Stillwater Creek [School Life] [Drama] [Romance] [BxG]

[HalYac17]

Paul Jackman is a recently qualified teacher, who's been hired by the very prestigious Stillwater Creek Academy as a teacher. He's recently been dumped by his long term girlfriend, so he feels that the career, and general life change will help him get over everything. Paul will meet and befriend several students and teachers, some of whom he may even fall in love with. But no matter how much things change, Paul is still to learn one thing - you can never change your past...

Free Download
(Please note before downloading that this game has been rated PG13 by all who tested it.)
All - http://www.mediafire.com/download/19o4q ... .2-all.zip
Windows - http://www.mediafire.com/download/ujpdn ... .2-win.zip
Mac - http://www.mediafire.com/download/02084 ... .2-mac.zip
Linux - http://www.mediafire.com/download/swrlp ... ux.tar.bz2
Distributions packaged in Ren'Py 6.17.6.512

A lot later than expected, I'm very happy to offically release my first VN, Stillwater Creek!

For those who have been following development, the main differences between this version and the version I released for testing are bug fixes, typo fixes and the addition of an epilouge onto each of the seven endings.

Also, for those who are interested, the LINT stats are:
"The game contains 4,799 dialogue blocks, containing 42,930 words and 221,588
characters, for an average of 8.9 words and 46 characters per block.

The game contains 33 menus, 103 images, and 12 screens."

Thanks for checking out my game, and I hope you enjoy playing it!

Update 17/06/14 - So it's been one week since the release of Stillwater Creek, and I hope you've been enjoying it! I've certainly been enjoying my break from writing, which originally was going to be a couple of weeks. However, after having a big braimstorming session at 3am last night (which on a side note, how annoying is it when you get a flood of ideas while trying to sleep? ) I'm now full of ideas and ready to get back to writing. Why am I posting this here, you ask? Well it seemed like here was the most approriate place to announce The Haru-Kesu Universe Triology, a series of games set in the Stillwater Creek universe. Please note that these games will not be sequels to Stillwater Creek. However, they will be set in the same world, with some of the same events and characters making crossover apperances. As the name suggests, there will be three games, namely Stillwater Creek, Everybody Loves Amy, and Dunbarton Road, so keep your eyes peeled for the latter two titles in the WIP thread! Oh, and once I'm done with Everybody Loves Amy and Dunbarton Road, I will be starting v1.3 of Stillwater Creek. I've already had lots of feedback which has been fantastic, but the more feedback I get, the better I can make v1.3, so please keep playing and keep telling me your thoughts!

TL;DR - I'm making two new VNs. Stillwater Creek v1.3 coming soon. Please keep offering your thoughts on Stillwater Creek v1.2!

[Moon20]

I'm going to give the game a try, this game so very good out.
I'm going to give you reviwe after i finish this game

[HalYac17]

That's great to hear, thanks for doing so! I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

[Fenrir34]

Would really like to download this, but my internet sucks and I can't use your download link .Is there anyway to download the mac version somewhere else? If not, still thanks

[HalYac17]

I can upload the mac distribution somewhere which isn't mediafire if that would help? Are there any sites similar to mediafire you're able to use which I can upload to?

[Fenrir34]

I can upload the mac distribution somewhere which isn't mediafire if that would help? Are there any sites similar to mediafire you're able to use which I can upload to?

Internet finally decided to download it. Will play it when I can. Thanks again

[philip]

Just saw that this story has been completed and the final version is available to download. Couldn't resist getting it and playing through again! Very enjoyable, with nice art, believable characters and a good story. Very professionally done!!

Anyone who finds their way to this thread and does not do a download is missing out on a very nice story.

philip

[HalYac17]

That's great! Be sure to let me know what you think Fenrir!

And thank you very much for your kind words philip, its absolutely wonderful to hear that you enjoyed my VN so much!

[Fenrir34]

I played through the whole game, but before I give my final thoughts I was wondering two things:

Are Jennifer, Louisa, and Alison the only romance options? Also, is there no way to save Jack from his death?

Just wanted to know because I got Jennifer's path and wanted to know the others along with Jack

[HalYac17]

Thanks for playing! To answer your questions:

You can only romance Louisa, Alison and Jennifer, which leads to 6 endings (good and bad for each character). The seventh ending is one where no romantic partner is obtained, but instead you become very good friends with Hannah. These are all the endings available.

No, there is no way to save Jack from death. It's a nice idea I did consider, but without Jacks death, Paul's nightmares wouldn't have got to the stage needed for any of the endings to work the way I wanted them to.

Hope this answers your questions, and hope you enjoyed the game!

[Fenrir34]

Thanks for playing! To answer your questions:

You can only romance Louisa, Alison and Jennifer, which leads to 6 endings (good and bad for each character). The seventh ending is one where no romantic partner is obtained, but instead you become very good friends with Hannah. These are all the endings available.

No, there is no way to save Jack from death. It's a nice idea I did consider, but without Jacks death, Paul's nightmares wouldn't have got to the stage needed for any of the endings to work the way I wanted them to.

