Inverness Nights [BxB/history/fantasy] [DEMO]

[Asahel]

Kitsubasa, you made my day, it looks like I won't have to wait much longer to play it! The reason it got my attention in the first place was the mature (as in "grown-up", not adult rated ) approach to the topic. Also, how could anyone not stalk a thread that mentions Howl's Moving Castle and Hedwig & the Angry Inch in the same paragraph? I'm still trying to wrap my brains around that one...

I'm currently fiddling around with the curtains to figure out what to do with the railing,

For some reason this struck me as really funny. Oh the woes of a game developer!

[kitsubasa]

Haha, well, to help you work your brain around things (since I haven't really done a proper summation of the influences/inspirations since the first post, which was written when I was about 25% through the script)...

HEDWIG

The Hedwig elements are primarily in thematics and structure. After all, it's the 1700s, so the cryptohomorockers of the 70s are not exactly an available reference. No-one is a punk icon, sadly. The themes I've pulled across are (obviously) coping with homosexuality, forced permanence (in relationship or lifestyle), and inaccessible homelands. Structurally, I've cribbed the 'flashback reflecting on present' thing, wherein each of the stories tangentially relates to whatever's happening in the present day.

Just going back to theme for a moment, though, you're probably going to find the Hedwig influences most clearly if you turn the game sound off and put on 'Wicked Little Town -reprise-' for a while. Particularly these lines:

'And there's no mystical design/No cosmic lover preassigned'

''Cause with all the changes you've been through/It seems the stranger's always you/Alone again in some new/Wicked little town'

The first mostly relates to assumptions of the visual novel format, and the assumptions characters make about how love is 'designed' to work. Can love be created out of convenience and demand, or does it have to be a natural thing? Is it more destructive to stay in an unfulfilling relationship, or to be alone when loneliness is the thing you're most afraid of? If you try to design a lover to meet your personal specifications, can that ever work out? Alasdair gets referred to as a doll a lot, Shell gets referred to as a puppet. Does Tris think of them as people or just objects for him to project onto?

The second is about the idea of character development in relation to movement. Tris is stuck in his ways and has a kind of blurry history, when he's asked about his life up to the point of the story, he tends to answer in vagueries. Every town he moves to is just another place to live in in the same way for a few more years, and he's never planning on making major changes to his life. As such, all his life will be spent 'alone again in some new wicked little town'. 2/3 bad endings reflect this, whereas the two good endings are about him learning how to advance as a person. Moving away physically will never solve his problems, moving on mentally will. Ditto for the other two characters! This line actually applies to Shell as much as Tris, but I can't talk about her relation to it because... spoooilers.

The other obvious influences can be found in the scenes themselves, which are set up kind of similarly to some of the movie sequences. Alasdair's route has a scene referencing the bit where the band walks out on Hedwig, the bad route has a scene referencing all the really awkward sleeping sequences, and while I think it'd be hard to pick up on without being told beforehand, Shell's route originally had an invocation of the 'it's what I've got to work with' bit. Make of that what you will.

HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE

I mean come on, one of my characters is a character who has the age of their body forcibly changed. That's the big thing, ahahaha.

Well, not really. Alas is just the icing on the cake. Howl's is mostly related through aesthetics, and plot elements. Invitations to shadowy magical groups, protagonists who work in clothing-related industries, 'find me in the future', running away from problems excessively, (this is more in the book) compulsive lying about identity, lying about a magical ailment to the one person who might help cure it, some of Alasdair's emotional theatrics are very Howl inspired...

I wanted this game to feel like it could hypothetically be a Ghibli movie, and I think/hope I've largely succeeded at that? The term I've been using, and have used before in the thread, is rainy day feel. Where things are a little dour, but it's a feeling that'll pass-- the worst of the storm is over and better times are ahead, we're down to a drizzle now. My favourite Ghibli films are the ones that have that sense of domesticity interspersed with amazing magic, like Howl's and Spirited Away, and I've tried to capture that too. Of course, the reason I cite Howl above the rest is because it's meant to be in a pseudo-British magical setting, while comes to closest to my actual-British locale. Obviously I can't have CGs for every scene of the story, and I've prioritised the flashback scenes for getting them, but if I could have more present day images I'd probably put some Ghibli-esque scenarios in them. :C

Anyway, hopefully that helps with understanding the odd comparison in the first post. I'm still kind of concerned I'll end up delivering a messy, disjointed experience thanks to all the different scattershot inspirations I have on hand, but hey, if you only mix genres together that're already related, you'll never create anything new. Fingers crossed my wacky compilation turns out well!!

[Asahel]

Your explanations were really helpful. I was intrigued but also a bit apprehensive about Hedwig connection because, while I enjoyed the movie, it wasn't comfortable to watch. But if the atmosphere will be Ghibliesque then I think I can take a number of darker themes and still be entertained.

