Jump to content

Diamon

Members
  • Posts

    402
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

Everything posted by Diamon

  1. I guess I'm a bit late about it (haven't been paying much attention to this thread lately, an apology to the people who follow our updates through this thread solely), but Inciting Incident is now available to play for free on Steam! http://store.steampowered.com/app/439940/ We hope you'll enjoy reading through this release!
  2. The game should have around 10 hours worth of content atm (+-2 hours depending on your reading speed). I completely understand that not releasing a complete and full game can be frustrating when you're reading, and it's IMO a valid reason for not picking up something. I'll simply say that given the nature of how we've been working on the project (on our free time, without budget, and only volunteer work), it would be just unrealistic for us to release our game when it's complete, because there's still so much for us to do. So basically, we didn't have a choice here (whether Lucid9 should have been of a smaller scale to avoid that is another question though).
  3. The steam page is now officially live! Download the game for free here : http://store.steampowered.com/app/439940/ We'd love to have as many people as possible share their impressions in this thread and discuss the VN!
  4. We realize that some people don't exactly like english voice over (since it's in english and people are more accustomed to it, they automatically tend to be able to judge more easily and be more picky, which is totally fine though), so we'll make sure to have an option to disable voices!
  5. There are some audio series that are really good and funny to listen to as well (Naheulbeuk, Aventuriers du survivaure, Reflets d'acide), and a few webseries as well (Noobs, le visiteur du futur) that are very nice to watch. But then again, I don't doubt that stuff similar to this exist as well in english. So it's for you to decide if it's worth for you to learn a language just for this, but english is just so prominent that it's difficult for us to find something exclusive to our language that could be a good enough motivation. And even in the case it is exclusive, there's a good chance something with a similar concept already exists in english (except if you look for another culture, but you already crossed out chinese and japanese). Though french cinema tends to be quite different from hollywood movies, they are often more realistic and focus on social problems and interpersonal relationships, whether it is comedy or drama. Though french cinema definitely has some of the best comedy (De funes)
  6. May I argue in favor of French then? It has one of the most extensive litterature you could find, probably only second to english. Very famous authors (Victor Hugo / Emile Zola / Proust) and philosophers as well (Descartes / Voltaire / Rousseau). Problem is that most of this stuff is actually quite hard to read, and is only truly interesting if you like philosophy or litterature. As a piece of interesting trivia, I think that the UN official language is french (might not be the case anymore). From a more recent perspective, french language shines a bit less, though I can think of a few original series in french really hilarious to watch (Kaamelot, a parody of the round table knights) and quite a few comics (Tintin / Asterix / Spirou) if you like reading those (very accessible for a beginner learner)
  7. Pfew, finally finished Tokyo Babel, what a ride! Definitely one of my favorite VN so far. Tons of action and biblical references (though I'm not sure how accurate they were). I was also surpisingly pleased to see that there was an even cast of female and male characters, something you rarely see in VNs, especially when the temptation of having gender swapped sexy angels or sexy demons / succubus could be strong. The perfect voice acting was really what made the VN though. It was funny to hear kanahana to be a bit more on the teasing side with one of her character (dem civilization refs), and while at the very beginnig her voicing raziel feels a bit off, you grow accustomed to it very quickly. Anyway, regarding the route order suggested, I'll add that you should try to read : Raziel bad end > Raziel True end > Sorami bad end > (Sorami normal end) > Sorami True end > (Lilith Bad end 3) > Lilith True end > (Setsuna end) Raziel bad end is especially important since it explains some stuff that won't be explained anywhere else, though not anything major. Also I think it's a perfect first ending to achieve, and continuing onto the true ending after the bad ending will feel much less abrupt (I think the writer intended for us to read the bad end before the true end, seeing how raziel true end was written sometimes) None of the other bad end go as in-depth as Raziel bad end (they only last 5 minutes at most compared to the hour of raziel bad end), so they are more skippable. There are a few CGs though that you won't get if you don't play them, so try to read those I've listed at least.
  8. Alright, I'm over 50, so I should be able to give you some tips and tricks, and hopefully we can make you and your friend farm some good equipment before attacking nightmare Nightmare is quite hard since friendly fire starts to appear at this difficulty, but the most annoying is that rat have more health, often requiring orange or at least blue items to kill them quickly, and you only have one down before dying, which is quite the difference. Not sure I can carry you through nightmare since I can only hold my own on this mode, but I'll try
  9. Cool! Just by curiosity, what is your level on the game / what difficulty do you usually play on?
  10. Sure, though I'm not home currenty, won't be available before an hour or so. My steam name is "Diamonit" (should have some sort of green llama as a picture)
