✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance (HIATUS)

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sorabokki
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✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance (HIATUS)

#1 Post by sorabokki »

Image

【 Romance ✦ Psychological ✦ Tragedy 】


ImageA game about love , desperation, and sensitivity.
Explore the world of romance with web browsers
while being exposed to dark, real world problems.


Theme: Everyone is Beautiful

Warning: Do not follow if you are sensitive to topics like violence, gender identity and death.

Topics include: sexual assault, bullying & violence, gender crisis, death, abandonment, jealousy



Image Demo Features
    • Image Over 10 events with at least 20,000 words
      Image More than 10 CG's to collect for your gallery
      Image Play mini-games to boost your love chances and story progression
      Image Re-play value with 7 unique endings
      Image Addresses real-world problems
      Image 6 Hot Boys & 1 Hot Girl

Image Summary
    • It's a brand new school year and you just transferred into W3 Academy. As you begin your 3rd Year, you meet some very interesting people who have issues of their own. School events and festivals lead to some interesting developments between you and a potential romantic interest. But be careful, there's more than meets the eye. You may struggle, cry, or plead in this not-so-ordinary high school life.

      Image ` Shunned if spoken, ignored when muted 。 `

Image Characters
Image

Image Credit
    • Image The Programmer (Former Known As ProgrammerGuy)programmer | initial story
      Image woobvdirector | writer | artist × ui designer

Image Demo Progress
    • Deadline: November 6, 2017

      Outline: 100%
      Script: 85%
      Sprites: 5%
      CG: 0%
      GUI: 50%
      Programming: 5%

      We will only be completing one route from Arc 1 for the demo.
      If there is enough interest, we will continue the project after November 6, 2017.

      *We will be using free Backgrounds and Audio under the Creative Commons License
Image Updates
    • Oct. o9 Decided to make the game and recruited The Programmer
      Oct. 1o Finished the Outline for Arcs 1 - 4 & 50% of Arc 1 Script
      Oct. 11 Created concept artwork for Chrome Boy and Firefox Lad
      Oct. 12 Made character sketches for Netscape, Opera, Safari
      Oct. 13 Designed the logo, Microsoft Edge and 2 hidden characters
      Oct. 14 Drafted the GUI for (1) choice box, (2) text box, (3) register screen, & (4) quit box | Decided to re-do the scope and only publish Arc 1 for the demo
      Oct. 15 Finished Main Menu and (almost) the Gallery
      Oct. 17 Wrote up Character Outlines & Backgrounds for 2 characters
      Oct. 18 Designed Branching for Route 1 of 5 (Arc 1)
      Oct. 19 Composer finished Theme Song: SOUNDCLOUD
      Oct. 23 Finished writing Main Events of Timeline (#1-10) and Ending #1 (18k milestone)
      Oct. 25 All events and endings are complete (for 1 Route/1 Arc)
      Oct. 26 Created the remaining GUI assets: (1) Settings Screen, (2) Mini-game boxes, (3) MC Portrait

Image Questions
    • ◼ What do you think of our approach to handle some very tough topics?
      ◼ What are you expecting/hoping to see in the game?
      ◼ If you could sum up the characters' personalities in 1 sentence, what would it be (more character concepts coming soon)?
      ◼ What is the most appealing aspect of this game thus far?
      ◼ Please describe your first impressions of this game.
      ◼ Using your best judgment, what do you think this game will be about mostly?




Image Image Image Image


Director's Notes
Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for your interest in our game. The goal of this game is mostly to bring awareness to some very dark and sensitive topics that many high school students face today. Of course, there are so many issues that our youth struggles with, so we only tackle a few of the bigger topics that are sometimes swept under the rug (like bullying, sexual assault, gender crisis). This may offend some people, but overall, I hope to bring light on these topics. There are so many very. real. problems that people around us continue to deal with. I would like to dedicate this to those who struggled, are struggling, and will struggle with these things.
Last edited by sorabokki on Sun Jan 21, 2018 6:30 pm, edited 25 times in total.
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sorabokki
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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#2 Post by sorabokki »

The Progression of Firefox Lad


Stage 1: Tritone Hair
LOL, nope.

Image


Stage 2: Blue Hair
... But then what?

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Stage 3: Red Hair with Accessories
Something's still missing...

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Stage 4: Firefox Lad
Yasss

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Last edited by sorabokki on Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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sorabokki
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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#3 Post by sorabokki »

Phew! Just finished all of these concept artwork for these characters > ~ <

Gotta finish about 3-4 more tomorrow, and then all the characters should be sketched out. * - * (1 is a mystery, ufufufu)

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sorabokki
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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#4 Post by sorabokki »

I'm designing the last browser boy and the programmer and I are stuck between blue hair and red hair!

