'Kimi Wa Tomodachi' [Fantasy/Comedy][Fairy Tale][Tragedy?]

[Happy Phantom Works]

YOU'RE MY FRIEND/KIMI WA TOMODACHI [working title]

Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.
- Jean de La Fontaine


Game Status - Bouncing ideas around as of now.

Synopsis - "Don't ever change..." We all remember those special friendships of ours that kept our childhoods eventful and happy. That types that never change, even as the years and seasons change.

But what if you never physically met the person? What if you never hugged your friend? What if...you can't wait to go to bed just to meet this special friend? What if the place you have your dreams is actually a real place? And what if..one day, you find yourself there? With no real way of going back home with only you, your friend, and the harsh terrain of your 'fantasy world'? What if...

And so far, that's what I have for a synopsis. Heh, heh, I know it's pretty basic or dull sounding for now, but I promise you I have some decent ideas.

- Subtle aging for the characters involved (for example the main characters are between the ages of 13 to 14 by the time you finish the game they should be about 15 to 16).
- Time span is an entire year, so seasons will change
- Shall have two protagonists and several other characters can show up
- I'm unsure as to keep a platonic, but deep friendship between the two mains and introduce other romantic options, have them also be the other's romantic option, or remove romance completely altogether.
-I'm leaning towards making this a Kinetic Novel, but the idea of having multiple endings (especially BAD ENDS), intrigues me.

I have more, but it's quite late. I just hope you like what I have so far. As far as the theme of the game goes, I want to bring up a sense of nostalgia with some light heartedness in the beginning, only for it to grow much more serious as the game plays on (to mirror the age change/growing maturity in the characters). Tell me what you think! And thanks for reading/looking over my character designs.

[9-of-Hearts]

This looks to be an incredible story, and maybe bittersweet. (;^;) The art looks really fun, and definitely brings about a sense of youthfulness.
Personally, the age given sounds like the protagonist might be beginning to experience the feelings of young love, and so that could cause interesting interactions and conflicts, but from your main concept it sounds like it should maybe take a back seat to the friendship.
....Bad ends? Tragedy? ...I can't help but feel you might be making me bawl at this game in the future... 'cuz I'm an easily-emotional sucker
Good luck, and this looks like a great start! I'll be watching for it~!

[gekiganwing]

But what if you never physically met the person? What if you never hugged your friend? What if...you can't wait to go to bed just to meet this special friend? What if the place you have your dreams is actually a real place? And what if..one day, you find yourself there? With no real way of going back home with only you, your friend, and the harsh terrain of your 'fantasy world'? What if...

Entering a fantasy world is interesting. Getting stuck in a fantasy world is horrifying.

Is this story a metaphor? It sounds like problems related to avoiding real people, spending more time with books/videos/games/etc, and having fictional characters as friends. Real world social isolation is rather depressing.

- I'm unsure as to keep a platonic, but deep friendship between the two mains and introduce other romantic options, have them also be the other's romantic option, or remove romance completely altogether.

These are all valid options. I'd like to see more VNs that focus on friendship, or keeping the main character single even while others form relationships. But that's just me. Do you have a preference for one option rather than the others?

You could also let the player decide. Carefully use choices in order to let the player select what route they want, whether it's "pure love story," "friendship only," "my best friend's girl," "bad ending," or some other option.

And thanks for reading/looking over my character designs.

I'm not sure how to categorize your art samples, but so far, I like what I see.

[Happy Phantom Works]

This looks to be an incredible story, and maybe bittersweet. (;^;) The art looks really fun, and definitely brings about a sense of youthfulness.
Personally, the age given sounds like the protagonist might be beginning to experience the feelings of young love, and so that could cause interesting interactions and conflicts, but from your main concept it sounds like it should maybe take a back seat to the friendship.
....Bad ends? Tragedy? ...I can't help but feel you might be making me bawl at this game in the future... 'cuz I'm an easily-emotional sucker
Good luck, and this looks like a great start! I'll be watching for it~!

Thanks, 9 of Hearts! I wanted to give off a sense of innocence when I designed the characters. A lot of my inspirations are Ghibli films and kid's movies and cartoons of the late 80's and early to mid 90's. As well as the concepts of Jungian Philosophy (I hope I haven't given too much away by mentioning that, it's not apparent now, but my application of Jungian theory is a big part of the story). As far as the 'bad ends' and possible tragedy warning, uh, the original story that I recently wrote for NaNoWrimo (which is what this is based upon) ends rather bittersweet/sadly. Thus, the probable need for multiple endings. I feel awful for admitting that...

Don't worry, I intend to also include some good endings and a true ending, so don't bawl too hard!

Entering a fantasy world is interesting. Getting stuck in a fantasy world is horrifying.

Is this story a metaphor? It sounds like problems related to avoiding real people, spending more time with books/videos/games/etc, and having fictional characters as friends. Real world social isolation is rather depressing.

I...won't say outright that it is. That might actually spoil what I intend for the VN. But you're very, very close to what I plan to do with it.

- I'm unsure as to keep a platonic, but deep friendship between the two mains and introduce other romantic options, have them also be the other's romantic option, or remove romance completely altogether.

These are all valid options. I'd like to see more VNs that focus on friendship, or keeping the main character single even while others form relationships. But that's just me. Do you have a preference for one option rather than the others?

You could also let the player decide. Carefully use choices in order to let the player select what route they want, whether it's "pure love story," "friendship only," "my best friend's girl," "bad ending," or some other option.

I've entertained the idea of using a queer-platonic friendship (that is, a friendship that is non-sexual, but is the primary relationship of a person, almost akin to a spouse or a lover, but not quite) in a story for quite some time. But I'm also interested in keeping a mutual romance as unrequited in a way? I guess I'm a sucker for tearkjerking reality. Not everyone gets to have the boy or the girl at the end and sometimes, they end up with completely different people. Such as life. Although, to be fair, I might just let the player decide (but have a final a true ending/pairing that would be considered canon, regardless of what the player got in their individual end).

[Arowana]

Friendship game all the way! Honestly, I think your idea is beautiful (love the quote), and I'd personally find a relationship based on pure friendship much more unique and compelling than one based on romance. But if you want to explore multiple paths, I guess that's what branching is for! It would be interesting to see a game where the best end is actually a friendship end, while the romance end is much more bittersweet.

The character designs are lovely, and I can't wait to see the world they'll be exploring (I hope the Studio Ghibli influence means you'll be going for a lush fantasy setting with gorgeous backgrounds ). Best of luck with everything!

[UmiLion]

The story is beautiful! I think that this will be a very good visual novel, the art is very good to! Hehe, friendship stories are great!