Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [History-ish] [UPDATED DEMO]

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Eike
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Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [History-ish] [UPDATED DEMO]

#1 Post by Eike »

Image

NB: This thread is pretty old and outdated now! See the tumblr (linked in pic above) for more up-to-date information.

"Because We’re Here ~Mohnblume und Blauerose~ is an upcoming visual novel otome game for Windows, Mac and Linux, following neurotic postwoman Elfriede Rauss as she navigates the battlefields of an alternate First World War. While investigating the harsh realities of her country’s involvement in an unwinnable war, Elfriede is given the opportunity to grow close to - and even romance - a variety of eligible gentlemen; from childhood friends to aristocrats to corporals to cowards.

Unfortunately, in exciting times things rarely work out so simply - and everything you hold dear can still be lost in the blink of an eye…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's a twisting otome trench-opera with a sprawling cast and a rich in-game lore. It’s Studio Elfriede’s flagship visual novel. The first demo got feedback like ‘fantastic and completely broke my heart’, ‘an amazing accomplishment for just a demo to create such an emotional investment in the story and the characters’ and ‘THIS WAS AMAZING AND IM STILL SCREAMING AAAHHHH’.

Here's a rough estimate of the amount of content in the finished game (almost all resources are finalised and completed, so any give-or-take will be in the single digits):
  • 15 romancible characters (as a servicable enough estimate; the routes are intertwined with the overarching plot and so some are difficult to define)
  • 22 fully-sprited characters in total, with a good few alternate outfits; additionally, a slew of minor characters illustrated with a range of NPC sprites
  • Looking at 500k+ words for the final game - hopefully somewhere in the region of 15-20 hours of gameplay for average players
  • 106 pieces of CG art; 15 pieces of bonus unlockable art
  • 34 pieces of BG art (plus various edits taking it up to technically almost double that)
  • 23 songs in the soundtrack - 9 original compositions for BWH, alongside classical and folk tracks
And here's a full list of contributors (with links to their public profiles and other work on the game's tumblr!):

Creation/Writing/Programming: Eike ('Studio Elfriede')
Character Art: J. L. Bartels
CG Art: Lordless
BG Art: Zayanah “Nalenthi” Mahammad
Original Compositions: Matias Heimlander
GUI & Menu Design: KingV
Additional Programming: DragoonHP
Art Edits/Valentin's Lineart/Misc. Art: Rio
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The characters in Because We're Here range from the earnest military men and bonafide engines of history to obscure non-combatants and self-concerned civilians - but all have a part to play, and all are key to Elfriede’s story. There's a cast of over twenty characters, so here are the profiles for the first few characters you encounter - and then, to avoid this being a behemoth of a post, a link to the rest!
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~~~ The full list of character profiles can be found HERE! ~~~


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~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, yes! That's the big explanation out of the way. This is all collected in one place (along with much more information) on my tumblr - http://www.becausewerehere.tumblr.com.
Last edited by Eike on Sun Feb 11, 2018 12:42 pm, edited 18 times in total.

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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#2 Post by gekiganwing »

Eike wrote:My absolute dream is to make a shockingly-good game that will become the yardstick future otome games are measured against...
I like seeing visual novel projects that have goals and ambitions. It's encouraging to see people who want to achieve quite a bit with their stories. Having said that... I am worried. There are an awful lot of planned visual novels that never get past the planning stages. Too many have been quietly cancelled. It's probably because creators get bored, frustrated, or overwhelmed with their projects. Read about this problem in the Why so many unfinished VNs? thread from 2012. Then ask yourself the following:

