Magicians of Delphine[GxB][BxB][Dating Sim]ALPHA(July 8)

[akemicchi]

LOL aaaah I swear he won't be as overpowered as he sounds when I finally get the stats and damage calculations worked out!

Hmmm, yeah, I figured having a lot of them would just start impeding on the battles. I probably wouldn't like it when I'm attacking enemies and everyone just has casual conversations in-between. It's like, "No, stop it, not now, THIS ISN'T THE TIME." I was initially going to put jokes mid-battle but you're right, that's totally inappropriate, haha Maybe I could do something like Fire Emblem where a button will show up so players could click it if they want to see a scene (not dialogue, but a 10 line scene or something)? I'd still limit the number that can be seen per battle though. I don't know-- I just really want to think up of a whole bunch of battle scenarios. Maybe I should just go ahead and think up of a lot (20! Or even 50!!) but only make one seen at a time? So people will actually have a reason to play the battle system... _(:3/ L)_

I really want to limit the amount of clicks a player has to make during the whole thing. I don't want them clicking all the time because I hate doing that in a game. :P I think the best option would probably be putting dialogue at the bottom of the screen during transitions so they'll automatically disappear. It'll be mandatory but unobtrusive enough so the players have the option to read it if they want. Yeah, I think I'll do that...

Thank you very much! :D

[Akitsuki]

Actually I don't really mind having funny conversations during battle! It might be out of place, but aren't the dialogs in your game having jokes here and there LOL? So I guess it wouldn't be that weird to have jokes during battle too since your game isn't all about serious battle game.

[Mad Harlequin]

I probably wouldn't mind silly side comments during an early training session since the characters are still getting to know each other, but I feel they'd be out of place in serious encounters.

[chaos]

i wouldn't mind jokes and conversations either! what i'd also love to see is characters reacting to others getting wounded or knocked out, and maybe their relationship could change their initial reaction? or is it just me being a sadist and wanting to see all my romance options crying out when aleo goes down first? 8D;; WHOOPS.

i would also really like scenes or meaningful conversations happening, particularly during serious battles. i think it adds weight to the battle, and makes it all the more enjoyable. fire-emblem style "partnerships" would be really awesome too, if that's possible. that's just my two cents, however.

Ahh, I see, I see! I'd like to change my own username but I've had this account for so long I don't want to leave it, haha. Awesome though. Any games you have planned yet?

aye, there's a fantasy otome i'm brainstorming right now, though it may take a while before i gather the motivation for a proper start, ha ;o;

[LliiraAnna]

What I've meant is that I'm not against silly conversations, as long as they are not out of place in the context of a situation - for example if someone's dying, joking would be out of place, and the dialogue should be serious so as to enhance (and not to break) the atmosphere of the scene. Otherwise, I really like the idea.

Oh, and I also would like to see the characters reacting to someone being wounded/knocked out
(*Aleo goes down*
Character X: "ALEOOOO NOOOOOOO!!!11" -
*Every enemy just took over9000 sonic damage. You've won*.)

[Erikka]

I'm really looking forward for your progress on this game))
It looks cool!
Is there going to be sexual content in the game?

[euphorics]

