Fatal Hearts - Awaiting Release

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Okay man.

Just ask me if you need another beta-tester

[papillon]

Still not final art, but trying to devise correct costuming for the central characters so that the eventual artists will have a better idea...

[papillon]

(To anyone who was testing, there may have been a Problem involving saving and restoring games, causing data on what choices you'd made in the past to be forgotten and getting you onto the wrong path. If so, Oops. If you are still interested and want an updated version, let me know.)

[papillon]

Regular progress update - Just about to the end of Chapter 3, Randy Path Version. Next month, though, I will be going on vacation and not making much progress for a while.

Certain people can vouch that this is, indeed, a lengthy game. Do not expect it to be finished before sometime next year.

Also, if someone PMed me recently, I didn't get it - I logged into the forum one day and the top bar said I had -1 new messages!

[Alessio]

Hah, that could have been me. For some reason a copy of one of my older messages to you (that you already had answered to) had remained in my Outbox. Since it also was in my Sentbox, I deleted it from my Outbox - guess I messed up the system. :)

[DaFool]

Sorry getting off-topic, but I don't see messages to to my Sentbox, it only goes to Outbox.

I'm used to Outlook where a message only is temporarily in Outbox until it gets delivered, then is transferred to Sent Items.

So how does the Outbox / Sentbox in this forum work?

[Alessio]

I think the message stays in the Outbox until the adressee has opened/read the message, then it should move to Sentbox. So you know if somebody's already read it.

[papillon]

*sigh*

I keep experimenting with artistic effects in the hopes that I will find a way to make some scene backgrounds I'm happy with and save that little bit more money when it comes time to hire the final. But I don't think I'm really going to be able to get to anything that's acceptable...

Which means that in the end I may give away *tons* of not-great rejects, if anyone wants some pointless background art that isn't very good but is better than nothing.

[Attachment deleted, as I added another filter to it and the end result wasn't really that bad, so I may hold onto that and check it against character graphics when I finally have them.]

[Watercolorheart]

>_<;;

Um ...... I really hate to say it because I played through Fatal Hearts .... and I just haven't really been impressed by it, writing-wise, which is the only thing I can fairly judge it on right now. I don't mean to hurt your feelings, that was just my overall feeling.

[papillon]

> I played through Fatal Hearts

Um, no, you haven't. That's not physically possible, considering that you never received a working copy. You've played, at best, a short period of *broken gameplay* before getting derailed by the fact that it was broken. As I posted here.

If this is your way of complaining about me bumping my thread, you could have just said so.

[mikey]

I keep experimenting with artistic effects in the hopes that I will find a way to make some scene backgrounds I'm happy with and save that little bit more money when it comes time to hire the final. But I don't think I'm really going to be able to get to anything that's acceptable...

Is it completely unacceptable to be going with filtered photographs? With the right combination of filters, these are by far the cheapest alternative. And their perspective and depth of view is always correct (because it's a photograph).

Even pro VNs (even though I can only think of Water Closet now... or Maids' Story and some parts of Gibo IIRC)... used photos with blurs... And of course the mighty Phantom Of Inferno... it also has photo BGs (not even blurred, just... taken at night with a shaky hand ^_^)

Although I can understand if that kind of clashes with your overall style of games, as they are all hand-drawn(ish), but you know, just consider it, try it out, maybe it can help.

[papillon]

I'm concerned about using photography because the rights issues confuse me. If I take a photograph of the inside of a fast food restaurant, doesn't the fast food restaurant still have some claim over what I can do with it? (Not to mention the difficulties with removing any sort of visible branding and getting all people out of the way and so on.)

Some indie games people work in TV/Film on the side and have mentioned difficulties with even simple objects that appeared on screen, because the creator of the shoe/sock wanted to be paid for use rights. Obviously with enough filtering it becomes less likely that anyone will catch you, but...

When I was having trouble getting the 3d artist who did the Summer Schoolgirls backgrounds to turn in the final shots, I almost did send someone on assignment to just photograph everything, because that game was based around a real location and I could tell them exactly where to shoot.

[Speaking of, after Fatal Hearts is released, something involving SS will change. I think some of you can guess. But if you've guessed, DON'T SAY IT! Leave it as a surprise.]

It's hard to say what the final result will look like because so many graphics will be replaced. I tried dropping a commercial character on top of that 'painted' background and it just looked a mess. I'd be happy with photography IF I could get photographs of everything I need and IF I were reassured about the rights problems.

So far there's about 20 pictures that are just scene-backdrops, no characters, but that can go both up and down as the writing progresses.

3d-renders are a perfectly good option as far as I'm concerned.

[Alessio]

Brand names can be blurred (e.g. on a street, or on a soft-drink vending machine), that's probably less of a problem unless you really want the name to show.

You probably need to be careful with pictures of trademarks or protected design. Your example of a restaurant is probably correct if it's the interior of a fast-food chain with a specific look to it (the Golden Arches). Or take a specific car, or a designer chair.

But otherwise, public places and objects cannot really be copyrighted. If you take pictures in the city park, you're not going to be sued by the city, the street light manufacturers, or the Lord of the Trees. If you take a picture of a livingroom and remove the brand tag of the tiny little TV set in the corner, nobody will be able to guess who the manufacturer is.

So I guess in theory you're right, but if you watch it there shouldn't be big problems IMHO.

Edit: As for "getting people out of the way", I've been quite happy with the potential BG pictures on http://www.sxc.hu, there's always some photographer who catches the magic moment. :)

And of course the mighty Phantom Of Inferno... it also has photo BGs (not even blurred, just... taken at night with a shaky hand ^_^)

Yes, especially the one from inside a moving car. Gee, that's the worst BG I've ever seen in a game (commercial or not). ^_^

[Watercolorheart]

^LOL about the Phantom of Inferno BG

[RedSlash]

I'm concerned about using photography because the rights issues confuse me. If I take a photograph of the inside of a fast food restaurant, doesn't the fast food restaurant still have some claim over what I can do with it?

From what understand, a restaurant is a business and have the rights to refuse photography as a condition for entry. However, they should probably put a notice about that if they wanted to ban you from photographing.

In terms of branding, in the US, I think you can use trademarks in your work as long as you don't misrepresent it for what it isn't (i.e. the "m" sign for McD's can only be used to refer to the fast food chain known as McDonalds and not something else).