RockRobin - Band Manager (Demo)

[kyrie]

Loved the demo~ I was sad to see that it was the end as soon as Dallas joined... I can already see that he'll be my favorite guy xD

Can't wait for the full game!

[Chansel]

Because she's obsessed with herself and would 'like' anyone who seems to give her some support and a chance at success? :3

Or maybe because he wasn't always such an ass? That seems like a more plausible cause. (not to mention less negative )

Edit:
But all we can do is speculate, really XD

[Aleema]

Loved the demo~ I was sad to see that it was the end as soon as Dallas joined... I can already see that he'll be my favorite guy xD

Can't wait for the full game!

That's fantastic!! Dallas sure is a keeper, haha. Hopefully, the other characters will grow on you, too.
I just felt that was an opportune time to end the demo, as the scenes that happen afterward are less climactic. And you always gotta go out with a bang!

But all we can do is speculate, really XD

Haha, I'm not going to reveal my whole hand of cards in the demo, that's for sure.

[Riviera]

First Impression:

Robin is oddly likable. Very rough, but I get the "nice deep inside" vibe.
Emmitt is funny. And adorkable. Sterling is an assface.
Marcus is a cool older brother. He seems the type to give noogies and bust your butt, but is there for you.
I love the Wincest name. I am a terrible person. I haven't even SEEN Supernatural.

"SKELETON UNICORN!" "You've lost speaking privileges again. Go sit over there."

We also need to start sharing band names. I was going to name mine "Rock Kittens" but since all the band mates are male... well I didn't want to be the reason none of them ever get laid again for the rest of their lives. I ended up settling for "Truth Decay". Not that creative. Used the star. Woo.

Rage-drinking. Lol, Robin. Lol, Ponytail. He'll forever be that in my mind.

"Quiet, mommy and daddy are talking." Poor, poor Emmitt. Forever the buttmonkey.

I liked how Dallas joined up.

I want moooooore~

[azureXtwilight]

You know, it is a good idea that the other unimportant people get sprites too...
Why haven't I thought of that?

[Aleema]

First Impression:

Robin is oddly likable. Very rough, but I get the "nice deep inside" vibe.
Emmitt is funny. And adorkable. Sterling is an assface.
Marcus is a cool older brother. He seems the type to give noogies and bust your butt, but is there for you.
I love the Wincest name. I am a terrible person. I haven't even SEEN Supernatural.

"SKELETON UNICORN!" "You've lost speaking privileges again. Go sit over there."

We also need to start sharing band names. I was going to name mine "Rock Kittens" but since all the band mates are male... well I didn't want to be the reason none of them ever get laid again for the rest of their lives. I ended up settling for "Truth Decay". Not that creative. Used the star. Woo.

Rage-drinking. Lol, Robin. Lol, Ponytail. He'll forever be that in my mind.

"Quiet, mommy and daddy are talking." Poor, poor Emmitt. Forever the buttmonkey.

I liked how Dallas joined up.

I want moooooore~

I'm so glad you totally got it!! Yes, that's definitely what I was going for. Robin puts up a front, but maybe ... there's a reason for it all?

I'm also glad that you liked the humor. It was fun to write! xD

LMAO @ the "Rock Kittens". In the open-ended section, there will be females to recruit, so you can have that band title back.

Don't worry, I'll have more. <3

You know, it is a good idea that the other unimportant people get sprites too...
Why haven't I thought of that?

I agree! But ... I am poor. I am commissioning the sprites, and they cost money. ^^;
And I don't want the number of characters to be limited to how much money I have. But I agree. I wish I did have a sprite for every person I can think of.

[lepapillonrouge]

I don't know about you, but the fact that everyone shows their bad sides in the beginning is sort of interesting. I mean, Robin's reputation probably scared people away XD; So the guys that she's stuck with are as far as she can go. For now.
Though again. Soft side for Dallas. -is shot-
I think Emmitt will probably...maybe...hopefully will grow up. (Stress levels are going up! AGH! - is what I was thinking when Emmitt practices.) I also can't believe he's older than me XD
Is it bad of me that I laughed when Beau and his mom were talking in French. Maybe because I understood the conversation...
'Maman~"

I too would prefer if we had control of what the band's doing each and every day XD

[Aleema]

I don't know about you, but the fact that everyone shows their bad sides in the beginning is sort of interesting. I mean, Robin's reputation probably scared people away XD; So the guys that she's stuck with are as far as she can go. For now.

