Old "Memoirs" Release and Other Stuff

The other day (October 31), I finally posted the old 2010 version of "Memoirs of an Angel," which has been sitting around collecting dust on my computer for the last two years. Though it was technically finished, I never posted it as a "completed game" because, first of all, I never got all the CGs I wanted, and second, because I started working on the remake almost immediately.

My full rant notes and details about the game can be found here, but the short version is that I was digging around for something and found the original "Memoirs" game on my backup drive, so I decided to dust it off, fix it up, and finally release it to the public. Major fixes include: reworking the code so that it's more "skip-friendly" (and the same text isn't repeated 10 times), replacing Duren's and Nefferon's sprites with the improved versions from the remake (no more ugly yellow raincoat for Neffy), adding a system to change Zuleika's outfit color and equip accessories unlocked in past playthroughs, making the dancing mini-game slightly more difficult based on feedback, making the character profiles more legible and adding credits to all outside artists' work, and restoring the audio to its original quality after I had significantly lowered the quality for previous versions.

A screenshot from the recently re-released Memoirs of an Angel (2010)

I hadn't expected much of a response since, again, this is just the old game, and honestly, the remake is/will be so much better that playing through the old game makes me laugh at how bad it is (at least compared to what I can do now). But to my surprise, I've had a pretty overwhelmingly positive response, and it was brought to my attention that a blurb for my game has even been posted on the English Otome Games Tumblr. Upon doing a search, I found a few other reviews for my game as well! It makes me happy to see that people like my game, but it definitely puts pressure on me to finish the remake, haha. I guess I better get on that, lest I incur the wrath of the fans...


In other news...
I've outlined every event for the first two weeks of the game (out of about two months) and am slowly starting to put "W.I.S.H" into Ren'py. So far, I've programmed all of the characters' sprites, including the main character's customizable sprite. I've decided to add multiple colors, but it's hard to find colors that go well with Seiko's sprite (I haven't added any for Ein yet). So...we'll see on that front.

I'm still waiting for the lineart for my title screen, but in the meantime, here is a scene from the prologue of the game:

"Look, there's a shooting star!" Well...there will be, once I add one.

I've also started work on a concept for a new game, this time an adult game catering to some certain fetishes. It is about an incubus/succubus (you can choose your gender) named Jade who has recently come of age and realizes that he/she needs to feed off of the sexual energy of others. But Jade can't just randomly walk up to people and say "Let's have sex;" that's just not his/her style. Instead, Jade must coerce them using other means...like manipulating their dreams, which may not always work out the way he/she wants. To make matters worse, Jade isn't the only sex demon around, and he/she soon finds out that when it comes to rivals, it's thrall or be enthralled! Can Jade navigate his/her life as a sex demon without pissing off friends and family or being made into some succubus' slave? We'll just have to find out. :D

Anyway, "Lustful," as it is tentatively called, may not be popular among my usual audience due to the content, but it's something I've wanted to do for a while (not necessarily with sex demons, though). It won't be nearly as plot-driven as "Memoirs" or "W.I.S.H," and will be mostly for fun. I've already commissioned sketches of the characters from Rai-Shi (Warning: NSFW), but will probably hold off on seriously working on it until I've made significant progress on "W.I.S.H."

That's all for this update. If you haven't already done so, please check out the "Memoirs of an Angel (2010)" thread. There is also a download link for the complete game on the left. If you like it, please be sure to let me know. :)

New Game: W.I.S.H

A promo poster I made for the new game.

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been inspired to work on Starlit Dreams again. Well, one thing lead to another, and a month later, I've turned what was "Starlit Dreams" into a completely new game titled "W.I.S.H." Not only that, but I'm still working on it! And not just fiddling around with the graphics or brainstorming about fun features to add, but working on the actual plot and writing.

How do I plan to continue this? Due to my issues with finishing games thus far, I decided to go back to what allowed me to finish the original "Memoirs of an Angel": I wrote the story first, then turned it into a game. I didn't worry about how it would look with graphics or what mini-games to add, I just worried about writing a good story. That's what I'm doing with W.I.S.H. That's not to say that I haven't thought about the gameplay and graphics, but I'm focusing on getting the story completely planned out down to every last event before even touching Ren'py. I'll make the game adjust to the story, not the other way around.

