Club Shuffle [GxB]&[GxG][Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Fantasy]

[FailedSanity]

I am having feels over how beautiful your GUI is. @____@ I want to learn how to design like that!

This game looks super interesting! The over the top fantasy element to the clubs sounds like it will be fun to read, and the art is crazy expressive (more jealousy), I look forward to buying it. Will the physical thumb drive copy of the game be Mac compatible, or am I limited to getting the download?

[trooper6]

So, I just discovered this project. I'm going to tell you something. My first visual novel was Christine Love's digital...and the VNs I like best are not anime styled. When I see an anime art game...I am not excited...I feel like I've seen that over and over...and sometimes, when the toyukada (sp?)....um...you know that guy/gal with the sprite dolls...When people use that gal/guy, then I *have* seen it before. The writing has got to be something special for it to overcome my initial turn off from the anime style. It can be done, but the generic cute anime style is something that for me, must be overcome...and it is going to have to be a phenomenal commercial game for me to actually want to put down cold hard cash for it.

On the other hand, when I see something new and interesting in the art style, I am immediately drawn to it. And this art? It is amazing. Phenomenal! It really has that 1950s comic/illustration style. It is so good. One of the things I love best about it, that is usually lacking in the cute anime style with its tiny noses? The black people look like actual black people, as opposed to just anime people with brown skin!

This art is so gorgeous! The people of color look great, the women look like regular women and are not overly sexualized in some unrealistic way...I just love this art so much. I can't tell you. So much, I will buy this game just to support there being more diversity in VNs...and I mean diversity in all sorts of ways. And the GUI is great as well.

I believe my consumer dollars are more than just consumerism, they are also politics. I will almost always give money to a game that is doing something new, that is doing something that I perceive as furthering representation, that is progressive in some way. Or if I think the creators are doing important social things. I will give you money.

And I will give your team money just because of the amazing art.

Keep doing your thing!

[Starshine]

I like the way Vivian Townsend looks, she reminds me of MTV's Daria with her hair color and jacket, only more cute and doesn't have the glasses, and probably not as antisocial. I love sarcastic characters in novels, but not in real life though.

[FatUnicornGames]

Sorry I haven't been updating. My life kind of exploded for a while and I just wasn't inspired. This project IS NOT DEAD. I will say it may be quite a while before it is done due to my own silly ambitiousness and the busyness of the artist (he is working full time on network cartoons now!) However, I will finish this... eventually.

My plan right now is to rejigger the outline to the whole game and to try to find a person to help me reorganize what I have done so far and plan out how the paths will go for the rest of the game. I think part of my problem is I am making the paths too complicated with so many love interests. I am going to try to figure out a way to streamline the code, but still keep it true to my original vision.

Thanks for all the kind words and well wishes and keep hanging around, something will come of this, too much work has already gone into Club Shuffle to let it die.

[FatUnicornGames]

So, I just discovered this project. I'm going to tell you something. My first visual novel was Christine Love's digital...and the VNs I like best are not anime styled. When I see an anime art game...I am not excited...I feel like I've seen that over and over...and sometimes, when the toyukada (sp?)....um...you know that guy/gal with the sprite dolls...When people use that gal/guy, then I *have* seen it before. The writing has got to be something special for it to overcome my initial turn off from the anime style. It can be done, but the generic cute anime style is something that for me, must be overcome...and it is going to have to be a phenomenal commercial game for me to actually want to put down cold hard cash for it.

On the other hand, when I see something new and interesting in the art style, I am immediately drawn to it. And this art? It is amazing. Phenomenal! It really has that 1950s comic/illustration style. It is so good. One of the things I love best about it, that is usually lacking in the cute anime style with its tiny noses? The black people look like actual black people, as opposed to just anime people with brown skin!

This art is so gorgeous! The people of color look great, the women look like regular women and are not overly sexualized in some unrealistic way...I just love this art so much. I can't tell you. So much, I will buy this game just to support there being more diversity in VNs...and I mean diversity in all sorts of ways. And the GUI is great as well.

I believe my consumer dollars are more than just consumerism, they are also politics. I will almost always give money to a game that is doing something new, that is doing something that I perceive as furthering representation, that is progressive in some way. Or if I think the creators are doing important social things. I will give you money.

And I will give your team money just because of the amazing art.

Keep doing your thing!

Wow! Thanks so much! It was really really important to me to have a diverse cast to represent a wide array of people, not only of different races and backgrounds but also different body types. I have been doing some research when it comes to writing people who are different than me. I want to be sensitive and not to deal in stereotypes, but also not ignore that people of different sexes, classes (I wasn't raised by a billionaire!), sexual orientations, and POC have a different life experiences than I do. I also have a few people to look over my work and let me know if I'm getting off track that way (which I don't think I will, but better safe than sorry) including my best friend who does organization work with minorities (everyone from Native Americans to the Trans community) and she is a great resource for making sure I'm being fair.