Every town he moves to is just another place to live in in the same way for a few more years, and he's never planning on making major changes to his life. As such, all his life will be spent 'alone again in some new wicked little town'. 2/3 bad endings reflect this

I really liked this! We have so many immortal characters in literature, movies, games but this aspect is never considered (or at least I didn't encounter it before). For all his immortality, Tris seems to be very human and relatable - a good thing for a VN protagonist.

Alasdair gets referred to as a doll a lot, Shell gets referred to as a puppet. Does Tris think of them as people or just objects for him to project onto?

Even if he wasn't immortal Tris would still project his needs/desires/world-view onto others, I think. Isn't it something we all do to some extent? But, because he is immortal ... I somehow feel he would do this even more. Despite his good intentions or nature how could an immortal being not see mortals as something "less than" or objectify them? Even if he doesn't fully realize it. I hope your game will infirm my suspicion. Or confirm it, either would be great!

I'm still kind of concerned I'll end up delivering a messy, disjointed experience thanks to all the different scattershot inspirations I have on hand, but hey, if you only mix genres together that're already related, you'll never create anything new. Fingers crossed my wacky compilation turns out well!!

Hear hear! I wish you the best of luck with your project, and I'll keep stalking your thread for updates.

[kitsubasa]

Well! It's been a little while since I last updated (almost exactly a month!) so I figure I owe some information at this point. I've been polishing up the game, trying to fix bugs and add in the remainder of the GUI, a process which is taking a wee while since checking every line of code and text for errors in a 60k+ long game is... a chore, to say the least. I've also been getting people to alpha/beta test the game for issues, and Morhighan is updating the GUI at the moment so that some legibility issues are amended. The major work left to be done (I say, optimistically pretending this isn't all a major, time-consuming process) is some changes to the script where people have said the story doesn't read well, and of course the rest of the backgrounds.

Not going to post up an estimate of time on all this because the main slowdown lately has been getting proper feedback on potential issues. I'm just one lone person heading up the project, so whenever I want feedback on my part of the work I have to chase down unrelated people, get them to play the game, then hold them over hot coals until they talk about positives/negatives. It can be slow. So, there you have it.

Anyway, the main thing I have to show for today are some screenshots... with backgrounds included! Hopefully everyone likes them. : D




These are the daytime and nighttime versions of Tris' workshop. You'll be seeing a lot of both throughout the story, since he's pretty reclusive and dislikes going outside.

[Asahel]

Welcome back, Kitsubasa! Happy to see the project is progressing!
Just to nitpick - isn't the font a wee too small?

[Aviala]

Nice to know that the project is still alive! I'm really looking forward to it. The screenshots look really nice!

Welcome back, Kitsubasa! :mrgreen: Happy to see the project is progressing!
Just to nitpick - isn't the font a wee too small?

I don't think the screenshots are the same size as the game so the text will probably be 2-3 times larger in the finished product. Though what do I know.

[kitsubasa]

Welcome back, Kitsubasa! Happy to see the project is progressing!
Just to nitpick - isn't the font a wee too small?

I don't think the screenshots are the same size as the game so the text will probably be 2-3 times larger in the finished product. Though what do I know.

Bingo! LSF only allows images up to 800 pixels wide, so I had to size the screenshot down quite a bit. The text in the actual game is this sort of size:



Which I think is fairly legible. : )

[Googaboga]

Congrats! It's nice to see an update. Everything is seeming really nice so far :].

[kitsubasa]

AHAHAHA I haven't updated this thread in almost two months, well done me. Okay! Update info for February:

-We've had a title change! Seven Stories with Tristram the Tailor is now Inverness Nights. I discussed this with my fantastic advisor-y buddy Bishop, and we discovered there was another game with a similar title to the original, plus the first iteration was kind of wordy. Inverness Nights gets across the same sort of point but it's easier to search for and less wordy. Also, it can be abbreviated to InverNights, which sounds really cool. I've been using it on some of my docs for the project. Yeahhh. BD

-After a lot of feedback (including some from LSF-- thanks Mad Harlequin!) I've opted to extend ending 1 into a more obvious 'true ending'. Originally I was trying to be even-handed with all the routes and round them off at a similar length/with similar amounts of content, but a good portion of my beta readers/beta testers have said ending 1 felt too contrived as it was. It was clearly the true end-- it was leading toward enough plot resolutions to be the true end-- but it just cut off before it could address them. So, the game is probably going to have another 10-20k words added to it now; potentially 20-30 minutes more playtime. I think this is a good choice and it's going to prevent a lot of player disappointment but it HAS delayed things somewhat, so my apologies.

