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“I died once.”

Vacant Sky is an RPG released in three episodes following the death and rebirth of Auria Edith, a small-town girl whose violent and unexpected death turns her world upside down. After her equally unexpected resurrection, Auria finds herself drawn into the heart of a mystery involving a cult of masked cultists who will stop at nothing to make her their goddess.

Features:
-Branching story and characterization
-Significantly alter the course of the story with your choices - including six endings
-Original soundtrack composed by Tarranon, featuring vocal tracks by Melody Yoo and Melanie Ehrlich
-8 playable characters (along with up to 6 guests)
-Customize Auria's stats and growth
-Select your own progression of skills to learn
-Interact with your party members to strengthen your relationship with them
-Unlock guest art title screens through sidequests

The game is split up into three releases.

Original version
Act I - Shadow and Ashes: Released March 16, 2009
Act II - Halo Locks: Released January 5, 2010
Act III - Angel of Justice: Released October 18, 2010

Complete Edition
Act I+ - Death & Rebirth: Released August 31, 2012
Act II+ - Night Zero: Released December 18, 2012
Act III - Angel of Justice: Coming soon!
Act III' - Our Eternity: Coming soon!

Latest Blog

Character Design Case Study: Mia

In this article, I’m going to discuss my process for developing and fleshing out characters. The example I’ll be using is Mia from Act II. There will be some mild spoilers for Acts I and II, so if you haven’t had the chance to play the game yet and intend to, be warned.



Mia is a character who first appears after the player completes their first major quest in Act II of Vacant Sky. She’s an interesting example because she wasn’t originally part of the story as I first envisioned it. Instead, she was introduced to fulfill a specific need I had in telling the story of Act II.

No Longer Human

Act II of Vacant Sky introduces the concept of an Archon, which is a person who has had another person’s soul grafted to theirs with magic. The exact mechanics of how they function are rather complicated, and I wanted to avoid inundating the player with exposition which they would probably forget. However, understanding what it means to be an Archon is crucial to following the story, so I needed some way to convey it to the player in a way they would engage with and care about.

I puzzled over this for a while when starting to write Act II, and eventually decided to illustrate rather than explain what an Archon is and what it means to live as one. To do that, I began to flesh out a character who would serve as a living embodiment of the concept of Archons.

I started by writing out the key ideas I needed to convey:


-Archons are (sometimes) immortal
-Archons can (sometimes) tap into supernatural powers
-Archons are unnatural
-Archons are prone to fits of ultra-violent rage
-The more an Archon taps into the power of their alternate persona, the more their state of mind deteriorates
-Archons and humans can’t coexist

The angle I decided to take was to have Mia serve as a snapshot of what Auria might look like in the near future. She’s a little older, more experienced, and most importantly, confident. At a time when Auria feels isolated and is struggling to find her place in the world, she encounters Mia, who has undergone many of the same hardships and seems to have everything figured out.

When the player first meets Mia, she is alone on the city streets at night, unkempt-looking, and astonishingly strong (having just single-handedly dispatched a group of thugs who had been harassing her). One of the first things she says to Auria after making sure that she’s unhurt is that she intends to follow the fleeing thugs to finish them off. When Auria demands to know how she can suggest such a thing, Mia is perplexed; to her, it’s the obvious thing to do: if someone’s causing you trouble, you should kill them to ensure they never bother you again.

Mia’s callous but rational thinking demonstrates her lack of respect for human life, a stark contrast from Auria’s idealism. Auria is appalled and afraid, unaware that later in the story, she’ll be required to make a very similar judgment call.

It’s clear from the first interaction with Mia that she lives outside of human society: she makes a distinction between herself and “them” when speaking and shows flagrant disregard for human laws and morality (she steals to eat and doesn’t bat an eye at killing someone when it’s convenient). She suggests that since they’re immortal, they have nothing to fear from humans, and that laws don’t apply to them; on the contrary, laws exist to protect humans from them.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The introduction of Mia answers a key question on the player’s mind (what exactly is Auria?) but also suggests several more without directly asking them:

-How did Auria become an Archon? When did it happen?
-Why is Mia so convinced that Archons and humans are enemies?
-Does Auria’s mother know that she’s an Archon? Does she know something about what’s going on?

