Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) - Hiatus

A place for game announcements, and for people to discuss games being made.
Forum rules
Please read the sticky before creating a new topic. Linking to Kickstarter/Crowdfunded games requires a demo. Updates to Patreon-backed games may be posted once every 2 months. Adult content should not be posted in this forum.
Message
Author
Roxie
Regular
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:07 pm
Projects: Assess K, Mizuchi
Organization: Aikasa Collective, Altabe Studio
itch: aikasacolle
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) - Hiatus

#1 Post by Roxie »

Image
Developer: Altabe Studio x Zeiva Inc.
Synopsis: Estranged from his parents and disillusioned about his future, college student Kenneth spends most of his time surfing his days away. After receiving a mysterious photo of his family that he has no recollection of, he decides to delve into his family’s secret to find the hidden truth.
Features: Mini-games, room and location movement, phone, and inventory (Adventure Aspects)


CHARACTERS:
Image
Kenneth, Age: 21, Main Character
3rd Year - History Major
Likes: Surfing, Sleeping, Films
Dislikes: People (as of late)

Image
Raye, Age: 21, Sister
3rd Year - Business Economics & Gender Studies, Art History Minor
Likes: Dancing, Desserts
Dislikes: Babysitting her brother

Image
Maxine, Age: 19, Childhood Friend
2nd Year - Physiological Science
Likes: Gymnastics
Dislikes: Mushrooms

Image
Xin, Age: 23
Graduate Student - Biochemistry
Likes: Sports, Classical Music, Video Games
Dislikes: ???

Image
Tami, Age: 17
1st Year - Psychobiology
Likes: Computers, Animals
Dislikes: Hypocrites, Eating greens


Image
Glynn, Age: 27
PhD - Biomedical Engineering
Likes: Robotics, Sepak Takraw
Dislikes: Gunners

Image
Boss, Older Lady
Owner of Flipfish Burgers
Likes: Burgers
Dislikes: Lazy people

Image
Camran, Older Guy
Owner of Mr. Puffy Bakery
Likes: Bread and Pastries
Dislikes: Nothing

SCREENSHOTS:
ImageImage
ImageImage
Image

Staff:
Roxie – Director, Writer, Programmer, Main Artist
Mirage (Zeiva) – Art Director, Sprite and CG Colorist
Nitarou (Zeiva) - Item Artist
Mayshing – Animator, CG Concept Editor
Tonio - BG Colorist
Kidoairaku - GUI Design
DragoonHP - Programmer
Greg and Matt – Audio
Special thanks/help - Janek, Razz, Daarkness

Game Breakdown:
The game has two main routes, the VN and the Game route. The VN route consists of a few mini-games (such as food), and choices will affect the MC's interactions with others and his future with multiple endings. The Game route has problem solving puzzles, which will unlock the mystery behind his family. The goal is to be able to switch between either routes at any time, and even playing one route solely is acceptable as well.

Writing - 100% (for VN Route - 30k wordcount)
Alpha Demo - 30% (Revamping assets)
UI Art - 20% (Revamping)
Main Demo Art - 50% (CGs need Color)
BG Demo Art - 50% (Remodeling designs, Color)
Coding Demo - 25% (Revamping)
Music Demo - 75%

Thoughts:
This project has been around for more than a few years, volunteers dropping out early on and me juggling both work and school. Some friends have stepped up to replace them and we managed to complete an alpha sized demo. We added new and talented members to the team, so now we're revamping everything with better art and design, and plan to expand the demo. Still however, my art friends are rather busy folk, so most of the art bulk will be drawn by me. I've pretty much created this thread to raise interest, as well as having more eyes on it increases pressure for me to work faster.

I'm open to any questions, critiques and feedback!
Last edited by Roxie on Mon Jun 18, 2018 2:04 am, edited 12 times in total.
ImageImage
Assess K (VN Adventure Game) LSF Thread | Mizuchi (GxG VN) LSF Thread | Honest Critique
[Proofreader, Beta-Tester]
Razz Art Visual - Starlight Vega [Co-writer]
Roseverte - Cafe-0, Duplicity, East Tower, How to Take Off Your Mask; Bakufu - Love Sniper
Zeiva Inc. - Train of Afterlife, OASE, X-Note, Area-X, Voices from the Sea, Natural - Beyond Nature, Dragon Essence, Anicon - Cat

User avatar
blahblah0625
Regular
Posts: 49
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:42 pm
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life]

#2 Post by blahblah0625 »

Seems interesting, can't wait for the demo to come out!
Screams and yells for bishies

User avatar
Blane Doyle
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 809
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 10:00 am
Organization: Autumn Eclectic
Location: Mountains
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life]

#3 Post by Blane Doyle »

You had me at "college age", features list, and the art. I'm wondering what the story for this is going to be and from what I see in the screenshots the art is going to be unique and interesting to look at.

