Calling Cipher [On Hold]

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Rinmaru
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Calling Cipher [On Hold]

#1 Post by Rinmaru »

Project on hold until further notice.

Hello everyone!
Calling Cipher is (technically) my first Otome game with 3 romance options and a skill building system.
It's also going to be a free game. :mrgreen:
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-Synopsis-
Senior year, Riley Mills finds herself in real trouble when she finally decrypted a locked file she found last year in her computer club, turns out to be more than what she bargained for.


-DEMO DOWNLOADS-
Windows Download
Mac Download
Linux Coming Soon

-Characters-
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Riley Mills is the MC of CallingCipher.
She is a computer wiz and the leader of the computer club.
You can choose from 3 different personalities for her.
Sassy, Awkward and Aloof.
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Taylor Halls is Riley's childhood friend.
They are also neighbors and she spends most of her time at Riley's place.
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Megan Lockhart and Candice Barrau are Riley's classmates.

-Love interests-
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Matthew Parker is Riley's substitute calculus teacher. Also the adviser of the computer club.
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Kai Okazaki is a transfer student and a member of the computer club.
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Chase Colton is the heir of Colton Pharmaceuticals, a transfer student and a member of the computer club.

-Credits-
Story & Programming & Gui : Rinmaru
Artwork: PrinceOfRedroses
Additional Artwork: Veggiestudio
Chibi Artwork: Kaizoku-no-yume
Backgrounds: QQQnoQnoQ
Music & SFX: AudioJungle & Pond5
I plan to release the game by July or September at most. (If everything goes right)
There may be bugs and typos in the demo version. =)
I hope you enjoy it!
Last edited by Rinmaru on Thu Jul 12, 2018 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#2 Post by kukiko-tan »

Wow!
The art quality is so top-notch and polished, I love it. I also like the character designs which makes each character very appealing, even the heroine, which is usually either faceless or dull or average in otome games.
I'll try the demo right away! : D

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#3 Post by Rinmaru »

@ kukiko-tan
Thank you so much :)! PrinceOfRedroses really did an amazing job with the characters! I hope you will enjoy the demo. I'd love to hear your opinion once you play it. ^^!

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#4 Post by kukiko-tan »

Alrighty. Done playing it and can't wait for more.
I'll probably have to replay it, since it had so many good things I most likely forgot some of them.
While at first it looks like a laid-back otome game, I find it's quite mysterious and has an interesting plot. I am really curious to get to know Ethan and Cipher. One thing that caught my eye is that the protagonist has female friends! Really, it's something so rare in otome games. And not only that Riley has friends, but they are well-rounded and not just some fill-ins. But wait! She also has a mother that actually appears and talks to her daughter. That's a really great add, her mom is awesome 8^).
I also like how the supposedly cliche moments (the tripping over the cute guy for instance) are turned around into more original, funny moments and you have also succeeded in making me giggle over the cute/romantic scenes.
Thank you for being an inspiration and for making me have a good time! I can't wait to see the full version. : D

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#5 Post by Steamgirl »

Looks gorgeous! I'm downloading the demo now! Also - love the computer wiz protagonist! Exactly the kind of character I love to play! :)

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#6 Post by Rinmaru »

@ kukiko-tan
I'm really glad you like it so far! :) I love creating a group full of people, kind of like a family in my games so I had a lot of fun building Riley's relationships. :)
I also like how the supposedly cliche moments (the tripping over the cute guy for instance) are turned around into more original, funny moments and you have also succeeded in making me giggle over the cute/romantic scenes.

Those are actually my favorites! haha :P I love cheesy romance.
Thank you so much for playing :) I hope you will enjoy the full version!


@Steamgirl
Thank you so much! =) Can't wait to hear your opinions once you play it ^^!
love the computer wiz protagonist! Exactly the kind of character I love to play!

Me too! >.< I get so excited when I see protagonists like that in games! lol

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#7 Post by Kikaharu »

played the demo it is very nice. very cool. I like most of it some things are a little off yet but nothing that bothered me enough to remember them so XD. I think it will be very awesome to play when it comes out. I like that it will be free even though its of commercial quality to me :)

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#8 Post by Godline »

screenshot0016.png
^ LMAO. You guys are clearly my heroes. ^

Awesome demo so far. Not a huge fan of Chase, he's kind of a putz. :) But I'm still curious to see his route.
ETHANNNNNNN, who is ETHANNNNNN? I need to know more!
I had fun building a relationship with 'mom' cause she's a sweetie. :) <3

So excited for the full thing. Keep up the hard work guys!

Totally unrelated: kukiko-tan is still alive! Yay! Haha.

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#9 Post by Fluxx »

As said by everyone else, demo was very good and the Cipher character was intriguing. I really like the sort of level up system you have in place and I'm curious to see how it effects what you're able to do in the story later on.
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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#10 Post by Kikaharu »

I just remembered one thing that might need to be fix for the Alpaca Soft where you can enter an ip address. I was randomly trying ones after seeing one in a email. and they weren't working so I decided to exit it by doing E and enter and it wouldn't let me exit Alpaca Soft so I had to load from a previous save spot.

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#11 Post by lunafreya »

Very nerdy video game/computer obsessed heroine is exactly the heroine I'm here for. And she likes anime too! And has nerdy female friends! Who are not just extras to be brushed aside! I'm in heaven. The constant references put a huge grin on my face. If it isn't obvious, I like Riley a lot. The things she said made me laugh more than once (also stop playing the game for a few minutes because I got seriously second-hand embarrassment. Which is not a bad thing. JFC the balls scene with Matt... I could feel my face burning up as well...)

