rambitious

Hey guys! I completely forgot to post about it here but I completed my visual novel demo, Relentless! You can play it here for free: https://cloudnovel.net/rambitious/novel/relentless * If you play it and like what you see, please consider supporting the creation of the full game by joining my exclusive Patreon community! Join here: https://www.patreon.com/rambitious and get all the cool perks associated with your tier! *Note: The visual novel demo will not load on browsers other than chrome (though this will be an issue that's fixed in the future)

Hey guys! I completely forgot to post about it here but I completed my visual novel demo, Relentless! You can play it here for free: https://cloudnovel.net/rambitious/novel/relentless * If you play it and like what you see, please consider supporting the creation of the full game by joining my exclusive Patreon community! Join here: https://www.patreon.com/rambitious and get all the cool perks associated with your tier! *Note: The visual novel demo will not load on browsers other than chrome (though this will be an issue that's fixed in the future)

@Ranzo yeah the expressions are what sold me on the first episode xD From then on I was hooked, I had to see how crazy it was gonna get. I was not disappointed!

Just finished watching Kakegurui. Such a bizarre show but I really enjoyed it. Hoping for a second season!

Yeah I'm pretty aware of that, and to be honest I'm kind of hesitant about doing it at the moment. Once I release the demo of my game, I'll consider setting one up but for now I'm just trying to gauge my options. I won't need to do it if I can acquire the funds on my own to hire people to work on the vn with me in order to make it the full game but thats doubtful so its a tricky situation. (that being said i'd rather pay people for their effort in working with me then relying on collab/volunteer work just as an ethics thing) Time will tell xD

Yeah, being seen as a lesser version of the original is not a good thing, I personally feel obligated to combat that as a developer with my own projects if I can achieve it. It would be cool if a bunch of niche developers and/or tiny teams for this sort of content got together and made something much larger; a bigger studio that caters specifically to that kind of content. Though starting and keeping any kind of game development studio is not easy and a lot of them form and go under very quickly. Then again, things like kickstarter and patreon make it more doable nowadays but still it is hard to stand out and profit i guess.

I've heard that argument as well and I guess it will go on for eternity xD. I find also that having anime art styles where I've studied art is really discouraged/frowned-upon but that might just be a western art-school thing, I wouldn't know for certain. I guess in the end you can't please everyone so you've just got to do what makes you happy. Thanks so much, I'll definitely need all the luck I can get!

Haha, its not too far off from other gaming/media industries where developers go for what they think sells over taking risks with style etc. I'm honestly not surprised. But I agree, its definitely a superstition based on what I've seen. People just want to enjoy a quality vn regardless of whether the art is anime or not. But also like you said, people might be more hesitant to play a game like Cinders, so the art style does have some face value in drawing the player into actually playing the game. As a western developer and someone who was actually drawn to Cinders because of the art style itself, I wonder if creating more western style vns would attract more western players to vns in general, hence the "make vns popular in the west" thing. Or maybe its totally irrelevant but despite, its an interesting thing to consider.

This is such a cool idea! I'm super interested in western vn development but its hard to find people who focus exclusively on western vn content. Thanks for this, I'm definitely following! I'm also interested in how western vns with Japanese art styles are viewed vs western vns with different styles, especially since I'm more interested in creating content not in the traditional anime style. It seems though to be a popular choice amongst western vn developers though (anime style art). I've seen some people say they prefer one over the other or not care at all as long as the story/game is good. It would be cool to see if that comes up over time of reviewing lots of different western vns. Nevertheless, I'm excited to see what more you post!

@BlackCatPrincess Aw thanks so much that means a lot to me! I'll definitely keep updating and announce once I release the demo ^^

@Ranzo Thanks so much! I'll definitely need it xD My first experiences with vns were probably dramatical murder, back when I was in highschool. Since then I've been super interested in the general format as a story telling medium. I'm also really intrigued by the emergence of western-style indie vns that are being produced. I came across concept art for a game called cinders and I was like whoa I could do something like this! I think the part that got me the most was that to make a vn, you can have very little knowledge of coding and game-making mechanics so creating one has gotten way easier. Overall I just really love the unique way vns are able to communicate story in comparison to other mediums like animation, webcomics, etc.

@Dreamysyu ah thanks so much! I figured there was something like this here, good to know!

Thank you all for the welcome! I'm not entirely sure how this forum works with letting people know I'm replying but hopefully you can see this! If not someone please tell me how I can let these lovely people know I'm responding to them xD Thanks again! Also if you have a thread you think I'd be interested in specifically I'd love to know, much appreciated!

Hi guys! Figured this would be a good place to share updates on my first and latest vn project. Since it's being created as part of my senior thesis, the demo will be out by the end of april, so look out for it! I hope to continue after graduation and complete the game in full with all 3 endings if I can get the support to do so. Project updates are posted here: https://relentless-vn.tumblr.com/ As always I'm very open to feedback once the demo is released because I really want to create the full game as best as I possibly can. Information about Relentless: Visual Novel: Play along as a young noblewoman living in the Great Steam Era of Amaranth. Nothing, not even your over-controlling step-father can prevent you from experiencing the joys of perusing the city night-life. Or can it? Not everything is as it seems in the complex world of the nobility and you find yourself suddenly thrust into the underbelly of something big..something only a select few know about. 3 Total endings Ages 16+ for mature language/topics Genre: Steampunk fantasy/mystery

I'm Rachel, an illustrator and vn developer working on completing a small demo game called Relentless. I post progress here: https://relentless-vn.tumblr.com/ . I'd love to meet other people who are interesting in developing a vn and talk about our projects, experiences, etc. Feel free to talk to me! I also chill out in the ren'py and tyranobuilder discord groups if anyone is interested. I aspire to hopefully be able to achieve the means and ability to turn my vn demo into the fully game that I'd originally planned for it to be. Any advice and guidance on getting there is very much appreciated as I'm very new to the vn dev community. Thanks for reading, hope you have a lovely day!