hello there! I just downloaded the game but it is not opening what should i do? Like no matter how much i click run the game there is no response... (I even tried to run as administrator but it didn't work as well)
Hey there! Did you download the windows version, or the mac version?
Depending on your system specs and how much free memory is on your computer, it could take a long time to open the game window. On my PC, it opens after about 15-20 seconds, but on my old laptop, it takes around 7 minutes from clicking the game exe to it actually opening the game window >.< It's due to the large size of the game and the fact that it's manually packaged.
Hopefully, if you wait long enough, it should start eventually x3 The longest startup time I know of so far is around 9 minutes on a very old laptop. Thanks for your interest in the game, if you still can't get it to start, let me know, and I'll try to think of other things you could do to get it working :3
Is it the windows version, or the mac version? I know the mac version has more issues than the windows one, a Tyrano dev said mac can just be a bit dodgy with some of the stuff Tyrano uses >.< Also, how long have you waited after clicking the exe?
If it's the windows version and you've got plenty of free space on your drive, I don't really know what could be causing it to be unresponsive :( It's possible your PC might require some of the files that the Tyrano export tutorial said to delete. Cos the tutorial says to delete all the files in a certain folder, but if I do that, the game no longer opens on my PC! So that part of the tutorial is wrong >.<
That's a complete guess though cos it runs alright on my PC and laptop as it is so it's hard for me to think of anything else. I can't send you the files at the moment, as I don't have my PC set up here, but I'll try to get it set up later tonight and I'll upload the files here to see if that makes any difference. Once they're here to download, just paste them into the game folder. I'll also make a post when I get time about known issues and possible fixes :3 I'm just busy with family stuff at the moment so can't do it right now.
Just wanted to let you know that I've now released a smaller version in the hope that it will run for anyone having issues launching the original larger version :3 I have no idea if it will work >.< haha, but other Tyranobuilder users have suggested to me that it's often a memory issue when it fails to launch on random devices, so I figured it was worth a shot!
Just wanted to let you know that I've now released a smaller version in the hope that it will run for anyone having issues launching the original larger version :3 I have no idea if it will work >.< haha, but other Tyranobuilder users have suggested to me that it's often a memory issue when it fails to launch on random devices, so I figured it was worth a shot!
Hello! I just wanted to say this game looks super interesting :D I can't wait to check it out! I've never seen a game where the MC and the LI are in different stories! I think I'm going to play the student route first but I just have a little comment - I find the text a little difficult to look at when reading, especially because I think there's a dark text shadow underneath it? I was wondering if that could be disabled or if there could be different font choices to choose from? If not I'll just continue playing as it is!
Thanks for taking the time to comment :3 I'm glad you think it looks interesting :D
In regards to the text, I just used the default option on Tyranobuilder in the end in terms of font, style, and colour. I think I increased the size a little until it was comfortable for me to read. I did mess around with changing fonts, but none of them seemed as clear as this one to me, so I stuck with it.
Unfortunately, there's no way to edit the text display in the game options. If you're finding it too difficult to read I could change it in the project files themselves and upload it as an update for you though :3 It may take a while is the only thing, cos I don't have my PC set up here away from home and my crappy laptop can't handle the load >.< haha.
Aside from that, it might be possible for you to change the font yourself by swapping the actual font file for the game, buuuuut, I'd have to look into that cos I don't know if it might potentially mess up the text settings or anything cos I've never tried it before x3
If you do end up just playing it as it is, I hope you enjoy it :3
@cynnchan (so sorry if I got your name wrong!) I've managed to accidentally delete your comments >.< If you need me to repost the possible fixes thread for the NW.JS thing, just lemme know :3 Sorry about that! I was just trying to delete the first couple that you posted cos my last reply to you was showing up weird on the mobile site, missing letters off the edge of the screen, so I thought if I delete your first comments and my replies, it'll make the stack go back to normal... but instead, it just deleted everything >.<
Hmm, unfortunately, as I don't own a mac myself, I don't really have any way of testing and fixing any issues for mac that people come across :( I'm really sorry about that!
I know nothing about macs personally, so I can't even guess at things >.< All I know is that before uploading the mac version, my partner was able to test and run it on his work mac and all was fine. I'm not able to get him to do any further troubleshooting on his work mac though cos he'd get into trouble if his boss found out!
It would be great if I could have a browser game version as well, but I think the game is just too big for it to work :(
After reading your comment, I looked into the possibility of uploading it here on itch.io, as they allow the hosting of web games, but there are a few rules about hosting a browser game here and, unfortunately, the total size of my VN exceeds the allowance limits. It does say that you can contact them to have limits increased, but it says that they're there in order to make the best possible experience for players, and that browser games exceeding the limits will likely have poor performance in terms of load times, so it's recommended to just make it a downloadable game instead.
If I had the money to run my own site, then I'd attempt to host it there. Sadly, I don't even have enough money to feed myself most of the time xD I suffer from anxiety and depression, which prevents me from holding down a regular job, so my only form of income is from selling handmade items online, but I make less than minimum wage doing that >.< haha. So I can't afford that option.
