Tag: otome game

Steampunk, Otomes and Dreaming Stars

Steampunk, Otomes and Dreaming Stars

"Get behind me. The games, they are flooding in!!"
“Get behind me. The games, they are flooding in!!”

Some great news came up on the visual novel front at AX14, with some nice big story-focused titles announced to come out from the different VN companies here in the west. I’m excited about quite a few of them, more than I have been for VN releases in a while. I’ll touch briefly on some of them here, and will likely return to take a closer look at all of them as time goes by.

To start with, there is the big player, MangaGamer. With two of their titles, MangaGamer confirmed their expansion into Otome and BL territory with the games OzMafia!! and No, Thank you!!! (what is with all those exclamation marks!?!?)

More than that, they also gave a bit of news on their long awaited Steam release of Higurashi. In an earlier post I mentioned the concern for how Higurashi would be received by non-fans on Steam due to its very basic graphics, something that is now being resolved in an interesting way: The Steam release will get its own graphical makeover, with new character art by artist Kurosaki. A teaser of the new art was shown on MangaGamers blog:

Higurashi_002-450x337As the matter of rights would likely get in the way of using the Playstation version of the art, this is an interesting solution I had not seen coming. Along with how some of the translations of 07th Expansion’s works have been handled, this shows some really nice and close cooperation between the two parties in bringing these titles overseas. I look forward to seeing if this makeover only goes as far as character sprites, or if we get new backgrounds or even event CGs as well. Maybe the latter is too much to hope for?

The last big thing from MangaGamer was their new partnership with Liar-Soft, a company that I have been interested in for quite a while though I have not managed to try any of their games yet. The title MangaGamer is bringing from them first is Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning, a steampunk visual novel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcrI1B_gesA

I’m really excited for this one – Liar-Soft appears to make interesting stories, and the art is very beautiful. (This opening doesn’t beat the one for Shikkoku no Sharnoth though, still one my favourite videos and songs.)

According to this tweet from Moogy, the game also seems to consist in very large part of a female PoV. I wonder how it all comes together, and it is definitely something that intrigues me. Different viewpoints like this in visual novels can be interesting.

Sekai Project is also proving a force to be reckoned with. After their work with World End Economica, and the promising Fault coming up, they have now announced releasing the first of the Grisaia games in english. This is a game that has had an english fan translation for a while, and even before then I remember often hearing this title come up when people were asked to mention great VN titles. So far it seems like another title I will be looking very much forward to, and I’m pleased to see such solid and big VNs being released commercially in english.

grisaia

And last but not least! Sekai Project have also come together with VisualArts, securing a release of Planetarian for Steam.

For many people who got into visual novels around the same time as me, Planetarian holds a dear place in their hearts. It is a choiceless novel, or ‘Kinetic Novel’, with only two characters – only one of them actually shown on screen. It is a great example of what stories can be told in the medium, without taking hours to slog through like some of the titles mentioned above, and I will be sure to pick it up again when it comes out. Especially since I believe the digital download I once bought is now defunct. Or at least it was, for quite a while.

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I hear Planetarian has been out on iOS for quite a while before this, but Steam should be a good platform for raising much more awareness of the title. As well as one other important factor: this means VisualArts/Key could finally be inclined to release more titles here in the west. I really hope this will help convince them that bringing over more games is a viable option.

From all this I definitely think Gahkthun, Grisaia and Planetarian were the most exciting announcements for me. OzMafia and No, Thank you! are also very interesting, if only for the fact that they mean that the western companies are finally giving those genres some more attention. I don’t know much about the two titles personally, but will be keeping an eye out for them now after these news. Of the two I am most likely only going to be interested in OzMafia, a game that will hopefully prove to be a good representative of the genre, and convince them to go further with games for the female market.

Blue Rose best Romance of 2013!

Blue Rose best Romance of 2013!

Blue Rose best Romance 2013

VN’s Now! announced their winners for the 2013 Best Of’s, and Blue Rose got the spot for Best Romance!

A big thank you to the site that has also given the game and White Cat a nice bit of attention with their review and interviews!

And of course a congratulations to the other winners on the site, especially Muesli and Dischan for winning “English Visual Novel of the Year” and “Studio/EVN Circle of the Year”!

Here’s to hoping we can all keep it up in the new year!

Blue Rose Characters – Aran

Blue Rose Characters – Aran

And finally the last introduction – the elusive Aran:

aran2

 Aran… what can really be said about him?

aran
“Don’t call me lizard, please.”