Yeah, characters that are perfect to begin with are boring. =P I designed everyone to start off at an extreme.

I think Emmitt will probably...maybe...hopefully will grow up. (Stress levels are going up! AGH! - is what I was thinking when Emmitt practices.) I also can't believe he's older than me XD

Haha, yep. I programmed him to be annoying (easily stressed), to give him personality. The good news: you can change this. And yes, he is rather childish right now. Maybe he just needs the chance to grow up ...

Is it bad of me that I laughed when Beau and his mom were talking in French. Maybe because I understood the conversation...
'Maman~"

Awesome! No, really, that's really cool. I'm glad that the mini-conversation won't be completely lost to everyone.

I too would prefer if we had control of what the band's doing each and every day XD

What did you have in mind? Do you mean, the game stops everyday to wait for a new action?
I admit I designed the system after Tokimemo, where you got to do two actions per week (weekdays, and weekends), and in this instance, I think it's best, mostly because the game needs to last a LONG time (a year and more). After a lot of playtesting, I sometimes got annoyed that there was a break for weekends at all. x_x Is that what you're talking about?

[Jake]

I too would prefer if we had control of what the band's doing each and every day XD

What did you have in mind? Do you mean, the game stops everyday to wait for a new action?
I admit I designed the system after Tokimemo, where you got to do two actions per week (weekdays, and weekends), and in this instance, I think it's best, mostly because the game needs to last a LONG time (a year and more). After a lot of playtesting, I sometimes got annoyed that there was a break for weekends at all. x_x Is that what you're talking about?

Personally, it didn't bother me so much that you select actions for chunks of more-than-a-day at a time, but that I was never sure quite how many days I was going to be selecting for, and that the ticking off of days made it feel like they were each important.

If you want to go for two actions a week, I'd recommend at the very least making it clear on the screen what period you're selecting for (say a "what should the band do this week?" or "what should the band do this weekend?" title). I'd also suggest avoiding the 'chunky' click-and-a-stat-update-per-day display and aggregate the whole period's changes into one update. Bonus marks if you can have the bars fill smoothly.

As an alternative, perhaps you could split the week roughly in half between Friday-Sunday (potential gig days) and Monday-Thursday (the rest of the week), so at least each period is as even as possible?

Personally, I'd be tempted to just present a scheduler a week at a time with slots for each activity for each day, and use a radio-button-a-like interface to select one activity per day for each band member, so that if I think that Robin should be spending (on average) 3 days relaxing and 4 days learning music, I can just quickly set it up and run the week without having to try and work that ratio out over three or four chunks of two or five days. I realise you want the game to last a long time and less-frequent events is good for that, but I'd have thought that just chunking events a week at a time should probably run just as fast.
(Of course, I guess there's a game-balance issue there as well - more control means that there's more chance someone can find loopholes and game the system... but for the 95% of people who play instinctively rather than mathematically, more choices means more feeling of control which I would expect should translate into more enjoyment - and less frustration with the game not letting them do something they wanted to do.)

[Starling]

I've been lurking around for a while, but the need to comment on this game finally pushed me to sign up XD Damn your awesomeness!

First off I'm very impressed with it's interface. Holy cow it's gorgeous. I'm also really impressed with the storyline. I love all the characters, even though none of them are perfect, they each have something likeable about them or something that makes you feel sorry for them. Though I really REALLY want to punch Sterling in the face... *just realized that her name is very close to his and makes a face* And I wanted to punch him on behalf of Robin~

As for the way the managing works.

I do wish that maybe you made it clearer that it was weeks and weekend. I don't mind that it runs in the format however (except for the fact that when you play a gig it goes to Sunday instead of Monday so you can play two and that confused me, and unless it's important for the game, maybe have the gig last all weekend?) And I don't mind the noises that go along, it reminds me a LOT of Princess Maker 2 in this regard, the way that somedays it fails to go up and others it doesn't and there's a little picture to go with it.

