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Lisistrata [Fantasy - Ancient Greece - VN-RPG Hybrid]


volomist

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We are happy to introduce Lisistrata, an unforgiving and unconventional RPG-Visual Novel hybrid that elevates the importance of Tactics, Choices, Character Progression and Resource Management.

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Immersed in an ancient Greece setting, you will recruit, train and lead a team of Athens’ young girls through battles, challenges, critical choices and beyond. It will be up to you to organize an effective rebellion against every man of Athens. It will be your responsibility to stop a war that has been endured for decades.
Once inside the Acropolis everything will be in your hands.
Choose different skills, improve buildings, elaborate new tactics, betray, seduce, be a diplomat or a warrior. The game (and its characters) will be shaped entirely by you.

Inspired by Aristophanes’ great work
Also known as the “Father of Comedy” and “The Prince of Ancient Comedy”, Aristophanes lived between 446 - 386 BC and inspired thousands of people in ancient Greece. We would like to do the same by bringing his legendary work back to life and expanding upon its original linearity while still remaining faithful to the source.

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“I’ve had enough of these wars!! Enough! We can not keep living like this!”

“I'm tired to be neglected by my husband!! His sword will not warm his bed for sure! I've made up my mind: Starting from now we say no more! We shall strike!"

rebellion.jpg

“If they won’t listen to us, they will sleep alone from now on. It will be a torture for them!!”

And so every woman in Athens left their home and took the Acropolis - the heart of the city, as well as the place where the most important resources are held. They decided to offer no more company or affection whatsoever to those man who have been so busy making war.
Finding the means and forcing them to declare peace is your objective…

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... but managing the Acropolis and your group at the same time while keeping the morale high, won’t be an easy task.

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Unlock new abilities, forge your character, make the Acropolis a safer place and assemble your team!

Level up and make your build unique

During the game you will be able to choose different abilities by gaining experience and leveling up your character. Feel free to choose what you like based on your playstyle, there is no best way to beat the game.

34 Skills gathered in 4 different branches.
- Athletics
- Intelligence
- Charisma
- Luck

Of course it won’t be possible to unlock them all. Choosing your specialties and making decisions will be incredibly important and it will also increase the game replayability.
abilities.png

 

(the image has been drastically reduced so it lost a big chunk of its original quality, sorry for that)

Build the Acropolis
Better walls, easier access to water or maybe earning the favor of the Gods? Everything counts! But consider… It will take time, which you won’t be able to spend to acquire new skills. Hmm, decisions, decisions…

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 Every time you level up and/or between chapters the game will give you the following option: What shall we do?

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 What you decide to do it's up to you.

A better Acropolis will mean a better defense against incursions, better morale for your heroines and other buffs. There is a lot to build but those kind of improvements are designed to make the general environment a better place for you.

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On the other side, skills bring more specific bonuses.

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Of course the angry men and the soldiers will not remain idle for long. They didn’t like Lisistrata’s little plan one bit and they will do everything in their power to sabotage your rebellion. They will strike back quickly and it will be quite challenging to survive.

Your Skills under a magnifying glass
Everything you do, every path you take, every decision you make will present the player with small challenges to overcome: Skill checks.
On a successful skill check the player may acquire various advantages that will help the game progression in general; upon a failed skill check the consequences may vary from minor to catastrophic and they may be suffered immediately or later in the game.

Therefore, it’s not advisable to Swim if your character has not yet unlocked that ability, you may regret this... Death in this game is permanent.
 

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Turn Based Combat

Strategize with party order, party composition, and unlocked skills against a huge variety of enemies.
When diplomacy fails, it’s time to put your abilities to good use!

Each one of our heroines have their own strengths and weaknesses so be careful and evaluate the situation very carefully before choosing who to bring with you in combat.

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Managing a good mix of abilities is the key to victory.
Also we've added some modern RPG concepts on top of this structure; these include AoEs, DoTs, grapples and combos, creating a tactical battle full of depth.

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Who will oppose you...
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Our heroines!
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cleonice.jpg
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More characters to come!

 

Also our game will feature voice acting and handmade frame by frame animations. Like some old anime we decided to refrain from using automatic lip sync and blinking. Here is the result:


Thanks for reading so far!

We are a young indie studio but this is not our first Visual Novel! We are always looking for new ways to improve so this time we decided to be as much open as possible towards the community. We learned from past experiences that getting some honest feedback is the most important part and this time we will apply this to the letter.

- What do you think about our project in general?
- Do you like our skill system and the possibility to build your character as you like?
- Do you believe the RPG-VN mix could work?
- Is there anything you would change or improve?