I'd love to be able to make it available as a browser game, but it's looking like that probably won't be possible :(
Also, as I mentioned in the post I linked above, I've made a thread in the Tyrano support forums asking for help/suggestions to fix the problem you have. So hopefully, someone will reply with something to try :3
EDIT: Just wanted to let you know that someone on the Steam Tyrano support forums suggested this to me for anyone that can't get it to start on mac:
"Now, on Mac, I'm not sure if the problem is that people need to open the package with something like The Unarchiver instead of the native tool: https://theunarchiver.com/. That is a known issue. You might see if someone can test that method for you."
Since I've never had a mac, this doesn't really mean anything to me, haha, but it's something to try I guess :3
Just wanted to let you know that I've now released a smaller version in the hope that it will run for anyone having issues launching the original larger version :3 I have no idea if it will work >.< haha, but other Tyranobuilder users have suggested to me that it's often a memory issue when it fails to launch on random devices, so I figured it was worth a shot!
Okay, at this point I've gotten most of the way through the ??? route (just missing the true ending).
Overall I was extremely impressed by this game and story. A free game that is fully voiced with this level of detail and plot? Damn. I really like the premise of an otome game but with the same couple in extremely different settings, and I hope that more games try out this style in the future. Obviously having a plethora of love choices is fun, but I really enjoyed seeing the differences and similarities between MC and Kuro through every route, and slowly unlocking more of the overarching plot between the two. Plus its an interesting experiment on differences in character in alternate settings.
And of course as a big fan of yanderes, it was really great to have a whole game around that premise. Detective Route Kuro was my favorite.
I will note that you may want to make it more obvious above that to unlock the secret ending, you need to be on the same save file. I learned that after already having unlocked almost all the endings in different saves, which was unfortunate. For players, take lots of notes for the ??? route, tbh I'm usually a lazy walkthrough follower so had to actually make some effort here (and am still trying on the true ending), haha. The rest of the routes were pretty intuitive though, I liked getting to go back and rechoose instead of having to save every time. That was a nice mechanic.
I would have preferred Kuro's sprites to look more mature in the routes, but it didn't take away from the game enjoyment, just a preference. His and the MC's sprite variations are adorable though.
Cheers for taking the time to post a comment :3 It's much appreciated!
I'm so glad that you enjoyed the VN. The main reason I made it was because I adore yandere characters myself, and it didn't seem like there were that many male yandere types around compared to the sheer volume of female ones, especially not English speaking ones x3 So I kinda just wanted to write something where a male yandere character was in the spotlight.
Funnily enough, the Detective route was my favourite route to write :D
I'll go edit my post regarding unlocking the ??? route in a sec then and try to make it a little clearer. I suck at explaining stuff >.< haha.
If you need a hand unlocking the true ending and don't wanna spend ages trying various things, feel free to drop me an email as I don't mind telling you the unlock requirements :3 It's hard for me to really gauge how difficult it is to unlock certain things when I already know the answers to everything >.< I'm considering making a walkthrough or mini guide to help people out if they need it, cos I'm the type who tends to just go straight to walk through myself, haha. Some of you guys probably have pretty decent notes already though I guess!
You're not the only one who would have preferred Kuro's sprites to appear more mature :D haha, I wish they were too! I just didn't have much choice cos my art is pretty crappy, so I ended up using software I purchased to create them instead, and while I was able to highly customise the sprites to my liking that way, I was unable to change the overall style of them. If I could have afforded to hire an artist then I would've done, but I'm always poor x3 And with the sheer number of sprites I imagine it would've cost a hell of a lot to get someone to draw them all. People have told me to try Kickstarter next time I'm making a VN, so I think I'll give it a go, the big problem is that I don't really use much social media due to anxiety, so my reach is very limited >.< I'm not confident that many people would even come across a Kickstarter campaign I was running if I did try it, haha.
Thanks again :3 Good luck with getting the true end and I hope you enjoy it! Have a super duper week :D
SPOILER ALERT. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO FIGURE THIS GAME OUT FOR YOURSELF.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I started following Solipsism Reign's development because its initial premise was interesting. I have never seen an otome game that was yandere-centric. I thought at first that was all it was going to be, but once I downloaded it and started playing, I knew there had to be some overarching plot. And boy, was I unprepared for what this game threw at me. Kari, you’re a genius. You had me hooked for the entire time. I had no idea this game was going to be so deep. Playing through the initial five routes was really fun, and it was nice balancing my choices of dying by my enemies or by Kuro (Princess and Detective Kuro are my favorites in the first part). The kiss scene with Kuro in the Princess route had me blushing so much... And I just love everything about the Detective route! My sister loves the voice that plays when you get a bad ending, and when he calls you Anathema. She’s a little weird ;)
For the ??? route, my goodness, I just can’t describe how much I love it. The way it’s set up is amazing! I was so shocked to realise that the first half of the game didn’t really matter. It was all a simulation. Dying after trying to attack Isaac and finding myself at the title screen instead of Raine’s criticism and comforting voice really told me that I had to be in serious mode now.
I loved playing as the clones in the beginning and being so unaware of what on earth was happening. It hurt me so much to see Kuro suffer as he had to hurt the brainwashed 26 over and over... I was legit crying. And it took me two tries to realise that I had to click the knife… I felt so stupid, haha. I wish there was a way to save the angry Kuro… and right after he and MC made up… you can be really cruel, Kari.
