Backstage Pass - Final Four

Only four more major characters left to introduce, so let’s get them out in one go. Wooo! They’re all industry related, so it makes sense.

Name: Dale
Age: 25
Occupation: Photographer
A photographer who’s grown disillusioned with the entertainment industry. He continues his work because he’s good at it and it pays the bills, but he finds actors, directors, and everyone else in the “biz” to be annoying and self-absorbed.

 

Name: Nicole
Age: 17
Occupation: Model
A carefree model with a natural beauty and a keen sense of fashion. She and Matthew were hired to do a shoot together, and she’s been interested in him ever since. Extremely territorial.

Name: Allison
Age: 21
Occupation: Actress(?)
An aspiring actress trying to break into television on her own. Energetic, outgoing, and vibrant, but not terribly good at acting. She makes friends easily, and she’s a hard worker, but it might be difficult for her to advance on nothing but enthusiasm.

Name: Madeline
Age: 43
Occupation: Manager, Mother, Pretty Much Everything Else
Former model, and original poster girl for her own line of cosmetics. Madeline had an extremely successful career, and now she expects her son Matthew to do the same. She’ll do whatever it takes to give her son a competitive edge.

Meet the Rest - Faculty

Even more profiles! Whoaaaa! Sian’s life isn’t just work and/or romance. She’s got school to worry about too, and college life is a lot more than just clicking the “study” button a few times a week on a stat chart. Here are the faculty members who help Sian through her first year of college.

Name: Professor Couvalt
Age: 53
Occupation: English Professor
A harsh teacher famously known for being unforgiving with his grading. Teaches several intro courses, so every incoming student has to make it through at least one of his classes. Also serves as Sian’s academic adviser.

Name: Professor Meridia
Age: 60
Occupation: Math Department Head
Freeform, relaxed, and encouraging. She spends most of her time with grad students, but teaches a single intro course so she can get an idea of who she might be working with in the future.

Name: Alvin
Age: 19
Occupation: Tutor, Teacher’s Aide
A professional tutor with a passion for computer science. The only time he’s not talking about programming is when he’s geeking out over his favorite TV series, Knight Errant.

Backstage Pass - Meet the Rest

 

Hey gang! It’s a double feature! Shockingly, there ARE other women in the world of Backstage Pass. Today you get two of them.

Name: Rachel Alexi
Age: 27
Occupation: Camera Operator
A confident, career-oriented woman with aspirations of becoming a professional script writer. Extroverted, quick-witted, and hard working. She’s spent enough time in the industry to make some connections, and she’s currently looking for an agent for her scripts. She has little tolerance for people who do nothing but wait for their “big break,” and she often encourages Sian to speak up for herself.

Name: Celina Harroway
Age: 31
Occupation: Actress
A former child star, Celina is slated to play the lead in Lloyd Newton’s upcoming TV series. She treats everyone respectfully, behaves professionally, and is an excellent actress, but she’s emotionally distant from everyone around her. The gossip rags speak of some wild teenage years, but no one knows if any of it is true.

Matthew Partridge Voice Sample

Just finished my first recording session with Matthew’s voice actor, so I figured it would only be fair to share a sample. Before you play it, remember that Matthew is generally shy and prone to panicking. He also has a cooler “work mode” that he uses to cope. I included some work mode samples at the end of the clip. Headphones suggested but not required.

Learn more about Backstage Pass at the official site.

Matthew Partridge Voice Sample by soymilk

Backstage Pass - Meet the Rest

Now that profiles for the four suitors are up, it's time to introduce our supporting cast! Hang on to your hats, kids, there're a lot.

Name: Lloyd Newton
Age: 35
Occupation: Director, Producer
Lloyd Newton is an award-winning director and a budding producer. He attended university in the UK where he and John shared a flat. The two grew very close, and agreed that one day they’d produce a show together. They’re currently pitching a new TV series that they hope will be a hit. He has a very loose style of directing, often asking actors to improv or try out new lines on the spot.

Backstage Pass

Edit: Learn more at the official Backstage Pass website.

