#6
Post
by hyesunxoxo » Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:52 am
What do you guys think? Advice for how we can improve?
THAT WAS A SHORT AND INTRIGUING DEMO! I NEED MORE! XD
First of all, the animated/video intro is gorgeous. The title menu and looks great as well so kudos to that. I think it's relatively important, as it would be the first thing we see.
Writing
The art makes the people come, but the writing makes the people stay. So far I would say the prologue is great and intriguing but the success of the whole visual novel would fall on the consistency and skill of the writer, as well as the outline planned.
As an incoming visual novel writer myself, I saw some parts where you can improve but nevertheless I believe it has potential if executed properly. Mystery is one of the hardest genres to weave so I'm looking forward on how you do it.
The style is quirky, laid-back and fun (which is nice and refreshing) so I'm wondering how you'd like to mess the mystery-serious aspect of it. Would you keep it that way while adding the mystery and have the crucial scenes get the really serious dialogues or have it all serious by the last half? It's in your hands.
Ultimately, I am looking forward to the conflict on the way. I know you already know this to be able to write that but conflict is the best, and probably the make-it-or-break-it part of any story. For now, I like what I read and I'm looking forward to the refinement. Tip? Revise. First revision, experiment with the pacing to say, improve the story line even better than it already is (and it's good). Second revision, think over your dialogues and how you can refine them. If you're willing to have a third, that's just to double-check grammatical errors.
Kudos to your writer!
Art
I am an avid otome gamer so I've seen lots of art (not that I know a lot about creating visual art but nevertheless). The sprites look nice and I'm looking forward to more characters along the way, those that will have the power to complicate the story. I think there's nothing much you can do with the main characters anymore since they are already displayed and done but they look visually good and the reactions are great. Hope you look into the appropriate reactions for the storyline much more as well.
The backgrounds were exceptional! The swimming BG particularly took my breath away. If there's anymore of that stored somewhere, you gotta show it. It's incredible.
Another part I would like to point out would be the animated CG. It's rare to find animated CGs nowadays so that was a great addition and if you can keep it up, that would be fantastic.
So far I love the art and I'm looking forward to what else you can give us. Clearly, this is a promising team. For things I want to see, probably more art on the lighter side for some occasions? I understand that the concept is paranormal, phantoms and scary things but just a portion would make it really refreshing. I love it!
Programming
With not much knowledge in programming, I don't think I can make a valid opinion towards that so I'll be speaking with an average player's perspective.
From what I saw, the design is very neat and minimalistic. To me, it's beautiful. How the whole game is put together accordingly is also very well done so kudos to that. On the side note, I'm looking forward as to how the rest of the episodes will be presented. You have a truly lovely programmer on the team!
For constructive criticism, I believe adding more menus would be good but since it's still the demo, I'm sure that's not everything you can give yet. A CG (AND BG PLEASE) gallery would be great, along with a music gallery. So far, that's everything.
Music
I LOVE IT! And coming from a (somehow) skilled violinist like myself, that is a good compliment. I think they really fit the scenes so you have truly captured the essence of a musician and that's everything I could ask for.
More fantastic tracks throughout the rest of the game and I'm good.
Best/prefered social media?
I'm into LemmaSoft forums a lot, but I love Discord and Tumblr. For tumblr, it's a great site to create a portfolio. Discord on the other hand, you can join servers to talk to and possibly target the right audiences (gamers and devs alike). I have only recently been introduced to Discord but I came to like it.
How can we get more people to see this project?
Promote! Though, that's not as easy as it sounds.
I'd say make use of the social media and each member should take the time to share the game to his/her peers. Branching out to different people and sharing your game is never a harm. Renpy, Asterism, Otome Games, VN Enthusiasts servers and other Visual Novel forums is a good outlet.
Get the right people to take interest in your game and spruce up the content you already have. Everyone wants updates, sneak peeks, and this can truly have them watching out for your next projects as well.
What are things we can do to generate more interest for our project?
I won't keep this long:
Make people see, like and appreciate the quality so they come back for more. Know your target and never be ashamed to approach them.
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I'm looking forward to it!
(Currently broke af so I'd have to find some spare bucks [dollar currency is a big ouch to my country] to get the full game)
Kudos to you!
