Our Wedding Story [GxG][Sim][Romance][Short]

[Steamgirl]

This game is a major overhaul of - Our Wedding Plan - which I made for #jamforgaymarriage.

My Wedding Story





---

Lucy and Josephine have been together for years. When a new law comes in, they're forced to plan their wedding in just 8 weeks!
To make matters worse, not every friend and family member is happy with the arrangement.
Will they be able to secure their future and reach a happy conclusion?

Existing Features:
- Decide what they do each day of the week: work, plan, relax, or sleep
- Decide the details of the wedding: rings, dresses, venue, and more
- Manage mood, energy, and bond in this lovely couple's life
- Work towards a happy ending, try to avoid the bad ones

New Features:
- Choose between two art styles: original and anime (DONE)
- 10,000 words of story (DONE)
- Full range of expressions (50%)
- Rewriting the story to give it more interest, more plot, more drama! (1%)
- New shiny UI by Sasquatchii (5%)
- New character art by Chocorutt (10%)
- New backgrounds (5%)
- Music and sound effects (0%)
- Improved wedding planning features (DONE)
- Improved game balance (80%)
- Plenty of bug fixes (99.9%)

Recruitment
The team consists of me, Sasquatchii, and Chocorutt at the moment.
Currently looking for a background artist and a composer: http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 59&t=33056

Questions:
1. Do you prefer the original or the anime character art?
2. Do you dislike the current backgrounds? Why/why not? (Please be honest, I would really appreciate it.)
3. Did you play My Wedding Plan? Is there anything you'd like to see in My Wedding Story?
4. What's more important to you, gameplay, story, or art? Why?
5. What attracted you to this topic?
6. Would you like to be a tester?

[trevers18]

To answer your questions:

1.) Original. It has a home-y feel and I relate to the characters because it gives off that kind of mid-2000's gritty cartoon vibe.
2.) I like the backgrounds for the original style. The colors are warm colors but they're still vibrant.
3.) I did not, because this is the first I've heard of it. However, I will definitely check it out.
4.) Gameplay and story. I know visual novels have the "visual" aspect that has to be attended to, but neglecting the "novel" aspects basically makes the VN a poorly-written romantic drama/comedy/dramedy
5.) The GxG (I love games involve the LGBT community).

[wererat42]

Anime style sprites would be fine if they didn't clash with the backgrounds.

[PyTom]

1. Do you prefer the original or the anime character art?

The original, by a mile. In the original art, the characters have distinct looks that match their personalities and gameplay - Lucy gets tired a lot faster than Josephine, and I think that shows in the art. The anime has two fairly generic-looking characters, and I think you're giving something up with that.

[Mad Harlequin]

I infinitely prefer the original art. We're definitely not lacking in anime-style offerings here, so I love seeing alternatives! Your style here kind of reminds me of old European advertisements, somehow. (Maybe French ones in particular.)

[Steamgirl]

Wow, I'm actually quite surprised and slightly overwhelmed by the support for the original character art! Given that I've had some pretty negative feedback elsewhere, I genuinely thought the anime-style art would be received with open arms. I consider the original art pretty "bad" by my own standards, there's plenty I can do to improve it and I fully intend to do so, but I thought the fact that it wasn't anime style was the primary reason people hated it.

Does that mean the backgrounds are the real culprit here?

[wererat42]

While the others have good points, as someone who has only ever seen visual novels with a certain style, seeing then use unconventional art styles feel off. It would be like if a new artist picked up Batman or Spiderman and used a manga art style on it, and filled it with anime/manga tropes.

That's not to say VNs have to use a "moe" style.

[Aviala]

I really prefer the original art more too. The anime styled sprites seem bland compared; they lack personality. Sure, they're more polished, but part of the charm of the jam game (at least to me) was the warmth of the women's relationship and the unique atmosphere conveyed by both the writing and the warm, earth-toned art.