We are eager to work with you guys and keep discussing with you about this project. This is our most ambitious work and we are very passionate about it, we really want to create something that will not be forgotten after a week... at least we hope so! =)

 

We are on Kickstarter!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2044603064/lisistrata

 

For daily updates check out our Twitter!
https://twitter.com/NeoclassicGames
If you don't use twitter so much, we have just created a Facebook page. (it's literally brand new).
https://www.facebook.com/neoclassicgames/

Thanks and have a great day!
 

Edited by volomist
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Looks quite cool, even though you didn't show much about the VN part really. ;) Also the female merchant and female actress in Classical era Greece seem a bit ahistorical, but you're probably well aware. :3

Edit: I also wonder, will the game's plot mention slavery in any way? I think majority of Athens population at that time were slaves. :>

Edited by Plk_Lesiak
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Huh, I'm not a fan of gameplay VNs, but the setting looks pretty interesting, so I might actually check it out. Good luck with your project! :sachi:

45 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I think majority of Athens population at that time were slaves. :>

One third of the population, if my memory serves me well. It's a big proportion, but not a majority.

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2 hours ago, volomist said:

- What do you think about our project in general?

I absolutely love it. The setting in ancient Greece is great and it will make this title stand out because it's often overlooked. Often if a game (non-VN) takes place in ancient Greece, it can be re-skinned to match most other eras. From what I can tell, here is finally one, which actually digs into the era and will make good use of the otherwise unused potential.

The graphics are good. They are nice to look at, clearly indicates the era, yet it has a hint of moe without overdoing it. I particularly like the skill tree.

English voice acting is most certainly a good thing. However I'm not a fan of high pitch female voices. In fact the voice example is so high that I could consider disabling voices due to this.

The story is... I'm not sure. I get the impression that this is a showcase of the RPG part and setting more than the VN part itself.

2 hours ago, volomist said:

- Do you like our skill system and the possibility to build your character as you like?

- Do you believe the RPG-VN mix could work?

 

Kamidori works very well and it's one of my favorite VNs. I mean this as an example telling that the genre works, not as a template to copy.

2 hours ago, volomist said:

- Is there anything you would change or improve?

A setting to disable combat animation would be most welcome. It looks nice and well done, but I have had enough of the jumping around and screen flashing from just the gif.

1 hour ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

Also the female merchant and female actress in Classical era Greece seem a bit ahistorical, but you're probably well aware. :3

This is a common "issue" in VNs. It usually makes the VN better and I'm sure it does in this one. I'm not particularly interested in a VN with a bunch of guys where the females are more like items they keep at home. It's not an era where you would want to be female.

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Your project looks like a simulation game with RPG elements and (perhaps) the story told in VN format (idk for sure. You and your twitter/FB pages didn't give us much story infomation to work with)

I think it's best if you focus on the gameplay aspects as the storyline feels too shallow to build a VN around with. Also, since you are a small indie studio with limited resources (as of now), it will be very difficult to reach even half of Kamdori's scale. The graphics looks pretty good, and you may want to post some of your project's BGM if you want feedback on it.

Lastly, both your twitter and FB hyperlinks direct back to this fuwanovel thread. Not a big deal but just thought I'll mention it

Good luck with your project!

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Thanks everyone for the feedback!

@Plk_Lesiak

Yeah we didn't talk much about the VN part of the game! You got me! ahah

There is a lot to reveal but for now we have been careful, we care a lot about this project and we really want to avoid making promises that we will not be able to fulfill Our game is inspired by Aristophanes' ancient work and we put a lot of effort into the story as well. We gave all the characters a meaningful backstory, let's take Cleonice as an example. There is a reason why she consider herself a merchant. It's true that we did our best to be faithful with our original source, but the Cleonice character will not be copy-pasted identical to the Aristophanes' one. She has secrets and her personality will evolve as a consequence of her skills and of course the player's choices.

Give us a little more time, you won't be disappointed. We just published this preview just 2 days ago!

 

If I must tell the truth now I'm curious; What would you like to know?

We posted our project here because we want to have an open discussion with you guys, to learn and also improve our project.

Ah yeah you will be able to find and interact with slaves during the game, also your opinion about them may lead to a negative or positive influence with other factions or characters.

@Dreamysyu

Thank you so much!

 

@tymmur

Thanks for your kind words, we are very proud of our skill tree and our art. If I must tell the true it took a lot of trial and error in order to find the right art style for the game.

