The Circular Gate Project (Visual Novel+Original Soundtrack)

[AlphaProspector]

Project Name: T.C.G. Project



English Title: The Circular Gate
Spanish Title: La Puerta Circular
Japanese Title: 「円形の扉」 (Enkei No Tobira)

Official Site: Click Here (development log and other nonsensical miscellaneous)

Release Platforms: Windows/Mac/Linux

Type: Kinetic Visual Novel

Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy (also labelled as "surreal sci-fi")

Please scroll all the way down for the download links.

***Extra data***

For those who don’t know what this thing is, here is the original development thread.

The rest of the information (system specs, story overview, characters, etc.) is available at the VN site. Additional commentary can be found at the readme.txt file.

Now, please be warned that I chose not to restrict the user so you can pretty much skip everything. Cutscenes are marked by the disappearance of the mouse and the textbox. That should be a good signal to stop clicking or pressing enter. I didn't want to force some "forbid clicking/keyboard input" during cutscenes. If you are like me and suffered the unskippable cutscenes, splash screens and other horrors from EA games, you know you don't want that. Yes, you can skip the splash screens too just in case. However, the photosensitive seizure warning is there for a reason, trust me.

I won’t be giving away much info, just be warned that T.C.G. is weird, awkward, even nonsensical. Don’t even bother if you expect to see human faces, because there aren’t any. It’s an astral voyage mixed with dream imagery so I felt it needed to have some of that confusion so akin to dreams. Getting this effect wasn't an easy task...

I’m just glad I could actually finish this thing after a year and a month. Thanks again to Nicol Armarfi (sorry for the delays; now the music will be heard!), A.D.P. and all the people who checked this during the pre-release stage!

***OST Preview***

Here is the OP theme, called "NRG" (composed by Nicol Armarfi):



And the full main menu theme 2, called "The Lonely Dancers ~Orbital Overview~" (composed and arranged by A.D.P.):




***Downloads***

Files will be hosted at my mediafire and megaupload accounts. I try to avoid rapidshare at all costs. Boy, I just hope the current links work. I forgot to mention the VN takes 200MB. Blame the music (OST is 99+ mb with almost 2 hours of music), sounds and the png file format. I’ll be uploading the mediafire mirrors and the All-in-one pack (for the other platforms and those who hate installers and just want to extract and read/watch/hear) soon.

The Circular Gate (Visual Novel)

1) Windows Installer

Megaupload

2) All-in-one (Windows/Mac/Linux) Version

Megaupload

Mediafire Mirror (3 Parts): Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3


The Circular Gate Musical Structure (Original Soundtrack)



1) Mediafire

2) Megaupload (Mirror)

Note: the tracklist is included in the OST pack.

History:

27/08/09: All-in-one pack released.
25/08/09: VN (Windows Installer) and OST release.

[MaiMai]

Oooh, definitely trying this out. *clicks!*

[Maverynthia]

"what lied ahead" should be "what lay ahead"
Lied only pertains to lying, not telling the truth.

Unless you really meant "what lied ahead" "what was not going to tell the truth ahead." :3 Considering this work, it could be that.

Very trippy. I wonder what kind of adventure this Novel would give if you had taken some form of drugs before reading it.

[AlphaProspector]

I'll have to re-check that part and see the previous paragraphs to remember my train of thought. Totally agreed, considering this is as trippy as it is, I wouldn't be surprised I meant that and forgot to add more sentences to make it crazier. And even if I didn't, the ambiguity now makes that sound cooler ;D

As long as I can keep the text as polished (and weird) as possible it'll be good.

Full screen, full volume and turning off the lights all the way!

By the way, spotted another little issue:

When you install the VN, at the start menu, the Readme links to a "Readme_CZ.txt". I used the installer.txt provided by the Ren'Py site so I assume whoever did/coded the handy nsis file is from the Czech republic (or similar)... Or I didn't properly install Nsis. Who knows. Imperfection of the imperfect circles.

Hope you guys liked the music too.

Nicol really pulled off some nifty tracks. Of his stuff, the track he did as a tribute to the VN (The Circular Gate, which now I guess is the 'official' theme of the VN along with the OP) and the precious piano piece called "Lament" are some of my favourites but the whole thing is nice.

A.D.P. tracks are solemn and strange. He's more expert at energetic, elating solo piano pieces set at hyper speed so he was about to discard and delete the two recordings but I convinced him to give them to me.

From my stuff (ah, modesty...), I think "Deep Synchronization" worked quite nice. It's one of my favourites because it just sounds so alien, entrancing and mysterious. A couple of the most ominous tracks are inspired by Akira Yamaoka but I tried to give a personal touch with my obsession with bells, exaggerated percussion, orchestral drums and ghostly synths... So, yeah, something like Silent Hill in deep space with 10 tons of acid and inverted colours.

[V2Blast]

Downloading now... Should I assume the filesize is too large to upload as an attachment to your first post?

[AlphaProspector]

Downloading now... Should I assume the filesize is too large to upload as an attachment to your first post?

Sadly, yes. The all-in-one pack* is almost 200mb while the Windows installer is around 190mb. If the threads allow big files I will update the post and submit the installer there too this week.

Good luck and hope you can check it.

*I put this up for download on 27/08/09

[Guest]

For some reason, I could not run it on OSX Tiger, told me broken app or something along those lines. Did not have time to re-download so could've been a connectional mishap. So I ran it in Parallels for good fun. Very different, in a good dreamy way. Probably the best use of medium in long while..

[AlphaProspector]

For some reason, I could not run it on OSX Tiger, told me broken app or something along those lines. Did not have time to re-download so could've been a connectional mishap. So I ran it in Parallels for good fun. Very different, in a good dreamy way. Probably the best use of medium in long while..

Thanks for the comments! The more dreamy and weirder it gets, the better. Glad to see that one of the main objectives is being achieved.

I'll have my Mac tester try the pack again just in case. Or, what's better, I could try releasing separate Linux and Mac versions too during the week.

By the way, before the VN gets added/archived/whatever (IF that happens), I'm personally providing a custom, non-spoilerish screenshot and the small thumbnail. The story unfolds through the BGs, no need to see which font I picked or an almost translucent textbox/CtC icon.

There are also two posters available so those could be useful. Yay for whims!

[sinophile]

I must comment you on a job very well done.

[Wintermoon]

I made it through the first chapter(?) before I uninstalled.

The writing style seems confused. Complex sentences with long words mixed with very simple and plain sentences. The beginning felt first person, then apparently shifted to third person (or was revealed to the third person all along). I couldn't tell if the archive talking to itself or to the protagonist, or why it was talking at all.

But that's not why I stopped reading. I stopped reading because so far the entire story had felt like long-winded exposition with no action. Worse than that: vague long-winded exposition with minimal information content.