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Hey!

Currently, I am in the process of working on a lore game project for an upcoming vtuber project!

By January, I will eventually be debuting my vtuber and my project involves telling her lore through games as she is based off of arcade aesthetics. Her lore has slow burn horror elements and I have the main idea for a game plot.

My weak point is writing out the smaller details and I work best bouncing off ideas with others which is why I'm currently just looking for a writer/creative! Once we have more of a story board written out, I will be opening up the project in search of programmers, artists, etc to help get it going!

So far, my idea is as follows:

It starts off as an arcade tycoon style game that for the first 10 in-game  days focuses on building reputation and earning money through the means of buying game cabinets and attractions for your arcade! About 5 days into a 'mystery box' style purchase options appears in the game cabinets tab in the shop and once its purchased, it is delivered on the 10th day. After this cabinet called Coin Dash is delivered and set up, small 'glitches' and horror elements begin to appear throughout the game for the following few days (maybe 5?) until one night, the player gets a noticed that a cabinet is still running despite it being closing. When you go to inspect it, you are pulled in and the tycoon game switches to a survival horror game where the main goal is to survive and collect 10 coins. I want the game to include puzzles and ideally, I'm looking towards a pixel aesthetic though this is all up for change.

If you would be interested, please link an example of your writing or something you have worked on! This is my first time attempting to work on something of this scale so be prepared to learn along with me lol :,D 

You can reach me here or on discord : arcanecoinvt#5977 !

Hey guys, I'm creating this devlog to not only keep track of the progress I'm making but to share it with you all as well!

I'm currently planning on debuting a vtuber and I'm still in the very beginnings of the process. I've been wanting to come up with fun lore for my character and I thought a really creative way would be to create a short VN style game that can possibly be open to interpretation even after the ending. 

I'm aiming towards possibly just two endings: the canon one and another ending that detours off the lore canon route.

My ideal playtime is only about 2 hours.

Currently, this is the rough plot I have written out:

"Friend group on a mission to prove whether or not the local arcade is haunted or not on Halloween night and when they get there, they are spooked by a prank set up by one of the boy’s in the friend group. But, MC’s hiding spot is where they stay even after the friend’s leave, scared by the prank and not realizing it was a prank just yet. The arcade cabinet they are hiding behind flickers on for just a moment before shutting off again, a gold arcade coin dropping into the coin return. MC takes the coin and runs out. After that night, MC is plagued with nightmares that slowly seep into reality, put off as trauma from being genuinely scared from the prank. Monsters from their dreams have also slowly begun appearing when they are awake, trying to push it off as hallucinations. Until one night, a monster attacks the MC and the arcade coin not only connects him with the voice of a mysterious person and can channel into a weapon for the enemies. With the help of the mysterious voice to guide and this coin turned weapon, the MC must fight away the nightmares and enemies to rid them for good."

I also have some base characters that will probably be final in terms of amount because my idea for this game is small.

CHARACTERS:

MC: town local, pretty docile in nature, frightens easily, kind of like the group’s leader because despite being docile, they are always around to help the group and defend them as well as making sure they are okay. Lives with their aunt, parents both died in a local factory fire 

Marie: city girl who moved to the small town a year ago. She is opinionated, loud, and isn’t afraid to challenge alot of the locals expectations and the norms of the town. Parents moved her for work as a way to help industrialize the small town. Not many of the locals are quite happy with that. She seems strong willed and tough skinned but she really hates her parents for pulling her away from her old life. 

Valen: ex hs football player, he kinda dumb but really sweet tbh, basically himbo jock but you gotta love him, believes alot in the town’s legends, especially the haunted arcade. Parents recently got divorced and now the town kind of looks down on him and his family. Classic dad cheats, mom is now a single mother. Really just wants to hold luke’s hand 

Luke: one word, baby?? He is pretty smart and spends a lot of his time working at the bookstore that his family owns in town. He did get a full ride to a really big uni in the city but after his mother fell ill, he gave it up to attend local uni and help with things at home. Kind of resent his mother but beats himself up about those feelings because he knows she didn't just choose to be sick. Tends to be soft spoken but is always the level headed one and will say if an idea is really bad. 

Arcane: Helps MC make sense of the ‘hallucinations’ and nightmares they are having. Arcane promises that she can help them stop but it’ll take tracking down the glitch demon that has been terrorizing them and defeating it. Seems wise in an old timey way, she is only a voice and can’t really interact with anything in the human world.

The descriptions are written really casual as its how I write my notes in a way that is most memorable to me. These are also subject to change!

Since the lore and the abandoned arcade is the most important part, town/places won't have definite names and many of the characters will only be known by their first names but each of them will have underlying lore that could possibly be expanded on in the future.

