After reaching one of the endings in ??? route (must have more than one?), I consider this VN incredible and entertaining to read.
At first, I was sure that the story was all about the same person (mc) reincarnating in different worlds but I was wrong. I was not counting on that plot twist!
It was fun keeping Kuro from killing the mc and knowing each world's story. I have no favorite Kuro for all of them (when not trying to kill people or the mc) are cute in their own way. Actually, I was counting on Kuro killing the mc right at the beginning. However, my first death was not by his volatile personality.
I've kept noticing little details that for me, enhanced the story and the mystery that kept growing more and more until I finally unlocked ??? route. What a great story, I really enjoyed it even if it left me feeling bittersweet at the end.
The mechanism to unlock the ??? route was really neat because, in my opinion, it was made right. This was the first time a VN "forced" me to get each ending and I did not felt as if it were a chore, instead, I was rewarded with a few hints that later I could use and try to piece them together (and cgs).
All in all, it was really worth playing and its presentation left me the impression of being a commercial project.
My thanks for creating this VN and if you ever consider making a commercial project I'll be interested. However, I'd really appreciate, if possible, the release of a Linux version in the future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such kind words! I really appreciate it <3 It means the world to me, and I'm super happy that you enjoyed playing the game :3
You are correct that there are multiple endings for the ??? route. You'll know when you've found the "true" ending, as the credits will play and you'll unlock an extras section with some bonus content :D
Unfortunately, I don't think it will be possible for me to release anything on Linux unless I use something other than Tyranobuilder to make the game, because it seems at the moment there is no support in Tyrano to release for Linux :( Sorry about that, it sucks I know >.<
Hehe, thanks for your kind words, they're very much appreciated :3 I'm hoping that the completed version will be much more polished than the old demo :D I've learned a fair bit since then (still have plenty of learning to do though!) I'm glad ya liked it :3
The funny thing is, I would actaully love to work day and night on it if I could xD I remember a time a couple of years ago where I could for a little while and it was great cos I made so much progress, haha. Nowadays I just spend ages wishes I could work on it but not getting the time T_T Though I'm almost done with the super important life things that I have to put first, so I should be able to finally get some proper serious time to work on VN stuff :D
I used to love reading VNs myself and playing other video games, but now I hardly play anything cos if I play something I feel guilty about it... a little voice in my head says that I could be using the time to work on my VN instead xD
It is super duper hard to motivate yourself to work on stuff like this cos even though it can be fun, a lot of it is pretty tedious so it's kinda difficult to find a balance between working on a project and having fun actually playing games >.<
With me I haven't gone about things in the best way, it'd be ideal to still play stuff and watch anime like you say, but once I got really into my project any time I tried to play a game I wound up just feeling bad that I could be working on my project instead :( So in the end I practically stopped gaming and reading and watching anime altogether! It was good for making project progress but then it feels more like you're just working and not having as much fun anymore xD
I think it's best if you can find a way to divide everything so that you still have the opportunity to make regular progress on a project but still have time set aside to just switch off and relax with other hobbies :3
I think you'll get there in the end, even if it doesn't seem like it at the moment! Sometimes even just doing the tiniest bit of work can give you that spark you need to get fired into action, haha. At the end of the day, stuff like this takes a hell of a lot of time and is a pretty difficult thing to achieve alone. It's doable cos other solo people have managed to release stuff, but when you think about it, most releases come from groups/teams. I hope you do manage to find a way to bring your story to life though :3
I'll be honest, I'm not overly happy with how Palette turned out! Haha. I'm glad I managed to have something finished in time to submit to the jam, but it's not really what I wanted to be, I just didn't have enough time to properly work on it >.<
Hope 2020 is off to a great start for you and good luck with your story!! :3
That's good to hear cos as long as you never give up, you'll get there eventually :3 Doesn't matter how long it takes cos it's not a race, just working bit by bit will get you finished in the end.
It's a good idea to note stuff like that down :3 I have a rough idea how long I've been building SR in Tyrano since it tells me my hours used on Steam, but I didn't keep track of how long it took me to write up the original story documents, make sprites, write scripts, cut audio for voice lines, etc. And all of that will have added up to hours upon hours and I have no idea how many other than lots xD
My memory is awful, if I don't make notes either on my phone, on the PC, or on actual sticky notes then I will end up forgetting things repeatedly >.< Even if I remember and tell myself, okay, remember you need to do this thing, I will just forget again still without notes, haha.
I definitely agree with you about noting down ideas too :3 I do it quite a lot cos again, my memory sucks, so if I didn't write stuff down the second I think of it I will forget! I have a list of ideas for future VNs and other projects I wanna work on, some more detailed, some just very basic, but it's better to have them written down for future reference.
It's good to have planning and a solid idea of where you wanna go with a project before starting it cos it helps ya sort things out in your head, even if planning takes a long time, it's super useful :3 With SR I started out with notes and drafts and then I moved on to writing each route one by one, I'd even planned what BGM was going where and actually listened to the BGM that would be playing in the game while I was writing the scene. That's something that really helped me out a lot because I could imagine the story better with the atmosphere that the music created :3 If you have good planning then it'll make things a lot easier to work on cos you'll always have your plans to look back on.
It doesn't really matter whether ideas are good or bad cos if you get them all written down you'll be able to sort through them all easier and decide which ones are suitable for working on more :3
I often wish I had started with a much smaller project than SR, SR is definitely too long for a first project but I didn't realise that when I started it >.< I should have kept the ideas for later on though and tried to create a smaller project first, haha. Like you say though, all you can do is keep going and be pleased with whatever progress you make :3 I still get angry at myself sometimes if I have set a goal to do a certain amount by the end of the day and I don't manage to get it all done, so I have to keep reminding myself that it doesn't matter, I did something, I made progress, that's what counts :3 Doing anything at all is better than doing nothing cos even if it's just a tiny bit, it's one step closer towards the end goal :D
Even if your motivation does fade, or life gets in the way, if you always have that passion inside you to make stuff then your motivation will come back at some point :3 SR got stuck on pause multiple times because life happened and I just couldn't work on it, it would have been released aaaages ago if not for that. The important thing is that you do what you can while the motivation is there ^-^
The few people who know me well all think I'm nuts for having worked on this for as long as I have xD They think I'm even more crazy when they remember that I'm not making any money out if it either, haha. These past few months I've been working on it for between 6-12 hours a day and it had almost become like an addiction! Which isn't particularly healthy but I can't help it :( working on this is what keeps me going. I found out late last year that I have ASD, the guy I saw said it used to be called high functioning autism or Aspergers, but that it's now just referred to as ASD... that might help to explain why this project is so important to me since he mentioned that people on the spectrum tend to have obsessive interests, haha.
