a(t)rium [NaNo'17] - DEMO RELEASED

NaNoRenO is an event where creators make a game from scratch during the month of March.
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Alcor
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a(t)rium [NaNo'17] - DEMO RELEASED

#1 Post by Alcor »

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[Friendship / Romance] [other genres not disclosed]

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DOWNLOAD THE DEMO HERE
JOIN THE DISCORD DISCUSSION HERE

The game contains 380 dialogue blocks, containing 4,719 words and 25,114
characters, for an average of 12.4 words and 66 characters per block.
A new thread for a(t)rium will be made soon, when work on this project resumes.
I will be taking a short break to play some of the other games made for NaNo 2017.
LIST OF FEATURES:
- a protagonist who frequently jumps to conclusions
- 3 questionable love interests
- 4k+ words (15-30 minutes of playtime?)
- 4 sprites with 150+ expressions between them
- 3 backgrounds
- 2 music tracks (thanks to Caelem for arranging them!)
- phone feature with a notification system
- a whole month's worth of tears
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SYNOPSIS

a·tri·um
noun
1. a central hall or court in a building
2. each of two upper cavities of the heart


College student Amaranth ("Amie") was fired from her job at the library after making
a major mistake, and she had been getting rejected from all the jobs she applied for ever
since. When Amie is spontaneously offered a part-time job at Heartful Flowers, a small
flower shop near her college, she accepts without much hesitation. As Amie works in the
shop, she befriends three guys: Hisashi, the delivery man who hired her; Kennith, the
shop owner; and Ross, a regular customer and fellow student. Little does Amie know that
the small shop's atrium conceals a big secret…

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CHARACTERS

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SCREENSHOTS / PREVIEWS

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TEAM

This is a project by Studio Dipper.

Story & Writing: Alcor
Character Sprites: Alcor
CGs: Alcor
Backgrounds: Alcor
Logo & UI Design: Alcor
Programming: Alcor
Music: Alcor & Caelem

(Yup, this is a solo project by yours truly.)

(I'm also the team leader for another NaNo project, bookSLEEPer :D)

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NOTES / QUESTIONS

PRE-DEMO
Does the synopsis sound promising to you? (I can't reveal what the secret is, sorry! please feel free to tell me your guesses, though!)
Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you? Who would you befriend/date first?
How do you feel about the plant theme? Do you like plants? (or do you believe that 'plants are food, not friends!'?)
Do you think 1920x1080px resolution is too ridiculous for a non-commercial VN? (It'll take a while to download...)


POST-DEMO
Which character are you most interested in and why? Are there any characters you did not like?
Any guesses about what's in the locked room? (hint: not human skeletons, illegal drugs, or cats.)
What did you think of the 'phone' feature? Did it feel immersive, or was it disruptive/distracting?
Did you enjoy the music (disregarding the fact that it was only two tracks for the entire demo)?
Additional comments, concerns, bug reports, etc. would be much appreciated!

DOWNLOAD THE DEMO HERE
Last edited by Alcor on Tue Apr 11, 2017 3:39 pm, edited 19 times in total.

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Alcor
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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#2 Post by Alcor »

CHARACTER INFORMATION

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Last edited by Alcor on Mon Apr 03, 2017 8:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#3 Post by Zelan »

(Ross is so cute oh my goodness <3 And the GUI is fantastic!)

Does the synopsis sound promising to you? (I can't reveal what the secret is, sorry T_T): It does! I love a good mystery. ^_^

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?: They're actually all pretty interesting. Hisashi seems fun, I'm curious about Kennith's thing with the phones, and Ross being an astronomy student (and also really frickin' adorable) is cool.

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#4 Post by Alcor »

Zelan wrote:(Ross is so cute oh my goodness <3 And the GUI is fantastic!)

Does the synopsis sound promising to you? (I can't reveal what the secret is, sorry T_T): It does! I love a good mystery. ^_^

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?: They're actually all pretty interesting. Hisashi seems fun, I'm curious about Kennith's thing with the phones, and Ross being an astronomy student (and also really frickin' adorable) is cool.
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the GUI (it's probably the most illustrative one I've made thus far, and I wasn't sure if it was working) :'D

And it's great to hear that you're liking the love interests! I think this is the first set of love interests I've come up with in which I can't pick a favorite (hooray, I'm finally not biased to one over the others!) I can't wait to write about them~

Thanks for dropping by!

