Dad is a Prince and Mom is the Hero?! [Family] TITLE SCREEN!

[Ionait]

Hi hi! I guess it's finally time to make a Work In Progress Thread! Yay! (I was hesitant because I started a project before, made a thread, and it got scrapped. So I waited extra long for this one!)

page.jpg

My game is...
Dad is a Prince and Mom is the Hero?!

Genre: I... Don't know. Usually these threads have tags like [GxB] or princess maker or management sim and I don't know what mine is. Maybe you all can help we out with making relevant tags? EDIT: Added a [Family] tag! But more suggestions are welcome!

What the game is about in a nutshell:

You assume the role of Claudette, a young mother. She has been happily married for several years to Leonard Delrick and they are very much in love. They have two children together, a four-year-old named Allyenna and a one year old named Leo (short for Leonard Delrick II).

Claudette is going about her day as a caring and diligent stay at home mom when suddenly she realizes she doesn't know where Allyenna is. When she finds her daughter, she is in the Delrick home attic and she has found a full length mirror Claudette has never noticed before. The mirror is emitting a strange glow and voices boom from its depths, the voices searching for Leonard Delrick. The next thing they know, they can see the father of the family, Leonard himself, inside the mirror and can even hear his voice. He warns Claudette not to try to come after him and says how sorry he is... For what? And how would she go after him?

That is answered quickly when Allyenna reaches out to the image of her father and actually starts to fall inside the mirror. Claudette catches her and pulls her out. Even after the voices and glow disappear, Allyenna can reach into the mirror and even pokes her head inside to reveal what is on the other side, scenery she describes to Claudette as a princess's castle.

Claudette tries to shake it off, but when Leonard doesn't come home and Allyenna demands to go after her father, the family starts packing for a long adventure.


The journey of a family:

After venturing "through the looking glass" the family finds themselves inside a castle, just as Allyenna described. Claudette even finds her husband, only to find out he is the runaway prince of a kingdom from another realm! And he has no wish to come home with his family!

The last of the Delrick lineage recently passed away in the other realm, leaving the throne up for grabs. A snotty little boy with no compassion for the kingdom is about to be coronated and nobody can stop him except for a blood member of the Delrick clan; Leonard.

Throughout the story, Claudette realizes the only way to get Leonard home is to mold Prince Fisk into a King that the kingdom can admire.

Game play:

The game play is composed of a lot of the regular choices a VN would have. It is not actually a "princess/prince maker" kind of game. There are no real stats to improve. Instead, Claudette learns the top three things that the people of this kingdom admire and tries to convince Fisk to make decisions that would reflect these three values. Meanwhile, Claudette also persuades her husband to make bad decisions that go against the three values. You slowly see the approval rating for Leonard decrease and likewise increase on Fisk's end if you make the right choices.

But Fisk also has his own problems and a troubled past including a mother that doesn't seem to love him. It is up to Claudette to show him the comfort and love of a mother to heal him and also get him to trust her, so he is more likely to take her advice when it comes to important decisions for the kingdom.

Throughout the adventure, Claudette is joined by Allyenna and Leo who almost never leave her side. (Leo spends the majority of the game in a baby backpack on Claudette's chest.) The children both play important roles at some point in the game and aid Claudette with their unique talents.

Etc.

I've had this idea of a mother as a hero in a fantasy setting for a long time. This is actually going to be a shorter test VN for me as a real first attempt, but I hope to put my all into it and maybe even expand it later.

I've always thought it was important to empower women in fiction and moreover, to empower women we love like our moms! It can be as rewarding and fun to be a mom as it is to be a sexy ninja or a spandex-clad super hero. I think stories like these can really influence girls (and boys!) in the right way and even strengthen families. Fiction is a powerful thing and we should use it for good, right?

I've always wanted to see more families using teamwork in sci-fi and fantasy stories. In a lot of stories nowadays, the kids will find out a secret or fantasy surprise and then there is always that scene that is written to make sure the parents don't get involved, the one you all know where the kids say "WE FOUND A UNICORN" and the parent acts like a total a-hole and says "YOU ARE DUMB THEY DON'T EXIST GO IN YOUR ROOM OR SOMETHING". I hate hate hate that! Why do they always write parents out of the story?! Why can't the whole family go on this fantasy adventure?!