  11. Ooooh I love this game! Happen to have nearly 100 hours on it, playing the bright witch! If you happen to play on EU I'd be glad to play with you, or anyone! (else, rip latency) For those who are not very familiar with the game, it's a left for dead like with rp elements (equipment with different rarity that you can "loot" or "craft", rewarded at the end of the mission, rarity being both random and depending on the difficulty of the mission + what you could call addtional challenge you manage to succeed). The real difference with L4D though is that weapons are characters specific (there are 5 for the moment), meaning that playing with the dwarf or the elf grants you different weapons, with as a result a much different gameplay. For example, I have played for 90 hours with the bright witch, specializing in range and with specific mechanics, but I am much less experienced with all the other characters. Gameplay wise, it is very similar to left for dead (hordes, specials, tank/ogre, consummable to pick up, ammos) though I feel the learning curve is higher for vermintide.
  12. Who uses a button for that when you can just alt+f4 though
  13. A lot of things have already been said by the others, so I'll just suggest one or two things that are obvious but you don't necessarily think about it when creating your game : - Try to have a way to access the main menu from the game. It's pretty obvious, but you rarely think about it. - Likewise, if you're planning to let your VN to have a fullscreen option, give a button for the reader to exit the game. Nothing more annoying than having to disable fullscreen in order to leave. - Get some warning message when the reader tries to leave the game (either to access the menu or to quit the game) that he will lose his current progress if he chooses to continue. - If you can implement a real backlog instead of ren'py standard rollback, try to go for it. Rollback is often a source of bugs and errors in an engine. Bonus points if your backlog has a "restart to this point" button. - A right click functionality : you need to decide what you want to do with the right click of your mouse, since it will be the second most used button when playing. You have three choices imo : either have it be a hide/show textbox, either have it display the save screen, or either have it display a menu where you get all the different options (i.e save / load / menu / textbox / settings / exit). Note that if you decide to go with the first two options, you have to make sure that all the other options are accessible through the quick menu buttons.
  14. I guess I'm more defining filler as stuff that is either not plot relevant, or either does not serve to characterize a character. For example, narrating how your MC gets out of bed, takes a shower, eats this special brand of cereals for breakfast, and about his brand new uniform that he just got from the tailor, that is pointless and bad filler. Bad filler is basically giving useless information to the reader. As for why we are associated with Sekai Project, it's mostly because it's a win-win situation for both of parties. On one hand, we get free exposure from their social medias, and also they help us set up our steam greenlight and page (granted it's not that much work). On the other hand, they get a new EVN to add to their catalog, also I do think it's good for their image that they show that they can support projects like ours, they obviously don't receive any financial compensation for helping us since the VN is free, but they still help us getting more exposure and published.
  15. That was probably the most sensible move they could do tbh, and it's more of a win-win situation imo since : - Either we get a very good adaptation with the original content, and everyone is happy - Either we get a bad adaptation, but at least it won't shame (and spoil) the original content as hard as if it was following the source material. Some additional information from Kazamatsuri : If they go for an original ending, I at least hope they'll make it 24 episodes. No way they can pull out something that is coherent and not rushed in less than 24 episodes (and also they already have all of the music ready, so that's budget that can be used somewhere else). Also it does seem less likely that we'll end up with butchered heroine routes (who said grisaia?), but again you never know. Well, I'm at least a bit more reassured that Romeo Tanaka participates actively in the directing of the anime, no Maeda = no fucking stupid pacing that ruins the anime (let's face it, the man is horrible at pacing and directing anime).
  16. For some reason, the moment I read this article about Tay on my news website, I knew that there would be a thread on Fuwa. Was not disappointed.
  17. Yup, it's just have seen very diverse pricing regarding writing, some would propose 0,02$/word, and others would go as high as 0,10$/word. One thing that is really an issue with "per word" pricing is that it makes the writer more likely to try to pad with fillers, just to artificially increase the word count (which is already an issue in the japanese VN industry).
  18. Interesting question, I'm not exactly the best qualified person to judge a writer's work since I'm not english native, but there are quite a lot of things I could at least try to look for : - An experienced writer who already writes stuff on a regular basis (could be fanfiction or original stuff), that guarantees you that this person is passionate about writing, and that they are able to write in all circumstances, and able to force themselves. Thid is pretty much the difference between a hobbyist attitude and a professional attitude. - Writing wise, someone who is native english speaker, with a grammar as flawless as possible. Make sure that the writing flows well, flow is a very important point in VN writing and it makes the difference between something comfortable to read and something painful to read. Make sure there is no basic errors in the writing, especially "purple prose" and "show don't tell". - Because there are visuals in Visual Novels does not mean that descriptions are useless, it just means that they should have a different focus and be used slightly differently than in normal novels. Good descriptions are a great addition to a visual novel, so don't underestimate that point as well. - Someone who reads a lot of material, but more than anything someone who likes a diversity of creative work. Someone who reads a lot of type of novels and likes a lot of genres will be very flexible and able to work with any more or less complex