Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO OUT★

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PeroxidePrince
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Friendship|Comedy|Slice of Life|Dra

#16 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

The last of the main character sprites are done!

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I'll be starting on programming them into the game tomorrow, and after that I'll be able to help Sweetstrawberry out with writing some of the post-demo content.
We are still looking for closed beta testers, so please let us know if you are interested!
Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PeroxidePrince
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Friendship|Comedy|Slice of Life|Dra

#17 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

Pretty much everything to go in the demo is done -- we're just waiting on 1 or 2 more chibi CGs.
We'll be starting beta testing soon just to catch any embarrassing bugs haha before releasing the demo.

I've redone the UI in time for the demo launch, so here are some screenshots!

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Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PeroxidePrince
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Friendship|Comedy|Slice of Life|Dra

#18 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Demo Release ★

We’re pleased to announce that Happy Valley High’s first public demo is now out!

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Downloads for Windows/Mac/Linux are over here.

We would really appreciate any feedback you have to share!
If you would prefer to remain anonymous, we have also set up a survey.
Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#19 Post by neuropsy »

And the award for the most geographically-challenged protagonist goes to...*drumroll*...Mimi!

Man, oh man, I felt so much secondhand embarrassment for Mimi after her class introduction. Despite how cringeworthy her knowledge of Asian geography is, I found it hilarious and...charming? They really added to her character. Another thing that really stood out to me was despite the shoujo-ness of it all, the characters seemed very down-to-earth and realistic, more grounded than the exaggerated archetypes I'm used to. I like how you really integrated the international aspect of the school in the story, too.

A suggestion I'd have for you is to lengthen some of the scenes to add more dialogue between characters to allow us to get to know them a bit more as the story moves along. I personally have a hard time keeping track of a lot of characters when introduced in a short amount of time, but I think additional, meaningful dialogue would really help with the distinction.

Also, I don't think I've ever seen a game written in second-person before! Usually people warn against it, but I think it really enhanced the light-hearted atmosphere of your VN. In other words, it works well for your game, and adds the layer of uniqueness!
"Everyone was jumping a giant jump rope, but I was too scared to join. I was hesitant, like a child, always waiting for you."
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#20 Post by noeinan »

I really like all of the art, GUI, etc.!
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PeroxidePrince
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#21 Post by PeroxidePrince »

@neuropsy: Thank you very much for your feedback!
I'm surprised but happy you thought Mimi's cluelessness was charming! Her remedial geography lessons will probably help lessen her cringe factor as the story goes on, haha.
We are thinking about adding some more scenes/dialogue between characters in the common route (especially before the school trip) since a few other people have said similar things.
At the moment, it seems from most of the feedback we've gotten that Cherry and Dick don't get as much screen time, so we'll also be making it a priority to include them a bit more.
Thanks again for taking the time to leave a comment!

@daikiraikimi: Ahh, thanks a lot!

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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#22 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★
Popping by with a quick update! Lately we've been working on writing for the most part, so it's a little harder to show progress.
I am quite close to being complete with one route now, with three scenes left to write. It's currently standing at roughly 17k words.
It's gone a bit over our goal of 10-15k words, but this is one of the routes that has more endings, so it should've been anticipated. (Especially with me writing it because I will always overshoot word limits... Lies in the dirt)
Sweetstrawberry has finished all the rough outlines for each route, and is currently working on a route which is around 1.5k words right now.

In terms of art, mtclothing has been steadily drawing more chibi CGs.
I won't show the new ones as it'll be nicer to see them for the first time in the game, but she has also taken the time to make some changes on the older ones.
Here's a look at the updated chibi style, compared to the old one!
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Also, thanks to everyone who has downloaded our demo and played it so far!
We're always interested in hearing player feedback, especially as this game is still in development, so please feel free to let us know what you think!
Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#23 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★
We've been set back a little in regards to meeting our writing deadlines, but at least we're still making progress! (ง •̀_•́)ง
2 out of 7 of the routes have been finished now, with one at about 21k and the other 25k words. Both of them ended up being a lot longer than planned, whoops.
Sweetstrawberry is currently working on a 3rd route, which is at about 10k words now.

With two routes written, I'll be switching over to focus on art assets - sprites for secondary characters, CGs, and additional backgrounds.
After that, I'll start on programming the finished routes first.

Mtclothingdraws has been working on chibi CGs, and at the moment, she's already finished drawing 4 more.
Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#24 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

Dropping by with some previews of the new sprites!

Miss Wu, Mimi's homeroom teacher, is no longer a faceless void:
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And here's a look at a character who isn't in the demo at all, but will make an appearance in 3 of the routes:
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Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#25 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

Here are the last of the side character sprites!
None of these characters appear in the demo/common route, but you'll be able to encounter them on certain routes.

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With sprites done, I'm moving onto backgrounds now!
There are around 10 new backgrounds to do, and I've got 4 of them sketched out so far.
Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#26 Post by Smudgeed »

THIS IS AMAZING. I just played through the demo and I loved it so much :') The clicky noise when you hover over something has a special place in my heart (ngl I kept hovering over things so I could hear the noise, spent a couple of minutes doing that). It really did have the feel of an asian drama and I loved that a lot. The art is beautiful too (as your art always is). I'm looking forward to seeing where this game goes :) Good luck!

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PeroxidePrince
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#27 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

With sprites done, it's on to backgrounds!
Here's a local cafe and a vintage shop, two popular spots with some of the students at Happy Valley High.

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Smudgeed wrote:THIS IS AMAZING. I just played through the demo and I loved it so much :') The clicky noise when you hover over something has a special place in my heart (ngl I kept hovering over things so I could hear the noise, spent a couple of minutes doing that). It really did have the feel of an asian drama and I loved that a lot. The art is beautiful too (as your art always is). I'm looking forward to seeing where this game goes :) Good luck!
Ahh, thanks so much for playing, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
I really like clicky hover sounds too even though some people get annoyed by it haha... I'm glad you share my fondness for them.
Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PeroxidePrince
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#28 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

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I've finished drawing the new backgrounds, and currently I'm working on programming the written routes.

Mtclothing has also finished drawing the chibi CGs to go in the two finished routes for now, so here's a look at one of them!

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I've also been messing with the textbox a little, which is why they're different in the two screenshots in this post.
I'll probably be making more little tweaks to the UI as I go on, but right now my priority is coding these two routes first.
Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PeroxidePrince
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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#29 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

I've finished programming one route, and I am working on the second at the moment.
After finishing this second route, I'll probably start work on some CGs.

I also took a break from programming to make changes to the textbox and choice menu, since I didn't update those before the demo launch.
I've made it so that they match the rest of the new UI more:

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Last edited by PeroxidePrince on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Happy Valley High ✿ [Comedy|Slice of Life|Drama] ★DEMO O

#30 Post by PeroxidePrince »

★ Progress Update ★

Popping by with a quick update! The two written routes have been programmed.
At the moment, I am working on the CGs for these two routes. I've finished one so far, while the others have been inked and flatted, so they just need to be shaded.

Speaking of CGs, I've updated the gallery so that it's divided by character route:

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We will be aiming for each route to have around 6 CGs (chibi & regular), so this way it's a little more organised.

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