That said, I've made monumental progress (in my eyes, anyway). So far, I have all of the routes lined out, which means that they've been outlined from beginning to end in a fair amount of detail. I also have quite a few specific events outlined (not written out as far as dialogue, but described in detail). A detailed "characterization" document like I made for Memoirs is also in progress. Once I get some feedback on the route outlines, I'll start working more on the specific plot events themselves. Then I'll fill in romance and other events as needed.

Some of you may be wondering, why the name change?
Starlit Dreams and W.I.S.H may feature the same characters and the same basic premise (the main character lost everything in a fire and moves to a new city, but s/he's bored with her/his job at the library and wants to be an inventor), but they are completely different.

Starlit Dreams was a "light-hearted business sim." W.I.S.H definitely is NOT.
W.I.S.H still includes a few business sim elements (you can choose what products to make, who to sell them to, and for how much), but the focus is on the story, which is anything but "light-hearted." Expect strong language, heavy violence, and adult themes. Murder and the nature of death, specifically, play a huge part in the game.

The new game is centered around the characters, getting to know them, seeing their relationships, and then witnessing the chain reaction that happens when something big upsets the balance of their fragile world. That said, there will be up to three "action periods" a day during which you can choose which character you want to talk to. The main stat to raise is "Attraction," earned by witnessing events and choosing the right dialogue options, which factors in to whether a character sees you romantically or as just a friend.

Finally, events in Starlit Dreams were triggered by having enough affection points with someone. Events in W.I.S.H are based on a calendar and the same events happen whether you are there to witness them or not, forcing you to prioritize different characters' events.

To summarize, Starlit Dreams was an excuse to play around and have fun. W.I.S.H is a serious game about the consequences of relying on "miracles" and, as mentioned above, the unexpected chain of events that can happen as a result.

Anyway, I'll post more about W.I.S.H once I've gotten a significant portion of the writing done. You can also take a look at the WIP thread on LemmaSoft if you're curious. In the meantime, enjoy this bright and vivid promo poster I made using the sprites from the game. :D

Update?

Many people have asked if I have any updates. Unfortunately, even after half a year, the answer is no, I do not. I'm suffering from a pretty massive writer's block that I just can't seem to get over, spurred in large part by the fact that I'm graduating soon, but more importantly my lack of confidence in fiction writing. It's sad, yes, but it happens.

That being said, I played a game recently that inspired me to possibly start working on Starlit Dreams again, which would involve much less writing. The game was an otome game for the PSP called La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia. An anime adaption of it is currently airing and caught my eye, so I decided to check out the game, and I'm really glad I did.

I loved the animated comic book style and simulation aspects of it, as well as the comedy, relationships, and of course, characterization. As soon as I started playing it, I thought, "I want to make a game like that," and realized that that kind of style would work great for Starlit Dreams.

I may end up changing up the plot for Starlit a bit to make all of the characters connected somehow. As it is currently, the main character just meets most of them by chance, which I think is kind of lame. It would be much more interesting if they were all connected by something. So, I'll stew on that for a bit and see if I can't get fired up about making games again.

For those of you who haven't given up, thank you for your continued patience.

Outfits and Hairstyles Continued

For the last few days, I've been cranking out sprite stuff for Zuleika like crazy.

First, I came up with a few more hairstyles, this time with the intent to make something a little more "mature."

Then, I started working on outfits. Determining color schemes was difficult, because while, as a default, Zuleika tends to wear almost exclusively black and white, I realize that not everyone appreciates neutral colors as I do. So, I came to a compromise: her default outfits (i.e. her class outfits) will be black and white as planned, but "for fun" outfits that can be won or purchased will be in different colors. It's amazing how varied she can look now. xD

If you have any suggestions for specific outfits or hairstyles you would like to see, please send them my way. :) I'd like to add as many as I can.

New Outfits and Hairstyles

A while back, when I first started working on the Memoirs remake, I thought it would be cool to let players customize the colors of Zuleika's hair and outfits. While that was a nice improvement, I always wished I could have added more customization options.

