Women of Xal [GxB] [GxG] [Reverse-Harem]

[ProjectTrinity]

An increasingly tense political visual novel where a luxurious all-male harem is on the line.

REMODELING PAGE. NEW IMAGES AND BIOS COMING SOON.

SYNOPSIS

In the world of Xal, you follow a character named "Xjena" who accepts an invite from entrepreneur named Xuna Xaovant to set out and compete with 5 other girls to lay claim to a harem that would leave them financially secure for life. Not everything is fun and games however, as personalities and ambitions clash, the men are lawfully bound to be dutiful to the woman of the house, and only the most profitable and long-standing woman may inherit Xuna's harem, fortune, and legacy. It's up to the player to decide Xjena's personality: Will she risk the fortune to form a stronger bond with her fellow ladies? Will she do whatever it takes to climb up the economic and political ladder? Can she balance the nature of the business with a desire to help the men, or will they merely be pawns to continue that climb? Every little choice adds up, and even the smallest decision from long ago can come back and change the course of an important conversation dramatically. (The demo will feature an abridged, conceptual version of the many ways this could play out long term.) Lastly, yes, this will be touching on some social issues. Despite being in a different universe, they're all still politicians in training.

FEATURES

+Full Game Estimated to Have 50+ words
+Demo Estimated to Have 10k+ words
+Animated Backgrounds
+Distinctive Art Direction
+An expansive violin-centric soundtrack with several "instruments" exclusive to the world of Xal will be in the score.
+Voice Acting (How much varies on the final budget)
+Over 5 male romance options, and at least 3 female romance options.
+Multiple ways to go through the main story's dialogue, with many, many conversations impossible to know exist without mixing and matching player choices.
+Main game features 3 'main' endings with various ways each ending can go down, based on player choice (see above).
+At least 2 harder endings that take understanding the game's lore and narrative to figure out how to unlock.
+4 different endings in the demo, depending on your choices. (Coming to Kickstarter January 2017, if nothing hurts the schedule)
+Game doesn't end when romance road is complete and, depending on who you choose, if anyone, alters the plot and relationship dynamics with others.


Thank you for your time! This thread will be updated to both be more polished/organized and to add content as needed. Feel free to follow our Youtube, Tumblr, or Facebook page to keep up with all our projects! We have multiple teams producing content every year, so our opportunities and content comes hand in hand! -John

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[riverbluesbear]

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Look at all these beautiful women of color T.T Oh my god, do I cry!!

I am in heaven.

[ProjectTrinity]

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Look at all these beautiful women of color T.T Oh my god, do I cry!!

I am in heaven.

Thanks! I was told that having ladies of color in this context was Kickstarter-suicide for a visual novel, but I'm hoping to prove said folks wrong!

[Zelan]

Psst, you should use the GxB tag, not BxG. ^_^ The gender that comes first in a tag is the gender of the player character. Just pointing this out because when I clicked this game I thought that it was all female love interests with a choosable protagonist gender - it could be misleading for some folks. c:

[Laiska]

First of all, echoing what Zelan said! The first tag always indicates the player character.

Second of all, echoing what riverbluesbear said!! This is only of the only VNs I've ever seen with an all POC cast, and that's fantastic! It's something I'm always looking out for in new games.

To answer a couple of your questions:

1) From the small amount of info we have here, I find Joy and Xobi the most attractive, based on aesthetics.

2) This is much harder for me to decide, since I prefer ladies, but I like Xuna and Marixa the best! I don't think that player opinion should sway how attractive the brothel boys find the ladies though, because people have all different tastes, and so the boys should too.

3) I personally advise against physical rewards unless they're super limited, they're a pain in the neck xD


Now all that said, I do have a couple points of concern:

- I'm sure it's a gimmick relating to the game's setting, but honestly having so many characters with 'X's in their names, particularly at the beginning, makes it really confusing for me to differentiate them, particularly because it's already such a rarely used letter. It's cute but I think it could be a bit distracting.

- The fact that Valimer is labeled a 'surprise' worries me. Is the 'surprise' related to his gender? If so that's really dicey territory and has to be handled very carefully.

[ProjectTrinity]

THREAD UPDATES ON THE WAY:

+Characters having their own image and longer descriptions. (Though probably far smaller images)
+Expression showcase
+More Screenshots
+Examples of how the conversations can drastically break away from another player's playthrough
+Music samples
+A poll so people can answer questions anonymously (For those who don't want or have no time to comment.)

