Plat du Jour [1-13-09]

[sake-bento]

Plat du Jour (Dish of the Day)

Teaser Site

This thread is very old and not at all updated. Since the release of the demo, I've gone through three different artists and rewritten everything. I plan to release a demo sometime in early 2010. Wish me luck. D:

Demo (04/16/08):
Windows
Mac
Linux

It's a VN that will be centered around cooking. You play as a male lead who meets three different girls from very different backgrounds. However, they're all very fond of cooking. Wow, that sounds so shallow. It's not. I swear. @_@


Trian
Trian is the main character. He's really smart and tends to be pretty lazy. He hates cooking.


Kurara
Kurara is an odd girl who likes to associate people with fruit based on their smell. She hates the rain, and works part-time as a maid at a maid cafe/bakery owned by her mother. She likes to bake and is trying to create the ultimate dessert.


Aria (Old Artwork)
Aria is a transfer student with intelligence that rivals Trian's. She's very cold, keeps to herself most of the time, and hates being touched. She packs traditional Japanese style bento.


Maya (Old Artwork)
Maya is Trian's classmate and a star player on the track team. She has something of a violent streak, but once you get to know her, she's fun to be with. She has two younger siblings who look up to her. Her cooking style is Western family cooking.

Other Characters:
Jay - Trian's best friend...sorta. Lives next door to him and has known him since they were kids.
Lydia - Went to school with Trian since childhood. A strict vegan.
Alex and Julie - Maya's younger siblings.

--

Team:
Lots of cool people. And sake-bento.

[Samu-kun]

Ooo... Looks interesting! Will this be voiced like in Ripples? ^_^ I like Kurara's design the best. Even though I would prefer it if their eyes were all bigger, all the girls look very cute as they are. ^_^ The pictures are all excellently drawn. I especially like the really cute expressions!

Mmm... I'll try to get some photographs of my kitchen soon then, if no one beats me to it. I've always wanted my kitchen to be featured in a visual novel. XD

[Deji]

the character design looks really nice =D
I'm not really fond of the antennae changing and the hair accessory thingie changing on Kurara, but that's just a personal thing ^^;

Anyway, I took some crappy pics of my kitchen with poor lightbulb light because I was running out of batteries ^^;
Hope they help, and if not... well, hope you find good references =D
http://picasaweb.google.com/dejichan/Kitchen

[Samu-kun]

Oh, I just noticed that her hair decoration and her ahoge changes with her expression!! Cuteee!!! ^_^^_^

[sake-bento]

Mn, thanks to Deji for some photos. That's exactly the kind of thing I need. ^-^
Edit: Is that a tamagoyaki pan I see on the stove?

Also, this will be fully voiced, like Ripples. I am a bit on the line about whether or not the main character should also be voiced, though.

[yummy]

Wah this looks cute!
I'm personally fond of ahoge, plus I find morphing ones like Himeko's one in Pani Poni Dash moeee !
I think you should voice the main character. In most VNs the main character isn't ,but hey, now that I think about it, nobody cares that much (I like the voice they gave to Tomoya in Clannad, for example).
It's more a personnal choice than an obligation. Some players feel more involved when the main character isn't and some don't when he isn't (that's my case).

Talking about game experience, will there be cooking recipes all along? (I can share with you the fondant au chocolat recipe that melts as you eat it or the coffee tiramisu one)

[sake-bento]

Indeed there will be cooking recipes. In fact, if there's one you want to share, I'd be very happy to include it. I'll just need the recipe and how to prepare it. Of course, it's easier to use ones that fit into one of the main girls' three categories (bento, baking, homestyle), but there are a couple side characters who also have their own cooking escapades.

Edit: I finished the first of Kurara's character art. Preview in the first post.

[Deji]

Mn, thanks to Deji for some photos. That's exactly the kind of thing I need. ^-^
Edit: Is that a tamagoyaki pan I see on the stove?

No prob, glad to help =3
and not, that's a.... hm... I have no idea what are they called in english ^^; I'd translate it as a "toaster". It's a male word, while the electric toaster is a female word, hehe. We use it to make toasts and crunchy bread of other kinds, we also use it below the cooking pots to give indirect heat when cooking, like when making rice or when heating smashed potatoes.