Okay, sorry. /rant Maybe I'll make a general discussion topic about it some time.

Pictures!

screenshot.png

A screenshot of the GUI is attached to this post. I made a text box that looks like a note card that a child might have doodled on. The cloud in the bottom right corner is a click to continue icon that blinks and smiles and blushes. The quick menu tabs aren't coded yet.

intuostries01.jpg

The line art for a character named Ula is also attached. I hope to color the sprite today and give her some emotions!

Stats!

Statistics:

The game contains 350 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 4,137 words,
for an average of 11.8 words per screen.
The game contains 1 menus.

[Hijiri]

Considering that family is one of the major themes for this, maybe create a [Family] tag?
And I have to say, to put the mom as the heroine of the story is something I definately like. Just because you have children, dosen't mean you can't be a hero anymore :<

[Ionait]

Considering that family is one of the major themes for this, maybe create a [Family] tag?
And I have to say, to put the mom as the heroine of the story is something I definately like. Just because you have children, dosen't mean you can't be a hero anymore :<

I took your advice on the family tag! Thank you for the suggestion. I'm really glad that you support my theme! Go moms (and dads for that matter!)

[Auro-Cyanide]

I really like the concept for the story and your motives for creating it. It is something I can totally agree with and without going on a huge rant about it, this is EXACTLY what we need to see more of.

[Ionait]

I really like the concept for the story and your motives for creating it. It is something I can totally agree with and without going on a huge rant about it, this is EXACTLY what we need to see more of.

Thank you very much! It's very hard for me NOT to go on a huge rant about it whenever I find the chance to bring it up. There are way too many examples to cite in novels, television shows, movies, video games, etc. where only sexy singles can be powerful heroes and parents are just baggage the kids have to shake off to get to the "real story". It especially concerns me just when you look at US culture today, the rate of divorce, and how children seem to grow up faster and faster, usually because they have to take care of themselves.

That's not to say fiction is the problem and I'm not saying it's the solution either... but I think fiction can be a strong aid.

I just have to add that I keep getting Miss USA and Miss Colorado pageant letters in the mail just due to my age. But it says in the rules that to participate you can NEVER have been married and you cannot have children. I don't understand why a female 21-27 can't be in a happy healthy marriage with beautiful bright children and also be a role model for girls in America.

[jmclark]

Sounds cool, I'm looking forward to it.

[Auro-Cyanide]

I really like the concept for the story and your motives for creating it. It is something I can totally agree with and without going on a huge rant about it, this is EXACTLY what we need to see more of.

Thank you very much! It's very hard for me NOT to go on a huge rant about it whenever I find the chance to bring it up. There are way too many examples to cite in novels, television shows, movies, video games, etc. where only sexy singles can be powerful heroes and parents are just baggage the kids have to shake off to get to the "real story". It especially concerns me just when you look at US culture today, the rate of divorce, and how children seem to grow up faster and faster, usually because they have to take care of themselves.

That's not to say fiction is the problem and I'm not saying it's the solution either... but I think fiction can be a strong aid.

I just have to add that I keep getting Miss USA and Miss Colorado pageant letters in the mail just due to my age. But it says in the rules that to participate you can NEVER have been married and you cannot have children. I don't understand why a female 21-27 can't be in a happy healthy marriage with beautiful bright children and also be a role model for girls in America.

I rant a lot as it is, I try to keep my temper in check ^_^

The thing I like the most in this story is the versatility of the concept of strength. Society has such a horribly narrow view of what is 'strong' and leave out many parts of society because of it. Many feminine aspects are undervalued and considered a weakness to have, but I dare someone to look at their mother and call her weak. Being nurturing and caring and kind is not a weakness, it is a far greater strength than violence. The concept of exploring feminine and family strength in a non-violent manner is very empowering and I would love to see more stories do it. The motive of wanting to keep your family together is a strong one, and getting there by being a mother, a role model and using persuasion and love to get there is a fantastic idea.

[Ionait]

Auro-Cyanide, thank you so much for your thoughts. You've summed up the feelings of my game far better than I ever could. When I get passionate, I lose the ability to form words.