Psst, you should use the GxB tag, not BxG. ^_^ The gender that comes first in a tag is the gender of the player character. Just pointing this out because when I clicked this game I thought that it was all female love interests with a choosable protagonist gender - it could be misleading for some folks. c:

Fixed! Apologies for that. I must have overlooked that fact. x_x

Second of all, echoing what riverbluesbear said!! This is only of the only VNs I've ever seen with an all POC cast, and that's fantastic! It's something I'm always looking out for in new games.

Many thanks for the comment and for answering the questions! I'll be sure to answer some of your concerns. Let me know if I accidentally missed/forgot something you wanted me to address!

2) This is much harder for me to decide, since I prefer ladies, but I like Xuna and Marixa the best! I don't think that player opinion should sway how attractive the brothel boys find the ladies though, because people have all different tastes, and so the boys should too.

Fair point. I'll steer clear from that unless arguments for it come flooding in and I have to go back to thinking about it!

3) I personally advise against physical rewards unless they're super limited, they're a pain in the neck xD

Oh lawd help us all yes they are. Everything is going to be digital as I have tight control over the costs there. lol

- I'm sure it's a gimmick relating to the game's setting, but honestly having so many characters with 'X's in their names, particularly at the beginning, makes it really confusing for me to differentiate them, particularly because it's already such a rarely used letter. It's cute but I think it could be a bit distracting.

Can and likely will fiddle around with their names post-Kickstarter/demo. The programming is basically almost done, so a more immediate changing of names would not be too fun. (We're moving to Renpy after the Kickstarter with the other two programmers taking over. I figure that's the best time to make such changes.)

- The fact that Valimer is labeled a 'surprise' worries me. Is the 'surprise' related to his gender? If so that's really dicey territory and has to be handled very carefully.

Oops. The surprise is absolutely NOT related to his gender! So sorry for that piece of hindsight. The surprise is entirely about his personality, and it's a pretty basic/tropey surprise that everyone is going to figure out after he speaks a few lines. He is as male as the rest of the guys in the picture and identifies as such. Thanks for catching that; I'll try and word it more...intelligently in a moment! Thanks for the feedback!

[Laiska]

Thanks for elaborating! I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops!

[sleepyth]

This game looks super amazing! I pretty much gasped when I saw the cast!! They're all so beautiful, the artstyle is very nice too!!! I'm very excited for this game!

Here are some answers to your questions too,

1) I really like Artimis an Proxis alot! Their designs are nice. And the little titles of them, I'm always interested in 'sneaky' or trickster archetypes, haha.

2) I'm not really attracted to women but, I think Naxia and Velvet's designs are very pleasing!

3) I'm not really sure what kind of rewards would be nice, I've never been in an financial situation to be able to support things u-u But I suppose things like, posters or something? The art style is very nice.

4) I would be interested in doing so!

[ProjectTrinity]

UPDATE: Optional survey for ladies who want to give input on possible alternative outfits for the harem boys can be found in the original post! Also here for ease of access!

Thanks for elaborating! I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops!

Cheers! And thanks again! :'3

This game looks super amazing! I pretty much gasped when I saw the cast!! They're all so beautiful, the artstyle is very nice too!!! I'm very excited for this game!

4) I would be interested in doing so!

Thank you very much for your compliments and interest in being a beta tester! Currently weighing the options between public vs private, but either way, I'll let you know when it's ready!

[Kikaharu]

Okay. I'm a big sucker for visuals usually like if I don't like the characters looks. I might not always play it. But sometimes I start out by reading the information first and then the looks grow on me. This one though I saw the character art and was like Woo BOOKMARKED!! haha And then I read the information and it seems really interesting so I am glad that yet again my instinct of the art I like turned out to be another interesting game. Usually if I like the art I tend to like the game idea.

[ProjectTrinity]

Okay. I'm a big sucker for visuals usually like if I don't like the characters looks. I might not always play it. But sometimes I start out by reading the information first and then the looks grow on me. This one though I saw the character art and was like Woo BOOKMARKED!! haha And then I read the information and it seems really interesting so I am glad that yet again my instinct of the art I like turned out to be another interesting game. Usually if I like the art I tend to like the game idea.

Thank you! I hope the upcoming demo meets any and all expectations you may have for the story and dialogue!

[Kikaharu]

Answering your questions

1) The game intends to incorporate a bit of indirect 4th wall interaction. For example, after I ask you all which two men catch your immediate attention first and why, the game would basically treat it as marketing data and advertise said men more with the brothel's future clients favoring said folks by erm, 'rank'. So which two should definitely be the focus for Xuna's marketing staff~? Which one(s) are most attractive? (If you happen not to see men in that way, feel free to skip this question!)

