Zefii - A Transcendent Journey (RELEASED!)

[animedaisuki]

Hi game-lovers and anime-lovers!


UDPATE: Beta Version RELEASED! http://balibu.weebly.com/games.html SEE http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 11&t=21868
UDPATE: Website under construction... Please check out our studio's new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq44Ah-wlWc

UDPATE: Please note that the website is now: http://balibu.weebly.com/ NOT balibustudios.weebly.com NOR is it zefii.weebly.com

UPDATE: Website has been moved. The new one will be out ASAP. Sorry for the inconvenience. The previous web designer is no longer associated with the project.

UPDATE! The test version of the game will be released by the end of this week (around May 17-20)!

UPDATE! Check out our new website!
http://zefii.weebly.com



My friends and I are currently producing a visual novel with exploration and puzzle features. The game will be released on an independent forum in May 2013!

About the Game
The game begins when the player wakes up from a nap. He notices something odd about his study room. Soon, he discovers a hidden palace inside his own house! He then meets a variety of characters in the palace, one of whom is Zefii, the player's target in the game. His interaction with the various characters determines the path he will take. There are 6 endings in total. The player will also receive a cellphone from Zefii, and will be able to receive and respond to phone calls from Zefii throughout the game! What is more, he is free to travel anywhere he wants (yes, it's similar to pokemon )! The gameplay is NOT linear like an ordinary VN game.

During his time in the palace, the player gradually uncovers the memories of his past life. Eventually, he travels to the Demon Realm to find Zefii, and, together, the two of them enters a brand new world --- is it heaven or is it the beginning of another nightmare?


The game is suitable for both guys and girls. All characters are designed very carefully so as to suit different players' tastes. Please help us to support the game Feel free to leave feedback! We are always looking for ways to improve our game!



Current Progress:
Script: 100%
Illustration: 100%
Coding: 100%
Music: 100%
Translation (Japanese): 100%
Translation (Chinese): 100%
Translation (Korean): 75%

[v3-kei]

The character looks like Arina Tanemura's style a tad but too much, IMO. I'm worried that the background and character styles are much too different... ^^;;

But good luck!

[animedaisuki]

Hey, thanks for the feedback! Really appreciated! Yes, I did base this particular character on her style. I really like the way she draws long hair. I guess it's hard to develop a brand new method to do the hair? I'll keep practicing! This is my first time doing illustrations for a game. madamda ganbaranakya

[v3-kei]

Try to do the hair style without referencing the facss too, mYbe then it won't look so similar. Or you can try drawing this character in lots of poses until you can find the style of your own. My worry also goes to how detailed your usual background is compared to your CG one. Do you draw yourself or use free BG resources?

[AxemRed]

There's not really much to comment on.
1. What's the game about? "hidden past" isn't a very detailed plot synopsis.
2. What type of game is it? You seem to waffle between dating sim/visual novel/adventure game.

[animedaisuki]

Try to do the hair style without referencing the facss too, mYbe then it won't look so similar. Or you can try drawing this character in lots of poses until you can find the style of your own. My worry also goes to how detailed your usual background is compared to your CG one. Do you draw yourself or use free BG resources?

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I'm changing the details of the facial features as well as the hairstyle right now! The final version will definitely be much more original!

As for the background, the way the game will work is that the characters will appear on top of the backgrounds. So integrating the character into the background is not an issue in the game. The backgrounds are usually photos of random places (most are photos from my trips to various places), and then changed by adding fantastical objects and combining with other photos. Then finishing up by adding some special effects. All my artwork is done using the Paint Tool Sai program. As much as I do want to draw all the backgrounds from scratch like I did with the characters, since I am the ONLY illustrator for this game, the limitation in time seems to make the task impossible. I'm heading to law school in May, so this game has to be completed before that... A game like this requires about 100 drawings. One drawing takes roughly a day to complete, so 100 would take more than 3 months. This is the time it requires when I am using a base background for the BG. I would imagine that the time would triple if I do all the BG from scratch.

Nevertheless, I really appreciate your comments and your suggestions on how to improve the game! I will try my best to fix all the issues!

[animedaisuki]

There's not really much to comment on.
1. What's the game about? "hidden past" isn't a very detailed plot synopsis.
2. What type of game is it? You seem to waffle between dating sim/visual novel/adventure game.