I'm currently zapping the last of the bugs and typos in Yousei, so now seems like a good time to let you all know what's up next. If you read my New Year post, you probably already noticed this. But hey! We're working on another otome game. Backstage Pass is the first otome game in our Green Tea line, and it will deal with the ever so popular theme of showbiz. The four main guys are a musician/singer, an actor, a model, and a magician - all at different stages in their careers (and varying ages). And before anyone asks, the lead girl does not get approached by an agent who totally sees something special in her and wants her to be a model now.

The main character is Sian Goodin, a young makeup artist currently trying to balance work with her first year of college. She's smart, skilled, and generally a friendly person, but she has a mild case of agoraphobia, which makes being in crowds difficult for her. Not the ideal situation for a girl who works with celebrities, but she makes it work.

Gameplay will be similar to RE: Alistair++, although it will cover a year's worth of time instead of just a month. While there will be romantic endings with each of the four lead males, there are sixteen endings total including cultivating strong friendships with other characters, or working your way up the professional ladder.

Once Yousei is out, keep your eyes open for more updates, including character profiles and cool features we'll be adding. Until then, please look forward to it!

New Yousei Design

Another updated character design for Yousei. Yup. Chance is back, and she's going to be a major player again! Hopefully Kangai and the team can handle her.

First Look: Koda

Phew! Last week was a lot busier than I imagined it would be. I've only managed to write about a hundred words all week. orz But it seems about time for an update, so here's another character sketch from Every Sunrise! I know you've all been wanting to see him, so here's Koda! He's never been big on fashion, but don't hold it against him. XD

Wordcount Wednesday - Every Sunrise

Sprite preview shamelessly lifted from Deji's tumblr.

Hey! It's Wordcount Wednesday! On Wednesday! Let's see how long that lasts. XD I've been talking about it on and off, but I haven't officially announced this project yet. Well, here goes! Yes, Ripples is getting a sequel, and it's called "Every Sunrise." If you've been following our facebook page, you already saw the design sketches for Kuu there, but hey, here's a sprite preview! Woo! We've been planning this for a while, but we've just started actual work on it recently. This is sort of a side project right now (as Winter in Fairbrook and Cinders take precedence for me and Deji has other work, too), but at least we've begun!

Statistics:
The game contains 53 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 562 words,
for an average of 10.6 words per screen.
The game contains 0 menus.

P.S.

This game will be free.

Kansei Update

I suspect that if I ever chose to move Wordcount Wednesday to Thursday, we'd begin to celebrate Apology Friday instead. Anyway, here's a sneak peek of Detective Gurski from Kansei. This is a sketch by Deji of the updated design, and personally I rather like it. What do you guys think?

Also, Kansei is currently at 13,650 words, and the victim just died about a thousand words ago. This is most definitely going to be a longer game.

Wordcount Wednesday - Branching Out

This week, the wordcount is for Winter in Fairbrook, a visual novel not being made by sakevisual. It's a Winter Wolves project. I'm just the writer, but I really like this project, and I think a lot of you guys are looking forward to it as well. So yey! The current count is 11,759 words full of cute boys and flowers. Yey!

Sketch was filched from project artist, Deji-chan. As usual. >.>

Wordcount Wednesday - Oneiro

Oneiro update! Yay~ And some nice art of a new character. His name is Tamotsu, and he has long hair.

The game contains 2,752 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 27,749 words,
for an average of 10.1 words per screen.
The game contains 17 menus.

Wordcount Wednesday - hanami x 2

Yay, it's time for Wordcount Wednesday! Alliteration is FUN.

The game contains 591 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 5,524 words,
for an average of 9.3 words per screen.
The game contains 7 menus.

For those of you looking for something to measure that number against, that's about one fourth of the words in RE: A++. Also enjoy the pretty sketch of the heroine, Teisen, drawn by Misteen.

Kansei - We're Not Dead Yet!

"Everyone's going to think I'm dead if you don't update!"

Progress update ahoy! For those who have played Jisei (or even those of you who haven't), you probably know that it's the first chapter in a series. The question on everyone's lips is "When will the next chapter be out!?" The answer is "Not yet." But we ARE hard at work on it. We've gotten some wonderful feedback on the first chapter, and we're striving to incorporate your thoughts into the second chapter to make an even better game. A huge thanks to everyone for all the comments, constructive criticism, and amazing support. Here are a few tidbits about the second chapter for you to enjoy.

