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This page is for discussion of the artistic side of content creation, such as writing and characterization, as well as for the posting of incomplete content for the purpose of receiving feedback from each other.

Feel free to discuss characters and stories you are working on.
The old Custom Content thread can be found here. The first archived artistic discussion thread can be found here.

Posts

Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
author=Render
Also that Convenience Store touch-up looks good ^^
I did remember reading a comment on some Heartache 101 page from someone saying that their younger brother and/or sister couldn't play it due to the explicit images.

I vaguely recall that comment! Or something like it. Maybe it was the commenter him/herself getting a no-siree-Bob-and-Jim from his/her folks?

*Addendum to previous post: Like, a really-huge-mega-gargantuan morale boost.
author=Marrend
Is that a Heartache tachie on the magazine cover in the lower-left? That's... kinda both brilliant and hilarious simultaneously.

Yup, it's Stuidio.Voice Special edition featuring Kasa-sei. x3

Did a (just) bit of research about the real magazine, looks quirky at times but safe. I have back-up's to change the name if I have to, just in case. :p


Did some changes to the train, and the sick room. Here's the full lot, featuring rain and night versions.

author=Kevincalanor
Yup, it's Stuidio.Voice Special edition featuring Kasa-sei. x3


*admires the mastahpiece*~*
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Whoa. I totally did not recognize that as Kaza Sei.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Question: Does the content underneath the hide-tag sound like <player>? I not-so-worried about the first two parts, but the last one is really iffy to me.


STORY 37
# "Train of thought"
CONDITION = 36 DONE
PLACE = Train
ID = 25
SHOW CENTER
NEUTRAL
ID = 0
(This train. It reminds me how I met Emiko in the first place.)
...
(Man, a <b>lot</b> of stuff has happend since then.)
(I wonder if Emiko is still having those weird dreams? She hasn't mentioned them today. Maybe she's stopped having them? That would be pretty cool. They were really getting to her, I can tell.)
...
(I don't think Emiko sees me as anything more than a good friend, though. I may be able to impress her, as a gamer, but, as a man? That's something else entirely.)
(What kind of guy would she like, anyway? Do I just ask her? Would she tell me, if I asked? Would she give me a run-around?)
JUMP 38


Thanks to Mute for bouncing ideas with me earlier, and the tidbit of motivation to get back to Emiko.
Hmmm...the bit in question is somewhat reminiscent of how <player> thinks about Shihoko before he actually meets her. When I playtested last week, I only got the first 4-5 Emiko stories, so I never got to a point where there's anything romantic going on, but I guess it would depend on what led up to this event. I'll dig deeper, but at first glance I don't think it's particularly OOC for <player>.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
There are a few events before this that are not in the currently uploaded content, but, nothing romantic yet. "Yet" being the hopefully-operative term.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Hrm. I've an event that sees Emiko/<player> in a bad part of town. The plan is to place these two into a life or death situation. However, I seem to recall certain complaints made against an early release of then-called Konae's Detective Agency that give me pause in going through with this plan.

I just don't know. I know the commentary I got for KDA back then amounted to "This doesn't actually happen, there's no way it's believable," or something like it. It could just be a faulty memory, since there was a lot of negative commentary, and it all started to bleed together into "This game sucks, it's better off dying."

Er, either way, I may want to skim through Meada's content, and check out what's up with Genji. If there is any content that exists that does anything close to what I want to do, it's Genji's scenes in Meada Eriko's content.
author=Marrend
Hrm. I've an event that sees Emiko/<player> in a bad part of town. The plan is to place these two into a life or death situation. However, I seem to recall certain complaints made against an early release of then-called Konae's Detective Agency that give me pause in going through with this plan.

I just don't know. I know the commentary I got for KDA back then amounted to "This doesn't actually happen, there's no way it's believable,"

Yeah. There are slums in Japan, but they are peaceful, serene places with the occassional quiet drunk or polite beggar. Destructive, high profile crime in Japan is limited to sporadical incidents. It's just too much of a shame. And, Yakuza don't generally attack high schoolers for their lunch money:3

So go with the idea of hitmen. Emiko is a government official, she'll have enemies. Or they might jump at the chance to extort some ransom when they see the famous agent walking down the street, alternatively~ With her sole "body guard" who isn't legally allowed to drive yet... she might just look like an easy target.

Knowing her? Emphasis on 'look like'^^
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
author=Dozen
Emiko is a government official, she'll have enemies.

This tells me you haven't looked at Emiko's story since her re-release. I guess I should be glad to hear that somebody actually played yea olde version of Emiko (As opposed to being put-off by her tachie, and insta-deleting it. Or whatever.), but, still. It's pretty disheartening.