Well, now I have. After doing a bit of messing around this weekend, and I managed to come up with...*drum roll* new hairstyles~!

There are now 7 hairstyles in total (though if you count the fact that you can show or hide the ear on each one, then it's actually 14). The color options are the same as before, but have been redone so they look a lot nicer.

In addition to the new hairstyles, there will also be new outfits. Actually, all of the characters will be getting new outfits, but Zuleika is the only one you can actually choose the outfit for. The other characters will automatically change outfits when they change classes (which will be after a time skip of sorts halfway through the game), and the new outfits will reflect the class they changed to and whether it is a "light" class or a "dark" class. For example, here is Chael after he's turned into a knight (which a "light" class) and here he is after he's turned into an assassin (a "dark" class).

Zuleika has five different class possibilities depending on what she asks Osirus for in the beginning, so she'll have at least five new outfits, but I plan to make a few more that can be won in boss battles or bought (for extremely high prices) in certain shops.

With all these new additions, I had to completely restructure all the code regarding the sprites. If only I knew then what I know now about how to properly structure code! Ah well...

Anyway, that's what I'll probably be working on for the next few weeks. Yay. :)

The Cast of Memoirs -- Exposed!

To start off, it looks like updates will only be able to happen on the weekends from here out. My schedule for school this semester is really intense, so I doubt I'll have much time to work on my game during the week.

That being said, I had another productive weekend. :) Well... I think it was productive, but others may disagree with my definition of what that means. What I did this week/weekend was start planning out the - for lack of a better phrase - "sex scenes." It's not really sex so much as an "intense romantic encounter" with sex kind of implied, but not described or shown. Although the act won't be shown, the scene leading up to it will be, as it is essentially the culmination of the romance; this scene for each couple will be the only CG that couple has together (due to rising prices and lack of funds), so that should emphasize how important it is.

Of course, while planning the scenes, I thought about how to put them together visually, and realized it would be weird if they were having a conversation with their clothes on and then suddenly had them off (or mostly off) in the CG. So I went and made "undressed" sprites for the whole crew, and had waaaay more fun than I should have while tracing those delicate contours... xP

Here are the characters' new sprites, arranged in a "reimagining" of this cast line-up from my LemmaSoft thread:

I wish I could say that there's something for everybody, but... that's probably not true. I'm well aware that the cast isn't ethnically diverse, but it's a little too late to change that now. I'm also aware that there isn't a wide range of body types there; they're all pretty buff and model-esque in their physique, which isn't particularly realistic, but it is nicer to look at. Let's be honest: this story and these characters are based on my own personal preferences. While it would be nice if I could cater to everyone, that would be impossible to do, so I go with what I like and hope that others who play my game like the same thing (or could at least live with it).

Now, on that same note, I know that the issue of sex and/or nearly naked guys in otome games is a hot debate (no pun intended), but personally, I believe it makes sense in some situations to have more "adult" scenes. These characters are adults (at least by that time period's standards) and are, by the end, seriously risking their lives; if nothing else, in situations like that, emotions are intense and (I would guess) there's an instinct to grab on to what you hold most dear, which would typically be the person you love. I'm not going to ignore the natural progression of a relationship in that type of situation just because it may make some people uncomfortable, and that's an aesthetic choice I made as the "artist" behind the story. The shirtless guys are also aesthetic choices, since...well...I think they're hot.

That doesn't mean that there will be "porn" in this game or anything that could be remotely classified as such. As you can see from the sprites above, nothing is/will be shown, and most of the guys don't even take their pants off (except Ahzi 'cause he's a stud). The focus will be on the emotional connection between the two parties in question, not on the physical aspects of the encounter.

...Alright, I'm done ranting for now. Enjoy the half-naked guys (and gal). ;D

P.S.: After posting this, I discovered that, despite having spent a great deal of time designing each boy's bottom half, the textbox covers it all up...so the result is that they look like they're naked even though they're not. Oops. Ah well...

Progress!

Guess what? I WROTE STUFFS!
Seriously, it's a freakin' miracle.