Tidbit #01: The name of the game will be "Kansei." (Spelled as 感性 for those of you who are curious.)

Tidbit #02: Kansei will be significantly longer than Jisei. A lot of people felt that Jisei was too short, so the next chapter will have a lot more meat to it. It will be longer on a single play through, and it will have more endings (that aren't terrible, bad, dying endings). Keep in mind that this also means it will take us significantly longer to complete. >.> But hey! More game!

Tidbit #03: We're getting the band back together! If you liked the art or the music in Jisei, then you'll be pleased to know that Kansei is bringing back the same artist and composer. Woooooo~!

More tidbits on the way, but that should hopefully whet your appetite.

Ruka Sketch

Oneiro is still alive. Writing is progressing pretty well, and I'm here with a character sketch to tease you. XD This is Ruka, the MANLIEST of men.

...

I lied. He's not the manliest of men. But he DOES know how to cook, which is a very manly pursuit. We're working on his sprite right now - I'll post a teaser screencap once it's complete.

Familiar Face

Woo, check it out! It's ??? sporting an attractive new shirt. The skull is gone, now replaced by a set of crosshairs aimed at his right lung. He seems to be a fan of the macabre. I can't really blame him, all things considered. Now, why would he be needing a new shirt? Probably because he has more cases to solve. Dun dun duuun.

New Work in Progress - Oneiro

Well, I've been hinting at this for a while, but I think it's time to finally announce the production of our next free game. Introducing Oneiro, the visual novel about one girl, four boys, and a remote island. Yes, it's another otome game. This one is more of a mystery/adventure game, though, with no stat raising and less focus on dating and more focus on solving the mystery. What mystery? Hm...I wonder.

The story follows a girl named Asami (on the right). She's a fresh high school graduate looking for answers. College is on the horizon, and she still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She decides to vacation on a remote island to get away from everything for a while and find herself. Unfortunately, what she finds is the curse of an ancient religion, and a hidden struggle for power. Since this is a free game, there's no estimated release date, but we'll do our very best to make sure you don't have to wait too long. XD

Oneiro is funded entirely by donations and revenue from Jisei. If you don't have any money (I totally understand), try your hand at the indieDB promo contest. Not only could you win $150 for yourself, but if we win, all the money will go to producing free games (like this one!).

The boys of RE: Alistair - Part 03

As the release date for RE: Alistair approaches, it's time to introduce the third and final fellow in the story. This is Derek. He's the school's vice president, the highest scorer on the basketball team, and a total flirt. You would be too with looks like that. He was the most difficult to write because he's such a flirt. It doesn't take much for him to offer to be your boyfriend, so he clearly is pretty relaxed about relationships. But that makes it harder for you to develop a REAL relationship with him instead of a shallow one. Difficult, indeed. Good luck.

The boys of RE: Alistair - Part 02

Next up on the list of boys! Shiro~ The nice guy. Because nice guys ROCK. He's your classmate, and generally just a nice guy to hang with. He's pretty shy, though, and he tends to keep his personal feelings to himself. It might be easy to get along with him, but you have a long way to go before you can get him to open up.

The boys of RE: Alistair - Part 01

It's been awhile since my last update. I've been working pretty hard this last week, but it's all been boring stuff like "I edited more stuff today," so it hardly seems worth mentioning. But I figured now would be a good time to spill a few more beans on RE: Alistair. It's moving along very smoothly, but I like being enigmatic about stuff. owo But hey, I'm not THAT mean. And since the hard and fast deadline is the end of February, it's not like I'll be making you wait that long after showing you all this nice stuff.

And with that, here's the first boy from RE: Alistair. I was going to save my favorite one for last, but I actually don't have a favorite this time around. I'm very fond of all of them. As you may have guessed from the first image, this fellow's name is Travis. He's the president of the computer games club and he doesn't like casual gamers. He considers them to be all very "low level." In terms of personality, he's wonderful and friendly with people he gets along with, but don't expect him to even bother to look at you twice if you're not a friend. He gets irritated easily, too. So don't irritate him. owo