GOAL: to get a rough, full script written out 

CURRENTLY: I have about 5% of the dialogue written out

hey! I’m so sorry it’s not working anymore! I ended up changing the url and totally forgot to update! This is my updated portfolio link https://hamcatmedia.myportfolio.com/

I haven’t been able to add a horror sample yet but horror romance sounds something that would definitely be up my creative alley! 

Thank you so much! I just accepted your friend request on discord! :)

Hello! I'm Anu and I've been creatively writing since around 2012. I am looking to gain more experience in writing for projects, especially dating sims/visual novel games.

Aside from writing for personal use, I have also taken and passed two creative writing based classes at my university as well as an advanced fiction workshop. I would like to learn how to write for many genres and styles but currently, I am more familiar with romance tones as well as dark/fantastical/soft horror-like tones and  some action styled writing. I am currently digitalizing more samples from my physical writing journal, but you can find my current digital portfolio here to see my work: https://hamcatmedia.myportfolio.com/

I believe I am decent at creating stories from scratch on my own, but I thrive when the work is more collaborative! I also do some of my best work when given a structure versus being left to do whatever I want. Preliminary summaries of a proposed plot or characters will help me more to build off of. Though, I am open to starting from scratch if that is what is needed!

You can contact me here by replying or through discord ( ayosugababy#2044 ). I hope to be able to work with a team soon!

Thank you so much for the suggestion!

I figured adding some game references would help others understand what I was trying to work towards! I don't mind learning and since I know Unity is popular, I would like to learn there! Most of the game ideas I have are actually for Visual Novels so I do have some experience with Ren'Py, though beginner! I didn't realize either that elements like that could be produced using Ren'Py, so I will definitely play that game and check it out! 

I will also try to look into the information you recommended. (credits, etc.) 

Your reply was very helpful to me and I appreciate it a lot!

I think for the most part, I will stick to being a writer, but I'm doing this to branch out and learn programming as well so I can have more of a skill set! My hope is to formulate an idea I have and this is a part of it!

bump

Hello, I'm here to ask the community their suggestions on what engine I should use to create this particular game template.

Right now, I'm working on a bigger game project but for the demo version, I wanted to set it up as a 'Lost Phone' voyeur styled template. I am a beginner when it comes to game developing and so I'm not really sure which would be the best for me utilize. 

It wouldn't necessarily be based around a lost phone, I guess another good example would be Mystic Messenger

Of course I understand, no game engine will be 'easy' and I am willing to learn. I just want to make sure I beginning learning with a engine that will be able to give me the outcome I'm looking for.

Lost/Usable phone game examples:
- Sara is Missing
- Mystic Messenger
- A Normal Lost Phone Story

Thank you a lot of what you said! That was what I thought in the beginning was to have a completed story in mind but I guess I made the hasty decision.  of. still searching. I'll go back to my game idea and bring it back here once I have it at  least 90% organized. Thank you a gain for the great feedback!

Hi!

Thank you so much for the advice. What you've said makes a lot of sense actually and ideally, I wouldn't want to be in a position where I lose my team members. I will take this idea back to the drawing bored and maybe try to solidify it before coming back again so I know what I really need from people, I felt bad initially because I'm not super experienced and all I really have is my motivation so I didn't want to ask too much of people. But, maybe I will try to build on my skill first so I can be more secure on that!

Hello, I'm Anu and I'm currently looking for some people walking home now  are interested in forming a visual novel dev team (though in the future I hope to branch off to different game genres). I am open to beginner devs, being a beginner myself. If you are more experienced and would still like to join, that would be great also!

My only prerequisite is that you have basic experience!

For starters, I am a beginner in terms of game development and only have familiarity with Ren'Py, a popular visual novel engine and the one that we will most likely be using. 

My strongest skills is story building and world builder/writer, editing, creative process. I do have some sort of an idea when it comes to writing code in Ren'Py but not confidently enough to actually be the main coder. 

Recently, I worked with a Jam group and I brought them a game concept that we then began building up together. Unfortunately, we didn't make the deadline and none of the other members had the time to contribute to the project outside of the jam time frame. I am looking to still bring that idea or a similar one to life. That project leaned more to the slice of life/romance category but I am also very interested in created horror/mystery/psychological thriller styled VNs with inspiration from DDLC.

I wanted to wait to have maybe a full game plot written up before putting a post up for members, but I figured it would also be nice to have some people to bounce ideas off of instead of attempting to complete a full outline/concept by myself.

