Harmony [BxG] [Romance, Slice of life, School drama] (1/2)

[Bockie]

Why hello there!
This is my first Visual Novel, but not my first game concept. I've graduated with a bachelor's degree in Game Design.. and well.. I'm trying to put that expensive sucker to good use!

You (the player) take control of Carl, a young boy who moved away from his friends in the summer after middle school, due to his father's career. His father's position dissolved years later, and the family decided to move back to The Town so Carl can attend the high school that has flourished in their years away. He soon notices that not much has changed over the years though.. there's a few new houses that have sprung up, shopping centers, new and shiny cars litter the streets of town. Not much has changed.. that is, until he meets his friends from all those years ago! As children Carl and his best friend played around, having fun.. but now they were grown and not (as) childish as they once were (both in terms of physical appearance and attitude). Carl has to pick up the pieces of where he left off all those years ago, and gets to make brand new friends (and enemies.. and frienemies) and adventures in his last year of high school.

Genre: Romance, Slice of Life, School Drama
Rating: PG-13 and/or 18+ (There will be an all ages version, and 18+ with added mature content)
Romance Partners: 6 main options with two side characters
Resolution: 1280 x 720px

All 8 romance options will be fully voiced. Background characters MAY be in the future.
Choose your childhood friend : In the beginning of the game, you're able to choose 1 of the six (main) romance options as your 'childhood friend' character archetype. This will drastically change the story, and you will still be able to romance other girls besides your chosen childhood friend.
'Social Networking': All of the students at The School are connected to an educational social networking website (something like facebook). As the PC gets to know the girls, he's able to friend them and find out more about 'em. This will give the player a bit of insight on the girl he is going to attempt to get to know better. Also, the PC and romance option will be able to communicate over the 'social website' at certain points in the game.
'Ecchi' / H-Scenes : The 18+ version of the game will have at least 3-4 (per romance option) full CG scenes that are mature in nature.
Harem mode: When you finish a girl's path and get a good ending, you can add her to a "Harem mode" that unlocks. It's basically a very tongue-in-cheek comedy story line, where you're just meant to have fun and not worry about maintaining relationships. (This feature will not appear in the All Ages version)

Each girl will have a Young and normal version. The prologue and childhood friend sequence happens when they are 14/15(last year of middle school,) and the main story takes place during the last year of highschool, so they're 18/19.


Rima Danielle

Rima Danielle is a rough and tumble adventurous girl, always doing her absolute best to enjoy life to the fullest and be the best at anything she tries. Extremely competitive, she never shies away from a challenge or dare, making her easily drawn out by such. Rima especially loves to race and compete with others in general. Often seen with brightly dyed hair, she pays little attention to her outfit and doesn't particularly care about fashion…causing her to often draw Renata’s ire. Rima often has trouble understanding Fiona due to their opposite natures. Rima respects daring and speed, and won’t respond to timid approaches. While difficult to win over, She will be an extremely loyal companion…unless that loyalty is betrayed.

Young Rima(14) on left, Rima(18) on right

Rima concept expressions

rima_concept02.jpg (61.91 KiB) Viewed 5113 times

Young Rima(14) color concept

Young Rima and Rima finished color concepts

Fiona Samson
Shy and timid, Fiona lives near the edge of town alone where her family runs a small veterinary clinic. She’s very straightforward and open to the animals, but with other people is often unable to explain herself well. Tabitha is her best friend though she is also very close with Renata, and often helps her with her fashion projects. She is one of the kindest and most caring people around, but is extremely hard to draw out of her shell. She respects those that are kind and gentle.

Renata Blanchfleur
Renata is a fashion conscious girl who has spent much of her time since she came of age as a fashion model and designer, and is not shy about her body or what she wears. She is well off financially and lives in a large home and comes from a rich family, but she never tries to brag about it…though sometimes her mannerisms can be seen as a bit snobbish. She is very generous and respects those who are not greedy, and especially those that dress well.

Alison Jennings
Alison is a farmgirl whose rustic charm only helps complete her country look and her attractive persona. Hardworking and dedicated, she is an honest girl who expects others to be honest with her. She’ll be more open if others are open with her, but if you are caught in a lie to her she’ll never trust you again. She enjoys hanging out with Rima, but often fights with her, and finds only some common ground with Renata.

Penelope ‘Penny’ Patricks
Penny is a rambunctious young lady with a sense of innocence that is only broken by the fact that she seems to always be up for trying anything at any time, provided it doesn’t hurt anyone, and especially if it feels good. Her jovial and easygoing nature mean she can get along with almost anyone, though she is attracted most to those who want to have fun. Penny gets along easily and quickly with everyone, though sometimes annoys Rima a bit.