I'm so behind on everything and have no idea what the main focus of your thread is right now weeps (and too lazy to read through all those pages aha...ha;;; )
BUT I JUST WANTED TO SAY. I LOVE YOUR GAME SO MUCH EVEN THOUGH IT'S ONLY THE DEMO AAAA
This has been the most amusing game I've played in a while, and amusing is an absolute, complete understatement - I kept laughing uncontrollably at everything and even the placeholder/wip CGs were so amusing I even ended up taking screenshots omg (potential spoiler...???)
(Also please note the time in that screenshot there. THIS WAS HOW MUCH FUN I WAS HAVING. I was completely awake at ~4 in the morning, having the time of my life omg)
I had a hard time choosing who to go after at first (though it is a demo after all, so it doesn't make much difference I guess), which goes to show how great all the characters are -- and the main character's attitude (what a baka jk I don't even know how to describe the MC, but it was so refreshing and fun to play as them aaaa; if it makes any difference, I decided to go as male bc BL coughs) made me make a lot of reckless decisions LOL, BUT.
I ended up going after Sho because I liked his look from the start heheh, aND I WAS RIGHT. I'm really looking forward to the completed sprites so I can see all his expressions *___* His blushing face, omg. It was really hard to resist teasing him all the time and trying to go against everything he said.....;;;
I was also really sad that I unlocked certain CGs but couldn't see them weeps OTL OTL I hope I can make the same decisions in the second demo and be able to get them again, ohman.
Also I don't know if this even needs saying anymore, BUT YOUR ART. YOUR ARTTT I've always loved how clean and amazing your style was, bUT IT WAS SO AMAZING IN THIS GAME. I CANT. Even without full colors, I couldn't stop admiring how effortless all the lines seemed, and how accurately and nicely all the details were drawn and aughghhgh I love how much personality each of the characters have?? Both through the writing and the art, everything's so great ;____; I kept wanting to close the text box (there is probably a control for that that I'm unaware of oops) just so I could admire the sprites, argh.

This is getting a bit long but, ON TO the discussion questions!

1. How was the pacing of the gameplay and writing? Was it too fast? Too slow? Did you feel it was a hindrance in some way, either in speed, or amount of clicks, or...?
PACING WAS GREAT IT WAS PERF. It was a little brisk overall but I was perfectly fine with that!! I think that's better than going too slowly, I never lost interest! The.. daily system? Where you choose who to talk to/train with can get repetitive after a while (but they are stat boosters anyway so) but there were enough events to make up for it so that wasn't too bad! I also was dumb and didn't realize making a decision once meant training with that person for the next few days, and accidentally exited (?) the first time and didn't get all my exp, weeps. But it's good that it's not a day-by-day thing!! Amount of clicks was just about right too~

2. How were the characters? Were they interesting? Likeable? Annoying? Tell me how you feel about them.
I LOVE THEM ALL THEY'RE ALL SO GREAT. Rima doesn't interest me as much but hopefully that will change as I learn more about her! I can see Ali'sakir being a bit annoying, but he's pretty enough that it doesn't matter jk he's interesting enough that I can see that being just a sort of facade or something? Like there's definitely a long, dark past there. I wasn't sure how to approach Yue or what to think of him (honestly he seems kinda dangerous?? probably just because of the way he and the MC met) BUT as with Rima I'm sure that'll change with time! Faeran is a giant cutie and I will probably go after him next ;_; I hadn't expected to like Reziel but he's sort of like Sho in a way, pretty fun to tease! (but with more of a threat lol, it's sort of like playing with fire instead of with.. a porcupine??? if that makes sense. Like as long as you don't go overboard with Sho it's fine, but with Reziel he's a bit more mysterious; then again this could be because I saw more of Sho!) The general I will go after at some point too, he seems really interesting *__* I look forward to seeing how he is once you get to know him more, heheh. Sitri I don't really feel anything about, but I'd be interested to see what she's really like, I guess? I wonder if there's a reason why she acts the way she does, if this is just her personality etcetc.

3. Who's your favorite character?
SHOOoooooooooooooo at the moment but honestly it's really hard to choose, after Sho it'd probably be a tie between the general, Reziel and Faeran;; This is all really based on how much interaction there was between them and the MC though so definitely not a reflection on how the characters actually are!! If I'd gotten to know the other characters more, I'd probably like them more so!

