Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

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Zino
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Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#1 Post by Zino »

Image

STORY:

After an unexpected avalanche, Olivia and her twin brother Oliver find themselves separated from their parents, just as they were about to spend a week long holiday in a hotel in the snowy mountains. Trying to make the best of the unfortunate situation, Olivia’s ready to have fun even if the connections to the outside world are temporarily cut off.

At first the time in the hotel couldn’t be any more pleasant - Olivia meets all kinds of new people and is eager to make friends with them all, and maybe learn how to ski while she’s there! But there are some things her new acquaintances seem to be hiding. What exactly did happen in the hotel two years ago and how is everyone connected to it? Things also take a grim turn when someone decides it’s the right time to start killing people. It’s going to be a long week for Olivia - trying to stay alive, solve the mystery and protect Oliver from any harm at the same time.

CHARACTERS:

MC/OLIVIA:
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"That's right, I can't get all gloomy now!"
-Age: 17
-Courageous when looking after Oliver, but gets scared easily when she's alone. Loves her brother but also likes to mess with him.
-Is quick to speak what's on her mind. Sometimes without too much thinking too. Which usually gets her into trouble.
-Going to an all girls- school is the reason why she doesn't have any male friends. So she's hoping to make some over the holiday.
-Likes: Teasing Oliver, friends, food.
-Dislikes: Humorless people, boredom, tight jeans.

OLIVER:
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"S-spooky story?! Do I wanna hear this...?"
-Age: 17
-Scaredy-cat. Likes to hide behind Olivia's back. Or any other available back when he gets scared.
-Still, loves horror games. As long as Olivia plays them for him and he can just hide under the blanket and take sneak peaks at the screen from time to time.
-Huge book nerd. Doesn't like sports and would much rather just spend his days inside, reading all kinds of books.
Likes: Books, Olivia, horror games.
Dislikes: Ghost stories, exercising, girls.

ETHAN:
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"Hah, you can try! I won't go easy on anyone."
-Age: 21
-Energetic young man who is always exercising. Is good at pretty much any sport you can name.
-Been too busy doing sports and has never dated anyone. Doesn't really care whether he's going to be "virgin forever" or not, as his friends like to tease him.
-Despite of his cheerful attitude, he seems to get easily depressed when he realises there's nothing he can do to make things better.
Likes: Sports, Dominic, waking up early.
Dislikes: Sweets, feeling helpless, love songs.

DOMINIC:
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"Did Ethan make you talk to me?"
-Age: 21
-Childhood friends with Ethan. They go to the same university right now. Doesn't like to talk to or hang out with other people than Ethan.
-Apparently has a girlfriend. Ethan doesn't agree.
-Is often seeing wandering in the hallways, looking for something.
Likes: His girlfriend, hanging out with Ethan, friendly people.
Dislikes: Strangers, bullies, partying.

ELMERI:
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"Why can't they stop babying me and tell me the truth already!?"
-Age: 14
-Sweet and innocent little boy. Well actually not. A little jerk. Who loses it when you accidentally call him little.
-Norman's nephew. His parents don't seem to be around. Has trust issues with adults.
-Claims he suffers from a memory loss.
Likes: Candy, snowboarding, being treated like a grown-up.
Dislikes: Basil, being called 'little', his classmates.

BASIL:
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"I mean it, you should stay away from me."
-Age: 19
-Friendly guy, who cares even for the total strangers. Started working in the hotel as a cook two years ago.
-Doesn't like conflict and likes to apologize even when nothing is his fault.
-Filled with warm feelings, but doesn't really seem to be that close to anyone. Avoids spending time with people. Especially if it means being alone with someone.
Likes: Making good food, apologizing, being left alone.
Dislikes: Overcooked meat, spiders, himself.

NORMAN:
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"Ye better watch out before yer gonna steal this old man's heart!"
-Age: 37
-Owner of the hotel. Flirty, cheery, and little pervy old man, who loves physical contact.
-Head cook, but doesn't really spend that much time in the kitchen anymore thanks to Basil.
-The hotel was first owned by his older sister and he only took the ownership of it ten years ago. Previous career path is unknown.
Likes: Women, acting shameless, his chesthair.
Dislikes: Vegetables, technology, Elmeri growing up too fast.

OTHER INFO:
-Free to play.
-Rated 16+
-Nameable MC.
-6 different character routes and 13 endings.
-Choices that will decide the fate of the characters.
-Multiple sprites for the characters and plenty of CGs.
-At least 150k words long.

What I have so far:
-Plot outlines for the whole story + for the different endings.
-Common route finished. (80k)
-Have started to write individual routes. (aiming for 40-50k per route)
-9 sprites done.
-All the CGs for the prologue have been sketched.
-Sketched main menu.

So... I know. Huge project + working on it solo is never a good combination. I am planning to ask help, mostly writing (and BG) wise after I edit my script so far (and proofreaders bc I'm not native English speaker). Right now it's a huge unedited mess I don't dare to show anyone yet. Anyway, I wanted to make an otome game with my preferred 2D character types + short haired heroine, somehow murder mystery happened too and thus... this game(idea) was born!