I had a feeling that Raine was MC’s mom, but you delivered it perfectly with Lilly! And going through the whole route just to get that bad ending? What did I do wrong??? What do you mean by “certain events”??? I have a whole two page google doc with notes of this game, haha. I ended up trying all sorts of choice combinations to keep OG MC alive. What happens when I recognise Shiro but go outside and then come back? Does it matter if I refuse to hurt Kuro as 26 and then obey afterwards? It took me forever to realise that I had to go through the bad ends that triggered the restart mechanic that happened in the routes outside of ??? but get every other answer right to get the good ending.
I thought everything was going to be done and over with after OG MC woke up and she and Shiro lived happily ever after, but no, you pulled the rug out from underneath me again. I am amazed at your storytelling abilities, Kari, and you’ve got me really inspired to try to make my own VN. You’re my new role model :)
After giving my memories to OG MC, it felt more like I was watching her and Shiro instead of inserting myself. I had been suffering and journeying with 339 all this time that I got really attached and didn’t want to let go... 339’s story with 13 really brought me some tears, but even more smiles :)
I was so shocked (even though I shouldn’t have been) that Isaac made the monsters… and let them run rampant. My sister and I were making jokes about how the creature smoked so much his intestines were black, and that had us laughing for a good minute. And the ending? I was so happy that the monsters were eradicated and that Shiro and MC could be together, but so sad that MC and Shiro couldn’t retain their original bodies, it kinda felt like everything 13 and 339 worked for was in vain… that was the only thing that left me dissatisfied.
My favorite Kuros have got to be the one you meet as 26 and the one who accompanies you as 339. I wish there was a way to end the first Kuro’s suffering without killing him!!! He doesn’t show up after 26 dies :(
And lastly, this game hit all of my needs. I just love the intense love between Kuro and MC/ Shiro and MC! The characters are all so wonderful! Kuro’s definitely my fav, but I love Shiro, Raine, and Lilly too! Not so much Isaac… that’s a given, I think. The art was amazing, sprites and CGs and backgrounds! Please give my praise to the artists, I wish I could draw that well. The voice acting was excellent! So good! Smith has got me swooning over his voice, haha. I can’t forget about the sound effects, either! I was really grossed out sometimes… but they were great. And the writing? It just blows my mind how GOOD IT IS!!! It had me completely immersed in this dystopian world, and combined with the music, Kari, you achieved creating this world and dragging me into its depths.
My yandere needs: check
My dystopian world needs: check
My mystery needs: check
Girl, you checked everything off my list and more!!! I feel this giant hole in my heart now that I’ve finished this game :( You’ve ruined all other VNs for me!!! I can't enjoy them as much knowing this masterpiece exists!
One little thing that I really enjoyed about Solipsism Reigns is that the cursor becomes a butterfly. It was really amusing making it fly across the background, and putting it over people’s eyes to make it look like they were magical. Maybe that’s just the really childish part of me, haha.
I am so sorry this is so long!!! This is just a really long and stupid rant about a game that I’ve given my soul to, but I could find no other way to express my gratitude to you, Kari. I hope I’ve been using your name right. Cody is a great name, though!
Once I finally wrack up some dough I’m gonna give it all to you. You deserve it!
P.S. I’ll be waiting for my dearest cursed one, *wink wink*
P.P.S. I can understand why Kuro's number is 13 (unlucky and stuff...), but is there any reason why the MC copies were 26 and 339?
Firstly, I wanna say thank you so much for playing through SR, and also thanks for taking the time to write everything you did :3 I can't even put into words how happy I am to know that you enjoyed the game as much as you did! I really appreciate hearing your thoughts on it all.
Sorry it's taken me a while to reply to your comment. I'm visiting my family today after not having seen them for months cos of the lockdown, so I figured I should probably stay off of my phone for a bit, haha.
I guess I should also say that from this point on there will be SPOILERS in what I'm about to write here too, so anyone who is reading this and wants to avoid spoilers, don't read ahead :3
When I first started writing the story, I had a good idea of where I wanted to take it, but it wasn't until I'd finished writing that I realised just how long it had become xD It wasn't really my intention to create a VN as long as this, and probably wasn't the best thing to make for a first project, haha, but I find it hard to stop once I've started something so I just persevered with it! I loved making it, but man, it was painful sometimes when I was doing incredibly boring but necessary tasks x3
I'm a huge lover of yandere characters, usually villains too, haha, but only if they have a reason to be the way they are. I don't like it when a character is evil just for the sake of it, so with Kuro, it was important for me to tell a story that explained why he is the way he is :3
I'm glad you liked that particular romantic scene in the Princess route :3 I sometimes wonder if I included too much in the way of bad ends and horrible things happening, and not enough sweetness or romance >.< haha. But I love writing bad ends so much x3
The Detective route is also my favourite route :D I love scare mazes an awful lot, so it was extra fun writing a story including those, haha.
Your sister will be pleased to know that he will be making more appearances in the future then :P
I'm sorry there was no way to save that particular Kuro x3 I didn't mean to be so cruel with that, haha.
