The Edge of Magic (Modern fantasy) [Demo]

[AsagiMete]

Today somebody gave me a really interesting idea that I might implement. While I love voice acting, there's no possible way that I could do it for the entire game. It just isn't in the cards. Too many girls, too many lines, and a very unwilling Asagi to attempt voice acting. Bad voice acting is bad! But then someone gave me an awesome idea. What if I were to add voice acting for Lunin's inner monologue (when he goes into NVL mode)? I've got a willing male voice for him who is good. Not as sexy as I wanted, but good. Would it be a nice touch or would it just be strange and distracting?

[Blane Doyle]

Hmn... that would be the exact opposite of many translated games, where the narration and main male character have no voice at all.

I think it might be a bit strange for only one part of the writing to have narration. It is a cool idea though.

[evgaming]

I'm 100% for a voiced narrator. I think the idea, if done well, can really transform a game for the better. (Bastion anyone? )

[AsagiMete]

Hmn... that would be the exact opposite of many translated games, where the narration and main male character have no voice at all.

I think it might be a bit strange for only one part of the writing to have narration. It is a cool idea though.

I'm not sure why they do that. Whenever I ramble at myself, I always hear my voice. Voicing everything would be cool, but that's too much for a rookie like me.

I'm 100% for a voiced narrator. I think the idea, if done well, can really transform a game for the better. (Bastion anyone? )

I've never played Bastion. What's it about?

[Blane Doyle]

Oh, the reason they do it isn't too much of a mystery. Or at least, one of the possible reasons isn't.

Ihe guys playing it are supposed to take on the role of the character in many dating sims. (That is why they have generic looks, names, and simple personalities too, I think) No voice, no other guy in your head. You become that character. Also, they can read his lines (I do that for kicks, it's actually pretty fun).

[AsagiMete]

Oh, the reason they do it isn't too much of a mystery. Or at least, one of the possible reasons isn't.

Ihe guys playing it are supposed to take on the role of the character in many dating sims. (That is why they have generic looks, names, and simple personalities too, I think) No voice, no other guy in your head. You become that character. Also, they can read his lines (I do that for kicks, it's actually pretty fun).

But that's just booooooooooooring. Could you imagine reading The Hunger Games or Harry Potter and having a bland, generic, weak main character? It's awful, cruddy storytelling!!! Maybe I'm not very good at the whole visual novel dating game thing, but I want my stories to have fun, interesting, and unique main characters, not blank sheets for the reader to plaster themselves on! I can't stand that about most VNs I've read. Oh well, I guess that means I'll never be a good dating sim writer. <3

[Blane Doyle]

I know it is! XD
But that's how it works in a lot of the games, many times so the player can become the character themselves. I don't know how I played through both Da Capo games without calling the main characters the wrong names. I enjoyed it. But I almost mixed them up SO MANY times.

They usually have one or two characteristics to separate them from other MCs, but they're almost all ordinary high school boys with basic personalities if it is a high school based dating sim or slice of life story. (And I like this genre too... I take so much amusement out of this.) Not ALWAYS, but it's common.

I prefer it when the main character has a different personality. That's why I enjoy games like 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, Higurashi, and Corpse Party (Ok, that one has multiple main characters so it's cheating a bit). Heck, Magical Diary: Horse Hall sort of runs on the "insert yourself" stereotype, as it is practically self aware and seems to just love playing with that stuff, and still has the main character have an interesting personality (depending on your choices, you can force her to be boring if you want to, but who wants to?), I loved it because of that!

Wow, that was longer than expected...

[AsagiMete]

I know it is! XD
But that's how it works in a lot of the games, many times so the player can become the character themselves. I don't know how I played through both Da Capo games without calling the main characters the wrong names. I enjoyed it. But I almost mixed them up SO MANY times.

They usually have one or two characteristics to separate them from other MCs, but they're almost all ordinary high school boys with basic personalities if it is a high school based dating sim or slice of life story. (And I like this genre too... I take so much amusement out of this.) Not ALWAYS, but it's common.

I prefer it when the main character has a different personality. That's why I enjoy games like 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors, Higurashi, and Corpse Party (Ok, that one has multiple main characters so it's cheating a bit). Heck, Magical Diary: Horse Hall sort of runs on the "insert yourself" stereotype, as it is practically self aware and seems to just love playing with that stuff, and still has the main character have an interesting personality (depending on your choices, you can force her to be boring if you want to, but who wants to?), I loved it because of that!

Wow, that was longer than expected...

I know, right? There are a couple games I won't mention when I could swap protagonists around and have zero effect on the story.

I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate those high school based dating sims! It's part of the reason that I have a hard time taking visual novels seriously as a medium. I know people like the bland characters so they can pretend (there are a few even I tend to really enjoy) but there comes a point when you gotta try new things! I know I get worked up about this, but there's so much we could be exploring, so many frontiers of story telling that no English visual novel has treed that returning to the same generic premiss annoys me to no end!

[evgaming]

I've never played Bastion. What's it about?

