Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [History-ish] [UPDATED DEMO]

[Googaboga]

1. What are your first impressions when you hear that a game is a 'World War One otome'? What are your second impressions, when you see the slightly-more-mature style of the art and story?

First impression; Sounds like it could be interesting.
Second impression; Probably will be interesting.

I wouldn't say the art is a more mature style though ^^;.

And I think the some of the description stuff isn't needed. You don't really need to point out what a normal otome game has. People who know what a typical otome is will be able to tell the difference themselves. And people who don't know the difference likely won't care because they aren't playing them. I just don't think it's very useful and could potentially make people assume that you're saying those games are worse by default because they don't have the things this game has.

I'd say it's better to just list all the things this game has and leave other otome games out of it.

2. Considering this will be asking for Kickstarting in a month or so: do you think the publicity materials and screenshots seem professional enough?

For the most part I think it looks nice, but I can't say for. I'd suggest creating a prefundia page or something similar so you can get feedback on the exact page/rewards before you actually start the kickstarter. I'm at least one person who'd be able to give a definitive answer if that was made.

Also, perhaps a small thing, but I'm not crazy about those side buttons on the textbox >.>. They look unfittingly shiny and almost more suited for a futuristic setting. The choice buttons don't exactly work for me either. Some of the letters are going past the lines, they are rather close together, and could maybe use a bit of detailing somewhere to make them less basic.

EDIT: 3. Oh, I suppose I should ask this, too - do you have a particular preference out of the gentlemen shown here? It'll be interesting to see who proves popular, ha.

Helmut is my current favorite based on their profiles :]. Horst is probably my second choice.


Good luck on your future Kickstarter and overall project :>.

[VocaloidsRCool]

Wow...just...wow. It-it was so real. SO real! I felt everything that Elfriede felt, and then some.

When August...when he...when August died...I felt...numb - at first. Then, when I finally...came to I felt so many emotions. It was like I was THERE. It...wasn't pleasant, but I guess it's good that it makes people feel like their in the game. Eugen, I just felt so sorry, and so much, SO MUCH guilt. All of it - his eyes, August's death, my fault. All.My.Fault. The impact was huge, and very much real. You did a great job with the emotional scenes. I just wonder if Wolf would be alright.

My favorite character is Gerhardt. I don't know what it is about him, but I really feel a connection to him. Maybe because I get bullied, and I know what peer pressure feels like. He's pretty cute, but I also like how he's cautious, how even though he gets scared, he still speaks his mind, how he withstood the constant harassment and verbal and physical assaults, how he can still find slight peace, even when he shuts himself in, and how he kept trying to do his job as a gardener despite people putting him down. I think that's pretty cool. The character's are all so different, and colorful. I can't wait for the full game, I really can't. Keep up the great work~

[Eike]

Hahaha, you have beaten me to the 'demo released' announcement! Congratulations on finding it. I only had a small release in the first place because there was still a couple of errors (mostly Mac-based) but they're fixed now, so... a couple of announcements!

~ Please Vote for Because We're Here on Steam Greenlight! ~

And I've amended the original post accordingly. Anyway - I'd really love to know what Lemmasoft'ers think of the demo, and I'd also really love anyone and everyone to vote the game up on Steam Greenlight, regardless of attitude, opinion or critical thought (c'mon. Help old Eike out. C'mon (please)).

Also, you might be interested that the Kickstarter is not going ahead anymore, for reasons explained in this blog post!

Right. Responses. VocaloidsRCool: It's really great to hear you enjoyed it! I'm sorry that it put you in such distress, ahaha! But hopefully you liked the twists and turns. And it's really nice to hear your connection to Gerhardt in that manner. You'll be pleased to know that there's a lot more of him in the full game... but unfortunately, you'll just have to wait.

And Googaboga, sorry I'm so late to reply! I had rather neglected this thread, but I'll stay on top of it from now on. Apologies that your input on the Kickstarter proved to be in vain! And I like the textboxes, hah. But there might be a bit of innovation to come still. The 'choice buttons'... are very likely to get an overhaul, at least. I'm looking into getting someone who can actually make GUIs to make my GUI, haha.