4. What are you expecting-- plot-wise, character-wise, gameplay-wise-- based on the alpha?
PERFECTION. jkjk I'm mostly expecting a complex plot and fun characters!! Though what I like is that though the plot seems complex it's not overwhelming? Like all of the characters are still really approachable and unique, so though there's a lot of backstory it's not too much, and there's equal focus on character development and setting? Gameplay I'm keeping a wary eye out for the battle system because I suck at that sort of thing ahA, but I wouldn't mind it too much if it doesn't have too big of an effect on how the story goes. I'm definitely looking forward to the events with each character and getting to know everyone; this feels like one of those stories where you won't get the full story just by going through one route, if that makes sense? Which makes me excited to try out all of the character's routes, haha. Not sure if this properly answered your question though, oops;;;

5. Any questions about the game? Feedback? Critique? Type away!
TL;DR THIS WAS SO GREAT, I AM SO VERY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT DEMO AND THE FINAL GAME. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ;________;
(p.s. sorry for making this even longer omg, but skimmed a few recent posts and if you'd like, I'd be totes open as a proofreader too if you need any more! Though overall I really like your writing style, and only spotted a few errors u v u)

[akemicchi]

Actually I don't really mind having funny conversations during battle! It might be out of place, but aren't the dialogs in your game having jokes here and there LOL? So I guess it wouldn't be that weird to have jokes during battle too since your game isn't all about serious battle game.

That's true, haha... Still, I don't want to be too inappropriate. Part I is lighthearted enough as is. If I have jokes in the battles (or at least a lot of them), when it gets to the plot in Part II, the mood won't be as believable. We'll see! :) Thanks so much for your input, though! I'm still on the fence about it, so I'll think more about it as I work on stuff.

I probably wouldn't mind silly side comments during an early training session since the characters are still getting to know each other, but I feel they'd be out of place in serious encounters.

Haha, all the battles are serious encounters, so it'd probably wouldn't be enjoyable for you if I put a bunch of silly scenes there. ;;;

Hmm... I think if there's going to be jokes between the magicians during battles, it'd probably be inappropriate in the morbid, socially unacceptable sense than inappropriate because the mood doesn't fit. Some of the magicians can be pretty callous about things like death and the destruction they're bringing onto the world. I'm still on the fence about adding jokes though, but I'll definitely think hard about what you've said. :) Thank you!

i wouldn't mind jokes and conversations either! what i'd also love to see is characters reacting to others getting wounded or knocked out, and maybe their relationship could change their initial reaction? or is it just me being a sadist and wanting to see all my romance options crying out when aleo goes down first? 8D;; WHOOPS.

omg. There'd be a few characters that'd more likely berate Aleo for losing than angst about her going down, haha. ("Did you just lose? HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING AT ALL?") And then there's that one romantic interest that would look at the bright side of things and be excited with the prospect of harvesting another magician's organs. Hahahaha. No doki moments from them, sorry... ^q^

i would also really like scenes or meaningful conversations happening, particularly during serious battles. i think it adds weight to the battle, and makes it all the more enjoyable. fire-emblem style "partnerships" would be really awesome too, if that's possible. that's just my two cents, however.

Thank you for your input! I think I'd like to do things this way, too. No, I'd probably do things this way. Battle is the perfect opportunity to segue into some more serious themes and dialogue (like death, loss, and destruction) and have the characters bond with each other in an intimate way. I can do jokes at any other time, at more appropriate times. Though to be honest, I don't know if I can control myself, haha... ;;;

aye, there's a fantasy otome i'm brainstorming right now, though it may take a while before i gather the motivation for a proper start, ha ;o;

Ooh! I'll keep a look out for it, then. ovo Good luck!

What I've meant is that I'm not against silly conversations, as long as they are not out of place in the context of a situation - for example if someone's dying, joking would be out of place, and the dialogue should be serious so as to enhance (and not to break) the atmosphere of the scene. Otherwise, I really like the idea.

Ahh, you mean like if a character just gets injured, I'd still be free to make light of the situation (as long as it's in character), but if someone died, it would be completely out of place to have jokes about their death? That's fine; I can do that! :D

The problem, though, is that I'm more worried that I'll end up doing it wrong by having a completely inappropriate silly moment anyway. You know, like tell a bad joke at the wrong moment or something. I'm leaning towards taking the safe route and just not having jokes or lighthearted moments (or maybe just a few), but like I said, I'll just see where things take me, adjust the scenes to the mood and the situation, and act accordingly. Thank you very much! :D I really appreciate it!

