Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

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Destiny-Smasher
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Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#1 Post by Destiny-Smasher »

“People always told me growing up that it's never about the destination – it's about the journey.
But what if the destination...is you?”

~ Mr. Robot
Image

For a little over two years now, ever since the episodic indie video game Life is Strange wrapped up, I've been writing a script for a visual novel sequel to its story.

IF YOU HAVE NOT PLAYED LIFE IS STRANGE AND DO NOT WISH TO KNOW DETAILS ABOUT ITS STORY, PLEASE PLAY THAT GAME BEFORE LOOKING INTO THIS PROJECT.

I recently finished the prose version of the narrative, which can be read here.
With that finished, I'm ready to get to work adapting it to visual novel format, which was actually how I originally envisioned the story in the first place.
I've already put together a lengthy demo featuring about two hours of content which can be downloaded over here.

I'm considering updating the public version of the VN as I finish more chapters of the story -- there will be between 20-25 when all is said and done, depending on how I adapt or format chapters of the original script.

This would skew much more toward a novel than a sim or a story with branching paths, much like the original game it's directly based on. But I want to incorporate not just alternate dialogue but completely alternate scenes here and there to reflect the reader's choices, and even multiple variations of the climax resolution based on a the cumulative choices the reader has made across the story. One 'hook' with this project is that unlike Life is Strange, the story will bounce back and forth between perspectives of its protagonists, so the reader won't just be making choices for a single character.

I'll be incorporating original music and artwork from members of the LiS fandom (with permission and credit), and I've already got some artists to help with sprites for the characters (though I'll probably be fudging it with edited public-use photos for backgrounds).

As for the concept of the story, it will primarily feature Max and Chloe's relationship after the 'Save Chloe' ending, quickly growing into a romance, and then being put through the paces of the supernatural PTSD Max has incurred from the original game's story, as well as the more natural mental health issues Chloe already has to deal with. So the story would be about seeing these two, through their relationship with each other, work through the grieving and healing process, despite supernatural repercussions of the game's endings. The closest game I can think of that hits the kind of intent and tone I'm going for would probably be Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, though that is a more extreme and harrowing experience than this would be. That being said, one of my motivations of using the format is to capture some of the tension and confusion I'm trying to express in a way that words alone can't quite reach.

I was originally planning on just roughing it all out on my own, but just the formatting alone on this sucker is proving to be a Nightmare (pun intended), so if anyone is interested in joining the development team, at the very least to help with formatting the prose to Renpy format, any help would be welcomed.

You can see a few samples of scene artwork for the project here, and I'll include a few screenshots from the current build, as well.

I worry the first chapter lays on the "edge" a bit thick (this story has a happy ending when all is said and done, it is about healing, ultimately), and that both chapters drag on longer than they should, but this version contains the first two chapters in fully functional form with basically finalized presentation. I also know the art style might be a turn off for some, but the style used in the title screen is actually what I'm hoping the final version will look like, at least once a certain point in the story is reached.

Thanks for your time! Any feedback is appreciated!


Screencap 1
Screencap 2
Screencap 3
Screencap 4
Screencap 5
Screencap 6
Screencap 7
Screencap 8
Screencap 9

Intro:
https://youtu.be/5GXVmsPLMRE


DOWNLOAD DEMO

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#2 Post by parttimestorier »

This sounds like a really cool project! I also really enjoyed Life is Strange, and I'm intrigued by the idea of such a dark take on what might happen after the ending - it definitely makes sense that the characters would have a lot of psychological issues to deal with. From the screenshots, it looks like there will be a few different art styles throughout it. Are you going with different styles to reflect different moods in the story or something like that, or is it just a side effect of having multiple artists helping out with the project? (Either way I'm really looking forward to seeing how it turns out, I was just wondering about that.)
ImageImageImage

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#3 Post by ComputerArt.Club »

Looks cool, :D I enjoyed Life is Strange and its prequel. Looks like a cool project and I'd certainly play it. Would be wary of copyright issues, however. I'll PM you.

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#4 Post by Destiny-Smasher »

I'd probably label this more of a visual novel than a game, for sure. Sort of like Steins;Gate, but...with much more frequent reader choices?

Yea, definitely exploring psychological issues in the fallout of both endings of the game. The different art styles are primarily a symptom of this being a non-profit fanwork with different artists volunteering their work. There will even be some cosplay photography incorporated into some scenes. But, thematically, it also does contribute to the kinds of emotional/mental states the characters find themselves in.

I would prefer for the sprites to have a uniform art style outside of a few scenes, but it's not looking likely just due to how MUCH work would be involved on a single person's shoulders. So, the first third of the story will have the current art style for the sprites, while the majority of the story (which occurs after a time skip) should feature the more painterly style of the title screen.

Re: copyright issues, Life is Strange has all kinds of fanworks and I haven't heard or seen much regarding copyright problems. I think one creator tried to make a straight up RPG-maker styled game and I'm ASSUMING that got shut down, perhaps? But this isn't the only LiS visual novel to exist. Either way, the entire story has been written in fic form, so it's not like it would be for nothing if this version of the story needed to be taken down. It would be kind of a dick move on Square's part, though, especially since another VN already exists without issue. Not to mention, this story REQUIRES a playthrough of the original game to understand, so it's not like I'm trying to offer some kind of 'replacement' narrative.

If anyone gives the demo a try, I'd love some critical feedback! Thanks for even giving this a look.

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#5 Post by ComputerArt.Club »

Just downloaded it and gave it a quick look. I only had a few minutes today, I will take another look another day. In general I like the quality of the project, I can see that a lot of work and time has been put into it. I like the animated start menu. I also see now why the Max at the start has such harsh features (some sort of evil alternate universe Max?). I recognised some of the music too, from Chrono Trigger, right? A little distracting when the music is associated with something else and you are trying to figure out what, but I guess you are trying to use music from games that have time travel as a central theme.

I think yes the art styles are very fragmented, but as a fan project I can also see that it is hard to invest too much time into it, still, if the momentum continues you might be able to find someone to help you fix that. The question is whether that is absolutely necessary or not. I also quickly had a look at the sprites folder, which seems more typical of a VN and quite nice.

Pretty big file size already, what percentage would you say is done? What do you expect the final file size to be?

That is all I have time to write for now. Well done!

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#6 Post by Destiny-Smasher »

The use of music from other stories is actually both an expression of stories that have influenced me as a creator, while also having an inherent plot element to them (and no, not some crossover thing, it's more symbolic).

Ah, you maybe don't remember, but at the end of LiS, Max confronts this hostile version of herself within her own Nightmare. So the Max you're referring to is intended to be her. I end up quoting dialogue from that conversation to make that more apparent. ^_^;

Yea, it'll be a challenge to get enough visuals made, I guess we'll see how it goes!

It is admittedly a big filesize -- this thing will probably be pretty massive when all is said and done. I've yet to figure out how to transfer "save data" from one VN project to another, otherwise, I could make a "volume 1 and 2" of it to make that more manageable on the filesize? Hard to say.

Thanks for giving it look!

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#7 Post by Destiny-Smasher »

I've finally been able to add more content to this! Chapters 3 and 4 are added.

https://destiny-smasher.itch.io/life-is ... -34-update

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#8 Post by ComputerArt.Club »

The link does not appear to be working.
"There was an error with your request"

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Re: Life is Strange: All Wounds [Drama][Romance][Supernatural]

#9 Post by Destiny-Smasher »

Huh, link works for me. Might be something to do with the way this site is compressing the links? It doesn't seem to let the full URL show up.

https://destiny-smasher.itch.io/life-is ... all-wounds

Maybe try that? Or this?

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