One of the best ways to manipulate the reader is to get them thinking about questions, because they’ll laser-focus in on those questions as they read/play in the hopes of finding answers. This is useful for two reasons: 1) it builds anticipation and 2) it allows you to manipulate expectations.

In this case, building anticipation was one of my key objectives, since the questions were all answered at the turning point of Act II, a major scene which I wanted to be one of the most shocking and memorable moments in the whole Contention saga. By teasing the player with a mixture of anticipation and dread, the mood was set for a grim revelation that would (hopefully) cause the player to feel the same shock and hopelessness as Auria.

The connection between Auria and Mia is key to Act II. Act II serves as a transition for Auria, putting her on track to become like Mia. So, one of the goals of Mia’s introduction was to suggest to the player what Auria would be like at the end of it, and to set the player up with the expectation that they would find out. This serves to indicate to the player what the conceit of the story is and helps to contextualize the events to follow.

Characterization Through Gameplay

One of the unique benefits of the game medium is the ability to convey subtext through a space that the player navigates. Act II of Vacant Sky introduces a day/night system where certain people and places are only available at certain times of day.

For most of the game, the nighttime segments are fairly useless: only one location can be accessed at night, no quests can be done at night, and all of the player’s party members are either at home or just outside. The streets are empty, too. There’s no one to talk to.

This changes in the intermission between major quests. Mia exclusively appears at night, establishing a dichotomy between herself and the rest of the cast. You can only find her when everyone else is gone, when you’re warned that it’s dangerous to go out alone. This serves to enhance Mia’s feeling of otherness, as she alone breaks the pattern that you’ve become accustomed to in playing the game.

As Mia is the only one who provides the player with direct answers about the mysteries of the story, the player is encouraged to be curious about her and anticipate each interaction with her. As it’s never explicitly stated when she’s around, this leads the player to go out into the night (in doing so, disobeying the advice of Auria’s friends - her anchors to human society) and seek her out. The player subconsciously directs Auria into becoming an entity who exists in the lonesome world of the night, just like the mysterious girl they’re pursuing.

The second time Auria meets Mia, she witnesses her Archon powers go out of control, nearly causing the death of one of her friends. This serves as a warning of what will happen if Auria begins relying on her Archon powers too much herself (foreshadowing the ill-fated finale of Act II). However, Auria’s Archon powers are extremely useful in combat and become even stronger as the game progresses. This encourages the player to act out Auria’s part: you’re warned that her powers are evil and dangerous, but they’re just so convenient and satisfying to use that you can’t help relying on them more and more.

In the last stretch of Act II, you finally get Mia in your party. Although it’s normally a rule of the game that everyone in your party is always the same level, an exception is made for Mia, who is always 3 levels higher than Auria. On top of that, her stat build will always be the perfect complement to Auria’s, making it so that the two of them form a brutally efficient team. Her role in battle reaffirms her role in the story as Auria’s closest ally and the one who’s most like her. With Mia at your side, you can take down anyone. You’re not afraid, even when you fight a group of five soldiers equipped with Counter. The easy triumph over enemies that had once been extremely difficult helps put the player in Auria’s head; for the first time, she feels safe and in control, able to do anything with Mia at her side.

One Last Subversion

The final segment with Mia comes with one more departure from the patterns that the game has established. It takes place at twilight, the first time it’s been anything other than day or night. The track that plays in this section is “Last Night of Summer,” which previously played during the nighttime segment of Act I, a reminder that you’re still partially within the domain of the night.

The twilight of East Naven serves to illustrate that Auria (an entity of the day) and Mia (an entity of the night) have come together in the middle. The events of the game have dragged Auria toward Mia’s darkness, but at the same time, interacting with Auria, her first true friend, has pulled Mia out of the lonely emptiness of the night toward the domain of the day.

The twilight is calming, safe, and a little melancholy. There are people around, but the muted colors and somber music suggest that this isn’t quite the upbeat, welcoming world that the day normally is. It’s here, in the twilight, that Auria and Mia reach their resolve about what to do with their lives.

