7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls] NaNo demo out!

NaNoRenO is an event where creators make a game from scratch during the month of March.
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puffinlady
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7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls] NaNo demo out!

#1 Post by puffinlady »

Summary
In the middle of the wasteland formerly known as Gainesville, Florida, the AI supercomputer Rhode-S32 miraculously awakens from an EMP-induced slumber. Rhode discovers in a diagnostic scan that she only has 73.88 hours left before her internal components fail and all her data is lost. The companion android who reactivated her, Merope, greets Rhode and explains the situation: Civilization was destroyed by a global nuclear conflict, and the surviving humans have retreated underground into bunkers.

Rhode, unable to abandon her pre-programmed directive to "know all" even in the absence of her creator, insists on uncovering the reason why before her internal components fail. Conversely, Merope insists that there is no value in learning about the past; if Rhode truly wants to know all, she should observe the new world before her.
—And so begins the story of the AI girls, Rhode-S32 and YF-MEROPE-853.

7388 is milk+'s surprise project for NaNoRenO 2018. It is a short visual novel with four endings, inspired by 17776 and Analogue: A Hate Story. You decide what Rhode-S32 does with the 3 days of her second life. Will you look back at the past, face the present, or create a new future?

The itch.io page can be seen here.

Characters
Image

Rhode-S32
A supercomputer named after her creator's mother. Her directive is "to know all".

As she was set on Hibernation Mode a year before the stated "end of the world", Rhode is unaware of whatever political conflict that occurred to cause the nuclear apocalypse. She is an unsophisticated AI when it comes to personality, and occasionally has difficulty computing independent thought. Regardless, Rhode seems to possess a fondness for her creator.
Image

YF-MEROPE-853
The 853rd MEROPE Type companion android, a member of the Pleiades Wives android series. Her directive is "to seek companionship (like a stubborn little sister type)".

Merope was activated an hour before the apocalypse and survived the EMP and nuclear blast by hiding in her owner's concrete basement. Since then, Merope has wandered North and South America alone, seeking a companion, unable to shut herself down. Despite her directive and purpose, she's actually quite indifferent towards the fate of humanity.

The company behind the Pleaides Wives under-budgeted their crowdfunding campaign and had to cut corners, hence why Merope has no proper hands, feet, or facial expressions.

Progress
Scenario: 33% | First draft (Demo Ready)
Artwork: 39% | Sprites complete, 4 CG sketches done (Demo Ready)
Music & Sound: 45% | Collecting music and sound effects...
Programming: 35% | Only gallery is left to implement. Some of the scenario is partially implemented

Our hope is to make a nice, short little game within the month. It's also our first time participating in NaNoRenO! Why am I saying "our"?? I'm the only developer working on this game. This is how I die.

By the way, if you didn't guess it already from the summary, this game isn't going to be very happy.

I don't know how to make a happy game.
Last edited by puffinlady on Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:17 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#2 Post by Zelan »

Ayyyyy, what a nice surprise! If this is coming from you I know it'll be good. :D Androids are always fun, I'm excited to see what you do with them.

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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#3 Post by SLASH-7 »

The story sounds interesting! Best of luck.

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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#4 Post by azaraih »

That's a really interesting idea for a story (and robots are always cool)! I'm excited to see more about the characters and their dynamic. Good luck with your development!
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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#5 Post by femslashfatale »

oooo this looks really cool, ill be looking forward to the rest of what you come up with!

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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#6 Post by puffinlady »

Hi everyone and thanks for your support, unfortunately my brain is a little too foggy from pain meds so I can't write up personalized replies, but just know that I'm glad you're all interested in 7388.

I recently underwent laparoscopic surgery to get my appendix removed. I don't know if I'll make NaNoRenO now because of this, but I will keep pushing forward regardless. Before I had to go under the knife, I finished up the first draft of the very beginning of the script...and that's about it. The GUI would be done and implemented right now if I didn't have to go to the hospital on the day I was gonna do it. :x Oh well. It's not like I could have predicted my appendix would get infected this month.
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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#7 Post by Zelan »

puffinlady wrote: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:19 pm Hi everyone and thanks for your support, unfortunately my brain is a little too foggy from pain meds so I can't write up personalized replies, but just know that I'm glad you're all interested in 7388.