[bloodband]

So I've been struggling trying to articulate my thoughts on this game, but it affected me enough that I felt I had too. I also have a few questions and things I'm curious about, so figured I'd try and get all my thoughts on this together. *Try*

First of all, I saw this multiple times and was drawn in by the art style but the tags of dark comedy and war really put me off. I decided to give it a try finally, against the voice in my head telling me it will make me depressed. D;
The idea that it has romance but isn't a romance sim I can only assume is because it's not the main focus? Sort of like a Bioware game? Where romance is an option but the main focus is the main storyline? But then, there are so many options it seems strange. Right now the feeling I get, especially when it's stressed that you can change routes when you don't like how one is going and yet this game isn't a dating sim... it just leaves a very bad feeling. Very ominous. I can't really make myself get attached to any of the guys, I just get such a bad feeling about the whole thing! >>;;

Now my thoughts on the demo...

The first chapter did an amazing job of setting everything up. It really sort of lulls you into a sense of... hope? The sort in movies and anime where things seem bad but friendship and love always prevail~ Also believing in yourself and junk. Elfriede's inner thoughts definitely gave me that impression. I also really didn't care for Eugen, August or Wolf after witnessing how they acted signing up for the war. Even after seeing how they changed I'm not very interested in them. I just can't understand that way of thinking, nor when Elfriede is able to sympathize with it.
When you are forced onto August's "route" for the tutorial I didn't even have the slightest idea that... that would happen. I just kept thinking, "where is the option to tell him to slow down?! how do I get off this route?! ugh August!"... When he was shot I *actually* gasped and jumped(which is very hard to get me to do as I'm a stoic type of person). I was not expecting it in the slightest, despite the situation and how horrible everything had been shown to be. I felt so bad that I had just been wanting him to go away. After that I didn't want to pick anyone else! When it asked which route I wanted to change to I was mortified. I almost want to pick the character I care about the least before I get in too deep. But then if something bad is planned for a character, whether or not I'm on their route... I imagine it wont matter. But at least I could spare myself.
I may be a wee bit paranoid. Just a bit...

That being said, make no mistake that I love this game. It just feels like the type of game that someone that enjoys fluffy romance would need to steel themselves for. The character writing was good, everyone is unique and interesting even when there are so many characters. I'm genuinely interested in getting to know everyone and explore their routes. My favorite would definitely be Gottfried. I like how laid back he is and I can sympathize with his views the most. I like Gerhardt and Helmut next best. Eugen I'm mostly interested in for character development possibilities. Otto I am curious about but his bio leaves me unsure of what to really think of him haha...

I love Elfriede as an MC, and think the pacing is perfect. The battle of wits is a fun change of pace~

I think I remembered everything I wanted to mention...

[tantivy]

I liked Chapter I very much and it definitely made me want to play the full game.

It really impacted me emotionally and I appreciate that. I’m not sure I could handle every game I play being this heavy, but I like that this game is so thought-provoking. It was interesting to see the characters’ various opinions and reactions to the circumstances. When the war first broke out in the game I recalled what I’d learned about WWI and the attitudes people had at that time, so I was not surprised by Eugen’s excitement (though I knew he and everyone else would be in for a shock). I didn’t always agree with the characters, and they had their flaws (as good characters should), but I could also see their good points, and I ended up liking them a lot. (By the way, in the pub scene I was pretty mad at the others for ganging up on Gerhardt, and I wanted Elfriede to give them a piece of her mind, but luckily for her she's not so impulsive, haha.)

Aside from Elfriede herself, August was actually my favorite character, but that route, of course, ended abruptly. As you intended, I was completely shocked when he was killed, and then when Eugen was also injured part of me was vainly hoping that Elfriede was just dreaming… The feelings of dread and guilt were so intense.

(In case you are curious, my next favorite LI whom I chose was Wolf, although Eugen was a close second.)

Anyway, I think everything in the game came together really well and successfully. Like bloodband said, the pacing is good. I like the GUI stuff the way it is, but it’s up to you if you want to change it, of course. The sprites and backgrounds and music are all nice.

