Sunrise | A Dieselpunk Fairy Tale (GxB, Fantasy)[NaNoRenO15]

[Hazel-Bun]

@Haze Thanks for the detailed criticisms. We took it into account for sure. ketskari is very busy, as am I, so we did the best we could and are satisfied

Excited to say a new update is live. In a little over a month, Sunrise will be up and running through Desura as well. Please vote for us for the Spring Thing IF competition in the meantime.

Here you can find Sunrise version 1.05.
Features...
- Two more choices
- Typo and other grammatical fixes

This is all that is planned for now when it comes to Sunrise. Thank you for the continued support everyone!

[Godline]

Okay, I've stayed up to play this game and now I really need to sleep... but it was well worth it.

ACT I
Ah, Abel. So handsome and such a douche. Why are all the good-looking ones douches? Lol @ when he said 'did I stutter?'
I wanted to slap Sofia when she said she didn't love Shiye.
ACT II
The owl thing totally threw me.
And yay Shiye is being protected! So he should.
ACT III
Oooh, it switches to Shiye's POV. (I got the Heart ending).

Okay... now I'm going back to do more endings. And I filled out the survey.
... Maybe I'll do the other endings when I'm not so super tired.

You already got my views in the survey. I really wanted to kick Abel in the balls.
Zzz.

[yoshibb]

Finally got some free time to play through this one. First, I want to complement the artist because I know how hard drawing realistic characters are then having to do expressions on top of that. But these turned out really well, and I like that the VN has it's own unique style as well. The animations along with everything else were a nice touch. The story was interesting, it kept me constantly wanting to learn more.

And when she turned into an owl, that totally threw me XD.

I really liked Shiye from the very beginning and wanted to punch Abel. Sofia herself was a strong protagonist which I also liked. This is an impressive game for only having one month to do it. Great job!

[Amiralo]

For some reason, I cannot for the live of me get ending 1. Help?

[ketskari]

On the topic of Abel:

Abel was more intended to be a villain than a love interest initially but he ended up being both. If he's unlikable I'd call that a success. I don't like him, either. Although yes, I intentionally gave him more idealized features and Shiye more naturalistic ones.

The original story idea was very much classic sword and sorcery. The trappings... are very much not. xD Some of the choices toward the middle are nodding in the direction of adventure games (which were often classic sword and sorcery in the 90s), and I'd like to explore that sort of thing more at some point.

@Godline

Different choices in the beginning will decide how you feel about Shiye.

Regarding Sofia's condition at the beginning of Act II:

Oh, good! I wanted to keep it secret.

First, I want to complement the artist because I know how hard drawing realistic characters are then having to do expressions on top of that. But these turned out really well, and I like that the VN has it's own unique style as well.

Thank you! That is a high compliment. :)

The story was interesting, it kept me constantly wanting to learn more.

That is very good to know! I wrote the outline, but I haven't worked with a writer on a VN before and had no idea how collaborating would turn out.

For some reason, I cannot for the live of me get ending 1. Help?

Do everything to reveal that you are a person and save Shiye at the end of Act II.

[Anne]

I really liked the art, especiall Sofia (so pretty!) and the brothers, the backgrounds worked quite well (animated and non-animated planes are always good ), the only thing that bothered me were the outlines of the sprites that created a weird effect whenever expressions (great job with the expressions by the way!) changed.

The story however left me with mixed feelings... probably because I don't quite get Sofia as the protagonist

In the beginning I got the impression that she is still attached to Abel but lets Shiye love her, it's confirmed (with the choices I made) by that "no, I don't love him", still in the end if I choose to save Shiye I get "I woke up with the man I love", no I didn't choose to save him because she loves him, it's just because killing anyone is generally wrong, if I choose not to save Shiye the ending plays like Sofia pretends to love Abel out of fear... hmm.
Another thing I'm not so sure about is that democracy idea, there's just not enough of Abel in game to know his ways are wrong for the kingdom, but there's sure enough of Shiye to see that he's an idealistic fool (and the one who thinks nothing of the woman he's supposed to love at that, as he doesn't care enough to share his dreams with her)
Was James only there to show that Abel has a nice side to him? Why if there're no good endings for him?