And I'm sorry you ended up getting that bad end so far into the route, I know that one is mean, but I just love having those kinda tragic bad ends x3 I'm glad you managed to figure out how to get past it though and carry on with the rest of the route :D Do you think I should write up a walkthrough or mini guide? Cos I tried to make it so the choices aren't super complicated, but it's difficult for me to tell how hard it actually is to unlock everything when I know exactly how to get everything >.<
I'm honoured that you think my storytelling/writing is so good :3 I've struggled with rubbish levels of self belief all my life, so no matter what I do, my stupid brain tells me I've done a crap job! >.< Hearing lovely comments like yours really helps me to fight back against those negative thoughts and actually start to believe in myself a little bit, so thank you ^-^ If you do decide to make and release a VN, you'll have to let me know so I can play it!
Yeeeeah, Isaac reeeeaaally fucked up! I don't know if he can ever truly be redeemed or forgiven after everything he's done, but at least he did something good in the end, haha. I had so much fun making the inside of the creature with all the black squelchiness x3 Out of everything in the game, I felt like those backgrounds and those sounds were the most atmospheric bit just cos they went perfectly together. Now you've said what you did about you and your sister joking about the creature smoking, I'll never be able to look at those scenes in the same way again xD
Regarding the ending, I was considering having Isaac save OG MC and Shiro by putting them into 339 and 13's bodies rather than just random units that were available, just so it was more like 339 and 13 lived on in OG MC and Shiro in a more physical representation. 339 and 13 aren't completely gone anyhow though cos a part of them does live inside OG MC, and if they hadn't made the sacrifice that they did, OG MC would have died before even regaining consciousness. I also debated making that a choice, for 339 to just say, nope, I'm not helping, and let OG MC die xD but I felt like that was too mean, haha.
To me, 339 and 13 are the real saviours of the story and my favourite protagonist and Kuro couple, even more than OG MC and Shiro :3 They did deserve better, but I wanted them to have a bittersweet ending x3 I'm sorry I'm so mean... I was actually going to be even crueller originally! I was only going to have bad, tragic, and bittersweet endings as final endings, and not include one that could be considered a genuinely happy end where OG MC and Shiro could actually be together in peace finally. I thought about it for a while, and decided that I couldn't bring myself to do it, haha. I also figured that anyone who played it would probably appreciate some form of happy ending after all of the pain and suffering throughout the journey, which is why I wrote the true end in the end :3 I'm still not 100% happy with the way I wrote the last scenes in the true end though >.<
My favourite Kuro ended up being 13, he just grew on me even though I preferred some of the others when I was writing it all! I think out of all of them, his story just breaks my heart the most. Then when Tim voiced him and brought him to life I just wanted to give 13 a big hug, haha.
Regarding the art, I made the sprites using a Japanese software that I purchased (because my art skills leave a lot to be desired xD) which was really awesome as it allowed me to choose the type of eyes, etc. and the hairstyles were pieced together from lots of tiny little bits of hair until they resembled a style, so that was fun! It took me a looooong time though with the sheer number of sprites I needed >.< The only thing I was frustrated with was not being able to make some of the Kuro's look more manly or mature, which was down to the software being quite limited when it came to more manly features, so most of the Kuro's appear somewhat feminine, haha. Destini Ruffin drew all of the CG art, so without her, I wouldn't even have been able to include a gallery feature :3 And the background art I purchased as resource packs. I had to buy a lot of background art to cover all the different world settings and I never have much money, but I spent all of what I had anyway cos I'm an idiot xD I will try stuff like Kickstarter in the future though to see if I can get a project properly funded cos I felt awful not being able to pay Destini for all the CGs or the voice actors for their time and incredible work as well.
I know what ya mean with feeling like you have a giant hole cos that's how I end up feeling after I've finished something I really enjoyed, like the Mass Effect series, I pretty much cried when I finally finished that, haha. To be honest, I nearly cried reading your comment cos it's just kinda overwhelming in the best way possible to know that you enjoyed SR so much :3
You don't need to apologise anyhow, I really enjoyed reading through your comment! If nobody took the time to let me know how they felt about the game I'd be completely in the dark, so it's great to know what you thought of it, and as I said, I appreciate you taking the time to write everything you did <3
As for my name, I don't really mind what people call me :3 Kari is the name I kinda chose for myself a long time ago because I didn't really wanna use Cody, haha, but now I don't mind, so you're welcome to use either!
To answer your question, 26 wasn't originally gonna be 26, I think she was 17 or something in the old story documents, but when I was typing up Jacob's script for Isaac I decided to change it to 26 just cos that was my age at the time. I'm 28 now though xD 339 wasn't 339 either, haha. I think she might've been 37, which was the door number for my dad's house, but I needed her number to be much higher so I changed that too. I can't remember what made me pick 339 though, I don't think it has any particular significance. 13 was actually a last minute change! I always referred to him affectionately as Dollmaker,
but his number was 404. I changed it to 13 like you say, cos of its connections with being an unlucky number, and cos I wanted his number to be lower to show the sheer amount of time he'd been awake.
Thank you again for all your kind words :3 Your support means the world to me! I plan to keep making VNs for as long as I can, cos I've got a lot of stories I wanna tell, so I hope I'll be able to create something in the future that enjoy just as much as SR :D
Hope you're managing to stay safe! Have an awesome week ^_^
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
Comments
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hello there! I just downloaded the game but it is not opening what should i do? Like no matter how much i click run the game there is no response... (I even tried to run as administrator but it didn't work as well)
Hey there! Did you download the windows version, or the mac version?
