Yaruge Girl Triona (eta February 9)

[DaFool]

This game has changed a lot since its first inception as Underground Clan of Treasach. For the updated info please skip to the last page of this thread.

====OLD INFORMATION BELOW====
This project is special to me because of its technical specs. It's an advanced execution of the dollmaker / superdoll / alicedoll technique.

My default would be to keep rpy in, but pack everything else (pics, music) as rpa. But then this would lose much effect as a technical showcase, since the method lies not just in the code, but in the graphical technique / execution as well.

Feedback appreciated.

Old text below (specs have changed a lot since the original first post):

EDIT: Project to be renamed

I think I'm about finalized in this project. Unlike other ideas which have been easily disintegrated, for this one I already have the scenario flowchart all mapped out. So there's nothing left but to actually work on production.

To avoid spilling any more than is necessary, all I can say is that the title starts with the letter "U", it is BxG, ~16000 words (est; I only have an outline so far, not the full script), 6 menus, branching story with a completion-feedback-loop system that alters the flow somewhat for subsequent play. There are 2 endings; 2 winnable girls: a dignified queen character, and an everyday cute girl character with short hair. The setting is a quasi-European recent past in a fictional parallel world similar to our own

The main character will be on-screen and he's supposed to be a really cool guy... he also has a serious but somewhat good-humored sarcastic best friend who *drumroll* wears glasses.

The reason for the few endings and characters (total 4), as well as moderate wordcount is because I plan to maximize the scenario storytelling (each character then gets more screentime since there are fewer of them), as well as maximize the polish. I think I'm crazy at this point but I'm actually wanting to emulate the look/feel of EF (minus the ridiculous lip-flaps). Dynamic displayables in the form of Day/Night will return, and I will also stretch the usage to im.Composited clothes.

Now, previously I have mentioned how I wanted lots of ero... now, not so. What I'm thinking of now is making this an Older Teen (15,16+) title. The main game will contain minimal fanservice, but then in place of an H-scene Gallery, I would have instead an Ecchi / Fanservice Gallery where the player can see the heroines in compromising positions which would have otherwise ruined the mood if those scenes are part of the main story.

[rocket]

Very cool!

...

What's EF?

[Ren]

http://nnl1.com/ef/download.html :3

[DaFool]

I have unwrapped this project now, and I *sincerely* do hope to push through with this one without abandonment nor further major modifications.

So after insulting the Germans with the Nettestadt Troll, I now have the task of insulting the British with this title...

...just kidding.
Aside from all the names used in the game being of Gaelic origin, and architectural references, this game has nothing to do with England / Scotland, nor Ireland at all. It is set in an imaginary nation with only superficial resemblance. Primarily because I'm too lazy to do the required research, and I only like the general gothic atmosphere.

The time period is actually the present day, but will feature this unique community which doesn't participate in the world economy, sort of like the Amish. So the setting feels medieval. (Ahahaha, can't help myself! )

Projected Stats (reiterated):
*BxG, ~16000 words
*2 full endings; completing one will unlock/alter the path to the other. So the actual number of playthroughs will be around 4.
*2 'winnable' girls using the same 'template' -- their names are Triona and Sheena
* 2 guy characters - main character Craig and his soundingboard Douglas. Since this will depart from my short-lived 'tradition' of GxB, as a form of apology the guys will be fully drawn bishies and even the main character will be shown on-screen, despite the first-person narrative.
* once again, couldn't help but insert yet another sociopolitical commentary in this piece, bear with me but there will be lots of renai, as well as offscreen sex. Title will be R-15 to 17 (Older Teen) category.
*Fanservice Gallery will feature ecchi scenes and CGs, separate from the main story.

All this time I've actually been playing Figures of Happiness and Piece of Wonder, so it's time for me to go back to being a producer rather than a consumer.

Comments welcome in case I'm making a major blunder with some of the general concepts here.
EDIT: Music -- I'm now decided on taking the public domain Celtic tunes and modding the hell out of them for my soundtrack. This will seriously lessen my workload for composing. I think that's safe, right?

[Jake]

I now have the task of insulting the British with this title...

I feel insulted already. Insulted, I tell you!

England / Scotland, nor Ireland at all.

What about Wales? Eh? Eh? INSULTED! The Isle of Man? The Isle of Man is riddled with Gaels!

EDIT: Music -- I'm now decided on taking the public domain Celtic tunes and modding the hell out of them for my soundtrack. This will seriously lessen my workload for composing. I think that's safe, right?

If the original tune is 'public domain', it means that nobody has any rights over it whatsoever - so yes, whatever you choose to do with it is alright.