-I've also been looking into a few additional options for the extras menu, as incentive to play through all the routes of the game. Right now, a CG gallery + extras menu + credits list are available from the get-go, but I'm also considering adding a bonus scene that'll unlock after all 6 ends have been attained. What I'd like to know from everyone is whether an extra scene would actually encourage people to run every route/feel like a good bonus for those that do. Opinions?

Anyway, that's where we're at for now! Thanks for everyone's patience with the project and all the numerous expansions it's had, I'm sure all the extra dev time will pay off in the end. : )

[Mad Harlequin]

Woo, update! I love the new title. Much simpler.

I wouldn't mind a bonus scene, though I'll be running through every route no matter what.

[papillon]

Interesting concept! I can't remember if I've seen it before (name change at least got fresh interest, right? )

Couple of things you might want to look out for with the text box, though - especially in widescreen, if the text box stretches across the whole screen it can get REALLY hard to read. The eye has trouble with wrapping text when it has to lurch a huge long way back to the start of the next line.

Also, when the text is small compared to the rest of the image, and really far down and far away from the character faces, it becomes very difficult for people to see the characters while they're trying to read. Which means that any expression changes that don't come with HUGE body posture changes will get lost. People simply can't see them while they're busy staring down at the bottom corner to read the words.

It would likely be a much more comfortable read if the text box could be pulled up higher and the active text area compressed more centrally.

[kitsubasa]

Funny you should mention the textbox wraparound/size-- I've actually been reading some stuff on design theory for textboxes lately, so I've been trying to get an overhaul of it sorted out. I'm aware I should be keeping it to sort of 10 or so words before the wrap, and that it's sitting a bit too low right now, but I've got to reformat the text so the actual word count of the lines is shorter/cut into smaller chunks before I can alter the box dimensions/placement. Oootherwise, if I change the box size/font size and test the game, the words'll be going off the screen. It's on the to-do list. The long, long to-do list.

Thanks for the confirmation that it's a necessary change, though, since I've been humming and hahhing and doing little odds and ends of prep work for a while wondering if it was even worth making the alterations. This has kind of helped push it into 'yes it's important, do it, damn it' territory. Ahahaha.

[kitsubasa]

Update ahoooy!

Firstly, as discussed in the posts above, I've made some changes to the size of the font and the placement of the textbox-- I've brought it up a bit higher and made the words much, much bigger. While I think this has done a good job at fixing the legibility issues the game had and making things a way easier read, I'm aware there could still be room for improvement: here's how it's looking now and please please please, if anyone has suggestions for further amendments, speak up! There are so many words in this game, making it hard to read them would be the worst thing I could do.



Also, on a more interesting note, I've been working on the ending extension I mentioned last time around and I have a couple more tidbits to share now in relation to that.

The extension is going to be in the ballpark of 30,000 words-- so basically, an extra third again onto the existing game (60k). While it is going to function as a true end, there are two completely different versions of it with smaller variations inside them, so you still get a bit of say in how you want your version of it to function. The outcomes stay the same (the people who get injured, get injured; the people who die, die...) but the journeys to them are very different.

A new character has been added for the extension. I still haven't investigated getting a sprite for him and so on, but here he is:



His name is Astor. He's light on his feet and equally quick with his wits. He likes poetry, delicate women, and foreign cultures. He'd be a charmer if his utter disrespect for personal space didn't sink him into a social uncanny valley. He takes quite a shine to Shell...

Despite his late addition to the cast, he was someone I'd been considering including for a while, and I left enough foundation work in the original script that his appearance in a single ending shouldn't be egregious. Writing him has been a blast-- he strikes an enjoyable contrast to the rest of the characters (from an authorial perspective) and I can only hope people love him (or love to hate him) as much as I do.

I'll have more info as I get deeper into this ending business. I'm absolutely plowing through the script (10,000 words in a week, for reference), and feeling great about how it's going. Thanks for reading and have a cool day, cool people!

[Mad Harlequin]

His name is Astor. He's light on his feet and equally quick with his wits. He likes poetry, delicate women, and foreign cultures. He'd be a charmer if his utter disrespect for personal space didn't sink him into a social uncanny valley. He takes quite a shine to Shell...

Despite his late addition to the cast, he was someone I'd been considering including for a while, and I left enough foundation work in the original script that his appearance in a single ending shouldn't be egregious. Writing him has been a blast-- he strikes an enjoyable contrast to the rest of the characters (from an authorial perspective) and I can only hope people love him (or love to hate him) as much as I do.

A new character? Yay!

And he likes Shell. Oh, boy . . . That's going to be entertaining.

[Aviala]

That new character seems really interesting, and I'm really excited to see how this project turns out!