Check out the demo here!
Check out the Kickstarter pre-launch page!
Ikimashou!/Let's Go! is a visual novel set in the wonderful land of Canada, more specifically in the cities of Montréal, Toronto, & Vancouver! Set off on the ultimate journey across the North, and make lots of friends along the way! It'll be a blast!
You play as a determined & hardworking person residing in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who moved here around 1 year ago. Life is good, adventures are plenty, friends are few but close, and your job is great! Things keep getting in your way, though. School, parents, curfews (*cough cough*), who knows?! Longing for a happy and independent life, you head out to explore the rest of Canada and what it has to offer. Maybe make some friends along the way?
Combining Japanese visual novel features such as voice acting, a cute anime art style alongside beautiful backgrounds, with a familiar Canadian setting. Recommended for people unfamiliar with the visual novel medium, or those who want a lighter, feel-good story.
Features
- Explore the cities of Montréal, Toronto, & Vancouver!
- Full 1920x1080 HD resolution!
- Mainly kinetic novel, with minor branches at times.
- Beautiful backgrounds made from actual, real-life photographs! Maybe you'd even be able to tell where it is?
- A sugar-sweet story about the power of friendship!
- Super-duper adorable kemomimi characters!
- Partial Japanese voice acting!
- Full Japanese translations (To be worked on at a later date)
Montréal's Characters
The character section is under construction! Descriptions & concept art for some characters are present, but may change entirely as I develop this game.
Zinnia Jackson ・ ジャクソン ジニア | Protagonist | CV: 夢前 黎
Height: 160 cm
Birthday: ???
Blood Type: O-
Animal Type: Arctic Fox
Occupation: Various
Hometown: Anywhere!
"An energetic & carefree, but hardworking person who cares about the first impressions in life and doesn't mind a bit of turbulence in her journey. Highly adaptable to any situation, and won't hesitate to jump on the bandwagon."
Employment Description
Third-year at a public junior high school. Zinnia's grades are good, but mostly because she cheats on every exam, because she can. The same "I can do it and you can't stop me" mindset extends to her "job" outside of school, and anything she likes. Despite lacking a social insurance number (and an identity, for that reason), she is still able to do gig & contract work. From mystery shopping, to shoveling snow, she'll take it on! She uses the funds from her career to fund her nomadic lifestyle.
Voice Example
https://sndup.net/w5p2/d
Minori ・ みのり | Main Character
Height: 158 cm
Birthday: 4/12
Blood Type: O+
Animal Type: Dog
Breed: Alaskan Malamute
Occupation: Student
Hometown: ???
"Your typical teacher's pet (quite literally). Invests heavily in her studies while still maintaining a good relationship between her friends.. She and Zinnia have been together since Zinnia's first day at their school."
Employment Description
A second-year at a public junior high school. Minori focuses hard on her studies and aces every quiz. She's enrolled in the school's gifted program, which places her in many classes one grade above her.
Vincent MacKenzie ・ マッケンジー ヴィンセント | Main Character
Height: 160 cm
Birthday: 6/30
Blood Type: B+
Animal Type: Dog
Breed: Jack Russell Terrier
Occupation: Student & Athlete
Hometown: Pembroke, Ontario, Canada
"A top performer in the school Track & Field Team, Vincent is enthusiastic about sports both in & out of school.
Despite his competitiveness, he has a good sense of sportsmanship and is often the one to take the lead when nobody else is willing to. Zinnia knows his full name, as it is listed on their school's Track & Field website."
Employment Description
A third-year at a public junior high school. Vincent is also a student athlete, with him being on the school's track & field and basketball team. He also does chores for his parents at home, but does that really count as "employment?"
Taya ・ タヤ | Side Character
Height: 150 cm
Birthday: 11/16
Blood Type: O-
Animal Type: Cat
Breed: Ragdoll
Occupation: Student
Hometown: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
"A first-year at Zinnia's school, Taya thinks she hasn't fit in with the new crowd yet. She's woefully underprepared for the tornado that is known as junior high, and still cherishes her time back in her old school. "
Employment Description
First-year at a public junior high school. Taya's grades are okay. Obviously can't have a job yet, but wishes to work in the fashion industry when she grows up.
Toronto's Characters
Claire Hashimoto・橋本 クレール | Main Character
Height: 165 cm
Birthday: 7/1
Blood Type: AB+
Animal Type: Dog
Breed: Labrador Retriever
Occupation: Communications Centre Agent
Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
"A cheerful and surprisingly patient girl, Claire loves to help others with public transit! She is employed as a communications centre agent, and also handles the marketing for the company she works for. She moved to Ontario from British Columbia to search for better employment opportunities, although she wishes to return to Vancouver someday with experience from her job to use in other career paths."
Employment Description
Employed as a communications centre agent, and also handles the marketing and advertising for Ontario's regional transit system. She lives in Oakville, where her old office was, but now commutes to Toronto due to her involvement in the marketing department.
Zinnia's remarks: "I first 'met' Claire on the phone while I was trying to get public transit schedules. After we ended up meeting out of pure luck on the bus, I can say that she's very cheerful and affectionate towards me, but she seems to shy away from being my 'best friend', instead directing me towards Chiyomi. I wonder why..."