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#5 Post by femslashfatale »

Does the synopsis sound promising to you? (I can't reveal what the secret is, sorry T_T):
Yes! I would've been excited for this even if the flower shop didn't hide a secret, but I'm intrigued.

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?
The character designs are super cute (I love Hisashi's fish bones hairclip), but Hisashi & Ross stand out b/c I prefer sweet guys, haha.

Looking forward to the full game!

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#6 Post by parttimestorier »

This sounds cute! The synopsis does sound interesting - the fact that there is a secret makes me want to find out what it is. I think Ross sounds like a character I would like a lot. I tend to like characters who are very academic and fascinated by their areas of study, like Kent in Amnesia. Is Amaranth going to be a faceless protagonist, or is there just no art for her yet? (Also, Amaranth is a really nice name.)
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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#7 Post by Alcor »

femslashfatale wrote:Does the synopsis sound promising to you? (I can't reveal what the secret is, sorry T_T):
Yes! I would've been excited for this even if the flower shop didn't hide a secret, but I'm intrigued.

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?
The character designs are super cute (I love Hisashi's fish bones hairclip), but Hisashi & Ross stand out b/c I prefer sweet guys, haha.

Looking forward to the full game!
Thank you so much for your feedback! Glad you caught Hisashi's hairclip; I originally was going to give everyone an animal motif, but it didn't quite work out for Ross and the hairclip is now a remnant of Hisashi's former (more fishy; i.e. fish-scale patterned hoodie) design.

I hope the secret doesn't disappoint!
parttimestorier wrote:This sounds cute! The synopsis does sound interesting - the fact that there is a secret makes me want to find out what it is. I think Ross sounds like a character I would like a lot. I tend to like characters who are very academic and fascinated by their areas of study, like Kent in Amnesia. Is Amaranth going to be a faceless protagonist, or is there just no art for her yet? (Also, Amaranth is a really nice name.)
Whoops, I definitely forgot to explain: Amaranth will not be a faceless protagonist, I just haven't done her concept art/sketches quite yet! I considered a faceless MC, but figured it'd make more sense to give Amaranth a face since she does have a preset personality.

And that's one more vote for Ross! I think I kind of expected more love for Kennith (I personally tend to gravitate towards the tsunderes), but it's nice to see Ross get some love. he's my virtual son

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#8 Post by M0ti »

Wow so many things right from the beginning? You are incredibly productive! I will make you my role model and watch this thread frequently.

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#9 Post by smilehirasaka »

aaaa I'm very interested! The concept is nice & romantic even as a domestic/slice of life story, so the added bit of mystery definitely makes it so much more intriguing.... I'm on a good tie between hisashi & kennith for best boy... hisashi is undoubtedly cute & warm, but kennith is the sexy one (LOL) i'm excited to see where his character goes! good luck guys!

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#10 Post by LokemTotem »

Must be something dubious that Kennith's hiding! He doesn't use cell phones :o ... Our speculation, he's a part of the mob! And not the Mob100 group ;) Looks like you guys are off to a great start. Keep up the great work! Were excited to see the art, those sketches look clean! Nice theming with the terrarium!

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#11 Post by Harliqueen »

Does the synopsis sound promising to you?
Yes! It sounds really interesting. I love things that have a bit of mystery behind them! Looking forward to finding out what it is :)

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?

Probably Ross, though that could change as more is revealed :D

That GUI... oh my word, I love it! So soft, and the colours suit it all perfectly. Can't wait to find out more about this. Good luck with!
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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#12 Post by YuukiCrossPudding »

This looks soo good! My mother love to plant things (mainly veggies though) so I have a fondness for story that includes plants in it.
and a solo project!! wow, can't wait to see the finished game.

Does the synopsis sound promising to you? (I can't reveal what the secret is, sorry T_T)
It does! The plot sounds simple but still interesting overall.

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?
I can't choose ;; all of them took my attention, but I'll be interested to see how Amaranth character will be when interacting with others.

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#13 Post by Mama J »

The wittle chibi babies, awWW <33 Be still, my heart.

Amaranth is such a pretty name; how did you choose it?

Kennith's my favorite already. I don't like using mobile phones either (mostly because I don't own one, lol). But mostly because I'd rather not be glued to a screen. I also really respect you so much for taking on a project on your own. Props to you, my friend.

The premise is definitely promising. I'm interested in seeing the development of this game; good luck!

