[POLL] FEEDBACK FOR AN IDEA

Assuming I ever get Oracle of Tao done (every time I get close to the final test, either I find something that I have to patch, or I decide to add in something else), I was gonna try something different. Basically either way, I'm annoyed with the traditional RPG, and wanna go toward visual novel/straight cinematic approach.

So I had two major ideas:

A collection of (playable) "children's stories" with somewhat bizarre Aesops. This sort of plays out like Live a Live or Rudora no Hihou where you pick paths. Since I don't wanna get overwhelmed, each story basically only plays out for a few scenes, usually involving puzzles or some kind of minigame.

A branched autobiography. I dunno, it just sort of came to me. Basically, I can start from the present, and extrapolate from my past what sort of turn my life would take at various points, and create an ending based on that. I'm not sure how thrilled people would be hearing my story though.

The autobiography one works like this:

You might be in college or something, and you get a choice.

(1) Ask that girl out.
(2) Nah, she's not into me.

In other words, like a dating sim. I then make conjecture on how my life might have gone if I'd gone with this girl or that. Same with certain jobs. Also, there isn't necessarily a way to win. Maybe I'd have a better career if I'd gone with X job, but had a romantic dead-end. Maybe I'd be happiest with X girl but it being a point in my life where I had no career prospects... well, you get the idea.

Sorta interesting, but... meh. Also extremely depressing, since many of the choices I'd have to seriously evaluate whether they're good ones. It also is unclear whether of not I could get away with adding fictional elements in, and the whole (duh) my story not actually being finished yet. I'd have to improvise an ending, and it could end up either Hollywood happy (which isn't necessarily realistic) or so depressing people would send angry responses.

Although the latter idea would be more interesting, I think I'd try the first one first.

author=LockeZ
Former idea is a story that only appeals to children in a format that only appeals to teens and adults. Latter idea comes across as narcissistic wish fulfillment. I vote that if you insist on making a visual novel, you make one that your audience would actually want to read.

Nothing says I have to make them actually geared toward children. Ever seen the anime Monster, where they have those disturbing children's stories? All that better if they seem to appeal to children, but then older folk read them and are like "holy crap."

I'm gonna nix on the narcissistic wish fulfillment. Let's say idea one.

author=slashphoenix
A dragon can be a pink cute thing or a vicious monster representing the malice of greed.

Or a pink cute vicious monster that cuddles (before it disembowels people).

I think I've got a good enough concept with this one, so I'm just gonna experiment with making up a dozen or so stories. I'm gonna make a save loopback effect using Better AEP, so I can have it return to the main menu after a story is done, and unlock new options if you've finished a few stories. Some sort of variable control will figure out how many different stories have been completed to see if you qualify for the new ones. You should also be able to play the older stories again if you like. If I did it that way, I could have a sort of steadily more creepy feel, with younger audiences getting scared off before you get to decidedly not happy endings.

I'm not sure whether this game would have battles or not. If it does, many of them might be either cinematic or puzzle style, with no real chance if you try to win by raw force.

Hmm, I think I've got a temporary list now. I might remove or add some of these.