I wouldn't bother with Palette, it's very short and not really something I'm happy with since it was just something I knocked up quickly as a Jam entry >.< I doubt I'll bother with Jams in the future because they just feel too rushed for me, haha. I don't think I could ever make anything I'd be content with considering the time restrictions of Jams. They can be a fun way to get motivated I guess but for the foreseeable future I just wanna focus on projects properly I think.
I hope that you're doing okay and that you're managing to stay safe with all the Coronavirus stuff that's going on, the world is extra crazy at the moment!
hey there. I apologize in advance for this might be a stupid question, but I saw the post about looking for a voice actor for protagonist's best friend, but when I went to the page, it said the auditions were over, but nobody seems to have been picked yet. Is it by any chance still ongoing?
No worries, it's not a stupid question at all :3 I completely forgot I posted a link to that audition page, as you say, the auditions did close and not all roles were filled by the end of the time I had them running! That particular page has expired but I am indeed still running auditions for the remaining roles (I also have a couple more minor characters to add at some point too.)
If you want to check out the current audition page you can find it here:
Hello! I have a question, where would one find a mac version of this game? I have found a windows version, and I can run that fine with wine, but the quality is worse than a normal mac version would be (Wine tends to run down the quality on games for some reason). If there is no mac version right now of the current release, I will still play the full game when it comes out. Your game looks very good, so I am excited to play it. Thank you for your time!
I did upload a mac version of the male Kuro voice demo alongside the windows demo, but I've been informed that it doesn't work as it should :(
The big problem is that I don't own a mac myself and I also don't know anyone in person who has one, so I've got zero way of testing anything for mac which sucks >.< Heck, I didn't even know there was a way to run windows stuff on mac!
There's no proper demo out at the moment anyhow so you're not missing out on anything much :3 The old playable demo containing 2 routes was removed since it uses old art resources that I'm no longer including. The current demo is literally just a reel of voice clips from male Kuro's voice actor.
I'll definitely be attempting to release the full game on mac when it's ready, but I'm not sure if it will work T_T I followed the software's export instructions for the demo (which are pretty much identical to the export instructions for windows) and yet it apparently didn't work so I'll probably need to find some help as to why exporting the project to mac isn't working correctly. I'll also be trying to release it in app form, but that will take some extra time after the PC release as it requires me to change some of the file formats and stuff.
I'm glad to hear that you're interested in the game though, it means a lot to me! :3 I shall try my best when it's ready for full release to get it working on as many platforms as possible :D
Thanks for the reply! I played through the demo, and although it is quite simplistic, I can see great potential in your project, and with such a passionate creator and a very intriguing idea, I am even more excited than I was before. I found the demo was on a game jam page (dunno if its still supposed to be there), and it worked fine on wine, luckily. I am glad to see that you are active with your community, I think that is very important for a person making a game, and you also haven't abandoned the project, which is a plus. Lots of game developers do that, sadly, and its always irritating when a cool project gets canceled because, well, it just suddenly stopped getting updates. Hope the game will be out soon, keep up the good work!
No worries, I'm always happy when people contact me about the project :3
Yeah, that demo is the outdated one that I removed from the main page since it's got loads of old art and other stuff that's no longer in the game now that I've acquired various assets. I figured I shouldn't delete it from the jam page though, because then it would like like I didn't submit anything for the jam, haha. But in that old demo all the character art, background art, and UI is just placeholder stuff that has been changed now, so it will look much better than in that demo once it's finally released in full! :D Comparing that old demo to the way the game is now, there's a huge difference in quality (at least I think so anyway xD)
I'm really glad that you think it seems worth your time to play through anyway :3 Half the reason I removed that old demo is because it's so crappy looking that I was worried people might think that's what the final release will look like and it'd put them off of playing the finished game xD So I'm relieved to hear that you don't feel that way even after trying it, haha.
I definitely won't be abandoning the project as I too know how much it sucks when that happens with an interesting sounding game :3 Besides, I've put well over 1000 hours into it at this point so if I just quit that would be a lot of wasted time >.< haha. I don't know the actual amount of time as I never bothered to count how long it took me to type up the story in a word document (it took months though), type out scripts, create characters etc. But in terms of putting the game itself together, I'm currently on 963 hours in the builder according to Steam xD
I also think it's important to be active when it comes to interacting with a community and believe me, I'm super grateful for every single person that shows interest in my project <3 I suffer from anxiety and depression, so the project is a big part of what keeps me going and the smallest bit of support means the world to me ^-^
I'm probably going to miss my release target that I set for myself, but unless something goes incredibly wrong it should definitely be out by the end of this year! (I'm still hoping to manage releasing it before winter.)
I can't wait for this game to come out! When it does I will finish the game.....most likely very fast since I really want to play it and I just like visual novels
I'm working like crazy to get it done, haha. Pretty much any spare second that I get in a day goes into working on the project :D I hope when I finally finish it that you'll have fun playing it ^_^
Aww thanks for the kind words :3 I'm glad that there are people out there who enjoy it!
Yeah I'm sorry, I'm veeeeery slow at working on this xD Some weeks I don't get to do a single thing because I'm too busy T_T I'm hoping to have all the writing finished by March 2018 otherwise I will lose Kuro's brilliant voice actor, which would be a real shame! After that I estimate it'll take another few months to put everything in game. The biggest challenge will be finding an artist for character art and CGs >.< With any luck I should get it completely finished sometime before Christmas next year! Haha. August 2018 is my release target, *fingers crossed* I can make it xD
The reason it's not been updated in ages is cos I'm working on this visual novel version instead. I'll eventually put all of the routes on Quotev as well, but up until recently this had priority.... Also, as the choices and points system get more complicated it becomes hard to work out how to do it on Quotev, I think it'll either have to be simplified there, or people will need to have a pen and paper or just take notes on a phone of how many points they've acquired xD
Because of some recent news though I won't be able to update the game in a long time as I need to hurry up and finish every single route's writing first; so I will probably put the new routes up on Quotev before they go into this visual novel version.