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#14 Post by Alcor »

Oh gosh, thank you guys so much for the comments! Waking up and seeing comments on my projects is almost like waking up on Christmas morning and finding cute things in my stocking. Except better. This sounds kind of cheesy.
M0ti wrote:Wow so many things right from the beginning? You are incredibly productive! I will make you my role model and watch this thread frequently.
Ahaha, thank you! I do admit that the chibis + logo were done two weeks ago, and I started on the GUI last week. I haven't actually done much since NaNo actually began ^_^;
smilehirasaka wrote:aaaa I'm very interested! The concept is nice & romantic even as a domestic/slice of life story, so the added bit of mystery definitely makes it so much more intriguing.... I'm on a good tie between hisashi & kennith for best boy... hisashi is undoubtedly cute & warm, but kennith is the sexy one (LOL) i'm excited to see where his character goes! good luck guys!
Haha, I've never thought of Kennith as the sexy one (but now that you point it out, I agree wholeheartedly)! I'm not a terrific writer, but I hope I can write Kennith's character development well enough.
LokemTotem wrote:Must be something dubious that Kennith's hiding! He doesn't use cell phones :o ... Our speculation, he's a part of the mob! And not the Mob100 group ;) Looks like you guys are off to a great start. Keep up the great work! Were excited to see the art, those sketches look clean! Nice theming with the terrarium!
Thank you so much! This project idea began with "I want to make a visual novel about terrariums", so I'm glad that's working out.

I now want to make a mafia AU for these characters
Harliqueen wrote:Does the synopsis sound promising to you?
Yes! It sounds really interesting. I love things that have a bit of mystery behind them! Looking forward to finding out what it is :)

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?

Probably Ross, though that could change as more is revealed :D

That GUI... oh my word, I love it! So soft, and the colours suit it all perfectly. Can't wait to find out more about this. Good luck with!
Ahhh, thank you so much! I made the GUI first because I was really excited about making something terrarium-themed (and also because I just really enjoy making GUI ahaha), and I'm so glad to hear that people are enjoying it!
YuukiCrossPudding wrote:This looks soo good! My mother love to plant things (mainly veggies though) so I have a fondness for story that includes plants in it.
and a solo project!! wow, can't wait to see the finished game.

Does the synopsis sound promising to you? (I can't reveal what the secret is, sorry T_T)
It does! The plot sounds simple but still interesting overall.

Given the minimal information provided, which character sounds the most interesting to you?
I can't choose ;; all of them took my attention, but I'll be interested to see how Amaranth character will be when interacting with others.
Eeee, thanks! I also love plants (though I'm apparently terrible at taking care of them), and I was kind of surprised to realize that there aren't that many plant-themed visual novels out there. This being a solo project might be a Pretty Bad Idea, but I feel like I'm committed to finishing this; I just hope this project is doable within a reasonable time frame ;_;
Mama J wrote:The wittle chibi babies, awWW <33 Be still, my heart.

Amaranth is such a pretty name; how did you choose it?

Kennith's my favorite already. I don't like using mobile phones either (mostly because I don't own one, lol). But mostly because I'd rather not be glued to a screen. I also really respect you so much for taking on a project on your own. Props to you, my friend.

The premise is definitely promising. I'm interested in seeing the development of this game; good luck!
I was looking into flower names for the MC, and I just really fell in love with this one! (I also googled 'amaranth' and one of the definitions is 'an imaginary flower that never fades'. Which may or may not be a tad spoilery :'D). I'm glad you like it!

I'm also not very fond of phones, but that probably has to do with how I can never remember where I put it. I hope Kennith's reason for not using mobile phones (or just phones in general) makes sense when it's revealed!

And thank you! I'll try my best to finish a demo for this on time, but if all fails, my team project (bookSLEEPer) will have higher priority. Your own project looks really ambitious (so many characters, it's so impressive!), and I wish you the best of luck with that as well!

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Re: a(t)rium [GxB] [NaNo'17]

#15 Post by Alcor »

I had more time than I expected to work today (probably because I'm procrastinating on all my homework), so I was able to finish linearting all the sprites. Here they are!

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I have a free day tomorrow, so I'm hoping to finish all four sprites (if not coloring them, then at least flat colors) for a(t)rium and the UI for bookSLEEPer. I'm probably overestimating how quickly I work, though... ^_^;

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