I’m really hoping this game will make it on Steam, as PC is also my preferred platform. Best of luck; I’ll be keeping an eye on this!

[Cith]

The biggest thing for the OP to keep in mind is that the defeat of the Central Powers led to an economic depression and, for Germany in particular, a feeling of humiliation that contributed to Nazism.

The reparations forced upon Germany in the wake of WW1 by the victorious Allies led to the economic devastation of Germany, a Zimbabwe-esque inflation rate, unemployment, industries shut down, and despair. This combined with the their land being divided up, the loss of some of their population, the restriction of their army, and other humiliations imposed upon them led to the support of Nazism. In the wake of WW2, most of the unpaid debt Germany was still deemed to "owe" was written off, a history lesson they rest of Europe obviously did not want to repeat. Many people point to this very lesson in relation to Greece's current economic crisis as a reason why the debt should also be written off. It is also why Greece tried to bring up Germany’s unpaid WW1 war debt during the recent, hostile negotiations. (Then claimed an extra 300 billion Euros as "compensation" for WW2, then threatened to start seizing German property inside Greece if Germany didn't pay.)

Country's squabbles are so childish xD

[Eike]

Thanks so much for your kind words! It's really gratifying to see people enjoy it who weren't sure if they would, and who know about the history that inspired it, respectively. And it's nice to get such good feedback on the writing (and the, um, 'plot developments' near the end of the demo)... I'm glad to see that I was presumably on the right track with this (some-may-say-catastrophically-ill-advised) fusion of genres and tones!

bloodband, you're right to reassure yourself that nothing you do will directly cause any major trouble... you don't need to be paranid about that, at least! But in terms of general ominousness, and what you might have to deal with... er, no comment. Apologies! Haha. And Cith - I'm solid on my Weimar history, and though the game doesn't hugely show the postwar goings-on, I've still got plans for a lot of related (rather-foreshadowing) elements in the game's later chapters~

Oh, as I'm posting in the thread, I may as well give somewhat of an update: the game's reached 40% of the way to the Steam Greenlight top 100! I'm pretty happy with that, as it's not been up a week yet! http://becausewerehere.tumblr.com/post/ ... -the-steam But obviously, there's still lots more work to be done. So, needless to say, anyone who enjoyed it, I'd be eternally grateful if you could show any like-minded chums you have the demo and/or Greenlight! It'd be great if this could make it into the top 100 (and presumably, ultimate success)~

[MitsuIsh]

Just played the demo. Well... a good portion of it anyways.

I thought that August was meant to be one of the available bachelors in the game, especially because of the choices in the beginning that seemed to have the purpose of increasing August's affection. I wasn't particularly interested in him, but to be honest, none of the other guys particularly interested me either, so I thought, "hey, I'll just start with the childhood friend." As the story went on, since Elfriede spent most of her time with August in the beginning of the game, I became attached to August.

When August got shot, I thought that it wasn't fatal and that he was still alive since I honestly believed that he had an actual route. I definitely didn't expect everything to be all peaches and cream, however, I thought he'd live. But then I read that he got shot in the head. Then Otto brought the news that he was confirmed to be dead. And the final blow was the route selection screen without August, confirming that he indeed does not have an actual route.

At that point, I only wanted August. :/ I don't like the other guys; none of them interest me. I don't know how much further the demo goes after the second route selection, but I couldn't continue the game after that. Really wish there would be a dream route where he lives or something like that.

To me, the story just kinda ended there. I went there for August, and now he's gone. I don't know if I'll ever continue the game. Maybe I'm overreacting and I'm the only one who feels this way. I tend to get really attached to something and... just be unable to let it go.

[Phoenix]

You had me at 'Blackadder'!

1. What are your first impressions when you hear that a game is a 'World War One otome'? What are your second impressions, when you see the slightly-more-mature style of the art and story?
Hmm, well, I like games with darker themes so it piqued my interest. I do like the art, though I did find it difficult to picture some of the characters as their stated ages. Gerhardt in particular looks very boyish? That said, I'm always happy to see differing art styles, and the art is well done!

