Big Changes for Lemma Soft

[Blue Lemma]

If you've been here in the past year, you probably noticed that I've been in a game-making slump. There are a number of reasons for this, but I think I've finally identified the main ones. The biggest problem has been story taking too long for me to write. This problem has lots of reasons, but the big one is that I haven't been feeling too ren'ai-inclined lately. I've been having a frustrating time with females my age in the ren'ai department, and I'm kind of annoyed with the reverse-sexism/misandry that has become accepted in United States with little to no protest. (Basically females can bash males all they want, but try to do that in reverse, even jokingly, and oooh watch out. And let's not forget the sexism and double-standards that hurt males, too. People tend to laugh if this is mentioned, but it really does exist. However, it's only the sexism that hurts females that gets any attention. Argh, don't get me started >_<)

Anyway, given my current circumstances, I'm no longer in a big ren'ai game-making mood. Instead I will take Lemma Soft more in the direction of general bishoujo/anime games like with Shoujo Attack! It's amazing how well its development went compared to the other projects I've worked on. It had more gameplay and more programming.

I will still work on ren'ai games, but they will be taking a backseat, at least for now. Thanks for supporting me, everyone.

(edit: Metro Blues is still on the front seat, though, so don't hit me Taleweaver )

[Sai]

Hey, don't worry. There's plenty of people who are against all sexism, whether it be directed at males or females. Me and my friend for example can't stand any really biased comments made towards females or males.

I've just had to make myself stop responding and walk away now though, or people will just think I like the sound of my own voice (or text, whatever) and besides, it doesn't really change anything in the long run (maybe I'm just being pessimistic). Flawed generalisations will always exist unfortunately. Although I admit it's very hard to stop myself from responding against comments on forums like "All women are heartless wusses!" or "All men are braindead jerks!".... I just can't understand how these people can assume that half the population of the world will act in one way of which they decided on when waking up one morning.... I know there's evidence that women and men are mentally different in some ways but people make it out to be this huge and only deciding factor. There are so many more things which influence our personalities and actions that makes each and every individual person different. Oh well.

Anyway, I wish you all the best in your new direction. I believe that the ebst thing is to do what you will enjoy and then your games will be all the better for it. There's no point forcing blood out of a stone, it will only give poor or zero results... It will be better if you focus on games you can put all your enthusiasm and effort into rather than what enthusiasm you can muster for the sheer purpose of responsibility. So in other words... YEAH GO FOR IT O_o

Best of luck.

[musical74]

I understand your frustrations, Lemma...

Cultural mores in the US are screwed up in the regard that male-bashing is considered acceptable behavior but if a guy were to try female-bashing, even in jest...(shakes head)

I think it's a good plan to make Lemma Soft more Amine/bishoujo while keeping the renai game still there, just on the back burner. In this manner you get a broader spectrum of games and also give us more games to rave about.

Just wondering...have you put Tales of Lemma 2 on the back burner as well?

*Waves to Miko and company*

[papillon]

slightly OT as I *hope* this wasn't what you meant, but physical bashing is even weirder... People completely freak out if a man shoves a woman, but think it's FUNNY if a woman beats the crap out of a guy. That's not fair.

Now obviously, if a huge guy slugs a girl and does actual damage, that's much worse than a little bitty girl slapping the big guy and doing no harm whatsoever, but the onus should be on whether you hurt someone or not, not which sex was which...

Anime can be quite bad about this, too. Crazy violent chicks!

[Unicorn]

Well, while it sure is a sad thing that this happened, I don't think it's all bad news either.

You see, thanks to PyToms efforts, a lot of people here are about to start makin their own novels while they feel like doing it. So, if you don't feel like that for the time being, then there is nothing wrong with giving the others who are motivated a try.

First and foremost, you started all the things that are happening here with ToL1 and by setting up this bulletin board. You should take full credit for this achievement: who knows if without this platform, PyTom would ever have started working on RenPy?

On the other hand: there is also mikey who is apparently quite diligently working on the NVL-front, regardless if there is RenPy or not.

And who made many of these peoples give their ideas a try by setting an example?

So, if you decide to leave the NVL-genre behind for now and instead work on something with another kind of gameplay, then it actually enriches the community with games that are entirely different and thus could be played for taking a break between reading lots of well witten stories.

Please don't feel bad about what you did, because if you look at it from all directions, it probably is the right thing to do: Doing something else succesfully should still be better than staying stuck in a thing that you can't really work on for now.

Let's look forward to your next ideas, after you quite succesfully revived the classic "Lemmings". Actually, it was even more fun than playing the original IMHO. Still love the "bratty Shoujo"...

[mikey]

Oh no,...

You know, one part of me says good decision. No one is really going to blame you, personal reasons are always good reasons. To tell you the truth, Tales of Lemma 2 - well, at first it was supposed to come out late 2003, then it was several times said it's close... one could clearly see you were struggling. So it was a good decision to let go. You can feel free again.

Then, there's this other part of me, that says bad decision. Just when it is all beginning, there's RenPy, there's new people (think a year or so back...), there's renai.us and NaNoRenO, and it's beginning to look better, from all people it's YOU who abandons us... So it's really sad. Okay, okay, this is not a funeral, but you know what... (* taps BL on the shoulder*)... we'll miss you.

Okay now, enough sentimental talk... Time for questions...

1. What will happen with ToL2? I think if you don't plan to resume work, you could make a memorial page of some sort, so we can see some of the artwork, the story... you know.

2. Do you have any plans with the forum because of this? Just don't change it, it's one of a kind!!

3. At times you said "give me a script and I'll make a game". Does that still stand? Just curious on this one though. Don't let MetroBlues alone in the cold!

