Club Shuffle [GxB]&[GxG][Romance, Comedy, Mystery, Fantasy]

[FatUnicornGames]

The working synopsis for 'Club Shuffle':

"Vivian is a "Poor Little Rich Girl" with no motivation who ends up being enrolled at The Brassfield Institute. BI is famous for it's Club Program, where every student (it is mandatory) belongs to a club and spends a couple hours a day perusing that activity. Because of Vivian's lack of drive and poor attitude she ends up being roped into joining every club in the program for a day (and there are a ton). When clubs vary between Judo, Theater, Private Investigation to even Mad Science it is fun to throw Vivian in different situations. The fantasy comes from a slight bending of reality, like the Mad Science club actually makes Frankenstein like monsters.

Here is the developer blog - Follow and Share?

Now you might be curious about a few of the characters...here is the main cast. With art by the incomparable Les McClaine.

The Protagonist

Vivian Townsend - The Club Hopper

I already told you about Vivian in the synopsis. She is dry and sarcastic and can sometimes speak without thinking. This is her story, not only to finding love, but figuring out what the hell she is doing in her life. All the pressure her father puts on her to not only be successful, but have fun while doing it has left Vivian pretty much mentally paralyzed.

The Love Interests!


Update: Here is the second pass on Gabe. We made him a bit more overtly handsome:

First pass:

Gabe Hastings - Student Council Vice-President

Gabe is basically my ode to the Mr. Darcy type of romantic hero. He is smart, driven and a bit of an asshole. He loves mentally sparring, and can be difficult to warm up to. He will be leading Vivian through her club hopping experience.

Monica Nesbitt - Thespian Society

Monica is a ball of frenetic energy. She talks fast and is constantly accumulating and using new slang. She loves her club more than anything, and even though she doesn't get the biggest parts, she has faith that her advisor will notice her and give her a chance.

Devon Pierce - Math Teacher, Judo Club Advisor

Devon is a seemingly kind guy. His upbeat demeanor and easygoing attitude makes him a favorite amongst his students. When he is doing Judo a more serious side can be seen in him though.

Hank Hayashi - Photography Club President

Hank is a little bit rock n' roll and a little bit...lounge music? He has a tendency of talking too much and coming off as cheesy. He is a talented photographer though and has a reputation for being a heartbreaker.

Jeff Tesla - Mad Science Club

Jeff is a brilliant and neurotic fledgling scientist. Whether he is shooting ants to space in a rocket or bringing undead creatures to life, Jeff will work day and night until he attains his goals. He loves sharing his interests with others, but can be bashful when around someone he...likes.

Eric Stanford - Surf Club President

Eric is a beach bum. He is constantly on the beach or doing something to help his club. Even with his slow swagger and surfer slang he is no cliche. Well...actually he is kind of a cliche...but he is a nice cliche? And he runs around with his shirt off a lot?

Plus...a SECRET CHARACTER! Cause those are fun.

Here is a couple screens of the GUI me and my friend have been putting together. I am really stoked on it.

ANYWAYS this game is at heart (pun intended!) a romantic comedy, but it is also a mystery! Some of these characters may not be exactly what they seem at first, and there will be a mystery heavily tied into the main plot, as well as a sub-mystery to unravel. You won't get all the answers in a single play through and I think that will add to the fun.

Let me know what you think!

Features:

- All original art by Professional Comic Artist Les McClaine (The Tick, The Middleman)
- 6 Romanceable Characters + 1 Secret Path + 4 Friendship Paths
- Original Soundtrack by The Twins
- Multiple Outfits/Poses for all of the main characters.
- Lot's of endings, romantic, friendship, independent success...and some not so good endings as well.
- Lots of choices, some of which split the story up, some of which just make an impression on the people you're interacting with, plus some choices help form Vivian's personality for making key decisions later.
- A CG Gallery (which I have yet to program, yeesh!)


Progress:

Story: 80% - Mostly conceptualized but need to tighten some things down.
Writing: First draft 20%
Art: 3% - Concepts completed, working on the first round of sprites.
GUI: 80%
Music and Sound: 50% - Been getting loads of rad music from our new original soundtrack musicians.

Lint:

The game contains 1,965 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 22,500 words,
for an average of 10.6 words per screen.
The game contains 31 menus.

Oh one more thing, it will be a commercial game, but I couldn't fit that in the title of the thread.

[sapiboonggames]

THE GUI IS SO CUTE!! >__<
Good luck with this project!

But.. it's gonna be commercial huh :/ what's the price gonna be?

[FatUnicornGames]

I can't really say yet. It just depends on how long the game turns out to be. Nothing above the $15 mark, but it could be less.

Edit: With the addition of the original soundtrack we are looking at more of a $20 price range, but we will see.

