Lost & Found [Updated 6/14/15!]

[Mad Harlequin]

Ah, a tester demo thingy! I will play it and get back to you with feedback as soon as possible.

[sasquatchii]

Ah, a tester demo thingy! I will play it and get back to you with feedback as soon as possible.

Whoo hoo!! Thank you! Although that is not very much of a demo Just hoping that maybe people might let me know if I've made any weird errors or if there's any bugginess that I should fix.
I'm also planning on add a little narrative blurb at the beginning that talks about the city dog lives in & how there's a buttload of strays running around everywhere

[Mad Harlequin]

I found no errors or bugs. I will say that em dashes are longer than hyphens (look at me, worrying about text when there's hardly any yet! ), but so far that seems to be it.

A warning to everyone who may test this little two-minute thing: you will say "D'aww." Guaranteed.

[sasquatchii]

I found no errors or bugs. I will say that em dashes are longer than hyphens (look at me, worrying about text when there's hardly any yet! ), but so far that seems to be it.

A warning to everyone who may test this little two-minute thing: you will say "D'aww." Guaranteed.

Oooh, good catch!! I changed the hyphens in the game and turned them into em dashes

I'm really bad and lazy when it comes to differentiating between em dashes and hypens, especially because I'm so fond of using em dashes. I work with a bunch of grammar nazis and I'm pretty sure it drives them crazy!

[Mad Harlequin]

I'm really bad and lazy when it comes to differentiating between em dashes and hyphens, especially because I'm so fond of using em dashes. I work with a bunch of grammar nazis and I'm pretty sure it drives them crazy!

Hahaha. Well, I drive people up the wall with my knowledge of grammar and writing and spelling, so don't worry. We probably cancel each other out.

[qirien]

This looks so cute! I love the art style, please don't change it! I am most interested in how character development for Dog and the people Dog meets - how does he change their lives, or how do they change his life. The survival aspect could be interesting, but it would not be fun if it was too hard. You might also want to add "affection" as a need along with hunger and thirst, depending on your other game mechanics.

Looking forward to playing this one!

[sasquatchii]

This looks so cute! I love the art style, please don't change it! I am most interested in how character development for Dog and the people Dog meets - how does he change their lives, or how do they change his life. The survival aspect could be interesting, but it would not be fun if it was too hard. You might also want to add "affection" as a need along with hunger and thirst, depending on your other game mechanics.

Looking forward to playing this one!

Thank you! Working on the art for it has been a blast

And I'm going to try my best to make all character development really solid, for almost all of the characters! Stories where the characters don't change are boring (to me). Writing it has been both crazy and fun because with the way I've plotted the game out right now I'm basically writing 3 different stories.

And I've decided to do away with the survival aspect completely, and focus entirely on story! (I should probably change that in the first post...) And since I'm not doing the survival aspect like I'd originally planned, instead I'm going to create more choices & endings. Which is hard in itself because every time you give the player a choice it's like you're cutting the story into pieces, but I really love VN's that give lots of choices and involve the player so I think it's worth it!

[Mad Harlequin]

I think doing away with the survival mechanic is a good choice. The player can just enjoy the lighthearted story now instead of having to worry about keeping poor Dog alive.

[sasquatchii]

I think doing away with the survival mechanic is a good choice. The player can just enjoy the lighthearted story now instead of having to worry about keeping poor Dog alive.

I couldn't agree more! And honestly, I couldn't think of a good enough reason for why I'd want to have a survival mechanic in the game, so I just did away with it completely.

Also it is challenging to create sim-type vns that don't feel grindy or tedious! The ones that I've played that are done well are absolutely amazing but they are far and few between.

[sasquatchii]

It's Sunday again, which means it's time for another update! It's been a slow week as far as writing goes, mostly because I wanted to backtrack a bit and make sure all of the scenes worked well together with the order they're in so far. There's one part that's going to have major surgery done to it as far as how things are set up, but I'm not as horrified by my first draft as I thought I'd be (although it is going to need much much work when I go back & edit things). So the first draft is up from 5,104 words to 5,715 words, and more on the way! Writing this has been insanely fun, but I've still got a long way to go before I finish my first draft.

Also, I finished Sneaky's design! He turned out a lot cuter than I initially imagined him to be. And although he's the main antagonist of the game, I don't want him to be someone the player hates. People who work at shelters have to put up with a lot of crap from the public as far as euthanizing animals goes, and these are the same people who have 5 rescue dogs at home and can't take anymore because it'll drive their spouses insane/break their banks. So in the story I don't want to give them a bad name, because they are actually quite awesome for working thankless & hard jobs and doing all that they do.