(The events of Act II’s finale, of course, wipe away the twilight and replace it with a fourth rendition of East Naven, barren and hopeless. The twilight period is never seen again in Act III: There can be no middle of the road.)

This was a little long-winded, but I thought I’d give an insight into how I develop characters and how I try to convey their characterization through the player’s interactions with the game. Hopefully, you found it interesting.

Posts

Just wondering, will you ever combine all the acts into one continuous pack? I realize that some people don't have the greatest net speed which might draw away from that idea.
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
post=213136
Just wondering, will you ever combine all the acts into one continuous pack? I realize that some people don't have the greatest net speed which might draw away from that idea.

Yup, that's the "Complete Edition" I'm working on now, which will include the revamped Acts I and II. The Complete Edition will actually have a much smaller filesize then all three separately due to re-used assets only being included once.
Holy cow this game almost won all of the misaos!
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
This is a response to Jericho's post in the Misao topic. Please be aware before reading that spoilers will follow.

okay the thing is there is a very obvious benefit. and that is that this person puts people into comas that are irreversible without the help of a rare magical artifact. at this point in the game, to everyone's knowledge, we would be better off not saving this person. regardless of how you justify it afterwards, the fact remains that I, the player, am forced to make a choice between bestowing mercy on a clearly harmful individual and actually doing something important.


What is the obvious benefit for pursuing revenge that you know about at this point? The benefit to doing so isn't revealed until late in the game; in the beginning, you're led to think that it's nothing but a want for vengeance. The second part of what you say is true, though, even if the "something important" is only subjectively important.

I am not saying the game has a moral to it. I am saying that I, the player, am punished for not choosing the more 'moral' of the two options.


It might be more moral in comparison, but objectively speaking, neither choice is very "morally correct." What would the best option be, to try to persuade him to give up on her?

another big part of his character is "kill all the evil dudes." so much that he murders the main character's friend because some guy in sunglasses said she was a demon. i found this to be by and far the most distinct part of his personality and find it hard to believe that this guy, the guy who ran into a swirling hellfire of death to save someone who was basically a jerk to him from day 1 for no other reason than "saving friends is cool," no matter how much of a dumb virgin he is, would sell an angel into slavery. frankly i did not really find any hint in the game that i played that this guy had never had any girl show interest in him. auria, certainly, but then she is a horrible person so


His obsession with killing "evil" people is just a display to make himself look cool. He wants to be acknowledged by the others. Recall that the first time he did this (in Mortagne, Banivia) was just after he met Auria.

i was fully under the impression that if I did not fight him I would get a gameover. multiquotes make me feel unclean

Fair enough. It's not like it's more than a 5 minute diversion to get the bad ending, though. Would you have preferred if losing to him just said GAME OVER?
The benefit I spoke of was leaving the lying mana vampire in a coma.

I believe the "best option" considering what the characters knew at that point in time would be to leave her in a coma.

regardless of why he wants to kill all the bad dudes, I would still say that the most distinct part of his personality was killing bad dudes so I don't really buy that he would just go "yeah whatever you can have this angel beelzebub" I guess what I'm saying is that the character you wanted raymond (was that his name) to be and the character I found him to be were different.

yes that would have been a preferable ending to be honest.

oh and concerning kasch, I never really took that he was meant to be a slam on the concept of morality becauuuuse I pretty much thought he was insane. it seemed pretty obvious to me that he was a broken man who had everything taken from him and was trying to force the world to make sense by villainizing auria despite nothing he blamed her for really being her fault. like, maybe he thought he was showing how morality is subjective and blah blah blah, but I thought I was not supposed to really take anything he said seriously (because he was an asshole) that said, he was a fairly interesting character in this sense and I was disappointed I didn't see him again.

also the "canon" ending, where ejaro wants to revive the mana vampires, didn't make sense to me. the mana vampires are going to feed off all the normal people until the normies die, right? so then....then what happens. the mana vampires die again with nobody to feed off of. ejaro did you think this plan through
After playing through this game here's my short review....

"Winner of the 2010 Cliche Awards"

Nothing I haven't seen before or read in about..oh...a dozen fantasy novels to date. Your dialog was not expressive, did not evoke any emotional context for me, and quite frankly uttered failed to deliver anything noteworthy in terms of the story. However, if thcan improve on your writing skills maybe you might have something here.

