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The Project:
Fantasy Hearts (KHFH) is a Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy dating sim fan project. It was originally Operation Kingdom Hearts Dating Sim. KHFH is a personal pet project that was inspired by OPKHDS. A KH FF High School AU

You can befriend guys and girls.


Overview:
You wake up on a beach with no memory. You are taken by one of the guys to Destiny Gardens, the only high school of Balamb continent. But this world isn't what it seems. There is a game beyond the game.

Setting:
The world compose of the continents Pulse, Gaia, Cocoon, Centra, and Balamb.
Destiny Gardens are located in Destiny Islands of Balamb, the smallest continent. Centra contains the nation Galbadia and Esthar. Pulse is ruled by the city state Tenebrae. Gaia is under the control of Shinra Corp. Between Gaia and Pulse is great country of Wutai. Cocoon recently experienced a successful coup. The world very recently ended a World War and currently reconnecting through peace negotiations and treaties. The only ongoing war, that is coming to a close, is between Shinra and Wutai.

In game only Destiny Islands and bordering towns of Gaia will be accessible. Other locations will be mentioned and revealed as they play a part in the plot.



Characters (officially revealed)



Hikari (Default name)
Hikari does not have any memory of her past. She is cryptically told in order to survive, she must win the game. Hikari is trying to find her existence in this world as she befriends other students.
Hikari rarely interacts/speaks with other characters outside player control.





Cloud
Cloud is a Junior. He hopes to join the Gaia Army. However the war against Wutai is coming to a close, Shinra is no longer sending troops across sea. He originally attended Midgar's Radiant Garden. Radiant Gardens was destroyed from bombing. Although most students transferred to the much closer Twilight Garden, Cloud transferred to Destiny Garden to protect Zack's girlfriend Aerith. Zack, Cloud's best friend is fighting in Wutai.

He acts like your senpai/oppa. Cloud can be really emotionally dense at times but he's a big sweetheart. Zack also asked Sephiroth to look after Aerith. Cloud thinks Zack doesn't trust Cloud's ability. This cause Cloud to feel some form of animosity/jealousy towards Sephiroth.





Sephiroth
Sephiroth is a senior. He also attended Radiant Garden. His best friends Angeal and Genesis are fighting in Wutai alongside Zack. Sephiroth was rejected from the army for health issues according to his doctor Hojo. In absence of his friends, Sephiroth has devoted his time to bettering and protecting Destiny Gardens as the Student President.

Sephiroth is mysterious. There's no other reason except he's a workaholic and doesn't reach out for friendship. Cloud reminds Sephiroth of Angeal and Genesis. Seph basically trolls Cloud because he misses them.





(remaking game art)
Sora
Sora is a freshman. He's friendly and popular. He has a short temper but he forgives as easily as he blames. His friendship with Riku and Kairi has become rocky lately.

Sora holds a lot of thoughts inside. He forgives friends for a lot of things and jokes around but you can never tell how much. He talks a lot about trust and friendship but he's lacking someone who he can actually share everything with.





Characters (to be revealed or may be side characters)


Roxas (remaking game art)
Riku
Axel
Vincent
Kairi
Namine
Aerith
Xion
Squall
Lightning



Gameplay/GUI
Under development
RPG system is designed
Menu system is designed
buttons designed
(programming part is still iffy )
Map and BG are incomplete

Ideally game-play goes by the day/calender system. Each character have a route, side quest/stories, romantic extensions etc. but you are not bound to a route. You can choose where to go after school each day. Each route is a side plot to the main plot. It is possible, though difficult, to get every route finished in one game.

This dating sim uses an original specialized relationship point system. The player isn't penalized for anger or challenging the guy/girl. There isn't a specific right or wrong answer. There are at times one choice is favored but it is necessary to respond naturally or equally to advance. This is to encourage more natural answers instead of finding the kiss up answer. There's no fear if he/she gets angry or upset at you. The character has to get upset at one point to grow.

RPG wise, the main character fights with a two other party members. During events or side quests, party members are assigned to you. Other times you are able to use data copies of the characters and pick them yourself. This is called Charm Change. The charm of a character gain new abilities as your relationship become closer. The Main character can equip a charm and gain the character's ability at the cost of being unable to use that character as a party member. You can switch charms during battle.

The RPG aspect leans towards optional. However for the best endings and to finish the story completely, its best to not completely ignore it.








HELP ME!
;A;
This is a solo project (solo in terms of character art, bg, cg, programming, writing). This is my first renpy project and it is slightly over ambitious. But its also a fan project and its free. I'm wondering, do I need to make my own remixes for the music?

