Lost Impressions [Romance/Drama][BxG]

[ds-sans]

Follow the life of Toshi, as he enters his second year of highschool, just after being involved in a serious accident which stripped him of his memories. Now experiencing a "new world", will Toshi be able to remember his relationships, and the things most important to him? Can he accept the truths of reality, as he finds out more about those close to him despite having less knowledge in the first place. Is he able to help those he cares for?

Lost Impressions will feature three main routes and seven endings. It will explore social relationships and depression, and the path beyond that...

Writing: 100%, Art: 95%, Script/Programming: 80%

Writing: 100%, Art: 95%, Script/Programming: 80%

Writing: 100%, Art: 95%, Script/Programming: 50%

Check the thread below to see recent updates and progress.

A very outdated demo can be downloaded here: http://1drv.ms/1NUWddV (30/12/15)
It only contains a relatively short amount of the story, and the sprites.

Here are some screenshots of the demo, full & recent progress is posted in updates down below.

Credits

Writing, UI, Programming: ds-sans
Sprites: Anne
Additional Writing: owl.
Event CGs:
astrokeofmadness
aRLegOdDesS
holey_cheese
valedahne
Additional Artwork:
Red-Baby
Backgrounds:
Mugenjohncel
Claudette Gallant - http://publicdomainpictures.net/
Peter Griffin - http://publicdomainpictures.net/
Maliz Ong - http://publicdomainpictures.net/
Petr Kratochvil - http://publicdomainpictures.net/

Music:
"Sad Day", "November", "Better Days"
http://bensound.com/royalty-free-music

"Clean Soul", "Colorless Aura", "Danse Morialta", "Dark Fog", "Despair and Triumph", "Gone Beyond", "Gymnopedie No. 1", "Wisps of Whorls"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Sound Effects
This VN uses these sounds from freesound.org:
more rain.wav by mlaramie | License: Creative Commons 0
Schoolbell (from german high school) by jm-Studios | License: Creative Commons 0

If anyone has any advice for the production of the game, criticism, or questions in general, please feel free to leave a reply.
A some questions I would like to ask are:
- "Would you be willing to read this VN?"
- "What do you think of the story so far?"
- "Do you think there is anything I can improve on?"
- "What character are you most interested in?"

This is something I have been planning on doing since January of 2014, and I've only now had the ability to go through with it. The work so far has been really enjoyable, so I hope to make it worth it in the end.

[Harliqueen]

This looks interesting! Quite heavy themes, but that can really lend to a story sometimes

I'd probably play this VN. I'm interested to find out what sort of memories have been lost and can be regained.

Looking forward to finding out more and trying out the demo!

[ds-sans]

I've updated the main post with a download link to a quick demo. It's nowhere near as long as a final demo would be. This should give people an idea of what to expect in terms of writing and user interface. I'll be updating it every so often with new content and fixes.

This looks interesting! Quite heavy themes, but that can really lend to a story sometimes

I'd probably play this VN. I'm interested to find out what sort of memories have been lost and can be regained.

Looking forward to finding out more and trying out the demo!

Thanks for the feedback! Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed making it.

[philip]

@ds-sans-

Just played through . . . very interesting, but as you noted, it's a SHORT demo. Not a criticism, but I greatly enjoyed what was there, and I wanted to see MORE!

Did notice some typos as I went through, and I found the typeface a little hard to read at times; maybe it's just me.

Will look forward to your next release.

philip

[ds-sans]

I've updated the main post with a link to an updated demo.
Changes made in this version (1.1.0):
- Additional dialogue.
- Sprites moved slightly down.
- New video which actually fits the screen.

[ds-sans]

Quick update.

I've been planning on redoing the logo and GUI for the demo, (Plain text isn't that attractive) and I have made a few concepts for a new logo and new main menu. (Options etc will be very similar, but take more time to do.) These are very rough ideas though which I plan to improve on for the main game and for later releases of the demo.

Here's a quick look at a new logo:



alternate version:


Concept main menu and textbox:



Most likely, these aren't going to be final. I'm really on the fence about whether I should use too much red (colour in general) as the atmosphere of the story isn't supposed to be light hearted. Especially the red text box, but I put it there because why not?
If anyone has anything to say about these concepts then please do, It'll really help me improve the game in the long run. I'll also be updating the demo soon, but these won't be making it in. Maybe in the next one depending on what people think and the time it takes to make a full set of UI like this.

[ds-sans]

Update 17/12/15

I've updated the demo (1.1.1) which can be downloaded on the new link on the main post.
It doesn't add much, just another scene and a new logo, but choices matter now which will set stuff up for the future.

I haven't been able to work on the game actively, so that's why it took longer to update. Studies etc taking up most of my free time. (but there's no point in making excuses.)