As for graphics and sound..there are other games both on here and on other sites (RRR to name one of them) that choose their graphics and sound far more wisely than you obviously did. Your scenes simply did not give me that "I have to play this more to find out more" quality to them. I wasn't addicted to your storyline, and if you fail to see what I mean I would reference far more superior games like Legionwood: Tales of the Two Swords, and Chronicles of a Dark Lord: Episode I Tides of Fate. Those developers really nailed what it means to construct an addictive storyline. Those are also my two favorite RPG Maker games for many reasons, but above all is that they got me to laugh, to get angry, even get a little sad at times. Evoking emotion is what your game sadly lacks.

As for your gameplay...meh. Again you should really play through the games I mentioned above, they may have classic gameplay but they did it very well for the style of games they are. Your gameplay was just...boring. Even though the games I mentioned earlier utilize "classic" gameplay they do so with a definitive and unique edge to them..I don't see that for your game. Honestly, it's like your game is trying too hard to be what it's not.

Lastly, I fail to see the redeeming qualities that makes your game winner of anything. It is a 'decent' game yes, but not a GREAT game. Nor will it ever be a great game, unless you do something drastic with the writing and storyline.
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
author=Jericho
The benefit I spoke of was leaving the lying mana vampire in a coma.

I believe the "best option" considering what the characters knew at that point in time would be to leave her in a coma.
That would be objectively the best course of action, yes (which most of the group agrees on), but Ray doesn't care (which he flat out says when he tries to convince you to join him). He only cares about saving her because he likes her. If you speak to Matthew during this quest and ask about Ray, he and Auria discuss Ray's conflicting and hypocritical feelings.

regardless of why he wants to kill all the bad dudes, I would still say that the most distinct part of his personality was killing bad dudes so I don't really buy that he would just go "yeah whatever you can have this angel beelzebub" I guess what I'm saying is that the character you wanted raymond (was that his name) to be and the character I found him to be were different.
If you recall, Rayonne initially objects to turning over Noe for that very reason, but Auria of all people talks him down. In a nutshell, she reminds him that he's already decided that he's going to save Vel in spite of knowing that doing so is strictly immoral.

oh and concerning kasch, I never really took that he was meant to be a slam on the concept of morality becauuuuse I pretty much thought he was insane. it seemed pretty obvious to me that he was a broken man who had everything taken from him and was trying to force the world to make sense by villainizing auria despite nothing he blamed her for really being her fault. that said, he was a fairly interesting character in this sense and I was disappointed I didn't see him again.
No, your analysis is spot on. I was just pointing out that his rantings had an effect on Auria and her decision making throughout the rest of the story. He was originally supposed to come back (a few NPCs vaguely reference him in Act III) but I couldn't come up with a good way to do so without killing him off since he returns in later stories following this continuity.

also the "canon" ending, where ejaro wants to revive the mana vampires, didn't make sense to me. the mana vampires are going to feed off all the normal people until the normies die, right? so then....then what happens. the mana vampires die again with nobody to feed off of. ejaro did you think this plan through
As long as the population of the Viridians remains small, they won't wipe out the surface people (this is the reason why they were originally banished underground). However, there are logistical issues involved (namely that since they're immortal, their population can only increase over time). I'm going to be working the Viridian backstory in earlier and in more depth in the Complete Edition. The original version of the story was much longer, including several segments devoted toward fleshing them out before the arrival in Halo Locks, but a lot of it was lost with the story compression.

EDIT: Ninja'd by the newbie. Can you please cite specific examples to back up your points? Vague generalities like that don't really help me improve. I don't mind your expressing your opinion, but comments like "there's nothing you can do to make this better" are completely unnecessary in a site which is dedicated to game development and critique. You'll have to pardon my skepticism, since both of the games you cited as examples to live up to both have laughably poor writing and gameplay.

Also, welcome to RMN! I'm flattered that it was Vacant Sky which convinced you to register here and begin providing feedback. There is a wealth here of far better games that you could have cited--might I suggest Alter AILA Genesis or Hero's Realm?--which leads me to assume that you haven't played them yet. I recommend giving them a try.