It sucks that you had trouble before showing this, though... I hope you manage to have better luck from now on!

Roxie
Regular
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:07 pm
Projects: Assess K, Mizuchi
Organization: Aikasa Collective, Altabe Studio
itch: aikasacolle
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life]

#4 Post by Roxie »

@blahblah0625 - Thanks!

@Blane Doyle - Yeah the point of the volunteers was to divide up the workload for a quicker turnaround, but I always had a plan B -> do everything myself. I will admit the game has taken longer to make as well because I decided to add game mechanics, instead of a simpler choice making VN. Since one of my favorite games is the Hotel Dusk series, I wanted to see if I can program and emulate the gameplay a bit. Storyline wise I want to try balancing a story between establishing/maintaining relationships with an underlying mystery to figure out. I wanted to challenge myself by writing a mystery with a non-murder plot.

I've uploaded a screenshot of one of the demo mini-games in the first post. The MC works part time at a burger restaurant in order to pay for his living expenses.
ImageImage
Assess K (VN Adventure Game) LSF Thread | Mizuchi (GxG VN) LSF Thread | Honest Critique
[Proofreader, Beta-Tester]
Razz Art Visual - Starlight Vega [Co-writer]
Roseverte - Cafe-0, Duplicity, East Tower, How to Take Off Your Mask; Bakufu - Love Sniper
Zeiva Inc. - Train of Afterlife, OASE, X-Note, Area-X, Voices from the Sea, Natural - Beyond Nature, Dragon Essence, Anicon - Cat

User avatar
thedarkdefender
Regular
Posts: 97
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:13 am
Projects: TBTR
Organization: Clockwork Cafe
Location: Narnia
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life]

#5 Post by thedarkdefender »

Ooooo~ Looks interesting. Will faithfully wait for this one.
Image

User avatar
Asterisk
Regular
Posts: 83
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 10:41 pm
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life]

#6 Post by Asterisk »

The art is wonderful and there's not much to go on from the story synopsis but I think it'll be fun and interesting ^^

Is that a food mini game?
I love those!

I wish you and your team luck!
Hopefully they will all stick to the end! Having volunteers are never stable and rhat sucks ;.;
Victory is sweetest when you've known defeat.

User avatar
eime-leen
Regular
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:00 am
Projects: I want to 'revive' my old projects one day...
Deviantart: eime-leen
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life]

#7 Post by eime-leen »

This looks neat! I like the lineart of the characters, how each of them are distinguishable, and the preferences screen looks wonderful with the cellphone idea. And that food minigame is so polished and looks professional! I would be even more interested if there is interaction with a phone (such as texting or calling people). Since it is a mystery, how will the inventory be used? Would you be able to examine items, use them, etc? Well, good luck to you and your team!

Roxie
Regular
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:07 pm
Projects: Assess K, Mizuchi
Organization: Aikasa Collective, Altabe Studio
itch: aikasacolle
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life]

#8 Post by Roxie »

@thedarkdefender - Thank you!

@Asterisk - Yeah simple food games (only two planned so far). I hope the 2nd one comes out well :) after I figure out how to simplify it enough to program OTL Thanks!

@eime-leen - The phone currently allows you to call people, with chat and email buttons. While there is available coding to do chat/email responses, I feel it would sorta go against the MC's preference in using it. He's the old fashion type and would rather call and spend time with people in person than use social media. For the time being, emails will be use for additional background info/ongoing events, and chat will have set convos to avoid the boring/less productive conversations during gameplay (less clicking for players). Ideally I'd like the inventory to be able to do things to it and examine/break apart and be used, but for the time being it will be used to store clues/hints which will help you later in the game. It'll just depend how much time to work on coding the extra stuff. I really should consider hiring a programmer soon.
ImageImage
Assess K (VN Adventure Game) LSF Thread | Mizuchi (GxG VN) LSF Thread | Honest Critique
[Proofreader, Beta-Tester]
Razz Art Visual - Starlight Vega [Co-writer]
Roseverte - Cafe-0, Duplicity, East Tower, How to Take Off Your Mask; Bakufu - Love Sniper
Zeiva Inc. - Train of Afterlife, OASE, X-Note, Area-X, Voices from the Sea, Natural - Beyond Nature, Dragon Essence, Anicon - Cat

Roxie
Regular
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:07 pm
Projects: Assess K, Mizuchi
Organization: Aikasa Collective, Altabe Studio
itch: aikasacolle
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) Updated

#9 Post by Roxie »