I recently underwent laparoscopic surgery to get my appendix removed. I don't know if I'll make NaNoRenO now because of this, but I will keep pushing forward regardless. Before I had to go under the knife, I finished up the first draft of the very beginning of the script...and that's about it. The GUI would be done and implemented right now if I didn't have to go to the hospital on the day I was gonna do it. :x Oh well. It's not like I could have predicted my appendix would get infected this month.
Oh, man, that sucks! Hope you're recovering well. <3

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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#8 Post by puffinlady »

Long time no see, everyone! I basically made a full recovery on Monday and since then I've been cracking down to make up for lost time, but I haven't found the time to make an update post until now.

Story

I finished the first half of the common (before the first choice branch), and wrote two of the three endings. A friend of mine also proofread that first half, so it's basically ready for editing for the next draft. I'm going to continue doing the milestone-by-milestone friend proofreading to speed up the process.

Artwork

The base of Merope's sprite has been lined and (base) colored. Here's her eyeless and mouthless heads, since the rest of her is naked:

Image

Note: this screenshot is a little old.

And I have completed one CG sketch. It's the very first CG you see:

Image

Other CG progress will also be sketch by sketch, then lineart by lineart, color by color etc to keep everything consistent. There probably won't be many CGs since it's a small project, I'm looking at about 10-15 CGs with a maximum of 5 variations each.

Last but not least, a friend of mine who lives in Florida is getting some reference pictures for me right now so I can make backgrounds! They will all be hand-drawn...This sounds extremely ambitious at this point...it seemed a lot less ambitious before I ended up in the hospital @_@

Programming

I have implemented the main menu screen, the text box, the quick menu, the choice buttons, and am basically almost done with the config screen aside from those ugly bars and lack of ambience/system options. I still have yet to get started on the gallery screen and save/load screens, and I need to adjust the history screen. My hope is that I'll be able to put some animation in this GUI as well, but I'll be doing that last after all the artwork.

The background you see is a placeholder, made by Arsenixc: https://arsenixc.deviantart.com/art/Tok ... -684804497
Obviously, they won't be present in the final version. That would be theft. They'll be replaced with my own work.


Edit: On second thought, maybe I shouldn't be publicly posting placeholder images using art from another game. Here's shots with a solid color placeholder instead.

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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#9 Post by puffinlady »

Hello everyone! Here are some updates on 7388's progress.

First, Merope's sprites have been completed! Here's one of them.

Image

She has three other poses. You can see two more here on this Tweet. The third one is just her from behind.

Second, we've decided to trim the scope of the NaNo18 release and make it a demo due to the delays caused by my appendectomy. This demo will have only one of the three endings and no gallery screen.

Which ending, you ask? That's for you to find out!

Finally (whoops, I hit the submit button on accident...), I've completed the options screen and the history screen. No screenshots unfortunately, but soon. There's also a click to continue icon now.
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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#10 Post by puffinlady »

Hello! Quick update!

1. The demo got downgraded even further! (My health ruins everything)
It now only contains part of that one ending. It would be more accurate to call it a "proof of concept" at this point.

2. The save screen is done!

3. I have made draft versions of the backgrounds that will be appearing in the demo! They will act as placeholders.

4. The few CGs that will be shown will also be drafts

5. I decided the release date for the full version will be on April 22nd. (That's Earth Day)

No screenshots because I'm Russian -> Finnish. See you soon with the demo!
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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls]

#11 Post by puffinlady »

The demo is here!

Get it over here on itch.io.

The full version is coming out on April 22. :D

And I accidentally came up with a 4th ending.
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Re: 7388 [NaNo18][Sci-Fi][GXG][Cute Robot Girls] NaNo demo out!

#12 Post by Mammon »

I just played the demo and I have to say that it was real enjoyable. Not just a good story, but a good story when binging through NaNo18 and thus aready being VN-sick when starting the game. So, really good. I like how you made the AI just defined yet not too defined enough that I as the audience could decide on the line between what was their programming and what their personality was like. This game offers good worldbuilding, character building and plot without getting too heavy or expositiony on any of them. Something I can greatly appreciate. And you really made Merope's sprite with her blank expression great dynamics a real endearing character, my most favourite NaNo'18 character thus far. (So, best of 18 VNs.)
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Want some CC sprites?

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