Mirai Games Recruiting

[Lordie]

Hello everyone.

Just want to inform you guys that Mirai Games have various positions available for our first project.
The website is not yet finished and there are various things that needs to be added/modified and produced. Just in case you wondered why it might look incomplete.

P.S. Not a 1st April joke

[Vatina]

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class httpresponse in /home/digusnot/public_html/miraigames.com/sapphire/core/control/HTTPResponse.php on line 146

The site won't work for me

[Lordie]

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class httpresponse in /home/digusnot/public_html/miraigames.com/sapphire/core/control/HTTPResponse.php on line 146

The site won't work for me

Yeah, just me messing around. Trying out something.....and didn't work as I wanted....fixing now.

But the project page works

The mainpage may not working from time to time, but that is just me playing around at the moment.

[chronoluminaire]

Interesting. True Love was certainly a classic game, and it's one of the most best-loved English H games.

On the one hand, this means lots of people will be happy to see more things related to True Love. If they're good, that is.
One the other hand, what makes you think it needs a remake?

[Lordie]

Interesting. True Love was certainly a classic game, and it's one of the most best-loved English H games.

On the one hand, this means lots of people will be happy to see more things related to True Love. If they're good, that is.
One the other hand, what makes you think it needs a remake?

Well, it was good at the time it was released back in 95/99, but compared to todays standards and quality and not to mention more userfriendly functions for the game engine as well.
It's like renovating (if that's the right word) a house and make it better and more comfortable.
And I personally think that the game deserves a makeover.
Including:
New engine
New(?)/improved artwork
New charcter design (not making new characters, but improving them)
Not new music (will destroy the feel for the game IMO)
New GUI
Voices! (If I can manage to find the right people)
Open Source (means it could also played on a nix box)

[mikey]

One the other hand, what makes you think it needs a remake?

And I personally think that the game deserves a makeover.

My problem with this would be that with new graphics, charactes (even if just redrawn), voices, GUI and engine - all that really stays is the story (which is just a standard succession of events and dialogues), and the gameplay system (which is okay, but not spectacular). And that's a bit too little having this as a core.

The thing that made TL what it was, how it stood out, was atmosphere - it was also the poor man's Tokimemo - and by taking the wonderfully pixellated and low-color graphics of that day, by making the characters shinier and "better", I'm afraid you'll take away the whole charm... Not that remakes don't work... but there has to be a lot of consideration going into them.

This is not meant badly, really - but I just can't see the point of so much effort. Obviously, this is not about a company trying to make money with a remake which is a safe bet for them - this is your time, your effort, and I don't know why - do you see something "wrong" with TL?

Because if not, and you just really like the game, then why not channel the efforts into a fan game? I do get the metaphore of a renovated house, but especially in games, where emotion and personal involvement is so key, it's not as easy as saying better graphics = better game. Or (more to the point), that old games will benefit from makeovers.

Also (and I'll shut up then), consider memories and place and time. The TL that most of the people remember came at a time when it was all beginning, games were few. It's really an average game, that wouldn't stand out terribly these days (even with a remake) - there were other factors contributing to its success. It's really a complicated equation. It's not that it's a BAD thing to do a remake, but with this kind of production, it would seem an obvious waste of talent.

[MorphineSoldier]

You know that thing when people see something that works perfectly well, and then they get the urge to "fix" it?
Y'know how that NEVER works?

I can see the future of this game.
It isn't pretty.


[Maybe there's significance in that this was posted on April 1st? It's a poorly thought out April Fool's joke!]

[Hime]

Myself, I wouldn't be so pessimistic about this project. True Love is a good yet old game that has an addicting feel to it but no modern graphics and music. There have been remakes of other DOS games too - Princess Maker 2 Refined, for example, even though that was commercial. It sounds really good to me and I hope you won't give up with this project. ^^

[Guest]

Myself, I wouldn't be so pessimistic about this project. True Love is a good yet old game that has an addicting feel to it but no modern graphics and music. There have been remakes of other DOS games too - Princess Maker 2 Refined, for example, even though that was commercial. It sounds really good to me and I hope you won't give up with this project. ^^

Thanks.

I've just started, so there's no time giving up now. Of course people have different opinons, but I'll continue to work on the remake of TL until it's done. And hopefully prove the negative opinions wrong.

[Lordie]

Whops. Didn't see I wasn't logged in...so yeah...Guest is me ^^

[mikey]

MorphineSoldier >> The first post explicitly states it's not April 1st, so I believe that.

Anyway, I'm not saying a remake can't turn out excellent, but you'll need to be very careful with making the enhancements - and since it is a full-length game, have a lot of motivation and reliable people to work with. I'd say start with the work, give the project half a year and see where it is going from there. The last thing that I'd like to do is being negative over something that's just begun.

I didn't mention it before, but you must also be aware of all the copyright issues with this. Even if you work to death for 3 years on this and get it finally done, and it's brilliant, you'll still at best need to "stay low". In essence, the game is protected by copyright. It's the other dimension of "wasting" a lot of creativity. If SO much effort goes into this, copyright and the (in)ability to properly showcase the work of your team is something to be aware of.