But... you know that 'Gaelic' and 'Celtic' don't refer to the same things, right?

[DaFool]

If I do the following, will this game still qualify as 16+? I am aiming for a really risque / ecchi feeling rather than outright H. And they will be confined to the Extras / Scene Gallery section so that the main story will remain more or less serious.

Things I'm thinking of including:
* offscreen sexy vocals (i.e. "Ahn! Ahn! Yes! Yes! More!)
* everyday objects being portrayed as sex toys (i.e. Choco Banana)
* close-ups of clothed body parts (i.e. the obligatory panty shots)
* nudity with non-sexual postures.

What I'll avoid:
* explicit descriptions of sex acts and sex members
* close-ups of naked body parts
* nudity in sexual posture

I also have a question: If I include nudity with non-sexual posture, but draw nipples, will it be considered an H-game because it has an "HCG"? Or can it still be classified at a teen ecchi game that happens to have some really provocative pictures?

[papillon]

Breasts = BAN in america! R rating! 18+!

[monele]

offscreen sexy vocals (i.e. "Ahn! Ahn! Yes! Yes! More!)

Where from? >.>....

If I include nudity with non-sexual posture, but draw nipples

I'd love to know how Mahoromatic (the anime) was rated... since it has rather ecchi scenes and it shows nipples!

[Jake]

(Incidentally, since I'm posting anyway - all your 'i.e.'s there should have been 'e.g.'s)

If I do the following, will this game still qualify as 16+?
...
I also have a question: If I include nudity with non-sexual posture, but draw nipples, will it be considered an H-game because it has an "HCG"? Or can it still be classified at a teen ecchi game that happens to have some really provocative pictures?

Who are you asking? There isn't exactly a Central Bureau of OELVN Ratings and Recommendations that can vet your plans and give you an official word...

Personally, yes, I would still consider what you describe suitable for most 16-year-olds. And personally, I wouldn't consider something pornographic (which is what I usually read 'H' to be) until it has depictions (written or visual) of genitalia in it, and breasts aren't genitals.

But then, personally I think that present-day western society's (particularly the US's) obsession with violence and taboo of everything sexual is pretty despicable and ridiculous, and also (perhaps hypocritically) that everyone who kicked up a fuss about Janet Jackson's nipple should be shot. Maybe after being beaten a few times for being so bloody stupid. So, you know, I'm hardly qualified to say whether or not you'll be villified by whiny USian soccer moms or Pat Robertson.


Incidentally, in the UK every volume of Mahoromatic received a '15' certificate. In the US, '16UP' according to Geneon's website.

[DaFool]

Because of this thread:
18+, NSFW
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... =22&t=2746

I learned more about what distinguishes sexy from mundane situations. In the end, its all about execution. That's how I plan to straddle the thin line between 16+ and 18+

Where from? >.>....

I'll try H. Miku with ridiculous amounts of sound post-processing. Failing that, I might grab some random porn vids... performances might be copyrighted, but if it's just one or two lines of "Oh!", I don't think you'll be able to identify the actress LOL. This might not work for a game that is otherwise unvoiced, but if you do it in a cartoony fashion ala Wily Coyote and Roadrunner with music completely synched and timed to the character antics, it might work. I don't guarantee at this point if I'll be able to pull it off yet, since I'll only include scenes which I think are effective.

Thanks, Jake. I am proud of my boob-drawing capabilities, so there shall be boobs! (A bit more provocative compared to the style of Mahoromatic, but I'll cross the bridge when I get there.) That being said, I'll probably include a boob-filter option for those who like their characters photoshopped in Spandex (Cartoon Network Tenchi Muyo I am so looking at you.)

[DaFool]

So now yay! The engine fully works, now all I need to do is plug in the script, then work on the drawings and music. It'll still take a long time (that's why this will be a 2008 release).

It will only have 3 menu choices, but it will have 3 endings. Instead of more menu choices, I'm taking advantage of persistent variables to monitor completion that will trigger tangents on subsequent playthroughs. Since the structure is still pretty simple, I will be able to make a Completion Map that will dynamically display all the paths you played through overlayed with a picture of the total paths. Since a lot of people like walkthroughs, so there's gonna be one which you will assemble yourself ^_^. I will be using Dynamic Displayable image pieces to show locked and unlocked sections. There are 12 sections in all (each ~ 1300 words) and I even labelled them.

I also did away with Inventory and Town Map ideas some time ago. Since the location this time is pretty small, even smaller than Nettestadt, so there's no need.

[DaFool]

*double post*

[DaFool]

Major Cost-Cutting Update

So I originally had two female characters, now there's just one.