2. Considering this will be asking for Kickstarting in a month or so: do you think the publicity materials and screenshots seem professional enough?
I think they're fine, though I would probably not be the best person to ask, haha. I think it's great that there's such a long demo available, because the demo is the main thing that would influence my decision.

3. Oh, I suppose I should ask this, too - do you have a particular preference out of the gentlemen shown here? It'll be interesting to see who proves popular, ha.
Hmm, top three so far: Eugen, Wolf, Walter.

Thoughts on the demo:

The story was a lot darker than I was expecting! Or rather, it got darker more quickly than I was expecting. I didn't see August's death coming AT ALL - but I thought it was done really well. Throughout that whole scene I just sat there feeling completely caught off-guard (much like Elfriede I imagine). I hope some of the characters make it home mostly in one piece! I think I was partly so surprised because although you clearly stated the game would be bloody and involve depressing themes and death etc, I've played a few otomes/gxb games that advertise those themes before but don't really deliver on them unless you get a (usually easily avoided) bad ending.

I really enjoyed the demo, and I would definitely be interested in the full game! Even if I'll be sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time crossing my fingers for my favourite characters. On that note, I liked the large majority of the characters, though some I found more interesting than others. I liked Eugen and Wolf, and went for Eugen's route at the end of the demo. I found Walter interesting as well, but I couldn't picture why on earth I'd give him August's clip considering he seemed to be the least sympathetic about what happened!

[Coren]

Damn, this looks cool! I love war games. Going to bookmark this!

[nipaa_kazuma]

Hello =) I just finished playing the demo.
First I'll answers the questions then I'll tell my impressions :

1. What are your first impressions when you hear that a game is a 'World War One otome'? What are your second impressions, when you see the slightly-more-mature style of the art and story?

I always liked History and WWI so I was interested by the idea and knew that it wouldn't be that simple. Then, I agree with the mature content since it's war not an high school.

2. Considering this will be asking for Kickstarting in a month or so: do you think the publicity materials and screenshots seem professional enough?

I like the art-style and the demo took my breath away so it's good arguments. Maybe the GUI could be a little improved and so more polished.

3. Do you have a particular preference out of the gentlemen shown here ?

Before even playing I must say that Wolf and Marius were quite appealing.


Now, let's talk about the demo :

It's well written and I liked the art, it felt like I was going into the story little by little. I wanted to know more and a good thing was that the lenght of the demo was quite pleasant.

But... Why ?!... When I clicked on August's path I tought it was going really fast but he was finally going to kiss Elfriede and OMG !!! I saw it all ! I think I jumped for real and as it wasn't enough it continued tragically for everyone D= ! Quite a powerfull scene but then I understood that even if I choosed someone else August will die anyway and Eugen and Wolf will encounter the same fate ?! It's war but still I didn't thought one of main characters was gonna die so soon.

After my traumatism and eating a few chocolate I went back and I must say that choosing another path was a difficult moment for me. I was like "Why choosing another ? They'll all die anyway !"
So I was taken aback by your story and is eager to see more even if I doubt I'll be able to contain my tears until the end.

Congratulations, keep up the good work.

[Daedalus]

I just finished the demo, and while I really, really liked it I do have few pointers...

Like said before, the art style is not 'mature' in any sense, really, and personally I don't find it that fitting. There's nothing really wrong with it technically, but I think that Valiant Hearts-esque, but more detailed and realistic characters would turn this game up to eleven. Now I know that's not going to happen, but I feel that the WW1 setting and the overall darkness story would really work better with "gloomy" and "realistic" cast. That being said, it's not a dealbreaking issue at all, since the story itself really works wonders.

The GUI in the menus does look a bit weird and unpolished, but in-game I have no problems with it. Other than the personal dislike of large menu items that are not used practically at all. They'd work just as fine as simple overlaid text in the bottom of the screen. But that's just me.
Also, this is 2015 so using 800x600 seems a bit silly. I mean, at least use 16:9 aspect ratio which has really been the standard for years now. I know you said you'll use it for "compatibility", but when even my old, old phone has 480 x 800 which is on the very low-end of resolutions, using 800x600 on a computer is just plain weird. 720p should work just nicely on pretty much any device, and any possible up/downscaling wouldn't be as big of a deal as is upscaling and losing half of your screen space.

