Sorayume no Kaze B x G Traditional Style VN [WIP]

[Liminality]

This directory is mostly for myself, to keep track of progress. Critique and comments are welcome, however.

Release Date Set: Late Summer, 2011. Between late June and early August.

Basic Info
So, without further ado, Liminality Project is proud to present our first ever VN project...
Title: Sorayume no Kaze, or alternatively, -Winds of an Illusory Dream-
Language: English
Rating: 13+
Genre: Ren'ai. The theme of the game being "life is as fragile and uncontrollable as a dream," I try to incorperate a lot of raw human fear and the sad parts of life, as well as the bright. There is the stray unrealistic detail.
The Title and Theme Explained: The title's reference to dreams is, in the end, a metaphor for the nature of love in the game. When the main character is reflecting at the end of the game, one of the few times he will exhibit choice of his own, he will compare the dreams people make up for the future to something "usually unattainable in real life" and depending on your ending, he'll inform the player if he thinks they've reached the "real dream" or if it has turned into a nightmare. "Dreams are usually out of your control; they slip out of your hands like the wind. Love is the same way. I can't control it, I can only make decisions that draw it closer." It is the most subtle decisions of your path which often have the greatest influence. Although sometimes, the choices you make lead to obvious results-- agree and it is normally viewed positively, disagree and you are met with skepticism-- often something that only seems to change a line or two of dialogue has a much greater impact than you think.



THE TEAM:
Zuzu: Co-Producer of the project with Eevlu. Script and coding.

Sean: More Complicated Coding Hasn't really done much... so might be losing his job.

Eevlu: Co-Producer of the project with Zuzu. Character sprites and CGs http://eevlu.deviantart.com/

Juan: OP animation, designed game logo

Megan: Music Composition

The Plot
Every twelve years, a new zodiac spirit comes into power, controlling the fortunes of the youthful spirit and guiding them.
This year (2011), Usagi the rabbit spirit has taken control, and she's not happy with the way the Tiger Spirit left things.
Things have become corrupted in the less noticed regions of Japan-- those stand-alone islands on the outskirts of society-- and the youth has suffered because of it. There has been corruption, heartbreak, and injury staining the soil of the sacred island and its teenagers. Their third year of high school is the last year the zodiac spirit will watch over them and help them solve their issues.... and Usagi is running out of time.

Born in Tokyo and raised like any other respectable Japanese student by strictly Japanese parents with Japanese values, you grew up knowing the big city like the back of your hand. After getting in contact with the parents of your childhood friend who moved to a distant, little-known island several years ago, your parents suddenly became interested in sending you to the island to study in high school. For your third year, your parents decided to let you finish your education there, hoping the experience will help you get into a good university. Because of the wish of your parents, you haven't spent much time actually talking to people... but a certain mischievous spirit wants to put an end to that. In your dreams, a rabbit spirit named Usagi comes to you and tells you that there are several girls in your class whose issues can be solved by your touch-- your friendship-- or maybe even your love. Within this week, your entire life's course could change. You now have the power to change the fates of the people around you, save lives, and mold your own. What will happen in this week of decisions?

[Liminality]

Characters
-Will be expanded when my artist finishes all the character sketches.-

Tarou Saitou, OR You: Increasingly sarcastic and harsh as the story progresses, his blank personality, difficult to corrupt, is likely the reason Usagi picked him to be the one to save the girls. Are there really people like this in the world? He has little expression and little bias. He is a blank canvas to be molded by the player at will, as he apparently has little free will of his own to begin with. Constantly pushed by his parents to succeed, Tarou has been nearly driven mad by the compelling will to not let his parents down. However, living alone on a little-inhabited island when you're only 17 is pretty tough work.

Usagi: The reigning spirit in this year's zodiac cycle. She's come to you for help, because there's something blocking her from reaching Kitou Island's people directly, but as an outsider, you are an exception to a degree. Along the way, she'll make an attempt to help you with snippets of advice, although it seems that she can only contact you in your dreams (and in the help menu *cough*), and something prevents her from giving you ALL of the answers... She's a little insane and skittish, so the only thing restraining her might be her own wild personality. A very cute, young, innocent spirit.

Nadeshiko Anenokoji: -Obtainable- Comes from a prestigious family. Her family's estate is near the center of the island, and very close to the school. The way she wanders around the school makes her seem like a spirit. She rarely seems to leave the school, and is just as rarely seen talking to anyone unless forced to. There's something strange about her... more than being bookish or antisocial, she seems genuinely terrified of being close to people for some reason. Sometimes, its like she's not even there, but she's certainly a member of class, and actually being a ghost is out of the question. Her route is the most difficult, and it is nearly impossible to get her best ending the first play through unless you are extremely lucky.

Etsuko Yoemon -Obtainable- Etsuko's as weird as her last name. Is it purposefully or by coincidence that she looks a lot like a particularly famous anime character? It must be coincidence, because no otaku could possibly have so many friends. More than just being a strange, laid back and bright girl, Etsuko is your childhood friend. She lived in Tokyo, but her parents moved to the island several years ago. Before you parted, you two made a promise to definitely see each other again, and now you get the chance. Will you blow her off, or act like nothing ever changed? Etsuko's got some secrets of her own these days. Her route is the easiest.

