Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [DONE] [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

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HelloLeo
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Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [DONE] [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#1 Post by HelloLeo »

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CHECK OUT THE GAME THREAD HERE


It’s been three years since the Cataclysm brought ruin upon the world you once knew and destroyed any trace of hierarchy within it. There’s no better time to become the new world’s emperor! Equipped with an ego bigger than the universe you’re trying to rule and followed by your stupidly loyal assistant Hermes, you’re almost ready—now all you need is a plan…

Slated for release in April, Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan is a short comedic visual novel about the “hero” Gry’s first step to becoming an emperor. Gather information and tools to come up with part one of his master plan!

Characters
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Gry Filorness
The protagonist, obsessed with glory and power, lacking any sort of moral compass. Will conveniently get rid of anyone standing in his way, including your imaginary friends. Oozes charisma but also sheer stupidity and a complete lack of self-awareness.

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Hermes Ludwig
Gry’s assistant who does everything for him no questions asked. Should not be underestimated despite looking frail. No one knows what emotions are hidden behind these soulless eyes, besides unbreakable loyalty. Far more intelligent than Gry, except maybe for that one poorly thought-out choice to be his servant.

???
Every villain needs a human roadblock and perhaps another ally wouldn’t hurt either. Stay tuned to meet them!

Gameplay
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[Note: GUI is a WIP, background is a placeholder.]

Other than experiencing the visual novel style storytelling, you also get to explore your surroundings by speaking to townspeople and searching for items to help you come up with up to three different evil plans (leading to three different endings) to achieve your goal.

Gameplay-wise, the game takes inspiration from the Ace Attorney series, except instead of trying to solve a crime you’re trying to figure out how to get away with one.

Team
HelloLeo: Lead developer, concept, writing, programming
LIZM: Co-developer, character design, art, GUI, editing
Noyemi K.: Music

The lead duo has existed in my mind for a long time now but was only brought to life through a couple of DnD games and a few short stories. Giving them their own little visual novel was intended as a project for NaNoRenO but since we ran into a lot of difficulties, we decided to take our time to finish it next month instead.

Although the entire team is busy with different projects, I hope I will have a chance to turn this into an episodic thing eventually, since this game is basically “episode 1.” As this is my first game, I want to use this thread to keep track of our progress, gather feedback and hopefully make friends in the community.

If you have time, I’d appreciate it if you could answer some of my questions:
1) Do you like the idea of playing as a villain?
2) How do you feel about episodic releases? Do you prefer longer games?
3) Although there isn’t much information (yet!), is there anything you’re particularly curious about?

~Thank you for your time!~
Last edited by HelloLeo on Thu May 17, 2018 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Dovahkitteh
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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#2 Post by Dovahkitteh »

The title and tags caught my attention, and I'm glad I checked your thread out! The art in particular is really adorable (those expressions!) and the dynamics between the characters sound like they'll be super fun, judging from the short snippets of info you provided.

1) YES! I love antihero/villain MCs. I like them more if they're actual villains and not "misguided good guys," i.e., you're not forced to reform by the end.

2) I personally prefer longer games because I like to finish most games within a span of a week or so. However, from a dev standpoint, I think episodic releases can be a wise choice for reasons both financial and practical, and it lets people have a taste of what you're working on rather than waiting for the final product.

3) Yes, actually! You mentioned inspiration from Ace Attorney (one of my favorite games, if you can't tell from the avatar), and I'm curious how you'll apply the mystery/puzzle-solving aspect of AA to this game. Are you going to have actual puzzles/interactive elements, or is it just similar in terms of feel?

Best of luck with your project!
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Writer, Programmer, Designer

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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#3 Post by Ertal77 »

This looks like a really fun game!

I like the characters designs and yup, I'd love to play as a villain! I'm not much into episodic stories released separately, but I can stand it. Especially if the story is funny and interesting as this one! :wink:
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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#4 Post by HelloLeo »

Alright, little update and late reply to everyone ^^
I’m really happy to be getting even just a tiny bit of attention, I’ve been overjoyed by the positive reactions so far.
To Dovahkitteh:
I’m glad you like the idea of playing as a villain. I can confess without spoilers that you do not have to reform and that you aren’t a “misguided good guy”. You will never have the need to doubt the morality of your actions. I mean, you can, but Gry won’t.
For the Ace Attorney part, I gotta say I’ve been playing a lot recently. I do not think it will “feel” the same. There is no courtroom, and not many contradictions to find. The act of putting the plan together is the main puzzle of the game (and the reason you do the investigation), and is similar to how one would solve a psyche-lock, or when you have to “Turn your thinking around”. It does hope to reward players by making them feel smart (In the same way AA does, or any puzzle really) for making connections in their head between the items and the information found. I think it’s the best part of any AA game for me: when it all just clicks in your head.
To Ertal77:
Thank you for the kind words! Everyone seems to like the idea of playing a villain, and I’m glad. I guess doing evil things is a lot of fun within the safe confine of the virtual world. Since the game is planned to be free, I hope episodic releases are gonna make everything a lot easier on everyone (including myself).
I hope it’ll live up to everyone’s expectations ^^

NOW FOR PROGRESS:
I’ve been at work writing more text. We have around 8 locations up for investigation in-game, and we’re now down to just 2 left for me to write down, before starting work on the 3 endings.