Hope this answers your questions, and hope you enjoyed the game!

Oh okay. Cool. I'll finish it up and tell you what I thinks . Thanks so much

[HalYac17]

No problem, if you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

[Fenrir34]

Hey. Got through the game, and here are my thoughts

Story-This game has a similar theme, not plot though, to another one I played, so it kind of brought me back to memory lane. Despite that, I was really into the story and enjoyed it. I had to say the cutest scene was

when Victor told Jack his feelings , Saddest scene when Jack killed himself .

The other stories were nicely done as well, and I didn't get bored with it at all. Only thing I wish was for characters like Hanna and Emma to have a story, or be more involved. I really liked Hanna, Kind of wanted to see her have her own arc. But besides that, you did a very good job with it.

Characters-One of the biggest things you have going for you is characters. Yes, some were unlikable(mainly Carla and Jennifer), and yes, sometimes I felt like one character got more development then another, but they were enjoy to see. I really liked Paul in this, and have to say my favorite character is Jennifer because I can really relate to her and that whole friend thing. I hated Jennifer the most. I feel like she should've just gone away. (Sorry to those who like her)

Music-The music was very nice and coming. You did a good job with picking it out and adding it to the right moment. Kind of wish I had it to listen to .

Art-The art was simple, but the sprites were really cute. Do admit that the girls sometimes looked the same, but I got use to being able to tell them apart.

Writing-Writing was well done as well, though there were only just a few errors. Still, you did a good job with it and anyone can tell you took the time to rework what you had before. Nicely done

Other notes-I got most of the ending. I think Louisa had the best ending in the game. I also fill like it had fulfillment that the others lacked a bit. I do wish that each character had maybe a small story to themselves. Though Hanna did have a story, I wish we knew more about her like we did with Jack or Sean. I also wish Jennifer wasn't an option. I feel like her ending was a bit rushed and wasn't as touching as the others. (I guess if I had to choose it would either be Hanna or Jennifer). I do get why you didn't though, so it's not a huge thing for me.

Besides this, I can't really think of anything else. It was indeed a fun play and I enjoyed it very much. You did well for your first game, and I'm looking forward to see more from you. Good job

[HalYac17]

Hey Fenrir, thanks for taking the time to play my game and share your thoughts!

May I ask if that game you were reminded of was "don't take it personally babe", by any chance? I have to admit, I was heavily influenced by that game when I first wrote the story for Stillwater, and people have drawn comparisions to that game before (Im going to try be more original with my stories in the future though, promise! ).

Do you mind if I ask what you mean when you say you wished Hannah's story had more of an arc? I'm just slightly confused as that's what I was going for with

Hannha's ending, where you find out about her mother's death and how it affects her.

I would have to agree that Emma doesn't feature as much as other characters, and I take that on board for future games and for if I decide to come back to this game to add more story (perhaps I'd consider adding a chapter dedicated to Emma if there is enough demmand...)

I'm glad you like the characters though! Yes, I made some characters likable and other not much to add variety (just like in real life I guess). But I'm glad you enjoyed the game to the extent that you had favourite and least favourite characters!

The music and art were both from royality free resource sites, but I appreciate your comments regardless and take that on board for future projects

Haha those pesky typos, huh? I'll have to get onto those if I decide to come back and do a version 1.3 But as someone who's writing has always been their weak point in the world of VNs and otherwise (like Paul, I'm a mathematician), I'm very glad you like the writing!

Honestly, I think the fact you think Louisa's ending is the best shows that Louisa's was my favourite route during writing (I've heard giving more time and thought to your favourite routes is a crime often committed by people who write VNs ), so I guess I should try rework the other endings if I decide to release a v1.3

I think I gave most characters a story, but as you said not a lot happens with Emma, so I'll take that on board And I felt it was appropriate to put Jennifer's ending in, but I understand where you're coming from

That's great, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts, as it'll only improve my VN writing skill!

[Fenrir34]

Yeah, that's the game I mean. And it was okay, though I admit there were some similarities like the

teacher/student relationship, and the homosexual story.

. Still, I found them nicely done and enjoyed it. Also, that's okay when you're writing your first game. You character we indeed different from that story, so I kind of forgot the similarities in the game.

Oh, Hanna did have a nice arc, but it felt like we didn't see enough about her and some of the other characters like Emma. I still though her story was very sad. But that's cool you'd do that. I'd play it again for that .

That's a good thing. You've got a good story if people like and dislike characters. Even ones that I didn't like, they were pretty interesting to me, (Well, except for Jen. Really had a problem with her XD)

Don't worry, I suffer from the typos as well. They can be hard to see, and suck a lot. But yes, your writing was good with this game. It was simple, but very enjoyably.

She was a good character. If this was a KN, she'd most likely be the main love interest. And yes, that is true, but the writer can't help it. It's hard to write characters you hate XD

Most had a story, but Emma felt a little left out. Then again it's alright. And I can understand you have Jennifer with a story. I just don't like her much for some reason. Don't know why lol.

And np. I'm excited to see what else you do for the VN world. Good luck, and keep on going