ZERO DAYS [Horror][Dark Otome]

[Souffle]

STORYLINE
Rin is a high school girl and self-proclaimed misanthropist • a person with a general hatred, dislike, or distrust of humankind.
One night, she noticed a black ring had appeared around her neck.
A shadow was behind her… and when it stepped out from the darkness, it became a boy with a sinister smile.
“That is the mark of a shinigami.”
From that day forward, Rin began to see omens of death around her classmate.
When a human’s lifespan reaches zero, there is no other option … put a blade through their heart and rip out their soul.
This is the story of the girl that became Death’s goddess.

CHARACTERS

Rin • She is a high school girl who is asocial and hateful towards others. She is a misanthropist, but she can easily hide her feelings from others with her innocent look and a fake smile.

Ink • This boy appears to Rin only when night has fallen. He is affectionate towards her and professes that they are one in the same, but who is he, really…? Is he really worthy of her trust?

Issun • A classmate that Rin often admires from afar. He is quiet and always seen alone, though is missing from the classroom often from unknown reasons. Some think he’s simply a delinquent who doesn't care about attendance. The only classmate that Rin does not hate, she feels that their isolation gives them something in common.


??? • [I only recently decided to give her a sprite, so for now I've only completed a sketch] A girl who always tries to befriend Rin. She’s outgoing, talkative, and popular with other students. Rin hasn’t bothered remembering her name or face.

NOTES
• I started this game almost two years ago. I was very close to finishing it but did not release it due to not being very happy with how it turned out. I then abandoned it for almost a year. Now I'm back to working on it. I'm revamping the story line and endings to reflect what I had originally had in mind for this game, and it's very close to completion now so I thought I would make a thread for it.
• There will be three endings. This is horror, not a romance game - it is only labeled otome because of the female protagonist.
• This game will have violence and mention of suicide, murder, death, and sexual implications between minors. Therefor, if you are easily triggered by those things or are under the age of 16, I would recommend you not play this game.

PROGRESS
• Sprites 90%
-Finish sprite for Rin's mother
-Finish sprite for ???
• CG 0%
-I have not yet decided if there will be CGs. If so, there will be very few (about 3-4)
• Script 95%
-Needs proofreading
• Music/background 100%

Expected release date : Late February or Early March 2014

Feedback is welcome, though at this point I won't be changing the art as I want to release it ASAP so please only criticize on the story/game itself. Thanks!

[Zauria]

Wow, the story line sounds very interesting! And don't worry about the art, I think the art is perfectly fine. I am looking forward to the game's release

[Souffle]

Thank you! It will be out soon I assure you. ^^

The current word count is at 15,681 words. It's not a particularly long game. It'll probably take about an hour to complete. If anyone is interested in proofreading please let me know!

[khnachi]

well the story looks interesting, and no romance route?
that's fine..you got me at the part where a high school girl turns into a death goddess.

[Souffle]

There is romance in the game, but not in a conventional way.
In most otome games the goal is to get the best romantic ending with the guy.
In this game, the choices aren't about pursuing a particular guy and getting his ending. There is more to the story than just 'getting the guy'. It's really about Rin and whether or not she misuses the powers she obtains (which is up to the player of course). While there is romance, it's not the light and fluffy kind. It's rather dark. :>

[azureXtwilight]

There is romance in the game, but not in a conventional way.
In most otome games the goal is to get the best romantic ending with the guy.
In this game, the choices aren't about pursuing a particular guy and getting his ending. There is more to the story than just 'getting the guy'. It's really about Rin and whether or not she misuses the powers she obtains (which is up to the player of course). While there is romance, it's not the light and fluffy kind. It's rather dark. :>

That's it. You've gotten my attention. Yes, please do continue with this.
*waves banner*

[Hazel-Bun]

Oh I remember this game had an ideas thread a while back, right? Seems interesting I'm not that big on mixing otome with dark, heavy themes but I think this could be the right amount to pull it off for me!

[Haze]

Been trying to find time to comment on this since early this morning; here we go!

The plot sounds like it'll be interesting, though I want to say that it reminds me a bit of Zombie Loan, a manga about a girl who sees when people are going to die by the dark black rings around their neck. There are shinigamis in Zombie Loan, but they aren't as important as, well, the Zombies. Also, the reason the MC in Zombie Loan can see the rings is because of "shinigami eyes". You might want to consider checking to see that your plot isn't too similar.

Also, try to make sure that the MC isn't too "nihilistic". Sometimes, characters that claim to have nothing to live for, hate people, etc. can be annoying or cliche if you aren't too careful, so be wary! I'm not saying you have a boring character here, I just want to say be careful! Here's a video which talks a little about this(mostly in the first part); it mainly discusses the occasional dullness of characters who act like they have no reason to live, hate life, etc.

Anyway, enough with my ranting, let's talk about your game! I think the plot sounds interesting, and it's good to see that you're going to finish what you started almost 2 years ago. The textbox(from the screenshot) is quite nice too. Question about the screenshot: why, exactly, is the background black and white?(my guess is that it has something to do with the protag's misanthropist nature, but I may be wrong. Tell me if I am!)

I like how the sprites look, too! Nice job on them!

I shall look forward to this in February/March!

[khnachi]

There is romance in the game, but not in a conventional way.
In most otome games the goal is to get the best romantic ending with the guy.
In this game, the choices aren't about pursuing a particular guy and getting his ending. There is more to the story than just 'getting the guy'. It's really about Rin and whether or not she misuses the powers she obtains (which is up to the player of course). While there is romance, it's not the light and fluffy kind. It's rather dark. :>

then that's just got a lot more interesting, I'm a bit biased with stuff like this since I tend to read dark novels most of the time and I've actually grew fond of it/lol
so good luck with the game..you just gained a thread stalker watcher.

[Souffle]

-azurextwilight
Thanks so much c: I'm glad to see some support for something a little different. I was afraid that people wouldn't be interested in an otome game that isn't romance focused or fluffy.

-Hazel-bun
Yes that's right! I didn't expect anyone to remember it. Hopefully you will enjoy it despite the darker themes!

-Haze
Thank you for the feedback. It's just what I needed!
When this was in the Ideas thread someone also mentioned the similarity to Zombie Loan haha. I actually went out and bought the first two volumes of the manga to make sure they weren't too similar to my story and thankfully they aren't much alike at all. The only major similarity is the black rings around the neck, but they represent different things in Zombie Loan than they do in Zero Days, so I'm not too worried about it.
Thanks for the advice about the MC. I'll check out that video. I've tried to make her sympathetic and well-rounded (she has a couple reasons for feeling the way she does). I definitely want to make sure she isn't annoying/cliche. Those types of protagonists are the worst D:
Your guess is pretty much right about the backgrounds. The entire game is monochrome to represent how Rin views the world. That's also why some of the characters are faceless and have ??? for names - obviously they do have faces/names in the real world, but Rin doesn't acknowledge their human characteristics because she doesn't see them as worth noting. I gave their hair slight color just to individualize the characters because I thought it might be hard to tell them apart if they all had black hair (especially the guys).

-khachi
Thank you