When I Rule The World: released!

[rioka]

Review Time! These are all from my first impressions:

First and foremost - love the bigger screen! Second, even though I knew you had a different format, it was still a bit odd seeing the dialogue box at about 75% of the bottom screen until the first images came up. I think it would've been better if you used the "show text" and "renpy.pause" coding for the intro and then segue to Selena in her room. ...But then, that's just my opinion. ^^

Love the full body poses. Definitely different (in a good way) from the regular waist/knee-up view in ren'ai games or the face images usually found in RPG's. The use of markers on the characters is a nice touch. It's a refreshing switch from all the CGs and other usual coloring styles.

It was strange to read things in British spelling. (First thing I noticed: practise.) I got used to it after awhile and overall, I think it added to the charm of the story and characters.

I personally liked the change of POV because at that moment, I was thinking how I wanted to get into Takeshi's head and find out if he really was sent by The Agency. I was highly pleased when it did just that!

Love the story. I was hoping for world domination though and I hope you'll remedy that one day. :hint hint:

Nice omake at the end - completely hilarious seeing all three interact. I would've loved to have seen Selena drop-kick Eletis or something though... (another not so subtle hint)

Well done, Chronoluminaire! And congratulations once again on your first ren'ai release!

[mikey]

Okay, just wait a little for me, I haven't played it yet, because the city is all over with ice hockey playoffs and such, so hopefully this evening...

[Kikered]

Review time!

Graphics - Great! I liked the poses and expressions for each of the characters. It was also nice to be able to see what the main character looked like while she was reacting to each situation. And rendering the background images as oil paintings helped the characters not stand out as much against the backgrounds.

My only (minor) gripe is that the grey background for the narrator usually doesn't fit with the rest of the screen as far as color coordination goes. Possible remedies for it may be using a black background ('cause black goes with everything ) or maybe putting a window around the narrator.

Story - Well done! I really enjoyed the story, and I was hooked from start to finish. However, I'm kind of curious as to how old Selena and Takeshi are... Selena might be considered too gullible for a high schooler, and Takeshi might be considered precocious for a middle schooler. Then again, it could be a part of their characters regardless of age.

Also, the "Naze Nani When I" feature at the end was hilarious! It wasn't until the third time through that I saw how the story could be considered as an "anti-relgious allegory." (Don't worry. It didn't bother me in the least.)

Overall - Excellent game! I didn't notice any typos while playing, although I would consider "The Agency" to be singular noun rather than plural one. Having some music or sounds would have been nice, but it didn't detract from the story at all. Congratulations on completing a fine game within the NaNoRenO deadline!

[mikey]

Finished! Sorry about the delay, but I wanted to be thorough and the game deserves quality gaming time, so... okay then... deep breath and...

One strange thing about the game was, that it was (at least to me) very obvious that it's just her imagination (even the title itself is a hint), and three-four sentences into the game, logic does not allow too many other explanations. Still, the narrative goes on without signs of doubt or slight irony as to show the player that those are only imaginations. This caused me to (bear with me) think that the game thinks that I think Selena's world reign is a real option. It got me slightly irritated until I got to the point where it was already obvious that it's just Selena's imagination.

The characters are very fitting for the story, with many expressions and you were right in your NaNoRenO posts that SunKitten's work was something to look forward to. The side character window is a nice touch, although gray background isn't all that appealing, at least not to my eyes. Also, it has been mentioned here, the BG vs. Characters scaling is really difficult to identify with, as it defies the principles of perspective and has a rather abstract effect.

When I finally reached the point where the game "admits" the world reign is just Selena's imagination, the game got very dreamy and "cute" (in the good sense), and re-playing had even more value. One can enjoy the almost childish thinking of Selena, her efforts to have something ultimate, something to look up to, and it brought back some nice memories of my own childhood. So I must say I really enjoyed Selena's reasoning, her determination and faith all through the game.

Personally, I understood the question about religious allegory only later on, because it didn't occur to me that people might percieve it in such a way. It is a possibility I guess, but the story does not give any impression of this. I found myself actually siding Selena's world view because it was so pure in a way - the scene when either Takeshi or Eletis force logic upon her and subsequently make her leave her world is more sad than it is happy. People tend to forget how to dream the big dreams and one just hopes Selena never becomes that kind of person.

And coming back to the first paragraph of this mini-review, all I wanted to say is that the text is so well written, that it would hold its own even when the point would be obvious to everyone. Because I don't think the point of the game is in revealing it's just a dream - it is in the dream itself.

Wonderful game.

[Taleweaver]

Completed all four endings, too - a fast and easy little game, though highly satisfying in the story department. chronoluminaire, your characters absolutely blew me away. The main plot was wonderfully thought out (and I'd love to see Studio Ghibli make an anime of the idea). Really splendid for a game of that size - there are only few ren'ai games where I actually care for ALL the characters, and this was one of them.

