The Dolls' Stories

[ixWishing]

Omg.
I'm so stalking this thread.
This reminds me of Princess maker c: But more interesting!
I like the idea of being able to type in sentences xD
It's so cool! And omg, the art is gorgeous <3

[fioricca]

THANK YOU THANK YOU EVERYONE omg I'm so so sorry for the slow development -- I have massive problems with managing work from people. /sobs Somehow or another I think all of us took a three-week vacation from this project, but now that we've passed the original deadline for this game, I've started yelling at people to get their parts in cry it's not a good feeling at all Q____Q

Anyway, a somewhat real update! The script has finally made substantial progress. And the artwork I commissioned from my friend for the title screen came in!



Look at how gorgeous it is uwaaah o////o

/slinks back to work dsfjsg now I can finally work on designing the title screen (and am forced to start working on a logo auuugh help) and have a script to look through and edit... and have more things to draw........

[Lumella]

Everything's looking gorgeous! I can't wait to see the full-version. Go fioricca and team! /o/

[Strawberries]

Hi, I've just tried the demo and I find this to be amazing!
This caught my interest and I'm glad it did. The art is lovely and I'm really want to know the rest of the plot-line!
I love the conversation system since I've always wanted to try something like this!
So far, I've only played the guy's route. I shall be playing for the girl's route soon.
If you need any help involving writing, I would be glad to help you out.

[Vynuxys]

I'm personally quite surprised at the demand of "user interaction" you're getting xD You mentioned you're a beginner, this is a kinetic novel, a short game to try things out. In my opinion, those asking for more branches as opposed to guided responses are ignoring the fact you've already given them immense freedom with the ability to type their own responses in. The majority of other games don't allow that. Just makes me think of "give them a finger, and they'll take the whole hand".

Me, I enjoyed the features of the chat! Typing things by myself was awesome, I could have or invent my own personality. I also hope you'll keep the androgyny of the MC, since you mentioned the Male Doll is more for girls and Female Doll is more for guys, but I like to keep my own gender regardless of which Doll I choose. Alternatively, you always could provide the player with an option at the beginning of "Are you male or female?", without affecting the Doll they choose, but instead any future references to their gender (someone talking about them and saying "he, she, man, woman" etc) could use the correct pronouns. I've done it in one of my own games in the past and it was pretty neat.

I really do hope you'll finish this. I just like this game way too much o3o

[Cadenza]

I'm personally quite surprised at the demand of "user interaction" you're getting xD You mentioned you're a beginner, this is a kinetic novel, a short game to try things out. In my opinion, those asking for more branches as opposed to guided responses are ignoring the fact you've already given them immense freedom with the ability to type their own responses in.

I'm not one of the people criticising the user interaction, but - while there is freedom in that you can type your own responses, you have to include certain words. There's no actual difference ingame depending on what you say, you have to say a certain thing.

[fioricca]

Everything's looking gorgeous! I can't wait to see the full-version. Go fioricca and team! /o/

Eee thank you so much, you have no idea how happy hearing that makes me!

Hi, I've just tried the demo and I find this to be amazing!
This caught my interest and I'm glad it did. The art is lovely and I'm really want to know the rest of the plot-line!
I love the conversation system since I've always wanted to try something like this!
So far, I've only played the guy's route. I shall be playing for the girl's route soon.
If you need any help involving writing, I would be glad to help you out.

Thank you so much for playing the demo, and I'm glad to hear that you liked it! *_* I've actually manage to rope in a friend of mine who is AMAZEBALLS at writing, so I think we're good -- but thank you for offering to help all the same!

I'm personally quite surprised at the demand of "user interaction" you're getting xD You mentioned you're a beginner, this is a kinetic novel, a short game to try things out. In my opinion, those asking for more branches as opposed to guided responses are ignoring the fact you've already given them immense freedom with the ability to type their own responses in. The majority of other games don't allow that. Just makes me think of "give them a finger, and they'll take the whole hand".

