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Team Y.R.S project announcement (manga & Visual Novel stuff)


Bartje

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Hello everyone,

I'm mostly going to use this thread as an introduction to my project and to go a bit more into detail about the development and team as we go along. First before I get started about the project itself I'd like to tell a bit more about the team. Our team, that I tend to jokingly call Y.R.S (Yuri Rescue Squad) is given its name primarily due to the fact a lot, if not most of the ideas we have tend to involve Yuri as a romantic background. However, even if this doesn't interest you, the Yuri element's presence often is different in strength from one story onto another so if you don't care about it, but can tolerate it you will hopefully still find a story to enjoy. Why Yuri? One reason is that I myself tend to feel a bit more motivated when it's involved in some form, while our artists either don't mind it, or actually even like it (for example our main series' artist pretty much was interested in this element cause a lot of her past works involved Otome settings, so this was a healthy change of pace for her.)

The team's purpose has 3 goals. The first one is my personal dream of telling stories, and getting them to be read by a large audience. I love thinking up stories and seeing what people think about them, to the point that once a month I spend the day volunteering at a school to read stories to disabled children (and gods, let me tell you it's a wonderful experience, but sometimes pretty brutal cause those children are some of the most honest critics ever. If they find a story boring... you'll know it right away.) The second one is the desire to support artists financially who in my opinion have a lot of potential and skill, but for some reason often aren't able to make their living out of it. In the end it's a story everyone knows, an artist who loves to draw but for some reason (whether it's connections, fame or something else) are forced to combine their lives in the illustration world, with that of a regular everyday job. My goal is to give those artists a chance to earn money doing the things they like, not just so they can work more actively on a project, but so that by having more time to draw they can possibly grow into even more awesome artists. Finally, the third and last goal is my personal desire to see more English visual novels that don't need to feel inferior to those of the Japanese studios we all know and love.

On terms of our team, we have a bit of a small, yet nevertheless dedicated group, albeit there are a few elements I can't openly talk about yet until January (mostly cause they aren't finalized yet, so anything I say might still change).

 

Artists:

Enjelia: http://otakumode.com/enjelia

Akiko: http://k-meijji.deviantart.com/
Mystic: http://mysticswordsman21.deviantart.com/
Irvin: http://www.coolboysph.com/works.html

To go a bit more into detail about each member their involvement:

Enjelia is the artist in charge of our 'main project' a manga series. She is someone with professional experience in the field (in the sense that she had her work published in magazines before inside her country) and someone I'm very confident in when it comes to delivering quality. While Enjelia specializes in 'adorable or cute' looks, she will be surprisingly you all with some interesting changes to what you can see in her portfolio. Please look forward to some sneak-peeks of her work soon (as in, next week soon if all goes well)

Akiko/Meijji is someone I known for a longer period and have often commissioned to draw my personal forum roleplay characters. She is the artist in charge of a side-project of our team and if all goes well we'll be able to tease you all with some art that will be used in it. This side-project is a visual novel not related to our manga series

Mystic is another artist I had the joy of getting to know (amusingly as a result of him seemingly knowing Enjelia) and is the leader of the Indonesian doujinshi circle 'Nextheaven'. Mystic is in fact the artist who will be working on the visual novel aspect of our main series and will be drawing inspiration directly from the source material of the manga so that the style readers of the manga are used to, will remain familiar to them. After talking to him I have learned two important things: The world of artists has this huge secret network most of us are unaware of, and then the second bit is that I totally believe they are related to the Illuminati >_<

Irvin is currently the one in charge of designs and concept art for something top secret *hush hush*

 

Writing department:

Me: Little old me, while most of my former experience in writing has come from forum roleplaying, I did dabble a bit in writing for visual novels before by means of helping out some friends, albeit later on I went my own way and decided I wanted to start working on my own stories. I'm pretty much working full-time on the project, and if it's anything story-related, whether it's the dialogue or narration, the characters or the story and its lore, you can expect me to have been hiding around writing them down (often throwing in unexpected curve-balls with sudden plot ideas that none in the team expected).