Concerning the animations we just displayed the most flashy and bouncy moves available, but I will guarantee you that the combat will not always be like so. An option to disable animations is actually a good idea, I will add it to our to-do list. Thank you very much!

Quote

This is a common "issue" in VNs. It usually makes the VN better and I'm sure it does in this one. I'm not particularly interested in a VN with a bunch of guys where the females are more like items they keep at home. It's not an era where you would want to be female.

I totally agree with you.

@phantomJS

We fixed the links, thanks for the heads up!

I spent a big deal of time gathering some info about Kamidori, since it was mentioned by tymmur too. That is a remarkable title and, while I agree that we haven't got the resources to create something majestic like that, I must disagree with the first statement. We really don't want to give up on the story and the VN part just to focus on the gameplay (that very important as well). I personally feel honored to have chosen a great work such as Lysistrata: "That is a very important milestone comedy from our western culture." -> (Those were the words from my Greek literature professor in high school). We will post some BGM very soon though!

Anyway jokes apart, yes we are a little studio but we will do our very best to create an enjoyable game that will hopefully not be put in the -trash can- section of your Steam library.:)

Also some users have suggested us a Kickstarter campaign, we are considering that option as well.

 

Anyway thanks for your time and have a great day!

Edited by volomist
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8 hours ago, volomist said:

@phantomJS
 I must disagree with the first statement. We really don't want to give up on the story and the VN part just to focus on the gameplay (that very important as well).

I'm not asking you to give up on the story, but rather just to focus on the gameplay aspects instead.

Quote

I'm tired to be neglected by my husband!! His sword will not warm his bed for sure! I've made up my mind: Starting from now we say no more! We shall strike!"

“If they won’t listen to us, they will sleep alone from now on. It will be a torture for them!!”

And so every woman in Athens left their home and took the Acropolis - the heart of the city, as well as the place where the most important resources are held. They decided to offer no more company or affection whatsoever to those man who have been so busy making war.
Finding the means and forcing them to declare peace is your objective…

I think it's very difficult to weave an intricate story around such a shallow premise. Plus consider your resources; Kamdori had a good story wrapped around great gameplay, and graphics etc. Realistically, it's not possible for your project to end up likewise. If you guys don't plan properly, the entire project may suffer.

Anyway, it's just my 2 cents worth :)

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Nice video. Now I'm starting to get an idea of the setup and it is indeed a nice one for a game. It's still a bit vague on the VN part itself. From what we know so far, it seems to take place in a makeshift fortress, possibly with divine assistance. However it doesn't tell if it's drama, comedy, slice of life or something else or even a combination of those.

 

However I have to say that I'm still not a fan of Lisistrata's voice. It's so high pitch that I'm fairly certain that I will not last through an entire VN if that voice appears all the time. While I would prefer a deeper voice, at least allow the option of disabling voices on a per character level.

 

It goes without saying that all voices should be written as text as well. It's not a problem in a VN, but you have non-VN parts as well. Adding voice only critical information would clash with the ability to disable voices. Also it would be a good idea to ensure the game is playable for deaf people. Deaf players do exist and I have seen one complaining about releasing a voice only game on GOG. They quickly released the text only version as an additional optional download.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Tymmur

We are glad you like our trailer, we put a lot of effort into it. Since our kickstarter campaign launched we unveiled several new game features and additional details about the game.

Our game will feature at launch:

- A Prequel: "Departure" This will be a full-fledged slice of life visual novel. With the prequel the player will have a chance to know Lisistrata better. Why she decided to start a rebellion? What are her feelings? We want to give the player a good idea about what's going on before he begins our main story.

Our main game, since it is inspired by the ancient comedy Lysistrata written by Aristophanes, will be a comedy as well. However there will be large and small branches, with many alternative endings to our story. Some branches will follow the original play closely, while others may end up in very different and weird places. It will depend on the decision the player will make during the game.

On 4/25/2018 at 12:48 AM, tymmur said:

It goes without saying that all voices should be written as text as well. It's not a problem in a VN, but you have non-VN parts as well. Adding voice only critical information would clash with the ability to disable voices. Also it would be a good idea to ensure the game is playable for deaf people. Deaf players do exist and I have seen one complaining about releasing a voice only game on GOG. They quickly released the text only version as an additional optional download.

Yes, even if our game features some RPG elements, everything (texts, dialogues) will be written. We absolutely don't want to offer a lesser experience to those who prefer to disable voices. Voice over is a cool addition but we consider it as an add-on.

This should be the main theme for our Prequel "Departure" from the composer Brunuhville.

 

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  • 2 months later...

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