Old Topic - Please Don't Post

[broken_angel]

Glad you like it. ^^

As for the art...looking back, I probably shouldn't have poured so much money (around $350) into the art for a free game. xD;; But ah well...at least the characters aren't just for this game, so I was able to add that art to my collection as well.

I agree that there should be more fantasy VN games, or at least set in different kinds of settings. There are so many VN games set in high school, which is great for a teen audience, but for an older university (or beyond) student, high school dramas just don't cut it. Contrary to popular belief, high school was not the best years of my life and I don't particularly want to read about it. xP

And yes, I'm thinking of ways to address the pacing issue, especially with the Chael/Kirile path.
But it'll take basically a remake of their entire path in order to fix it at this point. ^^;;

[Melkoshi]

Not to highjack your topic or anything. XD but thats why I'm the sole artist in my project. Art is dead expensive, and i'm finding music to be the next big cost.

-is making a fantasy type VN for those interested- >.>

I still need to download this to give you my overall feed back. -goes off to download-

[broken_angel]

Don't worry, you're not hijacking anything. xDD

Yeah...I seriously wish I knew how to draw, because that would make things soooo much easier. Even though I'd probably still commission character art, I really wish I could draw backgrounds...that's my second biggest cost (because, to be honest, I'm perfectly happy just getting my music from free online sources). Backgrounds and scenes, for my next game, are estimated to cost about $1,000. -_______- Plus character art, which was already another $350.
...I really need to get a job, because otherwise, there's no way I'll be able to afford it.

And really?
I'd love to play it once you've got a playable version available. ^^

[Melkoshi]

I am planning a demo for this winter, so keep an eye out on the furoms. :3

For backgrounds, thats insane! I'm not much of a background artist myself(i'm more of a character artist/event cg artist.), but one of our forum users have found a in genius way of doing backgrounds using 3D. I highly recommend looking into it if you think you could follow along with it. At the least i'm using it to get the lineart for them done. http://studiomugenjohncel.wordpress.com ... ects-fast/


anyways ontopic abit:~

I just played abit of it. I like the overall story, the amount of choices really is driving, I love being able to pick everything if possible! I didn't care so much about her name, cause I'm playing -as her- so why need to change her name? XD

I also really like how you have the bios in the extras! I never thought to do that.

My only things I noticed that were abit off: During the beginning when she's writing....does that noise ever stop or did I glitch it?? XD It seemed to continue playing after the text was finished being drawn onscreen. I'm not sure if that is intended or I glitched it, but it's weird hearing a writing noise while..there's no more text being written. O.o

Also, during the tournament when her sprite is shown against a competitor, if i push "h" which is hide the text window. I can see outlines and brush strokes on the lower half of the sprite(which, granted is under the window.). I know you're not an artist, so was this just overlooked or did your artist never finish coloring?

[broken_angel]

Interesting. O.o
I have no idea what Sketchup is, but I'll look into it. Granted, I do plan to make my next game commercial (maybe...hopefully), so it may not be a permanent solution, but it may work for now. Thanks for the link. C:

Heh...no, you didn't glitch it. That's just how it is and I'm not sure I care enough to fix it, to be honest.

And as for the tournament, my artist just never finished coloring that last bit, which is fine because I cropped it off in most cases, anyway. But in those scenes, I wanted the bigger sprites, so that's why I used the originals which had the lineart at the bottom without coloring. And since it was below the text window, I didn't think it mattered.
Why would you want to hide the window, anyway? xD I didn't even know you could do that.

[Melkoshi]

XD truly, I didn't intend to snoop. I caught it as it moved and thought "that doesn't look right", so I hit the hide window button to see what I was looking at. It's nothing major, just made me go "huh?". Figured I'd ask about it. ^^

[nefferinthia]

Glad you like it. ^^

As for the art...looking back, I probably shouldn't have poured so much money (around $350) into the art for a free game. xD;; But ah well...at least the characters aren't just for this game, so I was able to add that art to my collection as well.

I agree that there should be more fantasy VN games, or at least set in different kinds of settings. There are so many VN games set in high school, which is great for a teen audience, but for an older university (or beyond) student, high school dramas just don't cut it. Contrary to popular belief, high school was not the best years of my life and I don't particularly want to read about it. xP

And yes, I'm thinking of ways to address the pacing issue, especially with the Chael/Kirile path.
But it'll take basically a remake of their entire path in order to fix it at this point. ^^;;

I had no idea it was that expensive! o: I actually kinda feel sorry for those VN makers who can't draw D:

And yeah, that's kind of exactly what I meant; no more high school settings! Even though I am 'teen audience' I'm getting a little tired of seeing countless of VNs looking like straight copies of each other, simply sporting different characters.

Mmm, it's not that big of a problem, really as I see it could be a lot of work. Don't worry about it too much c:

EDIT: Also, you said that this game was originally a story, I believe? o: Where can I read it? c:

[broken_angel]

Yeah...
Though it's probably my own fault for being picky about the artists I hire. xP

The original story hasn't been written yet due to my failure as a writer.
I just have a thread on Gaia (here on pages 2 and 3) that goes into a lot more detail about the story, characters and setting, if you'd like to check it out.