Me, I enjoyed the features of the chat! Typing things by myself was awesome, I could have or invent my own personality. I also hope you'll keep the androgyny of the MC, since you mentioned the Male Doll is more for girls and Female Doll is more for guys, but I like to keep my own gender regardless of which Doll I choose. Alternatively, you always could provide the player with an option at the beginning of "Are you male or female?", without affecting the Doll they choose, but instead any future references to their gender (someone talking about them and saying "he, she, man, woman" etc) could use the correct pronouns. I've done it in one of my own games in the past and it was pretty neat.

I really do hope you'll finish this. I just like this game way too much o3o

I'm not one of the people criticising the user interaction, but - while there is freedom in that you can type your own responses, you have to include certain words. There's no actual difference ingame depending on what you say, you have to say a certain thing.

Cadenza is right. XD This feature is still in its very, very early stages, so I can see how it's boring. But you're right too in saying that this is a mock game, Vynuxys -- that is exactly why my aim is to keep things as simple as possible. I guess it can't be helped that it invites criticism. XD; Criticism is a wonderful thing, though, so I do thank everyone who has taken the time to play the demo and offer their insight. It really means a lot.

The suggestion about gender choice is a great idea! I am totally keeping this in mind if we do decide to make more games that involve gender neutral main characters. I'm really glad to hear that you're liking the neutrality; I thought it was important to give players the freedom to choose whichever doll they want to choose, and not specify how you're a dude if you pick girl doll-chans and vice versa. I have a few female friends who love bishoujo characters, haha. I do hope to finish this game soon myself, we've long passed the deadline and for a short game, it really is taking too much of my time. XD

Some updates, just to show that work is continuous. Chibi CGs and a few side images.

/scampers off to refine backgrounds and other CGs ahh

My friend has started writing the final parts of the script, so once she's done with that I can start preparing more visuals. We'll have a second battle scene, so more cutscenes! We're still pretty new at flying panels, but I hope they'll still be entertaining enough. XD I'm open to feedback on visual presentation when the full game is released.

Thank you so much again for all the comments and support! *_* Seriously, at one time I was having massive panic attacks as to whether this is worth finishing or not. OTL I was so worried that no one will like the game once this is out ha... ha... cries at the bad plot and all the vanilla and cheese

[WickedRaccoon]

okay,i love you!!!!i finished the demo,and it was super!!! 8D the art -even if it wasn't fully colored- looks like a professionals work,the type-the-answer system made me excited for some reason (maybe cause i typed whatever i wanted to say ''Orz) now i want moaaaar!
and yes,this is worth being finished!so don't give up on finishing an amazing game!i wish you good luck with it! ^_^
(p.s. the colored sprites have great colors,and the chibi scenes look like they'll make me laugh.looking foward to this game...a lot XD)

[fioricca]

okay,i love you!!!!i finished the demo,and it was super!!! 8D the art -even if it wasn't fully colored- looks like a professionals work,the type-the-answer system made me excited for some reason (maybe cause i typed whatever i wanted to say ''Orz) now i want moaaaar!
and yes,this is worth being finished!so don't give up on finishing an amazing game!i wish you good luck with it! ^_^
(p.s. the colored sprites have great colors,and the chibi scenes look like they'll make me laugh.looking foward to this game...a lot XD)

Ahh thank you so much -- I'm honestly glad to hear that you like it so!

Another small update -- I've started working on backgrounds, so have a WIP. I've never painted BGs seriously before, these are awkward and embarrassing and I want to cry OTL okay after some feedback from friends, it's somehow shaping up /MAKES SO MANY EDITS



I'm updating a lot, but consider it my apology for going on hiatus for a while. :'D These updates are long overdue, haha.

ETA; I didn't bring this up as I've been making consistent updates here anyway, but in case anyone's interested, I made a tumblr for VN projects. :'D It's pretty empty and only has everything I've posted in here so far...

[Vynuxys]

I'm not one of the people criticising the user interaction, but - while there is freedom in that you can type your own responses, you have to include certain words. There's no actual difference ingame depending on what you say, you have to say a certain thing.