EDIT 2: I'd especially like to know which musical tracks you feel were unfitting. I'm a little confused, again, as to why you cited two games with very generic and repetitive music as being superior. You're entitled to your opinion, but I would appreciate specific examples.
okay i change my mind the third option should be to go into the ocean with rayonne in platemail and then tell him there's a demon underwater. but anyway knowing that objectively the best thing to do is leave vel in a coma, I don't understand why this leads to auria going "aarrgh I'm a bad person who only cares about revenge!!" when really at that point in time it seems like leaving vel in a coma is a good thing. also you say the whole party sans rayonne agrees with it and matthew is like "yeah what a loser" but earlier you said

"The case could be made for Matthew and Laaik, who don't approve of Auria's objective on a moral basis; blowing off someone whose life is in danger is crossing the line for them when they already disagreed with Auria's intentions."

this is what I mean when I say that a lot of the time it feels to me like characters are not really acting in a way that would make sense for them.

i know he objects to it. but he still goes along with it. I just didn't buy it! and also it really didn't make sense for me to auria to push him into it since she hates vel and the only "angel/godsword/paladin with a different godsword in your party" thing. Like, I understand she's selfish and horrible but I didn't get the sense that anyone was acting coherently and was just wishing I was playing a game where blaise is a cop who plays by his own rules and gets his man no matter what the cost (make that game)


I guess ejaro could be like "don't do a sex on that girl. everyone is gay now." with his magicvoice



e: regarding musical tracks, the two offhand that I can think of that I found pretty weird were

1. the one that plays in kasch's hometown. I believe the same track plays when it is being abandoned and after raiders have attacked it? it's pretty cheery for the subject matter in both cases.

2. the town right above it. ciel, I think? iirc the track had this weird techno beat in it that didn't seem to fit very well. nevermind I totally remembered this wrong. I could have sworn there was a song like this though
also I keep forgetting to mention this but the sequence where rayonne goes to save auria *spoilers* was pretty beautiful to me and by far my favorite part of the three games
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
author=Jericho
okay i change my mind the third option should be to go into the ocean with rayonne in platemail and then tell him there's a demon underwater.
That's beautiful.

but anyway knowing that objectively the best thing to do is leave vel in a coma, I don't understand why this leads to auria going "aarrgh I'm a bad person who only cares about revenge!!" when really at that point in time it seems like leaving vel in a coma is a good thing.
You raise a good point there. I'll change around that scene to try to make it more coherent.

also you say the whole party sans rayonne agrees with it and matthew is like "yeah what a loser" but earlier you said

"The case could be made for Matthew and Laaik, who don't approve of Auria's objective on a moral basis; blowing off someone whose life is in danger is crossing the line for them when they already disagreed with Auria's intentions."

this is what I mean when I say that a lot of the time it feels to me like characters are not really acting in a way that would make sense for them.
That's a fair point, I suppose. Is that the only instance where you felt characters' actions were inconsistent? If there are others, I'd like to know.

i know he objects to it. but he still goes along with it. I just didn't buy it! and also it really didn't make sense for me to auria to push him into it since she hates vel and the only "angel/godsword/paladin with a different godsword in your party" thing.
All right. What would you suggest I change to make it more believable?

and was just wishing I was playing a game where blaise is a cop who plays by his own rules and gets his man no matter what the cost (make that game)
Someone get this man a medal

I guess ejaro could be like "don't do a sex on that girl. everyone is gay now." with his magicvoice
There should be a mode where you play as Ejaro and go on whacky hijinks like this.

1. the one that plays in kasch's hometown. I believe the same track plays when it is being abandoned and after raiders have attacked it? it's pretty cheery for the subject matter in both cases.
Yeah, Craze (I originally wrote Kasch wtf) pointed that out, too. I changed it and revised the atmosphere there in the new version.

2. could have sworn there was a song like this though
Do you remember which Act it was in or anything else about the song?

