Cause of Death

[trooper6]

Am I the only one who plays "Cause of Death?" -- the weekly game that comes out on iOS? I play it faithfully and it is one of the things that brought me to ren'py actually. It totally looks like something that could be made with ren'py and I have been consistently impressed by the writing, the characterization...I love that game!

I suppose because my introduction to visual novels comes from a western non-anime space (Cause of Death...and going back to the choose your own adventures novels) rather than the Japanese anime visual novels, I'm a bit of the odd man out. But I'm happy to be here anyway.

So...anyone else play the game? Thoughts on it?

[Googaboga]

I had never heard of this game before but it seems really interesting. I can give it a shot and then tell you what I think if that counts :'D.

[trooper6]

Please do!

Play through the first chapter--Maskmaker...I'm surethat is the free set. If you like it, here is my one piece of advice: go buy the rest of the old chapters before you start reading the new weekly free episodes because that series has an amazing continuity...I'm telling you, it has made me cry.

[gekiganwing]

I downloaded the basic Cause of Death app a while ago, but it's been sitting in my iTunes library since then. Maybe it's because I'm really hesitant to pay for additional content. I haven't bought any in-game items, bonus content, or story paths. That said, Cause of Death doesn't have a VNDB entry yet, but it has an TVTropes entry. And if you ask me, it would be inaccurate to call it OEL - the term "western visual novel" seems more appropriate.

While I admit that I enjoy cute animation, comics, and games, my fannish interests are varied. While I don't read as many novels and comics as I used to, and while my patience for video games has been decreasing, I try to be open to new things.

[netravelr]

Well Cause of Death is actually a side project of the company's main VN game Surviving High School, and I've spent quite a lot of time with it back in my younger days. And first of all, you can totally create a game like it in RenPy, but sadly you'll be unable to put it on iOS (unsure if you're playing it on iOS or Android) as of right now using RenPy. Also, as far as I know unless you do coding on your end, you won't be able to do DLC episodes in-app.

As for Cause of Death, I did not finish the story as of yet; but the game was interesting for sure. Some of the leftovers of the SHS engine make me cringe, but the story seemed good enough, just never finished it. Now that they introduced Ads, I'm very sad as I spent money on some episodes in the past. If you'd like to not have ads, I suggest checking out SHS and if you like it get the Paid one for a dollar. I'd say Cause of Death and it are probably the best VNs on the App Store right now.

[trooper6]

I used to follow SHS, but way too many times there were problems downloading the current free episode causing me to have to pay took it up...so I dropped it. Cause of Death only glitched once. Pus, CoD is more mature in subject matter and I prefer its illustration style.

As for making it in Ren'py...I know you couldn't put a Ren'py game in iOs...and the in App DLC would be a thing...but I mainly meant that it plays exactly like a Ren'py game. BGs. Say windows with side images that are animated through dissolves just like you do in Ren'py. The dialogue menu choices. A detective score variable that is tracked for the game...I just mean it looks and plays just like all the Ren'py games I've played so far. I doubt it was actually programmed with Ren'py...but it's so much in the visual novel vibe, I was surprised not to see it mentioned at all.

[Googaboga]

I finished chapter 1. Very exciting . I intend to follow this game from now on. I do wish the word bubbles were larger though. Oh well that is just one of the difficult of making a game that fits on a phone screen.

[trooper6]

NOOOOOOOOO!

Cause of Death has been cancelled by EA (Surviving High School as well)!

That was one of the best episodic VNs I've ever played and I will miss all of those characters terribly. It has been a great three and a half years of content.

So sad! I wish it have found a way to market itself better to a larger audience.

[Asceai]

Cause of Death has been cancelled by EA (Surviving High School as well)!

EA thought you'd like new Madden, NHL and FIFA games more