* How will I persevere when the story doesn't seem interesting?
* Should I impose artificial deadlines so that parts of the story in order to reduce delays, and prevent an indefinite hiatus?
* How will I balance creating the story with studies, work, life, and so on?
* Am I so dedicated to telling my story that I'll keep going until it's finished?
* How will I make sure my work is routinely backed up in several places?
Eike wrote: 1. What are your first impressions when you hear that a game is a 'World War One otome'? What are your second impressions, when you see the slightly-more-mature style of the art and story?
It's a story told through words and pictures. I recommend writing and drawing what you want to create. Obviously, not everyone will like it. However, you will be able to assert that it's your work of creative fiction.
Eike wrote: 2. Considering this will be asking for Kickstarting in a month or so: do you think the publicity materials and screenshots seem professional enough?
Take some time to search kickstarter.com for "visual novel," and then look though the projects which are (were) successfully funded. Consider what the people said about their projects, and what details they included. It might also help to look at a few successful projects in other media formats, including comics, video games, and more.
Eike wrote: And just in general, what do you think of what you see so far?
When I look at visual novels, I start by thinking about the graphics and presentation. Not long afterwards, I think about the user interface. After a few minutes, I'll begin asking tough questions such as "Do I care about the characters?" or "Is the world interesting?" If I'm not especially invested in the story after 15-30 minutes, that's usually a bad sign. If I give up after 60-90 minutes, then there's a good chance that I will never resume reading it.

If it helps, the last two VNs that passed my Do I Care After __ Minutes test were Sweet Fuse and Toradora Portable. The former story takes only ten minutes to segue from normal life to a hostage crisis, and only has a handful of calm scenes to break up the suspense. The latter story is a licensed VN that starts with an absurd comedy scene, and as it goes on, manages to balance slice of life, humor, and drama.
Eike wrote: So, yes, it’s somewhat dark and somewhat acerbic for a dating sim...
Song of Saya is a visual novel and a love story. It's also disturbing horror and apocalyptic science fiction. There are other VNs which involve characters' relationships as well as bleak, violent, or unsettling content.

As far as romance games involving quite a bit of complex simulation gameplay... thanks to its TVTropes article, I've heard that the '90s console game Mitsumete Knight has plot-relevant character deaths and a detailed story. It's a shame that it might never have a complete fan translation.
Eike wrote: ...anything else you play in the next month will leave you disappointed. ... jRPGs have Suikoden II...
[off-topic] I finished the first Suikoden game and enjoyed most of it. I thought its sequel had potential, but it was so depressing that it just wasn't fun. I played for about ten hours and stopped. [/off-topic]

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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#3 Post by Kinjo »

Eike wrote:1. What are your first impressions when you hear that a game is a 'World War One otome'? What are your second impressions, when you see the slightly-more-mature style of the art and story?
2. Considering this will be asking for Kickstarting in a month or so: do you think the publicity materials and screenshots seem professional enough?
EDIT: 3. Oh, I suppose I should ask this, too - do you have a particular preference out of the gentlemen shown here? It'll be interesting to see who proves popular, ha.
1. It has my interest. I don't normally play otome games, so having the historical (and Western) setting makes me want to play it more to experience the story.
2. I'd say it all looks pretty polished, to be honest.
3. Can't say I have one.
Eike wrote:And just in general, what do you think of what you see so far? I've only ever really used RPG Maker before, and this is the most polished game I've ever worked on, and I'd love any feedback whatsoever! Like I said, a demo will be released in July, so I'm sure you can get more to grips with it then, haha. In the meantime: I'm moderately content with the pace I learned Ren'Py at, but gaps in my knowledge still remain, so I'm sure I'll be bothering you forumgoers intermittently for Python aid! Looking forward to getting better acquainted with the place.
I'm looking forward to seeing how this fares because it is pretty different from a lot of otome games. Might have something to do with your RPG Maker background -- it seems a lot of games around here get influenced by each other, so it's refreshing to see something new. However, that might make it harder for your game to get funded. Not that I'm saying "change your game", but that's the reality -- I hope it does succeed though.

Also, I might end up checking out your RPG Maker games since I enjoy those kinds of games a lot (I used to work with RPG Maker myself). Best of luck!