By the way, I really appreciate your taking the time and effort to discuss this. This is the kind of feedback I've been dying to get for ages. It's hard to make improvements when no one tells you what needs to be improved.

also I keep forgetting to mention this but the sequence where rayonne goes to save auria *spoilers* was pretty beautiful to me and by far my favorite part of the three games
Really? I'm kind of surprised; that scene was one that several people pointed out as disliking so I was thinking about changing it.
I recall feeling that people were acting in weird ways while playing, but I can't recall anything right now maybe because sleep deprivation. The whole arc with darxinger is definitely the most glaring example I can think of though.

I suppose there are two huge things that could make the darxinger thing more believable.

1. make it so the person you're enslaving is not of holy descent. i know that darxinger wants her because she's an angel and stuff, but I believe you could write in a different reason for her to want her. this would make it so auria is not really working against herself by selling her into slavery since there is evidence of god's divine work everywhere you turn. i could believe auria selling anyone else into slavery as she is a bitch

2. rayonne hangs on to vel like a remora throughout act 2 and three, but I never got the sense that he was willing to abandon his ideals for her. if it was foreshadowed that he was totally willing to say "fuck it" and do bad things for her sake earlier, I would then believe his actions more as long as, like I said above, the person being sold into slavery was not an angel. Maybe this was touched on in some of the optional dialogue, but not nearly enough. not saying it should be hamfisted, of course, but even one scene where rayonne maybe committed some kind of crime in a misguided attempt to appease vel would go a long way. honestly though, the whole thing does seem to clash with the scene where rayonne saves auria and I don't think there's any way to fix that barring changing that scene but I liked that scene a lot sooo


speaking of that part I don't know how anyone could not like it. I DID feel confused when it seemed like rayonne and auria were gonna hook up but then she becomes some kind of big sister figure. I liked talking to the apparitions of your party members and the music was great. It's not explained why the apparitions are there, but I like it better that way. It was just a joy to talk to those people as opposed to the optional dialogue in towns where everyone gives tons of exposition on the different elf factions and whatnot.

e: the terrible guy, ignoring everything else about your post, I wonder why you would say this game is cliched. rayonne is admittingly somewhat of a walking cliche as he is now but he's sort of the odd man out.
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
author=Jericho
1. make it so the person you're enslaving is not of holy descent. i know that darxinger wants her because she's an angel and stuff, but I believe you could write in a different reason for her to want her. this would make it so auria is not really working against herself by selling her into slavery since there is evidence of god's divine work everywhere you turn. i could believe auria selling anyone else into slavery as she is a bitch

Would it be cheating if Auria and Ray just didn't find out that she was an angel (and it never becomes explicitly stated)? For the sake of further planned stories, it's necessary that he ends up in possession of her, so I thought having you do it for him would be an interesting way to make you aware of the fact. If that seems cheap, I guess I can change it.

2. rayonne hangs on to vel like a remora throughout act 2 and three, but I never got the sense that he was willing to abandon his ideals for her. if it was foreshadowed that he was totally willing to say "fuck it" and do bad things for her sake earlier, I would then believe his actions more as long as, like I said above, the person being sold into slavery was not an angel. Maybe this was touched on in some of the optional dialogue, but not nearly enough. not saying it should be hamfisted, of course, but even one scene where rayonne maybe committed some kind of crime in a misguided attempt to appease vel would go a long way. honestly though, the whole thing does seem to clash with the scene where rayonne saves auria and I don't think there's any way to fix that barring changing that scene but I liked that scene a lot sooo

That's a good idea. I take it you don't think that his stonewalling Auria's attempts to investigate the truth in Act II don't count? By the way, have you played the Remission ending of Act III? This story route lays bare the contradiction in Ray's actions and motivations and forces him to confront them.

speaking of that part I don't know how anyone could not like it. I DID feel confused when it seemed like rayonne and auria were gonna hook up but then she becomes some kind of big sister figure. I liked talking to the apparitions of your party members and the music was great. It's not explained why the apparitions are there, but I like it better that way. It was just a joy to talk to those people as opposed to the optional dialogue in towns where everyone gives tons of exposition on the different elf factions and whatnot.

