Post by Aedian Glair in Game Discussion

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Hi Mandarrin!

Long reviews are the best, and we mean it. Nothing is as motivating for us as discovering what people think about the story, the issues discussed in it, and the characters. We read your comment a few times, it really thrilled and touched us.

As we mentioned in a few other comments, the interesting part of omegaverse for us is how relatable it can be. Secondary genders might not exist in the world we know, but the mindset that “people do X because it’s their nature, that’s how it has to be” certainly does. We’ve always strongly believed in the power of the human mind, that no matter who we are, male, female, alpha, omega, the choices we make are ours. And just like you said - our bodies might have their limitations, but they do not define us. As omega is not defined by his heat, just like an alpha is not defined by his reactions to omega pheromones. They all have a choice of how to act in times of adversity.

Thank you for appreciating every single detail of this story. There’s three people working on Mannequin Academy - Aedian draws the characters and does the majority of the story writing and story building, Nodus draws the backgrounds and does the RenPy scripting, Glair helps with story building and does the RenPy scripting as well. We didn’t have much experience in any of the above before starting Mannequin Academy, which is why, for example, the drawings might look different depending on the art - they’ve been redrawn and corrected SO many times for the past two years! Same goes with the writing itself, I don’t think any of us wrote more than 50k words in their lives before starting to work on this project. It’s all very new to us.

We absolutely love your interpretation of each character, and we can only hope that whatever their stories unveil will be satisfying to discover. We can promise that all of your questions will be answered, and that we will learn a lot about each character once the routes start.

Concerning the time frame - that’ll be somewhat of a spoiler, so I think we’ll keep it a secret for now!:)

Please feel free to share your thoughts any time, we sincerely love every second of reading it. Have a wonderful day and thank you once again for taking your time to leave such a rich, detailed, wonderful comment. I think we might print it and hang it somewhere to look at! ;)

PS: About the soundtrack: the majority of our tracks are original compositions by ashesborn (known from Starfighter: Eclipse game) ordered by us exclusively for this project. The rest is composed by very talented David Fesliyan, there're some classical pieces thrown here and there as well. We'll be sure to release all the tracks by ashesborn soon!

Mandarrin4 years ago

Thank you very much for the response! I am pleased to hear you did not mind reading through my mountain of thoughts. There was simply so much to put into words. I am, however, glad you found motivation in them. It can be a bit of an uplifting feeling a creator can experience from a reader, or a fan, or what have you. I'm honoured you'd want to hang it up on a wall as well!

The interpretation of the worldspace is very interesting, the way you've defined it as human mind over physical limitation. It truly is a fresh take on the omegaverse subject to depict it as you've done. Most of the media I've seen personally focus strongly on the Omega defined by their heat, the Alpha by their aggressive reactions or instincts, to use your own example. The Omega is depicted as this basic creature whose purpose is succumbing to their body, without much choice on the matter. The same goes for the Alpha, too. But in this take on the genre, there is that emphasis of choice, of fighting against what has been defined of the individual. It is a heartfelt issue, and as you mentioned, relatable.

It's my pleasure to appreciate every little detail, as so much work is put into things like these. It's a story being brought to art form, an interactive novel, and takes time to code and create. I've tried my hand at creating visual novels before myself, but it's daunting, so right there you have my admiration; especially when working with a small group. It's fascinating to hear how you have broken down who works on which parts of the game, and even while you are all new to the process as you mentioned, I'm still blown away. The art, the coding, the story building - it's all wonderful. You all are doing such a great job with all these different aspects. Even if there's been redrawing, rephrasing, and rewriting, it is all part of the process as well!

I am thrilled to hear about the soundtrack as well. Ashesborn sounded familiar to me, but I hadn't realized they had worked on Starfighter: Eclipse. Their compositions were lovely in that game, and they still are now with this one. It would be quite the treat to have a chance to be able to listen to them whenever/if ever there is the opportunity. My compliments go to them and David Fesliyan. Their music creates a whole other layer of emotional depth to the project!

As for the characters, I can't wait to see what unfolds. They are all very unique, and add such different presences to the story. I honestly have no idea where I would want to start when routes become available, but all of them draw me in, in their own way. I'm torn between them. To discover more about these characters will no doubt be satisfying!

No worries about the spoiler as well. I'm looking forward to how it will come together. But much as I am eager to see the continuation of this story, do take your time! You all have already done so much to bring what progress is available. The best we can do is be patient :)

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