Tabitha Strall
Tabitha is a somewhat nerdy girl who has always spent more time with books than with friends or dating, and she is generally a good person. Extremely curious and always eager to learn, Tabitha approaches new opportunities and actions with a zealous sense of adventure. She is extremely prone to stressing out over every small detail, having a large case of OCD. It's always about schedules, rules and regulations with her. Always top of the class in both academics and stress level, Tabitha will always help those in need.

The last 2 romance options are currently SECRET.

Random Promotional Artwork

2012 Halloween Artwork

200 Tumblr follower milestone

Story Progress
Prologue Story: (in revision) 4k word count
Rima childhood path: (in revision) 7k
Fiona childhood path: (in revision) 8k
Penny childhood path: (in revision) 7.5k
Allison childhood path: (rough draft) 2k
Tabitha childhood path: (rough draft) 1k
Renata childhood path (in revision) 8k

Art Progress
We had to (unfortunately switch our artist just recently, so we've gone back to square one)
Young Rima (concept/color finished)
Rima (concept finished, color 90%)

http://haihovothan.deviantart.com/ Our artist's deviantart page
http://www.harmonythegame.com Our website (under construction)
http://harmonyvn.tumblr.com Tumblr, probably best way to keep track of the game.

Feedback/Questions
Is there enough time to delve into a deep story with only one year of highschool to go through? I don't want something to seem like it goes on FOREVER, but it's only four days or something. I don't know if it's easy to 'fall in love' in only a year. I'm kinda on the fence about this.

When you choose a childhood friend, due to the crazy amount of scenarios, you'll only have 5(or so) romance options other than your childhood friend. The two 'side' girls are available on any path though. So, say you choose Rima as your childhood friend. You can then only romance the 2 (side girls), Allison, Fiona and Tabitha. The question here is: does that feel limited and restricted to you? 4-6 available paths on a single playthrough should still be enough, but I want other people's opinions.

Looking for Help!
We're looking for a few more people to help our vision be complete within Harmony.
VOICE ACTORS: We’re looking for three characters: Alison (AppleJack), Rima (Rainbow Dash), and Renata (Rarity). Here is the link to the lines to record for us: Harmony Audition Lines. You can send them to me via email; harmonyvn@outlook.com
COLOR/SHADING ARTIST: We are looking for an artist who is good with coloring and shading, they will be working with our current artist to color/shade in his finished line art. You can show us some of your work, and we’ll have you color in some finished line art to see how things go from there. Send in your work to our email: harmonyvn@outlook.com
BACKGROUND ARTIST: Looking for someone to work on background art for the game. Again, submit your work to our email: harmonyvn@outlook.com

Random Info:
I've been working on this game since like.. last December, and around 2 months ago, I was finally able to start branching out for other staff. It was just my writer friend and I for the longest. Now we have two sound designers, five writers, three editors, character & CG artist, a background artist, a hand full of voice actors and myself. I'm our only programmer (been learning Ren'py for a few months now) and I do all of the online promotion and merchandising. I feel I have a very strong team to handle this ambitious project.

EDIT: 10/13/12 Added the Rima color concept art.
EDIT: 1/3/13 Added a few more pieces of art, and the looking for help section

[Anna]

Rima looks cute, but I find it hard to believe someone wouldn't change their hair and wardrobe style after four years ^^;.

[Bockie]

Rima looks cute, but I find it hard to believe someone wouldn't change their hair and wardrobe style after four years ^^;.

Her hair is colored differently when she's older. She also has a very limited clothing choice, not being a girly-girl she just usually throws on whatever laying around that doesn't stink like sweat.
I guess her character archetype would be the 'sporty girl'.

But yeah, it's just concept, she'll have like 10 other outfits to wow everyone with.

[broken_angel]

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, so I have to ask the question:

Will this be a commercial game? Or will it be free?

[Bockie]

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, so I have to ask the question:

Will this be a commercial game? Or will it be free?

Going to be a free release.

[WickedRaccoon]

like the storyline,loved the features and of course it's free! (broke and poor me is broke and poor) T_T will keep an eye on this from now on

[Bockie]

like the storyline,loved the features and of course it's free! (broke and poor me is broke and poor) T_T will keep an eye on this from now on

We'll be releasing a demo of the prologue and childhood friend sequence by the end of this year (at the latest), so look forward to that.

[Blane Doyle]

... Is this still a My Little Pony fangame? (I don't know of you omitted this from the top post for a reason, but I just went through your Tumblr page and I am highly confused as to why that was not mentioned. It still sounds, and looks, interesting, but I am just confused by the conflicting information. You make it sound like an original game here.)

