An Autumn's Requiem

[M12]

If this world will become shrouded in darkness, then at the very least, let us dream for one last time...

I love visual novels so much, I've decided to try developing one of my own, and see what I can learn from everyone along the way.
Here's the story; the protagonist just realised that he is soon going to turn blind, and a counselor (shown in the attachment) takes him to ride on a ferris wheel so that he may "dream for the last time".
Any feedback will be appreciated =).

[mikey]

I've heard about the project over at Haeleth's forums, anyway, I find everything very good so far, the art, the basic story and so on, if you leave out the usual "there's always room for improvement" formula, this story and this art should make for a really good game.

However: it's very hard to give comments on anything more specific, since there's nothing really there - perhaps if you tell more about the technical aspect, like what length the game will be, whether it will be a branching story, estimated finish date or similar, there can be more feedback. It looks like a short story, so I think anything goes, really. The only thing that's important is finishing it.

You may find this helpful:
http://www.bishoujo.us/wiki/Resources
There are links to resources and tips and tools to make it easier for the VN developer.

And welcome!

[Watercolorheart]

I think the character art and the story both look and sound wonderful.

[M12]

Thanks so much for your kind words, people.
Here're some of the technical aspects. The game will be three chapters long, so yes, a short story. Finishing date, hopefully very early next year at the latest. I choose to make this game in Flash, as I want to add this project to my career portfolio (and I need to demonstrate my understanding of Flash).
Thanks, and any other comments are welcome =D.

[dizzcity]

What's the theme of your story?

Every good story has a theme. Good themes can usually be captured in one line - sometimes even one word. Narcissu's theme, for instance, is probably "Behind every statistic, there exists a human life with meaning." Other very common themes include "Love conquers all", "Respect one another", "Protect nature", etc. What message are you trying to bring across to your readers in your story?

You don't necessarily have to reveal it now (in fact, I think it's probably best if you don't, so that we get the first impressions of your theme directly from the writing instead of your statement beforehand), but I think it would be a good idea to make sure your theme is firmly planted in your head before writing. Just from what you've written so far, I could extract out several possible themes, including "escapism", "hope is the last thing to die", "fatalism", "farewell to good times", and a few others. Each would create a slightly different mood, depending on how you write it. Or it could be something else entirely different. It all depends on your choice.

Artwork looks good so far.

-Dizzy-

[Watercolorheart]

"hope is the last thing to die"

I really like that one.

[M12]

yep dizzcity, themes are very important in stories. The theme is my visual novel would be something along the lines of "appreciate what your have", but I don't want to reveal what it is precisely, as that'll spoil the fun, don't you think ?

[dizzcity]

Heh, no problem. You haven't posted any script or plot points yet, so I was just making sure you did have a theme. I'll be waiting to read it.

@BCS: I thought you might like that one. It's the most grand-sounding of all the themes there, isn't it? Can be adapted to a wide variety of plots, too.

-Dizzy-

[M12]

Hey everyone, just thought I'd upload some teaser images for An Autumn's Requiem =)



The screenshots are taken from chapter one. Don't wanna spoil the later scenes . Well, not that there're that many visuals ^__^;.

I should actually be able to finish by early December. Unfortunately, a friend of mine is writing the soundtrack for it, but she won't have it ready until late Feburary next year. So yeah...

Comments will be appreicated. Thank you =).

[mikey]

I absolutely love it, the atmosphere is fantastic. There's something about the graphics... wonderful. Too bad the soundtrack won't be finished until February though
I can only hope this gets finished, it looks really nice.

[Watercolorheart]

Oh, it's sweet! The art is simple but I can definitely see the talent. You know what I like the best? The shading is all done by hand with airbrush.

Anyway, the ferris wheel was cool.

[DaFool]

It's very charming. All the more that it's in Flash...its a good thing you went painterly approach rather than flat tones.

The Ferris Wheel looks like 3DCG. The title screen looks beautiful.

[M12]

It's Feburary, and as promised, my friend has almost finished composing the soundtrack for an Autumn's Requiem. The game is ready, so is the website, but I choose not to show either for now, since it might ruin the game . If all goes well, everything should be ready by next Sat/Sun, so please look forward to it ...
By the way, does anybody know where I can upload the game to? The file will probably be around 40mbs... files on rapidshare are only temporarily, as are the ones from megauploads... I don't hold a domain name, and geocities only allow 20mb of free upload. Any ideas will be appreciated. Does Lemma Soft by any chance provide space for upload? I saw some games for upload on the site, so I'm just wondering.
Thanks everyone.

[ShiraiJunichi]

I'm not sure there's a file size limit on uploading to forums... but if there is, you could always use megaupload.com . Then, once it's out, it can be placed at the Ren'Ai archives if you give permission.

[M12]

Yep, I'll give permission for sure. So 40mb is acceptable for Ren'Ai?