Aurora Fall

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Asceai
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Aurora Fall

#1 Post by Asceai »

I was wondering if anyone knew the state of mikey's Aurora Fall project. The site basically disappeared towards the end of last year and given that mikey doesn't post on any of the VN/eroge development communities I know of any more, I've been finding it difficult to determine the status of the project.

I figured that the disappearance of the site either indicated that the project was nearly complete and ready for release or that it had been cancelled. My initial assumption was that it was the former, given that mikey seemed very nearly done and he hasn't cancelled projects before that I know of, but given that it hasn't materialised yet, I'm starting to wonder about the latter.

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angeliza
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Re: Aurora Fall

#2 Post by angeliza »

I'm sorry, I wish I could help, but I'm new to this community, and I haven't even heard of that project before...
What was it about?

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Taleweaver
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Re: Aurora Fall

#3 Post by Taleweaver »

angeliza wrote:I'm sorry, I wish I could help, but I'm new to this community, and I haven't even heard of that project before...
What was it about?
That's difficult to tell, as with most projects mikey has been releasing in the last few years.

mikey was one of the first people to use Ren'Py for making VNs. He started out with rather traditional (if somewhat somber) love story/mystery games such as Black Pencil, River Trap and Milk Swim, then wrote a massive Kineno named Gakuen Redux, widely considered a writing masterpiece. His next production was Ori Ochi Onoe, the last of his "typical" games and probably the best one to play if you're interested in why we hold him in such high esteem.

After that came a few shorter titles where mikey worked together with different artists, and then The Scaglietti, an almost classic "detective mystery" with a twist, followed up by "Heiress II", which is another twist-story. Both of them were quite unique, especially regarding their endings, but still quite typical VN material, quite unlike the following release - The Morane Crisis. This one's an almost entirely philosophical exploration of the question "what sense does my life make" and definitely not as easily to swallow as some earlier titles.

The following title, Old-timer was another mikey collaboration with a new young artist and something sweet and short, but it certainly didn't prepare anybody for his next two games - Anthridercynantide and Umeda Sky. The former appeared to be another mystery/love story but eventually turned into something entirely different, with a highly unreliable narrator, the latter was a VN without an ending. Literally. You can't finish Umeda Sky, you can only continue walking from scene to scene. I don't think anyone's tried that before, especially in an environment where everybody seems to be focused on producing as many endings as possible.

mikey wanted to finish off his VN making career with one last game, Aurora Fall, of which he said it wouldn't be a game in the typical sense of the word. He explained a few things here, and I'm one of the guys who has been looking forward to seeing how his final take on the VN world comes out.

Though, considering mikey's work as a whole, I wouldn't rule out the chance that he always planned Aurora Fall to be this - the one VN never published. Non-art as art, if you want. It would be almost typical of mikey to pull something like that.
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Re: Aurora Fall

#4 Post by Asceai »

Basically, Aurora Fall is a VN (mikey switched away from calling it a VN originally, but later switched back) set in an alternate world after the eponymous event in which almost all males have been wiped out. As far as I can tell, the point was for there to not be a plot or narrative in the usual sense but rather a focus on exploring the world and interacting with the characters in it (like Umeda Sky, it presumably won't have an ending)

I definitely hope it gets released.

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Re: Aurora Fall

#5 Post by DaFool »

It was supposed to have literally thousands of pictures (mostly photographs). The character art for that is complete (I have it backed up). Though alas, the first prototype, which was awesome, is probably lost forever. The original soundtrack eventually made its way to Umeda Sky, to give way to purely environmental sounds.

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Re: Aurora Fall

#6 Post by angeliza »

WOW...
So much information!
It all sounds really cool...I really must download atleast half of the games you mentioned once I complete the ones I'm playing right now...they sound awesome!

It is abit sad though that there doesn't seem to be much information on mikey's final work.

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Re: Aurora Fall

#7 Post by mikey »

To everyone who is interested in the project, I am finally on paternity leave with my second child, and as such do have about 2 hours of uninterrupted working time every day for the next 6 months, and what I have sworn to do is put AF "over the top", so to speak. Generating images and CGs (from those original source files that DaFool mentioned), so that after I rejoin work I will be able to chip away at the leftover stuff which should be more about grunt work than direction. I have found over the last year that I simply wasn't able to make significant progress because at the end of the day I usually have a single hour left, and I just don't have any creative energy left at that point (though I did do a lot of grunt work that makes generating new images and scenes considerably easier, because I did have a good amount of free time, just not the uninterrupted, deep thinking kind that AF needed). Now I have two hours in the morning which is excellent. I am now working harder than at any point in the past, and killed the blog, parts of the site and everything just to focus. I am writing just to let people who care know, but especially my (former) team members, that it's still going on and I am available by email if you have some questions. I want nothing more than give you the game, especially DaFool, so I hope you guys stick around and wait it out - in any case, thank you for the interest, and unfortunately I can give no estimates - if all goes well, in the summer AF will be in a kind of raw state, and then begins the fine tuning. Again, I will use all of my paternity leave for this, and what comes after that, I hope will be a time/resource management question. My hope is end of 2014. But for now, all I really think about is how to get each scene done from a visual/direction point of view, and hope this roll I am on will continue, especially as I am now very cautious about not burning out and getting enough sleep and everything, so that I don't waste a second of that sacred time I have. So again, thank you for your interest, I am literally doing everything I physically and mentally can do. :) I'd certainly love to tell the tale one day.

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Re: Aurora Fall

#8 Post by Donmai »

Wow! (Just cannot think of anything more to say.)
Image
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Re: Aurora Fall

#9 Post by Jo'ogn »

mikey wrote:I am writing just to let people who care know, but especially my (former) team members, that it's still going on and I am available by email if you have some questions. I want nothing more than give you the game
*Yay*
I just checked through my 2 y/o old wip. If you exented the game I should add more hours of variety for background atmo SFX.
~~q :
DaFool wrote:The original soundtrack eventually made its way to Umeda Sky, to give way to purely environmental sounds.
I believe Mickey send me the sound tracks back then. But since the original composer wasn't available anymore, he decided to skip it in favour of background SFX.I believe to recall overhauling the audio stuff twice, because Pytom around this time worked on improving the Renpy audio capabilities.
Taleweaver wrote:I wouldn't rule out the chance that he always planned Aurora Fall to be this - the one VN never published. Non-art as art, if you want. It would be almost typical of mikey to pull something like that.
AF has such a size, if I may disclose that - since Dafool mentioned already thousands of images - that it would be rediculous to not eventually release AF.
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Ben Ayoo
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Re: Aurora Fall

#10 Post by Ben Ayoo »

I have discovered your works Mikey and I am impressed.
Since there is no post on Lemma soft on your games to comment on, I write it here:
I have just started Gakuen Redux let me say I love it.
The tension is so high every time I think I going to get a heart attack.

While the subject matter of turning in to the past young version of oneself won't get me much concerned in, Gakuen Redux I feel very worried, frightened.

This is the first visual novel that made me feel this way and hence going to be my favorite.

I would eagerly wait Aurora Fall.

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