So, I am new to the VN scene and will openly admit, I know nothing of the program Ren'Py... YET! However, I do plan to have that change. In my spare time, I want to start constructing a test VN. Since the two I REALLY want to work on are more complicated and I have no art for... as of YET. However, Samurai'sNEXT is one I have still shots of my characters. So I can at least begin work on it.
With that said, I want to pitch the basic idea and characters and get some feedback. Maybe gain some interest and recruit some friendly allies with more experience than myself and possibly put something together.
STORY:
Soryo Ronin; a pacifist from head to toe, lives a pretty ordinary life. Though despite his kindness and goodwill, he is the target of every bully. Tossing all hatred to the wind, he never raises a fist or says a bad word. However, in spite of it all, he is about to find himself caught up in a war that he himself started six years prior.
Having awoke in the midst of Tokyo’s ground zero of the year 2141, Ronin was taken in by Sora; whose mother and father were in a recent accident. Her mother survived, but her father and soon to be born baby brother did not. Looking at Ronin as a gift from the Sky, they took him in as their own. Ronin had no memories, and didn’t even know the language of the country; even his name, Ronin, was given to him by Sora. He soon began to demonstrate unusual abilities. Such as increased speed, power, intelligence and cellular regeneration.
Keeping his abilities secret, Ronin attempted to live a new life with his new family. But it would be six years later, in the year 2147, that the past he had forgotten would finally catch up to him. It was then that a man by the name of Ichiro approached him and told him everything. That he was a Bio-Android; a weapon created by a planet called Xenotobison, and that a man by the name of Ryou Akira was after him. For he held a power that defied all logic and reasoning, a power that could very well destroy the entire universe. Xenoflowne.
It is also this power in which erased all his memories; as it spilled out from him when he crash landed on earth… destroying nearly two thirds of all Tokyo.
This is a story of thirteen individuals all connected by a red string of fate; one, stained in the blood of the sins of their forefathers. An unbreakable, inescapable… most sorrowful fate. A story of how one man holds the power to set them all free from the path stained in blood.
Project Samurai’sNEXT. Where humans take the next evolutionary step… into Gods.
CONCEPT:
Though the basic premise of the story is straight forward... there is absolutely nothing straight forward or simple about any of the characters. The true roots of the story itself are tainted and blurred; and so is the moral compass of who is good and who is evil. Each character has their own mental problems, and each the key to their own destruction. The story is a sorrowful one, full of hurt and pain, sadness and sorrow. All the characters strive for their own salvation and happiness... but can they reach it, when their fates are so tainted and their own demons are consistently pulling them down a path of true and utter insanity?
CHARACTERS:
[Image Pending]
Name: Soryo Sora
Age: 16
VA: Rina Adachi
Bio: The main protagonist of the series; she is an ordinary human who finds herself caught up in the middle of a war between Gods. Her dream is to go to Tokyo U and then make something of herself. She wants to travel the world and accomplish great feats. Her dreams and ambitions are beyond small. She is the pillar of strength Ronin comes to rely on; with words of wisdom, and an unshakable will, she is more than strong enough to shoulder the huge burden of Ronin's past. However, despite this, it becomes apparent that she herself is tied to Ryou Akira by a tainted red string of fate...
Name: Soryo Ronin
Age: 16 (physically)
VA: Nikki Jones
Bio: A pacifist from head to toe; Ronin is the ideal man of morals. Despite holding a power that could easily annihilate the entire universe in the flick of his wrist, he refuses to allow himself to take a single soul; no matter how corrupt. Perfect in looks, brains, power, and ideals as he may appear to be... Ronin is sharing a deep dark secret that even himself is blind too. Hiding behind a mask of ignorance, Ronin is about to wake up to the cruelest of realities.
Name: Ichiro
Age: 21 (physically)
Ability: Strategic Genius
VA: Pending...
Bio: The nominated leader of the Yang Division. His group was the first of two created to hunt down Ronin when he went rogue. Upon facing off with Ronin back on Xenotobison, his entire world was flipped. Idealizing Ronin as a ray of hope and salvation, his comrades and himself switched sides and joined the war on Ronin's side. Though, after severing ties with his love, Rokuro, he began to change. From a hopeful and brilliant young man... into a corrupted soul, driven by DELUSION and willing to do whatever it takes... to achieve his own self centered salvation.
Name: Jiro
Age: 15 (physically)
Ability: Electricity
VA: Erica Mendez
Bio: The youngest and only uncorrupted soul among the Bio Androids. Jiro is also refered too as the weakest, for he treats every battle like a game. Sharing in Ronin's kindness and gentleness, he is often caught questioning Ichiro's orders and remains the single ray of hope for the team that there is more to their existence than this dreaded red string of fate in which bounds them to Akira.
Name: Saburo
Age: 16 (physically)
Ability: Speed and Martial Arts
VA: Chris Zambelis
Bio: Suffering from an Inferiority Complex, Saburo has no confidence himself, despite how much he boasts. Having great resentment towards Ronin, he constantly challenges him and even fights him to prove his own self worth. Though despite the extreme hate he shows Ronin, he finds himself always following in his foot steps. Quickly developing an affection towards Sora, he begins to look at her as the Sky of Salvation Ronin would preach about and comes to lean on her. Only showing a weaker and gentler side of himself towards her.
Name: Shiro & Goro
Age: 14 & 17 (physically)
Ability: Genius & Strength
VA: Pending...