• The Melty Stew (guy gives his wealth to the poor, ends up being poor himself. The townsfolk use his gold to make a soup pot)
• The Bloody Pet Shovel (better than it sounds, a crazy old woman gets a pet shovel that with the help of her own blood and a druid, animates it as a pet but she starts dying from blood loss, until the shovel saves her)
• Arduous Climb (guy climbs a mountain to talk to a Sage about the meaning of life. The Sage tells him to spend more time with his friends because the only reason he's on the mountain is that he's stuck being alone. The guy goes down and does so, having learned nothing)
• The Creepy Bunny (a bunny that looks extremely scary and smells of limburgher meets this blind man that likes his smell, after being rejected elsewhere. Unfortunately, by this time he's developed rabies)
• Giant Ever-Exploding Head (this man wishes he could always watch the events of the world as a disembodied head. The violence of the world makes his head explode but because of his wish, it keeps happening over and over. "Be careful what you wish for" but creepy and graphic)
• Choice of Sir Robin (this leader has his town surrounded by troops, and rather than facing slow starvation by siege or facing a superior army, decides to tunnel himself and the other townsfolk to safety. It's basically about how nothing is so hopeless there isn't a way out)
• Flesh-Eating Zombies of Love (this guy is still attached to his girlfriend, so he has her brought back by necromancy. She of course as a zombie decides he is indeed attractive... as a meal, and proceeds to eat his brain)
• Tailgating Party from Hell (these guys have an endless party, and finally the other guests have to leave, causing an accident. The moral of the story is "don't be a freaking stalker.")
• The Beast Master (an animal lover has to leave his pets behind. Then he meets a girl with mates for those pets, and finds the ones he put on hold have already been sold)
• Crocodile's Tears (a crocodile plays the victim so it can get friends, and all is happy. Then the croc eats his friends)
• World Wide Web (an alternate history version of how the internet came about)
• Volleyball Tournament of Death (this guy tries to stop volleyball from being played because it's too violent, and gets beaned to death. "And that is why volleyball is still played today")
• Parasite Kiss (a succubus learns to love someone, but she's too clingy so instead of her lover being life-drained, she has to deal with rejection)
• Happy Chicken Cutlet (basically a wish story)
• Immortal Bride (two immortal people meet each other and start to age again)
• King of Ghobli Hare (this man has a bunch of bunnies, and he falls overboard on a ship. Most of the bunnies swim around until they made grains of sand, except for the two that helped him make it to shore. And this is why Ghobli Island (which has no relevance to anything in this reality) has so many bunnies)
• The Man Who Would Be Queen (a crossdressing prince meets a princess who is getting dressed as a prince for a dowry scam)
• The Poison Bread (a man who thinks his life sucks eats poison coated bread every day, but instead of dying, builds an immunity. Later, he meets a girl but his body is poison, so she dies when she kisses him. Remember kids, no matter how much you may think your life sucks, it can always get worse)
• Cry Me a River (this girl has it rain every time she cries... so she suppresses her feelings, until it makes her unpopular in love)

I'm not at all sure how many of these would actually make playable stories, though. If it was disturbing and/or funny, I included it.

Oh yes. But I'd get bored if that were the only story. Some of the others seem to have little or no play potential, and are straight cinematic (Giant Ever-Exploding Head). And some pretty much run on minigames (Bloody Pet Shovel involves stuff like digging for herbs, and maybe a cooking game).

No, I'm saying... the point I wanted to pursue was sort of a collection of minigames, rather than a single big epic game, focusing on short stories, since much of my time in Oracle of Tao has instead been on gametesting huge maps, going over every since character or code to make sure there aren't any errors, etc.

Now I'd want an anthology type, rather than a single plot game. That said, yea, I could have an elaborate underground maze and expand the story.

Going by plots that are playable, let's cut this down...

• The Melty Stew (economy minigame, should at least have some potential)
• The Bloody Pet Shovel (cooking minigame and forage minigame)
• Arduous Climb (mountain climb sim. Shop at the town below, get gear, fight monsters and dodge boulders)
• Choice of Sir Robin (maze game, possibly also fight soldiers who notice the tunnel)
• Flesh-Eating Zombies of Love (zombie survival. loss also causes an ending)
• Attack of the Killer Snowmen (added in, about townspeople mistreating snowmen and getting attacked. Snowball fights!)
• The Beast Master (pet feeding sim)
• Crocodile's Tears (something like hungry hungry hippo)
• Volleyball Tournament of Death (sports minigames!)
• Parasite Kiss (make a dating sim)
• The Man Who Would Be Queen (strategy-based army movement)
• The Poison Bread (this would be mainly just character control, but I like it. Maybe you get to pick your poison)
• ??? (Final Chapter. Possibly something like the Reaper's book gets stolen, and you have to retrieve pages)

Oh good. I tried some 3d style platform concept (I wanted to duplicate the feel of oldschool NES platformers like Ninja Gaiden), but the story wasn't actually jiving up (the plot didn't mesh together, I had ninjas and grim reapers and the stories had no connect at all).

Maybe I will give these ideas a second look.

Can someone help me with spritesets? These are very custom, and I usually "borrow" spritesets from charas project. I made a hopping shovel (courtesy of zelda sprites), but I need:

A scary deformed bunny.
A sitting cross-legged old man (meditation pose).
A flying head (the zelda skeleton head will do, but I can't find it)
A female zombie. Maybe some extra zombies too.
A carriage vehicle sprite.
A volleyball.
A succubus (I could use one of the monsters, I suppose)
Crossdressed prince and princess, and their original forms.
Bread and chicken cutlet, with a few animations.
Snowmen.
A crying girl.
A crying crocodile.

And probably facesets for each.