Oh, and I also would like to see the characters reacting to someone being wounded/knocked out :)
(*Aleo goes down*
Character X: "ALEOOOO NOOOOOOO!!!11" -
*Every enemy just took over9000 sonic damage. You've won*.)

:O !! Like Special Moves that only activate on character deaths! I like that! >v>

I'm really looking forward for your progress on this game))
It looks cool!
Is there going to be sexual content in the game? :)

Thank you very much! :D

No, I'm sorry, there's no sexual content. :') The most you're going to get from this game is a kiss, and that's not even guaranteed in all the routes, hahaha. There's a forum on the boards just for 18+ games, though! If you're looking for games with sexual content, you'd find them in that section than here in the Player's Pavillion. :)

[...]

aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
You're too nice, euphorics!! _(:'''3/ L)_ You don't know how happy it makes me to know you enjoyed the game so much. And that you thought it was funny! I was worried I was the only person who found it amusing, LOL. You know, like when you laugh at your own jokes and no one else is laughing... "orz At least I know one person other than myself laughed, and I'm really, really happy for that. :'D

omfg you've summed up Aleo in a word. He is a baka. ^q^ But I'm glad he was fun to play as. :') And it's okay, you can choose all the reckless, inappropriate answers if you'd like! You'd lose a few affection points, but it's really easy to gain them back again. To get endings, the affection point system isn't as strict as reaching the minimum stat requirements in Attack, Defense, and Specialty. You can choose all the choices that'll make a character mad and you'd still have more than enough points to get an ending... Aleo is Aleo and even if he can get annoying, the characters still like him for it.

Oh, but there are some choices that are just not acceptable for the character's personality and will take a huge chunk of affection points for Aleo. Hopefully those are obvious though, as long as you think of the character's personality and/or the things they value above everything.

Also I don't know if this even needs saying anymore, BUT YOUR ART. YOUR ARTTT I've always loved how clean and amazing your style was, bUT IT WAS SO AMAZING IN THIS GAME. I CANT. Even without full colors, I couldn't stop admiring how effortless all the lines seemed, and how accurately and nicely all the details were drawn and aughghhgh I love how much personality each of the characters have?? Both through the writing and the art, everything's so great ;____; I kept wanting to close the text box (there is probably a control for that that I'm unaware of oops) just so I could admire the sprites, argh.

Ahhh, thank you so much. ///orz I'm really, really flattered now, aaaaaah.

By the way, the button to close textboxes is 'H'. ;) You can do this for all the Ren'Py games. :D

1) Hmmm, I'll work on the weekend options, then. I'm hoping to put a map there where you can click on characters to talk to. There'll be soldiers on the screen too, so you can talk to them for random information on the world. Just something to make it less tedious. I'm also going to have at least one conversation every month for all the characters when you talk to them.
2) Ahaha... Yeah... I've come to realize the girls aren't as interesting as the other characters, ahaha. ;;; Since the guys all seem to be fine, I'll be working on the two a lot more before the demo comes out. :) I also find it really amusing that Sho is like a porcupine? He's definitely got a lot more patience than someone like Reziel, who'll get back at you, haha.
4) I'm glad to hear that the characters and the world building info seem to strike a balance! I'll continue to refine it though so it'll be better than before. As for the Battle System, it's entirely optional so you can just skip it if you don't want to play through that aspect. You'll miss out on cool rewards that I still haven't decided but the game will still be playable without it. :)

Ah, on this game being one of those games where you need to play different routes to get the full story:
It's like that, yeah. It's supposed to show different perspectives of the plot (the war between the Kingdom and Principality). You can understand what's going on with just one route, but it'll be a biased perspective. Playing all the routes will give you a better idea of the world. Though there are things like Aleo's backstory which is limited only to Reziel's route, the Secret Character's Route, and the True Route.

