Gakuen Redux

[Ayato Vu]

YAHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Parties*
Thank you SOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!
*runs around like an idiot*

DL-Downloading now...
*Complete, on Mp3 player, and spreading the word of the Redux!*

Thank you again!!!!!

[llirium]

The RapidShare time has run out before I could actually download the soundtrack. T_T

[mikey]

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll try to upload it today or tomorrow.

[mikey]

It's uploaded, get it here:
http://rapidshare.de/files/18424640/Gak ... T.zip.html

Oh... and... on the subject of music...
http://www.last.fm/music/Evo

[Tclease]

Wow, that was the best thing I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I was actually almost moved to tears in the end, which hasn't happened in years. The story also made me think about my past, as well - where I've been, the friends I've made and lost, family members who have died, and tough decisions that I have made to get where I am today.

I'll definitely recommend this work to everyone I know. Even if only one person listens to me and decides to download this story, it will be more than worth the effort.

[mikey]

It's incredibly hard to answer to such wonderful comments
It gives us (and especially me) a lot of motivation - in a way, it also affects my life, confirms to me that what I do and what others work with me on is worth it. So thank you for taking the time to play and also the time to comment. Comments are more or less the only thing one has.

[Cazel]

Well, I've been meaning to post a rewrite of my earlier thoughts on Gakuen Redux with a bit of emotional detachment from having just played the game, and decided to actually sit down and write it today, only to have my computer forget it was connected to the internet just when I was ready to post, so I'll just be brief. The nostalgic atmosphere of the first part of the game pulled me in very well, better than any other game I can think of. Also, while I disagreed with several elements of this game, it made me consciously think about my viewpoints on several issues inherent to ren'ai games, particularly high school aged ones, and as such I think this game is probably one of the most important games I've played.

There, I think this is more positive than my initial post. If I get time, I might retype about some of the elements I disliked.

Oh yeah, the game was also extremely memorable, as I can still write about it fairly clearly even though I haven't played the game in over a year.

[mikey]

Thanks for a re-review. It's always nice to hear positive things. And I'd love to hear those thoughts about the high school games - though I have to say that GR wasn't at all motivated by that, despite my views on the subject. The truth is, with GR I kind of wanted to close the issue, especially in regard to the "careless times" and regrets and the first love and some other topics. So that when I'd finish it, I'd have the subject off my mind and nothing to add. I realize it was an ambitious task, but then again, personally, I really exhausted the topic from my side and also I think left it behind, even to the extent that I'm not really interested in it anymore - then again, that may come from rewriting it twice. But still, GR is the one project I'm probably feeling most happy about.

[pheriannath]

Downloaded Gakuen Redux last night, and I've just taken a look at it.

All I can say is...damn, that's a great piece of work you have there. This kinetic novel embodies precisely the vision I have in mind for my NaNoRenO entry - graphically minimalistic, simple fading transitions, and most of the focus set on the text itself (and a very stark feel, featuring only white, black and shades of grey). Although the sheer length/amount of text might put off some people...to me at least, it's a pretty powerful piece. I felt for the guy, I really did.

Mikey, did you write the entire script? If so, my hat goes off to you - you must have had incredible vision (or a heroic amount of grit) to complete a script this long. (Well, I did catch a few typos/grammatical errors here and there, but it did nothing to diminish the flow of the story)

I want to write something like this...eventually >_>

Edit: Just saw that this was made in 2005. I feel so behind the times, there must be so much stuff I've have missed T_T

[mikey]

Mikey, did you write the entire script? If so, my hat goes off to you - you must have had incredible vision (or a heroic amount of grit) to complete a script this long. (Well, I did catch a few typos/grammatical errors here and there, but it did nothing to diminish the flow of the story)

Well, I did write it. The worst part of course was that it had to be rewritten twice, because it was in English, then in Slovak (this script is actually hidden in the game directory as an easter egg) and the release version in English again, and each time it was a rewrite, not a translation. So it was really draining, but then I'm very happy it's done.

This kinetic novel embodies precisely the vision I have in mind for my NaNoRenO entry - graphically minimalistic, simple fading transitions, and most of the focus set on the text itself (and a very stark feel, featuring only white, black and shades of grey).

Don't forget the absence of shadows ^_^, I particularly did not want those. As for the minimalistic presentation, there wasn't really another option for us, not at that time. We actually made several colored BGs, but it was too much work for us, it would have taken so much time, and I didn't want to have it that long in development. The B/W backgrounds also allowed us easier editing of the images, making summer and winter versions and so on.

I'm glad you liked it, and I've never made a big secret out of it, it's the story I feel most strongly about, so it's always twice as nice to see others enjoying it. Thanks for playing!

[Hime]

So, after like months of playing (no kidding, I'm a slow reader ^^;) I've finally finished reading this. And I'm... I'm so touched. Gakuen Redux, really, is a masterpiece if you ask me. It was so full of feeling that it made me really feel like I would be the main character. It was full of life. At times, it made me even feel depressed or pressed, but it also made me happy at times. It made me smile, and even shed a couple of tears.

And thank you so much for the good, great ending! It...It was really touching and made the story complete. And it made me so happy I can't stop smiling even now! Really, in the end I started feeling like, "I'll die if this won't end happily"... Gaah, it made me so happy! I love Ione! >w<

And on the other news, the OST rapidshare seems dead, but I'd love to download it. Anyone? ^^;

[mikey]

Ah, any feedback on GR is special for me, so thanks for taking the time, really. It's hard to reply to what you've said - but it always means a lot to me when people like GR. I'm glad that GR works for someone who reads it in small bits and pieces, and I'm also happy you liked the ending - I never intended anything else to happen.