I'm still fighting the screen and image map language but I'm mainly worried about writing the rpg. I've made a simple rpg system on java and c++ before but I'm a newb at making objects in renpy. I'm still digging through the wikia to find the language equivalents here and there, this is makes programming really slow...

What I'm most concerned about is STATs like Charm Intelligence Athleticism etc. I personally hate grinding points for this in Dating Sims. But its a great way to control day system and plan the perfect game run. Do you its important , as in the player gains a sense of accomplishment with maxed arbitrary stats or a chore is a chore?



DEMO!

Oh and of course, I made a demo of a mid-game event that can be downloaded here : http://www.mediafire.com/?a5vs7s67nbzpiyz
(warning it is very raw and has not gone through an editor//its a test demo aka learning basic renpy)
A video of the demo here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROtO5zan ... 1358921939
This event is the most plot irrelevant, and humorous, event in the game.

Updates will also be made at khfh.tumblr.com and khfh.deviantart.com

Hmmm....Well, wow. When I first clicked this I wasn't expecting a fan dating sim of kingdom hearts and Final fantasy (Not that I didn't want one 8D). Well, the art is pretty cool, and the system your planning to use sounds awesome, and I'd love playing a game with that system, and an rpg's pretty cool, what sucks is that I can't help you, since I'm even more of a noob that you, but I would most surely love that system A LOT. And for the characters, I guess everyone has their point of view in character depiction, so I'm not criticizing that. And I was pretty much caught off guard with this XD, but it's a nice idea, and it being ambitious could be a good thing if in the end, you complete it all in an awesome way, and DAMN IT'S SOLO?! Your arts pretty cool, and I never really made a battle system so you're better than me at programming (I can only program choices and basic visual novel things V.V). And about the music, you could get some free music, those that aren't ripped off, and if you can't you could get a composer, or do it yourself if you can, but if none of those options are available, I wouldn't mind it being ripped off from other stuff, but I don't know if that's allowed. I'm really sorry I couldn't help you, but this is a pretty cool project, so good luck! ^-^

PLEASE TELL ME I CAN MAKE AXEL LOVE ME?!
This looks pretty cool. Normally I don't play fanfiction VN but this is just too awesome to pass up.
I'd offer to help, but I'm swamped, and to be honest, I probably wouldn't be much of a help.
Interesting for a dating sim. I would never have the guts to tackle a battle thingy whatsit. I ended up giving up on programming for one of the two games I am working on. -note to self, do more writing-
I'm sure if you posted in the recruitment section someone would be more than willing to give you a hand.
GOOD LUCK!

:> You guys are all sweethearts. I'm fine with soloing this. This project started half a decade ago when I was a wee middle schooler. I figured since its a free fan project, people aren't inclined to finish it. I got my friends to test play things. I can make remixes of KH and FF music ;v; and I'm working with high school AP Java knowledge. But the support from you guys is definately the biggest help to get things done >3<

I do need some opinions though. Like should I keep the traditional grinding for Charm/Intelligence/athletic points? Does anyone actually like that? I mean I felt pretty accomplished at the end of Persona when I maxed out my stats but it was really annoying.


You can date Axel. He's a fan favorite after all! He's probably the closest to a yandere. Axel is Chain of Memories and 358 inspired. Sephiroth is based off Crisis Core. Cloud is Crisis Core and Advent Children mix. Sora is Kingdom Hearts 1. I think everyone is a partial deconstruction of their stereotype.

Though the importance of friendship is stressed more than romance. I'm trying to get as many girl characters to befriend as there are guys. The audience isn't targeted towards girls only I suppose??

c2ii wrote: I do need some opinions though. Like should I keep the traditional grinding for Charm/Intelligence/athletic points? Does anyone actually like that? I mean I felt pretty accomplished at the end of Persona when I maxed out my stats but it was really annoying.

Well, it's annoying if there are too many things that require it, for example, you can only go out if you have charm, you can only talk if you have intellegence and you can only do any activity if you have athletism. Pretty much not being able to do anything without having that maxed out. Like in Persona 3 I had no problems cause I would max out all stats pretty early in the game, that's why it didn't bother me, but that's because I know A LOT about that game so it doesn't really count (My favourite game <3). But since it's a dating sim, I guess it would make sense to put one, but I don't really like to have limitations, maybe you could make them notice like "Hey, you're pretty intellegent now!", that would be rewarding (At least for me), or maybe add some other choices if you have x stats, since you're system is pretty awesome this could fit perfectly. What I'm saying is if they don't have any use at all, they're boring chores, but if are RESTRAINED by them, you get annoyed, so finding a nice middle-term to that would be the best option. And from my point-of-view, you're a pro, cause I don't know I'm not that good at programming, I can't do music....I'm such a noob XD, so yeah, I think this game will be good! ^-^
Good luck! ^-^

