engl. demo - weichzeichner (horror/mystery)

[nice_tea]

Genre: Horror/Mystery

story: you’re a photo journalist working for a scandal sheet. one day your colleague tim drags you to a crime scene to take photos of a male corpse, whose right arm has been gnawed off to the bones. after your job is done you start having strange nightmares about scenes of gore and a faceless man, who tries to talk to you. when you wake up, you discover that there have been other murders.

visual style: since i’m not a pro when it comes to drawing, i decided to create the graphics out of photos. the backgrounds are manipulated with a simple papier collé filter, while the character arts are a symbiosis of photographs and western style comic art. Few exceptions aside, the whole game will be in b/w.

comment: this being my first VN, it’s more of an experiment. an exercise in getting used to the ren’py engine, so to speak. nevertheless i wanted to tell a story and after having a rather cool nightmare i came up with the idea of weichzeichner. (btw.: weichzeichner is german and means soft focus)

edit - special credit goes to JQuartz for his amazing menu customization tool!

current status: the first chapter is done and translated, which makes up 20% to 30% of the whole script, i think. some graphics are still placeholders, though.

windows - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DNSYCTP3
mac - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GQ2EYX8F
linux - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WYZYDDDM

[nice_tea]

update: the english demo is up. my flatmate did the proofreading (thanks, nell!) but i still can't guarantee flawless english in this one. if someone finds mistakes, he or she can PM me about it. thanks!

[Nicol Armarfi]

...



Wow.



I am quite lost for words: the screenshot looked promising, but I definitely wasn't expecting something of this level of quality. A truly great audio visual experience, even in the small scope of the demo. The graphics are a nice turn from the traditional manga art; the music and sound in general is very well done. The script has a nice air of mystery and maturity: it's very coherent and is paced very well, and goes along perfectly with the sound and visuals. My only complaint is that I notice that the menu screen music (the one with the piano) sounds to me like Finale/MIDI sounds, which is a shade lower in quality than the guitar tracks heard in game.

In any case, eagerly awaiting the complete game.

[Guest]

While I'm not really one for most LSF games, this really is very good. The art has a distinct noir feel to it, and the writing sets up a pretty well-executed mystery/horror story very well, with distinct personalities set up quickly and a lack of non-plot dawdling. My only nitpicks (which are just that, nitpicks. The overall game is very good so far) are that it defaults to fullscreen, and uses the somewhat ill-fitting default font.

Great job, and I'm looking forward to future release(s).

[Maverynthia]

Is there going to be a Linux port as well?

[nice_tea]

Is there going to be a Linux port as well?

oops, sorry. will be right up.

edit: there you go.

[nice_tea]

@guest & armarfi: thank you very much! i'm glad you liked it. has a noir feel to it... hmm... how about visual noir? sounds nice, don't you think?

My only complaint is that I notice that the menu screen music (the one with the piano) sounds to me like Finale/MIDI sounds, which is a shade lower in quality than the guitar tracks heard in game.

argh, you get me there! i didn't have the time (=didn't feel like) yet recording it properly

edit: i guess i'll think about that font-thing.

[blakjak]

so far so good, the sound and musical experience fit the story perfectly.
I'm not crazy about the graphics but they do their job.
It's rare that I'm hooked so early on in the story, now I really want to know more.

[nice_tea]

It's rare that I'm hooked so early on in the story, now I really want to know more.

i'm very happy to hear that. when i began writing this story i thought i'd gotten rusty. hope i don't let you down as the story progresses

[Jo'ogn]

Gibt's die deutsche Version (win) auch? ^_^

[nice_tea]

Gibt's die deutsche Version (win) auch? ^_^

die gibt es schon nur ist es so, dass ich beim übersetzen auch gleich einiges umformuliert habe, das menü komplett erneuert habe und ein neues plot-element eingefügt habe. sorry, aber ich glaube mit der englischen version ist man momentan einfach besser dran.

edit: ...auch wenn ich schon mindestens einen wirklich garstigen tippfehler in der demo gefunden habe. aber: psst!

[Jo'ogn]

Downloads english version...

[DrakeNavarone]

So I finally got around to playing some of the demos and old games I've been pooling the past few weeks, too "busy" with my own business to play them... and I'm really glad I got to try this one. I like the look, the feel, the writing thus far... which has a really nice style and pace to it that make it really really easy to keep reading. You, sir, have my interest. Looking forward to this.

[nice_tea]

So I finally got around to playing some of the demos and old games I've been pooling the past few weeks, too "busy" with my own business to play them... and I'm really glad I got to try this one. I like the look, the feel, the writing thus far... which has a really nice style and pace to it that make it really really easy to keep reading. You, sir, have my interest. Looking forward to this.

cool, thank you so much! to be honest i was a bit afraid of your opinion

[Midnighticequeen]

I think you made a nice start on this game and I'm so interested in it already. It's an intriguing idea and I like that it has a different visual look then what I'm use to seeing. I just wish the demo was longer.