Graphically, the concept of seeing your player character all the time was a great idea; unfortunately, the BG art didn't always match the character art (the aforementioned chair comes to mind). Aside from this minor gripe and the relatively small replay value (only four endings, only a few choices), a wonderful game.

Really, write some fiction, chronoluminare. With such ideas, you'll score big time.

[mikey]

Really, write some fiction, chronoluminare. With such ideas, you'll score big time.

Heh, heh, nice try, but he's staying with us game-makers, right Chrono? *points at suitcase full of money*

[Taleweaver]

There's no reason why chrono shouldn't be able to do both

[Grey]

Finished all the endings now, taking my time.

And...there has to be an ultra secret ending 0/5 in which Selena achieves world domination. Has to be!

*starts searching for hidden messages in the game text* There are instructions in there, I know it! *cue ending 4*


Anyway, a very nice game.

As Taleweaver said I also like all the characters in the game, which doesn't normally happen for me. As I said before I definitely like the POV system, and the side graphic. It really adds to the games style.

They're all full of their own distinct personalities which are conveyed nicely in the text, and the full range of emotions, poses, and clothes adds to that nicely.

So overall, congratulations

[chronoluminaire]

Thank you all!

Kikered> Selena says a couple of times that she's sixteen. You're right, it was a bit hard to choose her age because there are factors pulling in both directions. She's not a normal character though, and if the accusation "gullible" gets leveled at her I'd say she's just sheltered and left alone with her thoughts too much. I would have liked to develop her background a bit more so the players can see a little of why she took the conclusions she did. Most people wouldn't react the way she does... but that's part of her charm

I'll make more effort to find (or take) a photo if in future I have a circumstance like the classroom background. And in future, if I hint at world domination I guess I'd better deliver!

It seems that the deliberate ambiguity initially as to whether The Agency are real are not also got mixed reactions! To mikey I'd say, perhaps it might have been obvious to you but it wasn't to everyone, and that was kinda by design. As for a hint in the title... is there? I didn't put one there... But perhaps you're particularly skilled at spotting hints? Perhaps The Admins are communicating with you by hiding subtle hints in what looks like perfectly ordinary text...

[darkknight]

I got the hidden message!!!!! When I rule the world

If you start from the end you get a "D"
Then you skip the next two letters and you get "O"
Next you go to the beginning and you get "W"
Then you only skip one letter and get "E"
Last you take the word in the direct middle "Rule"

Maybe he is secretly asking you a question....or maybe I have too much time at the moment...

[chronoluminaire]

If you start from the end you get a "D"
Then you skip the next two letters and you get "O"
Next you go to the beginning and you get "W"
Then you only skip one letter and get "E"
Last you take the word in the direct middle "Rule"

Maybe he is secretly asking you a question....or maybe I have too much time at the moment...

Brilliant! That's so cool! That may be one of my favourite posts this whole thread

...*ahem* I mean, ssh! You weren't meant to point it out!

[darkknight]

Wait the answer is in the question....

by changing the letters around...

WE DO RULE!!!!!!!

hahahahaha

[mikey]

It seems that the deliberate ambiguity initially as to whether The Agency are real are not also got mixed reactions! To mikey I'd say, perhaps it might have been obvious to you but it wasn't to everyone, and that was kinda by design. As for a hint in the title... is there? I didn't put one there... But perhaps you're particularly skilled at spotting hints? Perhaps The Admins are communicating with you by hiding subtle hints in what looks like perfectly ordinary text...

Of course I never was 100% sure, just 99 or so, but nothing else made sense. In the first sentences Selena talks about this with such ease, that it was (to me) logical that she cannot be aware of the troubles and responsibilities this might bring, hence

. And also, but when i downloaded the game and saw "playtime 20-30mins", knew it has more paths and seen the beginning - I just thought it was impossible to convey a subject as intensive as world reign in that time, unless...

. So those were the two main indicators for me, I guess one was emotional and one logical. And the title? Actually, for me, it made much more sense in the

perception than in the world reign alternative. More dreamy, more renaiish.

[shizeetv2]

This was definitely one of the more interesting plots I've yet to play through. The characters were really well fleshed out for such a short piece, and the psychological element was pretty well played out (it would've been nice if you'd included an ending that did involve Takeshi being involved in the agency and all that; I found his wordings delicatebly ambigious ). The change in perspective imo kind of unbalanced the game a bit, since I kept expecting to view things in Takeshi's light again - which of course, never happens . But overall, this was definitely worth downloading; I'll be looking forward to your future releases for sure .

[mikey]

It's interesting how many people actually comment on Takeshi's view. For me, it didn't interfere one single bit with the gaming experience ^_^ so I guess everyone's different