.e. Clannad, where the protagonist is basically a jerk). Kevin McLeod hit the mood of the story on the head, his music underlines the spirit of the scenes without being distracting. I had to tune it down a lot in order to hear Ceri's voice at times, which was just adorable ^^.

Which brings me to the last part - Ceri is definitely one of my favorite visual novel heroines of all time, if not right there at the top. A complex personality, with interests similar to my own, cute, although completely unaware of how beautiful she is, sweet, soooo adorably shy, one just wants to immediately hug all that fear and sorrow out of her and tell the rest of the world that if it ever lays one finger on her again, it better write it's last will, too bad there's no real girls like that ^^ Amber was the perfect choice to play her - the way her voice is so quiet, shaky, stuttering at times, yet every line is pronounced in clear, sweet whispers, even Ceri's nervous breathing is recorded, although You could've just written it...well, it's just extremely rare that any voice actor would put so much emotion and expression into their part. She's not just reading the lines, she's *playing* them.

So, after this lenghty foreword, I'm really, really looking forward to seeing more of this story (or a similar one), and I hope You get the means to build it up to all the potential of ideas that You have. That saying, let me know if and how You accept contributions, because this project definitely deserves support.

All the best!
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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#14 Post by ds-sans »

Knight_of_Ni wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 8:39 am Hello,

This is actually my first ever post on this forum, but since I stumbled upon the game just yesterday, the impression it left made me feel obligated to let You know how much I appreciated it...
Thank you! It really means a lot knowing how much you enjoyed the game, and how much it meant to you. Thank you for the kind words about our staff too, Amber did a great job in voicing Ceri for the game.

We did release a small continuation for Sounds of Her Love earlier this month, but currently we've been working on our current project Chemically Bonded which is much larger in scope, so we hope to produce a an enjoyable experience with it too.

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Re: Sounds of Her Love [Romance][BxG]

#15 Post by Knight_of_Ni »

Oh! That's great to hear, I'll check it out right away! :) (and yes, I did play through the continuation of SoHL too, of course ;))
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