The Red Pen coach of doom: http://www.theredpencoach.com/aboutnancy/

Ignoring my silly title for her, one of the important things I wanted to ensure that would happen at all costs is that the text would feel as natural as possible. Not only is Nancy a professional editor but she is also a writing coach. Whether it involves using that pen of her to tear through my scripts as if she was a sword-wielding warrior slicing up a monster (aka correcting grammar and ensuring the dialogue and narration are able to be read without someone needing to go 'what did he mean with that?'), or giving me feedback on the scenes. She also is the creative adviser who ensures that the actual story stuff isn't one hotpot of messy ideas. If there is any point in the story where something super important is explained in a way you can understand it? Then you got her to thank for the fact you didn't read Latin disguised as English.

Karlos:

Karlos is a friend of mine from my forum roleplay days, and he serves as the first line of defense on terms of helping me with suggestions on how to deal with the wording inside scenes. You know, it's always nice to have a native English speaker with an eye for detail to watch over your stuff. After his opinion and input things pretty much go forth to Nancy, who is like the big bad my script has to defeat before it reaches your eyes.

 

Audio:

We are currently in the process of talking to some professionals to get their support as a composer, but will be looking at using some of our connections to get Japanese Seiyuu down the line, but that's a thought for when the visual novel actually is in a state where we can consider it truly needed.

 

Secret Elements:

??? 1:

I can't go too much into detail about them yet, but they are pretty much the ones with actual professional experience on terms of visual novels and manga, and hopefully will help ensure that the end result is something that WOW you all. (You might end up recognizing them when I reveal their identity)

??? 2:

Potential publisher for the manga, everyone on this site of the internet likely heard about them at least once, albeit the reason they are secret is because things will only be set in stone in January when the first chapter goes out.

??? 3:

A game developer studio, wait what are those guys doing in this project? Well, they are actually huge fans of manga! And as a result are looking into all sorts of ways to help us out, only reason I'm not saying their name yet is because I'm still talking with their CEO about the project, and an actual proper decision will all depend on the manga itself. However, things are looking really positive right now, so I might be able to tell more about them soon.

Now enough with the boring real life stuff, and onto the exciting things... the projects!

 

Our projects are mostly made up out of 2 series, and I'm already going to reveal one of them.

 

Our main series: Misadventures of an Overlord

Misadventures of an Overlord is a story that at its base is a bit of a parody on classic fantasy stories and the tropes associated with them.

this story takes place in a world where Light and Darkness have been clashing against each other in a stalemate for as long as either side can remember. Humanity has long enjoyed the protection and guidance of the Crystal Order, a guild of adventurers that serve as a beacon of hope and the bastion that protects the civilized lands. At the other side we got the six Legions of Darkness, large powerful factions of monsters (read: Monster girls) who are all led by six individuals known as the 'Overlords'. One rumor among the heroes of old says that the sole reason the world hasn't fallen into their hands yet is because those legions rarely work together...
Our story follows the tale of a hero... A noble knight or a dashing rogue who is out to save the world, in the end we all know heroes always win... right? 

.
..
...
WRONG!

 

Our story doesn't follow those fools, no instead we get to enjoy the everyday life of one of the six Overlords. Following the tale of Aundra, a dark elf and the Overlord of the Sixth legion, but now you're likely wondering: What makes Aundra so different from the other Overlords? Well, for starters: She is a total badass sorceress (If you believe only guys can be cool then you're clearly outdated) and simply too lazy to conquer the world (Did you know global conquest takes a lot of effort?). In the end all she wants is to be left alone! Not that easy when those idiots- ahem heroes constantly visit your domain (Get off her lawn already) harass your minions (Bullying is not cool at all, even for a villain), destroy most of her furniture (Hands off her throne buddy) and finally threaten to kill her in the name of all that is good! (Did they even consider for a moment that dying takes a lot of effort, and that removing the bloodstains after their battle is a thankless job that takes hours?)

 

It's downright ridiculous...