Depending on your system specs and how much free memory is on your computer, it could take a long time to open the game window. On my PC, it opens after about 15-20 seconds, but on my old laptop, it takes around 7 minutes from clicking the game exe to it actually opening the game window >.< It's due to the large size of the game and the fact that it's manually packaged.
Hopefully, if you wait long enough, it should start eventually x3 The longest startup time I know of so far is around 9 minutes on a very old laptop. Thanks for your interest in the game, if you still can't get it to start, let me know, and I'll try to think of other things you could do to get it working :3
I am having trouble opening it as well. I have a newer PC and there is just no response when clicking.
Is it the windows version, or the mac version? I know the mac version has more issues than the windows one, a Tyrano dev said mac can just be a bit dodgy with some of the stuff Tyrano uses >.< Also, how long have you waited after clicking the exe?
If it's the windows version and you've got plenty of free space on your drive, I don't really know what could be causing it to be unresponsive :( It's possible your PC might require some of the files that the Tyrano export tutorial said to delete. Cos the tutorial says to delete all the files in a certain folder, but if I do that, the game no longer opens on my PC! So that part of the tutorial is wrong >.<
That's a complete guess though cos it runs alright on my PC and laptop as it is so it's hard for me to think of anything else. I can't send you the files at the moment, as I don't have my PC set up here, but I'll try to get it set up later tonight and I'll upload the files here to see if that makes any difference. Once they're here to download, just paste them into the game folder. I'll also make a post when I get time about known issues and possible fixes :3 I'm just busy with family stuff at the moment so can't do it right now.
EDIT: I made this post. It includes the files I mentioned earlier, plus a few other suggestions:
https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/solipsism-reigns/devlog/154575/known-issues-potential-fixes
As I said in the above post I linked, I've also asked for fix suggestions in the Tyrano support forum :3
Just wanted to let you know that I've now released a smaller version in the hope that it will run for anyone having issues launching the original larger version :3 I have no idea if it will work >.< haha, but other Tyranobuilder users have suggested to me that it's often a memory issue when it fails to launch on random devices, so I figured it was worth a shot!
Just wanted to let you know that I've now released a smaller version in the hope that it will run for anyone having issues launching the original larger version :3 I have no idea if it will work >.< haha, but other Tyranobuilder users have suggested to me that it's often a memory issue when it fails to launch on random devices, so I figured it was worth a shot!
Hello! I just wanted to say this game looks super interesting :D I can't wait to check it out! I've never seen a game where the MC and the LI are in different stories! I think I'm going to play the student route first but I just have a little comment - I find the text a little difficult to look at when reading, especially because I think there's a dark text shadow underneath it? I was wondering if that could be disabled or if there could be different font choices to choose from? If not I'll just continue playing as it is!
Thanks for taking the time to comment :3 I'm glad you think it looks interesting :D
In regards to the text, I just used the default option on Tyranobuilder in the end in terms of font, style, and colour. I think I increased the size a little until it was comfortable for me to read. I did mess around with changing fonts, but none of them seemed as clear as this one to me, so I stuck with it.
Unfortunately, there's no way to edit the text display in the game options. If you're finding it too difficult to read I could change it in the project files themselves and upload it as an update for you though :3 It may take a while is the only thing, cos I don't have my PC set up here away from home and my crappy laptop can't handle the load >.< haha.
Aside from that, it might be possible for you to change the font yourself by swapping the actual font file for the game, buuuuut, I'd have to look into that cos I don't know if it might potentially mess up the text settings or anything cos I've never tried it before x3
If you do end up just playing it as it is, I hope you enjoy it :3
@cynnchan (so sorry if I got your name wrong!) I've managed to accidentally delete your comments >.< If you need me to repost the possible fixes thread for the NW.JS thing, just lemme know :3 Sorry about that! I was just trying to delete the first couple that you posted cos my last reply to you was showing up weird on the mobile site, missing letters off the edge of the screen, so I thought if I delete your first comments and my replies, it'll make the stack go back to normal... but instead, it just deleted everything >.<
Hmm, unfortunately, as I don't own a mac myself, I don't really have any way of testing and fixing any issues for mac that people come across :( I'm really sorry about that!
I know nothing about macs personally, so I can't even guess at things >.< All I know is that before uploading the mac version, my partner was able to test and run it on his work mac and all was fine. I'm not able to get him to do any further troubleshooting on his work mac though cos he'd get into trouble if his boss found out!
Oh, that's understandable! Do you maybe ever plan putting it on the web with flash player then?
It would be great if I could have a browser game version as well, but I think the game is just too big for it to work :(
After reading your comment, I looked into the possibility of uploading it here on itch.io, as they allow the hosting of web games, but there are a few rules about hosting a browser game here and, unfortunately, the total size of my VN exceeds the allowance limits. It does say that you can contact them to have limits increased, but it says that they're there in order to make the best possible experience for players, and that browser games exceeding the limits will likely have poor performance in terms of load times, so it's recommended to just make it a downloadable game instead.
If I had the money to run my own site, then I'd attempt to host it there. Sadly, I don't even have enough money to feed myself most of the time xD I suffer from anxiety and depression, which prevents me from holding down a regular job, so my only form of income is from selling handmade items online, but I make less than minimum wage doing that >.< haha. So I can't afford that option.