Aww thanks so much, your kind words are much appreciated <3
I'm glad you were able to get some enjoyment from the demo despite me having to rely on using free assets. Unfortunately I have no artistic talent whatsoever so I can't draw a single thing xD I'm thankful for all the creative commons stuff out there for people like me to use; but I wish I had money to pay some artists to make it more original!
I am indeed in need of VA assistance haha, tbh I don't know what's happening with 2 of the male voice actors voicing the male friend of the heroine and the villain... I've not heard from them in ages... Probably abandoned me T_T I have another route ready to be voiced but, there's no point sending out scripts to anyone because the guys playing the male friend and the villain haven't done the first 2 routes yet, and I can't afford to pay Tim who voices Kuro atm because I have practically no money >.< haha. I know for sure I need a different female voice to the people who are already involved because there's a moody fae/spirit character called Miri in the next route that's been written, so yeah if you're interested I can drop you an email when I've managed to put the route into the game and it's ready for voice stuff.
It is definitely hard to find time to work on it atm, I barely even get more than an hour per week anymore haha. It seems like an almost impossible task but I figure if I at least do something, it's gonna get finished eventually! xD Honestly though, just knowing that there are people out there who actually enjoy playing it in some way really helps keep me motivated :D because then I know I'm not just doing it for myself anymore and that other people can have fun too :3
My biggest fear is not being able to keep Tim around for the completion of the project, because it would suck if Kuro had to become voiceless :(
I wouldn't worry about not getting the hidden scene for now, it's not very good because I ended up rushing it haha, also it's the lowest point required hidden scene, so compared to the later ones it's always gunna be inferior haha.
It's good fun to have predictions and theories :3 as you say, I wouldn't put any spoilers anyhow, but what I can say without ruining anything is that, there are gunna be a lot of endings xD As with most visual novels the "true" ending is going to be the hardest one to get and will involve the player having to do a combo of things to even get it to trigger ^-^ plus once on the true route, there will still be bad endings that you can fall into whilst trying to get the true ending because I like to be evil like that mmmmwwahahahahahahaaaa :P
I really wish I could just will it into being though, it's pretty annoying having everything swimming around in my head and written on notes but then actually making it into a game takes an eternity!! xD
But yeah, thanks again, every kind word is like a little boost of inspiration to keep me working hard and make progress :3 I hope the future routes aren't disappointing haha.
Hmm that's weird >.< I just checked the MEGA and Google drive links on my phone after seeing your comment and they work for me, it won't let me check the split direct links though :(
If you tried every link and it still won't work I can always email you the Google drive link directly or something if you want :3 just drop me an email at kalamitykiss@live.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Finished playing this demo right now, and I must say it was a big surprise, and a real blast too haha!
So yeah, first things first, I usually really dislike games that don't have custom art (well, at least custom sprites). It bothers me when different styles are used, or when I see the same "characters" in various games. I mean, I understand why would you do that - not everyone can draw and / or commission artists. But while I'm not picky about art quality, using stock sprites is something that I can't get over... Now, as I said, "usually". I mean, it still bothers me here, but normally I wouldn't have even tried this game after seeing that. But it was SO intriguing that it was enough to make me bear with it and play anyway. And man I'm glad I did! Even though I can't wait for the updated art with expressions added for everyone and so on, I still got SO immersed that I almost forgot about the stock sprites! So kudos to that! And I also have to mention I like your music choices, especially for the mage chapter.
Now, back to what actually wanted to say. This game is really unique in so many things.
First of, I don't believe I've ever seen a game with a concept like this one, with this weird thing about travelling through different worlds and having a different backstory each time - even if it actually is part of a bigger plan, but still. I mean, I've played my fair share of games with travelling between worlds, but not executed that way. It was really refreshing! I really want to know what the hell is happening there!
It's also well... quite amazing that you've managed to make this into some kind of twisted and creepy magical girl!
Now, obviously, I have to mention Kuro. He's so demented oh dear, I can't even believe you put him as the (only!) love interest! Now, don't take me wrong, I wasn't complaining - I think he's awesome! I mean, he's creepy and twisted, but awesome. I like how he's written, and I like the fact he's the polar opposite of what you'd expect from the MC's love interest in that kind of story. Their relationship seem so unhealty and so sincere at the same time - it's really weird. Now, I'm used to otome games and I like characters like Kuro, so the only bad endings I got were from sheer curiosity (I didn't even try one in the Student chapter) - because of that, I guess I'm missing on lots of hints about the overall plot, but I still got to see that fascinating, sad and horrific thing when you choose to go downstairs (won't spoil the details, you know what I mean haha) . Thanks to this specific bad ending, I'm even more curious about Kuro.
It's also very interesting to see the MC being already in a relationship from the very beginning of a game. I don't believe I've ever seen that done before, unless it's an unsteady relationship where you'll end up deciding if she'll stay with the guy or fall in love with someone else - so it would still be a basically regular otome. I mean, it must exist in at least some game, but not that I know about, and since I've played lots of otome and BL games, I know what I'm talking about haha
Also, did I mention I love Kuro's voice acting? Well, now I did!
So yeah, basically, a very intriguing game that manages to keep me on edge and get me crazy involved.
Can't wait for the next demos and, of course, the full release! Keep up the good work and good luck. And also thank you for making this game!
Thank you so much for the kind words, I'm really glad you enjoyed it so far! :3
Using those sprites bothers me too haha, it's great that stuff like that exists for people like me who can't draw; but at the same time it's frustrating because I know how I want everything to look in my head, but I can't create it T_T
The sprites with expressions are still creative commons assets but they do look better than the ones without expressions. I actually commissioned someone to create custom art for Kuro, but I've not heard from her in a few weeks so maybe she's too busy to do it now or something.