I'm pretty sure that's because it's a kinetic novel?

I do agree that criticism is vital, I just didn't think this part of the game is the one that needs it. Including some synonyms (Right, yes, okay etc) for one response would be cool, otherwise I'm okay with how it is now. I really am.

And *nods in approval at progress* on your tumblr you said the BG doesn't go with the spirtes. Maybe try to make it a bit more saturated? o3o Just an idea.

[Razz]

I can't believe how good this game looks, that bg fits so well.

[bunbun]

I am finally able to comment on this thread after playing the demo.
I've been stalking this thread yet don't feel like I can give a comment if I never play the demo OTL
I really like the art, and they look very professional. Of course the art is the first thing which attracted me to this game since I don't usually play kinetic novels.

For what I am concern about the demo is the words flow. The sentence pause after comas seemed like the game was stalling/chapping. I don't think it's necessary as usually people read faster than it. (really, just let the words flow!)

As for the typing, I think it's a good idea to make the kenetic novel feels more lively. However for people who uses mouse to play the same (like me) they'll have to click, type and click again. Which, isn't much a problem since I eventually gave up on my mouse and used keyboard. lol

Another thing is that whenever finish typing, the typing bar will disappear and allow the doll to talk. After he/she talked, you have to type again and it keeps repeating making the text box going up and down. It was quite bothering me. I'm thinking maybe there's a way to allow the typing box to stay without distracting the actual chat box.

It's just my POV but after playing for 10 minutes or so, I don't quite like the typing system as I don't feel like I'm playing the game. The typing was distracting the storyflow. Yeah all I was doing was typing as fast as possible in a game for the same of allowing the story flow. It feels more like a typing-focused game to me.

So, for the resolutions, I thought it might be better to allow (me) to be able to talk and only type at important occasion instead of every sentence. Hints may not be given and players can find hints within game etc.

For the positive, I like the smooth and clean GUI and programming. Art is really pretty too, background are original which is a plus! Despite the typing system which turns me off slightly, I'll still be interested for the art and game system.

[MioSegami]

BEAUTIFUL GAME PLAYING! i ENJOYED IT! How you can interact with the character is SO MUCH FUN! !

[Alphonse]

This is great~! I love how you used the textbox like that, it's really innovative. I like your art a lot too, although your coloring style (not the placeholders in the game, the screenshots you've posted in this thread) isn't really my favorite. It's kinda sketchy and the colors seem a little flat since the shadows, highlights, and base colors all seem to be about the same hue. It's personal preference though. (I also don't like things in second person, but to be honest, I'm not really a fan of self-insertion types of things anyway. That's personal preference, too.) The GUI looks great and I like the simplistic elegance it has going for it, but I think the textbox is a little too simple. Even a double border sort of thing would make it look nicer, imo.

I only played through the male doll's route, since I'm sleepy and somewhat shallow. I enjoyed it but the typing tired me after a while since it had no effect on anything. It's true that this is a kinetic novel but it's giving the illusion of interactivity, which makes it disappointing when you realize it's not interactive at all. But you say you're thinking about branching, so that's great. (It'd be cool if you could accommodate people who say the exact opposite of what the textbox requires, too. Like on the "Right" or "Yes" prompts. Even just a little, even if it damages your relationship points or whatever.)

[Mimi_Melody]

Just finished the game! I really like it. But yeah, the typing thing is kinda annoying somehow. Sometimes I typed too fast and got it wrong, I had to type the whole thing again. I know we have to include the hints because...it's a KN anyway. (Not like it's a chatbox with the dolls or anything but if you can make that as a bonus, it'll be great ^^) The conversations are a little...weird sometimes. but that's not really the problem. And...the boy asked maybe...just maybe...too many questions LOL. Oh and can I ask you who's that purple hair dude? (Looks nice <3) Yeah you may have mentioned him in the comments somehow but my laziness is hitting me so I'm not gonna read everything...