Troubleshooter Tales: Out of the Friend Zone

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Crocosquirrel
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Troubleshooter Tales: Out of the Friend Zone

#1 Post by Crocosquirrel »

First, I would like to thank everyone that lent me a hand with this, no matter how small, in getting this thing accomplished.

Now, introducing Troubleshooter Tales: Out of the Friend Zone.

Kevin Datana has been Coriander(Cori)'s partner since they met in training-- Five years ago. In that time, he's kept a professional distance from her.

The two have just come back from a long mission, and finally, it's all come to a head- he's got to confess.

But can he? Or is he too far into the Friend Zone to ever climb out? He's got one day out to find out. An entertaining supporting cast is there to help or hinder him--

Succeed or fail, his fate is in YOUR hands.
Screenshot.jpg
Genre: Sci-Fi
Endings: 3
Writing and Programming by DarkSpartan
Programming and editing by SvenTheViking
Artwork by Lux-Nero.
BGs compliments of Photobucket
'Cori' sprite by Kingv
'Walter' sprite courtesy of sonone
Music by Kevin MacLeod

This is version 1.0, built in just 24 hours by the Spartan Build Team of Polymorphic Games.

There may be incremental updates for more than bugfixes. It's been a rough road, but we we had a blast doing it. Looking forward to bringing you the next TT game, and many more along the way!

Here's an all systems build to that everyone can enjoy!

http://www.renaigames.com/files/trouble ... ne-all.zip
Last edited by Crocosquirrel on Sat Apr 07, 2012 6:30 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ [BxG] [Sci-fi]

#2 Post by redeyesblackpanda »

Played it and got the good ending. It's pretty impressive that you finished this in one day. ^^
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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ [BxG] [Sci-fi]

#3 Post by Lux Nero »

I drew, cleaned up, and colored a lot of the characters in this... And now my hand hurts. But it was worth it lol.
Now... Count up your sins!

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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ [BxG] [Sci-fi]

#4 Post by SvenTheViking »

This is the best game I have ever played, hands down, and I am completely unbiased.
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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ [BxG] [Sci-fi]

#5 Post by DragoonHP »

Great game and loved the ending. ^.^

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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ [BxG] [Sci-fi]

#6 Post by CheeryMoya »

First of all, congrats on writing, programming, and assembling a solid game within the time span of a single day! Not many people can even think to challenge themselves to this kind of thing, and kudos to you and the team for putting out a decent game! (Technically I'm not part of the dev team for this game; all I did was give initial feedback on the idea :/)

While not the most perfect and shiny game ever, I would never be able to output anything this great under the same time. Even with the use of various free resources, the energy to find them and chose appropriate ones is another thing, as is the focus required to stay on task. I probably wouldn't be able to do that in a week :/ There's a story with strong characters, and that's the heart of any good VN.

But as much as I want to praise this game, there are problems and programming bugs. Not too surprised considering the time constraints, but as you're going to release a fixer patch in the near future, I'd like to point them out for your convenience.
  • Take the time to proofread and check for punctuation (or get me to do that for you >_>)
  • Let Lux Nero clean up the sprites he did for this game and make the sizes consistent. That sprite of Jorgan looks especially distant and small compared to Cori.
  • Consider reducing the size of the window, as I didn't see much point for a wide screen Ren'Py window. It was a little annoying to have to read text from one side of the screen to another, and the sprites didn't take up that much space on the screen.
  • Add some more content and slow the pacing of the story a bit. I understand that you were in a rush, but an update should give you more time and let you expand upon this universe you've created.
  • Find better backgrounds to use. Unfiltered photos like those used don't look so sweet after a while.
And I, for one, would love to see more of Cori and Kevin's adventures together :3

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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ

#7 Post by leon »

Amazing work! I got one ending so far (not the good one yet).

And its great to hear there will be updates.

One small thing that bothered me was that the text in the center of the screen was hard to read on some backgrounds.

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Re: Troubleshooter Tales: OotFZ

#8 Post by Crocosquirrel »

Correctable in the update. :) Looks like it'll be a big one.
Last edited by Crocosquirrel on Sun Feb 19, 2012 5:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ

#9 Post by SvenTheViking »

If y'all find bugs in the code (or anything that doesn't work right), it'd be much appreciated if you could post the specifics or PM them to me so I can get them fixed for the patch/updated release.

