Shadow Behind the Blade [BxB][Mystery/Adventure/Romance]

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Faulken
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Shadow Behind the Blade [BxB][Mystery/Adventure/Romance]

#1 Post by Faulken »

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Hi guys! I have finally decided to post the visual novel I’ve been working on on and off for the past month, because I think I’ve come to a point where I’m dedicated to the project enough to move forward with it and share it with the public. I plan to develop this game by myself, and I know it is a daunting task, but I see it as a challenge to push my art and storytelling skills. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated 😊
Thank you for looking!


SUMMARY

Alistair is a young assassin just beginning to make a name for himself in the industry. He cares only for gold and moves from kingdom to kingdom in hopes of finding a high paying job. However, his generally carefree spirit has been broken by a sudden chain of haunting dreams from his childhood involving a strange boy he met 11 years ago. Unable to sleep properly and burdened with a sense of guilt, he decides to head to the Kingdom of Cygnias, where he was born and raised, in hopes of finding some answers.
Coincidentally, he arrives the day after the suspicious death of King Cygnias, and the entire kingdom is in chaos. On the first night of his visit, Alistair is approached by a strange masked man, who offers him a substantial amount of gold to assassinate the crown prince, who was to have his coronation ceremony the following day. He warns Alistair however, that if he was to fail, there would be hell to pay. Believing it to be an easy moneymaking opportunity, Alistair agrees without hesitation. However, he soon realizes that the assassination would be a lot more complicated when he lays eyes on the Prince, for the Prince bore a striking resemblance to the boy who had haunted Alistair’s dreams for the past month.


ImageMAIN CHARACTERSImage
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VARIOUS ART AND WIP

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PLANNED FEATURES

6 Potential romantic interests
18+ endings (1 true ending, 1 polyamorous ending, and 1 joke ending)
20+ CGs
Animated sprites


PROGRESS

Story: 80% written (5/6 chapters)
Character Sprites: 50%
Coding: 0%
Backgrounds: 0%
CGs: 0%
GUI: 10%
Music and sound effects: 0%


QUESTIONS

1. Do you find the premises interesting/appealing?

2. Do you have a certain character which interests you more than the others?

3. Is the protagonist (Alistair) a character you would enjoy playing?

4. Do you have any expectations for the game?

5. The game will revolve around a mystery you have to solve. Certain clues (both visual and written) will be dispersed throughout the gameplay for you to find. My main question is - would you prefer to haven prominent written clues be italicized/bolded, and visual clues to be more obvious so the mystery will be easier to solve? This may help you to focus more on building relationships with other characters, but it takes away some of the challenge in solving the mystery.

If you have any other questions/comments/suggestions, please feel free to ask!
Last edited by Faulken on Fri May 05, 2017 1:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

CosmicFan

Re: Shadow Behind the Bade [BxB][Mystery/Adventure/Romance]

#2 Post by CosmicFan »

1. Do you find the premises interesting/appealing?

The childhood friend romance angle doesn't do anything for me, but I really like the idea that I play as a selfish assassin caught in bigger conspiracy.


2. Do you have a certain character which interests you more than the others?

Probably Ryordan. Not sure how to explain it, he seems like a character with baggage and his own secrets but not in a shady way.


3. Is the protagonist (Alistair) a character you would enjoy playing?

Yes. Since Alistair is described as amoral and greedy, I think that his would be an interesting headspace to occupy. Especially if we can make amoral and greedy decisions during the game, and not be punished for them.


4. Do you have any expectations for the game?

Yes I do. To actually assassinate someone during the course of the game.


5. Would you prefer to haven prominent written clues be italicized/bolded, and visual clues to be more obvious so the mystery will be easier to solve?

Hmm... maybe keep the game as you intend and provide a separate walkthrough upon its release.


Random Thoughts

*Loone reminds me so much of a Targaryen.

*Yes! Polyamorous ending!

*Commercial or not?

P.S. - The thread's title is missing the "l" on blade.

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Re: Shadow Behind the Blade [BxB][Mystery/Adventure/Romance]

#3 Post by Zelan »

1. Do you find the premises interesting/appealing?: I do. Assassin characters have always been cool to me, and I'm interested in the different ways that this could resolve itself.

2. Do you have a certain character which interests you more than the others?: Cayne is interesting. There aren't too many shapeshifting characters (not that I've seen, anyway) in VNs. Are we ever going to get to see him in another form?

3. Is the protagonist (Alistair) a character you would enjoy playing?: YES. Honestly, you had me at "The Ass(assin)." I think jerkass protagonists can be fun to play as, but it's also super cool when characters have a sort of redemption story - not necessarily one where they suddenly become a perfect angel (in fact, I prefer that they stay a bit flawed in some ways), but where you can see that the character is a better person than at the beginning of the story.

4. Do you have any expectations for the game?: A good story, I guess? I'm never really sure how to answer this question.

5. The game will revolve around a mystery you have to solve. Certain clues (both visual and written) will be dispersed throughout the gameplay for you to find. My main question is - would you prefer to haven prominent written clues be italicized/bolded, and visual clues to be more obvious so the mystery will be easier to solve? This may help you to focus more on building relationships with other characters, but it takes away some of the challenge in solving the mystery.: If you can figure out the coding, it could be a good idea to have this be a menu option, where the player can toggle "Bold clues/Do not bold clues." If you can't, though, I think it would be best to do what CosmicFan said and leave it as-is. That way, the people who want a challenge won't have that taken away from them.

EDIT: Also!! Poly ending. I'm down.