This project is not dead, just been moving at the place of a snail turtle though :( but recently my life has freed up dramatically. So time to update this thread in the first post with new art and some in-progress works. Thanks everyone for viewing!
ImageImage
Assess K (VN Adventure Game) LSF Thread | Mizuchi (GxG VN) LSF Thread | Honest Critique
[Proofreader, Beta-Tester]
Razz Art Visual - Starlight Vega [Co-writer]
Roseverte - Cafe-0, Duplicity, East Tower, How to Take Off Your Mask; Bakufu - Love Sniper
Zeiva Inc. - Train of Afterlife, OASE, X-Note, Area-X, Voices from the Sea, Natural - Beyond Nature, Dragon Essence, Anicon - Cat

User avatar
Ghost #9
Regular
Posts: 119
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:12 am
Projects: Imaginarium
Organization: AlteRealm
Skype: TheNinthGhost
Location: Classified
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) Updated

#10 Post by Ghost #9 »

Roxie wrote:This project is not dead, just been moving at the place of a snail turtle though :(
Image

On a much more serious note, I am quite a big fan of adventure games (and visual novels with extra gameplay in general), so I will be looking forward to this! I am not at all deterred by a slower development time. That merely leaves more room for a better finished product! :3
I wish you the best of luck. I definitely like what I'm seeing so far!
Last edited by Ghost #9 on Wed Sep 16, 2015 7:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Roxie
Regular
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:07 pm
Projects: Assess K, Mizuchi
Organization: Aikasa Collective, Altabe Studio
itch: aikasacolle
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) Updated

#11 Post by Roxie »

Ghost #9 wrote: Image

On a much more serious note, I am quite a big fan of adventure games (and visual novels with extra gameplay in general), so I will be looking forward to this! I am not at all deterred by a slower development time. That merely leaves more room for a better finished product! :3
I wish you the best of luck. I definitely like what I'm seeing so far!
Haha that's rather odd and cool looking XD And thank you so much for your interest! I hope to move production faster the upcoming weeks.
ImageImage
Assess K (VN Adventure Game) LSF Thread | Mizuchi (GxG VN) LSF Thread | Honest Critique
[Proofreader, Beta-Tester]
Razz Art Visual - Starlight Vega [Co-writer]
Roseverte - Cafe-0, Duplicity, East Tower, How to Take Off Your Mask; Bakufu - Love Sniper
Zeiva Inc. - Train of Afterlife, OASE, X-Note, Area-X, Voices from the Sea, Natural - Beyond Nature, Dragon Essence, Anicon - Cat

User avatar
Razz
Veteran
Posts: 349
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 7:15 pm
Completed: Starlight Vega, Catch Canvas, Love Ribbon, Happy Campers, Wolf Tails
Projects: Two projects
Organization: Razzartvisual
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) Updated

#12 Post by Razz »

Looking good!
Image

Roxie
Regular
Posts: 71
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2011 9:07 pm
Projects: Assess K, Mizuchi
Organization: Aikasa Collective, Altabe Studio
itch: aikasacolle
Location: Southern California
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) Updated

#13 Post by Roxie »

Thanks Razz!

I've recently revamped and completed the burger mini-game. Here's a video of the basic gameplay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQP6kbl4tUM

Initially the burger game will have to be played, as it is Ken's part time job after all. But later it becomes optional for those that want to avoid mini-games. Those that continue to play it will be able to open up a small side route and an ending :wink:
Last edited by Roxie on Tue Aug 16, 2016 10:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ImageImage
Assess K (VN Adventure Game) LSF Thread | Mizuchi (GxG VN) LSF Thread | Honest Critique
[Proofreader, Beta-Tester]
Razz Art Visual - Starlight Vega [Co-writer]
Roseverte - Cafe-0, Duplicity, East Tower, How to Take Off Your Mask; Bakufu - Love Sniper
Zeiva Inc. - Train of Afterlife, OASE, X-Note, Area-X, Voices from the Sea, Natural - Beyond Nature, Dragon Essence, Anicon - Cat

User avatar
mayshing
Regular
Posts: 47
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:37 pm
Completed: Once an Artist, E-Depth Angel: Pinocchio's Murder
Projects: Be Mine Mr. Divine, Mizuchi, Assess K
Organization: Altabe Studio LLC
Deviantart: Mayshing
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) Updated

#14 Post by mayshing »

Yay! The burger game has really come along! Totally excited to see it in game!

Hope everyone else feels the same :)
That's the way life outta be

karen_delight
Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:36 pm
Projects: Ema Skye and the Quest for the Golden Snackoo
Contact:

Re: Assess K [Mystery, Slice-of-Life] (VN Adventure) Updated

#15 Post by karen_delight »

Has there been any update to this game? I was really looking forward to reading it

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users