Hi,

Many thanks for the comments! We left the description ambiguous because we did not want to disclose the plotline. The point of a visual novel is for the player to discover the secret as s/he proceeds with the game. The hidden past actually refers to the player's past life. The game starts when the player finds himself alone in his study room and he tries to find out what is happening from there. As you can see, for a mystery game like this, it is often not a good idea to reveal too much of the plotline in the description. But you did bring up a good point and you were not the first one to inform us about this issue. Do you have any suggestions as to how we could include just enough details but not too much to spoil the plot?

Secondly, indeed, we've had some trouble categorizing this game. This is mostly due to the fact that the game is a combination between all of those categories. It does have multiple plotlines, so it could be called a visual novel. On the other hand, however, it has much more interactions than a traditional visual novel, so, in that case, you may say it's a dating sim game. Along the same lines, the game has many features of exploration, which seems to fit into the category of an adventure game. But if I were to use one single category to label this game, I would say visual novel. Hope that helps?

[Zylinder]

As for the background, the way the game will work is that the characters will appear on top of the backgrounds. So integrating the character into the background is not an issue in the game.

It's more a stylistic sense that they're talking about. The art is very anime, while the background is very abstract. There are ways other than drawing backgrounds from scratch, such as editing photos to make them look like painted backgrounds. Have a team member or two check out the forums. Several artists have put up tutorials on how they achieve certain effects, so pick one that you like and roll with it.

Alternatively, there's always pre-made assets. Here's a link with some basics.

[animedaisuki]

As for the background, the way the game will work is that the characters will appear on top of the backgrounds. So integrating the character into the background is not an issue in the game.

It's more a stylistic sense that they're talking about. The art is very anime, while the background is very abstract. There are ways other than drawing backgrounds from scratch, such as editing photos to make them look like painted backgrounds. Have a team member or two check out the forums. Several artists have put up tutorials on how they achieve certain effects, so pick one that you like and roll with it.

Alternatively, there's always pre-made assets. Here's a link with some basics.

Heyy! Thanks for the comment. I know what they were talking about, but I thought it would be less of a problem if the characters are not part of the background picture (as opposed to the character standing in the background)? I think the easiest solution is probably to use one of those effects in photoshop (like paint or sth). Using other artist's work would probably be just as inconsistent as what I currently have since drawing and painting styles can vary greatly between different artists. I did take a quick look at the link you gave me, but it seems that the backgrounds don't really match my drawing nor does it match my storyline. But I'll search for the tutorials that you suggested!

[gekiganwing]

Genre fusions are tricky. Sometimes they work, and sometimes you end up with a product that has trouble finding an audience. (For instance, science fiction fans love the TV series Firefly, but it might have failed to get good ratings due to its mix of ideas from sci-fi and westerns. And who was the movie Last Action Hero for -- kids, adults, or satire fans?) So I recommend making sure people know what they're getting. Compare your gameplay to something that already exists. Try to summarize your work with an elevator pitch (a sentence or two).

For those who participate in the promotion/development of the game (i.e. giving feedback, subscribing and liking on YouTube, following us on Twitter), we will put you into our lottery for free magical gemstones giveaway in the game.

If the magical gemstones that you mentioned are in-game items that players can purchase, then think carefully about this design choice. Ask yourself if you would want to buy these items for game benefits, and if you think other people would purchase them. Also, are you currently planning to sell Zefii as an independent game? If so, and if you have not already sold your own games/novels/comics/anything online, then I recommend asking for advice first.

In addition, we are also looking for suggestions of good visual novel forums where we could advertise our game. If you know any good ones, please let us know! Your help will be much appreciated!

Consider discussing your plans on Reddit. If you want to get feedback specifically from women, discuss it on My Neoromance. If your game is freeware, then you may benefit from posting on the TVTropes VN forum. A few years ago, I would have suggested Megatokyo, but the DSVN section of the forum has been looking like a ghost town lately. Anyone have other suggestions?

[animedaisuki]

Genre fusions are tricky. Sometimes they work, and sometimes you end up with a product that has trouble finding an audience. (For instance, science fiction fans love the TV series Firefly, but it might have failed to get good ratings due to its mix of ideas from sci-fi and westerns. And who was the movie Last Action Hero for -- kids, adults, or satire fans?) So I recommend making sure people know what they're getting. Compare your gameplay to something that already exists. Try to summarize your work with an elevator pitch (a sentence or two).

For those who participate in the promotion/development of the game (i.e. giving feedback, subscribing and liking on YouTube, following us on Twitter), we will put you into our lottery for free magical gemstones giveaway in the game.

