Diamon

Hello, and welcome to the Fuwanovel forums! Not sure if someone has suggested it already, but Cross Channel has a yandere character in it!

Welcome to fuwanovel! Hope we'll get along!

Well that's a good thing, I was about to post a status update about our recent progress! So, last time I posted here, I was talking about how we were having issues in programming and composing. Well, good news for both, those issues have been solved! We've recruited a lot of fresh blood, and we gained a lot of dynamic and made quite a lot of progress, thanks to : - Zuka, who joined the team as a programmer and who is taking care of the GUI - jbonesy, who also joined as a programmer, and who is taking care of Narrative scripting - breeze, Ultrakitsune, Yunyunsae and Ziassan who all joined as composers for the project (damn, I was complaining about not findig any composer one month ago, and now we have four). - Zander, who will produce SFX for us. - Suna who joined our ranks as a writer It's probably a legitimate question to wonder if having so many composers won't be counter-productive. Well, I can't deny that there is a risk, but at the same time, putting all the workload on only one composer would be way too unreasonable, and having more hands allow us to create more tracks to fit specific situations, instead of having to content ourselves with generic OST that try to fit everywhere. Musical consistency might suffer a bit, but it's a risk we're willing to take to tell the truth. I'm pretty sure everyone would want some more concrete news though, so here we go : - First of all, we decided to release a new demo for January 2016. I can't give a precise day yet, not can I guarantee that it won't be delayed by several weeks, but we'll try our best to respect this deadline. - This demo will include the entirety of common route. As a reminder, Common route spans over 13 days, and should pretty much last you for something between 5 hours (for the fastest readers) and 7-8 hours. - Despite what you could have believed from our previous demo, the pace is not going to be a 13-days slice of life comedy without any plot progression. First 5 days are pretty much exposition, character introductions and comedy, days 5 to 8 get into the heart of the mystery and has a much more tensed ambiance, while days 9 to 13 will be the climax of common route. - Interestingly enough, common route can be seen pretty much as a standalone story/arc in the greater scheme of the Lucid9 universe. Several reasons to that, mainly, it will allow us to release a demo that has a complete development story-wise, and give some sort of satisfaction to the reader. Kinda comparable to a reader finishing the first tome of a book series (not exactly the same, but you get my idea). Some people will like it and ask for more, some others won't and will question our choices, we're aware that we can't please everyone, but nevertheless this will be the story we wanted to tell. - The days 1 to 4 of this demo have been reworked a bit, so there will be new and changed content compared to the previous demo (the most noteworthy being a rework on Misaki's personality). - The demo will be released on ren'py as a downloadable. For those who were wondering, the current demo you can find on cloudnovel won't be worked on anymore and will be discontinued in favor of the ren'py version. We're already working on implementing the script on ren'py, and most of the GUI has already been created and implemented (as you can see here : Well that's about it! I'll try to give more updates as things progress! Since it was a pretty long post, here is a potato a drawing as a reward : Akira, drawn by Yuuko, our BG artist.

I know of World End Economica, Higurashi and Katawa Shoujo with french translations so far, but there might be more.

Pretty sure there is a PC version, and that you don't need an emulator^^

(The moment where the post on the Violet Hill thread reminds you that you have to make your own update on your own thread...) Nice to see that your team is getting more and more members! I just realized that the last time I actually checked your demo was nearly 1 year ago, (November I think?) I should probably give a try to the latest version.

I guess you can try Remember11? There are shitloads of bad endings in it (impossible to not reach one without a walkthrough), and you actually need to read those bad ends to understand the true end, and this true end in itself is... Very disturbing to be honest. Though, Remember11 is much more story-driven, and kinda leaves aside character development to concentrate on the mystery. Still a good read though, especially if you wanted to take a break from romance centered VNs.

The good news : The OP has been released, and it's awesome : The bad news : Playstation & co only... No love for pc, as usual.