As for Kuro, yeah the poor guy is kinda messed up but he really does love the MC bless him and by the time the game's finished it'll be explained how come he's the way he is :3 Going downstairs that you mentioned is probably my favourite scene so far actually! A lot of the story gets kinda boring for me when I'm reading it over and over again whilst testing stuff; but that scene still gives me chills xD
It's good to know that the game has unique points, because while I've played a lot of otome myself, I probably haven't gotten through as much as other people and I personally got bored of a lot of otome games because the romance was always the same (especially with the mobile app ones!) I prefer the ones where the plot comes first and the romance second. I was kinda worried that maybe people might think that it was wrong to do it that way, or wrong to only have the one romantic interest or something. At the end of the day I just wanted to make it the way I would like to play an otome haha, with lots of bad endings and focus on a yandere guy :3
Tim who voices Kuro does such a great job with the character, I really hope he will be alright to stick with the project because I can't imagine anyone else playing Kuro now!
The demo with all the swapped art is done but I'm still waiting on all the voice acting for those 2 routes to be done before I release it and since most of the voice actors have volunteered, I don't want to rush anyone because that'd be mean, haha. Also the next route (Princess) is just over half written, it's slow going because of how little time I get to work on it, but it's coming along :3
Thanks again for saying so many nice things about the demo, I really appreciate you taking the time to do that and it also gives me more drive to keep making it if other people are enjoying it too, instead of just me! xD
Well, having only one romance may be an issue - honestly, it really depends on how it's done, so yeah... In this case, I really like it!
And yay for bad endings! I'm writing my own game too, even though it'll have all gender romances (choice between a male or a female MC, and all gender options for both), but I'm also putting a lot in the overall plot and bad endiiiings! Bad endings are so fun to write haha
That's cool! I'll definitely play yours then because I'm just a huge sucker for bad endings :P anything tagged with lots of bad endings always goes straight onto my "I need to play this" list, haha.
Mine will eventually have the option to choose whether you play a male or female character and also which gender you want Kuro to be so you can have GxB, BxG, GxG and BxB; but it's probably only ever going to have that one romance in it because it just wouldn't really fit the plot if there were a range of romance options unfortunately.
I probably should've made the game with gender options from the beginning but I'm an idiot and have ended up going about it in an awkward way xD The plan was to finish the entire game as female heroine x male Kuro before working on the alternative gender options; but maybe that's not fair and I should finish each route for all the gender options before moving onto the next one! It'll end up being very expensive to try and get original art for all the characters though T_T haha.
In one route that's not in the demo yet, there is a different romance option besides Kuro, but it's not a "true" romance option, if that makes any sense!
Totally agree about bad endings being fun to write... Sometimes I even get fed up writing bits in between bad endings just because I can't wait to do the next bad ending xD
I think at this point, finishing the game with female MC and male Kuro would be the best - the other options will be more like an extra!
And yeah, from what I've seen of the story so far, it would be weird to put another true romance option, though I get what you mean with the one route with a romance that isn't a true romance. I think it may be interesting for many reasons, for example to see Kuro's reactions. Honestly, I don't think I would like to romance anyone else in this game anyway - at least "seriously". He's a great character and I'm really interested in the romance, so yeah...
And also, thank you for following me! I'm not ready yet to post public things about my game as I have a lot of work to do before, but well, you'll obviously get notified when I'll publish something!
xD haha yeeeeeah, he's kinda crazy that way! It's such a weird thing to be jealous of though, silly Kuro!! He can't help it bless him :3
You're not really missing out on too much if you don't see the hidden scene, it was very rushed because of the time left on the jam, so I'm not really happy with it! T_T I'll just make sure I edit it for the next release; which will be much sooner than planned since I'm changing the art xD but there should be more voice acting in it as well because some of the other cast members are getting closer to finishing scripts now :3 Once that edited version of the demo is out I'll get back to working on the next route!!
Glad you enjoyed it anyhow! <3 And I really appreciate you taking the time to comment, it makes me happy to know that someone other than myself can get something out of this ^-^
Yeah you're probably better off waiting, all the art will be different too then haha, but should be more immersive since everyone will have expressions :3
As of last night, all the main characters have now been cast and I'm writing up the last couple of scripts for the existing routes this weekend :D I was starting to think no females would audition, but it's all good now! Yeah Tim does a great job with Kuro, I loved his voice as soon as I heard his audition, I wish I had more money so I could pay him decently because he deserves a lot more than I can afford to give him!
I'm glad you're looking forward to playing more in the future :3 gives me more reason to keep pushing on! I'm actually a little torn on how to update the game... I was going to just keep releasing 1 new route at a time (and I'll try to have them fully voiced before they release, the only reason I released this one only partly voiced was because of the Jam closing date haha.) But then it occurred to me that people can't transfer their save data >.< and the final endings you get are dependant on various factors that would be in save files.... so that means if I release it route by route and people only play the new route in each demo, by the time it gets to the final route, it either won't be unlocked at all or people will only get super bad endings because they have no save data xD So they'd have to play through the entire game again when it's at it's final release, even if they played each route separately in the demos >.<
I'm a noob so I don't know how to deal with that! I guess I could just release a downloadable save file for people or something xD
Anyways, I'm rambling on again, sorry! T_T The next route I'd planned to write up fully is the Princess route, the only reason for that is because it won a poll I did over 6 months ago that only a few people voted on xD but I figured I better stick to it, otherwise there was no point in anyone voting, haha.
← Return to yandere adventure
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After reaching one of the endings in ??? route (must have more than one?), I consider this VN incredible and entertaining to read.
At first, I was sure that the story was all about the same person (mc) reincarnating in different worlds but I was wrong. I was not counting on that plot twist!
It was fun keeping Kuro from killing the mc and knowing each world's story. I have no favorite Kuro for all of them (when not trying to kill people or the mc) are cute in their own way.
Actually, I was counting on Kuro killing the mc right at the beginning. However, my first death was not by his volatile personality.
I've kept noticing little details that for me, enhanced the story and the mystery that kept growing more and more until I finally unlocked ??? route. What a great story, I really enjoyed it even if it left me feeling bittersweet at the end.
