Raidaa no Asahi [Coming Soon... Very Soon]

[Sakurazaki]

OMG I can't wait to play it. I'm really good with shooters. D:

[monele]

I was really scared to click, just in case it wouldn't be what I expected but... woah! . It *wasn't* what I expected, but in a good way! XD I'm very impressed
The turn based system actually seems like it works ô_o... it's unusual at best but it doesn't look bad. I just hope there'll be more enemies exploding in the non-boss battles : will there be multiple enemies actually?

I love the cut-ins and all that's missing is the girl yelling "Chansu da yooo!" o^^o...

[chronoluminaire]

Cool!
It's great to see the things you've mentioned here, like charging up special attacks and performing dual and delta attacks, in action.
Interesting the way that getting hit removes your special-attack charge, so it's safer to switch to a character who's not got much charge for the danmaku sections. I'm looking forward to playing this!

[monele]

Interesting the way that getting hit removes your special-attack charge, so it's safer to switch to a character who's not got much charge for the danmaku sections. I'm looking forward to playing this!

Agreed! I found that pretty clever ^_^

[sake-bento]

The video looks really good~ I'm terrible at top-down shooters, but I like watching people play them. XD The characters also look really cute. I'm looking forward to playing (and likely dying in) this game. ^.^

[Vatina]

Wow that looks great! ^_^ I'm so looking forward to this now!

[Nessiah]

Sorry Samu-kun X.X;;
I'm close to finishin this thing

[Samu-kun]

Wow, already? You told me it'd take longer. That's great. PM me when you're finished. ^_^

[Samu-kun]

I just hope there'll be more enemies exploding in the non-boss battles : will there be multiple enemies actually?

secret! ^_^

It's great to see the things you've mentioned here, like charging up special attacks and performing dual and delta attacks, in action.
Interesting the way that getting hit removes your special-attack charge, so it's safer to switch to a character who's not got much charge for the danmaku sections. I'm looking forward to playing this!

Ahh... But it doesn't end there. ^_^ Asaga's special attack charges very quickly but is the weakest of them all while Chigara's special attack takes forever to charge but is the most powerful. It's actually quite a mind game. In a delta or dual strike, you always want to use Asaga's special attack first and use Chigara's special attack last to make the best use of the x3 damage modifier on the last attack. But to have Ikkari and Asaga's special attack fully charged with Chigara's special attack charge empty just about eliminates any hope for getting a delta lock because it takes a really long time to charge Chigara's special attack - long enough for the enemy to hit her atleast once before she does so.

Hahaha, that sounds way confusing. You don't need to understand what I said in the last paragraph. XD It'll come very quickly once you play it soon~ ^_^;;; Soon! ^_^

The video looks really good~ I'm terrible at top-down shooters, but I like watching people play them. XD The characters also look really cute. I'm looking forward to playing (and likely dying in) this game. ^.^

Don't worry, there'll be alot of different difficulty modes for everyone to play! ^_^

Thanks everyone for the comments! They always help me stay motivated throughout development. Since the first episode is kind of short and is only the first part of a three episode story arc, I think I'll hold on releasing it now and release the first story arc together in a volume in a couple of weeks. ^_^

Oh... And before I forget, I would like to remind everyone that even though this has a really developed gameplay engine, that Raidaa no Asahi is still a VN and not really a real shooting game. XD Sorry, I just don't want people to get confused when I release the game. The gameplay is only there to tell the story - because it's really the plotline that's the most important thing. ^_^

EDIT:
Oh, and visit my blog for a special sneak peek at some of the deleted content in Raidaa! ^_^

[Nessiah]

Wow, already? You told me it'd take longer. That's great. PM me when you're finished. ^_^

Ah well I sent the draft already tell me if there are things that are wrong

[Samu-kun]

Hello... This will probably be the last major update before the first volume of Raidaa no Asahi is released in a few weeks.

Well, I can definitely say that it was an enormous learning experience. Now that I'm nearly finished with the first volume, I see that there's a ton of things that I did right and a ton of things I did wrong. And I already have a ton of improvements to make to future installments of the series as well.

First off - the primary concern is story. Now that I see the entire visual novel in action, I've noticed a couple of things about the narrative.

First, is my decision to have 99% of the story told through dialogue and 1% through first person narration. Now that I look back, I'm not quite sure it was really the soundest decision. Since I can't describe the setting and create as much exposition through dialogue as I could have with a first person narration, everything seems to be dependent on the graphics. Which by itself isn't a problem -- it's just that I have to draw alot more CGs and character portraits. I may decide to rewrite the story with more emphasis on first person narrative before starting on the second volume to cut down on the amount of CG work I have to do...

Second, is the balance between mecha action, ecchi fan service, and drama. There's quite a large amount of fanservice in the storyline right now. I'm thinking of cutting back on it and making the plot more serious and dramatic. The biggest decision is to whether to make the storyline more politically charged. Politics *is* my area of expertise... I'm neither an artist nor a programmer, but definitely a political-scientist-in-training. :3 And I'm rather impressed and inspired by how well Gundam 00 managed to incorporate a post-9/11 political tone successfully in anime. I wouldn't have thought it was possible had I not seen it.

So we have the classic dilemma that has haunted man since the foundation of democracy.

Sex <=====================> Politics

Mur... Such a difficult choice. XD

But I do love cute and silly things too. It will definitely take alot of careful writing to actually pull of a storyline that's politically charged on one hand, yet with the typical anime cute and moeness on the other.

But at this point, it seems that a rewrite of the storyline is looking very probable.