 

When after a little 'meet and greet session' between Aundra and a bunch of heroes leads to the destruction of the 'Do not enter' sign, Aundra is required to collect some super glue (harvested from the bodies of adorable baby slimes). Our Overlord thought she was just out on a simple fetch quest. Go out, kill stuff and then go home to relax... Unfortunately not. When Aundra defeats the baby slimes she accidentally saves an adventurer girl who mistakes her for a prince on the white horse and starts to follow her around like a love-struck fool, leading from one misunderstanding into another after she upsets a fellow Overlord and forces Aundra to learn how 'Annoying it is to be a hero.'

 

Main cast revealed so far (far from everyone involved):

Aundra:
The Witch of Darkness and the Overlord of the sixth legion, Aundra is a dark elf who is praised as the strongest magic user in the world. Despite being the one people would consider to have the most chance of succeeding in the Overlords their ambition (to the point some speculate that if Aundra joined the war the forces of Light would be doomed) Aundra is known to be incredibly lazy and cares little for the war. Aside from being fond of naps Aundra is also infamous for her odd sense of humor, her clever approach to situations, and a rather mean sadistic nature when annoyed. She is also the unfortunate soul who constantly gets thrown into some misadventures thanks to the involvement of some fools.

 

Astri (Astrigent):
Astri is a familiar and resembles an adorable black-colored mascot that can be best described as 'what if the devil possessed a furby'. Still, let the cuteness of Astri not fool you, this familiar is one of the most sarcastic and foul-mouthed beings you'll ever encounter! Loving to taunt, tease and ridicule others, Astri is downright brutal and rude with their commendatory. However, despite all this it seems Astri has a incredible amount of respect and loyalty for Aundra (to the point Astri shows a much more polite side toward her.). It seems Astri and Aundra know each other for a long time.

 

Linnea:
The adventurer girl who ends up being 'saved' by Aundra. Linnea is a cheerful and easygoing girl, and also a total novice at everything that involves 'heroic business'. What type of future would await a heroine at the side of an evil Overlord? Only time will tell...

 

Wystia:
Succubus Queen and Overlord of the fifth legion, Wystia is a childhood friend and also rival of Aundra, and totally has this rather obvious crush on the dark elf (that Aundra seems ignorant of). Wystia is extremely competitive and rather than most Overlords conquering the world is a secondary objective to her, she much rather would want to get into Aundra's pants! (Well she is a Succubus...) Of course when she sees Linnea being all lovely-dovely with Aundra hell freezes over (figuratively) and Wystia declares open war onto Linnea and humanity, her tantrum kicking into motion the events that lead to Aundra's misadventures.

 

On terms of giving a comparison to an existing series I would compare it a little to High School DxD, in the sense that the series has those fancy action scenes, a lot of comedy, some fanservice (yes, I know the example has a LOT of fanservice, but you could say that in this story it's a bit more balanced) and fantasy as its setting (but unlike the example this story takes place into an actual fantasy world.) also who doesn't love following the story of one of those who is labeled the 'big bad' in their world?

 

Well, that and the fact our protagonist doesn't want to get her own harem, nor wants to become the Oppai queen...

 

As mentioned before we are also having a visual novel being developed, and to provide a sneak peek:

Visual Novel:

Have you ever wished you were the hero in your favorite story? To be able to talk to the very people you grown to adore? To battle the enemies you would only dream of? For -Player Name- this has always been one of his dreams. When a manga series called the: Misadventures of an Overlord became released the protagonist was instantly charmed by the witty and silly story that also had enough action and emotions to keep his attention. Every chapter of the manga stands proudly amidst his collection, even the most limited edition figurines are within his possession. And the anime? He even knows every single line out of his head.

 

When a rumor at his school starts spreading about an old store where 'fantasy becomes reality' the protagonist is obviously skeptical and amused by the idea. However, for his own entertainment he decides to bring along the very first chapter of his favorite manga series to the store.