Thanks much.
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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ

#10 Post by Crocosquirrel »

Just a quick note today: We have a full set of new BGs coming. Here's a sample.
Attachments
TOThome.jpg
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Re: Trials of Troubleshooters: OotFZ [BxG] [Sci-fi]

#11 Post by Crocosquirrel »

CheeryMoya wrote:
  • Take the time to proofread and check for punctuation (or get me to do that for you >_>)
  • Let Lux Nero clean up the sprites he did for this game and make the sizes consistent. That sprite of Jorgan looks especially distant and small compared to Cori.
  • Consider reducing the size of the window, as I didn't see much point for a wide screen Ren'Py window. It was a little annoying to have to read text from one side of the screen to another, and the sprites didn't take up that much space on the screen.
  • Add some more content and slow the pacing of the story a bit. I understand that you were in a rush, but an update should give you more time and let you expand upon this universe you've created.
  • Find better backgrounds to use. Unfiltered photos like those used don't look so sweet after a while.
:3
Well, I've addressed some of these concerns in the 1.01 release (link above)

changelog:

Changed the screen size from 1280x720 to the Ren'Py standard 800x600. This resolves both the sizing issue and the sprite comparison issue nicely.

Changed the name to be in line with future games for this series.

The major typos and some other text/punctuation has been cleaned up. Should read a lot better now.

New backgrounds are forthcoming, but will probably be a few days getting sorted. Those and a few more bits of glitter will be fixed in the 1.1 update, somewhere near the first of March.
I'm going to get off my soap-box now, and let you get back to your day.

Academy Daze- Back in production! Complete with ecchi-ness ;)

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Re: Troubleshooter Tales: Out of the Friend Zone

#12 Post by Lux Nero »

Personally, I think this came out quite well, especially considering that its the first time I made sprites for a game - And that I only had about 6 hours to work on them all.
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Re: Troubleshooter Tales: Out of the Friend Zone

#13 Post by Sexy Yuri »

I like this really like this game and I give you props for finishing it in one day! The only problem I see is the clash of different sprites and one of them for being small.

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Re: Troubleshooter Tales: Out of the Friend Zone

#14 Post by SvenTheViking »

Unfortunately, that comes with me having more or less bashed together the images in 4 hours. Good news is, it's all getting fixed and updated in the version 1.1 patch/release.

There are also going to be a number of other improvements, though I'm not certain right now what they are (as they're tasks being done by other people). Spartan's the one who's going to have to talk about that.
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Re: Troubleshooter Tales: Out of the Friend Zone

#15 Post by applegirl »

I'm glad to see it being updated (the sprite size and background really did break immersion for me as well) and I think it is impressive to have finish a VN in a day. However, I think a lot of potential was missed by rushing this VN in terms of story/choices.

One example being when the main character was waking up and the resulting choices:
I don't quite understand why the main girl would automatically switch to a new partner (resulting in a bad end) just because I gave the less nice answer. Considering their long partnership of five years, it really threw me off because it was such a minor thing to say and such a big overreaction (in my eyes) to just ditch someone like that. I had expected her to get mad (maybe drag out the main protag from the bed and laugh as he complains (but in a friendly manner as though this has happened in the past 5 years they spent together). So when she ditched him completely, I was surprised and had a rather unfavorable view of their relationship.
Admittedly, I didn't choose that option the first playthrough (because it was an easy decision to make), but I would almost rather it didn't exist if it ended like that. It made me feel like she either valued him that lightly (to react in that manner, thus cheapening the relationship) or it was just meant to be avoided.

I think it would be a much richer experience if this was longer and the choices more difficult. Heh, to want a more difficult VN is unusual (I'll admit that), but I think my issue was that I kind of:
expected the main protagonist to make either a big gesture (think Say Anything with the boombox scene) or to at least ask her to reconsider their relationship. When she finally confessed, I kind of thought "Ah, he was just dense." Which kind of made me feel like he was never just a friend to her (since she was apparently crushing on him for some time) and I was kind of expecting a situation where the main girl first considered him a friend but his actions in the visual novel changed her opinion. Instead, it turned out to be just the revelation, which was sweet, but didn't bowl me over since it was so easy to earn. I think if the buildup was there, the romance would feel more effective.
Again, I do think it is a well done VN for the time frame it was made. I also think the interactions/dialogue was cute and charming at times. But I hope the update will include a richer story/choice pattern to make the happy ending even more satisfying.

EDIT: I do hope my comments don't seem harsh, I just see potential here. I think your group could make a truly amazing visual novel with time and a richer story, so I probably was a bit harder than I would be if the writing was poor or seemed like it had reached its full potential.

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