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Faulken
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Re: Shadow Behind the Bade [BxB][Mystery/Adventure/Romance]

#4 Post by Faulken »

CosmicFan wrote:1. Do you find the premises interesting/appealing?
The childhood friend romance angle doesn't do anything for me, but I really like the idea that I play as a selfish assassin caught in bigger conspiracy.

2. Do you have a certain character which interests you more than the others?
Probably Ryordan. Not sure how to explain it, he seems like a character with baggage and his own secrets but not in a shady way.

3. Is the protagonist (Alistair) a character you would enjoy playing?
Yes. Since Alistair is described as amoral and greedy, I think that his would be an interesting headspace to occupy. Especially if we can make amoral and greedy decisions during the game, and not be punished for them.

4. Do you have any expectations for the game?
Yes I do. To actually assassinate someone during the course of the game.

5. Would you prefer to haven prominent written clues be italicized/bolded, and visual clues to be more obvious so the mystery will be easier to solve?
Hmm... maybe keep the game as you intend and provide a separate walkthrough upon its release.

Random Thoughts
*Loone reminds me so much of a Targaryen.
*Yes! Polyamorous ending!
*Commercial or not?
P.S. - The thread's title is missing the "l" on blade.
Thank you for your feedback! I was slightly worried about whether or not people would be interested in playing a character who is more on the malicious side, so it's relieving to know that people seem to like the idea. The childhood romance theme will not dominate the story I promise haha.

At this point in development I am unsure if I will make it a free game or not. After releasing the demo I will evaluate the quality of the game, how people react to it, and make a more decisive decision.
*Ooh I actually don't watch game of thrones but hopefully the similarity is not a bad thing? *Nervous sweating*
Zelan wrote:1. Do you find the premises interesting/appealing?: I do. Assassin characters have always been cool to me, and I'm interested in the different ways that this could resolve itself.

2. Do you have a certain character which interests you more than the others?: Cayne is interesting. There aren't too many shapeshifting characters (not that I've seen, anyway) in VNs. Are we ever going to get to see him in another form?

3. Is the protagonist (Alistair) a character you would enjoy playing?: YES. Honestly, you had me at "The Ass(assin)." I think jerkass protagonists can be fun to play as, but it's also super cool when characters have a sort of redemption story - not necessarily one where they suddenly become a perfect angel (in fact, I prefer that they stay a bit flawed in some ways), but where you can see that the character is a better person than at the beginning of the story.

4. Do you have any expectations for the game?: A good story, I guess? I'm never really sure how to answer this question.

5. The game will revolve around a mystery you have to solve. Certain clues (both visual and written) will be dispersed throughout the gameplay for you to find. My main question is - would you prefer to haven prominent written clues be italicized/bolded, and visual clues to be more obvious so the mystery will be easier to solve? This may help you to focus more on building relationships with other characters, but it takes away some of the challenge in solving the mystery.: If you can figure out the coding, it could be a good idea to have this be a menu option, where the player can toggle "Bold clues/Do not bold clues." If you can't, though, I think it would be best to do what CosmicFan said and leave it as-is. That way, the people who want a challenge won't have that taken away from them.
Thank you for your feedback!
Oh I'm happy you like Cayne, and you will get to see him in many different forms :) Adding an option to toggle bold and unbolded clues is a very good idea, but I'm not sure how I can go about coding that. I will try though. Most likely I will just create a walkthrough after the game's release.

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Re: Shadow Behind the Blade [BxB][Mystery/Adventure/Romance]

#5 Post by runeraccoon »

It's so very polished that I think it belongs in WIP forum instead of ideas.

But, I digress.

1. Do you find the premises interesting/appealing?

Yes! Very much.

2. Do you have a certain character which interests you more than the others?

Alistair himself, Cayne, and the Prince as to why he'd appear in Alistair's dream.

3. Is the protagonist (Alistair) a character you would enjoy playing?
That's a huge yes. He definitely has his flairs, and I'd love to see what he's going to bring to the table.

4. Do you have any expectations for the game?
Poly ending is between whom and whom? Haha, but the GUI looks polished, the story is promising (I love the theme of finding that soulmate(?) that you met in a dream), the writing style already has that humor in a supposedly dark setting (because Alistair is an ass-assin), and the art looks mouthwatering already. Yes, huge expectations. But I just hope that it'll be completed sooner or later. Go for it!

5. The game will revolve around a mystery you have to solve. Certain clues (both visual and written) will be dispersed throughout the gameplay for you to find. My main question is - would you prefer to haven prominent written clues be italicized/bolded, and visual clues to be more obvious so the mystery will be easier to solve? This may help you to focus more on building relationships with other characters, but it takes away some of the challenge in solving the mystery.
Oh wow, sounds intriguing. It does depend on the kind of mystery to solve, for me.

If it's related to the whole story... as in, a big plot twist/revelation, I think obscure hints will make the revelation all the more worth it. Maybe different routes will provide different hints, even, so that playing the whole game will have its value. If done right, most precious otome games have this kind of approach. Or so I heard, I don't actually play otome games that much. Anyway, it'll probably be related to a "True" ending, if that's applicable in your game.

If it's related to what kind of ending you're going to get in each route, however, I think the more obvious the better. I don't want to be left wondering if I miss a hint and has to go way back wondering which one is the actual hint just to get a satisfying ending for one route. Although it'll probably make other routes easier to play (if the mystery is the same), it'll probably annoy me.

If it's an escape game, just create different difficulties. XD

Can't wait to see the progress~

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