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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#4 Post by ebi-hime »

Ooh, this game looks pretty interesting. The art is super cute and squishy-looking, I kinda wanna pinch everyone's cheeks >w<
And the story sounds really neat, too.
I like the writing style - or as much as I can see in the screenshots. It all sounds very, um... very British. 'Big blokes' haha. To that end, I hope the game will be written in British English, not American English XD

As for your questions...
1. I already said I liked it haha XD Especially the war concept. Although, you say 'mature art', and though the art isn't in a super anime style, I still think all the characters look really nice and soft and inviting XD I think the art looks pretty standard for a visual novel, actually.
2. I think it looks plenty pro enough! I think some people might be put off by filtered photo BGs but, as long as they're consistent, I really don't think there's a problem. I mean, Higurashi also has filtered photo BGs and it's considered one of the better VNs out there so -shrug- I personally like it.
3. As for the guys, I think Gottfried is definitely the prettiest, and I like Walter's droopy eyes haha XD They both look cute : > I think Elfriede looks disconcertingly similar to Eugen, though... M-Maybe it's the hair...
Personality wise, I'm probably most interested in... probably still Gottfried XD
Although, are all these guys obtainable? That's an awful loooot of characters, isn't it? How long are their storylines going to be? It seems like it might be hard to juggle so many storylines if each guy has a separate 'route'...
And there are any other female characters at all? o:

Just another note, maybe it would be good not to compare this game to the 'typical otome genre' in the description? It seems a little like you're implying 'typical otome games' are all very simplistic or shallow, which might not go down well with your intended audience? In fact, it might put them off, or think you're insulting them...
Moreover, it's good to have confidence in your own stories, but claiming it will be genre-defining is, um... quite bold! Such grandoise statements might make people more inclined to be super critical when the demo finally does come out.

And contrary to popular belief, Blackadder the Third is better than Blackadder Goes Forth (in my humble opinion) XD

But, overall, I think this game looks very promising, and I look forward to seeing more of it! : >
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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#5 Post by Anne »

Are you going to use 800x600?

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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#6 Post by Mad Harlequin »

Eike wrote:1. What are your first impressions when you hear that a game is a 'World War One otome'? What are your second impressions, when you see the slightly-more-mature style of the art and story?
2. Considering this will be asking for Kickstarting in a month or so: do you think the publicity materials and screenshots seem professional enough?
EDIT: 3. Oh, I suppose I should ask this, too - do you have a particular preference out of the gentlemen shown here? It'll be interesting to see who proves popular, ha.
1. I'm definitely interested, but I also want to know more about how, specifically, this story is an alternate to the real WWI. As is the case with any conflict, the war's origins and effects were very complex, and I hope these different elements are explored rather than overlooked. I'm definitely all for more mature stories, however.

2. I'm no expert, but they look fine to me.

3. I don't really have a preference, as I never go into this type of game thinking, "Oh, I'm definitely going after X," but Gerhardt and Helmut are two characters to whom I can especially relate.
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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#7 Post by VocaloidsRCool »

I think that it's great that this is a game mixed with otome and war elements! I've always liked the anime 'Hetalia', and, as a matter of fact, it got me interested in history. Seeing two of my favorite things - otome and history - together is really exciting. The dark theme doesn't bother me a bit. I am a sucker for angst, as I read a lot of fanfictions with that genre. Regarding the art, I actually think the characters are adorable~ And as I have said, I dont mind that the story has mature elements.

I am not a good judge of this, seeing as how I only draw as a hobby, and my artwork isn't so great, I'm no expert, but the screenshots seem nice enough to me~

As for the boys that I like, I'm caught between August Well, and GerHardt Leer. I guess I like that August is such a nice guy, and seems to be a cheerful person, and as for GerHardt, I think what people put him through is horrible! He seems like such a sweetheart. :( I also find his awkward and skittish nature to be really, REALLY cute. <3 So I want to break him out - er - gently ease him out of his shell. Teehee~

All in all, I REALLY want to play this game. The feels - er emotion, and love, and cute guys, are making me very eager to see the demo. I almost can't wait for it~ :D

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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#8 Post by Eike »

Thanks for all the replies! Lots of food for thought here. I'll go through some of the points raised:

gekiganwing: Hah, worry not, I've got rather a professional outlook on the game. I've made games before, and I know how to avoid vapourware traps; everything's strictly timetabled, and the Kickstarting is even to allow me 6 months to work on the writing full-time, so that should all go off without a hitch if funded. And I'd heard the name Mitsumete Knight but wasn't aware that was what it was about! My Japanese skills are as unpolished as that translation, but I might have to try and check that out.