I vote Blue but our programmer thinks Red might be better.
If you guys have time, we'd really appreciate your input! ^_^

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#5 Post by Pick_One »

Well I don't have much time right at the moment to type out all my thoughts, but I did typed some before and here is what I have so far:

I like psychological stories. And dating web browsers which equals to dating everything there is to the internet...oh boy, this could get really dark. But very interesting too. Also... kinda cute title that you guys have. ^^

IE 's yellow movement piece does work well as a piece of dyed hair. (unless that's his real hair color hahaha). Netscape got the right feel to me. Safari looks sweet. Chrome seems kinda difficult to design, I'm kinda unsure with him truthfully, although the bird is cute.

What do you think of our approach to handle some very tough topics?

I don't know yet how these topics will be handle but I guess I could say that I hope it's not forced and there will be different sides/perspective to them. It would be interesting to see what each browser route will entail.

What are you expecting/hoping to see in the game?

Hmm... nothing at the moment that doesn't include what I already mention. Besides, I'm more interested to what you guys have in mind. So I actually won't want to say too much?

I will type out the rest another time. If you want people to notice the game more, maybe add something about it to your signature. But yea I'm interested in playing this. Also first post has a broken image link, which I'm guessing is the concept for Firefox?

Anyways don't lose hope or feel discouraged. ^^

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#6 Post by sorabokki »

@Pick_One: I just want to thank you so much for your extremely detailed and super well thought-out response! I really appreciate it and makes me really happy to read all your thoughts and comments. :D

And thank you for letting me know! I *think* I fixed the broken link. (The Firefox Lad image showed up to me when you said it was broken, so I'm not sure if this new link works)

=======================

On another note....... I finished *ALL* character sketches (9) and the Logo! WHOOOOOOOO! :D

Image



And all the character previews in 1 stretch here! XD
(Gotta actually make individual profiles.... soon...)
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2 will be hidden until you play the game, ufufu~
Last edited by sorabokki on Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#7 Post by Pick_One »

Everything is now showing up, so no problems there. ^^ Logo looks pretty cute. I kinda like the look of Edge and I think good choice for Netscape's hair to be black. I think I prefer Safari with blue hair though, but at the same time, there are already other characters with blue hair. And white hair does still look cool. Lol.

Wow, there's actually kinda lots of characters that you can romance. Hidden characters sound exciting. Can't wait for the profiles. And my answers for the other questions will have to be another time. Lol.

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#8 Post by Mikomi »

The characters and the logo look very nice! To be honest, I was put off by them being gijinkas since I thought it would be a different kind of story when I first clicked on this and threw off my expectations of something darker, but they do look interesting. My only guess is that this could explore the darker sides of the internet and how lawless it can be at times.

I do have a question, though- why such a strict deadline of November?

Either way, good luck with this!

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#9 Post by sorabokki »

Pick_One wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:48 pm Everything is now showing up, so no problems there. ^^ Logo looks pretty cute. I kinda like the look of Edge and I think good choice for Netscape's hair to be black. I think I prefer Safari with blue hair though, but at the same time, there are already other characters with blue hair. And white hair does still look cool. Lol.

Wow, there's actually kinda lots of characters that you can romance. Hidden characters sound exciting. Can't wait for the profiles. And my answers for the other questions will have to be another time. Lol.
Great! Glad to hear the problem is solved. XD Also thank you! Yea... the programmer and I were like: there's too many red and blue haired characters in here. T__T Need to diversify the cast~ Ohoho. I'm happy that you still like Safari even after we turned her hair white/silver! :)

As for hidden characters -- we're actually doing something more (announcing it at the bottom of this post real quick!)


Mikomi wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 3:57 pm The characters and the logo look very nice! To be honest, I was put off by them being gijinkas since I thought it would be a different kind of story when I first clicked on this and threw off my expectations of something darker, but they do look interesting. My only guess is that this could explore the darker sides of the internet and how lawless it can be at times.

I do have a question, though- why such a strict deadline of November?

Either way, good luck with this!
Thank you very much! And oooh, interesting! I didn't realize that the idea of personifying the web browsers would be a deterrent to some people. Good to know! And thanks so much for your feedback. :D

As for the deadline, we are submitting the 1st episode for a game jam ending on November 6th! At that point, we're hoping to get everything (from the demo, at least) polished and ready to be released to the public.

I appreciate the encouragement, thanks! <3


--------------------------------------


Big Announcement!

So based on some feedback on other groups/forums, we've decided to focus on JUST Arc 1, instead of 3 shorter arcs. We will be extending Arc 1 to incorporate a few of the story elements in other arcs, and will be releasing just this for our demo on November 6.

Another thing is...... because of our expanded long-term scope, we are adding a couple more characters! 1 was requested very heavily. A very... "dark" character. XD Ehehe~~ Hope you guys like the addition.