Reason is because during plot analysis I had some deja vu moment and discovered it's like Ori Ochi Onoe:

The girl has multiple personality disorder so is essentially two girls in one.

So I said screw it, there's just gonna be one girl now -- she just gets a bigger wardrobe.

Also, Craig (the main protagonist) won't be drawn anymore. I'm deeply sorry to potential female players of this game, but it just means I'd have to concentrate on Douglas now to make him uber awesome. We will see bits and pieces of Craigs body parts though.

Yup, this might become eroge (18+), but I'm thinking what I can do to keep it R (17+). One year doesn't make a difference in actuality, but they do in classification (and relegation to the backroom in video stores). If I keep the steamy scenes strictly to fondling, does that count to keep it in 17+ range? But definitely, there is much less actual sex description, just more overall sex appeal that pervades the entire piece. You'll see ^_^. Most of the story is actually super high-falutin'.

I decided to discard all the random off-screen sex and just combine to form one long very meaningful scene which you unlock after 3 playthroughs (3 'timelines') of the game. So yeah I won't make the same mistake of utilizing only 1 HCG base template per scene in Nettestadt, that was spreading it too thin in my opinion. This time I have picked 3 very nice postures, so it's on par with an equivalent scene from a commercial eroge. That means I don't need a scene gallery anymore (since I just have one scene), just a link to the bonus ecchi scene when persistent detects a complete playthrough.

I have totally discarded sprites now, and will be using all event CGs for this work. Yeah! Actually, it's no biggie, I managed to trim them down to 14 base templates, and since this game is cyclical, with the story options changing slightly each pass, then those CGs are reuseable.

So in summary:
Projected Stats (reiterated):
*BxG, ~16000 words (unchanged)
*3 full endings, but 4 main branches.
*1 'winnable' girl with a bigger wardrobe (since the other girl was planned to use the same template anyway)
* 2 guy characters, but you won't know how Craig looks like since it is fully 1st person POV.
* no more sprites, instead 14 CGs will be maximized
* cut down to 3 BG templates.
* cut down to 4 musical tracks.
* "Bonus Present" Super Uber Sexy Scene for completing the game, which will be very interactive. If I avoid depictions or descriptions of genitals, then this should stay in solid R category. The actual execution should be more technically softcore than Nettestadt, but I actually plan to squeeze more eroticism and pervading sexyness in this piece.

[Samu-kun]

Ooo... Sounds interesting. ^_^

I honestly won't care whether it's 16+ or 18+, but I guess it's a bit easier to distribute it to a wider audience if you keep it ecchi instead of H. :3

[DaFool]

Yay more cost-cutting!

I've discovered that most of the game consists of the following epic, exciting action-packed sequences:

Craig talking to Douglas
Craig talking to Triona
Craig talking to Douglas, discussing what he talked about with Triona
Craig talking to Triona, discussing what he talked to Douglas about
Repeat ad infinitum

So, I decided, just chuck out Douglas altogether, and just talk with Triona the whole time! Douglas' lines will mostly become Triona's lines, after minor tweaks in diction and personality. Some lines might have to be discarded altogether.

I regret that there will be no more bishounen in this story. But this means that this will be a 'simple' story similar to Moonlight Walks or Katherine (both one-character-interaction games.) Simple in terms of stage directions. The actual themes and content should remain the same.

It will also be more like the typical commercial yaruge...
1. Talk
2. Put it in
...just kidding.

I had also wanted a car chase and an explosion, but decided that a car chase and an explosion will not contribute anything to the story, though it might demonstrate a new technique in Ren'Py.

So yeah... we're left with... just lotsa talking ^_^.

Well, primarily the reason for this is because I want to apply the new techniques I learned (such as from Deji's tutorials), and that means going all-out on graphics, which means -- given a constant small amount of free time -- less of them.

In summary:
Projected Stats (revised:
*BxG, ~12000 words (shortened)
*3 full endings, 3 main branches. (One branch cut)
*1 'winnable' girl (I'd have to rethink about her wardrobe, maybe trim it.)
* 1st person POV.
* no more sprites, all CGs (which are also severely cut)
* cut down to 1 BG template. (Yeehaa! I'm so lazy! Since originally, one BG was Douglas' location, the other was Triona's, and the third BG was a place in between, now we just have 1 BG -- Triona's location. But I'll be doing the whole works on it: morning, afternoon, sunset, evening.)
* cut down to 2 musical tracks. (Ehehehe, this will be the smallest-size professional-feeling game ever! I wonder if I can get it below 5 megabytes.)
* "Bonus Present" Super Uber Sexy Scene for completing the game, which has the option to censor it like Winter Shard. But the minimum entry requirement would be R-level.