My favorite out of the romanceable guys is Matt so far, with Kai as a close second. I'm not a big of Chase, he's not the kind of character I personally go for. I'm still going to try his route after the full version comes out though. There seems to be more than meets the eye, judging from that one scene. Was it intentional that none of the guys accepted an invitation on the weekends?

I have a question about the personality type too. Is the personality type going to affect later scenes? I can see that not every scene can be rewritten according to Riley's personality type. Aside from the answers Riley gives and the short reaction from the other characters there I've noticed no difference.

I'll definitely keep an eye on this game.

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#12 Post by NanaNaninna »

Two words: LOVED IT! Can't wait to play the final version!! I seriously love everything about this game!

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#13 Post by Rinmaru »

@ Kikaharu
played the demo it is very nice. very cool. I like most of it some things are a little off yet but nothing that bothered me enough to remember them so XD. I think it will be very awesome to play when it comes out. I like that it will be free even though its of commercial quality to me :)

:) Glad you liked it.
I just remembered one thing that might need to be fix for the Alpaca Soft where you can enter an ip address. I was randomly trying ones after seeing one in a email. and they weren't working so I decided to exit it by doing E and enter and it wouldn't let me exit Alpaca Soft so I had to load from a previous save spot.

Just tried it again and it seems to work fine. Are you sure you are trying to exit the software after the input screen comes? Because pressing E before the input screen wouldn't do anything.


@Godline
^ LMAO. You guys are clearly my heroes. ^
Awesome demo so far. Not a huge fan of Chase, he's kind of a putz. :) But I'm still curious to see his route.

=) Thank you so much!
Well, Chase is an interesting case. :P His route will be slightly different than the other two.
I had fun building a relationship with 'mom' cause she's a sweetie. :) <3

Lots of more fun mom moments will be in the game. I'm glad to see people like her! :D
Thank you so much again!


@Fluxx
As said by everyone else, demo was very good and the Cipher character was intriguing. I really like the sort of level up system you have in place and I'm curious to see how it effects what you're able to do in the story later on.

Thank you very much! :) And I have a lot of plans for the skill system. I don't want to use them just for relationships so I will add different types of events that will help the player get to know Riley a bit better.


@lunafreya
Very nerdy video game/computer obsessed heroine is exactly the heroine I'm here for.

Hurray!!! :D
The things she said made me laugh more than once (also stop playing the game for a few minutes because I got seriously second-hand embarrassment. Which is not a bad thing. JFC the balls scene with Matt... I could feel my face burning up as well...)

As the romance grows, the embarrassing moments will increase T_T lol...
Was it intentional that none of the guys accepted an invitation on the weekends?

The guys accept the invitation only if you choose the right dialog options (the ones that give you relationship points) and visit their home point in the school at every given turn, it's possible. (a.k.a rooftop for Matt, computer labs for Chase and School Yard for Kai.)
I have a question about the personality type too. Is the personality type going to affect later scenes? I can see that not every scene can be rewritten according to Riley's personality type. Aside from the answers Riley gives and the short reaction from the other characters there I've noticed no difference.

Riley's personality type is only for building relationships (or breaking them) and for different conversation options. (mostly cosmetic)
example: Taylor loves it when Riley's Sassy but doesn't like it when she is Aloof. Megan likes her when she is aloof and doesn't like it when she is awkward. Etc.
I'll definitely keep an eye on this game.

Thank you so much!!! :)


@NanaNaninna
Two words: LOVED IT! Can't wait to play the final version!! I seriously love everything about this game!

Thank you so much :) Can't wait to release the final version too! :P

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#14 Post by Steamgirl »

I like the game, and I love the art! The overal product is very polished, with slick UI, etc. But I got partway through the demo (scene where she bumps into the teacher on the street), and never went back.

I wonder if the story starts "too late"? I didn't feel like anything was happening, it was just establishing characters. The "problem" of the computer club being closed was solved almost instantly so I wasn't "on the edge of my seat" if you know what I mean. Or, perhaps, it's just me. It has been a long time since I've been in school, after all. :)

I would've preferred to find out a bit more about what the hacking was all about.

It's a really promising game, there's so much I love about it, including the way the characters are written. They're very enjoyable. But the plot didn't grab me and I lost interest. I intend to go back to it one day and give it a second chance. :)

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Re: Calling Cipher [Slice of life][Comedy][Romance][GxB]DEMO

#15 Post by Rinmaru »

@Steamgirl
I like the game, and I love the art! The overal product is very polished, with slick UI, etc.

Thank you soo much! :)

I wonder if the story starts "too late"? I didn't feel like anything was happening, it was just establishing characters. The "problem" of the computer club being closed was solved almost instantly so I wasn't "on the edge of my seat" if you know what I mean. Or, perhaps, it's just me. It has been a long time since I've been in school, after all. :)


Honestly, the plot does start a bit late (It starts a bit later than the end of the Demo, which is around 45 minutes in.), but it has an overall slow process.
Calling Cipher is more Romance based than anything else.
The computer club has little to do with the plot. Just a ground base to start. I'm pretty sure it's not why because it's been a long time since you've been in school. :P

I would've preferred to find out a bit more about what the hacking was all about.


From start to the end, one route takes around 7 hours to play. Thus, the hacking bit starts a bit later than the first 10 minutes of the game. I don't plan on changing this :o. It would feel too rushed for a game of that length.

It's a really promising game, there's so much I love about it, including the way the characters are written. They're very enjoyable. But the plot didn't grab me and I lost interest. I intend to go back to it one day and give it a second chance. :)


Thank you :)! But like I said, unless you are into light HS romance plots, you have no reason to give it a second chance. That would be torturous as the game is going to be a bit long.
But if you decide to play it again, I'd definitely like to hear your opinions on the completed game :)

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