The mechanism to unlock the ??? route was really neat because, in my opinion, it was made right. This was the first time a VN "forced" me to get each ending and I did not felt as if it were a chore, instead, I was rewarded with a few hints that later I could use and try to piece them together (and cgs).
All in all, it was really worth playing and its presentation left me the impression of being a commercial project.
My thanks for creating this VN and if you ever consider making a commercial project I'll be interested. However, I'd really appreciate, if possible, the release of a Linux version in the future.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such kind words! I really appreciate it <3 It means the world to me, and I'm super happy that you enjoyed playing the game :3
You are correct that there are multiple endings for the ??? route. You'll know when you've found the "true" ending, as the credits will play and you'll unlock an extras section with some bonus content :D
Unfortunately, I don't think it will be possible for me to release anything on Linux unless I use something other than Tyranobuilder to make the game, because it seems at the moment there is no support in Tyrano to release for Linux :( Sorry about that, it sucks I know >.<
Hehe, thanks for your kind words, they're very much appreciated :3 I'm hoping that the completed version will be much more polished than the old demo :D I've learned a fair bit since then (still have plenty of learning to do though!) I'm glad ya liked it :3
The funny thing is, I would actaully love to work day and night on it if I could xD I remember a time a couple of years ago where I could for a little while and it was great cos I made so much progress, haha. Nowadays I just spend ages wishes I could work on it but not getting the time T_T Though I'm almost done with the super important life things that I have to put first, so I should be able to finally get some proper serious time to work on VN stuff :D
I used to love reading VNs myself and playing other video games, but now I hardly play anything cos if I play something I feel guilty about it... a little voice in my head says that I could be using the time to work on my VN instead xD
Sorry for my slow reply!
It is super duper hard to motivate yourself to work on stuff like this cos even though it can be fun, a lot of it is pretty tedious so it's kinda difficult to find a balance between working on a project and having fun actually playing games >.<
With me I haven't gone about things in the best way, it'd be ideal to still play stuff and watch anime like you say, but once I got really into my project any time I tried to play a game I wound up just feeling bad that I could be working on my project instead :( So in the end I practically stopped gaming and reading and watching anime altogether! It was good for making project progress but then it feels more like you're just working and not having as much fun anymore xD
I think it's best if you can find a way to divide everything so that you still have the opportunity to make regular progress on a project but still have time set aside to just switch off and relax with other hobbies :3
I think you'll get there in the end, even if it doesn't seem like it at the moment! Sometimes even just doing the tiniest bit of work can give you that spark you need to get fired into action, haha. At the end of the day, stuff like this takes a hell of a lot of time and is a pretty difficult thing to achieve alone. It's doable cos other solo people have managed to release stuff, but when you think about it, most releases come from groups/teams. I hope you do manage to find a way to bring your story to life though :3
I'll be honest, I'm not overly happy with how Palette turned out! Haha. I'm glad I managed to have something finished in time to submit to the jam, but it's not really what I wanted to be, I just didn't have enough time to properly work on it >.<
Hope 2020 is off to a great start for you and good luck with your story!! :3
That's good to hear cos as long as you never give up, you'll get there eventually :3 Doesn't matter how long it takes cos it's not a race, just working bit by bit will get you finished in the end.
It's a good idea to note stuff like that down :3 I have a rough idea how long I've been building SR in Tyrano since it tells me my hours used on Steam, but I didn't keep track of how long it took me to write up the original story documents, make sprites, write scripts, cut audio for voice lines, etc. And all of that will have added up to hours upon hours and I have no idea how many other than lots xD
My memory is awful, if I don't make notes either on my phone, on the PC, or on actual sticky notes then I will end up forgetting things repeatedly >.< Even if I remember and tell myself, okay, remember you need to do this thing, I will just forget again still without notes, haha.
I definitely agree with you about noting down ideas too :3 I do it quite a lot cos again, my memory sucks, so if I didn't write stuff down the second I think of it I will forget! I have a list of ideas for future VNs and other projects I wanna work on, some more detailed, some just very basic, but it's better to have them written down for future reference.
It's good to have planning and a solid idea of where you wanna go with a project before starting it cos it helps ya sort things out in your head, even if planning takes a long time, it's super useful :3 With SR I started out with notes and drafts and then I moved on to writing each route one by one, I'd even planned what BGM was going where and actually listened to the BGM that would be playing in the game while I was writing the scene. That's something that really helped me out a lot because I could imagine the story better with the atmosphere that the music created :3 If you have good planning then it'll make things a lot easier to work on cos you'll always have your plans to look back on.
It doesn't really matter whether ideas are good or bad cos if you get them all written down you'll be able to sort through them all easier and decide which ones are suitable for working on more :3
I often wish I had started with a much smaller project than SR, SR is definitely too long for a first project but I didn't realise that when I started it >.< I should have kept the ideas for later on though and tried to create a smaller project first, haha. Like you say though, all you can do is keep going and be pleased with whatever progress you make :3 I still get angry at myself sometimes if I have set a goal to do a certain amount by the end of the day and I don't manage to get it all done, so I have to keep reminding myself that it doesn't matter, I did something, I made progress, that's what counts :3 Doing anything at all is better than doing nothing cos even if it's just a tiny bit, it's one step closer towards the end goal :D
Even if your motivation does fade, or life gets in the way, if you always have that passion inside you to make stuff then your motivation will come back at some point :3 SR got stuck on pause multiple times because life happened and I just couldn't work on it, it would have been released aaaages ago if not for that. The important thing is that you do what you can while the motivation is there ^-^
The few people who know me well all think I'm nuts for having worked on this for as long as I have xD They think I'm even more crazy when they remember that I'm not making any money out if it either, haha. These past few months I've been working on it for between 6-12 hours a day and it had almost become like an addiction! Which isn't particularly healthy but I can't help it :( working on this is what keeps me going. I found out late last year that I have ASD, the guy I saw said it used to be called high functioning autism or Aspergers, but that it's now just referred to as ASD... that might help to explain why this project is so important to me since he mentioned that people on the spectrum tend to have obsessive interests, haha.