And I know that dog catchers don't actually use nets to catch dogs, they use these handy devices (aka Animal Control Poles, catch poles, or the brand name ketch-all poles):


I thought about having Sneaky wielding one of these poles instead, but this game isn't going to be highly realistic as far as the style goes, so I thought what the hell? And gave him a net.

[shikatarose]

This game looks amazing. It's new and I like how you have the characters. Personally, I think Mr K is more of the antagonist than Sneaky, though I certainly wouldn't want Dog to get caught. I'm really excited for this game to come into the works and progress thread though, and then come to life . As for your questions

1. I love it. It's nice to see a new style game, and I think not making it survival was a good idea. I'm really bad at that ;_;

2. The art is really good. I love Mr K sprite the most because he looks cute and devious at the same time. Next would be Food Lady, She looks like a very nice person. And no it wouldn't. I'd definitely play

3. Mr K, because he seems a bit bad to me yet maybe he'll be different as the story goes on, Dog since I want to help him find a owner XD, and Angry Meat Man because he has a bit of a sad story though he shouldn't hate all dogs for the mistake of one.

4. Yes. Some stories shouldn't need romance. It's refreshing not to have it

Anyway, good luck with the game. I'm really excited to play it

[sasquatchii]

3. Mr K, because he seems a bit bad to me yet maybe he'll be different as the story goes on, Dog since I want to help him find a owner XD, and Angry Meat Man because he has a bit of a sad story though he shouldn't hate all dogs for the mistake of one.

Anyway, good luck with the game. I'm really excited to play it

You're definitely right about Mr. K being antagonistic! He is a major source of grief for dog, although I wouldn't say he's necessarily bad- just devious (and jealous, too!)

And thank you for your encouragement! It means a lot that people have taken the time to answer my questions & give feedback

[pocoscon]

Sorry it took me so long to finally get to this. Anyway, as everyone has said this looks really good . It's clear you're taking your time with this, and I really enjoy how you're making something new to the VN world.

As for you're questions

1) Love it! The story is original, and really interests me. The only thing I'm scared of is him dying....Are you keeping that? I guess you have to because it's needed. I just hope I don't choose the choices that lead to that

2) Love the art. It is cartoon style and really well done. I liked Sneaky a lot. I know there's no romance, but maybe he would go well with Food Lady

3) Sneaky because I know he'll have some funny scenes, and the Dog because I want to give him a nice owner

4) Yes. I don't mind if it's no romance. I'm up for any style game

[sasquatchii]

Sorry it took me so long to finally get to this. Anyway, as everyone has said this looks really good . It's clear you're taking your time with this, and I really enjoy how you're making something new to the VN world.

As for you're questions

1) Love it! The story is original, and really interests me. The only thing I'm scared of is him dying....Are you keeping that? I guess you have to because it's needed. I just hope I don't choose the choices that lead to that

Hehe, thank you for the compliments! And yes, I'm still going to have an option where it is possible for Dog to die. But you'll probably have to be trying for a bad ending.

I was thinking about how a lot of visual novels ask players to commit to the game in some way. In most video games, the player just has to go along with things. And sometimes, when video games do ask players to commit, it's just sort of silly, and there's no reason for it. For example, Lisa might have the option to give Jane's necklace back, or keep it. But whether she does or not has no real bearing on the game. It's really hard for video games to explore this, and the fact that they asked me to make a choice like that and then nothing changes pulls me out of the game and makes me remember that it's just a game.

But the beauty of visual novels is that every choice you make affects the characters and the world in some way. You can potentially upset or annoy, delight or anger. And I wanted to explore this with the choices in my game.

So you'll have to be playing as a very aloof version of Dog to get the ending where you die. If the game only had good endings, it wouldn't be much of a game!

[sasquatchii]

Hey guys, it's Sunday again, so it's time for another mini update!

The first draft of the script is about 9,000 words now! I've been having a blast writing it, going off the deepend with different scenarios and what-ifs! (Although I will have to reign it back in once I start editing it and polishing things.) I've been mostly focused on writing now, I'm really excited to power through the first draft so I can have everything set up the way I like before tweaking it all & getting things just right!

Also, I managed to finish the 3rd pursuable character's sprite! His name is Drinky (on account of how he always has water to share with Dog):