Auria distances herself from Ray in Act III because she's accepted the fact that she's preparing to die and she wants him and Vel to be happy; she would just get in the way of that.
yeah as long as auria and rayonne didn't realize she was an angel that would fix that particular aspect

I remember feeling like rayonne just didn't want auria prying into his personal business. which was fair, I thought, since auria is sort of a horrible judgemental person towards everyone. I feel like those scenes can definitely stay as is, but are not enough on their own.
Admittingly I only got the "canon" one of the good endings. After getting the main one, I didn't really have a desire to play the game again. I had read it involved rayonne, but didn't really care about his character enough to play again.

Yeah I got the sense that auria was stepping aside but it definitely seemed to me that rayonne and auria confirmed they had feelings for each other act the end of act 2 and to me there wasn't really a transition between "let's hook up" and "we cannot be together."
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
Admittingly I only got the "canon" one of the good endings. After getting the main one, I didn't really have a desire to play the game again. I had read it involved rayonne, but didn't really care about his character enough to play again.

Ah, fair enough. Basically, it involves fallout from the Darxinger arc and makes Rayonne confront his hypocrisy in the way he handled the situation. It also touches upon the awkward romantic tension between him and Auria.

Yeah I got the sense that auria was stepping aside but it definitely seemed to me that rayonne and auria confirmed they had feelings for each other act the end of act 2 and to me there wasn't really a transition between "let's hook up" and "we cannot be together."

Hm, all right. I can touch on that with party member (read: Matthew) dialogue in Act III's beginning.
How long would it take to finish all 3 acts?
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
author=Alec20
How long would it take to finish all 3 acts?

Unless you're a completionist, around 5 or 6 hours.
author=Sailerius
You'll have to pardon my skepticism, since both of the games you cited as examples to live up to both have laughably poor writing and gameplay..

I'm sory but being a fan of Legionwood I think referring to the games in that way is insulting to say the least. Have you even downloaded the game? Dark Gaia put a lot of time and effort into that game, and it IS superior to yours. I haven't tried that other game yet, but now that you just insulted that game too I think now I will. You're an elitist Sailerius, I thought maybe youd have some humility winning the Misaos but ragging on other people's games isn't going to earn you any points with pure players like me. I'm no developer or anything, I just play the games you guys make but you just lost a fan. Show some respect to other developers and maybe people will stop saying "what's Vacant Sky?"
Sailerius
did someone say angels
3214
author=SexySephy
author=Sailerius
You'll have to pardon my skepticism, since both of the games you cited as examples to live up to both have laughably poor writing and gameplay..
I'm sory but being a fan of Legionwood I think referring to the games in that way is insulting to say the least. Have you even downloaded the game? Dark Gaia put a lot of time and effort into that game, and it IS superior to yours. I haven't tried that other game yet, but now that you just insulted that game too I think now I will. You're an elitist Sailerius, I thought maybe youd have some humility winning the Misaos but ragging on other people's games isn't going to earn you any points with pure players like me. I'm no developer or anything, I just play the games you guys make but you just lost a fan. Show some respect to other developers and maybe people will stop saying "what's Vacant Sky?"
I never insulted you, nor am I actively going out and insulting any other game (which is a popular trend nowadays). I never would have said anything, but you pointed those games out as being clearly superior without ever citing specific examples as to what made them so good in your opinion. What makes it superior? Please compare and contrast specific examples. I want to know which mechanics, songs, and elements of Vacant Sky's story you feel are inferior. What makes me an elitist? I'm replying to comments posted on my game's profile and trying to discern what it is that you dislike about it but you only mention vague generalities that anyone could make without ever playing the game.

Out of curiosity, if you're not a developer, why did you register on RMN? Not that I mind; I'm flattered that you enjoy my games enough to read every single comment posted on its profile and then register just to reply to one of them. I always enjoy talking to fans and it's disheartening to see that I've lost one over a response to a "review" written by someone who hasn't even played the game. Since you used to be such a fan of the series, it must be pretty clear to you that many of the comments posted earlier in the "review" don't apply and that the reviewer's failure to mention a single aspect of the game she disliked specifically was a clear sign that they hadn't even played it.

Your friend,
Sai
hey now. nobody is saying "what is vacant sky." it's like spiderman. there are people who are saying "vacant sky savior of our gay internet wasteland" and then you have people like me who are j. jonah jameson. this is all detailed in my upcoming fanfic "how vacant sky made my wife miscarry" btw