Suikoden II inferior to I, though?! Heresy! Unless you're a fan of Yam Koo. I can definitely get behind that argument if it's a Yam-Koo-centric one.

Kinjo: Thanks very much! Yeah, I can see how coming at it from a different angle might have helped here. Hah, none of my RPG Maker games are online at the moment, but there's a revamp of one coming out in a week or so, have a look at it if you're interested! http://www.becausewerehere.tumblr.com/notec

ebi-hime: Squishing of the characters' cheeks is a breach of protocol and you will be court-martialed. Oh, but it's good to know none of the game's super super out of the box, anyway! As I'm sure you can tell, it's difficult to know the precise balance of 'genuine otome' to 'anti-otome' to try and strike when it comes to the game's marketing. I really think it has something for both audiences, but it's difficult to put across! In a similar vein: whoops, I hadn't realised that some of that copy sounded a bit dismissive! I'm so new to the 'publicity' thing, and it seems it's hard to emphasise how you stand out without accidentally being highfalutin. I've revised the bits you mentioned, hopefully my meaning is a bit more clear now.

And "Are they all obtainable? Do they all have their own routes?" Yes and no, in both cases. 'Classified'. Let's go with 'classified'. I've planned it all out extensively, though, worry not. No character left behind by the march of the narrative... though perhaps not in the sense that one would expect, haha. And there are a couple of minor female characters, as well as one other major female. She debuts early in Chapter 2, and anything I could possibly say on her would be spoiler-iffic, but she brings a whole lot to the story.

Yep, the game's written in British English, given that I am, well, British. And I most emphatically agree with you on Blackadder preferences, but thought it best to err on the side of period-appropriateness with my referencing XD (And as a side-note there, Asphyxia does look rather good indeed - will most definitely be checking that out upon its release! I can see a lot of common ground when it comes to influences.)

Anne: Mm-hm, 800x600. I know larger resolutions seem a bit more common nowadays, but I saw some successful games in that resolution and figured that it was better to go with that as then everyone would be able to play it. That, and I thought the characters and setting were what would sell it to this game's audience, hah. Hopefully this isn't too misguided a choice, but I did think it over a lot.

Mad Harlequin: Hah, I've worked out a lot about the world! I'd say it's more 'fictionalised' than properly 'alternate'; it's technically a fantasy world, but just heavily based on WW1-era Europe. At some point, I'll make a tumblr post outlining the major differences with the real world - the chief one is, other than the continent's smaller size, that each nation represents a different period in Europe's history. 1914 Germany, 1866 England, 1784 Nederlands, and so on. I will go into a lot more detail on this in due course, haha.

VocaloidsRCool: They are cool! And thanks for the kind words. It sounds like you'll like the demo a lot. Like I said elsewhere, follow the tumblr and stuff if you want to be the first to know what's going on with the project and when the demo's finally out! (Alternately, I suppose I'll update the thread whenever anything major happens in its deveopment, but that might not be immediate~)

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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#9 Post by ebi-hime »

B-But they look so much I wanna squish all of theeem ;_;
I hope this is an option ingame..

Yeah, I can imagine it might be hard to market such a game, because I think when most people hear 'otome' they do generally think of things like Uta No Prince-Sama, which are very sparkly. I know some guys will instictively think otome games aren't suitable for them, or aimed at them, so I understand why you would want to stress the story can be enjoyed by everyone.

I'm glad there'll be more female characters. Some otome games will only have the one girl MC and the rest of the characters are the male love interests, which feels kind of... lonely, I guess.