I'd love to be able to make it available as a browser game, but it's looking like that probably won't be possible :(
I doubt anything here will help, but I've just created a post with possible fixes for various issues:
https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/solipsism-reigns/devlog/154575/known-issues-potential-fixes
Also, as I mentioned in the post I linked above, I've made a thread in the Tyrano support forums asking for help/suggestions to fix the problem you have. So hopefully, someone will reply with something to try :3
EDIT: Just wanted to let you know that someone on the Steam Tyrano support forums suggested this to me for anyone that can't get it to start on mac:
"Now, on Mac, I'm not sure if the problem is that people need to open the package with something like The Unarchiver instead of the native tool: https://theunarchiver.com/. That is a known issue. You might see if someone can test that method for you."
Since I've never had a mac, this doesn't really mean anything to me, haha, but it's something to try I guess :3
Just wanted to let you know that I've now released a smaller version in the hope that it will run for anyone having issues launching the original larger version :3 I have no idea if it will work >.< haha, but other Tyranobuilder users have suggested to me that it's often a memory issue when it fails to launch on random devices, so I figured it was worth a shot!
NO SPOILERS BELOW
Okay, at this point I've gotten most of the way through the ??? route (just missing the true ending).
Overall I was extremely impressed by this game and story. A free game that is fully voiced with this level of detail and plot? Damn. I really like the premise of an otome game but with the same couple in extremely different settings, and I hope that more games try out this style in the future. Obviously having a plethora of love choices is fun, but I really enjoyed seeing the differences and similarities between MC and Kuro through every route, and slowly unlocking more of the overarching plot between the two. Plus its an interesting experiment on differences in character in alternate settings.
And of course as a big fan of yanderes, it was really great to have a whole game around that premise. Detective Route Kuro was my favorite.
I will note that you may want to make it more obvious above that to unlock the secret ending, you need to be on the same save file. I learned that after already having unlocked almost all the endings in different saves, which was unfortunate. For players, take lots of notes for the ??? route, tbh I'm usually a lazy walkthrough follower so had to actually make some effort here (and am still trying on the true ending), haha. The rest of the routes were pretty intuitive though, I liked getting to go back and rechoose instead of having to save every time. That was a nice mechanic.
I would have preferred Kuro's sprites to look more mature in the routes, but it didn't take away from the game enjoyment, just a preference. His and the MC's sprite variations are adorable though.
Overall great job, MM!
Cheers for taking the time to post a comment :3 It's much appreciated!
I'm so glad that you enjoyed the VN. The main reason I made it was because I adore yandere characters myself, and it didn't seem like there were that many male yandere types around compared to the sheer volume of female ones, especially not English speaking ones x3 So I kinda just wanted to write something where a male yandere character was in the spotlight.
Funnily enough, the Detective route was my favourite route to write :D
I'll go edit my post regarding unlocking the ??? route in a sec then and try to make it a little clearer. I suck at explaining stuff >.< haha.
If you need a hand unlocking the true ending and don't wanna spend ages trying various things, feel free to drop me an email as I don't mind telling you the unlock requirements :3 It's hard for me to really gauge how difficult it is to unlock certain things when I already know the answers to everything >.< I'm considering making a walkthrough or mini guide to help people out if they need it, cos I'm the type who tends to just go straight to walk through myself, haha. Some of you guys probably have pretty decent notes already though I guess!
You're not the only one who would have preferred Kuro's sprites to appear more mature :D haha, I wish they were too! I just didn't have much choice cos my art is pretty crappy, so I ended up using software I purchased to create them instead, and while I was able to highly customise the sprites to my liking that way, I was unable to change the overall style of them. If I could have afforded to hire an artist then I would've done, but I'm always poor x3 And with the sheer number of sprites I imagine it would've cost a hell of a lot to get someone to draw them all. People have told me to try Kickstarter next time I'm making a VN, so I think I'll give it a go, the big problem is that I don't really use much social media due to anxiety, so my reach is very limited >.< I'm not confident that many people would even come across a Kickstarter campaign I was running if I did try it, haha.
Thanks again :3 Good luck with getting the true end and I hope you enjoy it! Have a super duper week :D
SPOILER ALERT. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO FIGURE THIS GAME OUT FOR YOURSELF.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I started following Solipsism Reign's development because its initial premise was interesting. I have never seen an otome game that was yandere-centric. I thought at first that was all it was going to be, but once I downloaded it and started playing, I knew there had to be some overarching plot. And boy, was I unprepared for what this game threw at me. Kari, you’re a genius. You had me hooked for the entire time. I had no idea this game was going to be so deep. Playing through the initial five routes was really fun, and it was nice balancing my choices of dying by my enemies or by Kuro (Princess and Detective Kuro are my favorites in the first part). The kiss scene with Kuro in the Princess route had me blushing so much... And I just love everything about the Detective route! My sister loves the voice that plays when you get a bad ending, and when he calls you Anathema. She’s a little weird ;)
For the ??? route, my goodness, I just can’t describe how much I love it. The way it’s set up is amazing! I was so shocked to realise that the first half of the game didn’t really matter. It was all a simulation. Dying after trying to attack Isaac and finding myself at the title screen instead of Raine’s criticism and comforting voice really told me that I had to be in serious mode now.