A KH/FF game? Man,you're amazing! And you're doing this SOLO? Well dang...
I checked out the video,and it triggered my curiousity to play this game. So I'll be keeping my eye on this.
I love the fact that you're not going to have right or wrong answers and make them more natural. The RPG system sounds very intriguing,nothing like other RPG's I've seen before.
How will the day/calendar system be? Actually,to rephrase it,how many days will the game have? Are there going to be any seasons,or just a normal time-setting?
Art now.I really like the sprites and I can't wait to see the oth...HOLY COW YOU'RE ADDING VINCENT? Please tell me he's dateable!!! 8D
Ahem...back to typing.

c2ii wrote:I do need some opinions though. Like should I keep the traditional grinding for Charm/Intelligence/athletic points? Does anyone actually like that? I mean I felt pretty accomplished at the end of Persona when I maxed out my stats but it was really annoying.

I'd like this to have a stats raising system,gives a nice touch to the game. But I second what Aines said,that it's annoying if many game actions require it. I suggest setting the difficulty to a medium,so the player can have that satisfaction when achieving maxing the stats without it getting annoying at the same time.
Overall,this looks promising,and I wish you good luck in completing it.
Cheers!

Vincent is dateable.

There are 365 days in a year : P.
The plan was every quarter there are exams for an entire week. You would need a certain amount of points of intelligence to get good grades. Of course there will be questions for the player on the exams that could help boost the grade. Athletic is needed for sports events. There are also a few options to make good play but to do well you would need athletic. How well you do in these events will then increase relationship points with multiple characters ala Harvest Moon style.
Finally charm will give you extra relationship points. (ex lv 5 charm means you get 15pt instead of 10). Very Persona inspired.

The stats points would then trigger bonuses on your actual fighting stats as they increase.

There is a quiz in the beginning that not only picks out the guy you meet on the beach but also your charm int atheltic lvs. You can choose sword shield magic in the dream which changes your stat growth. The point values for each of these parameters aren't set in stone yet.

Which is why if I want to get rid of Charm/int/etc , it has to be now before the calculations X_X.

The problem here is pacing. I know every experienced gamer spends the beginning maxing their stats. Do you think it takes the fun out of the game. Should the game force the player to pace or reward the player for pacing?

The game does go by seasons, I call it stages. Stages are separated based on plot events, hence its less predictable. Main events are scripted on certain days, the Garden Festival in January for example would trigger the event in the demo. Characters have a certain amount of route/hang out events at a each stage. Once the stage pass and you missed the route event its not possible to get the best ending. Route events will always trigger before hangout if the player has enough relationship points. Some hangout events require other routes to be at a certain point. Like you may need to hang with Riku and Sora to get a joint hangout event.

So if you ignore Roxas for example til the last month, don't expect to get as many events. Best endings are triggered by completing all route events of the character, its okay to miss hangout events.

Visually Destiny Island is quite tropical and tends not to change with the season.

Yeah a lot of time was spent planning ;v; but planning is very important, you can't write game mechanic without it....at least its what I tell myself

My gods you've thought this through.
I commend you greatly.
I find stat raising boring - unless it's done in the right way. I've only played one or two actual sims, so I'm not exactly knowledgeable about it, but I think that the player should be able to raise stats, but not be forced to raise them, if that makes sense? it really doesn'y make sense at all
But in the end it's up to you as the creator.

If you definitely want to include game mechanics, that will result in much more time needed for programming and bug testing. Take some time to decide what sort of gameplay you want now. If it helps, start simple.

If you want to take design cues from another video game, that's fine. (I liked the friendship system in P4, but the events are static, and not much changes when replaying the game...) But don't feel like you need to model Fantasy Hearts after any specific game. If you can spare some time, try a variety of games for inspiration and ideas. Heartache 101 is one that's easy to recommend, since it's a worksafe, freeware game in English that will work on most Windows PCs. It includes stats, dice-rolling for random events, town exploration, and more.

First of all, you are awesome! Kingdom Hearts is my favorite game of all time, and otome is my favorite genre, thus you make a perfect combination

I love stat raising games, but you might want to add random events in a reasonable interval to avoid boredom. I'd say go for rewarding player for pacing, but this is my opinion though.