[gekiganwing]

Jeff Tesla - Mad Science Club

Jeff is a brilliant and neurotic fledgling scientist. Whether he is shooting ants to space in a rocket or bringing undead creatures to life, Jeff will work day and night until he attains his goals. He loves sharing his interests with others, but can be bashful when around someone he...likes.

His last name is Tesla? Perhaps he has something in common with a famous inventor...

Thanks to spending too much time reading sites about import games, and obscure sections of GameFAQs, I know there's a (mad?) scientist who is a possible love interest in the original Tokimeki Memorial, named Yuina Himoo. I can't name a similar character from a GxB or BxB game offhand...

[FatUnicornGames]

Jeff Tesla - Mad Science Club

Jeff is a brilliant and neurotic fledgling scientist. Whether he is shooting ants to space in a rocket or bringing undead creatures to life, Jeff will work day and night until he attains his goals. He loves sharing his interests with others, but can be bashful when around someone he...likes.

His last name is Tesla? Perhaps he has something in common with a famous inventor...

Thanks to spending too much time reading sites about import games, and obscure sections of GameFAQs, I know there's a (mad?) scientist who is a possible love interest in the original Tokimeki Memorial, named Yuina Himoo. I can't name a similar character from a GxB or BxB game offhand...

Yeah, Tesla was an intentional thing. ;D I was giving him a last name and it was Tesla's birthday, and I was like...that's appropriate. I hadn't heard about Yuina, but it doesn't surprise me that it is a trope.

When conceptualizing the clubs and how fantastical they could get I would use the Mad Science Club with actual monsters as an example of how out of reality it could be. Then when coming up with a cast of love interests I was like, "Hey, I should actually make a character who is IN that club, that could be fun." It is something I haven't seen in an otome game before, but there are SO MANY in Japan, that I am sure somebody has done it.

[Sapphi]

Jeff Tesla - Mad Science Club

Jeff is a brilliant and neurotic fledgling scientist. Whether he is shooting ants to space in a rocket or bringing undead creatures to life, Jeff will work day and night until he attains his goals. He loves sharing his interests with others, but can be bashful when around someone he...likes.

This game is now relevant to my interests

[FatUnicornGames]

I have the first character concepts by the artist for Vivian.

So excited!

[Sapphi]

Aw, I love her! She has a round softness to her face that is very appealing.
And my hair totally looked like that in high school.

(Just noticed your new avatar. It's giving me severe Little Audrey vibes. Is there a relation?)

[FatUnicornGames]

Thanks! My artist wasn't sure about the roundness, I'll let him know people like it.

The avatar is from my website, The Uniblog. It is part of the logo. The Uniblog has been down for a couple weeks while we switch hosting because I was getting too many hits. D:

Here is the whole thing...



It was also drawn by the guy who is doing the art for this.

Edit: I'm gonna be coming up with a logo specifically for Fat Unicorn Games with the gal helping with my GUI.

[Astrid]

I like your artstyle... will be interested to see all the other characters fully fleshed.

[FatUnicornGames]

More art.



This time some expressions.

[FatUnicornGames]

Added a bunch of new art to the first post.

Here are some of the things the artist (Les) and I came up with today.


I chose a pretty specific look for Gabe. I like that Les made his cheekbones so high!


Les wants to make the different characters kind of stand in different positions. Eric kind of tipped back in a laid back way.

And Hank tipped forward in a "How you doin?" kind of way. I love this idea. It will be much more interesting than the characters just standing there.

I wanted them both to have a rockabilly look. I told Les to make Hank's hair "As big as you can without being completely ridiculous."

I told Les I wanted her to be a bit chubby with a pouty bow mouth. Very preppy.

We think Jeff turned out to look a bit like a young Doc Brown. That's makes it more fun I think. I like that Les chose to make him look like he has been up all night.

He did a pass on Devon too, but I wasn't too keen on the eyes we came up with. I think he will change those next time. It was partly my fault, I gave reference for his eyes, but I meant the color not the shape, and I should have been clearer.

[Obscura]

WOW! The artwork? TO DIE FOR. I think I just fell in love with every single character.

The characters have so much personality just in these B&W illustrations. Your artist is talented as heck. The style is so clean and sits on that "realistic" yet "cartoonish" fence that I absolutely love. *weeps*

[Fungii]

Holy cow that artwork is astounding.

[gekiganwing]

Looking at the character sketches, I'm impressed. I paused for a moment, trying to think if I could spot specific influences. There was a hint or two of my old favorite independent comics, but I couldn't pin anything down. Hank's hairstyle and image seems to be drawn from popular culture between about 1955 and 1962, and perhaps also the "yanki" look. Jeff's bow tie reminded me of the Howard and Nester comics from Nintendo Power circa 1989 through 1991, and the pointless goggles are amusing.

My main concern right now: while the art is certainly interesting, will it sell more than a few copies? If you're trying to sell Club Shuffle as an indie game, presumably on computers, is there an audience that likes this style? Who will your game appeal to, and are these people ready and willing to buy?