[Lordie]

MorphineSoldier >> The first post explicitly states it's not April 1st, so I believe that.

Anyway, I'm not saying a remake can't turn out excellent, but you'll need to be very careful with making the enhancements - and since it is a full-length game, have a lot of motivation and reliable people to work with. I'd say start with the work, give the project half a year and see where it is going from there. The last thing that I'd like to do is being negative over something that's just begun.

I didn't mention it before, but you must also be aware of all the copyright issues with this. Even if you work to death for 3 years on this and get it finally done, and it's brilliant, you'll still at best need to "stay low". In essence, the game is protected by copyright. It's the other dimension of "wasting" a lot of creativity. If SO much effort goes into this, copyright and the (in)ability to properly showcase the work of your team is something to be aware of.

I'm aware of the copyright thing. But I don't know, is the game even sold anymore? If not, I don't THINK there would be any issue. I'll have to contact Parsley/JAST (whomever have the copyright) and ask for permission, but I want at least have something to show them before going "Hey, I'm remaking True Love, is that OK for you guys?" hehe. Don't think that will work unless I can "sell" them our vision of the whole thing with some kind of prentation.
And since this game will be a free game, my logic will assume that there will be little (if none at all) resistance of the issue.
If I was to sell the game, it would been another story.
I mean, the only thing we're borrowing is story, text, character names. Everything else is going to be made from scratch by the group. Well, this depends on how strict the copytighters are with this stuff, but I feel pretty confident that it will not be a problem. I mean, it's sort of a free advertisement for the copyright holders aswell.

[MorphineSoldier]

I didn't even think of that before. >.>
Yes. True Love can still be bought from certain establishments. Not on its own, but I believe it's part of one of the Memorial Collections which are still sold. Weird. Maybe not. Checking on this ~Edit1.

There is NO WAY JAST will happily sit back while a carbon copy of one of their games is being distributed through the internets. Why? Because JAST is a bunch of whores. No other company in the history of the internet has been more persistent and successful about getting their games off websites that are pirating them.
[ADV tries to be as persistent, but is considerably less successful due to the size of their catalog.]

The bastards are more than a little bit sue-happy.

Your logic in the above post is pretty fucked up too.

I mean, the only thing we're borrowing is story, text, character names.

Those. . . Are kind of the biggest selling points of a VN.

I mean, it's sort of a free advertisement for the copyright holders aswell.

The idea behind advertising is that it leads to more sales. Why would anyone buy the old game when they have a [theoretically] better version in their hands? One that they can run on their new machines with less hassle, at very least.

You'd be cutting into JAST USA's rather small profit margin.


Edit2: Evidently JAST had zip to do with this one. It was Otaku Publishing Ltd., a company I can find exactly zero information about. Still looking.

Edit3: I think the U.S. distributor might have gone under. I can't find anything about True Love or either of the Paradise Heights games which were distributed by the same people around the same time. That doesn't make you CLEAR, per se, but it does open up a possibility that the Japanese manufacturer, Parsley, will never see or care what you're doing. If you attempt to ask permission of them, however, I see failure in your future.

[Lordie]

I didn't even think of that before. >.>
Yes. True Love can still be bought from certain establishments. Not on its own, but I believe it's part of one of the Memorial Collections which are still sold. Weird. Maybe not. Checking on this ~Edit1.

There is NO WAY JAST will happily sit back while a carbon copy of one of their games is being distributed through the internets. Why? Because JAST is a bunch of whores. No other company in the history of the internet has been more persistent and successful about getting their games off websites that are pirating them.
[ADV tries to be as persistent, but is considerably less successful due to the size of their catalog.]

The bastards are more than a little bit sue-happy.

Your logic in the above post is pretty fucked up too.

I mean, the only thing we're borrowing is story, text, character names.

Those. . . Are kind of the biggest selling points of a VN.

I mean, it's sort of a free advertisement for the copyright holders aswell.

The idea behind advertising is that it leads to more sales. Why would anyone buy the old game when they have a [theoretically] better version in their hands? One that they can run on their new machines with less hassle, at very least.

You'd be cutting into JAST USA's rather small profit margin.


Edit2: Evidently JAST had zip to do with this one. It was Otaku Publishing Ltd., a company I can find exactly zero information about. Still looking.

You don't seem to understand what I'm saying here.
Advertising doesn't always mean one single product, but a company as a whole. Which can help inceasing sales of other products that they have in store. Making their name more known. And I won't be cutting anyone's profit...why? Because as far as I know, the ins't sold anymore. The only persons buying it, will be collectors and that's from other people having boght the game when it first came out.
But as I where saying, these are just positive side-effects,

[MorphineSoldier]

I understand your IDEA, I just don't think you comprehend how business works. Sometimes those things that seem logical in the average person's mind [like your free advertising idea,] are business DISASTERS.

Anyways, read my most recent edit above. The company is gone, as far as I can tell. No longer exists.