Satsuki Takano: -Obtainable- Beautiful, talented, and otherwise amazing, Satsuki doesn't seem to have a flaw to her name. She's much taller than her twin sister, and the two look absolutely nothing alike. Its pretty odd, actually, how two completely different people could have the same parents. Satsuki's the most popular girl at school, and she even has a boyfriend, Jin Maeda. But for some reason, while Satsuki always looks happy, Jin always looks depressed and nervous. Must just be his personality... Anyway, if you want to get to Satsuki, you'll have to get past Jin. Her route is the second most difficult.

Natsuki Takano: -Obtainable- Satsuki Takano's twin sister, although you would expect her to be a lot younger. She's a very cute girl, and looks like total jailbate from her height to her flat chest. She probably wouldn't mind if you told her that, either. Natsuki's very accepting, and very sweet. She's closer to Etsuko than anyone else, addressing her as "Etsuko-neesan," and goes as far as to start calling you "niisan" right from the start. Could this be the start of some sort of older brother complex? Natsuki is blind in her left eye, from some unknown trauma. You'll have to find that out on your own, won't you? Her route is the second easiest, but to get her best ending, you might have to make some difficult choices for both of you.

Tora Chosokabe: -Obtainable- Last but not least of the obtainable girls is Tora. Besides being an extreme androphobe (she's terrified of men), Tora's also a tough girl. "At least she's pretty..." isn't even the case. If a boy so much as makes a suggestive pass at her, Tora's likely to beat him until he falls unconscious. On top of that, she's delicately built and unobtrusive, though not as childish looking as Natsuki. The question is, why does she hate men so much? Can you manage to get past that, or will you end up just being pounded into the dirt time after time? Her route is of average difficulty.

[Liminality]

Image Dump
As my artist does her thing, and when I finally figure out code and manage to change the game to fit a style, I'll show you sketches and screen shots. Right now, there isn't much to look at because we just had a recent scramble with art and had to start redoing all of the sprites over again, and I'm only 1/7 through the script, but I'll just edit this when I have stuff.

[Liminality]

Added completed Nadeshiko image. All of her expressions are done-- each part of an expression is on a different layer so we can mix and match as necessary to find the perfect combination. This leads to a wide variety of expressions usable in game, adding more depth to the characters.

Because I'm trying to simulate conversation as thoroughly as possible with this game, having a large variety of expressions is necessary. It takes a while for me to code, because for every interaction with one of the datable characters, there is no automatic response. The player has to decide each part of the conversation.

[okonomiyaki]

A word of advice...

One, I'm not sure why you felt the need to list your Japanese level here...this is a group for English VNs, after all.

Secondly, while I think that the title of your game is vaguely weird to translate, "skydream" is not even close to a correct translation of "sorayume", and I think it's not a very good idea to use words you don't understand perfectly.

[yu_eriyama]

I think it's fine though^^.
You are using Japanese maybe because you are learning Japanese, right?
VN is identical to Japanese sim game so I guess using Japanese title is nice.
Plus, it's a joyful way to practice your Japanese.

Sorayume 空夢【そらゆめ】 is actually means fabricated(fictional) dream.
So that means Sorayume No Kaze = Winds with Illusory Dream (or something like that)
I think it's cool (& a bit kirakira romantic)
Although maybe your coloring is a bit too dark compared to the title.
Good luck on your team!

[okonomiyaki]

Incorrectly translating Japanese is not practicing. She could've at least did what you did and look it up on jisho.org. I understand that Japanese and VNs are hand in hand, but if you cannot be assed to look in the dictionary at the very least, it's a bad idea.

Plus, the words "sora", "yume" and "kaze" are so overused in titles made by people who aren't Japanese, it's depressing.

[Liminality]

@ okonomiyaki =/ Well I'm sorry if my japanese skill level offends you. I used a title I thought set the mood of the game, whether the words seemed fluffy or overused, and I actually did put the word in Jisho and got "Fabricated Dream," but my Japanese teacher said the translation we were going to use made more sense. If you don't mind, could you lay off on the insults and politely correct me instead of throwing a fit about it? Making a mistake isn't wrong. That's why its practicing. When you practice, you can be corrected. Without knowing the nature of my mistake, its extremely rude of you to assume that I don't care about the translation. Its an easily changeable error. Sorayume, although pronounced like "sora" and "yume" is a completely different word, am I right? I realize that the words can be overused, but they're pretty words that are easily used in a title. What matters in the end is the game content, not the title, although the title could be a contributing factor. And by "people who aren't Japanese," are you inferring that I'm not allowed to be passionate about a language I'm learning and incorporate it into my work in any way I can? I would thank you for refraining from making assumptions and responding crudely when you could simply point out a mistake or make a suggestion. Thank you.

Although this is a group for English VNs, the ren'ai market is meant to capture the romance of adolescent (usually high school) romance. I love the genre, and I've done quite a bit of research into it. I admit it wasn't necessary, but listing our class level of Japanese is mostly for the benefit of simply describing our relationship to each other, as well as our background information into the culture which created the genre and our years of experience understanding Japanese. Japanese Class also covers culture. In order to accurately portray a Japanese High School life, we would need to know everything possible about Japan and Japanese culture, recreating traditional ren'ai games.

