Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

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Mandy
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Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#1 Post by Mandy »

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Starlit Flowers is a GxG kinetic visual novel developed by Cosmic Latté for NaNoRenO 2016. All writing and some script programming was done by Mandy and all art and GUI design / all programming was done by Momo.

S T O R Y
One night when Einar is traveling through the forest, she sees two stars descend from the sky. She inspects the crash site to find two strange girls that appear out of this world. Their names are Ailis and Cerise, they ask Einar to help them return home and claim they fell from the night sky. Einar is skeptical about their story, but she decides to help them out anyway.

This is where their fun little adventure through the forest begins. As Einar gets to know the girls more, she starts to wonder if they're The Star guardians her deceased mother used to tell her stories about.
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C H A R A C T E R S
Einar: Einar is a traveling herbalist. She wishes to help people with her herbalism. She's a stern and cynical person despite her caring nature, but she wasn't always this way. The death of her mother changed her. As she gets to know Ailis and Cerise she starts to lighten up a little.

Ailis: Ailis appears withdrawn and apathetic. She doesn't get along with her counterpart Cerise, but she seems to open up to Einar. She's shy and kindhearted.

Cerise: Cerise is a bubbly and hot tempered girl who is constantly hungry. She enjoys teasing Ailis and at times Einar. She's a troublemaker, but a good friend at heart.
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Starlit Flowers is a kinetic VN (with no choices) and is a story about forgiveness and acceptance. The cute girls and fluffy scenes are a plus!

It contains:
⟡ 19k+ words
⟡ 2 hours of gameplay
⟡ 3 CGs
⟡ 3 original tracks by Chizurisan
⟡ As well as a concept art gallery and a commentary from Mandy and Momo once you've finished the game.

D O W N L O A D

The VN can be downloaded from itch.io here, and runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux!

H T M L

There's also a HTML version of Starlit Flowers available on sandbox-adventure.com.
You can check it out here: http://sandbox-adventure.com/starlit-flowers.html

Lastly, a special thank you to DrSchizo; Thank you! :)

We hope you enjoy it~!
Last edited by Mandy on Sun Apr 24, 2016 5:04 am, edited 8 times in total.

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#2 Post by MimirollCookie »

OMG! I've been waiting for this!
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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#3 Post by Mandy »

MimirollCookie wrote:OMG! I've been waiting for this!
I hope you enjoy it! ^w^

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#4 Post by doktorcrimson »

Aww I thought the game was very sweet~ It felt like reading a children's book and the art just suits it very nice :3

It felt a bit weird for me when Cerise was
complaining that she needed protein
because the term itself is a relatively modern and scientific term. That was a little bit out of the place but besides that I think this game is very well-done for NaNo'16. I wish there was a little more relationship development between Einar and
Cerilis since the interaction between Einar and the two girls felt more like friendship imo.
I think it's a great game and a great read (especially before bed)! The game is very sweet, the art is very beautiful and different than most VNs I've played, and the soundtrack is very fairy tale-like and gorgeous.

Great job for making this game!
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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#5 Post by Mandy »

doktorcrimson wrote:Aww I thought the game was very sweet~ It felt like reading a children's book and the art just suits it very nice :3

It felt a bit weird for me when Cerise was
complaining that she needed protein
because the term itself is a relatively modern and scientific term. That was a little bit out of the place but besides that I think this game is very well-done for NaNo'16. I wish there was a little more relationship development between Einar and
Cerilis since the interaction between Einar and the two girls felt more like friendship imo.
I think it's a great game and a great read (especially before bed)! The game is very sweet, the art is very beautiful and different than most VNs I've played, and the soundtrack is very fairy tale-like and gorgeous.

Great job for making this game!
Thanks so much for playing our VN and taking the time to comment! :D
It means a lot to us~!

