Goddess XoXo by DedDanGames [Kickstarter][Drama][BxG][Slice-of-Life]

[DedDanGames]

Hi all,

Dan from DedDanGames here to present our first game Goddess XoXo. We are excited to bring this game to a reality and have entered a part of production where we feel comfortable sharing with the VN community. For Goddess XoXo, there is a currently running Kickstarter that I will link to below. We have raised over $1,100 of our $3,500 goal. I will go into further detail of the project below, including all necessary links and a few images of our game. If you desire, you may check out our demo. It is about a 20 minute experience.
Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/46 ... ddess-xoxo
Playable Demo: https://deddangames.itch.io/goddess-xoxo-demo-v20

This is not a kinetic novel. There will be choices and three routes that are very different experiences each with their own themes. One will focus more on humanity, the other loyalty, and the final the pursuit of happiness.
Story
Humanity can be....messy. Even the powers of a goddess aren't enough to overcome every challenge!

When three sisters, goddesses from another Universe, have a crash landing on Earth, they fall under the protection of, you! The player!

Soriri, Aesis, and Etteru are in your care. Through you, they must learn to adapt on Earth. They know nothing of our world!

Living on Earth isn't always easy, either! With no work experience and no references, the three sisters resort to finding low-income jobs. Luckily, between the three of them they can afford an apartment!

But a darkness lingers underneath the good times as one of the sisters lusts for home.

Humanity can be ugly and the goddesses have, in the past, dealt with corrupt societies...

Each of the goddesses approaches humanity in their own way. It's up to you to bring them together for the greater good!

Progress
Writing: %50 - Currently we have a completed first draft, but as the writer a first draft is only the beginning. I am currently in the process of taking the story and making it the best I can. The second draft is projected to be finished by the end of the Kickstarter.
Art: %30 - We currently have all character sprites, 6 CGs, but no backgrounds. Furthermore, we want to fund a better UI.
Sounds: %20 - We have a very limited catalog of sounds so far, all of which can be heard in the demo. Not all sounds are final and the song playing throughout the demo is a placeholder.
Programming: %80 Vital functions are in place, but there are some annoying bugs to iron out and performance issues to improve.

Images
Please visit our Kickstarter to see more of our CGs!




Discussion
To complete this post, I would like to propose a few questions and have a brief discussion. I encourage constructive criticism and have enjoyed reading the criticisms we have received so far. A few of these questions will address those.

1. One of the first things you may notice is that we have used a familiar art style(Love Live). In hindsight, I admit it may have been a bad idea, but with the story I had in mind, the art style fit our project. For future projects we will certainly be using a different art style so that the project stands on its own. What are your thoughts on our decision?

2. If you play the demo, do the characters sound different to you? Do they each have their own voice?

3. Does the premise interest you?

4. How do you feel about "bad" endings? I have contemplated making one of the endings "bad." However, I changed my mind because I did not want to punish the player for following the character that interests them most. I would love to hear others' thoughts on this.

Thank you all for reading! I am running short on time now, but I will be around when I can to answer questions and discuss our project with you all.

[Zelan]

1. One of the first things you may notice is that we have used a familiar art style(Love Live). In hindsight, I admit it may have been a bad idea, but with the story I had in mind, the art style fit our project. For future projects we will certainly be using a different art style so that the project stands on its own. What are your thoughts on our decision?

Anime-styled art tends to be pretty popular in the VN community. (There's a whole other group, especially on these forums, that prefers Western-style art, but hey, as long as you've got an audience you're fine.) I've never seen Love Live, but as long as the art style isn't copyrighted or something I don't think there should be an issue.

For me personally, it's cute. I like the second CG. c:

3. Does the premise interest you?

A bit, yeah. Gods/goddesses come to Earth isn't the most original idea out there, but I do like the idea of them having to get used to human jobs. The whole thing you've got going on with the different ways they react to humanity is cool as well.

4. How do you feel about "bad" endings? I have contemplated making one of the endings "bad." However, I changed my mind because I did not want to punish the player for following the character that interests them most. I would love to hear others' thoughts on this.

Bad endings aren't necessarily a bad thing (haha, doesn't make sense, let me explain). A well-written bad ending can be rewarding in its own way; it might make you think hard about the themes, or just be fun to read (there are plenty of people who love endings describing vastly different gory deaths). On the other hand, like you said, bad endings that are boring - or if your player just hates any and all bad endings - can feel like a punishment to the player for making a certain choice.

From the way you worded this question, it sounds like you were planning to make it so that one of the characters has ONLY bad ends. This has the potential to be really cool in terms of storytelling, but on the other hand I can see how it could annoy or frustrate people if it happened in a romance VN. Two possible options: make it so that she has two (or more) ends, including both good ones and bad ones; alternatively, make the ending bittersweet instead of bad. A really well-written bittersweet ending can sometimes be better than a good ending, as it tugs at the heartstrings and endears the players to your character.

I'm not the biggest fan of BxG but this seems like a decent project. I'll be keeping an eye out for it. c:

[DedDanGames]

1. One of the first things you may notice is that we have used a familiar art style(Love Live). In hindsight, I admit it may have been a bad idea, but with the story I had in mind, the art style fit our project. For future projects we will certainly be using a different art style so that the project stands on its own. What are your thoughts on our decision?

Anime-styled art tends to be pretty popular in the VN community. (There's a whole other group, especially on these forums, that prefers Western-style art, but hey, as long as you've got an audience you're fine.) I've never seen Love Live, but as long as the art style isn't copyrighted or something I don't think there should be an issue.

For me personally, it's cute. I like the second CG. c:

3. Does the premise interest you?

A bit, yeah. Gods/goddesses come to Earth isn't the most original idea out there, but I do like the idea of them having to get used to human jobs. The whole thing you've got going on with the different ways they react to humanity is cool as well.

4. How do you feel about "bad" endings? I have contemplated making one of the endings "bad." However, I changed my mind because I did not want to punish the player for following the character that interests them most. I would love to hear others' thoughts on this.

Bad endings aren't necessarily a bad thing (haha, doesn't make sense, let me explain). A well-written bad ending can be rewarding in its own way; it might make you think hard about the themes, or just be fun to read (there are plenty of people who love endings describing vastly different gory deaths). On the other hand, like you said, bad endings that are boring - or if your player just hates any and all bad endings - can feel like a punishment to the player for making a certain choice.

From the way you worded this question, it sounds like you were planning to make it so that one of the characters has ONLY bad ends. This has the potential to be really cool in terms of storytelling, but on the other hand I can see how it could annoy or frustrate people if it happened in a romance VN. Two possible options: make it so that she has two (or more) ends, including both good ones and bad ones; alternatively, make the ending bittersweet instead of bad. A really well-written bittersweet ending can sometimes be better than a good ending, as it tugs at the heartstrings and endears the players to your character.

I'm not the biggest fan of BxG but this seems like a decent project. I'll be keeping an eye out for it. c:

Thank you, for the reply! I was away for a bit, so I am sorry for the late reply.

I particularly enjoyed reading your thoughts on bad endings. Two endings for the character is certainly a possibility! As you mentioned, a bittersweet ending is currently what is written, but maybe a bit more sweet than bitter, but it still has a bite to it.

Again, thank you, I always enjoy reading others' thoughts on what we have put out.