And finally, I've been hard at work today with GUI assets. I'd say I'm about 25-30% finished with the GUI for Arc 1 ^_^

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#10 Post by bobconway »

I don't know how I missed this thread before, but that GUI and those sprites are gorgeous.

◼ What do you think of our approach to handle some very tough topics?
I really like the theme... web browsers as people seems promising, and I like VNs that don't shy away from tough subjects.

◼ What are you expecting/hoping to see in the game?
I play visual novels mostly for the characters, so I'm hoping to see characters that are unique and interesting and relateable (or not, depending on the personality :P). I'm looking forward to seeing how/if the browser each character is based on will influence its personality.

◼ If you could sum up the characters' personalities in 1 sentence, what would it be (more character concepts coming soon)?
The way they're standing and looking is all very different, so probably something like: The characters look like they have varying personalities, from Safari's aloofness to Opera's shyness to Netscape's cold-blooded unnerving stare.

◼ What is the most appealing aspect of this game thus far?
Given what we've seen, and without a demo, the GUI is my favorite part.

◼ Please describe your first impressions of this game.
Quirky and promising.

◼ Using your best judgment, what do you think this game will be about mostly?
Romance, jealousy, drama, bullying, abusive relationships. Perhaps exaggerated aspects of relationships, both good and bad.
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See my other games here or find me on Twitter

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#11 Post by Mikomi »

woobv wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2017 5:17 am Thank you very much! And oooh, interesting! I didn't realize that the idea of personifying the web browsers would be a deterrent to some people. Good to know! And thanks so much for your feedback. :D

As for the deadline, we are submitting the 1st episode for a game jam ending on November 6th! At that point, we're hoping to get everything (from the demo, at least) polished and ready to be released to the public.

I appreciate the encouragement, thanks! <3
Ah, I just meant that doing personifications of existing companies/trademarks usually makes the product come off as... well, not that serious, as it's not "fully original". I don't mean this in a bad way! I really like the character designs, but this is how projects that use personifications of things they don't own usually come off as, sorta like fangames.

Oh, what game jam?

It's no problem, I'm really looking forward to this!

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#12 Post by Pick_One »

The GUI looks great and clean looking. I admit I had been a little concerned about you guys not having enough time to finish making the game because of the amount of content that would be in it. But I also believe that if you guys know what're doing and how much you can do, then go for it and there will be something good at the end. Also, I think the updates so far has shown some good progress. ^^

A new very... "dark" character sounds fun. ;)

Now for the rest of those questions:

◼ If you could sum up the characters' personalities in 1 sentence, what would it be (more character concepts coming soon)?

I'll just say what was my quick first impressions when I saw their appearances (Their current appearances). I did had more or different thoughts as I kept thinking further ahead, but I'll keep them to myself.

Chrome: A charming sweet goody two shoes.
Edge: tsundere
Firefox lad: Happy outgoing energetic guy.
IE: Flamboyant tease who acts cool.
Netscape : A quiet smart guy who does things at his own pace.
Opera: Got a sharp eye for details and has expectations.
Safari: A friendly and kinda mellow girl.

◼ What is the most appealing aspect of this game thus far?

The characters and what conflicts will pop up on their routes.

◼ Please describe your first impressions of this game.

Well, when I first saw the title of this thread, I was wondering how dark it could get. Read everything then saw the art and well, I was already imagining how the story in general will progress. Lol. So I was like yeah, I want to play this.

◼ Using your best judgment, what do you think this game will be about mostly?

A relatively and supposedly nice fun school life story. *cough* Don't think that's fooling anyone here though. *cough*....Well, when I really thought about the game... I had a few like floating ideas as to what the game might mostly be about, but will see how absurd they are when I get to play it.

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#13 Post by SilverLocks »

Ohhh, this looks nice!

◼ What do you think of our approach to handle some very tough topics?
I think that it's an interesting idea, especially considering that you're using web browsers as characters, however, I think that you may want to include what types of topics you're going to bring up on the main page, perhaps with a spoiler tag. Some people are fine with some topics but awful with others, so you might want to let them know exactly what they're getting into.
◼ What are you expecting/hoping to see in the game?
I'm hoping to see a game about different characters lives at school, perhaps with a bit of romance
◼ If you could sum up the characters' personalities in 1 sentence, what would it be (more character concepts coming soon)?
You might want to ask me this question after the demo.
◼ What is the most appealing aspect of this game thus far?
The idea of using what seems to be a parody game in a dark twist.
◼ Please describe your first impressions of this game.
Again, haven't played it yet.
◼ Using your best judgment, what do you think this game will be about mostly?
I imagine it will be a romance game that deals with concepts like bullying and suicide, but it seems pretty enigmatic so far.
P.S.
Tor better be that character, or even better, an option for the MC

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#14 Post by Fiqnew »

Alright let's start with the questions:

◼ What do you think of our approach to handle some very tough topics?
I think the idea of handling very tough topics can be a very good idea. It leaves a lot of room for development and excitement in a visual novel.