We're both glad that you enjoyed it. <3
Yes I agree,
the protein thing with Cerise was a little out of place. It was a joke I squeezed in there for a friend of ours. I hope it doesn't confuse people too much haha.
I also agree with your opinion on Einar and
Cerilis' relationship. I wish I had more time to write about them! But honestly this VN would have never been finished if I did haha, since we struggled a lot with trying to finish the current length of it in time for NaNoRenO. I think, if anyone is confused as to why Einar was just friends with Ailis and Cerise but became lovers with Cerilis. Just keep in mind that Cerilis is a fusion of both Ailis and Cerise but she's also her own person. So I guess Einar was attracted to her for that reason? And their relationship would have developed over time, there was a two year time skip at the end after all!
Thanks again!~ (whaaaa I don't know what else to say >//<)

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#6 Post by warmsundae »

I agree with doktorcrimson - the romance felt kinda rushed for them.

This was really sweet! I loved the fairy tale-esque feeling, and how Einar's story came together in pieces. The ending was unexpecting, which surprised me, because usually the whole
split-up-girl thing is a cliché trope not done well.
You know, when I first skimmed through the images, I thought that Cerise would have Ailis' personality, and Ailis Cerise's. Funny how things turned out xD

But seriously, Einar's backstory was brilliant. In the beginning, I thought her sadness for her mother was overdone, but it was absolutely justified.
Last edited by warmsundae on Mon Apr 04, 2016 7:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#7 Post by Ghost of Crux »

AHHH the cutest thing ever since fluffy unicorns (sorry star girls..... you are very adorable, but you are not unicorns) is here! Downloading, and will come back somewhat soonish to give an in depth review.
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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#8 Post by Mandy »

warmsundae wrote:I agree with doktorcrimson - the romance felt kinda rushed for them.

This was really sweet! I loved the fairy tale-esque feeling, and how Einar's story came together in pieces. The ending was unexpecting, which surprised me, because usually the whole
split-up-girl thing is a cliché trope not done well.
You know, when I first skimmed through the images, I thought that Cerise would have Ailis' personality, and Ailis Cerise's. Funny how things turned out xD

But seriously, Einar's backstory was brilliant. In the beginning, I thought her sadness for her mother was overdone, but it was absolutely justified.
There really isn't any romance between them in the VN. Not until we show what has changed/happened after two years. I guess that wasn't a good way to go about it since it makes it feel rushed. I'll try and avoid that in future works. TTwTT

Thank you! Yes, Momo's art certainly gives the whole VN a fairy tale like vibe. Yeah, we intended for the ending to be a surprise and so far it has surprised many haha. I'm super glad you liked Einar's backstory! I'm pretty fond of Einar myself because of it.

Ahaha that is strange but I can see how you thought that. I really can't imagine Cerise with Ailis' personality though, heh. :P

Thanks again for reading! We're so glad you enjoyed Starlit Flowers! <3

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#9 Post by Mandy »

Ghost of Crux wrote:AHHH the cutest thing ever since fluffy unicorns (sorry star girls..... you are very adorable, but you are not unicorns) is here! Downloading, and will come back somewhat soonish to give an in depth review.
Oh my gosh! I hope you enjoy it!
In the meantime; I'l prepare my delicate heart for your in depth review haha.

Thanks a bunch. ^w^

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#10 Post by PeroxidePrince »

Oh noo, this was so cute!
I was interested in this project from seeing the bits that were shown on the WIP thread, so it's exciting to see everything come together.
The music suited the fairy-tale vibe of the story and general aesthetics really well. I also loved that there were extra sprites where they had flowers in their hair... Too cute.
The ending was really surprising, and I didn't see it coming.
Cerilis' character design was really nice. You could tell that her design takes cues from both Cerise and Ailis, but there were unique elements of her own, too. I felt like it was a good balance.
As others have mentioned, I do wish we could've seen more of her interactions with Einar, but seeing as it's a NaNo game, it's understandable that you had to keep things short and manageable.
All in all, it was really adorable. Congratulations on finishing NaNoRenO, and thanks for making this!