Chiyomi Hinazuki・雛月 千代美 | Main Character
Height: 162 cm
Birthday: 2/23
Blood Type: AB-
Animal Type: Cat
Breed: Mixed
Occupation: Bus Driver
Hometown: Kariya, Aichi, Japan
"A cat that drives the bus. Chiyomi is a new hire as a regional transit bus operator, and she's determined to get you where you want to go! Caring, charismatic, and empathetic at times, she works to support her family back in Japan, consisting of her parents, grandparents, and cousin. Her brother went missing a long time ago."
Employment Description
A relatively new hire as a bus driver, she previously worked at a café. She changed career paths to take advantage of her "hidden talent" and a hefty hiring bonus. Works out of the Western Division based in Mississauga, where she also lives.
Charles 'Charlie' Beauchamp・ チャールズ ボーシャンプ | Main Character | CV: イヲリ & 青山 龍星
Height: 173 cm
Birthday: 12/9
Blood Type: A+
Animal Type: Eastern Gray Squirrel
Occupation: Bus Driver
Hometown: Chicago, Illinois, United States
"A refined and observant man. Charles has been behind the wheel ever since graduating from high school. He is well-spoken, never holds a grudge, and cares deeply for his friends and family. Although he has an impressive investment portfolio and plenty of savings, he still chooses to work as a bus operator to supplement his income so that he may retire early. Really early. That's so he may spend more time with his extended family, which he hasn't done often. Perhaps that includes friends, as well?!"
Employment Description
Veteran bus operator based out of the Central Division in Toronto. He was once was a driving instructor for Chiyomi and various others at his division, but has recently stepped down from the position, citing no new hires to train. He also invests in the stock market, and has plenty of retirement savings built up in his bank account. He still chooses to work as a bus driver for he loves the job. and to further build up his nest egg.
Zinnia's remarks:"What a kind gentleman! You can count on Charlie being the chauffeur for your party! 10/10 best chauffeur would pick again. Oh, and he really seems to keep an eye out for me. I always feel at place whenever he's around. Although it's worth mentioning that he tries to keep his distance and avoids looking like he's associated with me. Not sure why exactly that is, although I believe his past may have something to do with it."
Amaya ・あま屋 | Side Character
Height: 160 cm
Birthday: 3/16
Blood Type: O-
Animal Type: Dog
Breed: Samoyed
Occupation: Café Worker & University Student
Hometown: Châteauguay, Quebec, Canada
"Currently in an domestic exchange school program. Normally attends a university in Longueuil, but has transferred to a Toronto-based institution for the fall term. Juggling her time between studies at her university, aiming for a degree in Arts & Design, and working at a Café nearby. '
Employment Description
Currently in a domestic exchange student program. Outside of her studies, she works at a café off-campus. It's apparently the same one Chiyomi worked at a long time ago.
Zinnia's remarks:"A visitor from Longueuil, here in Toronto?! I feel that somebody's told me about Amaya, but I'm not sure who.
Vancouver's Characters
Chosuke Nishimura・西村 長介 | Main Character
Height: 166 cm
Birthday: 2/23
Blood Type: AB-
Animal Type: Cat
Breed: Mixed
Occupation: IT Support Person
Hometown: Kariya, Aichi, Japan
Chiyomi's twin brother. Immigrated to Canada along with her, but chose to remain in Western Canada while severing all ties with his family. He thinks of them as clingy & burdensome, mostly from his childhood experiences. After many years in British Columbia, he regrets their separation and wishes to reunite. Unfortunately, his family is already quite fragmented with/over his presumed disappearance.
Employment Description
Not much is known about Chosuke, except for the fact that he apparently works as an IT Support Person as per his LinkedOut page. It's due to this social media page that Zinnia was able to fetch more information regarding him to assist in finding him in Vancouver.
Zinnia's remarks: "What happened to this guy? Says that he went missing a couple years ago and was last seen around Vancouver. Chiyomi's bro couldn't've just turned tail and ran off from her and the rest of their family without good reason. Although she & I believe he acted on the spur of the moment during their immigration process to Canada, I am sure he misses his twin sister & the rest of his family after all these years. Which is why I'm coming to Vancouver to search for him! Watch out, Chosuke! I'm gonna come down on you like an 800-pound gorilla!"
Screenshots and Backgrounds
Progress
GUI - 99%
Background Images - 30% (there'll be a ton of background images to detail Zinnia's journey across Canada. Good thing I'm making them all.)
Character Art - 10%
Writing - 20%
Movie Production - 25% (I learned Adobe After Effects just to make the trailer for the game! That's how dedicated I am!)
Programming - 50%
Voice Acting - 10% (Only Zinnia's and Charlie's voices are set in the stone. I am working to get more voice lines for them!)
Music - 75% (I am using royalty-free music from Audiostock and BGM Dova-Syndrome.)
Credits
Writing - umineko-chan
Programming - umineko-chan
Character Art- 53C
GUI - umineko-chan, with additional elements by OKUMONO
BGM Production - solfa/luminouscore & BGM DOVA-SYNDROME
OP/ED Theme Songs - Losstime Life
SE Production - 効果音ラボ (Sound Effect Lab) & BGM DOVA-SYNDROME
Movie Production: umineko-chan & OKUMONO + V
Backgrounds - umineko-chan & various photographers, a full list can be found in the downloaded game's credits.
Zinnia Voice Acting - Rei Yumesaki (https://145.rei-yumesaki.net/)
! This chapter doesn't feature any character sprites, as it is mostly there to set the general mood/tone of the novel and to give the player an idea of what kind of person the protagonist is. In short, you'll be viewing everything from their eyes!