I loved playing as the clones in the beginning and being so unaware of what on earth was happening. It hurt me so much to see Kuro suffer as he had to hurt the brainwashed 26 over and over... I was legit crying. And it took me two tries to realise that I had to click the knife… I felt so stupid, haha. I wish there was a way to save the angry Kuro… and right after he and MC made up… you can be really cruel, Kari.
I had a feeling that Raine was MC’s mom, but you delivered it perfectly with Lilly! And going through the whole route just to get that bad ending? What did I do wrong??? What do you mean by “certain events”??? I have a whole two page google doc with notes of this game, haha. I ended up trying all sorts of choice combinations to keep OG MC alive. What happens when I recognise Shiro but go outside and then come back? Does it matter if I refuse to hurt Kuro as 26 and then obey afterwards? It took me forever to realise that I had to go through the bad ends that triggered the restart mechanic that happened in the routes outside of ??? but get every other answer right to get the good ending.
I thought everything was going to be done and over with after OG MC woke up and she and Shiro lived happily ever after, but no, you pulled the rug out from underneath me again. I am amazed at your storytelling abilities, Kari, and you’ve got me really inspired to try to make my own VN. You’re my new role model :)
After giving my memories to OG MC, it felt more like I was watching her and Shiro instead of inserting myself. I had been suffering and journeying with 339 all this time that I got really attached and didn’t want to let go... 339’s story with 13 really brought me some tears, but even more smiles :)
I was so shocked (even though I shouldn’t have been) that Isaac made the monsters… and let them run rampant. My sister and I were making jokes about how the creature smoked so much his intestines were black, and that had us laughing for a good minute. And the ending? I was so happy that the monsters were eradicated and that Shiro and MC could be together, but so sad that MC and Shiro couldn’t retain their original bodies, it kinda felt like everything 13 and 339 worked for was in vain… that was the only thing that left me dissatisfied.
My favorite Kuros have got to be the one you meet as 26 and the one who accompanies you as 339. I wish there was a way to end the first Kuro’s suffering without killing him!!! He doesn’t show up after 26 dies :(
And lastly, this game hit all of my needs. I just love the intense love between Kuro and MC/ Shiro and MC! The characters are all so wonderful! Kuro’s definitely my fav, but I love Shiro, Raine, and Lilly too! Not so much Isaac… that’s a given, I think. The art was amazing, sprites and CGs and backgrounds! Please give my praise to the artists, I wish I could draw that well. The voice acting was excellent! So good! Smith has got me swooning over his voice, haha. I can’t forget about the sound effects, either! I was really grossed out sometimes… but they were great. And the writing? It just blows my mind how GOOD IT IS!!! It had me completely immersed in this dystopian world, and combined with the music, Kari, you achieved creating this world and dragging me into its depths.
My yandere needs: check
My dystopian world needs: check
My mystery needs: check
Girl, you checked everything off my list and more!!! I feel this giant hole in my heart now that I’ve finished this game :( You’ve ruined all other VNs for me!!! I can't enjoy them as much knowing this masterpiece exists!
One little thing that I really enjoyed about Solipsism Reigns is that the cursor becomes a butterfly. It was really amusing making it fly across the background, and putting it over people’s eyes to make it look like they were magical. Maybe that’s just the really childish part of me, haha.
I am so sorry this is so long!!! This is just a really long and stupid rant about a game that I’ve given my soul to, but I could find no other way to express my gratitude to you, Kari. I hope I’ve been using your name right. Cody is a great name, though!
Once I finally wrack up some dough I’m gonna give it all to you. You deserve it!
P.S. I’ll be waiting for my dearest cursed one, *wink wink*
P.P.S. I can understand why Kuro's number is 13 (unlucky and stuff...), but is there any reason why the MC copies were 26 and 339?
Firstly, I wanna say thank you so much for playing through SR, and also thanks for taking the time to write everything you did :3 I can't even put into words how happy I am to know that you enjoyed the game as much as you did! I really appreciate hearing your thoughts on it all.
Sorry it's taken me a while to reply to your comment. I'm visiting my family today after not having seen them for months cos of the lockdown, so I figured I should probably stay off of my phone for a bit, haha.
I guess I should also say that from this point on there will be SPOILERS in what I'm about to write here too, so anyone who is reading this and wants to avoid spoilers, don't read ahead :3
When I first started writing the story, I had a good idea of where I wanted to take it, but it wasn't until I'd finished writing that I realised just how long it had become xD It wasn't really my intention to create a VN as long as this, and probably wasn't the best thing to make for a first project, haha, but I find it hard to stop once I've started something so I just persevered with it! I loved making it, but man, it was painful sometimes when I was doing incredibly boring but necessary tasks x3
I'm a huge lover of yandere characters, usually villains too, haha, but only if they have a reason to be the way they are. I don't like it when a character is evil just for the sake of it, so with Kuro, it was important for me to tell a story that explained why he is the way he is :3
I'm glad you liked that particular romantic scene in the Princess route :3 I sometimes wonder if I included too much in the way of bad ends and horrible things happening, and not enough sweetness or romance >.< haha. But I love writing bad ends so much x3
The Detective route is also my favourite route :D I love scare mazes an awful lot, so it was extra fun writing a story including those, haha.
Your sister will be pleased to know that he will be making more appearances in the future then :P
I'm sorry there was no way to save that particular Kuro x3 I didn't mean to be so cruel with that, haha.