All the best for this project!

c2ii wrote: There are 365 days in a year : P.
The plan was every quarter there are exams for an entire week. You would need a certain amount of points of intelligence to get good grades. Of course there will be questions for the player on the exams that could help boost the grade. Athletic is needed for sports events. There are also a few options to make good play but to do well you would need athletic. How well you do in these events will then increase relationship points with multiple characters ala Harvest Moon style.
Finally charm will give you extra relationship points. (ex lv 5 charm means you get 15pt instead of 10). Very Persona inspired.

The stats points would then trigger bonuses on your actual fighting stats as they increase.

That's nice! Well planned and everything, I just LOOOOVE your system! I really do, like how your not really restricting gameplay, and that's really nice. I think that's great. And I'm gonna really get this system if its persona inspired. (Which means I'll love this game more ^-^)

c2ii wrote: There is a quiz in the beginning that not only picks out the guy you meet on the beach but also your charm int atheltic lvs. You can choose sword shield magic in the dream which changes your stat growth. The point values for each of these parameters aren't set in stone yet.

Which is why if I want to get rid of Charm/int/etc , it has to be now before the calculations X_X.

I don't think you should get rid of that, I actually like it, and that it gives bonuses in your battle stats and all of that (I just really love the system. SOOOOOOO BAD YOU JUST MUST BE A PRO ^-^). And heeeey.... I remember that part from kindgom hearts ( I always chose the staff or the sword XD).

c2ii wrote: The problem here is pacing. I know every experienced gamer spends the beginning maxing their stats. Do you think it takes the fun out of the game.

I don't think that takes the fun out of the game. For example in Persona 3 I'd max out my stats (Very fast might I say so myself 8D) and then I'd do the social links I'd like, and still fought and trained and did everything I wanted to do. It's not boring if you have more things to do, like you raise a stat then you go do whatever...So yeah, It doesn't really take the fun out of the game or Persona 3 wouldn't be my favourite game ^-^.

c2ii wrote: Should the game force the player to pace or reward the player for pacing?

PLEASE DON'T FORCE THE PLAYER TO PACE =(
Yeah, that's one of the things I was saying in the other posts. You should REWARD the player for pacing, that makes people feel acomplishe you know, like in Persona 3 you'd get stuff if you had the best grades, It DID make me feel acomplished with everyone just saying "Wow, she's so cool!" (What's with me and Persona 3 examples now?? O.O). Forcing the player to pace is one of the annoying thigs in stat raising, because you want to have some fun but then you're forced to raise this stat or you lose the game, THAT WOULD REALLY SUCK.

c2ii wrote: The game does go by seasons, I call it stages. Stages are separated based on plot events, hence its less predictable. Main events are scripted on certain days, the Garden Festival in January for example would trigger the event in the demo. Characters have a certain amount of route/hang out events at a each stage. Once the stage pass and you missed the route event its not possible to get the best ending. Route events will always trigger before hangout if the player has enough relationship points. Some hangout events require other routes to be at a certain point. Like you may need to hang with Riku and Sora to get a joint hangout event.

So if you ignore Roxas for example til the last month, don't expect to get as many events. Best endings are triggered by completing all route events of the character, its okay to miss hangout events.

Visually Destiny Island is quite tropical and tends not to change with the season.

Yeah a lot of time was spent planning ;v; but planning is very important, you can't write game mechanic without it....at least its what I tell myself

That sounds simple enough (In terms of playing not programming you're just awesome cause I love those game mechanics). That's a nice idea, and planning IS a good thing, I'm just lazy and improvise my way through whatever XD. So you're doing really good, and I expect good things from this game, fan game dating sim or not! Good luck! ^-^
(By the way, I really love that system, I would hate it if it changed. ITS AWESOME ^-^)

You guys are really helpful! >x<
Okay more questions <3

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Attributes Money Jobs and Gifts

I know I'm not a fan of the work->money->buy->gift routine.
I actually hate it. So far gift giving is restricted to events. (Ex. once they all get sick, you can get them something to feel better). But with working, comes another way to use the charm/blahblah stats. And who doesn't like munny/gil? The routine gets tedious and cheap. It becomes more about getting the guy rather than experiencing the route.

You can't buy love! But it certainly helps! Should players be given more opportunities to give gifts?

By force pacing I mean, should I introduce the places where you can increase stats over time rather than give the player access from the beginning?
These places would be introduced as a result of an event.