[Samu-kun]

Yay, you got Kuara's picture finished! ^_^ I hope she's very cute in the game because I'll probably be following her path first! ^_^

[sake-bento]

Mn, thanks to Deji for some photos. That's exactly the kind of thing I need. ^-^
Edit: Is that a tamagoyaki pan I see on the stove?

No prob, glad to help =3
and not, that's a.... hm... I have no idea what are they called in english ^^; I'd translate it as a "toaster". It's a male word, while the electric toaster is a female word, hehe. We use it to make toasts and crunchy bread of other kinds, we also use it below the cooking pots to give indirect heat when cooking, like when making rice or when heating smashed potatoes.

That sounds really cool. It just reminded me of the kind of pan that I use for making a rolled omelette.

Yay, you got Kuara's picture finished! ^_^ I hope she's very cute in the game because I'll probably be following her path first! ^_^

I hope she's cute too. XD I'm very fond of her antics. Well...I guess it would be weird if I wasn't fond of my characters, ne? ^_^;;

[Kura]

This looks interesting, the first cooking-centered VN I've seen. Kurara seems pretty awesome, and I love how the little things on the sides of her head change with her expression.

I think I might prefer the main character being voiced as well. I believe Ripples was the first VN I've played that had voice acting, and it felt a bit strange only hearing half of the dialog, almost like she was talking to herself. But that might just be because I'm so new to this type of media and not used to it yet.

[chronoluminaire]

Yay, cooking ren'ai! I've always wanted to play a cooking ren'ai game, ever since Hirameki announced their ill-fated translation plans for Sweet Legacy. I love the manga Kitchen Princess, and this looks like it'll have a lot of the same appeal.

And yes, I'd definitely prefer it if the main character were voiced, as well as the girls being voiced. It always struck me as silly when the girls were voiced but the main char wasn't. (In some games, if there's a girl you're after and you meet her parents, the mum will be voiced and the dad won't. And that's not any kind of inclination that the mum has her own route - she doesn't - it's just that they only voice the female characters. Always seemed really strange to me.)

Some photos of my kitchen:
http://www.toothycat.net/~hologram/photos/Kitchen1.jpg
http://www.toothycat.net/~hologram/photos/Kitchen2.jpg
http://www.toothycat.net/~hologram/photos/Kitchen3.jpg
http://www.toothycat.net/~hologram/photos/Kitchen4.jpg

[Jake]

You play as you average male lead who meets three different girls from very different backgrounds. However, they're all very fond of cooking. Wow, that sounds so shallow. It's not. I swear. @_@

Man. I only wish I did meet girls who were remotely interested in cooking. I really enjoy it, myself, so it's kind of depressing in a way to ask a woman what she wants to eat and get an answer like "oh, I don't know. Whatever. We could order a pizza, maybe? Instant noodles would be fine."

I'm pretty lousy at making backgrounds without good photo reference (I'm still pretty lousy even with good photo reference), so if anyone is willing to donate photos of their kitchen to my cause, I would be very thankful. Specifically I need two images. A fullview of the whole kitchen and a closeup of the stove or counter where cooking is done. I've looked up photos of kitchens on Google Images, but they all look all shiny and new, and I'd prefer a kitchen that actually looks like someone cooks in it. Hm...asking for photos of your kitchen seems pretty creepy now that I think about it. I guess I'm looking for references of a kitchen that looks real and not like a catalog.

Man, it feels kind of odd photographing my kitchen at just-past midnight.

Also, you have made me realise my oven needs cleaning. :/

Overview
Work surface for mixing, cutting, kneading etc.
Corner where I keep spices, sauces, spatulas and my belovèd collection of knives.
Hobs, and top of the oven. (There's an extractor fan directly above the hob, if that helps, but it's kind of noisy so I didn't want to pull it out at this time of night.)

[sake-bento]

Many thanks to those who have donated photos to the cause.

I'm working on finishing the character images, and the script for part one will be done soon.

And in other good news, I have cast someone to play the lead, so the main character will be voiced.

Edit: Maya color preview up.

[Samu-kun]

Mmm... I think that maybe the mouth for Maya is a bit too tall. :3 I'm not sure if the mouth should be open at all in her current emotion though. Her eyebrows seem to show a neutral expression while her mouth shows a very happy expression.