Currently, I'm looking for:

- Another writer/editor
- At least two artists, one as the main artist for in game and the other for help with concept designs
- Main Coder/Programmer with Ren'Py experience or the ability to learn it

No game idea is really set just yet, but I would like to begin forming a team that hopefully will create many games together in the future.
I'm currently interested in making PC and Mobile VNs

If you're interested, please reply here or message me on Discord ( ayosugababy#2044 )

you can also email me at anubishotaru@gmail.com if that is easier!

DAY TWO:

This one is a little late because I was working all day, but as a small update, our coder has begun working on timed decisions that will be essential to MC, defaultly named Arin, winning the competition! Our idea is to created timed sections of the game that all determine whether you unlock the good ending with your love interest or not. So be prepared to take in all the information your mentor Frosty Senpai drills into you! It will be important throughout the game.

The corner tracker is for debugging purposes to make sure our affection tracker is working correctly!

Everything is for the sake of place holding and just demonstrating the mechanic!

credit: A0Morcar

Also, a rough wardrobe concept for our wild heart, Sylvia!:

credit: Ven (atompunked)

I think the best thing about having two artist on our team is that they are able to bounce ideas off of one another even! Our main sprite creator for the game will be Wudgeous! It is important that we clarify early in our team since every artist has their own distinct style and to keep the game art consistent, one main sprite artist will be necessary!

thank you so much! That makes us happy to hear and we hope to provide more ☺️

Character Concept Art

MC: gender neutral (choosable pronouns), working character chart but is highly determined, has a tendency to overthink their decisions and ability, high willingness to learn but can be countered when they're intimidated.

Acacius (a-ka-see-us): we like to call this man Frosty Senpai™️ He is love interest number one and MC's mentor. Having won this competition already and being deemed 'too skilled' to be fair, he has been barred from participating and may only be involved as a mentor. He's quiet and very passionate about his art. Frosty boy is pretty thorny on the the outside but knows how and when to joke around. He sees potential in MC's enthusiasm but has no patience for their indecisiveness nature. He is strong head comparatively and wants to bring out the best in MC even if its through some tough love

Sylvia: Strong female character who is highly competitive and a free spirit. She, like many, admire Acacius and at first is envious that MC was able to snag him as a mentor. But, being confident in her skill, she keeps her head up and plows through any task handed to her. She's intimidating, especially to MC, but is always full of laughs and witty banter. Her spare time includes practicing to win, making sure MC is in good standing so the playing field is even, and snowmobiling. She's love interest number 2.

ART CREDIT: MC original concept-Ven concept art- Wudgeous

The plot of the game is still a WIP but its basis is around an annual coffee festival that hosts a famous competition in which contestants are. judged on their execution of the perfect cup of coffee, latte art and all! The MC has been dreaming their whole life of winning this contest and comes to town to take a shot. With the mentorship of the town's most accredited barista, it seems that MC has the advantage,  until they're faced with a fierce rival. Despite this, MC has to learn that you can. only be the best you if you put in your all. Follow MC through their journey of self confidence, coffee beans, and romance. This game will be a visual novel with the hopes of timed mini games, choosable pronouns, and lots of witty banter. The goal is two love interest routes.

We plan on updating the devlog at least once a day! 

Team:

- wudgeous 
- ven (atompunked)
-A0Morcar
- Jupiterpower

1. Hello! I'm Anu and honestly I'm not the best at introducing myself :'D  I'm a college student and when I'm not dying in a class, I'm either doing art or dancing.

2. I didn't participate in last year's jam. Honestly, I never even knew game jams existed until I stumbled across it on an otome game blog I follow! I wish I had known about these sooner but there's always a time and place to start and I guess this is mine! I joined because I've always wanted to create a game, even something small, but I never had the motivation. I also tend to stop once things get hard so I hope this pushes me past that block! I was always unmotivated because I always thought there was no way I could create a game in general or alone,, but I hope this opportunity proves to me that I can as long as I put in the effort. I've played many RPGs, Rhythm, and Visual Novels so those are what I'm most interested in!

3. The idea of favorite game is hard but my most recent games that I've played/or play very frequent are Osu!, Final Fantasy, any Shall We Date! game, and Jubeat.

4. I wouldn't say I really have game developing experience but I have played around with Ren'Py. That's where I first learned how to write in code language and so even if I've never finished a project on there, I feel my most comfortable using that engine!

5. Hmm, hard but I guess I'm most passionate in story writing, dancing, and art! I'm still improving in all of my passions and it has been a fun journey! Recently, I started an art account/enamel pin design account and that has helped motivate me in learning.

6.  My goal for this game jam is to finish a project, even if its tiny. I am okay with it being more of a demo, but I want to work through and not give up at the beginning. I also hope to meet new people and use others as inspiration!