◼ What are you expecting/hoping to see in the game?
I'm expecting a lot of different character developments based on the different interactions between multiple characters. I hope that there are good endings and bad endings based on the paths that you take.

◼ If you could sum up the characters' personalities in 1 sentence, what would it be (more character concepts coming soon)?
I would say most of the characters look very confident except for the two who look pretty reserved.

◼ What is the most appealing aspect of this game thus far?
The most appealing aspect would have to be the dark element of the game.

◼ Please describe your first impressions of this game.
My first impression was that the game seems different with the dark element instead of pure romance like most visual novels.

◼ Using your best judgment, what do you think this game will be about mostly?
The game will mostly be about how the MC deals with dark thoughts and handle relationships with the other characters.

Overall, looking forward to how the game turns out!

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Re: ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance

#15 Post by sorabokki »

bobconway wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2017 9:40 amI don't know how I missed this thread before, but that GUI and those sprites are gorgeous.
Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying them. ^ ^
I appreciate your feedback, too! I hope the way we've personalized the characters will be to your liking (and still tackle the tough subjects in a tactful way!)
As for your "best judgment", you've gotten so many things right! XD Ahaha. Like... no joke. All of those will be addressed. :shock:

Mikomi wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:48 pmAh, I just meant that doing personifications of existing companies/trademarks usually makes the product come off as... well, not that serious, as it's not "fully original". I don't mean this in a bad way! I really like the character designs, but this is how projects that use personifications of things they don't own usually come off as, sorta like fangames.

Oh, what game jam?

It's no problem, I'm really looking forward to this!
Oh, I see I see! No I totally understand, and I think those are very valid points that I'm sure other people will also share! Thank you for opening that perspective for me. :D
It is the Indie Game Makers Contest. It opened on October 6 (so we started a few days late), but it will end on November 6! :)
And I'm glad! We hope not to disappoint with our demo.

Pick_One wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:22 pmThe GUI looks great and clean looking. I admit I had been a little concerned about you guys not having enough time to finish making the game because of the amount of content that would be in it. But I also believe that if you guys know what're doing and how much you can do, then go for it and there will be something good at the end. Also, I think the updates so far has shown some good progress. ^^

A new very... "dark" character sounds fun. ;)
Thank you so much! We also agreed on the point that we wouldn't have enough time to finish everything. Looking at our timeline, we thought we would only finish with very short and rushed Arcs 1-3 (forget about Arc 4!), so we decided to reduce our scope to just include Arc 1 with a bit of tweaking! :) Then it'll relieve some burden on both of us, too hehe. ^^

YESSS! I am *very* excited for this dark character. A lot of people have been requesting him so we will definitely extend one of the other arcs to include him.
"A relatively and supposedly nice fun school life story. "
Ehehehehehe-- we will see about that. ;)

SilverLocks wrote: Sat Oct 14, 2017 8:41 pmOhhh, this looks nice!
Thanks so much! I'm glad you like it :D
I think including a spoiler tag with all the topics we hope to address is a wonderful idea - I went ahead and put one at the very top!
You definitely guessed some of the issues that will be in the game!

Fiqnew wrote: Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:23 amAlright let's start with the questions:

Overall, looking forward to how the game turns out!
Thanks so much for taking the time to fill out the questions! I really appreciate it.
There will definitely be multiple endings (both good and bad)~ We hope it adds a lot of replay value!
I like your take on "how the MC will handle the dark thoughts" - that's really up to the player, and we hope the events really will get the player to think about their choices! :D



=================================================


Apologies for not updating yesterday. I felt like I didn't make enough progress to warrant a post, but now I have a bit more to share today!

Here we have the Main Menu Screen. Our programmer is hoping to get some animations going (a "nice-to-have" feature). And the save/load screen along with the gallery!

With this, I'd say I've tackled about 50% of the GUi for Arc 1! Just have to make the screen for settings, Mini-Game, the MC's portrait screen, and "The Love Net" (book filled with each character's bio). If we have time, we'd like to include a "Map" of different locations you can go to, but it may not happen! XD

P.S. Please ignore some of my super old sketches/drawings for a long time ago. > ~ < yikes;; embarrassing.


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Finally, we had the idea that if you finish the game once (in this case, the demo), your main menu screen will look glitched like this:

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I'm wondering......... am I revealing too much? LOL I should leave some surprise shouldn't I... *hmmmmmm*


Also, we'll be recruiting some voice actors to see if we can include a nice extra element to the game!
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