QUESTIONS:
-Does the premise interest you? Or do you feel like it's been done to death already?
-Do you like any of the characters? Enough/not enough information given about them?
-What about the art style? Ok enough?
-Game will have three routes you can't access right away. Does it annoy you to play at least one route before even unlocking some of the other routes?

I'll be thankful for any feedback you may have! (Unless you're gonna say this project is too big for me - I already know :'D)
Last edited by Zino on Tue Jan 17, 2023 9:19 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Fr

#2 Post by chickandnugget »

I don't think this premise has been overdone at all! I'm really interested in how this turns out. I always like a good murder mystery.

My favorite character is probably Ethan, because he seems a bit like an overenthusiastic dumbass (and that's mah type)

I think the artstyle's great ^^

When it comes to the unlockable routes thing, I don't mind at all. But I'm also a massive completionist so I just view it as another challenge haha

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Fr

#3 Post by The_Laurent »

I really like the art style, and I feel unusually and unnaturally attached to Oliver already. Maybe it's his hair?

I'm assuming since you said 'six routes' and there are six characters there that either there is a secret character or you get to do some...what's the word for it?

Friendshipping with your brother?

If so, neat.

But yeah, right now the characters pop, at least for short descriptions, and their art-style is the biggest draw for me.

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Fr

#4 Post by Kikaharu »

I really like the idea and I really like the artwork. :) so I'm watching this.

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Fr

#5 Post by Zino »

chickandnugget: Thank you for your comment! Aside from male tsuns, overenthusiastic dumbasses are my fav types too!! BD

The_Laurent: Friendshippy route with Oliver is a one way to describe it. : D (The reason why MC even has a bro is that in eeearly development phase I hadn't yet decided whether mc was gonna be a girl or a boy so I drew them both. And then didn't wanna waste Oliver's design so he ended up being a twin)

Kikaharu: Thanks, I'm glad to hear idea and art seem okay! : )

Aand I have some tiny progress to report as well. Lined the first CG of the game (okay or second. Kinda depends if I'm putting general cg before this but anyway). So here's cropped preview.

Image

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Fr

#6 Post by Googaboga »

-Does the premise interest you? Or do you feel like it's been done to death already?

Personally, I can never get enough 'people stuck in a place and then death' stories.

-Do you like any of the characters? Enough/not enough information given about them?

Olivia and her brother seem fun :D. Dominic appeals to me as well. I like characters who weirdly wander around doing who knows what, aha.

-What about the art style? Ok enough?

I think it looks quite cool :].

-Game will have three routes you can't access right away. Does it annoy you to play at least one route before even unlocking some of the other routes?

It depends on how much I care about the plot. If the main thing going for me is the character based stuff, I do find it annoying when I'm forced to play through routes in a certain order. If the three unlockable routes get unlocked at the same time, I'd be fine though since that's still three routes to do in any order. If the three unlockable routes get unlocked in a set order and you have to play one before playing another or something, that could dampen my personal experience (again, it depends on whether I'm more into the story or characters).


Anyways, I'm happy this project is coming well. I'm really looking forward to it. Good luck with everything ^^.
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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Fr

#7 Post by Ran08 »

Oh, this sounds like something I'll enjoy! :)
(Plus the premise sounds like the winter version of a game of mine, hehe that makes it even more interesting~)
1. Yep, I definitely like it and I don't think it's that common, though I do know a few literature/films with the same premise. :D
2. My favorite's gotta be Dominic, but... I don't like guys who have girlfriends (or even just interested in someone else), lol, that's an instant turn-off for me. So I guess I'll go for Ethan? Then again, Oliver and I have the same likes, so... :) Maybe I'll go for both of them! Hahaha.
3. The art style is, hm, definitely different from the usual anime style which I prefer, but that's alright. It looks polished, at least, so that's 'ok enough' for me. :)
4. YES. Wait, no. Wait, what do you mean? If you mean that I'm locked to playing just this one single route on my first playthrough, then that is kind of a bummer, but if you mean that I have to finish at least one route first (not necessarily a predetermined route) to unlock some others, then sure, I can live with that.

Good luck! It sure is a huge project, but hey, if you're motivated enough, then what's stopping you, right? :) Do your best! Hope to play this someday~

Btw, may I ask what your target completion date is? :D

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Fr

#8 Post by Zino »

Googaboga: Thanks for your input!! You're not the only one who greatly enjoys the "people stuck in some place + dying involved" combo :'D

Ran08: Thanks for commenting! The game has three routes available in the beginning and one of them is the route you need to beat to unlock two more (and then beat all five routes to unlock the final route), so you won't be locked with just one route to start with : D

Long time no updating this thread. I meant to post something sooner, but somehow last month lasted like a second and before I knew it was already over. Anyway, I finally finished coloring the first CG. Three more to finish and cgs for prologue are all done. Sneak peak under as usual~

Image

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#9 Post by Zino »

SO. Guess who re-colored the sprites... yet again :'D I swear that's like the only progress I ever make. Okay, okay, I've started writing Ethan's route and CGs for the demo are almost done (hehe just gotta re-color them too to match the newest coloring style... oh fun). Also GUI's coming along after a lot of trial and error. But since I've decided to include MC's sprite to it, it's gonna change too I guess. But anyway, not including expressions, I've got the sprites freaking done. Finally. Only missing Ethan and Norman's second sprites because those I completely re-drew as I was not happy with the previous ones. And this will be the LAST time I'm re-coloring them (or so I hope...)!! I'm sorry if you were a fan of the previous style. But cell shading is just soooo much quicker to do. Thinking about those 50+ CGs I have to draw and color eventually. I changed the coloring style mostly because I actually do want to get this game done at some point so...