I like the fact that you're letting the player choose their preferred style, though. I believe that as the creator you should have the final say and decide what feels right for your game, so even if you wouldn't include that option, I'd be content, but it's also cool to let the player choose what feels right for them.

I think part of the comments are about the backgrounds: they're not bad, but not great either. I also think the game would be even more amazing if you kept the style of the sprites but maybe polished them a bit more.

[trevers18]

If you polish up the sprites and the backgrounds, the original style will truly shine. It's a very potential-filled style and it looks phenomenal as-is.

[Steamgirl]

While the others have good points, as someone who has only ever seen visual novels with a certain style, seeing then use unconventional art styles feel off. It would be like if a new artist picked up Batman or Spiderman and used a manga art style on it, and filled it with anime/manga tropes.

That's not to say VNs have to use a "moe" style.

Yeah I can totally understand that. It's a bit like how I can't watch anime with English dubbing, it just seems wrong! I think there's a strong core VN audience that would totally agree with you, which is why the character art was the immediate conclusion I jumped to, and also why I thought it would be worth including it as an option. You make a good observation about the backgrounds though and that remains a challenge when there are two different styles.

I really prefer the original art more too. The anime styled sprites seem bland compared; they lack personality. Sure, they're more polished, but part of the charm of the jam game (at least to me) was the warmth of the women's relationship and the unique atmosphere conveyed by both the writing and the warm, earth-toned art.

I like the fact that you're letting the player choose their preferred style, though. I believe that as the creator you should have the final say and decide what feels right for your game, so even if you wouldn't include that option, I'd be content, but it's also cool to let the player choose what feels right for them.

I think part of the comments are about the backgrounds: they're not bad, but not great either. I also think the game would be even more amazing if you kept the style of the sprites but maybe polished them a bit more.

If you polish up the sprites and the backgrounds, the original style will truly shine. It's a very potential-filled style and it looks phenomenal as-is.

Thanks both! It gives me a boost of confidence that the current path I'm following is right!! It will take time away from other projects, sure, but it will be worth it.

[Steamgirl]

The writing (second draft) is finished and ready for testing/proof-reading! It's 9,951 words.

Would you like to be a tester/proof reader?
If so, please help yourself to the latest version: http://dreamgate.itch.io/our-wedding-st ... R8PhVfjzkE

[trevers18]

That's a dead link, dearest. I will be more than happy to test and proofread for you when I can get the file xD

[Steamgirl]

Yikes! It worked for me - I didn't realise!!
Updated link: http://dreamgate.itch.io/our-wedding-st ... R8PhVfjzkE

[Steamgirl]

Major Update

Lots has changed since I last posted in this thread.

First of all, I am happy to announce the team has grown! Welcome Sasquatchii as UI Artist, and Chocorutt as Character Artist!

Yep, that does mean that we will be getting rid of the original character art as well as the generic character art. This is because Chocorutt's art is pretty amazing, and the generic anime art came back with a lot of feedback along the lines of "the characters seem a bit bland" and "what do the 1920s have to do with Lucy?" (ok, the latter is still a valid point, but at least if you can see she has flapper inspiration you can sort of understand a bit).

Knowing that the character art will be much prettier and the UI so shiny, I am stepping up my game with regards to backgrounds and writing. Inspired by my team mates, I have produced this rough:


It's pretty rough still... it lacks a lot of details like a kitchen sink, pictures, mirror, plant, lights, breakfast bar stools, textures, colours, etc, etc. But I'm pretty happy with the overall layout. Do any background artists have any advice to offer?

On top of that, I'm going to rewrite the story and give it proper plot structure. Expect DRAMA and of the GOOD kind! Not the lazy shouty kind!
Thanks so much to all my beta-readers! Your feedback has been invaluable!

So there ya go! Pretty major update!

[Steamgirl]

We're working on the concept/sketching stage of the characters now. I love Chocorutt's art! <3







Chocorutt is available for comissions btw.