And as for the OST, try this link.
http://atp.manga.sk/games/gr/GakuenReduxOST.zip

So again, thank you for playing!

[Ignosco]

A few more questions about GR since this thread has been bumped (sorry Mikey ),

Did you have a definite year in mind for when the story was set, (if I had to guess it would be around 1990)?

Would it be possible to make a version of GR using the OST instead of the heavily compressed version?

What was the original English version of GR like? How different is it from the final version?

Is there something significant about Ione's name, especially since Azasuke mentioned that it was rather strange... Chapter 4 of R-type is 'The One, Name', so it seems like her name was made by combining 'I' and 'One' together, to show that for Azasuke, she will be his real 'only/one love' (and letting the reader know how the rest of R-type will progress). Maybe I'm reading too much into it though...

Thank you again

[mikey]

A few more questions about GR since this thread has been bumped (sorry Mikey ),

With 1 game = 1 topic, thread bumping is the only way of receiving new feedback ^_^.

Did you have a definite year in mind for when the story was set, (if I had to guess it would be around 1990)?

There was a certain year, yes, but I don't quite remember what it was (I'm not home atm, so I can't check that with my dev files) - it may be hidden in the posts somewhere, but it was something like 1993? The dates and days of the week should make sense, so it's possible to figure out the year.

Would it be possible to make a version of GR using the OST instead of the heavily compressed version?

Of course, but one of my goals was to stay under 20 MB and I'm very proud that we did (thanks to PyTom for a huge help in compressing oggs). I don't know about re-releasing games, at least at this moment I'm still occupied with new projects, and I kind of reserved the "re-releasing" for the times when I'd like to take a break or so - but that doesn't seem to be coming yet. There's still the manual conversion - download the HQ ost, convert to ogg and rename...

Is there something significant about Ione's name, especially since Azasuke mentioned that it was rather strange... Chapter 4 of R-type is 'The One, Name', so it seems like her name was made by combining 'I' and 'One' together, to show that for Azasuke, she will be his real 'only/one love' (and letting the reader know how the rest of R-type will progress). Maybe I'm reading too much into it though...

No, there isn't anything special - the "The One, Name" title is a legacy title from my previous works. Ione is just a name - but that explanation you found is amazing, I'd almost like to say "sure, that's what I meant ^_^", but the truth is, the name sounded good to me - I like multi-wovel names, and in Slovak that sounds like "ee-oh-ne". Azasuke mentioned it sounds strange because it's not a standard Japanese (J-Country) name - I looked it up later on and found out that a name like that really exists, so I was relieved that I haven't invented something unusable. So I was really very happy about it, since I like the sound of the name so much, that I could keep it.

What was the original English version of GR like? How different is it from the final version?

Very slight spoilers ahead, but I didn't want to white out a huge paragraph:

The original English version started as a draft, and it was supposed to stay a draft, but then it grew bigger. It was about 1/3 shorter than the Slovak version or the final English version (which was the longest) - it had written down all the situations I wanted to have, all the events and all the emotions I wanted to bring across. The very first idea, even before this first English version was to make a story divided into two parts - Gakuen and Redux. In the first part, there would be the normal life of Azauke like he experienced it before, and in the Redux part, well, that would describe the redux. Soon afterwards, when I started to write it, and found that it was really moving very slow, I jumped to writing the Redux part - and then I wanted to quickly remind myself of the pre-redux, but I left it there and so it came to the structure that GR has now. But in any case, the original English version is still more like a prototype - because I decided to rewrite I could think about the situations, add and remove them and so the good thing about the rewrites was that the final English version was just like I wanted it - or maybe that I could look back at it and not feel like "I could have done this differently". That sounds cheezy, but it really feels good - and it's probably also the reason why I don't feel a pressing need to somehow enhance it, have new art, or make it multipath - it's more or less the same with any of the games I've done, but this one was really big, so it's nice when it still feels like something that's closed (for me). It's why I chose to call it the "final" school story, on a personal level it really closes things for me - I don't think I'll be visiting the school setting that much, and if, it's probably going to be for atmosphere, rather than feeling. The original English version was probably not this definite story, but the two rewrites have turned it into what I wanted it to be.

[Ignosco]

I thought Ione's name was like an O3 hidden meaning .

What you mentioned in the first English version was very interesting; Coming up with the juxtaposition of Gakuen and Redux was crucial I think for the success of the story, since the main emotion the game dealt with was regret; (especially because the story was almost set up in a 'no regrets' approach, (only 5 save slots and the chapter section only opens up after you've finished )). Directly comparing then and now, seems like the only (and a very effective) way to make the story 'work'.

Actually, that's another question... is there a reason for limiting the number of save slots for your games (particularly for GR and O3)?

There's one more thing I'm really interested in, although this might be better asked in the Game Maker's Corner since it's not just GR specific, so feel free to move this, or I could start a thread for it ;... With the soundtrack, how closely did you collaborate with EVO for it? (and in general, for VN authors, if you are working with a composer/group for your VN). Are there some tracks that you give more guidance for than others?

(For example, do you describe the scene you want to music to represent, or the emotion, instrumentation, style etc, or do you give them the script to read etc etc)

Thanks