What I have been doing though is working on further ideas for a new menu. He's another variation on what I posted before (Link because I cba resizing it to fit the forum limit, it's midnight here): http://i.imgur.com/ks6cYsK.png

I also have other ideas in mind, mainly because the abundant use of red just doesn't fit with the theme IMO. I'm also thinking of posting a recruitment thread, but I don't have money to pay anyone and it's difficult to find people working for free who are dedicated, but it's worth a try. I'll be leaving that for now as I'd rather finish the first part of the story first which isn't too far off. (Hopefully.)

Again, if you have anything to say then please do, It'll really help.
PS: Merry Christmas, or whatever you celebrate.

[ds-sans]

Update 20/12/15

I've managed to finish the paths leading to Ei's and Sachi's routes, which is pretty much the final scene of the demo before I start working on the second part of the story. I still have Hana's left to do, and the polishing of the code before I release it, but since I'm progressing faster than expected, the first part of the story will probably be released before the new year.

I've also done some more work on logo designs, as the current logo isn't going to be permanent. (It's really just a replacement for standard text.) If you have a favourite out of any of the following, please tell me. (They all look pretty much the same anyway.)

[ds-sans]

Update - 30th December 2015

I've finally managed to complete the first section of the story. I've updated the download link so it should now be available.
This now includes 3 different branches of the story (which will eventually lead to their respective routes for each girl), and one "bad end".

From this point the story aspect of the demo will no longer receive any updates, (unless it's just expanding on what's already there) however I may occasionally tweak a few things before the final release (Which is a long way off.)

Please tell me what you think of each branch of the story so far, it'll really help improve the final game and the full routes for each girl. I hope everyone has a happy new year.

[ds-sans]

Update - 1st February 2016

So it's been just over a month since the last update, so I should at least give some more progress on what's been happening with the VN.

I've almost finished Ei's route. I say almost, because I still have the ending to write, which in itself is probably the most important part in my opinion and definitely one of the longest. I'm waiting on a few things from a few people, but the writing is the most important part of a story, so I'll get to work with that ASAP. Hopefully, throughout February I can concentrate on Hana's route, and then move onto Sachi's at some point.

Undoubtedly, progress is going slow. Especially for a VN as short as this, but that's my fault. I am prioritising my personal life for the most part and another project, but that's something I don't mind since I enjoy working on it, and it's a lot of fun.

I've also been experimenting with some features that can be expected to be in the final release, which hopefully will be around May. Things I have done include blinking sprites and experimenting with ATL and new ideas for the GUI. Here's a .gif to demonstrate the blinking effect.



Of course, that's nothing too tricky to do in Ren'py, but it's a nice feature, at least.
Hopefully next month I'll have a lot more to show, but if I make any major progress within the month then I'll update the thread again.

[ds-sans]

Another update.

I've started improving the GUI, since the old one was quick stuff I've did as a place holder. Here's an update video, showing the options menu.



As stated within the video, I also have a twitter, @dssansVN. I will post more frequent updates there if anyone is interested, at all.

Writing and CG wise, I'm currently doing trades with people. I'll have more to update on that at a later time, probably once I get the CG gallery done and the rest of the menus so I can put everything together into a main video or post.

[ds-sans]

I've updated video in the main post. It now features some CGs by Valedahne and one by holey_cheese. There are more than the ones shown in the video, and I'm still waiting on some.

Also in the video is the projected release date, sometime in the second quarter of the year. I can't give an exact date yet since that depends on how busy I am and how much time I get to work on it, but that span of three months is a realistic guess of when it'll be finished.

In terms of progress, Hana's route is about halfway done. I did plan on finishing it in February but I shifted focus to the GUI and doing trades with people. I have finished programming the menus and started programming Ei's route a bit.


(Here's the save menu. I'm not going to make a video on it since there's little point.)

[ds-sans]

Another update.
Hana's route is on it's way to being 100% done. Once it is I'll release a trailer for her route.
As for Sachi's route, there's still more work to be done and I still have to finish up other things that aren't related to the game itself, but it'll be done eventually.

As for the GUI, I'm planning on redoing it again, and adding other features into the VN itself. I've finished coding everything, including the CG gallery. Here's some examples of CGs:


(Artist: valedahne)

(Artist: holey_cheese)

(Artist: astrokeofmadness)

I am expecting more CGs, but for now these are the ones I've got at hand. I've also done a new logo (see sig). I should have more updates soon, since I'm planning on making substantial progress within the coming weeks, after I finish other business.

[ds-sans]

I've updated the main post. with new images and character descriptions.
The writing for Hana's route is 100% complete and I'm soon to start work on Sachi's.

I'm also going to update the UI again. Here's a screenshot of the main menu.

[ds-sans]

Updated the thread once again with a trailer of Hana's route, and updated the "progress" section to reflect the current status. Ei's route is almost completely implemented, and I've also proofread Hana's route and began implementing that as well. The art for Hana's route is also finished, the CG below was done by aRLegOdDesS!