Aran is always there in the distance, watching. He’s quite an expressionless character, unless you meet him under the right… circumstances.

In the novel his route will not be available until you clear at least one other path first.

Yeah, that’s him.

Blue Rose Characters – Tobias

Blue Rose Characters – Tobias

(Now that Blue Rose has been released, let’s get the last two characters introduced!)

It’s time for Tobias’ introduction:

tobias2

Tobias is a young hunter who lives alone in the forest. He finds and saves Lena, but in the end they don’t get along very well.

tobias

Don’t underestimate rabbits!!”

Tobias prefers to be alone and generally dislikes soldiers and everything else connected to the war going on in the world outside. As a result he finds it difficult to accept the presence of someone like Lena.

He is also the only chase-able male without some sort of amazing combat skillz.

Blue Rose full release!

Blue Rose full release!

Website banner

The final version of Blue Rose has been released! A demo is now also available, for trying out the novel.

Get it now to experience the story of Lena Ehrenfeldt, the Templar who goes M.I.A in the mountains during a mission to escort an important ambassador. Help solve the mysteries of what happens in the lonely village hidden there, throughout 5 different character routes with each a good or a bad outcome.

The full version of the game also includes extra short stories that are unlocked after playing through the game’s different routes, as well as image and music galleries.

All who bought the beta version will recieve an email with instructions to download the newest version.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzt8LU4oy8c&w=420&h=315]

Getting closer…

Getting closer…

The final version of Blue Rose is coming up, and here are some of the things that will differ from the beta:

– Several instances of typo and grammar mistakes found by testers fixed.

– A flag that didn’t activate properly when aided by Aran in the mountain mission will now do it’s job properly.

– CG and music gallery, as well as a collection of unlockable short stories.

– Finished menus and UI.

– Intro movie.

The final release has not been finished as fast as hoped (as usual), but this gives you all a little longer to get it at a reduced price as well.

Blue Rose status and thanks!

Blue Rose status and thanks!

It’s obvious that I’m not the best at keeping people updated through this blog! But here is a post to assure everyone that Blue Rose is still on track.

I’ve received some really good feedback from those who got the beta so far, thank you very much! The current game is being updated with the bugs and typos you have found, as well as other hiccups here and there. Along with that the last few features are being added. The final release should happen in April.

For those in doubt, the final release will of course be available for free for those who bought the beta. There are also still two characters in the game that have not yet been introduced on this blog – they will make an appearance soon.

Blue Rose Beta

Blue Rose Beta

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Blue Rose beta has been released into the wild!

– What exactly is the beta version?

The beta version of Blue Rose is effectively the entire, full game of Blue Rose. It contains the full story, artwork and music that is expected to be in the final version, along with the unlockable short stories for those who complete the five routes in the game, though they won’t be accessible until the first update. It will be available at a cheaper price than the final release.

– What is NOT in the beta?

Some of the polish is missing, as well as proper testing by a larger crowd. Not all menus are fully costumized, so users of Ren’Py will recognise some standard configurations here and there. Some things, like the Gallery, will not be available right away either.

– So why release now?

Because I want all of you to get the chance to get in early, and help test it out! Does it work on your computer? Do you have suggestions or corrections to the text? Then throw all of your comments my way! Even the slightest comments that might seem insignificant are welcome.Post them to me here on the blog, or send me a mail: ltb@the-white-cat.com !

Blue Rose Characters – Erin

Blue Rose Characters – Erin

Up next is Erin:

 

Erin is the lone girl with her own route in Blue Rose. She runs a small inn in the village together with her sister Mary.

Erin is a positive, welcoming character, who takes an interest in Lena right away. Her dream is to turn their small inn into a great restaurant – something quite unlikely in the tiny little mountain village where they live.

Easily impressed by Lena’s knightly background, Erin is a bit of a dreamer. She loves cooking and socialising with others, but stays somewhat isolated in spite of this.

We’re not related! Honest!

We’re not related! Honest!

So today I was doing some work on the visual side of the map in Blue Rose, resulting in this test screen:

Click for larger image

That’s when I realised, while looking at all the character icons together on that map, that three of the four male characters have almost the same hair colour. Well actually Aran has several colours in his hair (the guy in the top left), but you can’t really see it on his icon, and most of it is silver anyway. Then there is Gavin who is white-haired, and Simon with a very light blue.

Only poor Tobias breaks the combo with BLACK hair. (And Erin, but being a girl and all already makes her a bit unique in this bunch.)

Huh. I seriously never thought about this before, even after working on this game for so long now.

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