More specifically, I wrote a little less than a third of the Jarconia plot arc. If the original game rushed through the plot, then this one moves through it at a snail's pace in comparison. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad... I guess it really just depends on preference. Personally, I don't mind a lot of dialogue since...well...that's kind of what visual novels are all about. In this case, it was really important to me to provide some sort of background on the important secondary characters (Ustyz and Lilah) and the area itself, since it has a history that plays into the main plot quest of that area.

I also wrote the flashback scene (or...series of scenes) which explains exactly how she was framed, which will be important for solving the murder later on. I was going to make this into a separate thing as the 'demo,' but it's important enough that I felt it needed to be included in the main game. To adapt it from 'separate thing' to 'part of the game,' I had to shorten it and cut out the originally planned free-roaming around the castle, so now there are five options of places to go, each with its own clue of sorts. However, you can only choose three of these places to search. So... the places you choose will determine what clues you find, which will impact how events unfold later down the road, though I'm not sure how much yet.

As of now, the flashback scene will come up sometime during your first major plot arc, regardless of which one you choose. I may move it somewhere else depending on how well it fits in, and how much it screws up the pacing (since it's still rather long). In general, I'll probably have to adjust the pacing a bit based on opinions from testers later down the road.

In addition to all that awesomeness, I also re-did my battle GUI so it looks a bit more...professional (or as 'professional' as graphics made in MS Word can get). Here's a preview:

You'll notice that I rearranged some things, added some color and texture, redesigned the portrait frames so they look a little less blocky, and took out the movement order (because I'm lame and I don't know how I would code that, har har). The icons under "Other actions" aren't final or anything (I obviously won't use the old Twitter icon in the final version), but they're examples to show the kind of basic look I'm going for. I may end up creating actual icons with color and everything, but for now, I'm going to go for the simple black-and-white icon design.

Anyway, there's my progress report for today. Good stuff, yes? I just hope I'll have some time this week to keep the ball rolling.

Very Small Update

School started today, but I found a bit of time to fix up my menus.

Hopefully, they won't seem so dark now with lighter font and more contrast. With that, the navigation bar got an upgrade, too... but I wonder if I should include buttons for other parts of the interface, like Inventory, Characters, etc. I haven't made those screens yet, but it may be good to go ahead and have the framework in place. I can only do that if I figure out how to clear my damn cache, though...*grumbles*

On another note, I'm really happy to have received such positive comments and encouragement on my LemmaSoft thread. Knowing that I'm doing a good job and that people are interested in my work really helps to inspire me, so thanks guys. :) I just hope I can live up to your expectations and make a good game in the end.

Bleeeeeeh

It's already the middle of January?! What happened to all that free time I was supposed to have for winter break? Oh....right... I wasted it playing Mass Effect and watching perverted anime. Damn.

Well, anyway, school is starting up in a few days. That means less free time, but getting back into the routine will make it easier to work, both for school and for my game. Over the break, I played some official Japanese visual novels which helped give me a better idea of what kind of effect I want to achieve. Granted, my game won't be quite the same since there are more RPG elements involved and more "do your own thing" time. It'll be more like Dragon Age or ME in that regard.

I know, that doesn't really count as progress. Here IS some progress (kind of):

These circles/windows/shiny things (based on the "awakening" circles from the Kingdom Hearts series) represent the different (romantic) endings of the game and will be used during the epilogue. I think they're a big step up from the watercolor versions I had before but didn't know what to do with. I re-lined and re-colored them myself, both the portraits in the back and the art in front, and the solo versions I drew using references and trying to copy the same style as the others. All in all, they took a very long time to do (a week of working 8-9 hours straight each day), but I'm really proud of them.
...Yes, I know Ahzi is missing. Poor guy doesn't get one. ):

I've also started writing again... a little bit, anyway. I'm honestly not that good at writing stories (I'm better at writing things like reports and essays... I blame school for that), so I keep putting it off, but I know that this project will never get anywhere if I don't write. After all, there is no game without the story. So... I just need to force myself to sit down and write, write, write. Like I am now. :)

I'll finish this monster some day, I swear...