We’ve also got some sprites on the way, some promotional stuff, and a whole bunch of items.
We can share a little something here:
Image Image
The sprites are in for Hermes… And for the large bag one must carry for the sake of keeping a “hero’s” ever growing inventory.

Next update, we’ll introduce a new character and talk a bit about the plot.

Thank you everyone. ^^

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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#5 Post by HelloLeo »

Hello, everybody! ~

A bit late on the update, but we got a lot of stuff done as the project is getting closer to its finalization.

For starters, check out a preview of the inventory:
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Only two endings are left to be written, as well as some work on the GUI, editing and music until the game is ready for release.
Since we’re so close to the end, I’d like to introduce not ONE, but TWO characters today.
First of all, here is Arias Varsha:

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Once the strongest warrior in the world, known as “the Butcher.” Has lost all of her memories in the Cataclysm. Her new joyful attitude creates an opportunity that Gry doesn’t want to miss. In fact, she’s at the center of his evil plan…

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And our second character is the outrageous Elraz Fippio: (*Designer note: “I’m calling the fashion police.”)

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The great of hero of light and eccentric rival to Gry. Will fight evil wherever he sees it. He matches our protagonist almost perfectly in terms of both stupidity and ego.

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I hope everyone will look forward to the release of Hermes and Gry: A Crooked Plan, and I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks of it!

And as always…
~Thank you all for your time. ~ ^^

PS. I hope double-posts are ok.

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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#6 Post by Ermytarya »

1) Do you like the idea of playing as a villain?
-Yes i like the idea of playing as a selfish idiot for a change, in fact i think it would be really fun.
The story seems to be really fun, who doesnt want a few laughs?!


2) How do you feel about episodic releases? Do you prefer longer games?
-No, i dont like episodic releases, even if the game looks good i totally pass from games who are episodic, they annoy the fuck of me, i rather wait for a full game.
I think its more like a EA kind of thing, releasing half maked games then sell the "dlc" apart it feels like that, thats why i dont like them lol. just my personal opinion.


3) Although there isn’t much information (yet!), is there anything you’re particularly curious about?
-It this commercial or free to play?

Good luck with this! i hope this games is finished some day!

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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#7 Post by HelloLeo »

Last day of April update ^^
First, I’d like to answer the post above.

To Ermytarya:
Thank you for taking the time to write here.
The VN will be 100% free, not commercial. Hooray! The bad news is that Hermes and Gry is an episodic series. We’re all freelancers so this is the best we can do at the moment. However, all potential future releases will be free too.
Although it’s a series, this first episode doesn’t end on a cliffhanger and it’s not a “demo” either. Just the first adventure of many for a group of characters with questionable morality. We hope it will leave you wanting for more but not unsatisfied with the ending!

As for progress:
THE GAME IS ALMOST COMPLETE.
The art and script are 100% done. We’ve started beta testing and are polishing some minor details while the rest of the music is being produced. Expect the full release until mid May at the latest.

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A face you can trust.

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A revelation.


My next post should be to announce the game’s release! Stay tuned, whoever is reading!


~Thank you for your time!~

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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#8 Post by Ertal77 »

*claps excitedly* Can't wait!
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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#9 Post by LuckyBerry »

1) Do you like the idea of playing as a villain?
Well, it depends on how villainy the villain in question might be... But from reading your description of Gry that he's more of an idiot villain, I'm actually excited to try this out. Bwahaha, you got me at "equipped with an ego bigger than the universe", and also that stupid grin on his face xD And that bag! Lmao, I'm laughing already. This might be a really interesting change from all the otome games I usually play, just what I've been wishing for~ Oh, and also "Hermes: A pretty useful tool" :lol:

2) How do you feel about episodic releases? Do you prefer longer games?
Eh, I'm a really impatient person so I'm not really crazy about episodic releases but... well, if it can't be helped. I will still try out the first episode and if done right I might be left with an empty hole in my... heart? But don't worry, I'll get over it and just wait and hope for the next one. As for the second question, I guess longer releases always feel more satisfying but hey, if your game is any good at delivering what it promises, it doesn't really matter. Quality over quantity and all that.

3) Although there isn’t much information (yet!), is there anything you’re particularly curious about?
Well, I'm just curious about how and why Hermes ended up becoming Gry's servant and why the hell is he still with him... Y'know, motivation. But that's gonna be explained in the game, right? Just gotta wait :3

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Re: Hermes & Gry: A Crooked Plan [DONE] [Fantasy / Dark Humor / Adventure]

#10 Post by HelloLeo »

THE FINAL UPDATE
First, I’d like to answer the post above.

To LuckyBerry:
Thank you for your enthousiam and your lovely response!~
I can't spoil too much, I can only hope that it will be a satisfying experience. Especially since...

THE GAME IS OUT!
That's right, you can play it right now and check out the new thread over HERE.



~Thank you everyone for following the short development of the game! We hope you will enjoy our end result!~


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