I wouldn't bother with Palette, it's very short and not really something I'm happy with since it was just something I knocked up quickly as a Jam entry >.< I doubt I'll bother with Jams in the future because they just feel too rushed for me, haha. I don't think I could ever make anything I'd be content with considering the time restrictions of Jams. They can be a fun way to get motivated I guess but for the foreseeable future I just wanna focus on projects properly I think.
I hope that you're doing okay and that you're managing to stay safe with all the Coronavirus stuff that's going on, the world is extra crazy at the moment!
Sounds and looks very interesting, will be keeping an eye on this project!
I'm glad ya think so! Thanks for the support :3
hey there. I apologize in advance for this might be a stupid question, but I saw the post about looking for a voice actor for protagonist's best friend, but when I went to the page, it said the auditions were over, but nobody seems to have been picked yet. Is it by any chance still ongoing?
No worries, it's not a stupid question at all :3 I completely forgot I posted a link to that audition page, as you say, the auditions did close and not all roles were filled by the end of the time I had them running! That particular page has expired but I am indeed still running auditions for the remaining roles (I also have a couple more minor characters to add at some point too.)
If you want to check out the current audition page you can find it here:
https://www.castingcall.club/projects/solipsism-reigns-original-visual-novel
Thanks for your interest and I hope you have an awesome weekend! :D
Hello! I have a question, where would one find a mac version of this game? I have found a windows version, and I can run that fine with wine, but the quality is worse than a normal mac version would be (Wine tends to run down the quality on games for some reason). If there is no mac version right now of the current release, I will still play the full game when it comes out. Your game looks very good, so I am excited to play it. Thank you for your time!
Hey hey :3 Thanks for your question!
I did upload a mac version of the male Kuro voice demo alongside the windows demo, but I've been informed that it doesn't work as it should :(
The big problem is that I don't own a mac myself and I also don't know anyone in person who has one, so I've got zero way of testing anything for mac which sucks >.< Heck, I didn't even know there was a way to run windows stuff on mac!
There's no proper demo out at the moment anyhow so you're not missing out on anything much :3 The old playable demo containing 2 routes was removed since it uses old art resources that I'm no longer including. The current demo is literally just a reel of voice clips from male Kuro's voice actor.
I'll definitely be attempting to release the full game on mac when it's ready, but I'm not sure if it will work T_T I followed the software's export instructions for the demo (which are pretty much identical to the export instructions for windows) and yet it apparently didn't work so I'll probably need to find some help as to why exporting the project to mac isn't working correctly. I'll also be trying to release it in app form, but that will take some extra time after the PC release as it requires me to change some of the file formats and stuff.
I'm glad to hear that you're interested in the game though, it means a lot to me! :3 I shall try my best when it's ready for full release to get it working on as many platforms as possible :D
Thanks for the reply! I played through the demo, and although it is quite simplistic, I can see great potential in your project, and with such a passionate creator and a very intriguing idea, I am even more excited than I was before. I found the demo was on a game jam page (dunno if its still supposed to be there), and it worked fine on wine, luckily. I am glad to see that you are active with your community, I think that is very important for a person making a game, and you also haven't abandoned the project, which is a plus. Lots of game developers do that, sadly, and its always irritating when a cool project gets canceled because, well, it just suddenly stopped getting updates. Hope the game will be out soon, keep up the good work!
No worries, I'm always happy when people contact me about the project :3
Yeah, that demo is the outdated one that I removed from the main page since it's got loads of old art and other stuff that's no longer in the game now that I've acquired various assets. I figured I shouldn't delete it from the jam page though, because then it would like like I didn't submit anything for the jam, haha. But in that old demo all the character art, background art, and UI is just placeholder stuff that has been changed now, so it will look much better than in that demo once it's finally released in full! :D Comparing that old demo to the way the game is now, there's a huge difference in quality (at least I think so anyway xD)
I'm really glad that you think it seems worth your time to play through anyway :3 Half the reason I removed that old demo is because it's so crappy looking that I was worried people might think that's what the final release will look like and it'd put them off of playing the finished game xD So I'm relieved to hear that you don't feel that way even after trying it, haha.
I definitely won't be abandoning the project as I too know how much it sucks when that happens with an interesting sounding game :3 Besides, I've put well over 1000 hours into it at this point so if I just quit that would be a lot of wasted time >.< haha. I don't know the actual amount of time as I never bothered to count how long it took me to type up the story in a word document (it took months though), type out scripts, create characters etc. But in terms of putting the game itself together, I'm currently on 963 hours in the builder according to Steam xD
I also think it's important to be active when it comes to interacting with a community and believe me, I'm super grateful for every single person that shows interest in my project <3 I suffer from anxiety and depression, so the project is a big part of what keeps me going and the smallest bit of support means the world to me ^-^
I'm probably going to miss my release target that I set for myself, but unless something goes incredibly wrong it should definitely be out by the end of this year! (I'm still hoping to manage releasing it before winter.)
I can't wait for this game to come out! When it does I will finish the game.....most likely very fast since I really want to play it and I just like visual novels
Aww, that's awesome and I'm glad to hear it! :3
I'm working like crazy to get it done, haha. Pretty much any spare second that I get in a day goes into working on the project :D I hope when I finally finish it that you'll have fun playing it ^_^
I'm 99.99% sure I will enjoy it
This game is amazing!! I can't wait for the full release of this.
Well... I have to because it kinda takes forever to make a game. So yeah...
Aww thanks for the kind words :3 I'm glad that there are people out there who enjoy it!
Yeah I'm sorry, I'm veeeeery slow at working on this xD Some weeks I don't get to do a single thing because I'm too busy T_T I'm hoping to have all the writing finished by March 2018 otherwise I will lose Kuro's brilliant voice actor, which would be a real shame! After that I estimate it'll take another few months to put everything in game. The biggest challenge will be finding an artist for character art and CGs >.< With any luck I should get it completely finished sometime before Christmas next year! Haha. August 2018 is my release target, *fingers crossed* I can make it xD
Thanks again! <3
If you're looking for an artist, I will attach these links https://destiniuchiha.deviantart.com/gallery/ https://www.tumblr.com/blog/destiniuchiha and see if my style of art will assist you. Contact me at sasukegirl782@gmail.com ( it's kinda embarrassing email if you ask me.) You don't have to pay me, I don't mind doing it for free.
