Story: In a sleepy, quiet town in Hokkaido, 18-year old Haruka Nakamura is just starting her university education at the prestigious Tomoko Kami International Academy. Her goal? To figure out what her goal is in life. The possibilities for new friendships are endless, not to mention for a little romance on the side...
Main characters:
Haruka Nakamura
Could be easily confused at first sight with an ordinary student, but is actually our protagonist. Haruka has had a happy childhood with her loving, endlessly supportive parents, who passed on opportunities for promotions or overtime in order to spend as much time with her as possible and taught her the importance of possessing a strong moral compass and doing what she enjoys in life, and her inseparable friends Noriko and Hitomi, who never failed to make her days more interesting and enjoyable.
A kind, easygoing and carefree person with a great sensitivity and concern for helping other people, Haruka's plan for the future is to find out what her plan for the future is. Preferably as soon as possible. (Unfortunately for her, she can't find it at the end of an RPG quest after defeating the final boss.) In the meantime, she makes sure to take it easy and do everything she can to enjoy every day and have fun with her friends.
Akane Asahi
A principled and determined athlete, Akane is a scholarship student at the academy, studying mechatronic engineering. (No, not the science of engineering mechas. This isn't next Sunday AD.) Moderately competent in academics but excelling at football, she is an introvert who has trouble getting along with people on account of her defensiveness and wariness inherited from a difficult family background. Her siblings and close friends whose patience and persistence in befriending her succeeded have the privilege of witnessing a different side of her personality.
Will the new beginning as a transfer student herald a new outlook as well?
Miyuki Kujō
Half-British, half-Japanese, 100% ojou. Miyuki has not had the happiest childhood, losing her mother at birth and being saddled with a rich, cutthroat businessman of a father who has been too busy to raise her, and in the few occasions he has been present in her life it was mainly to pressure her into following a particular path in life. Rebelling aganist her stifling background, Miyuki has shunned the most high-profile, prestigious universities in favour of coming to Tomoko Kami to study a subject she genuinely enjoys: Japanese literature.
Miyuki’s caring, mature personality and effortlessly elegant aura have earned her at least one instant fan club during her years in school, a fact that made her uncomfortable because she felt like she was being judged based on assumptions of who she was instead of what she was actually like. A diligent learner who is sensitive to other people's feelings, Miyuki does her best to play down or not acknowledge her background, in order to remain firmly grounded as a person. Her main desire in life is to be loved and have friends, though she wouldn't mind learning to cook food instead of improvised rat poison if the opportunity presents itself.
Kanako Tsuchiya
Tomboy racer to the end. Growing up, Kanako and her younger sister Sanae lived with their parents in Murata, where her and her father's visits sparked a lifelong interest in cars and motorsports. The increasing rift between her father and mother, as well as their intolerant attitude towards her sexuality, led Kanako and Sanae to move in with their more accepting aunt and uncle in Hokkaido. Kanako also took the opportunity to enroll in the academy, to study mechanical engineering with a focus on cars.
Beneath Kanako's proud, unflappable exterior and intimidatingly thorough knowledge of motorsports and automobile engineering lies a heart of gold, best demonstrated by her protective instinct and care for Sanae. A bookworm when it comes to engineering and an occasional mechanic in her spare time, Kanako's ambition is to become a racing driver. She considers Deep Purple’s “Speed King” and “Highway Star” to be her “jams”.
Karen Kerslake
A native of Seaside, Karen has long regarded Japan as a very interesting place indeed, and when she found out her Californian university was twinned with the academy she practically leapt at the opportunity to study there for a year as an exchange student. Even if she's actually studying English.
An intelligent, insatiably curious and very open and honest person, Karen loves to learn more about... everything, really. She has a well-honed ability to ask questions and start conversations about anything, followed by wondering how did so many hours go by so quickly once they end. She enjoys swimming and surfing, though she's not particularly good at the latter. She hopes to finish her year abroad with a minimum of embarrassing linguistic faux-pas and leave with broadened horizons and new friends. (And the ability to instantly tell whether a kanji should be read with the on’yomi or kun’yomi, when she’s feeling invincibly, world-conqueringly ambitious.)
Hitomi Amatsuka
A close childhood friend of Haruka and Noriko, Hitomi is a sweet, caring, good-hearted person who can be friends with anybody. Her gentle personality and low-key, calmly happy demeanour serve to subtly brighten her surroundings and improve the mood of the people she's with. They also automatically make anybody in her vicinity look more energetic and driven by comparison, but at heart she possesses a great inner strength that has been known to surprise people who mistake her quiet nature for submissiveness. She works as a miko at the local shrine when she isn’t attending the academy, where she studies veterinary science.
Team: Kirina (writing), Gyl (writing, music), Hodori (writing), Tori (writing - secondary characters), Yuuki (writing, artist) and Rinima (additional writing, beta-reading, minor coding and concept art) so far.
4 August 2014: Rinima (additional writing, beta-reading, minor coding and concept art) joined the party!
Note: None of us are actually Japanese. If anybody knows more about Japan than we do, or is actually Japanese, and would like to join or help to make sure our writing isn’t laughably clueless, we would love to have you onboard!
Other comments: This is our first VN project. We’re aiming for a lighthearted, easygoing slice of life/iyashikei kind of story. The kind that somebody could play and have a warm and fuzzy feeling at the end. :3
Assets:
Writing: The rather messy main planning document + the prologue. (Please excuse the disorganisation :3)
Soundtrack demo: Daisy Morning, Gakkō e no sanpo, Your Call Is Very Important To Us Please Hold, Girls und Post-Disco, Orange Knickers (WIP) (early WIP)
Purpose of thread: Gauging interest in project before expanding the team + gathering feedback on what works and what could use improvement, mainly. Providing updates on progress of project as a secondary use, if people are interested in following.
Questions:
1. Would you be interested in playing this game?
1.5. Or helping out with its creation?
2. What do you think of the characters?
2.5. Would you like more details about them, or the supporting characters?
3. Do you prefer any of the working titles so far, or should we come up with another batch?
4. Any other things in particular you would like to suggest?
Q. Are we not men?
EDITS
5 August 2014: Awesome logo contributed by Rinima!
13 August 2014: Setting updated, additional writing in progress, "Daisy Morning" finished.
14 August 2014: First concept artwork contributed by Rinima!
14-16 August 2014: Character descriptions upgraded with more detail.
14-17 August 2014: Concept artwork contributed by Rinima.
19 August 2014: "Gakko e no sanpo" and "Your Call Is Important To Us Please Hold" added.
1 September: Concept artwork for Karen contributed by Rinima.
12 September: "Girls und Post-Disco" added.