My next game will feature Seiko and the modern gang, which is who the story actually focuses on for the most part with periodic flashbacks to their past lives, but I don't think the game will actually be like the story. Rather, it'll have a new plot in itself that will be more light-hearted and sim-oriented.
Though if there's popular demand to see the actual story played out, I might make a kinetic novel for it or something.

[nefferinthia]

Wooh, you have Gaia too o: I'm a lot more active there than I am here; mind if I add you? c:

[icebluehost]

The only bad comment I could give for this was the fact that it was too short! I wanted more!!! LOL I loved the art and the story was good though like I said before, it was kind of short and too quick-paced for my taste.

The most interesting storyline was definitely Nefferon's. That was done really well. The others didn't really get to me or made much of an impact to me the way Nefferon's did, although I like Kirile the best. I wish that there was more to his storyline.

I also like the hearts. As a Harvest Moon player I recognized where you got the idea the moment you mentioned them. XD It was unique; not many VN's had that kind of system though I wished you had taken more advantage to using them in the game. When I read the walkthrough I read that you only used it mainly for Chael's and Kirile's path. Also enjoyed the mini-games. They're fun, even though they were easy.

I'm very surprised that this is your first (not sure about this but I remember reading that this game is your first) game. You really put so much effort into making something so grand and awesome with so much more features than you'd normally find in a first-time VN game. I wish I had that kind of determination and perseverance to create a game. I've been meaning to create one of my own but I keep putting it off. So kudos to you!

Looking forward to your next game! XD

[broken_angel]

To Harumi:

Sure, go ahead. ^^


To icebluehost:

Heh, well, I'll keep that in mind for next time.

As for the hearts...yeah, I plan to make better use of them in my next game. :3

And yes, it is my first, but I was probably only able to pull it off because I had come up with the game's concept long before I found Ren'py. ^^; I was just glad to find some way to make my game a reality, though even then, it changed a lot from the original design. It also helps that these characters are my babies - I've been nurturing them for many years now - so it was exciting to finally put their story (or a variation of it) down on paper.

Anyway, thank you for the compliments and critiques. C:

[RabbitDoubt]

Very good game. I sucked hard at first (I got ending 13 >>;) but luckily that's what walkthroughs are for! My favourite guy was Kirile.

I actually prefer shorter games. I can sit down, get an ending, and then later if I'm bored I can get another one, etc. It leads to a never ending cycle of trying to get lots and lots of otome game endings! xD

[chensterrain]

I've only managed to get a couple of endings so far, but I really love this game! I'm not generally a fan of fantasy settings, but the artwork was lovely and I really enjoyed the writing - I think I'm a bit of a Nefferon fangirl too, hoho. :3 (I agree with what other people have said about Kirile's path, though - he was my favourite at first, but his path was pretty short and he seemed to get to like the heroine a little too suddenly. Love his character design, though!).

As for your questions:
-The story's definitely very entertaining - I have to admit, I did switch off a little at the beginning, as most fantasy games seem to start off with the whole 'warring kingdoms' bit, but the story actually ended up being really interesting and well-written. :3
-The characters are a little cliche, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - I really loved Nefferon, who was probably the most unique, but Kirile was adorable!
-In story-oriented games, I'm fine with not being able to name the main character, but in stat-oriented games where the heroine is meant to be 'me', I'd rather choose her name.
-Any customisation would be great! I'm a sucker for different clothes and accessories, personally, especially when they're given to you by the boys in the game.
-I have to admit, graphics are probably the first thing I look at in a game, especially if I have to pay for it, hoho :B but I definitely wouldn't break the bank; I'd rather play a game with functional graphics and amazing characters / gameplay than the other way around.
-I liked the combat minigame, but I wasn't too fond of the DDR one (it took a little too long, and you didn't really even have to memorise the steps - maybe just having them flash up on screen rather than clicking each time would have been better?).

*Rambles* At any rate, great game, and I really look forward to your next one! I think I'll go back and get the other guys' endings~ :3

[broken_angel]

To RabbitDoubt:

13 isn't a bad ending.
Well...I guess it depends on how you look at it.

I think it's interesting that a lot of people like Kirile. Is it just his looks or what? xD
When I had my friends play it, all of them went for either Chael or Nefferon. Either way, the general consensus is that no one likes Duren...poor kid. xP It's not his fault that he has no personality.


To chensterrain:

Thank you for your feedback~

Personally, graphics are a big deal for me - if I don't like the character art, it won't keep me interested - so that's why I make sure that the art in my games (even with simple graphics) is high-quality.

As for the dancing mini-game...yeah, I would've rather done something a little more challenging with it.
But you think it'd be better if I just had the part where it went through all of them at once, rather than the first time where it went through each arrow individually? I'll take that into consideration, since that would be easy enough to adjust.

[Sublime]

I think it's interesting that a lot of people like Kirile. Is it just his looks or what? xD
When I had my friends play it, all of them went for either Chael or Nefferon. Either way, the general consensus is that no one likes Duren...poor kid. xP It's not his fault that he has no personality.

His looks are the best! Well, I know it probably sounds shallow but that's why I went for him first. Plus his attitude is just... Well, cute! I'm still a Nefferon fangirl, though. On another note, I checked out the link to Gaia with the additional information on the characters. Sounds like you've got a great concept going.