4. Yeeeees, of course, this obviously is what I've been asking myself. Because of this announcement, do you actually already have plans/are working on an anime-style game project? It's fine to keep it seret though... no need for additional pressure.

[Taleweaver]

I think I can answer mikey's question 3. MetroBlues WILL be finished, and it won't be too long now. The script is not only complete but now also coded for implementing, and we have 99% of artwork and 100% of music. It's merely a question of putting it all together now, and the reason why I don't do it myself with Ren'Py is that I for the love of Christ can't get picture positioning to work in Ren'Py. Franky, I suck when it comes to that part. I'm a one-trick pony; except for writing, there's not much I can do well. So have faith in BL - he'll do a great job on MetroBlues and then surprise us all with his next non-Ren'ai project.

[RedSlash]

Don't worry BL. Just take it easy. We arent in a hurry to force you to release something. Besides, I think April is the month where we'll see lots of fun stuff come out. Just keep the boards alive! That's all!

[darkknight]

(Basically females can bash males all they want, but try to do that in reverse, even jokingly, and oooh watch out. And let's not forget the sexism and double-standards that hurt males, too. People tend to laugh if this is mentioned, but it really does exist. However, it's only the sexism that hurts females that gets any attention. Argh, don't get me started >_<)

lol I know how you feel... I think Sai and I had a conversation like this

I think I lost....You get used to it

[Blue Lemma]

1. What will happen with ToL2? I think if you don't plan to resume work, you could make a memorial page of some sort, so we can see some of the artwork, the story... you know.

ToL 2 will still be made... just not for a while. But you're used to that, right? XD

2. Do you have any plans with the forum because of this? Just don't change it, it's one of a kind!!

Nope, no plans to change the forum. I like you guys and the community too much

3. At times you said "give me a script and I'll make a game". Does that still stand? Just curious on this one though. Don't let MetroBlues alone in the cold!

From Metro Blues I learned that doesn't work too well So I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. Unless the writer puts the script in the right format maybe ^_^

4. Yeeeees, of course, this obviously is what I've been asking myself. Because of this announcement, do you actually already have plans/are working on an anime-style game project? It's fine to keep it seret though... no need for additional pressure.

Now that I'm under less pressure to work on the ren'ai stuff so much, I have tons of game ideas that I can handle efficiently. After wrapping up MB, I'll probably be working on:

Lemma's Loop - a puzzle game that is competition-oriented, like Super Puzzle Fighter is. Destroy blocks in various ways to send crud over to your opponent's side! Woo! If I feel so inclined (which I probably will) there might be an R-rated version where you play, er, Strip Loop...? I need to express my new sexy drawing skills

Ninja Chef Ayaka - I worked on this game for 9 months a few years ago, but thanks to Microsoft cutting DOS and me getting XP.... yeah. But now I have story and base graphics and stuff like that! Ayaka was in Shoujo Attack! by the way, for those who found her. The game will be an RPG/platform combo with plenty of sexy girls, good food, and the fairy mob!

I'll also work on the ren'ai stuff when I'm feeling romantic ^_^ (translation: keep working, Lillico!)


papillon: Very true. Here's a site that talks about the rarely-discussed but not-rarely occuring violence against men: http://www.batteredmen.com
"National Violence Against Women survey (National Institute of Justice/Centers for Disease Control) estimates 1.5 million women and 835,000 men battered each year."
"National Violence Against Women survey (National Institute of Justice/Centers for Disease Control) shows that assaults by women are dangerous. Assaulted men more likely than women to be knifed, hit with an object."

[Otaku Dash]

2. Do you have any plans with the forum because of this? Just don't change it, it's one of a kind!!

Nope, no plans to change the forum. I like you guys and the community too much

Ahhh sucks....we like you too... isn't that right ppl?

"....."

I SAID WE LIKE YOU TOO DON'T WE PPL!!!

"HAII!!!"

Don't worry... we all passed throught problems with sexism. I still hurt on zones that i didn't know off because of that... did i say that loud? (actually -jokes apart- it really happened to me, some sexist girl thought that it was fun to kick me "in the nuts" for no aparent reason.. i trust in all of you so i'm not afraid to share this )

If it wasn't for your projects I would have never found this foruns and all these wonderfull ppl. I had high expectations for creating a game wich would probably led me to desperation, and now thanks to you i'm following things step by step, taking small projects. I'm still on planing but it really helped me.

Good luck with all of those new projects... i'll be sure to test them when they come out

Off-topic: Since i'm in such a sentimental mood... i'll just say that all of you are great. Thanks for all you've done (games and other stuff )

[papillon]

.... well, it is occasionally funny to threaten to do something horrible to balls because boys react *so* amusingly to it... but only teasing, not doing!

[darkknight]

Yeah guys act funny after you do the action too...with the falling on the ground and twitching and all that good stuff

[Tage]

Aahhh... Can you feel that? yes... it's called relief! n.n Free your mind of all stress and become one with happiness again...

lol, anyway...

Some things are not worth stressing over. If you release something--cool. If you don't--oh well. Our lives aren't made longer by quick releases. So who cares when they're released? =) It's not my game; so why should I badger you for not releasing it? Don't worry... Many people are worth ignoring!

About sexism... =/ Sounds like people got ****ed off at you huh? I can sympathize. =| However, I choose not to have anything to do with sexism because I don't believe in it. People, who are, have little to nothing to do with me, and I'll keep it that way.

[Erik]

Ok, good decision. I don't really share your experience of sexism, luckily - good luck in dealing with it.

Good luck with the other games, btw, they sound cool About DOS, there are still some emulators that manage to make most dos-programs run (I like Dosbox myself). If that's the problem, anyway ops