The Battle of Wits system was something that the first time I didn't find that great, mainly because I didn't really have the hang of it, but second time around I felt that it's a great addition to break the reading-only with some actual interactivity.

Voted on Greenlight and I'll definitely keep an eye on this one!

[Eike]

Sorry for the late replies here! Was very busy, then took a bit of time off after the game got Greenlit (huzzah!). Anyway! As to these posts...

MitsuIsh: I don't know what to say! Apologies, it seems the game isn't your cup of tea - it was always a danger that people would be turned off by the developments in the story, so I suppose some players fall by the wayside a bit. If it's any consolation, there was about one scene left in the demo after the point you described, so you did play 99% of the existing game, haha.

Phoenix: Whoops, those questions are a bit outdated now! The Kickstarter's not happening anymore, for one. Yeah, like you say, I think it's nice to include darker themes like that in the main storyline and then have to deal with their fallout, rather than just in non-canon 'bad endings'. And hah, I know some of the choices at the end of the demo seem a bit less understandable than others, but there is an attempt made at explaining them - in Walter's case, a reflection on their common ground. Glad you liked it, anyway!

Coren: Hurray!

nipaa_kazuma: Apologies! Good to hear you liked it despite its, uh, traumatising nature!

Daedalus: Thanks! Whoops, like I said, those questions are quite old - I'm not sure why I described the art as 'mature'... I think I just meant that it wasn't super 'anime' - kind of like a cross between anime and western art, in the best way - and got a bit tongue-tied there. Sorry, I'm really bad at describing this stuff. Well, regardless - I don't still think it's /mature/ art, worry not! But I really like how the style of it contrasts with the story and atmosphere - that was one of the ideas that the entire game kind of grew from. I liked Valiant Hearts a lot, but I think it'd be a very different game if I took a style like that. On a nonrelated note: the stuff you said in the VNVortex review regarding the resolution: a good few people have brought this up now, and I'm actually looking into giving it a big overhaul in the full game! Along with the filtered-photo BGs and quite possibly the GUI. So thanks very much for the feedback, I really appreciate anyone taking the time to go over it with a critical eye (I took a bloody age to reply but I did read and register it all at the time, haha)!

[Anne]

That was a very impressive demo (including length-wise - now I'm curious how long the final game will be?)
I liked the art, I have to agree with other people here that cartoony expressions don't quite fit some of the scenes but I still liked it, the CGs are very nice as well.
I'm glad that you're considering changing the resolution and revamping the GUI, that should make the game look so much better (I don't mind the BGs that much)
Just as everyone else I was shocked by the turn of events (I should have known from that first scene that there's more to come, still...) but that's a good thing, you obviously wanted people to feel that way. The route system (if I get it right how things are supposed to work) seems pretty interesting.
I must admit I HATED the Battle of Wits system, it just breaks the immersion for me which, considering how dramatic those scenes are is a shame. They are just too full of unnecessary pathos and often don't make much sense

she doesn't remember the rabbit's name, she dies, kind of ridiculous, no?

Reminds me of Ace Attorney games where they tell you 3 facts and then check if you remember, but before you can easily answer you have to read through lengthy descriptions of the MC panicking (on the other hand many people actually love Ace Attorney games)
I also didn't like Elfriede much, mostly because of her self-righteous attitude (like she either is Gerhardt's friend and helps him or she isn't and then why is she lecturing him? or how she treats August) - now, it's very believable, just something I dislike. I find it hard to sympathize with Gerhardt without any reasons given to his behaviour (what he does seems outright stupid). I like pretty much everyone else with my favourite probably being Wolf (I just like presents I guess )
All in all, you're doing a great job with your project and I'm looking forward to the final release.

[somestrangecircus]

I should not have taken so long to write this review. And I am very sorry.

http://somestrangecircus.blogspot.com/2 ... -here.html

A lot of potential here, and I'll be watching for the finished product. Good work!