If the magical gemstones that you mentioned are in-game items that players can purchase, then think carefully about this design choice. Ask yourself if you would want to buy these items for game benefits, and if you think other people would purchase them. Also, are you currently planning to sell Zefii as an independent game? If so, and if you have not already sold your own games/novels/comics/anything online, then I recommend asking for advice first.

In addition, we are also looking for suggestions of good visual novel forums where we could advertise our game. If you know any good ones, please let us know! Your help will be much appreciated!

Consider discussing your plans on Reddit. If you want to get feedback specifically from women, discuss it on My Neoromance. If your game is freeware, then you may benefit from posting on the TVTropes VN forum. A few years ago, I would have suggested Megatokyo, but the DSVN section of the forum has been looking like a ghost town lately. Anyone have other suggestions?

Wow that was a very detailed feedback! Thanks so much! None of the people in my team are working in the game industry. We are all in different fields; hence, we are simply doing this game for fun. So making a profit is not the main purpose? The magical gemstones are similar to diamonds in those iphone games, such as the popular game Temple Run 2. Players do not need to purchase any gemstones in order to finish the game. The gemstones will be used an energy boost and gifts for the female character in the game. Players can find several of them throughout the game. And even if the player does not have any gemstones, it simply means it will take longer to complete the game.

All in all, the game is free unless you are dying to know the ending and want to finish ASAP. I will send those forum links to our marketing person! Thanks so much for sharing those links here! Really appreciated!

[AxemRed]

>The point of a visual novel is for the player to discover the secret as s/he proceeds with the game.
No, it's not.

>Do you have any suggestions as to how we could include just enough details but not too much to spoil the plot?
If you spoil a bit too much, players may be disappointed after playing the game. If you spoil too little, people won't play it in the first place. Say you were writing this as a book, what would you put on the back cover to get people interested in reading the story -- something like that.

>It does have multiple plotlines, so it could be called a visual novel.
Having multiple plotlines doesn't make something a visual novel. Adventure games, RPGs and dating sims also often have a branching plot.
>it has much more interactions (...) you may say it's a dating sim game
Does it have actual simulation gameplay? If not, it's not a dating sim.

[animedaisuki]

>The point of a visual novel is for the player to discover the secret as s/he proceeds with the game.
No, it's not.

>Do you have any suggestions as to how we could include just enough details but not too much to spoil the plot?
If you spoil a bit too much, players may be disappointed after playing the game. If you spoil too little, people won't play it in the first place. Say you were writing this as a book, what would you put on the back cover to get people interested in reading the story -- something like that.

>It does have multiple plotlines, so it could be called a visual novel.
Having multiple plotlines doesn't make something a visual novel. Adventure games, RPGs and dating sims also often have a branching plot.
>it has much more interactions (...) you may say it's a dating sim game
Does it have actual simulation gameplay? If not, it's not a dating sim.

Thanks for answering my questions from the previous post. I think the confusion with my game is similar to Fate/Stay Night. There might be an official classification for it, but it is actually a case where it could be classified into multiple categories. Here, by the way, I'm referring to Fate the original game, not the anime or the movie or the fighting game that was made after the release of the anime. Fate has a lot of text, so it appears to be a visual novel. Yet, it also has 3 different girls that the player can hit on, which makes it appear like a dating sim. I've never played the game, so I don't know if there are simulations in it. But if it doesn't, according to your definition, would you say it's a visual novel, and not a dating sim? Either way, my game seems to be even blurrier in terms of this categorization issue. It has an embedded texting system with the game characters, which is sort of like a simulation? But it also has a comprehensive storyline. It seems having multiple categories is a common feature of many games on this site... Most of the posts have datingsim/adventure/rpg kind of labels. Or would you suggest me to reduce my category down to 2?

[zankizuna]

Daaang that's some awesome art you got there! I'm gonna be looking forward to this!

[v3-kei]

I'll be blunt: You need to thread very carefully here; your character pictures as seen in the trailer (I don't even know if they are CG or sprites) look like they are being traced because of their inconsistencies and their similarities with so many different FAMOUS mangaka/anime artists. Please consider scraping them and hire a new artist, because to be frank, your current artists can be accused of tracing or stealing other people's art.

That being said, if the styles are too dfferent, even just putting them on the background instead of being placed in the background still won't work for creating a fluid experience for the players, I think.