And I'm sorry you ended up getting that bad end so far into the route, I know that one is mean, but I just love having those kinda tragic bad ends x3 I'm glad you managed to figure out how to get past it though and carry on with the rest of the route :D Do you think I should write up a walkthrough or mini guide? Cos I tried to make it so the choices aren't super complicated, but it's difficult for me to tell how hard it actually is to unlock everything when I know exactly how to get everything >.<
I'm honoured that you think my storytelling/writing is so good :3 I've struggled with rubbish levels of self belief all my life, so no matter what I do, my stupid brain tells me I've done a crap job! >.< Hearing lovely comments like yours really helps me to fight back against those negative thoughts and actually start to believe in myself a little bit, so thank you ^-^ If you do decide to make and release a VN, you'll have to let me know so I can play it!
Yeeeeah, Isaac reeeeaaally fucked up! I don't know if he can ever truly be redeemed or forgiven after everything he's done, but at least he did something good in the end, haha. I had so much fun making the inside of the creature with all the black squelchiness x3 Out of everything in the game, I felt like those backgrounds and those sounds were the most atmospheric bit just cos they went perfectly together. Now you've said what you did about you and your sister joking about the creature smoking, I'll never be able to look at those scenes in the same way again xD
Regarding the ending, I was considering having Isaac save OG MC and Shiro by putting them into 339 and 13's bodies rather than just random units that were available, just so it was more like 339 and 13 lived on in OG MC and Shiro in a more physical representation. 339 and 13 aren't completely gone anyhow though cos a part of them does live inside OG MC, and if they hadn't made the sacrifice that they did, OG MC would have died before even regaining consciousness. I also debated making that a choice, for 339 to just say, nope, I'm not helping, and let OG MC die xD but I felt like that was too mean, haha.
To me, 339 and 13 are the real saviours of the story and my favourite protagonist and Kuro couple, even more than OG MC and Shiro :3 They did deserve better, but I wanted them to have a bittersweet ending x3 I'm sorry I'm so mean... I was actually going to be even crueller originally! I was only going to have bad, tragic, and bittersweet endings as final endings, and not include one that could be considered a genuinely happy end where OG MC and Shiro could actually be together in peace finally. I thought about it for a while, and decided that I couldn't bring myself to do it, haha. I also figured that anyone who played it would probably appreciate some form of happy ending after all of the pain and suffering throughout the journey, which is why I wrote the true end in the end :3 I'm still not 100% happy with the way I wrote the last scenes in the true end though >.<
My favourite Kuro ended up being 13, he just grew on me even though I preferred some of the others when I was writing it all! I think out of all of them, his story just breaks my heart the most. Then when Tim voiced him and brought him to life I just wanted to give 13 a big hug, haha.
Regarding the art, I made the sprites using a Japanese software that I purchased (because my art skills leave a lot to be desired xD) which was really awesome as it allowed me to choose the type of eyes, etc. and the hairstyles were pieced together from lots of tiny little bits of hair until they resembled a style, so that was fun! It took me a looooong time though with the sheer number of sprites I needed >.< The only thing I was frustrated with was not being able to make some of the Kuro's look more manly or mature, which was down to the software being quite limited when it came to more manly features, so most of the Kuro's appear somewhat feminine, haha. Destini Ruffin drew all of the CG art, so without her, I wouldn't even have been able to include a gallery feature :3 And the background art I purchased as resource packs. I had to buy a lot of background art to cover all the different world settings and I never have much money, but I spent all of what I had anyway cos I'm an idiot xD I will try stuff like Kickstarter in the future though to see if I can get a project properly funded cos I felt awful not being able to pay Destini for all the CGs or the voice actors for their time and incredible work as well.
I know what ya mean with feeling like you have a giant hole cos that's how I end up feeling after I've finished something I really enjoyed, like the Mass Effect series, I pretty much cried when I finally finished that, haha. To be honest, I nearly cried reading your comment cos it's just kinda overwhelming in the best way possible to know that you enjoyed SR so much :3
You don't need to apologise anyhow, I really enjoyed reading through your comment! If nobody took the time to let me know how they felt about the game I'd be completely in the dark, so it's great to know what you thought of it, and as I said, I appreciate you taking the time to write everything you did <3
As for my name, I don't really mind what people call me :3 Kari is the name I kinda chose for myself a long time ago because I didn't really wanna use Cody, haha, but now I don't mind, so you're welcome to use either!
To answer your question, 26 wasn't originally gonna be 26, I think she was 17 or something in the old story documents, but when I was typing up Jacob's script for Isaac I decided to change it to 26 just cos that was my age at the time. I'm 28 now though xD 339 wasn't 339 either, haha. I think she might've been 37, which was the door number for my dad's house, but I needed her number to be much higher so I changed that too. I can't remember what made me pick 339 though, I don't think it has any particular significance. 13 was actually a last minute change! I always referred to him affectionately as Dollmaker,
but his number was 404. I changed it to 13 like you say, cos of its connections with being an unlucky number, and cos I wanted his number to be lower to show the sheer amount of time he'd been awake.
Thank you again for all your kind words :3 Your support means the world to me! I plan to keep making VNs for as long as I can, cos I've got a lot of stories I wanna tell, so I hope I'll be able to create something in the future that enjoy just as much as SR :D
Hope you're managing to stay safe! Have an awesome week ^_^
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!