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#11 Post by MaiMai »

I'll give this a play later. I'm kind of repeating myself, but the art style is very adorable and illustrative and I hope you get to do more work in the future! People tend to be hesitant about VNs without anime/manga styles, but I really hope that we can encourage more artists to branch out like this!
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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#12 Post by MimirollCookie »

Okay! So I finished playing and I'd like to give my thoughts..
At first, I thought this was a boring and a long kinetic novel but I continued to play it, in the middle, I laughed with them while reading. It's really cute, the story was simple but very effective, I touched my heart and it was so warm, my body heated because of the fluffiness. But seriously, those CGs were pretty and cute! (Which CG did I loved? All of the CGs! :wink:)
Cerilis was so cute! Her dress was like the Princess of Color's dress! (But who knows if there's a color princess?) It was so colorful! Her attitude is so cute! Ailis' kindness and Cerise's Cuteness!
The story is very heartwarming! I'd give you a thumbs up for the story! :D
(P.S. The art was so cute!! The GUI fits the theme!)
EDIT:
I read the commentary! That was really funny and cute! But Mandy is right. Momo's art is cute hehehe. :)
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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#13 Post by ebi-hime »

Aw, this was such a cute VN. I loved the character artwork (Cerise's pouty face was especially adowable), and the backgrounds were all so pretty. The sprites of the girls with flowers in their hair was also lovely - and the CGs for it. Ailis' flower braid was adorable - it reminded me of Rapunzel from Tangled XD;

The GUI was seriously super pretty, too. I liked how it was consistent with the starry night theme. The unlockable extras, with the concept art and author/artist's notes, were also super fancy. I liked the scrolling text box XD

I think the story was constructed pretty well. The characters were all distinct, and I liked the back and forth conversation between the characters - particularly Cerise and Ailis. I like that Cerise and Ailis were created to contrast with each other, in both their designs and their personalities; it made their interactions a lot of fun to read. Also, it was cute Cerise really did love Ailis, even though she teased her all the time XD; Einar (I really liked her name) was a nice balance between the two of them, and some of her wry narrations were fun.
Since I liked Cerise and Ailis so much,
I was actually kind of sad about the ending... Like, I know they were originally one whole being, but after merging together, what happened to the Cerise and Ailis personalities? Did they 'die'? I guess you would say they were returned to their original state, but... If they were two separate beings for a while, they had their own memories and thoughts and feelings, didn't they? T_T
But the ending was done nicely, and it wrapped up all the plot points.
The pacing was also pretty nicely done, I think. It moved between some sadder scenes to cheerful ones, the tone was nice and balanced, and I don't think it moved too quickly or too slowly.

One note about the writing, though. You have a habit of using commas in places where full stops would be better, and some of the sentences are pretty clunky/awkward because of it. It's apparent throughout the whole VN, but more so in the narration. It doesn't happen as much in the dialogue.

Even so, it was a really nice story, and I enjoyed it a lot. Good job!
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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#14 Post by Mandy »

PeroxidePrince wrote:Oh noo, this was so cute!
I was interested in this project from seeing the bits that were shown on the WIP thread, so it's exciting to see everything come together.
The music suited the fairy-tale vibe of the story and general aesthetics really well. I also loved that there were extra sprites where they had flowers in their hair... Too cute.
The ending was really surprising, and I didn't see it coming.
Cerilis' character design was really nice. You could tell that her design takes cues from both Cerise and Ailis, but there were unique elements of her own, too. I felt like it was a good balance.
As others have mentioned, I do wish we could've seen more of her interactions with Einar, but seeing as it's a NaNo game, it's understandable that you had to keep things short and manageable.
All in all, it was really adorable. Congratulations on finishing NaNoRenO, and thanks for making this!
Thank you so much for playing Starlit Flowers! We're super glad you enjoyed it, hehe. ^^

Thanks for all the nice comments too. Oh my gosh... >///<

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Re: Starlit Flowers [GxG] [Slice of Life | Fantasy] [NaNo16]

#15 Post by MimirollCookie »

I came to give you a crappy fanart!
sketch-1459914281883.jpg
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