Overall you're doing an amazing job with this! Good luck with finishing it up

Edit: Also I noticed there was an option for 16 and Up in the Options page. I am really curious about this bit XD

[Aleema]

I've been lurking around for a while, but the need to comment on this game finally pushed me to sign up XD Damn your awesomeness!

Damn my awesomeness to hell! xD
Seriously though, that's a really nice thought. I really appreciate that, I do. <3

First off I'm very impressed with it's interface. Holy cow it's gorgeous. I'm also really impressed with the storyline. I love all the characters, even though none of them are perfect, they each have something likeable about them or something that makes you feel sorry for them. Though I really REALLY want to punch Sterling in the face... *just realized that her name is very close to his and makes a face* And I wanted to punch him on behalf of Robin~

Yeah, I really hate it when people try to rain on your parade for their own twisted pleasure.
There's so much about the characters that I just want to shout from the rooftops, but needs to be revealed piece by piece in the game. ^^ To writing, then!

I do wish that maybe you made it clearer that it was weeks and weekend. I don't mind that it runs in the format however (except for the fact that when you play a gig it goes to Sunday instead of Monday so you can play two and that confused me, and unless it's important for the game, maybe have the gig last all weekend?) And I don't mind the noises that go along, it reminds me a LOT of Princess Maker 2 in this regard, the way that somedays it fails to go up and others it doesn't and there's a little picture to go with it.

As the programmer, it's easy for me to lose sight on how others will perceive this mechanic. The playtesters, however, did not mention the lack of separation of Weekday/Weekend (and I, naturally, knew to look up at the calendar everyday to know), so it's something that I now know to address. Good catch.

In regards as to why you can do things on both Saturday and Sunday, I plan on making some actions take entire days. Like recording a song or shooting a music video (actually, that will take longer than a day), so I decided to give the weekend-only actions 2 chances a week so you could do something like record and then play a gig. So it's not Sophie's Choice. =P Also, to give you a "small" session (only 2 days) if you wanted to do something briefly, like Relaxing. If it's confusing, then I will consider trying the game with only one day to do something unique. Doing something like this will throw off the balance of the game right now (reaching the money goals will take twice as long -- unless I up the payment? hmm). Haha, don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud. xD

Edit: Also I noticed there was an option for 16 and Up in the Options page. I am really curious about this bit XD

NAUGHTY STARLING!
I may scratch the option and just put a warning on the game. I was afraid of cursing, questionable practices (like underage drinking), and ... other adult themes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to nix this as an option, and just hope you're mature enough.

[Starling]

Yeah.. I've been lurking around and following games XD~ But now I guess I'll become an active member of VN society like a good girl

As the programmer, it's easy for me to lose sight on how others will perceive this mechanic. The playtesters, however, did not mention the lack of separation of Weekday/Weekend (and I, naturally, knew to look up at the calendar everyday to know), so it's something that I now know to address. Good catch.

In regards as to why you can do things on both Saturday and Sunday, I plan on making some actions take entire days. Like recording a song or shooting a music video (actually, that will take longer than a day), so I decided to give the weekend-only actions 2 chances a week so you could do something like record and then play a gig. So it's not Sophie's Choice. =P Also, to give you a "small" session (only 2 days) if you wanted to do something briefly, like Relaxing. If it's confusing, then I will consider trying the game with only one day to do something unique. Doing something like this will throw off the balance of the game right now (reaching the money goals will take twice as long -- unless I up the payment? hmm). Haha, don't mind me, I'm just thinking out loud. xD

It became clear pretty soon in the game (when the instructions mention that gigs can only be done on weekends), but those first few weeks or so I was like: Why are so many numbers going by and then a little bit! *is a bit dense* I of course did not think to look at the day of the week and not just the date XD''''. And that makes more sense about the weekend. Two gigs in a row don't make as much sense but having choices to do... >_> XD''''

NAUGHTY STARLING!
I may scratch the option and just put a warning on the game. I was afraid of cursing, questionable practices (like underage drinking), and ... other adult themes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to nix this as an option, and just hope you're mature enough.