Although maybe your coloring is a bit too dark compared to the title.

Hmm. Could you please explain what you mean by that? I'm not sure I understand, but it sounds rather important.

[okonomiyaki]

I'm sorry, where did I insult you? I said it was a bad idea to use things you don't understand, and despite you assuming that no one else besides you knows Japanese, that isn't true, and you wrote an incorrect translation of the word. What am I supposed to think when I see a very incorrect translation of the word besides "someone didn't do enough research"? I am completely open to people who aren't Japanese learning the language, but when incorrect information is spread, it hurts everyone. Incorporate it, please. But do it well.

Being crude and insulting are two different things. You might not have liked the blunt way I told you, but nowhere did I insult you, so calm down.

There was no reason to list your Japanese class. I'm just going to be flat out and say that right now. It comes off as misplaced bravado when you have a blatant error in your title.

I am gonna say that I'm kind of sad that instead of just accepting that you made a mistake, and fix it, and not do it again, you're going to argue with me because "it was crude". No, it was honest and straightforward.

[Liminality]

If you've noticed, I actually did change the error. I'm sorry if it seemed like I overreacted to your criticism. The way you worded it did sound extremely rude, however. Thank you for correcting me though. Realizing that it does seem to come off as a little snobbish, I removed the information about our Japanese class. That's not the persona I want to give off, it was just for my own records. I suppose I'll keep that elsewhere, however. There is a large difference between being straightforward and being just plain rude with your corrections.

Arguments about my translation of the name aside, do you have an opinion on anything else so far?

[yu_eriyama]

Um.. I just want to say that... nobody is perfect. I made many mistakes too because I'm not native English speaker (please correct me if I'm wrong...)
Also, mistakes made us learning something so don't let this "Title-meanings" discouraged you.
Keep gambaru-ing!!

Anyway, about the colors I said.
When I read things like "Yume" "Sky" and "Wind", these colors are what I had in my mind.

This is only my suggestion though ^^ what do you think?

[Liminality]

When I read things like "Yume" "Sky" and "Wind", these colors are what I had in my mind.

This is only my suggestion though ^^ what do you think?

Thanks for your kindness, first of all.

I do see what you mean about the colors. Unfortunately, the theme of the game focuses more on the nature of dreams as being somewhat fluid and unpredictable compared to this perspective of love, more than warm and bright. We've decided to take a new view on those stereotypes. Nadeshiko is just one character, and she's generally the one with the dark personality. The other characters do tend to fit that color palate though.

A few of the backgrounds do utilize (or should utilize... I'm working on it) a light sense of color like that though. I'll tell my artist to watch the colors she's using and make sure they're not ALL dark. Thanks for the advice. =D

[yu_eriyama]

Lol, no problem
It's only example, btw. That doesn't mean you need to use colors like that.
It's only because my favorite is bright colors

[Aleema]

Plus, the words "sora", "yume" and "kaze" are so overused in titles made by people who aren't Japanese, it's depressing.

Like "Happy" and "Love" is used in Japanese titles? It goes both ways. They use English to sound cool, we use Japanese to sound cool. Picking on one developer is not going to change this ... It's great you know Japanese more than others, but the language isn't exclusive to those who know it fluently. Give the guy some space and use your Japanese powers for good, not for evil.

[okonomiyaki]

Aleema:
Evil? I told her about her error and she got in a tizzy because it wasn't worded exactly to her specifications, which wasn't rude, by the way. Do you know what cultural appropriation is? Look it up. Hint: It's not cool.

Where the heck are you reading to say that I think Japanese is only for people who know it fluently? It's called "using the massive free dictionary online to at least get a clue", which everyone on this forum can do since they all have internet.

And naturally, in a country where everyone speaks the language, everyone is going to use "happy" and "love", and even then I haven't seen titles like that in FOREVER. People do the same in English. Unimaginative is unimaginative in every language, so your argument holds zero water.

Not to mention, I didn't pick a single developer. The other developer with poorly researched Japanese I corrected as well. They were both next to each other at the top of the forum, they both got corrected.

If you don't want to be corrected, don't appropriate a culture you don't know enough about. The end.

Liminality:
"If you've noticed, I actually did change the error. I'm sorry if it seemed like I overreacted to your criticism. The way you worded it did sound extremely rude, however. Thank you for correcting me though. Realizing that it does seem to come off as a little snobbish, I removed the information about our Japanese class. That's not the persona I want to give off, it was just for my own records. I suppose I'll keep that elsewhere, however. There is a large difference between being straightforward and being just plain rude with your corrections."

I was straightforward. Being rude is insulting you, telling you that you suck, telling you that your work sucks and you should never come back. What did I say in my post? "It is a bad idea to use words you cannot translate correctly." That's an insult? That's being rude? I've never heard of that in my life.

Why should I bother to give you more advice when you can't handle "it's a bad idea to translate words poorly"? I would honestly like to know.