[Hazel-Bun]

@Anne The flash for the sprites is to denote who's speaking. I'll answer your story concerns as I wrote the script haha

She does fear him as he's a pretty malicious person in that ending who would kill his own brother. As Abel's "love" ending was added after the fact, it was more to show that you don't have to just end up with Shiye if you choose not too. I agree, however there's dissonace with Sunrise as an ending, if you chose "you don't love him", and I can alleviate that with a extra scene if I do put in that extra dialogue between The Witch and Abel as well Maybe something along the lines of "I couldn't see him die that way, yet I regret letting Abel go down this dark path...". That's a big maybe though keep in mind, but a very valid concern.

The game forces you to choose between them but, I understand that it's very tilted in Shiye's favor as he was suppose to be the sole romantic option, and Abel the (not-so) classic villain. I disagree strongly, however, that he doesn't care for Sofia in not sharing his ideas as, like Abel pointed out, he has no idea if she'd support him or not and could work against him or even get him hung/shot for treason. I agree Shiye is very idealistic but, as we tried to hint at in game, his ideas aren't without reason. The backstory and climate in game is that of multiple, violent uprisings, including plans to assassinate nobles because of their mistreatment of the lower classes. There is a movement towards democracy and equality, and while Abel is right in saying Shiye is apart of the problem, he is wrong in thinking that the people would suffer another tyrant in their minds.

Yes, James is just an henchman and shows Abel's not a complete monster. Also, because he served an outside function (the letter scene). I don't think there's really any "good" endings in Sunrise, only lesser shades of bad. Heart= Sofia dies and everything goes to hell. Sunrise: Shiye x Sofia but, Shiye has murdered his own flesh and blood. Witch-Brother= Things remain stable and Abel x Sofia, but what kind of relationship would be normal with knowledge of what transpired? I do understand, however, that the tone of Sunrise is much more positive, especially in regards to the epilogue, though that doesn't mean it stays that way. We just didn't explore the aftermath.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Harliqueen]

Wasn't really sure what to expect from this game, even after following the thread in the WIP NaNoReNo. But it was great, especially some of the twists throughout!

The art was stunning, as well as the GUI design. Overall an amazing VN for NaNo!

[versect]

I just finished the two of the endings and both of them were amazing. I can tell you worked really hard since the game is marvellous. However, I am not able to get the first ending. Could you perhaps drop a few hints? Thanks in advance!
P.S Sorry for my bad english as it is not my mother tongue.

[Hazel-Bun]

@versect Thank you for playing! Your English is wonderful.

As ketskari said,

do everything to reveal that you are a person and save Shiye at the end of Act II. This includes picking "you're so good to me", and ""no use thinking about it" in the beginning

.

[Hazel-Bun]

Hey all! Nominations have opened for Spring Thing here.

[ketskari]

@Anne and @Harliqueen, thank you for the compliments on the art. :)

----
DeathbySwoon is doing a Let's Play of Sunrise! You can watch part 1 and part 2 here. It's fun listening to Sunrise narrated so well; I love Let's Plays, too, so this was a real treat to see.

[Hazel-Bun]

There's just 2 more days to vote for "Sunrise" here. You cal also catch Act II part 2 and Act III of DeathbySwoon here & here.

We got a good response on the feedback form so far, a couple of reviews good and bad and one in Italian, and much support I am grateful for. If I/we have time, we'll try to clean up the grammatical errors y'all caught

This might be a little outdated, but a big thanks to all pay-what-you-want donators and general downloaders a like!

[Hazel-Bun]

Sunrise is now available for download for free at Desura. I picked an html website form the SpringThing pile so expect that sometime soon!

[philip]

Downloaded this today and have played through, getting just one ending so far; I will of course go back and try for the others. I have read through this entire thread and noticed all the comments/criticisms and the like. Guess I am just a shallow guy - I downloaded the story - played through it, and enjoyed it very much. Thought the artwork was awesome, as is the story. Heck, I wouldn't change a thing; I think the creators of this effort did an outstanding job!

philip