Representing people of different body types was also very important to me. Vivian is short and curvy whereas her sister is going to look like an older version of Vivian mashed up with a supermodel. Monica is short and svelte. Jeanette is buxom to maybe a little chubby, but who isn't these days? Heather is pretty much a pin-up in real life and Rhiannon is built like an awkward string bean. And that doesn't even get into the men of the game!

I understand why people in the West lean on doing their VNs about Japan, but that route isn't for me. I am most certainly inspired by some of the tropes presented in anime and manga and this is kind of my ode to that inspiration. I've never been to Japan (most of what I know about their culture is through media) and I feel like I need to write what I know, thus the reason that Club Shuffle takes place in 'any city USA.'

I'm am really lucky to have access to such a wonderful (if busy) artist. He is so fantastic at character design and one of the things I have always appreciated him is that he doesn't inject the "male gaze" when it isn't appropriate. Also his "acting" (the way he draws emotions and body language) is some of the best out there in my humble opinion. Even though the main demographic may be women, I am really working hard to have this be something that a straight "dude's dude" could play (perhaps like Sweet Fuse) and not feel turned off by the content. He is also fantastic at drawing the diverse cast I devised in ways that express their individuality, instead of as you said white people with dark skin - I don't like that either!

Anywho - I look forward to getting the game done (someday!) and hopefully people will enjoy as much as I think they might.

I am having feels over how beautiful your GUI is. @____@ I want to learn how to design like that!

This game looks super interesting! The over the top fantasy element to the clubs sounds like it will be fun to read, and the art is crazy expressive (more jealousy), I look forward to buying it. Will the physical thumb drive copy of the game be Mac compatible, or am I limited to getting the download?

Thanks! A good friend of mine did the GUI - She went to school for Graphic Design for a couple years and she has great taste.

The thumb drive will probably come with all three versions, mostly because I don't expect the final product to be so big as to not fit on a thumb drive, but that may change. I will say that you will most certainly be able to get any version of the game in the special bonus edition. I have a bunch of plans for that version that I think will be fun including stickers, a mini art book, maybe a mini-comic, the soundtrack, wallpapers, and more! Of course the more stuff i put in it the more it will cost (for instance I'll have to pay the musicians extra to include the soundtrack) so I am trying to be thoughtful with what I include.

I like the way Vivian Townsend looks, she reminds me of MTV's Daria with her hair color and jacket, only more cute and doesn't have the glasses, and probably not as antisocial. I love sarcastic characters in novels, but not in real life though.

There is definitely some Daria in there. Vivian in many ways has a bunch of my worser personality traits pumped up, she is certainly sarcastic, but she is also deeply insecure, which is something that (if you do the right things) is something that you as the player will help her grow past. Also if you play in a specific way you will be able to make her crazy mean, which is a way to unlock a certain ending.

[trooper6]

If one of your characters is trans, I'll love you forever!

[BlueJayGames]

Love the art! Love the story! LOVE EVERYTHING!!! Very excited for this project!! Just wanted to pop in and say good luck!

[Green Glasses Girl]

Is this project still going strong? It has been quiet lately.

[KiloTango]

Oh my god the art is outstanding for this. Really nice to see a different style, I reckon it'll find an audience with western comics fans as well as the usual VN people.

Really digging the logo/ui as well, nice and retro feeling: I guess the school was built in the 20s?

[Broodelin]

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

Seriously though, I wish you the best of luck on this amazing project!

[FatUnicornGames]

Is this project still going strong? It has been quiet lately.

I'm finishing school at the moment and it has been taking a lot of time. We're on hiatus, but me, the artist, and the musicians are still on board when I have time again.

Oh my god the art is outstanding for this. Really nice to see a different style, I reckon it'll find an audience with western comics fans as well as the usual VN people.

Really digging the logo/ui as well, nice and retro feeling: I guess the school was built in the 20s?

Actually yes! That's what I was going with. I wanted the bulk of the school to have an art deco quality to it. It's a period of design I really like.

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

Seriously though, I wish you the best of luck on this amazing project!

Thank you! These things take time, so I appreciate all the good wishes! As soon as I have anything to show you guys I will.

[lockpicklogic]

This looks beautiful. I love the unique art style that gives the project a 1900's feel. My favourite character is Jeff Tesla; though he appears to lack sleep he looks like he has an interesting personality! Best of luck in finishing school.
*Patiently waiting for updates*