Bio: The boy Genius and his body guard. Shiro was gifted with extreme genius, but lacked all physical strength. Goro was stripped of his voice during one of Akira's fits. Were it not for Shiro's collar, Goro would have died. Goro was gifted with great strength, but no intelligence. When Ronin discovered this, he partnered the two up and they became an unstoppable team. Because Goro cannot communicate even though the nanochips in their brains, Shiro is the only one who can understand him; though a mutual bond of friendship.
Name: Rokuro
Age: 24 (physically)
Ability: Perfect Defense
VA: Brianna Moran
Bio: The leader of the second division Yin Group. She has great hatred towards Ronin for taking Ichiro away from them and corrupting his once beautiful innocence. Scornful and hateful; she despises all around her. Darkness has completely consumed her once gentle and kind heart and turned her into a scornful beast of hell. Beautiful and strong, all she desires is salvation and freedom; but unlike Ichiro's group, lacks any hope for salvation. Her strongest belief is that they can only find the salvation they seek through death itself.
Name: Shichiro
Age: 21 (physically)
Ability: Extreme Speed
VA: Matt Alan
Bio: Truly the gentlest soul among all the Bio-Androids, Shichiro was corrupted after Ichiro's departure. During the day, he is himself; but as twilight approaches, and night begins to creep up, he begins to change. Tormented by a never ending war of Morning and Night, he goes from pure hearted to a beast with undiscriminating violence. Delusional, he often sees things that do not exist. He suffers with severe clinical depression. Border lining on the edge of suicide, the only thing that keeps him going is the messages he hears through his headphones... all the speeches Ronin gave them back on Xenotobison are recorded and play on repeat all day every day. He hopes, wishes to find the same salvation Ichiro's group once found in these words.
Name: Hachiro
Age: 18 (physically)
Ability: Illusion
VA: Lawrence Simpson (AKA, MasakoX)
Bio: Though he initially appears cheerful and jolly, he suffers from severe personality disorder. Through extreme sexual torture that has left his body covered in scars by Akira, his mind has snapped. Having over five different personalities, and swopping between them in battle, makes his 'illusion' ability ever more dangerous. He wears glasses so that he can cast upon himself an illusion that helps him hold on to the little bit of sanity he has left.
[Image Pending]
Name: Kuro & Juro
Age: 14 (physically)
Ability: Cat Like Reflexes
VA: Pending...
Bio: Twins with cat like reflexes, they always speak in unison and need one another to fight. Like Jiro, they are innocent kids caught up in a war between adults. They do not understand, they simply follow their 'mother and fathers' orders.
Name: Li
Age: 16 (physically)
VA: Pending...
Bio: Li... the second ultimate being. Locked away for six years in perpetual darkness and utter silence, he is an enigma and also the key to the truth surrounding Ronin.
Name: Ryou Akira
Age: 16
VA: Pending...
Bio: The Emperor of Xenotobison; the most technologically advanced planet in the entire universe. A genius, far beyond even his time; with a brain that produced technology thousands of years more advance than Xenotobison was currently at. He is the darkness, he is the creator and the tormenter of the Bio-Androids. Obsessed with Ronin, he could careless for his other precious specimens. Obsessed with the power Ronin possesses, he desires to harness it and make the universe suffer. He mentally, physically and emotionally destroys all those around him. He is their Satan, their confinement, their cage. All connected to him by a red string of fate are bound for nothing but insanity. Very little is shared or known about him outside of the stories told by the Bio-Androids. However, despite who talks about him, they all refer to him as true Chaos.
IDEAS:
1) Because the images I have are in black and white... and black and white is kind of a huge theme itself, I was thinking of having the entire thing in black and white. Artistic? Otherwise, I'll need to find someone who can color these in...
2) I am thinking of episodic scenes. It would be a good way to test the field and get to know the program, I think. Baby steps, right?
3) It would naturally have voice acting, like everything of mine, because simply... I have the voice actors to take full advantage of!
VOICE ACTING + SAMPLE OF TRAGEDY:
So, after creating Samurai'sNEXT, I worked on a co-project with my best friend and rival. It ultimately became 'A Ninja's Tale' and reused the characters from Samurai'sNEXT, but completely mixing them around (personality, relationships, etc), along with her own original characters. Over all, it became its own story where nothing was similar but the names. However, after developing Rokuro's character within it... I realized the MALE version of Rokuro in which Samurai'sNEXT displayed was the most boring character in the series. So I actually took the version of Rokuro from A Ninja's Tale and replaced the original. Ichiro from Samurai'sNEXT soon replaced the Ichiro found in his counterpart's series.
To make a long story short, this scene was written to not only create a new series for my radioplay collection; but to commemorate the two world's colliding. THUS! Here is a prime example of the VAing found, along with the type of tragedy I am aiming for throughout the story.
A Ninja's Tale: Book of Rokuro
LISTEN!: https://soundcloud.com/jeremiah-l-caudl ... -of-rokuro
HELP?:
Sure, why not? Any help people might want to offer would be greatly appreciated. I am using this as a learning opportunity. Maybe I can create something great out of just that. But I am trying hard as a writer to spread my stories through different methods, and I really want to test this one out (like my other story, Dies Irae, is becoming an RPG).
Artists, programmers, whatever. Even just help in direction, beta testers, etc would help.
FEEDBACK:
Anyway! Right now, looking for some possible feedback. I couldn't give a lot a way without spoiling the entire story, so hopefully my descriptions gave ENOUGH to go on. Really being careful on what info is important to the story and what info is free knowledge.
Either way, I appreciate feedback. It helps me choose the right direction, learn new things, and over all gives me a sense of what people want, are looking for, and what demographic to aim certain projects at.