*Edit: Oh, who am I trying to kid? That comment killed whatever motivation I might have had.
I'm back, I've been very buzy being dead. ^^

First, sorry for not making to the idea bounce, I woke up near noon trying to figure out which dimension I were Saturday... :\

Oh, seems that you still having some motivation surges about Emiko's story, and trust me if anyone know about lack of motivation, it's me. :p

So... you're uneasy because it involve (directly or not) Fran? or maybe those personal issues you mentioned a few pages ago.
Because, about the supernatural touch, we all agreed in several occasions that wasn't nothing wrong using it, and the story is still looking solid enough to me ^^

To end, remember that a whole lot of people only visit the game page without posting, so even if we weren't interested, which is not the case, there would still have a nice amount of people that is going to play her route. This is the only reason I still want to fix the English mistakes and stuff on Eliza's route btw, everyone here already know her and therefore have no great reason to play it again. :p

Well, I hope I got it (and written) right, cheer up. ^^
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
author=Kevincalanor
So... you're uneasy because it involve (directly or not) Fran? or maybe those personal issues you mentioned a few pages ago.


It had nothing to do with Fran, or the base material of Oracle of Askigaga. I was just in this randomly depressed mood for a while, and was looking for something, anything, to help me out of it. For the moment, I'm okay-ish.

author=Kevincalanor
To end, remember that a whole lot of people only visit the game page without posting, so even if we weren't interested, which is not the case, there would still have a nice amount of people that is going to play her route.


Thanks for this, though. Mute was trying to tell me the same thing during the Bounce. I believe his exact words were "Everybody wants to see your routes because they know what you're capable of." I'm pretty sure there was mention of Uchioniko before that, but, yeah.

author=Kevincalanor
Because, about the supernatural touch, we all agreed in several occasions that wasn't nothing wrong using it, and the story is still looking solid enough to me ^^


My current thoughts are to remove Fran from the route. Her involvement isn't really doing a heck of a lot for this route, and seems an unnecessary step when the crisis that I'm thinking about now has the intent of actually awakening Emiko's latent powers (As opposed to kinda-telling players she has them, and gives no suggestions how they can be awakened.), with the added intent of the relationship with <player> growing from her learning how to use them.

It might take a bit of re-writing to remove the Fran-plan, and figuring out what kind of power-set Emiko would have (I have no clue what she can do, to be honest), but, I think that's the route (pun totally intended) I want to go.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Stream-of-consciousness post because why not it helps me immensely.


Obviously I want to place Emiko and <player> into some kind of situation where Emiko's latent abilities are awakened. What are the ideas on the table, and how probable are they?

They get attacked in an alley, and <player> gets shot in the process (from Marrend)
From the posts Dozen makes, this doesn't seem particularly likely, if not outright impossible.

End-thought: This is more or less stricken from the list.


Accidental car crashes, falling tree branches, and other such things.
(from Mute)
In regards to the car crash (or other traffic accident) idea?. I have no idea how well this works, given the game's backdrop. There was Shoko's background (which involves a car accident), and I vaguely recall a two-and-a-half blat from Dozen, but, I think that was more about how Shoko's story would actually function in actual Japanese culture rather than an upbraiding about how likely car incidents actually were.

In regards to falling tree branches, or like weather-related accident? I am vaguely aware that somebody was able to get it to rain with the use of SHOW PICTURE (or whatever the command is), so it's not like we don't have the graphical support for this. However, this situation just rubs me the wrong way for whatever reason.

End-thought: Traffic accident might be a thing. In fact, maybe, the "Train of Thought" sequence gets interrupted by this?


Go with the idea of hitmen. Emiko is a government official, she'll have enemies. (from Dozen)
I appreciate that somebody looked at the story for Emiko's old route, but, she's not a government agent anymore.

End-thought: More or less stricken from the list.


author=Marrend
End-thought: Traffic accident might be a thing. In fact, maybe, the "Train of Thought" sequence gets interrupted by this?

Hmm... interrupt the train of thought with a real train?^^
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I'm not exactly sure how to transition it (right now, I'm thinking of stopping the music, then going into a "blank screen" for a bit before JUMPing into the Sick Room posing as a hospital room), but that's the general plan.

*Edit: Uh, I guess do know how to transition it. It just seems to come off really sudden-like. Which makes a certain amount of sense, I guess, but, I dunno.
author=Marrend
I'm not exactly sure how to transition it (right now, I'm thinking of stopping the music, then going into a "blank screen" for a bit before JUMPing into the Sick Room posing as a hospital room), but that's the general plan.

*Edit: Uh, I guess do know how to transition it. It just seems to come off really sudden-like. Which makes a certain amount of sense, I guess, but, I dunno.

While you're at it, use sound files to increase the suddenness. Perhaps play the sound of a speeding train, and then bones breaking, or something along those lines, before JUMPing to the Sick Room.