[Bockie]

... Is this still a My Little Pony fangame? (I don't know of you omitted this from the top post for a reason, but I just went through your Tumblr page and I am highly confused as to why that was not mentioned. It still sounds, and looks, interesting, but I am just confused by the conflicting information. You make it sound like an original game here.)

Well dang.

I'm trying to see if this game will stand on it's own, and not just because it's using derivative characters from internet hype.
It still is an original game in every sense of the word. The characters are just inspired by the show, that's basically where it ends.

Sadly enough, a lot of people who don't like MLP will instantly say the game is bad just because they don't like the source material. I want it to be approachable by everyone who likes Visual Novels, not just a certain pony-loving demographic.

So, to answer your question.. it is, but it isn't. We took some fundamental character traits and expanded upon them to make them uh.. more believable human beings. We don't use any of the settings or anything else from the show. Our characters will have subtle nods in the direction of the source material, but really, that's all there is to it.

I didn't want to mislead anyone or anything! We're still producing 100% of the content, we're just using certain character traits for the girls.

[gekiganwing]

Hello, Harmony. I stumbled across your Tumblr a couple weeks ago, and I've been watching it for news since then. Thanks for joining this forum and for posting.

These three questions may seem a bit obvious... but I want to ask them just in case.

1. Do you like stories and games with boy x girl pairings?
2. Do you enjoy, and feel comfortable, writing this type of content?
3. Do you like the idea of a story in which the main character has more than one or two possible love interests?

I ask these questions because visual novels don't have to be BxG love polygon / harem games. If what you really like is other perspectives, types of stories, types of games, etc, then you might need to do some thinking.

We had to (unfortunately switch our artist just recently, so we've gone back to square one)

Duly noted. The previous art style was a bit cute, but I'd describe it as sexy. The new art style seems much more cute, and seems more suited for a worksafe story. Hopefully you won't have any difficulty working with your current artist.

Is there enough time to delve into a deep story with only one year of highschool to go through? I don't want something to seem like it goes on FOREVER, but it's only four days or something. I don't know if it's easy to 'fall in love' in only a year. I'm kinda on the fence about this.

In real life, some people start genuine, lasting relationships in high school... but it's not very common. Of course, this is fiction. So you'll need to decide what can happen. Maybe it will be possible for your characters to fall in love and become couples during the story. Maybe they will remain friends with the possibility of relationship upgrades as the story ends. Maybe something else. Assuming that your story takes place across nine months of time, and the characters interact at least 5 out of 7 days per week, this seems to be enough time for them to start and grow relationships.

Also, please let us know more about your setting. Is the story happening in a specific place and time? What makes your fictional world distinct?

Sadly enough, a lot of people who don't like MLP will instantly say the game is bad just because they don't like the source material.

I think you mean to specify Friendship is Magic. Each generation of the My Little Pony franchise is different, and there are still some fans who remember G1 through G3.5. (For a comparison point, you wouldn't simply say Star Trek if you're talking about Voyager or DS9.)

As far as I can tell, Starswirl Academy (a VN about humanized ponies in a more realistic world) is still an active work-in-progress. There are also some WIP fan-made visual novels that stick fairly close to the canonical world of MLP:FIM, including Love is Magic, Welcome to Ponyville, Quest of Memories and My Little Investigations. I don't think anyone involved with these other projects is active on this forum... though I could be mistaken.

[Rainbow Wavedash]

I don't think anyone involved with these other projects is active on this forum... though I could be mistaken.

/raises hand

Starswirl Academy producer here. I visit, I just haven't posted anything using my nom de plume.

I'm liking the new sketches, Harmony team. Keep it up!

[Bockie]

1. Do you like stories and games with boy x girl pairings?
2. Do you enjoy, and feel comfortable, writing this type of content?
3. Do you like the idea of a story in which the main character has more than one or two possible love interests?

I only wrote the original premise and now refer to my writers to push the story along. A lot of my original character design still stays true to what we have now. A lot of people were actually surprised Harmony was a boy gets girl(s) type game. I honestly thought it was the most common type.. but I guess I was wrong!
In Harmony, you can TRY to get multiple girls, but you have to juggle them just right. Some girls just won't be down with it regardless, due to how their personalities are.

Duly noted. The previous art style was a bit cute, but I'd describe it as sexy. The new art style seems much more cute, and seems more suited for a worksafe story. Hopefully you won't have any difficulty working with your current artist.

I did enjoy our last art style, and we had almost all of the characters completed.. but y'know. crap happens. :/

Also, please let us know more about your setting. Is the story happening in a specific place and time? What makes your fictional world distinct?