TL;DR THIS WAS SO GREAT, I AM SO VERY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT DEMO AND THE FINAL GAME. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ;________;
(p.s. sorry for making this even longer omg, but skimmed a few recent posts and if you'd like, I'd be totes open as a proofreader too if you need any more! Though overall I really like your writing style, and only spotted a few errors u v u)

No no no, thank YOU for playing! ;;;_____;;; I'm really, honestly very happy that you liked it!

As for proofreaders, sure! :D Thank you so much! I'll ask in this thread for proofreaders when I've edited what I have to the best of my ability. I'll probably have to split the work into two, though: I'll need proofreaders for Part I and another set for Part II. :P So people have to choose whether they'd like to see all the scenes of Part I or all of the endings of Part II. ^q^ That way people won't be that spoiled or overwhelmed with the sheer size of this project, eheh. ;;;

Anyway...
UPDATE

Done more work on the Battle System. The more I work on this, the less I like it. I'm just getting basic stuff like movement, turn order, and attacking done, but it feels so... bland to me? Maybe it's just because I'm working through the core stuff that it's really boring right now. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what I can incorporate into the Battle System to keep it fresh and interesting. So far the biggest hook is magic and magicians. But how do I make magic and magicians interesting in a Battle System?...

One idea is mixing and matching magic, and having the players rely on Magic Combinations to get through battles. I'm thinking of having a Pair-Up system (like Fire Emblem...) since this is a dating sim. Though I really want battles more like Yggdra Union (winning battles by being in more advantageous situations than the enemy unit) than Fire Emblem's fights (attack and lower HP until they're dead). There's no leveling, so it should rely on strategy to defeat stronger units and stuff. Ahhh, I don't know. What I do know is that I'm out of my depth, haha! Still... Let's see if I can make this interesting anyway.

I've also decided to redo my sprites! This is why I don't finish my art assets; I always want to redo them all eventually.

Rough drafts. Everyone is naked when I draw them. :V

1 down, 8 more to go... :')

[LliiraAnna]

Hey, I've said "for example" XD Why is it so that when I try to say something serious, I end up sounding silly instead? lol

Anyway... I'd prefer Fire Emblem style battles over the Yggdra Union ones, but that's probably just me. The pairing system also sounds nice... power of love will conquer everything!
As far as I remember, pairings in FE got stat boosts if those two characters were standing close to each other in battle... And you could get an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the type of terrain... such as forests increasing your chances of evading enemy attacks... I was also thinking of Persona 3 and its battles, with enemy weaknesses and co-op attacks and such. May be worth looking into for ideas

Your art is awesome, as always. The fourth sprite is so adorable :3

[Mad Harlequin]

Ali'sakir really loves to talk with his hands, doesn't he?

He's so expressive! Great work.

I can't really offer much input into battle mechanics since I've regrettably never played Fire Emblem or the like, but I'm sure those games offer some decent inspiration.

[Rinima]

By the looks of it, the battle system reminds me a little of the battle system used in Luminous arc 2.

[Lyyli]

I do love Fire Emblem Awakening so if you do put in a something like a pair up system I will luv you~ Also, having some type of small talk from time to time on the battlefield like in FEA would also be cool.

And man, Alisakir is just such a gorgeous little thing I don't even-

[sendo]

I've been watching this thread from the shadows and I'm only posting now because I think I have something to contribute, or well, thoughts about certain aspects of your game ehe :'D

Anyway:
In-battle conversation: I think this is a nice spice for the battle system. Of course it doesn't need to be funny all the time, I guess some conversations can be serious too?

No-levelling: Is neat I think. A few things to consider though, since you don't level up, are all the skills already unlocked for all the characters? If not, how will the player gain new skills? Levelling systems also give the player a sense of 'reward', maybe think of a way to reward the player for choosing certain characters?