I'm just wondering how many people in the community will be put off by politics. I'm not sure whether more people will be bored by large amounts of fan service or by large amounts of politics. ._.;

Now third is the fact that since this *is* supposed to be mecha, I would like to actually have mechas *in* it... >_<; But that all comes down to how much my 3D modeling skills have increased in the past 3 months. The models of most of the ships were made nearly three months ago. There has definitely been an increase in my 3D modeling abilities since then. Or atleast I hope so... But if I can't, then I'll atleast try to improve the models that I have now. That should be possible at the very least.

And if I do actually get real mechas modeled, it would mean that I would have to essentially reprogram the entire game play engine from scratch, since uhh... It wouldn't really make sense to have mechas in a SHMUP. It will take awhile - but if I do get a mecha modeled, then I think it will be undoubtedly worth it. I would so do ANYTHING to get mechas in this...

On that note, one thing I definitely will have to do is revamp the VN engine. As of now, rollback pretty much does not work properly in the current engine. >_> There are some things that the current VN engine does really WELL... It's just that there are alot of things that it doesn't do that well as well. >_>;

As for the first volume that'll be released in a few weeks, treat it pretty much like the Sky Girls OVA. It takes place in the same universe as the main story, but it's still detached from it. A taste of the action that will be found in the future product! A preview of the action and drama to come! A glorious OVA that leads to the 26-episode TV series! (Or in this case the visual novel. ._.

Annnddd now the important part~

Teehee. Have you always wanted to create a VN about three cute girls flying through the stars in the name of justice, love, and a little money on the side? Do you like mecha action? Dissatisfied with silly American video games that think "sandbox" game play and "realistic violence" are the only things needed in a game? Then feel free to volunteer to join the staff of Raidaa! ^_^

I'm especially looking for --

1. Lead Character Artist
Role: Draws portraits and CGs of the characters of Raidaa no Asahi.
Skills/Traits Required:
-Be dedicated
-Have a love for bishojo games and anime
-Have some sample work

2. Technical Concept Artist
Role: Draws mechanical/industrial concept art in a sci-fi setting.
Skills/Traits Required:
-Be dedicated
-Be familiar with science fiction genre in anime, especially in the realm of mecha design.
-Have some sample work

3. Writer
Role: Edit and write various scenarios for the story of Raidaa no Asahi
Skills/Traits Required:
-Be dedicated
-Be familiar with the writing style found in visual novels
-Have a love for these things: anime, mecha, drama, moe, politics, bishojo

4. Musician
Role: Create the music of Raidaa no Asahi
Skills/Traits Required:
-Be dedicated
-Be familiar with the music typical of mecha animes
-Have some sample work

5. Webmaster
Role: Provide hosting and bandwidth. XD

POSSIBLE BENEFITS OF JOINING THE STAFF OF RAIDAA
-You get to see beta versions of the game. XD
-Fame and glory!!!!!!
-Haruhi will reward you in heaven.

Obviously, I'm not expecting all these positions to be filled. And of course, you are more than welcome to volunteer for more than one position if you want to. I'm capable, to certain degrees, of fulfilling each role by myself. It's just a small hope I have that I might find somebody more capable than me. ^_^



Look out for the release of Raidaa no Asahi: Volume 1 in a few weeks! ^_^

You can also find more cool stuff about the game on my blog.
http://samukun.wordpress.com

[Vatina]

Whether there is too much fanservice in the game, and if there is room for more politics... well, maybe we can tell when the first part comes out

About the flying vs mecha thing: if you manage to make a mecha part, then I don't think that you need to throw away the SHMUP part because of that, or remake anything. I guess it could make sense. Sometimes the girl fight in space (and fly around) and sometimes there would be mission on the ground (with mecha's)? Actually I think variation like that would be awesome, and could be used well with the story too. Unless you already thought of that
So the mecha-fighting part could be "something cool that shows up later" when they run into that kind of fighting-situation.

I'm really looking forward to trying this one ^^ I would love to help you out, but I'm afraid I would promise something I can't keep... after all I'm already involved in another project besides my own game *cough* and I'm pretty slow there <_<;;

[Jake]

I'm just wondering how many people in the community will be put off by politics. I'm not sure whether more people will be bored by large amounts of fan service or by large amounts of politics. ._.;

Personally, I really enjoy political stories when the politics actually make sense. So really, this would depend on how that part of the story would end up...

And if I do actually get real mechas modeled, it would mean that I would have to essentially reprogram the entire game play engine from scratch, since uhh... It wouldn't really make sense to have mechas in a SHMUP.

Lies! There have been plenty of 2d-shooters with mecha. Some of them real classics of the genre! I think I've played two in the last week alone, in fact, where the player controls a mecha, and it works fine. The game I intend to make after NaNo, in fact, is in the same boat.

(If you expand out to just requiring the enemies to have mecha, then even titles like R-Type will meet the criterion...)

[chronoluminaire]

Hello... This will probably be the last major update before the first volume of Raidaa no Asahi is released in a few weeks.

Whee, looking forward to it!

I'm just wondering how many people in the community will be put off by politics. I'm not sure whether more people will be bored by large amounts of fan service or by large amounts of politics. ._.;

I'd be happy with both In fact, I think well-done politics and well-done fanservice in a story could quite nicely balance each other out. The politics could stop the moe fanservice from being pointless fluff, and the moe fanservice could provide entertainment by contrast with the seriousness of the politics.

I certainly wouldn't be put off by politics. I like intricate political machinations. (As long as they do actually make sense, that is, as Jake points out.)

And I'd echo the comment that a mecha is a perfectly fine thing to control for a shmup

[sake-bento]

Politics >>>>>>>> Fanservice

I am very hard-pressed to think of a situation in which fanservice actually added anything of value to the story. Often times, it makes things less enjoyable for me.