Answer: Okay, This I'll answer in a few different ways. Attractiveness is very different for each person. I will be talking about how I think others might think or feel but I'm not trying to be like this is for sure. It's just how other games I have played and what characters most of the people liked more of so hopefully it's not too mean to say what I think others might think.

I feel like a lot of people might say Dr. Joy and Valimer are the two most attractive. But I can also see a lot of people saying Artimis and Culliver.

Now ranking all of them, how I think most might rank them (some might be off because I feel like there is a few that some might have switch like ranked up one or ranked down one.) But my thought on what other might rank. Ranked highest to lowest: Culliver, Xaris, Artimis, Valimer, Dr. Joy, Xobi and Proxis.

Now my own personal ranking: Culliver, Artimis, Valimer, Proxis, Xobi, Xaris and Dr. Joy. Though I think I would like to see Proxis as one of the focus for marketing staff.

^All these thoughts are based on their looks and the tiny bit of their personality but that can all changed based on once you start playing the game and get a different feel for each character.

2) Oppositely, which two ladies catch your eye the most? It won't be used as marketing, but how attractive they are here are how attractive the brothel boys will find certain girls in the full game. (If you happen not to see women that way, feel free to skip this question!)

Answer: This will just be my own personal opinion. How attractive for me: Velvet, Xjena (if she is a part of the ranking if not just skip her in my ranking), Axay, Naxia, Lady Nuxa Xaovant and Merixa. Lady Nuxa Xaovant she has the most striking look to me but not the most attractive for me.

Also you have a link to a different thing for what clothes the guys in the brothel should wear. I think that each guy should be able to wear something that matches them or at least matches their looks. Like I think it's important to have their clothes to give more to them instead of take away from their looks. So something that compliments their overall looks.

[Crazy Cactus]

1) Xobi and probably Dr. Joy. For some reason, they stand out to me the most, definitely.

2) Xjena and Merixa -- Xjena because her design and overall character just looks great. I feel like I'd be making a lot of presumptions about her and she'd stomp me into the ground for my ignorance. I feel like she's the absolute definition of the term "man-eater." Merixa would be the second choice because while she doesn't have that 'ooo she's dangerous' vibe, she is definitely rocking the intelligence factor. Its nice to be able to engage with an attractive woman on a more intellectual level and get inside such a lady's head.

3) Gotta have a tier with a soundtrack. This is an absolute must for a LOT of people. This is far more important than an art book or other digital type of reward. If people like the music, they'll want to have a downloadable copy of the soundtrack.

4) I'm sure you will definitely find many people here or even on Reddit willing to do that. Me personally, I don't usually test things out, I just pledge if I like the idea and/or just simply want to support a fellow developer.

6) What kind of word count are you guys currently estimating? Also, how did you do that wicked moving background effect in the train picture. I love it. =3

[ProjectTrinity]

UPDATE: Original post now has individual character bios

Thanks for the new feedback, everyone! It took a bit because updating the first post proved to be more frustrating than anticipated! Let me know if I forgot to answer something or you wanted me to talk about something specifically in my response!

Answering your questions

And thank you for doing so in such detail! And yeah, I agree: Complimenting attire will always trump a more standard one!

3) Gotta have a tier with a soundtrack. This is an absolute must for a LOT of people. This is far more important than an art book or other digital type of reward. If people like the music, they'll want to have a downloadable copy of the soundtrack.

Agreed. It's what I also look for in Kickstarters. And luckily for all, I'm the only composer on the team as of now, so enticing people with music has all the flexibility I can ask for!

What kind of word count are you guys currently estimating? Also, how did you do that wicked moving background effect in the train picture. I love it. =3

Just recently updated it for everyone else who wants to know without having to dig down here for the answer! And that answer is currently about 100k words for the full game, and around 10k for the demo. (All options thoroughly explored for each.)

By the way, I believe I saw your Kickstarter kick up on my feed, and decided to boost it! Best of luck on it! Looks like it's off to a good start!

EDIT: The graphic designer made the animating clouds in the airship .gif! I did the one in the video main menu, but generally he uses After Effects and I use Hitfilm 4 Express because AE destroys even my tank of a computer. Tyranobuilder lets us use webm files, so we can have crystal clear, small-sized videos playing in the background, though the method is bound to change once we jump into Renpy.

[Zelan]

Oh, wow, I love the bios! Everyone has such a unique personality. ^_^

Also, speaking as a straight-ish chick who plays any romances - I'm glad that you made one of the girls straight, but a little disappointed that she's my favorite out of all of them. :*) It's okay, though, because I'm also loving Velvet, Naxia, Culliver, and Xobi.