Battle System
I think this is a great opportunity to maximize the gameplay elements you have. Since this is turn-based, maybe add some quirks or effects for using magic? This will add a nice layer of complexity to the system, I think. For example Sho can easily wipe out enemies with an area-of-effect magic, but it will cost him a few turns? Maybe Aleo, who's a jack of all trades, can do the same magic for less damage and no turn-penalties? Maybe some magic can only be used every X amount of turns? I think this will make the player think more strategically on how to use their magic.

You can also try playing around with the tiles for more gameplay strategies. Like maybe Sitri can summon earth walls to block the enemy's path or divert their path? Or maybe Sho can create fire walls (units can pass, but they will take damage?). How about Faeran being able to cast a 'Healing Tile' (unit on that tile will be healed each turn?). How about Trap tiles (units on that tile will lose their turn, disable movement, disable magic, etc?)

Also maybe you could add different winning/losing conditions like escort missions, defend the base, survive for X amount of turns, etc. Just so there's more variety to the gameplay aside from rolfstomping the puny humans

And there goes a wall of text! In the end these are merely suggestions and ideas, so please feel free to ignore or adopt any of these. And I know it's been said a lot of times but your art is really gorgeous! I really love how expressive the characters are and your designs are just beautiful, and hot damn those hands! Now lemme just scoot back into the shadows and stalk this thread :3

[Aruise]

OH OH YEY FOR AN UPDATE!! *w*

I think it's great to use battle system like Fire Emblem's but I won't deny that the one like Yggdra Union's would be great too! Since you said there's won't be any levelling system... owo"

And I agree with in-battle conversation, it will make things more interesting coughandromanticcough 8D

[chaos]

omg. There'd be a few characters that'd more likely berate Aleo for losing than angst about her going down, haha. ("Did you just lose? HAVE YOU BEEN TRAINING AT ALL?") And then there's that one romantic interest that would look at the bright side of things and be excited with the prospect of harvesting another magician's organs. Hahahaha. No doki moments from them, sorry... ^q^

oh LOL it's better than no reaction i guess haha of course having aleo themselves react too would be awesome, both for romance and for friends ^^

Thank you for your input! I think I'd like to do things this way, too. No, I'd probably do things this way. Battle is the perfect opportunity to segue into some more serious themes and dialogue (like death, loss, and destruction) and have the characters bond with each other in an intimate way. I can do jokes at any other time, at more appropriate times. Though to be honest, I don't know if I can control myself, haha... ;;;
Ooh! I'll keep a look out for it, then. ovo Good luck!

i definitely agree! it'll be interesting to see how individual characters react to these things as well. as for the partner system and bonding, will this be available exclusively for aleo (aleo + romance interest), or will we be able to put other characters into a partnership? i'd probably have to set up a certain brotherly partnership that way for double damage 8D

jokes can be done in certain ways, like the whole aleo going down = characters yelling thing is one comic aspect already, and we could have similar comedy style included in other situations c:

thank you ;v;

now as for the update! programming in general has always felt bland to me, so i'm not surprised haha ;;; combining magic would certainly be interesting, and it would also mean a LOT of work for you; unless you can limit which magic types can be mixed together: for example, water + earth = yes, water + fire = no. but if you can make it work on an all + all basis, by all means ignore me LOL.

as for how the actual pair up system would work.. characters in close proximity that are in a partnership have a certain bonus? but, does the bonus depend on the partnership/character, or is it always the same? are there certain characters that just can't be paired up? just some things to consider ^^ as someone said, no levelling may make the game more difficult in the long run, not only because of user experience (i admit i do love levelling up in most games that involve battles) but also because it may mean some battles will be really tricky to users who aren't used to battling strategically.

oh wow redo sprites O: are you sure? you're not going easy on yourself in terms of the workload LOL make sure you can realistically do everything you assign yourself!! ;.;
but ali is looking good <3 that 2nd to last sprite is adorable, i wonder what context it's in // not so sure i want to know the context behind the one in the middle though LOL.

looking forward to more <3