I'm also British :> I got into the habit of writing in American English though, since American English is used more on the internet. If I write stuff set in Britian I'll generally revert back to British English though.
Well, it would make more sense to ref the fourth series since that's the one that's actually set in WW1 haha XD A lot of people also seem to consider it the best though, and while I like it, it's not my fav /tangent

And thank you! I just... like Romantic poets a lot.
Well, mainly I like Coleridge... Most of them were jerks...
Actually as soon as I read Eugen's profile I was like hahaha he sounds like Lord Byron XD But does he also have a pet bear...
Last edited by ebi-hime on Mon Jun 15, 2015 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#10 Post by Rinima »

Eike wrote:1. What are your first impressions when you hear that a game is a 'World War One otome'? What are your second impressions, when you see the slightly-more-mature style of the art and story?
2. Considering this will be asking for Kickstarting in a month or so: do you think the publicity materials and screenshots seem professional enough?
3. Oh, I suppose I should ask this, too - do you have a particular preference out of the gentlemen shown here? It'll be interesting to see who proves popular, ha.
1. Tread carefully. WW1 is still a touchy subject for some (very few but some), and I can imagine that any poor wording shall we say, would set some people off. As for the art, it's alright I guess? I don't think it's more mature per say, but it does it's job.

2. Depends on how much your asking. If your only asking say, $1000, probably, if your asking $5000+, probably not.

3. August, cause of his hair, and I love childhood friend characters
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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#11 Post by Mad Harlequin »

Eike wrote:Mad Harlequin: Hah, I've worked out a lot about the world! I'd say it's more 'fictionalised' than properly 'alternate'; it's technically a fantasy world, but just heavily based on WW1-era Europe. At some point, I'll make a tumblr post outlining the major differences with the real world - the chief one is, other than the continent's smaller size, that each nation represents a different period in Europe's history. 1914 Germany, 1866 England, 1784 Nederlands, and so on. I will go into a lot more detail on this in due course, haha.
Thanks for the information! I guess it might be better to call this "loose historical fantasy" or something of the sort rather than "alternate WWI historical fiction."
Rinima wrote:1. Tread carefully. WW1 is still a touchy subject for some (very few but some).
Well, while most younger folks don't think or talk about it much (at least as far as I've seen), I don't think it'll ever not be a sensitive subject.

The biggest thing for the OP to keep in mind is that the defeat of the Central Powers led to an economic depression and, for Germany in particular, a feeling of humiliation that contributed to Nazism. In fact, what would become known as the Nazi Party began as the intensely nationalist (and anti-Semitic) German Workers' Party in 1919. That's one year after the end of WWI, and Hitler assumed control of the party by the early twenties. Hitler also believed the widespread myth that Germany did not actually lose WWI, but was betrayed by civilians at home, especially by the Jews. (Never mind that there were plenty of German Jewish vets.)
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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#12 Post by Rinima »

Mad Harlequin wrote:
Rinima wrote:1. Tread carefully. WW1 is still a touchy subject for some (very few but some).
Well, while most younger folks don't think or talk about it much (at least as far as I've seen), I don't think it'll ever not be a sensitive subject.

The biggest thing for the OP to keep in mind is that the defeat of the Central Powers led to an economic depression and, for Germany in particular, a feeling of humiliation that contributed to Nazism. In fact, what would become known as the Nazi Party began as the intensely nationalist (and anti-Semitic) German Workers' Party in 1919. That's one year after the end of WWI, and Hitler assumed control of the party by the early twenties. Hitler also believed the widespread myth that Germany did not actually lose WWI, but was betrayed by civilians at home, especially by the Jews. (Never mind that there were plenty of German Jewish vets.)
I think Mad Marlequin basically just said what I mean, but much better. (also just gonna throw in a random fact, as it happens, the doctor who treated Hitler's mother for cancer was Jewish)

On the subject of the vn, are you going to touch on the consequences of the war and their relations after in the vn?
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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#13 Post by Eike »