I'll post the new sprites here and edit the first post later. Oh, and here's Olivia's game sprite as well (haven't quite decided yet how cropped it will be, gotta decide on the GUI first). Trying to finish it and the two sprites left next week. Then I can finally 100% move on from the sprites.
Image
boysrback.png

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#10 Post by lymphae »

I saw this thread quite some time ago and I've sworn to myself I'd post a comment here, sadly my mind has neglected my obeys (I even bookmarked this lmao). Finally I've come back (while cleaning my bookmarks but shh) to leave a comment on this amazingly looking game!

-Does the premise interest you? Or do you feel like it's been done to death already?

Ohh, I've always liked the 'you're stuck here, someone's on killing spree, investigate and find' them theme. Honestly I really don't mind it if the circumstances of being trapped don't seem too far-fetched, and all the reasons why you cannot do anything to actually leave are well explained.

-Do you like any of the characters? Enough/not enough information given about them?

Olivia - I really like her personality, and somehow symphatize with her, since I had only one boy in my class for 5 years now, so getting more male friends is something I can relate to.
Oliver - He's so adorable!
Likes: Olivia Dislikes:girls (why am i laughing)
Dominic - Is often seeing wandering in the hallways, looking for something. hey, im here
Basil - Omg?? I'm so into him already. His 'stay away from me' vibe is totally attracting me. I love everything about him.

-What about the art style? Ok enough?

I think it looks great, more than ok enough. Sadly I indeed was a fan of the old style, but if it means it'll be easier and faster for you I do not mind. Also I don't think it's such a drastic change anyway.

-Game will have three routes you can't access right away. Does it annoy you to play at least one route before even unlocking some of the other routes?

Not at all. It reminds me of the system in the Nameless game. Normally I wouldn't have gone for some of the routes there, but since the ones I wanted to get to play were locked, I had to go through the ones I wouldn't play. I didn't regret going through them and I guess aiming for the "true ending" was fun.

I'm definetly watching this game's development o(✿>ω<)o.

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#11 Post by Zino »

lymphae: thanks for your input!! and sorry it took me literal years to answer OTL

Ehem... woopsie, two and half year and no progress... well, to my defense i have to say that i was finishing my thesis and my old laptop was seriously dying whenever i drew anything with it, so... but now, no more school and i have upgraded my laptop to a newer one. Which means time to re-do everything! Okay, no, but my old sprites and screen resolutions were kinda low so. Upgrading everything to 1920x1080 and also redesigning all my characters lol. Only thing I won't be re-doing is the script. There's still a lot of it, and none edited. The common route is "done", but haven't started to write any of the routes yet, ive only planned them more. i'm having some doubts about the true ending of the game and what i want it to be, buut there's still time to figure that one out. also im gonna look for a bg artist and another script writer/idea bouncer in the future because ive finally accepted there's no way i can finish this on my own, and i need options on how stupid the whole plot is before writing it any further lmao (feel free to dm me if you wanna participate though im gonna make a proper recruitment post later).

Anyway, gonna edit the first post when I have more finalized versions of the character sprites... again, i'm sorry if you liked the old version but the change has come....

cast got a makeover...
cast got a makeover...

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#12 Post by Zelan »

I remember this thread from a while ago, really cool to see that you've come back to it! Hope your thesis went well ^_^ and looking forward to seeing more progress!

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#13 Post by Zino »

Zelan: Oh, cool that someone remembers this even though i took such a long break from it... ^^' (and thesis went okay, thanks!)

Okay, I've been working hard, sketching CGs, designing main menu, tweaking the start of the script a bit and making the sprites. Five sprites done, five to go and then everyone will have at least one sprite done. Keeping the coloring style simple so I can get things done quicker. Here's how the sprites will look (i may tweak some little things once I've made all of them):
mc and some dudes
mc and some dudes

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#14 Post by Zino »

and the rest of the characters (minus some spoiler ones that i obviously cant show lol). still plotting/writing/editing stuff so not much else to show.

(also lol why does this look like we love pink/red club in the middle vs. we love green club)
group2.png

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Re: Prisoners of Snow [Otome][GxB][Mystery, Supernatural][Free]

#15 Post by Zino »

Just dropping by after 2+ years again to say, that I've finished writing and editing the common route (around 80k long), made detailed plans for each route and I'm currently writing the script for them (8k words down, 222k left....). I won't finalize any art before I've 99% done with the script to prevent myself from redrawing everything for the 100th time :'D

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