 

The store was nothing impressive, an old bookstore with an equally elderly owner. Still, there was something peculiar about the shopkeeper. When the lad asked the old lady about the rumor she smiled mysteriously, telling him that 'sometimes all you need for fantasy to become reality is 'a lot of imagination, a bit of luck and a sprinkle of magic'. Of course the message confused the protagonist, but when the elderly woman suggested for him to find the answer himself by reading his book in the back of the store the protagonist decides to give in to his curiosity and accepts her invitation.

 

Of course as he starts to read the manga not much seems to happen. Sure, he loved the story, to the point he still likes to read it over and over again, but then a subtle change seems to happen. The dialogue seems to be changing from what he remembers, and only moments later he seems to faint.


When he wakes up the protagonist is in for a surprise for he is no longer within the shop, but at a location that seems oddly familiar to him. A short moment of catching his bearings makes him realize where he is: the very world he loved to read about! However, when a mysterious robed figure who goes under the title of 'The bard' appears before him the protagonist learns that a great challenge awaits him: The only way for him to escape from this world is by completing the story of the manga. No problem due to him knowing the whole story out of his head.

 

But when the events of the very first chapter seem to change... the protagonist might be in for a surprise, because this isn't the story he has known for so long! A familiar world, characters he could only meet in his dreams, and adventures beyond his wildest fantasies. But with an unfamiliar story awaiting him, seemingly influenced by his very actions and presence... Will the protagonist be able to make it out alive?

 

Everyone likely knows that feeling, the dream of being a character in your favorite series. It's that idea that led to the decision to focus the Visual Novel on a different type of story than one might had expected. By introducing an original protagonist for the VN (who is either male or female depending on the player's choice) the involvement of this character pretty much changes the story of the manga. There will be familiar characters to talk to (and even romance), events from the manga (albeit those will obviously have potential changes or different outcomes depending on your choices and actions) but one of the reasons we went with this choice is to make it feel as if YOU the reader were given the chance to enter the story of the manga.

 

Now on terms of the development itself I'll hope to explain a few things:

 

The important thing to keep in mind is the fact that our projects are 'linked' together. What does this mean? It basically means that the progress of the visual novel depends entirely on the development of the manga. At its core our primary focus remains the manga series, especially since we plan to get it translated to Japanese and then use the studio involved in that work their connections to try to hit one of the Japanese publishing houses. I know, this is a crazy endeavor, getting serialized in a Japanese manga magazine is crazy difficult for a foreigner, and remaining in there is an even more insane endeavor on its own.

 

It's part of why starting end 2016, you'll find me in Japan... studying Japanese (that sounds a bit silly.). I already been in contact with a language school in Fukuoka, where I'd be staying at if all things go according to plan. Ideally my dream would be to stay there at least for a few years to intensively learn Japanese, so that I'll be able to communicate with people through it (in the end communication and connections are some of the most important weapons at your disposal in the creative world.), of course I'll still be working on the project during that time. But one of the cool things about this studio is that they actually have been involved in the anime industry, so all in all we are given a fair chance to get our manga at least read (part of their service involves the submission of the manga, albeit I won't be able to provide details on that till later) and if we do get accepted? Then all the better! Albeit we're totally gonna release in English also, and it will be our main focus at first also.

 

But back onto the visual novel itself. One of the reasons the Visual Novel will have a development that is different from most, is due to the link to the manga series. You could say the Visual Novel is going to be divided into monthly episodes, that pretty much serve as an update to expand the story up to where the main story of the VN reaches the same 'level' as the manga (or arc).

 

I'd like people to know that I will also be using this topic as a means to communicate with everyone. Whether it's answering questions about the manga, or the visual novel or even just something like 'hey, how did you do this', as long as it isn't some top sensitive information, or a huge spoiler to the story I will be trying my best to answer every question.

 

Aside from that I hope to be able to provide everyone with a little teaser in the form of a  finished manga page (if you ever read or watched Bakuman you'll likely know how much work goes into making a manga) next week, and in the near future be able to provide everyone some concept images of the visual novel.

 

Have a fine day, and a happy start to 2016 \^_^

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