Haha, I did umm and ahh a lot before deciding to go with 'alternate WW1' in my descriptions - I'm aware that it's not technically 'alternate history' so much as 'a fictionalised version of history' or, as you say, 'historically-inspired fantasy', but 'alternate First World War' was roughly the only way I could describe the setting that wasn't extremely clunky or a little ambiguous-sounding. (And, given the focus of the game is the characters' interrelationships and their reactions to the events, rather than solely the events themselves, I think it's descriptive enough - I suppose I mean that for the vast majority of players, I don't imagine it'll be the fact that it's 'fictionalised' rather than 'alternate', or vice versa, that sells it!) Perhaps to redress the balance I'll start writing a tiny synopsis of the story itself, complete with my fictionalised country names and so on, in the game's descriptions - that ought to make it clear that it's about 'a place like Europe' rather than 'Europe, but not as it seems'. Hah, that's a long bit on semantics, sorry - but I thought I should explain why I went with that.

And yes, don't worry, I am well-versed in my Weimar Republic. My particular interest both in the First World War and Germany's post-war period was hugely responsible for the game's setting being what it is! Luckily, I shaln't be lumbering blindly around the subject - I'm really rather knowledgeable about the era that the setting takes inspiration from (I have a History degree, haha), and, though the game comes at the conflict from quite an unorthodox/comedic/bishounen-y angle, I'm incredibly keen not to misrepresent the period. Romance shall not beget romanticisation, worry not! I think 'realistic characters, in a realistic world, trying to have anime romances' sums it up quite well. I threw it into the hodgepodge of inspirations I listed earlier, but genuinely I think Blackadder Goes Forth is a great example of the ratio of 'lighthearted, silly tone' to 'but it's really only gallows humour' I'm working with here.

Gosh, I don't think anyone could have forseen this amount of Blackadder chat in an otome thread (though I do hear Hugh Laurie is quite popular nowadays).

And yep, Weimar-esque developments in Wessling - the game's 'Germany' - are featured somewhat heavily in the late-game narrative. And I can't say much more than that, hah! But in terms of your concerns of sensitivity, I'd say the game's in more than safe hands~

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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#14 Post by Mad Harlequin »

Eike wrote: Perhaps to redress the balance I'll start writing a tiny synopsis of the story itself, complete with my fictionalised country names and so on, in the game's descriptions - that ought to make it clear that it's about 'a place like Europe' rather than 'Europe, but not as it seems'. Hah, that's a long bit on semantics, sorry - but I thought I should explain why I went with that.
No problem! I didn't think you just plopped that description there carelessly. I just thought I should ask.
And yes, don't worry, I am well-versed in my Weimar Republic. My particular interest both in the First World War and Germany's post-war period was hugely responsible for the game's setting being what it is! Luckily, I shan't be lumbering blindly around the subject - I'm really rather knowledgeable about the era that the setting takes inspiration from (I have a History degree, haha), and, though the game comes at the conflict from quite an unorthodox/comedic/bishounen-y angle, I'm incredibly keen not to misrepresent the period. Romance shall not beget romanticisation, worry not! I think 'realistic characters, in a realistic world, trying to have anime romances' sums it up quite well. I threw it into the hodgepodge of inspirations I listed earlier, but genuinely I think Blackadder Goes Forth is a great example of the ratio of 'lighthearted, silly tone' to 'but it's really only gallows humour' I'm working with here.
I'm glad to hear all these things. My concerns are thus allayed for the time being.
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Re: Because We're Here [GxB] [War] [Dark Comedy] [Historical

#15 Post by Rinima »

Eike wrote:And yes, don't worry, I am well-versed in my Weimar Republic. My particular interest both in the First World War and Germany's post-war period was hugely responsible for the game's setting being what it is! Luckily, I shaln't be lumbering blindly around the subject - I'm really rather knowledgeable about the era that the setting takes inspiration from (I have a History degree, haha), and, though the game comes at the conflict from quite an unorthodox/comedic/bishounen-y angle, I'm incredibly keen not to misrepresent the period. Romance shall not beget romanticisation, worry not! I think 'realistic characters, in a realistic world, trying to have anime romances' sums it up quite well.
Well this defo makes me feel better! Good to know it's someone with a good eduction on the subject is writing then.
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