My Ninja Life [B/GxG, action adventure, comedy]

[Flowers from Nowhere]

Ok! I finished my first game; it's time to get cracking on the 2nd one.

The title says it all! Ninjas! Very historically inaccurate ninjas!

Plot

While competing at a mixed martial arts tournament you became friends with a Japanese girl who invited you back to hangout/train at her family's dojo after the tournament. You said yes. Your life is about to get interesting.

Characters

Robin (main character, name change possible, male or female)
You are the sort of easygoing and totally chill person who, when asked by a new acquaintance to fly halfway across the world to spend an indeterminate amount of time in an unknown place, says "sure, why not?"

Yume
An adorable and skilled fighter, Yume is both the heir to an ancient line of ninjas and the kind of person who would invite a practical stranger into her family's stronghold which has been guarded for generations. This may cause problems.

Ayakawa
Prideful and imperious, Ayakawa is a student at the dojo.


I had originally been intending to make a BxG game since my first one was GxB but then I kept seeing posts from people looking for GxG games and I thought, hey, I don't want to make sprites for the MC. It would be really easy to just declare a bunch of pronouns as variables and let the player pick a gender. So that's what I'm doing.

Thoughts? Comments? Opinions?

[gekiganwing]

What's the conflict? Is Robin drawn into a fight between ninja factions? Where would the story develop from there?

If this is a relatively brief story, you'll benefit by making sure the cast isn't too large.

[Flowers from Nowhere]

I wrote a plot synopsis without mentioning the main conflict in the story. Not good advertising.

Yes, Robin gets caught up in a ninja war. Shortly after arriving at the dojo a rival ninja attempts to (and possibly succeeds at) stealing the dojo's sacred treasure: a magical blade. The fight over this blade and the interactions of the characters drive the action and the story.

I am keeping the cast very small. I want to do justice to all of my characters and don't want the creation of the game to outlast my interest in it.

[kaleidofish]

Will this be a mystery hunt to find the magical blade? How many locations will be planned, if you do make it into a mystery/chase/adventure sort of thing? You can still have a "sprawling adventure" within a few locations. Don't feel like you have to cram 20 different scenes into the story. I'm interested in learning more about this ninja war that's been going on. Is this something that's been going on forever or...?

By the way, how's the project going so far?

[Flowers from Nowhere]

I wouldn't call it a mystery. There are secrets (and reveals) but solving them isn't the main drive of the story. It's a comedy adventure, heavily driven by the characters. Now that I've done a bit more writing I can say that the ninja war isn't so much an all out battle as it is an ongoing struggle over the blade and yes, it has been going on for a looooong time. At the start of the game Yume's dojo has the blade then... things happen.

Development has slowed down as the holidays (and exams) approach but I have gotten through the first draft of the first and most of the second chapter out of four. In all fairness the remaining chapters will take longer, especially the third one. I've done a little on the artwork and have started amassing music and sound effects. I plan to make the In Process thread in January when I'll have some real art to show.