Oh, use a more hospital-esque PICTURE for the scene you plan to JUMP into so it feels different from the school's Sick Room.
The car suddenly stop on a rail crossing, it could be a mechanical failure or simply a mistep with the clutch.
The gates close, and few seconds to panic (causing even more problems with simple driving processes, drop the keys or simply selecting a gear (come on it's a train xD).
Then the train horn gives they two seconds to think "Oh sh..." before the train hit the car's front
And things goes boom trough the air.

Unless Emiko have a barrier or something of the sort, the train needs to only hit the border of the vehicle, preferably the one without fuel, instead of the doors. Some trains are so heavy that they can simply smash through loaded truck like if it was made of sand. Especially ones filled with sand. :p

author=Mute
author=Marrend
I'm not exactly sure how to transition it (right now, I'm thinking of stopping the music, then going into a "blank screen" for a bit before JUMPing into the Sick Room posing as a hospital room), but that's the general plan.

*Edit: Uh, I guess do know how to transition it. It just seems to come off really sudden-like. Which makes a certain amount of sense, I guess, but, I dunno.
While you're at it, use sound files to increase the suddenness. Perhaps play the sound of a speeding train, and then bones breaking, or something along those lines, before JUMPing to the Sick Room.

Oh, use a more hospital-esque PICTURE for the scene you plan to JUMP into so it feels different from the school's Sick Room.

As our Importer/exporter, I'm required to say that I've got a load of car sounds (engine, clutch, hits...) if you ever need to x3
Also that pack of background I've sent ago (not the convert, before it) had the SOSC's sick room, which looks quite hospitalic. posted below for conviniece ^^


It's quite brighty here... You sure I'm not dead? "o.O
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I was looking through various RPG Maker RTP backgrounds, because they seemed more readily available, and I'm like that. I totally forgot about the SOSC's backgrounds. Thanks, Kev!

Though, I'm not too certain about the SFX at the moment. The exact circumstances of this train wreck (possibly intentional pun) are not terribly defined in my head. I know it involves at least two trains coming from perpendicular angles, and I had the thought that maybe one of the drivers was in some kind of state of non-thinking rote. In other words, he/she was just going through the motions without really actively thinking, and not paying much attention to anything, and, BAM. Or something. I dunno.

I do know that I looked up two cases of train accidents in Japan on Wikipedia, as a feeble research attempt. One was back in 1962 (which I didn't pay that much attention to), and the other one was in 2005. In both cases, the general response was to have more automation in the braking system. On one hand, I'm not even sure how viable this crisis even is, considering the comparison of Japan's page versus that of, say, the United States' page (Darigaaz, it had to have at least twice as many entries). On the other hand, I just want to take an alteration to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 mantra, and say to myself, "It's just a game. I should really just relax".
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Emiko-sama! Uuuuuup date!

Wait. She's not a magical girl! Still, I've got her in a good-enough stopping-point.

I came across an error when attempting to put in the PICTURE line Kevincalanor suggested, in regards to the hospital scene. What I was doing was starting an event in LOCATION = none, then BRANCHing into a LOCATION = Sick Room. I'm still doing this, but, I don't think I actually need to use a BRANCH if I go with a PICTURE. Beh. Next update.
I guess it's about time for me to come out of my cave and join the discussions again. >.>

Anyways, I have some pretty big news in regards to the custom content I'm making. To start off, I've added Fujiko to this pack, so it's not just Megumi anymore. Secondly, I'm making my custom content a differently with these two. See under the hide tag more about that.
In order to get into one specific route, you'll need to make decisions. These decisions will determine which route you'll be put into. How I'm doing this is kinda similar to how a VN dating sim is with ren'py.

Another distinct feature in my custom content is that only one route will play at a time. I really don't the player dating Megumi and Fujiko in their routes at the same time. And to prevent that with phone call dates in-game, the other character that the players route isn't on, will have their affection level locked at neutral with encounters off. To only have one route playing at a time, I'll be using conditions for that.


I'm not sure when I'll release the beta for these two, but it'll most likely be released when I have about 25% of the content done as a whole for it. These routes will also have more structure to them, and not have a lot of random, unneeded events on the basic route. As for Fujiko, I'll need to release her new tachie soon. She looks nothing like the original now, thankfully. ^^

Marrend, my two cents-- I'm thinking that you're doubting your writing abilities in many different aspects. I could probably be missing something though, 'cause I only read a few posts on this page. (I'm very tired right now, I can't focus reading a lot of these posts, and I'm not quite sure why I'm up so frackin' late) My point is, is that based on your past characters and games, (I played two of them due to Emiko's self-advertising :P) Emiko's route will definitely be interesting yet entertaining like all of your past works have. I'm not sugar coating at all either.

Anyways, hopefully that wasn't out of context. I probably should read the rest of the posts when I don't feel like Sleeping Personality/Beauty/Shrek. On an off-topic note, Kotonoha looks 10x cooler than Yuki from Kanokon did. Amirite? //proceeds to sleep