Lawl! I cannot help where my mind goes! I can see what you mean though, and I don't think the game would be the same without these elements so I can only hope I'm mature enough as well 8D... XD'

[lepapillonrouge]

Admittedly, I was thinking that 16 and up rating would be appropriate due all the...things of an adult nature in there (so far).

Starling: I was thinking, "hey, that sounds like Sterling." when I was looking at the names.

Now that I think about it, there's this Disney Channel star with that name. DX Hahaha.

[Yunome]

I've been lurking around for a while, but the need to comment on this game finally pushed me to sign up XD Damn your awesomeness!

Haha me too Starling! Well this and other otome games that simply ooze awesomeness Aleema i am in complete awe of your game making skills! I must say that i throughly enjoyed the demo and i found myself really liking Robin. You portrayed her personality really well and made her really likable and you actually want to make a completely awesome band just to, as Robin said, kick the pedestal out from under Sterling. Hard. I really liked all the obtainable guys well, all except Sterling. I just wanted to sock him for me a Robin both heehee. But that only shows how well your writing is to provoke those kinds of feelings! Right now i simply adore Dallas and i get a very protective vibe from him and it makes me just squee!! The only person i'm kinda on the fence about is Kirby. But maybe that's just colored from the side of me that was going " Kirby. Kirby! No! Why must you get stressed so easily?!" Heehee but i completely understand why you made it that way =]

So basically all i wanted to tell you was that i throughly enjoyed the demo and will be waiting with baited breathe for the completion of it!
Mercy that was a lot of writing just to convey that. I hope i didn't bore you to badly with it

[Aleema]

It became clear pretty soon in the game (when the instructions mention that gigs can only be done on weekends), but those first few weeks or so I was like: Why are so many numbers going by and then a little bit! *is a bit dense* I of course did not think to look at the day of the week and not just the date XD''''. And that makes more sense about the weekend. Two gigs in a row don't make as much sense but having choices to do... >_> XD''''

Oh, good! I'm glad it started to make more sense. Everything in the beginning is always confusing. So I knew exactly how you felt. x_x
But I'm still trying to find a nice equilibrium for the game, so feedback like this is important.

Lawl! I cannot help where my mind goes! I can see what you mean though, and I don't think the game would be the same without these elements so I can only hope I'm mature enough as well 8D... XD'

We all go there, don't worry.
And you're right, it just wouldn't be a rock'n'roll soap drama without cursing and questionable material. xD

Now that I think about it, there's this Disney Channel star with that name. DX Hahaha.

Oh, god! Even more reason to hate him! D:

Haha me too Starling! Well this and other otome games that simply ooze awesomeness Aleema i am in complete awe of your game making skills! I must say that i throughly enjoyed the demo and i found myself really liking Robin. You portrayed her personality really well and made her really likable and you actually want to make a completely awesome band just to, as Robin said, kick the pedestal out from under. Hard. I really liked all the obtainable guys well, all except Sterling. I just wanted to sock him for me a Robin both heehee. But that only shows how well your writing is to provoke those kinds of feelings! Right now i simply adore Dallas and i get a very protective vibe from him and it makes me just squee!! The only person i'm kinda on the fence about is Kirby. But maybe that's just colored from the side of me that was going " Kirby. Kirby! No! Why must you get stressed so easily?!" Heehee but i completely understand why you made it that way =]

So basically all i wanted to tell you was that i throughly enjoyed the demo and will be waiting with baited breathe for the completion of it!
Mercy that was a lot of writing just to convey that. I hope i didn't bore you to badly with it

Uwaaah! Another converted Ren'Pyite! *_* Welcome to the cult community ...
Thank you very, very, very, very much for the kind words. I do not deserve them. <3
And it's oddly satisfying to see how everyone is having the reaction I had planned for them to have: Stering is a jerkweasel, Dallas is knight in shining armor, and Emmitt is .... Well, The Emmitt. I curse his name from time to time, too. xD But I like it that way. Sometimes staring at stats can take away the human aspect, or their personality, and that's definitely not what I wanted. So thank you, I'm glad that Dallas isn't the only one you like, too. (Beau [and Emmitt] have an interesting path, I swear!)

And no, you didn't bore me. You've actually fueled me to do better! Thank you!