If you already found a another artist, that's fine.
Keep up with the good work. :D
Where you the one who wrote a story called
"Never Alone Yandere Spirit Guardian x Reader"
On Quotev?
Yep that was me, haha :3
The reason it's not been updated in ages is cos I'm working on this visual novel version instead. I'll eventually put all of the routes on Quotev as well, but up until recently this had priority.... Also, as the choices and points system get more complicated it becomes hard to work out how to do it on Quotev, I think it'll either have to be simplified there, or people will need to have a pen and paper or just take notes on a phone of how many points they've acquired xD
Because of some recent news though I won't be able to update the game in a long time as I need to hurry up and finish every single route's writing first; so I will probably put the new routes up on Quotev before they go into this visual novel version.
Aww thanks so much, your kind words are much appreciated <3
I'm glad you were able to get some enjoyment from the demo despite me having to rely on using free assets. Unfortunately I have no artistic talent whatsoever so I can't draw a single thing xD I'm thankful for all the creative commons stuff out there for people like me to use; but I wish I had money to pay some artists to make it more original!
I am indeed in need of VA assistance haha, tbh I don't know what's happening with 2 of the male voice actors voicing the male friend of the heroine and the villain... I've not heard from them in ages... Probably abandoned me T_T I have another route ready to be voiced but, there's no point sending out scripts to anyone because the guys playing the male friend and the villain haven't done the first 2 routes yet, and I can't afford to pay Tim who voices Kuro atm because I have practically no money >.< haha. I know for sure I need a different female voice to the people who are already involved because there's a moody fae/spirit character called Miri in the next route that's been written, so yeah if you're interested I can drop you an email when I've managed to put the route into the game and it's ready for voice stuff.
It is definitely hard to find time to work on it atm, I barely even get more than an hour per week anymore haha. It seems like an almost impossible task but I figure if I at least do something, it's gonna get finished eventually! xD Honestly though, just knowing that there are people out there who actually enjoy playing it in some way really helps keep me motivated :D because then I know I'm not just doing it for myself anymore and that other people can have fun too :3
My biggest fear is not being able to keep Tim around for the completion of the project, because it would suck if Kuro had to become voiceless :(
I wouldn't worry about not getting the hidden scene for now, it's not very good because I ended up rushing it haha, also it's the lowest point required hidden scene, so compared to the later ones it's always gunna be inferior haha.
It's good fun to have predictions and theories :3 as you say, I wouldn't put any spoilers anyhow, but what I can say without ruining anything is that, there are gunna be a lot of endings xD As with most visual novels the "true" ending is going to be the hardest one to get and will involve the player having to do a combo of things to even get it to trigger ^-^ plus once on the true route, there will still be bad endings that you can fall into whilst trying to get the true ending because I like to be evil like that mmmmwwahahahahahahaaaa :P
I really wish I could just will it into being though, it's pretty annoying having everything swimming around in my head and written on notes but then actually making it into a game takes an eternity!! xD
But yeah, thanks again, every kind word is like a little boost of inspiration to keep me working hard and make progress :3 I hope the future routes aren't disappointing haha.
Have a great weekend! <3
I can't download the game...
Hmm that's weird >.< I just checked the MEGA and Google drive links on my phone after seeing your comment and they work for me, it won't let me check the split direct links though :(
If you tried every link and it still won't work I can always email you the Google drive link directly or something if you want :3 just drop me an email at kalamitykiss@live.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Finished playing this demo right now, and I must say it was a big surprise, and a real blast too haha!
So yeah, first things first, I usually really dislike games that don't have custom art (well, at least custom sprites). It bothers me when different styles are used, or when I see the same "characters" in various games. I mean, I understand why would you do that - not everyone can draw and / or commission artists. But while I'm not picky about art quality, using stock sprites is something that I can't get over... Now, as I said, "usually". I mean, it still bothers me here, but normally I wouldn't have even tried this game after seeing that. But it was SO intriguing that it was enough to make me bear with it and play anyway. And man I'm glad I did! Even though I can't wait for the updated art with expressions added for everyone and so on, I still got SO immersed that I almost forgot about the stock sprites! So kudos to that! And I also have to mention I like your music choices, especially for the mage chapter.
Now, back to what actually wanted to say. This game is really unique in so many things.
First of, I don't believe I've ever seen a game with a concept like this one, with this weird thing about travelling through different worlds and having a different backstory each time - even if it actually is part of a bigger plan, but still. I mean, I've played my fair share of games with travelling between worlds, but not executed that way. It was really refreshing! I really want to know what the hell is happening there!
It's also well... quite amazing that you've managed to make this into some kind of twisted and creepy magical girl!
Now, obviously, I have to mention Kuro. He's so demented oh dear, I can't even believe you put him as the (only!) love interest! Now, don't take me wrong, I wasn't complaining - I think he's awesome! I mean, he's creepy and twisted, but awesome. I like how he's written, and I like the fact he's the polar opposite of what you'd expect from the MC's love interest in that kind of story. Their relationship seem so unhealty and so sincere at the same time - it's really weird. Now, I'm used to otome games and I like characters like Kuro, so the only bad endings I got were from sheer curiosity (I didn't even try one in the Student chapter) - because of that, I guess I'm missing on lots of hints about the overall plot, but I still got to see that fascinating, sad and horrific thing when you choose to go downstairs (won't spoil the details, you know what I mean haha) . Thanks to this specific bad ending, I'm even more curious about Kuro.
It's also very interesting to see the MC being already in a relationship from the very beginning of a game. I don't believe I've ever seen that done before, unless it's an unsteady relationship where you'll end up deciding if she'll stay with the guy or fall in love with someone else - so it would still be a basically regular otome. I mean, it must exist in at least some game, but not that I know about, and since I've played lots of otome and BL games, I know what I'm talking about haha
Also, did I mention I love Kuro's voice acting? Well, now I did!
So yeah, basically, a very intriguing game that manages to keep me on edge and get me crazy involved.
Can't wait for the next demos and, of course, the full release! Keep up the good work and good luck. And also thank you for making this game!