Also, just finished the line art for our star mom, Claudette. I dressed her the way I dress when I'm just around the house with my kids! Loose shirt and slippers and lots of hairbands to keep kids from pulling hair! (My son has the grip of doom.)

OH! And thank you also Jmclark!

Claudette.jpg

[gekiganwing]

The game play is composed of a lot of the regular choices a VN would have. It is not actually a "princess/prince maker" kind of game. There are no real stats to improve. Instead, Claudette learns the top three things that the people of this kingdom admire and tries to convince Fisk to make decisions that would reflect these three values. Meanwhile, Claudette also persuades her husband to make bad decisions that go against the three values. You slowly see the approval rating for Leonard decrease and likewise increase on Fisk's end if you make the right choices.

It's kinda late as of this writing, so maybe that's why I'm having trouble understanding your summary. What exactly are these values? Are there going to be standard decisions which eventually lead to a variety of endings? Also, pleased make sure to state who Prince Fisk is, what he wants, and so on.

It sounds like Claudette's role is mama bear, action mom, or perhaps both. The lists in these TVTropes articles should give you a number of good examples of mothers who are proactive and powerful.

[Ionait]

I apologize for the confusion about Fisk. I kept it vague because I have not cemented the coding for that scene and some of the point schemes yet. I have mainly done script writing and GUI and sprites. The kingdom has three unique values they hold above all else. I'll give an example of one.

May be spoilers here now? I'm not sure haha xD

One value is women and the company of women. They believe that behind every powerful man is a good woman. For Leonard, he has Claudette at his side and a woman named Ula who is trying to steal Leonard away. While Ula is at the castle trying to woo Leonard, she is spreading the word about Leonard's awesomeness basically and making even more women swoon over him. Fisk has been garnering a lot of distaste from the women around him by firing women who work at the castle, even his nurse, and not speaking to his mother.

To decrease Leonard's "company of women" value, Claudette has to complete several tasks. The main one is getting Ula to give up on Leonard and leave the castle and if Claudette does especially well, Ula will leave not only giving up on Leonard but hating him and will spread negative rumors to other women, decreasing Leonard's "company of women" value a lot.

To increase Fisk's "company of women" value, Claudette is tasked with convincing him to form a council of women advisers. If he does this and picks the right women to serve on the council, he becomes respected and good word is spread about him and his respect and treatment of women.

It's a little odd and the values aren't necessarily the kind of values you would think of as being held by all people. I made the kingdom to be its own character and kind of quirky, a little barbaric, simple and complex all at once.

Does that help at all? xD Sorry, it's hard to explain!

The lists in these TVTropes articles should give you a number of good examples of mothers who are proactive and powerful.

I know that there are great mom role models and representations out there, but not enough in my opinion and not popular enough! Mom stories must take OVER THE WORLD!

ALSO: The lines for Allyenna are done!

Allyenna.jpg

[FatUnicornGames]

You have a cute and different style of art. Very willowy. I like the concept a lot. Looking forward to the completed product.

[Ionait]

You have a cute and different style of art. Very willowy. I like the concept a lot. Looking forward to the completed product.

That actually means a lot to me. I've always loved drawing but I started leaning toward anime so early on, I was afraid my style was more generic than anything. I'm so happy to hear it might be unique!

[Fungii]

Ohhh that GUI is cute as heck

[Ionait]

Ohhh that GUI is cute as heck

Hehe, thank you!

I'm actually going to release all of the resources I make for this game once it is finished so others can use the GUI and whatnot if they'd like for their own games. I hope the materials can be useful! But, of course, that's after the game has been released.

[Hijiri]

Considering that family is one of the major themes for this, maybe create a [Family] tag?
And I have to say, to put the mom as the heroine of the story is something I definately like. Just because you have children, dosen't mean you can't be a hero anymore :<

I took your advice on the family tag! Thank you for the suggestion. I'm really glad that you support my theme! Go moms (and dads for that matter!)

No problem.
And of course I support these kinds of themes, having been raised in a tight-knit family setting, I can enjoy a lot of things with a similar message about family.
Should I also expect a few heartwarming scenes to leave me all warm and fuzzy inside as well?