concepts you throw at them, since they'll be familiar with the tropes and execution. If you're aiming at creating something more "anime" influenced, prefer someone that still reads a lot of books (and by that I mean legit novels, not Light Novels) and knows less regarding jap VN / anime over someone who is very knowledgeable about VN / anime but reads very few novels. If you can have both, you hit the jackpot! - Something I've noticed is that play writers and movie writers also make for very good VN writers because the organization is very similar : the way you write the script regarding the dialog have a lot of similarities (direction regarding the tone / acting = sprite expressions and animations on screen) Regarding the rates, I don't think I actually have a good estimate in mind, mostly because a lot of writers generally accept to work for free, since there is a heavy offer for writers to work on VN, and less demand. If my memory serves right, I think it's something around 0.05$/word? Can vary depending on the person you ask. Hiring someone gives you somehow more safety over getting the work done by someone who is working for free, but if your budget is limited you would probably prefer to pay for the art, since it's much harder to find a skilled artist willing to work for free compared to a writer willing to work for free imo.
  19. It's true that it can cost quite a lot, especially if you're looking into hiring artists. But if you're confident in your ability in leading a project and finish it, kickstarters are a thing. It's not like you can't find people willing to work based on shared revenue or even for free either, despite making a commercial game, you just need to search more extensively. Proof being that there are a few EVN that I know that are being worked on with a 0$ budget (mine included).
  20. Why not both? I think there's quite the market for Visual Novels on mobile and tablet, it's just that a lot of developers are going for the paywall approach which is imo quite frustrating for most people. Otome dating sims sell like pancakes on android and IOS.
  21. I'm really impressed to be honest, it's looking very good! I'll try to list all the stuff that came to mind when playing the demo teaser : The good: - The menu UI is very cool, gives the reader a good idea what they are going to get into even if they don't know what the premise of the game is. - The art is splendid, the style is refreshing as well. Nun's animations are very well done and creates some nice dynamism on screen. - Some good effort was put on the directing, whether it concerns SFX or VFX, I especially like the smoke effect in the background. Also the fact that the characters who are not talking have their sprites darkened is a good idea, makes it easier for the reader to associate a sprite with a voice and a name at the very beginning. - The music fits perfectly the mood of the scene and really enhances the experience, and they are looping quite neatly. - The voice acting is really enjoyable. Nun's voice especially is really well portrayed. - Dialog was nicely written, pace of the narration was good. - Definitely works as a very good hook that makes the reader want to know more about the universe The nitpicking : - The constant scribbling sound effect during narration could become annoying to some people. You might want to add an option to disable that, just in case. - Rah's voice lacked a bit of dynamism from time to time? Or maybe he's not the type to express himself strongly when talking? It probably depends on his personality I guess. - I spotted a few instance where you cut a take for Nun and separated it in two sentences, I could hear the breathing being cut in the audio. - I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but quite a lot of lore specific terms are introduced and very few are actually explained during the demo. Maybe the goal was to have the reader guess based on context, or maybe it will just be explained later on, but it could feel slightly overwhelming (at least if you're going in blind, there's a high chance it will). Just a suggestion, but something like a lexicon could definitely be a very nice addition (for example lore specific words being highlighted, and clicking on them sends you to the lexicon page where you get some elements of explanation, those explanations can actually complete themselves the more you progress in the story). It also helps preventing an "info dump" effect during the story that could break the flow of the narration. Needs improvement : - No backlog or even script rewind is a bit annoying, especially in a demo where you need to pay careful attention to the text: I can't check back a few lines prior to see if I missed any information, which happens to me often when I'm thrown in a new universe I know nothing about, and especially since you leave things unexplained, I'm often tempted to say "There's some unfamiliar word or concept here, maybe I missed an explanation before?". - The last voiced narration from Rah doesn't have any text appearing in it, probably a bug? - Lastly, and probably the one and only flaw I felt when reading, there is a bit of a "Show, don't tell" issue in the narration. It contrasts a lot with the dialog style of speech. For example : "The room lights up." ; "He follows Nun."; "Nun walks away from Rah" ; "Unprepared, Rah loses his balance". It feels like you're summarizing too much. It doesn't prevent the reader from enjoying the scene, but I feel you're missing a bit on the potential of immersion of the scene by just telling instead of showing, I can't feel the epicness of the dialog/art/music in the narration. Overall it's a very solid demo I feel, and it show that the final game has a lot of potential, and that you know what you're doing. There's a lot of attention given to the details, and that's the mark of a very promising game imo!
  22. Seems like it works for me, had the same freeze problem but if you leave it alone for a bit it resumes playing.
  23. The two next trailers in line: Jirou Ryouta and Masato Kurogane!
  24. More explosions from Megumin! More lewdness from Darkness! More uselessness from Aqua! More snark from Kazuma! Praise the gods (don't praise Aqua though)!
×
×
  • Create New...