Thanks for the offer! Ah, also I forgot to add this in my update, but here is a video trailer for Lucid9! (I guess you could consider this as some kind of opening?) Everything is not perfect in it, and it will probably be rev later, but it should serve as a temporary video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmIdng31TUs

Well, it's been a while since I last posted here... I guess I'll make a quick summary of what happened since last time I posted something : - Writing is progressing well, we're moving onto heroine routes, and common route is in editing phase. There are quite a lot of additions to be made on common route, so it's nowhere near to completion (but we are actively working on it as well). - Art is progressing well, not really much to say about that, we are working on new sprites and on CG for common route currently. - Music is stalling, mostly because we have no composer available to work on the Lucid9 tracks. Fortunately, a good portion of the tracks we need for common route is already composed. If you're a composer and you'd like to offer your services as a composer, feel free to pm me! - Programming is... Well, I guess we are operating a change of direction here. Even though our current demo on cloudnovel is working, we ultimately had issues with the creators, we are probably going to make Lucid9 on ren'py since it's probably the safest and most reliable way. As a result, I have no idea when we'll be able to release a demo... The good thing is that the next demo will be an downloadable one! I guess I'll share some of the art that has been created lately as an apology for the lack of updates lately : An awesome background, courtesy of yuuko our BG artist! You'll order some more Elizabeth, won't you? I'm very tempted to make some Love Live reference... Is that Akira? YES IT IS AKIRA!

So, as you may or may not know, I'm currently in VN development - while we might be looking for artists in the future, it isn't quite the topic of the thread. Rather, I'd like to know of your experiences with communication between artists and writers - what have you learned about it? Particularly, what works and what doesn't? What varies from person to person and what's been more consistent with your experience? Is there anything the writers can do to make the artist's easier/higher quality that isn't too much from the writer's point of view? Writers, what have you noticed works for your team, and how easy is it to implement that? Do you think the difference between a linear story and a route-based one alters depictions of the characters in any way? It's something I don't have much experience with myself, which is why I'm hoping to improve on it with some additional information. Okay, it wasn't very clear for me, but I'm assuming you're asking about communication between writers and artists. Talking from my own experience : - MAKE SURE KNOW WHAT YOU WANT BEFORE ASKING YOUR ARTIST FOR ANYTHING! I always consider the artist as the highest members values on the team, and they are those whose time should be the the least wasted. Avoid by all cost the "I don't have a clear idea about what the character should look like, so do what you want based on the character's personality / description", it's the best way to get something that will not satisfy the writer, and frustrate the artist. - Ask the artist about his/her preferences : does s/he prefer to be completely guided? To have some freedom to draw the concept art? Remember that the more you guide them, the more likely it is you will obtain something that will fit your expectations - Make sure to give references to the artist. At least a very complete and detailed written one, but also if the artist prefers it, some visual references. I can't stress out how much visual references are important. It gives a much clearer idea to the artist about what is expected. On the downside, visual references might also limit your artist creativity (which brings back to the previous point : ask them what they prefer to do). - Try to get feedback at each step of the drawing process. The artist just finished a sketch? Share it with the writers, have them give their opinions. The sketch is the best moment to say if you're satisfied or not by the result, if you're not, the artist can draw another sketch without having wasted too much time. Don't hesitate to ask for minor modifications at this moment as well. And repeat for each step of the drawing process after that (Linearting / Coloring / Shading) - Have the writers decide about what sprite expressions they need, and have them list it somewhere. Again, good written and visual description will help. - Try to warn in advance your artist if you're planning to have different set of clothes / different poses. It might help them to organize better (for example I know the artists in my projects like to have tons of set of layers on their photoshop file so that it's easier to edit if they need to change only the clothes of a character, for example.)

We never found this to be a problem, even if ideally it'd be better for the reader to think about the question itself, testing each answer is a completely fine method of resolution as well! ------- On another topic, it's probably time for an update about the current progress. Concerning the writing, even though you can't really see it yet, the whole common route has been finally drafted (it will require a lot of rewriting and editing before it is final though). The wordcount of common route can be estimated to 150 000 words (there might be more when the common route gets finalized). I don't have any estimate for the release of the whole common route as a demo, so don't ask me!^^ Other than that, we've been working a lot on lore building, and heroine routes. And I've been realizing lately that common route is merely only a pebble in the grand scheme of things. Maybe we should rename this common route to "prologue"? Anyway, I think it would definitely fit. I'm more considering common route as an introductory story on its own. And even if the 4/5 first days might currently make you feel that this common route is your typical comedy oriented / non plot focused common route, it is actually not the case. But I'll let you discover that in time! Concerning the art department, things have been somehow reaching a stalemate lately, mostly because of exams. Things should go back to normal during summer, I hope. I do have to admit that we're having a lot of problems with composers. It's not always an easy thing to convince people to participate in your project for free, and it's natural that people end up leaving or stop involving themselves because they are not that interested. Some of you might have noticed that the music in Lucid9 is not exactly very consistent. The reason being that the whole current OST have been produced by 4 different composers so far (some of them left, so they had to be replaced, but their replacement left again...). So it has been (and it still is) a real headache for me. (//end of ranting time) The area that made the most progress those last few weeks is unmistakably the engine. The cloudnovel engine is constantly being improved! For example, you can now finally save and load your progress through the use of a link (built-in save function is planned as well, but not in the works currently). you can also find a skip and previous button while playing the demo. Or maybe you've noticed those new animations that I've been progressively adding on the demo, that use easing, making the movement animations of the camera and the sprites much, much smoother (No more "linear only" animations). There are also tons of new features from the creator side that have been added, and that make working and creating our demo on cloudnovel such a breeze, but it probably won't interest you (and I will talk about those in a cloudnovel dedicated topic that I will create in the near future I believe). Concerning the day 5 segment of the demo that will be released (let's call this demo 2.1), I hope to be able to implement it and release it during July. No promises though, as usual. Day 5 is mostly the climax / peak of the "enjoyable school life" part of the demo, having the whole cast interact as a group between each other (which creates some very interesting and sometimes rather... hilarious combinations and situations). For those who are wanting the pace to pick up, our apologies in advance, it will not be for demo 2.1. But don't worry, the rest of common route should meet your expectations! TL;DR : It depends on the area, but overall, progress is being made! Stay tuned, and don't hesitate to comment on this thread! (And for those who haven't yet, make sure to play the demo 2.0!)

