WIP - Remember Me

[jack_norton]

I'm still far from finishing this new Otome game but since a dev friend asked me to show what Ren'Py can do I thought to use the new screen language to put some action in the main menu of the game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxmn-P8Rfts&hd=1
the plain color background will be replaced and maybe the text buttons will be bigger in the final version.

That's all for now, will add more info about the story and the gameplay when have something more concrete to show in case you're wondering the protagonist is Amy (red haired girl).

[machinist]

can't wait for a demo !

[Asterisk]

That looks so friggin nice *___*

I can't wait for more!!!

[jack_norton]

I hope to finish this before Christmas, but depends how other projects go (and I have many). If Flower Shop: Winter in Faibrook is finished before, I'll release that first since is perfectly themed with Christmas/winter

[Verity]

Ooh, shiny~ Just curious, since I'm trying to learn the screen language stuff but haven't quite got the hang of it yet—what kind of elements did you use to make the menu screen?

[jack_norton]

It's mostly add "filename" and a ATL transform. You can do pretty nice stuff with few lines of code

[Abeiramar]

The art is amazing! I love it!
Can't wait for more .

[sporkysan]

Ooh. Looks interesting. Commercial English GxB games are so rare. (Doesn't mean that there aren't any good free ones.) I hope you finish both games by Christmas. It would make an awesome x-mas present for myself.

Off topic, but is Flower Shop: Winter in Faibrook the girl version of the game or a continuation?

[jack_norton]

Off topic, but is Flower Shop: Winter in Faibrook the girl version of the game or a continuation?

No a fully independent game (you can play it even ignoring the 1st one). Speaking of the "timeline" is a continuation (the event takes places after Steve visited Fairbrook and now he's a resident).

[jack_norton]

I have a sort of dilemma. In the game you'll be able to perform several actions on each location. Think about something like "The Sims". For example in the Gym you can exercise, etc. I wanted to use some big buttons with some chibi on each that represent the action (for example, character jogging, watching TV, and so on).
The chibi quality would be like the one on the left, in the screenshots below (currently it's a sort of indicator of the morale):

but I'm unsure if people would like it, or think it's childish, ugly or anything, so I'm looking for feedback. It's definitely not a game with young themes (it's not adult because has any sexy content but for some themes like hospital, death, etc).

[Aleema]

Chibi icons would work, if not be preferred. Makes the game more "fun" looking, it's reminiscent of the Japanese style (which is what the genre is based on), and in general, girls like cute/childish things.

[jack_norton]

Hm yes, also now that I think about it, the topseller Recettear sprites were somehow chibi (even if done in 3d)

[Ren]

I don't necessarily agree that girls generally like cute and childish things, and I find it a bit demeaning to say so, but that said: it's usually a good idea to have that sort of simplified graphical representation of a mood or function in a game - it seems to me it makes it a lot easier for the user to easily and quickly react to the feedback the game is giving them.
If it's supposed to be a serious and grown-up game, then chibi illustrations could detract from that and give a more fun and happy-go-lucky feel than it ought to have.

[jack_norton]

Uhm I don't know - I mean, Spirited Heart wasn't childish, right? but at same time, not too much serious. This one is different because of the setting (not fantasy, there is an initial trauma for the main character) but the general mood is not too serious after this (something like Summer Session if you played it).
Maybe will go with an icon representation instead of chibi...

[Ren]

If it's just the initial setting and then, as you say, it's not too serious, then I don't think these are going to be too out of place.
It's really hard to say blindly like this - the only advice I can give, I guess, is "Try not to over-do it"?