Here's a clip from the start of the game. Completely different genre, but it's food for thought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Kthr0ua2A

[Blane Doyle]

Well you clearly take it seriously after all since you are working in the medium. XD
Most people who work in a medium and don't take it seriously don't become passionate about it.

This is why I love the OELVN scene. There are great VNs that are translated that break the mold and even more that are not translated that do so. I'm glad to see so many ideas on this forum and elsewhere that break the mold and try new things, big or small. But I also enjoy ones that stick to what I know, going back to basics is always fun as well.

Hmn... as much as I enjoyed this conversation I think we are a BIT off topic for your game. Uh... let me see, how to get back on topic...

I'm glad to see you're trying new stuff! (Yeah, no, nice try Bane that's just sad.)

(And Bastion is awesome. I have it as an app on Google Chrome. So much fun and interesting story telling methods are used.)

[AsagiMete]

I've never played Bastion. What's it about?

Here's a clip from the start of the game. Completely different genre, but it's food for thought.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Kthr0ua2A

I totally need to see if I can get my narrator to do that voice!

Well you clearly take it seriously after all since you are working in the medium. XD
Most people who work in a medium and don't take it seriously don't become passionate about it.

This is why I love the OELVN scene. There are great VNs that are translated that break the mold and even more that are not translated that do so. I'm glad to see so many ideas on this forum and elsewhere that break the mold and try new things, big or small. But I also enjoy ones that stick to what I know, going back to basics is always fun as well.

Hmn... as much as I enjoyed this conversation I think we are a BIT off topic for your game. Uh... let me see, how to get back on topic...

I'm glad to see you're trying new stuff! (Yeah, no, nice try Bane that's just sad.)

(And Bastion is awesome. I have it as an app on Google Chrome. So much fun and interesting story telling methods are used.)

Oh, yeah! That whole topic thingy. Ummmmmm... Yeah, so that's why I like asking about what people think about adding things like side images and NVL narrators. I still need to find people to do the basics first, like proofreading, before I worry about beating my sensei to do the voice acting.

[AsagiMete]

My teacher has been hinting that his studio (my financier) was in danger for a while, but I confronted him yesterday and saw the long-term budget for both of us. Just enough for the backgrounds. I'm grateful he gave up his own game's funding to support me, but now we have no money for CG art for the game. Asagi's scrambling her brains trying to figure out how to fix this. Would everyone be alright with no CG art? I mean, the story most definitely can stand on its own, but I'm worried that cutting the CG will hurt any interest in it. I can't afford a pretty interface now or unique music either. ;.; I don't know what to do. Sensei isn't being helpful either. For a veteran novelist, he's packing his bags up too early! He's completely crushed... I wish someone would talk to him, he's not listening to me anymore.

I dunno... Asagi is thinking of ways to fix the problem that don't resort to just not adding any CG. Does anybody have any or is cutting CG out the best plan?

[papillon]

When you have enough script completed for people to be reasonably sure the game is not going to disappear (many promising WIPs vanish without a trace, no matter how much nice promo art they showed ahead of time) it shouldn't be that difficult to fundraise for what you need for extras. Either through something like kickstarter, or (for a commercial project) reaching an arrangement with another studio.

It's certainly possible to make a game with no or very few CGs but there will be disappointment, and collecting the CGs often helps give people a sense of achievement and keeps their motivation up to explore the game.

[Auro-Cyanide]

I agree with Papillon, your first concern should be your script. CGs don't usually come about until once the script is finalised anyway so it's good to be sure what you have written isn't going to be changed, otherwise you are going to end up with wasted art. I also agree that if you are looking into Kickstarter or possibly finding a free/for profit artist working on the script will be the best thing to prove yourself since it's something you can actually do without an artist. Lots and lots of people drop projects so you can try to prove you aren't one of them, especially since you have no prior completed projects, if you want people to give you money or free labour.

If you are going to try for a free artist, be very careful. Unproven free artists are best on small projects, not big ones. The last thing you want is to have people drop out and leave you with a couple pieces that don't match anything. Choose carefully.

As for CGs, I like them but I primarily use them as a collection thing XD I love collecting things, but I would play a game without them. They are kind of a standard in VNs and people will expect them and there are going to be places in your story that could really use a CG. I would actually put a GUI before CGs though since people stare at it for a lot longer.

[AsagiMete]

Heya! Asagi here with the latest news! I'm pleased to report that the backgrounds and script are still on the carefully laid out plan! I'm planning on having the script finished by the holiday's end! However, without the CG art being started by now, I'm very sad to report that we won't be able to meet our 04 March 2012 release date. The good news is that I rehashed a new and totally awesome plan to get the ball rolling again! Right now, I'm setting up a demo for the kickstarter AND found a really awesome person to help me with some of the miscellaneous costs to drive down what I'll need from the kickstarter. We are also going to be setting up a website soon as well! I'm also starting updates on my twitter (that I forgot about ) at https://twitter.com/AsagiMete . Things are getting really exciting around here.

That's it. I just wanted to leave a post so people know that Asagi is still hard at work! Here's another glimpse of the South Pacific island that the story takes place on.