(Eat ice cream with Roxas opens up part time ice cream store job)
(go to blitz ball team with Kairi and open up Athletic training)

This basically force the player to pace the first month to open up for locations/ access

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A little explanation of the Specific Relationship Point System

;v; I'm only against random or dice rolling because it often makes me feel like I have no control. I like RPGs that make me feel like I can control what I do and want. KHFH was inspired by Persona 3 but modified the system greatly. I was playing P3P and I had a BAM moment. The modifications basically revolved around what I thought could improve the system.

(One issue for example with Akihiko, you get less relationship points if you drink coffee instead of hot chocolate.....seriously something like that shouldn't have a right or wrong answer. Of course you find out he likes taking care of you because you're like a little sister. I felt like I had no room for expression)

Instead of giving right or wrong the specialized relationship point system does exactly what it says on the tin. Answers of 6 attribute, these attributes are paired (ex. optimistic, realistic is one pair). The half of these attributes is if you reply with positive tone the other half a negative tone. There are choices that are more favorable in a situation.

Very often someone like Cloud needs someone to call out his bullshit rather than pity. Someone like Sephiroth may rather hear the down to earth reply over some impossible optimism. And sometimes Sephiroth might need a boost of hope. Thus its situation minded how points are distributed. Route events are trigger with a minimum TOTAL relationship points. Which mean picking a favorable answer is rewarded. BUT!

Scheduled events will give each character a Minimum Attribute Requirement before they are eligible (there is a default character to be your host if your pts aren't high enough for anyone else). For example Riku likes being the one to call someone else's idea stupid and enjoys being a troll. You would need a minimum Optimism attribute and some Complain attribute. If there is more than one character you are eligible for then there will be a menu to choose who to go with.

Should I display the attributes on the character status screen? AKA should players have access to it ? Or is it better hidden? Players will not see the requirements for sure.

Also, would you like your total attribute points displayed in the player status? It'll be a full personality analysis.
Should your total attribute points trigger some form of response/event/SoM3th1nG????
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I'm new at Renpy but Programming is Programming?

I'm writing the RPG component separately and testing it separately first. Well everything game mechanic wise should be. Calling events from the main. In renpy I can open up a new tab and write a label that can be jumped to anywhere right? (makes everything so much simpler). The game mechanic is easy to apply if I make a character class....right x_x? Its...the same in renpy I hope? Java made that really easy. I abuse Classes and Objects. Its just declared differently. This part will be a lot more time consuming than the Graphics.

I guess I prefer this kind of coding more. I don't like working on GUIs and graphics/transitions. Testing through that is hellish to find where I forgot a hide Character. But with Game mechanics, if tested in a controlled environment, one can tell whats not working immediately. That programmer gets zest out of problem solving. ....you guys get me right?
output: 9001

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Random Ideas and Mission of KHFH

The other completely optional idea (that is at the very bottom of the list )was you could choose not to involve romantically with a guy but instead encourage an relationship with another person. Seriously I'd play a game like this just to get my OTP together T_T. But that seems like a feature most people would ignore.

Basically a fan project is made by fans for the fans. There's plenty of fanfictions in this fandom. There's no lack in imagination, angst or fluff. KHFH should be an experience where you're writing your own story as you play. KHFH is not commercial, its mission is to make people have fun and be happy! I really appreciate helping me find out what makes a game enjoyable.

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Oh right! Can I post concept designs and WIP CGs on the forum? (And ask which menu design looks better etc. ?)

And do any of you have some sort of event you want to experience in game?

I only feel a little disappointed with this because Balthier, Zell, Zack, Jecht and or Auron won't be datable characters. Thought you seem to be aiming for 7-8 more 'p-o-p-u-l-a-r' characters, so it can't be helped...

Coach Sir Jecht would win my heart any day though... With blitz-balls.

Good luck on the project none the less, you have a lot of work to do.

p.s.

Haha funny thing is I didn't pick the character roster! The only one I added is Squall I think. This is basically a private continuation of Operation Kingdom Hearts Dating Sim on Deviantart. I sort of want to finish what I couldn't do before. Or I would have added Kain or Firion on there for sure..... =_= maybe just make another game for just Final Fantasy and use the same mechanics...

TTwTT hopefully this becomes a game non fans can play too

ShippoK wrote:I only feel a little disappointed with this because Balthier, Zell, Zack, Jecht and or Auron won't be datable characters. Thought you seem to be aiming for 7-8 more 'p-o-p-u-l-a-r' characters, so it can't be helped...

... Or at least can I have auron? XD But then again he might be too old for the heroine~

Won't there be Terra/Tidus/balthier? Especially Balthier being ranked ninth on IGN's top 25 Final Fantasy characters list... :<

But anyhow, great progress you have here. Good luck!