The music is awesome, the art is very pretty! However, imo the writing has some pacing problems. I think a better pacing (especially when the MC is introduced) would really help for keeping and emphasizing this eerie feeling you get from the very first scene. Otherwise, good luck for your project and your kickstarter!

The premise sounds nice and interesting, good luck with your project!

It'd be nice if you could divulge a bit more about the story, especially the setting since it's what interests most people. More generally, it is more interesting that you post info about the content of your project, rather than info about the progress of your project (progress will interest only people who already follow your project, and I'm betting that you are seeking more awareness for it instead). A sample of your writing could definitely be nice to have as well. I know that people tend to not want to reveal too much about their projects, for the surprise, or because they don't want to have their idea be stolen, but keeping things a secret is the best way to have people forget about your project, especially during the early stages of development. Also, I wouldn't advice a kickstarter if you're trying to release a french VN, french people are not that present in the kickstarter community, and a french VN won't interest many potential VN backers.

As a fellow french VN developer, I can only wish you good luck with your project!

Don't forget to watch the movie related to the game here : And make sure to take drugs before watching. Lots of drugs.

I think Dengeki Stryker (the all age version on Steam) would be very good. It is lighthearted, very good on the action, a bit childish but that's exactly what you're seeking I'd say, and also it doesn't have too much heavy drama. I'd really recommend it, especially since it has this whole "superhero" theme that appeals to kids.

On another note, we're proud to announce our partnership with Sekai Project for the promotion and advertisement of Lucid9! Yaaaaaay! https://twitter.com/sekaiproject/status/595341209763246081

I do agree that cute art contrasts a lot with a darker theme, but whether it is disturbing or not is quite subjective imo. For example, Madoka Magica art (which dizzy's art style is heavily inspired from) is very cute and colored, but has quite the dark story. Well, I have to admit that Shaft art direction is also kinda special... Also, don't worry, we assume the fact that our art is moe, the common route still looks very similar to your usual school-life comedy VN, and the heroine routes should still be heavily centered around the heroines. And of course, the heroine will be romanceable, wouldn't it be a waste with such cute girls otherwise?

All characters are important in Ever17, they all have their roles, except you can't really understand it before the True route. I think the beauty of Ever17 is how, if you made a list of all the things (even trivial) that happened in the routes and that didn't make sense to you, it ends up being completely explained in true route.That's really what makes it a masterpiece.

I have some similar issues from time to time. It's very basic, and might be a stupid question, but did you try removing the battery and putting it again?

Of course I understand the feeling, it's natural! It's definitely a very subjective matter, and I wouldn't be able to decide if the use of complex vocabulary is a good or a bad thing, since it probably has as many inconveniences as advantages. But I think, as long as the flow of the writing is not harmed by this vocabulary, there's no real problem. So far, even though it comes from my personal experience, when reading the scripts, I've never had to come back to a previous sentence because I was confused about what was the narration currently saying (which in some VNs, happen to me quite a lot). But again, it's very subjective, and what I can dismiss very easily to not interrupt the flow of my reading, someone else might not be able to ignore it. But it's definitely a choice we made to require a higher english level to fully appreciate the writing. It might scare some people, but hopefully it will be balanced by the fact that this more complex writing will also attract some people who like this kind of writing. And for those who would still want to read despite their shortcoming in english, it's always a good opportunity to learn and improve.