We have weekly meetings just to talk about this subject here. Still working on our environment documentation.

I think you mean to specify Friendship is Magic. Each generation of the My Little Pony franchise is different, and there are still some fans who remember G1 through G3.5. (For a comparison point, you wouldn't simply say Star Trek if you're talking about Voyager or DS9.)

As far as I can tell, Starswirl Academy (a VN about humanized ponies in a more realistic world) is still an active work-in-progress. There are also some WIP fan-made visual novels that stick fairly close to the canonical world of MLP:FIM, including Love is Magic, Welcome to Ponyville, Quest of Memories and My Little Investigations. I don't think anyone involved with these other projects is active on this forum... though I could be mistaken.

Yep, I know about all of them fella's. I talk with the creator of SA every once in a while, so we keep good tabs on each other (in a friendly way).
We're all making these games just so fans of the show, of VN's and just video games in general can have some fun.

[PyTom]

Feedback/Questions
Is there enough time to delve into a deep story with only one year of highschool to go through? I don't want something to seem like it goes on FOREVER, but it's only four days or something. I don't know if it's easy to 'fall in love' in only a year. I'm kinda on the fence about this.

I don't see why it wouldn't be enough time, although you may want to include the summer in that time somehow - if only because a summer vacation gives you the chance to do things that you might not be able to do during the school year. But I think it's pretty common for games to develop over that time, or less - Homeward and Kira Kira both take place in less than a year, and they're games that struck me as having long timelines.

Although I think you get this - it's important to have an actual story after the characters fall in love. Otherwise, the game feels like it ends at the beginning.

When you choose a childhood friend, due to the crazy amount of scenarios, you'll only have 5(or so) romance options other than your childhood friend. The two 'side' girls are available on any path though. So, say you choose Rima as your childhood friend. You can then only romance the 2 (side girls), Allison, Fiona and Tabitha. The question here is: does that feel limited and restricted to you? 4-6 available paths on a single playthrough should still be enough, but I want other people's opinions.

It strikes me as overly generous, to be honest - there's a lot of paths there, although clever writing could merge a bunch of them. As a creator, you have to budget your time - and that of your collaborators - to be sure that the game finishes, so don't over-complicate things.

What's the criteria to unlock the harem ending? With five childhood friends, plus five romances per childhood friend, a 25-path total clear might be a bit much to require anyone to accomplish.


I find it interesting that this is a fanfic that's evolving into an original work. There have been several of those lately - not so much here, but in the real world - and I think it's an interesting trend.

[Bockie]

It strikes me as overly generous, to be honest - there's a lot of paths there, although clever writing could merge a bunch of them. As a creator, you have to budget your time - and that of your collaborators - to be sure that the game finishes, so don't over-complicate things.

What's the criteria to unlock the harem ending? With five childhood friends, plus five romances per childhood friend, a 25-path total clear might be a bit much to require anyone to accomplish.


I find it interesting that this is a fanfic that's evolving into an original work. There have been several of those lately - not so much here, but in the real world - and I think it's an interesting trend.

To get the 'harem mode' you just have to clear a girl's path and get one of the 'good' endings. So, you could just play through the childhood story with each of the girls and try not to screw things up and get it.

[gekiganwing]

Harem mode: When you finish a girl's path and get a good ending, you can add her to a "Harem mode" that unlocks. It's basically a very tongue-in-cheek comedy story line, where you're just meant to have fun and not worry about maintaining relationships.

It's been a while since I read a VN with a harem route or ending. But in the last few days, I re-read some reviews on Animetric (warning: mostly NSFW!) about adult games from a few years ago, and was reminded that this sort of writing tends to make characters go OOC. If you're okay with that in the adult version of your VN, then proceed.

A lot of people were actually surprised Harmony was a boy gets girl(s) type game. I honestly thought it was the most common type.. but I guess I was wrong!

I made my initial comment because I wanted to make sure you liked Boy x Girl(s) style stories and games, and to make sure you knew that other kinds of content can be created with Ren'py. Many of the early VNs created by English speaking fans had BxG pairings, but over the last few years, there has been an increase in other types of content. There are now a good number of fans who like Girl x Boy(s) pairings on this forum, as well as fans who like different pairings, or who prefer other kinds of stories.

But on the whole, your assumption was correct. GxB games were codified in 1994 with the Super Famicom version of Angelique, and since then, they've become a niche, with some anime/manga adaptations, and a few have been translated. But there have been BxG visual novels for almost thirty years. They get far more adaptations and translations. After searching the Visual Novel Database for a minute or two, I found one of the first BxG visual novels with worksafe content -- Wingman, which dates back to 1984, based on Masakazu Katsura's series of the same name.