Thank you so much for the kind words, I'm really glad you enjoyed it so far! :3
Using those sprites bothers me too haha, it's great that stuff like that exists for people like me who can't draw; but at the same time it's frustrating because I know how I want everything to look in my head, but I can't create it T_T
The sprites with expressions are still creative commons assets but they do look better than the ones without expressions. I actually commissioned someone to create custom art for Kuro, but I've not heard from her in a few weeks so maybe she's too busy to do it now or something.
As for Kuro, yeah the poor guy is kinda messed up but he really does love the MC bless him and by the time the game's finished it'll be explained how come he's the way he is :3 Going downstairs that you mentioned is probably my favourite scene so far actually! A lot of the story gets kinda boring for me when I'm reading it over and over again whilst testing stuff; but that scene still gives me chills xD
It's good to know that the game has unique points, because while I've played a lot of otome myself, I probably haven't gotten through as much as other people and I personally got bored of a lot of otome games because the romance was always the same (especially with the mobile app ones!) I prefer the ones where the plot comes first and the romance second. I was kinda worried that maybe people might think that it was wrong to do it that way, or wrong to only have the one romantic interest or something. At the end of the day I just wanted to make it the way I would like to play an otome haha, with lots of bad endings and focus on a yandere guy :3
Tim who voices Kuro does such a great job with the character, I really hope he will be alright to stick with the project because I can't imagine anyone else playing Kuro now!
The demo with all the swapped art is done but I'm still waiting on all the voice acting for those 2 routes to be done before I release it and since most of the voice actors have volunteered, I don't want to rush anyone because that'd be mean, haha. Also the next route (Princess) is just over half written, it's slow going because of how little time I get to work on it, but it's coming along :3
Thanks again for saying so many nice things about the demo, I really appreciate you taking the time to do that and it also gives me more drive to keep making it if other people are enjoying it too, instead of just me! xD
Well, having only one romance may be an issue - honestly, it really depends on how it's done, so yeah... In this case, I really like it!
And yay for bad endings! I'm writing my own game too, even though it'll have all gender romances (choice between a male or a female MC, and all gender options for both), but I'm also putting a lot in the overall plot and bad endiiiings! Bad endings are so fun to write haha
That's cool! I'll definitely play yours then because I'm just a huge sucker for bad endings :P anything tagged with lots of bad endings always goes straight onto my "I need to play this" list, haha.
Mine will eventually have the option to choose whether you play a male or female character and also which gender you want Kuro to be so you can have GxB, BxG, GxG and BxB; but it's probably only ever going to have that one romance in it because it just wouldn't really fit the plot if there were a range of romance options unfortunately.
I probably should've made the game with gender options from the beginning but I'm an idiot and have ended up going about it in an awkward way xD The plan was to finish the entire game as female heroine x male Kuro before working on the alternative gender options; but maybe that's not fair and I should finish each route for all the gender options before moving onto the next one! It'll end up being very expensive to try and get original art for all the characters though T_T haha.
In one route that's not in the demo yet, there is a different romance option besides Kuro, but it's not a "true" romance option, if that makes any sense!
Totally agree about bad endings being fun to write... Sometimes I even get fed up writing bits in between bad endings just because I can't wait to do the next bad ending xD
I think at this point, finishing the game with female MC and male Kuro would be the best - the other options will be more like an extra!
And yeah, from what I've seen of the story so far, it would be weird to put another true romance option, though I get what you mean with the one route with a romance that isn't a true romance. I think it may be interesting for many reasons, for example to see Kuro's reactions. Honestly, I don't think I would like to romance anyone else in this game anyway - at least "seriously". He's a great character and I'm really interested in the romance, so yeah...
And also, thank you for following me! I'm not ready yet to post public things about my game as I have a lot of work to do before, but well, you'll obviously get notified when I'll publish something!
xD haha yeeeeeah, he's kinda crazy that way! It's such a weird thing to be jealous of though, silly Kuro!! He can't help it bless him :3
You're not really missing out on too much if you don't see the hidden scene, it was very rushed because of the time left on the jam, so I'm not really happy with it! T_T I'll just make sure I edit it for the next release; which will be much sooner than planned since I'm changing the art xD but there should be more voice acting in it as well because some of the other cast members are getting closer to finishing scripts now :3 Once that edited version of the demo is out I'll get back to working on the next route!!
Glad you enjoyed it anyhow! <3 And I really appreciate you taking the time to comment, it makes me happy to know that someone other than myself can get something out of this ^-^
Yeah you're probably better off waiting, all the art will be different too then haha, but should be more immersive since everyone will have expressions :3
As of last night, all the main characters have now been cast and I'm writing up the last couple of scripts for the existing routes this weekend :D I was starting to think no females would audition, but it's all good now! Yeah Tim does a great job with Kuro, I loved his voice as soon as I heard his audition, I wish I had more money so I could pay him decently because he deserves a lot more than I can afford to give him!
I'm glad you're looking forward to playing more in the future :3 gives me more reason to keep pushing on! I'm actually a little torn on how to update the game... I was going to just keep releasing 1 new route at a time (and I'll try to have them fully voiced before they release, the only reason I released this one only partly voiced was because of the Jam closing date haha.) But then it occurred to me that people can't transfer their save data >.< and the final endings you get are dependant on various factors that would be in save files.... so that means if I release it route by route and people only play the new route in each demo, by the time it gets to the final route, it either won't be unlocked at all or people will only get super bad endings because they have no save data xD So they'd have to play through the entire game again when it's at it's final release, even if they played each route separately in the demos >.<
I'm a noob so I don't know how to deal with that! I guess I could just release a downloadable save file for people or something xD
Anyways, I'm rambling on again, sorry! T_T The next route I'd planned to write up fully is the Princess route, the only reason for that is because it won a poll I did over 6 months ago that only a few people voted on xD but I figured I better stick to it, otherwise there was no point in anyone voting, haha.
If that did work it would be super helpful! Haha, I'll definitely have to test that in future! Cheers for pointing it out :3
Knowing my luck it won't work and will end up crashing the game xD But yeah, it's certainly worth looking into before I upload the next version!