Violet Hill: A Community VN Project - Development

[Kimanor 10]

It seems Helv got here before I could...

 

So as mentioned, I am the video editor guy who works overtime on videos! I have actually done some work already on the OP for Violet Hill, as well as Rin's intro, although neither are complete. However, just because you are reading this... I will give you a special offer, and let you see what Rin's Intro looks like right now!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWzlZWS9txU

(the music and video are subject to change greatly)

 

Our new demo should also be released soon! (I think) all we need is artwork! so if anyone could become a background artist for us, I would love you forever, and allow -just you- to call me Batman!

[hyromaru 29]

^i won´t call you batman >.

[DarkSin 10]

And there you have it. That's our tsundere batman

 

We quite like Choco's photographs and Helv's filters on them, they go well with the theme of the visual novel, so a potential BG artist would have to be preeetty good xD

[desi 53]

Have you tried using Lemma Soft using all your updated concepts to try to recruit a person there?

[DarkSin 10]

Yes, we are planning on posting our project on Lemmasoft, but after the v.3 demo is released. We want to give them something solid, something that is actually playable, so that they may have a better idea of the visual novel. A somewhat incomplete post wouldn't generate as much interest, or leave as good an impression, is what I think. Lemma does tend to be pretty harsh xD

[Kimanor 10]

August update!

 

So here it is everyone, our current progress, what is planned, and some news about the demo! All this and more in a quick little video I created for you guys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V88U0yR_oAA

 

I hope everyone has a nice day!

 

(P.S. I posted the wrong video )

Edited August 25, 2014 by Kimanor

[Helvetica Standard 17]

Just a quick reminder.. please DON'T CALL ME ONII-CHAN. Anything but that, ok? XD

[Helvetica Standard 17]

http://i.imgur.com/4RJbYQ4.png

[Alfadios 11]

Nice^^

[Vokoca_ 10]

Hi guys!

 

I haven't really introduced myself here properly yet, so here goes.

 

I'm Vokoca, and I've joined the project back in February. I do a little bit of composing as a hobby, so when I saw that a project as interesting as this still had this position open, I thought it'd be interesting to try making some music for a visual novel. Helv for some reason really liked it, so here I am now. Luckily we also got the awesome Palas on our team, so the OST should have some nice variety.

 

But enough rambling about myself, lets get to something that actually matters. What can you expect from Violet Hill's music? Rather than trying to clumsily describe it with words, here, have a listen for yourself - the new main menu theme included in the demo 3.0.

 

On the topic of the demo, I have some more updates. We're aiming to release the demo this October, but because of some timing issues, we will have to leave some stuff out for now. It's nothing major, but from the music side, some of the place-holder tracks are still present - though you will be able to enjoy most of the new OST already. Of course, all of the public domain tracks will be completely gone by the time of the full release.

 

Anyway, that's all from me for now, look forward to the demo coming later this month~!

[lucifer193 12]

Love the music...

Feels like so many emotions were poured into that main menu theme.

As always, you guys intrigued me.

Can't wait to play the demo.

[Palas 10]

Greetings. Shall I introduce myself? I'm Palas, another musician in the team. I joined the team not too long ago, but I can say I'm really enthusiastic. Both I and Vokoca are working to give you guys a killer OST for Violet Hill. Vok has posted, but I so want to tease you guys a bit further - here is another piece from the OST, Wanderlust. It is the younger sister of another song in the OST, but you'll have to find out as soon as you play the demo. See if you can guess which one

 

Speaking of the demo, it's coming within the next few days. We're making our final adjustments! Out beta testers and quality checkers are working hard right now to make sure you get only th best. Stay hyped~!

[hyromaru 29]

Killer soundtrack eh?

 

http://i.imgur.com/r5Nx2rw.png

[Helvetica Standard 17]

Killer soundtrack eh?

 

http://i.imgur.com/r5Nx2rw.png

 

Because we all know Hyro is a renowned music critic.

Have you guys read his review of "Twinkle, twinkle little star"?

[DarkSin 10]

ATTENTION EROGEGAMES MEMBERS!

 

The demo is complete! You can expect it to be posted very soon. A link to our VH forum will be provided as well. Our team has worked very hard over the past some months to bring about this release. This is a huge overhaul from the v2 demo, the project has taken on an entirely new direction. Due to time restraints a few assets will not make their way into the demo at this point. It shouldn't affect your experience that much, though. Some tracks will be repalced with originals, the OP video will make it's way in, and a CG or 2 will be added etc.

 

We are very excited about the v3 demo, we hope you are too! Our team is satisfied with the way everything looks (after extensive beta-testing and quality/style-checking), and we would love to have some feedback from you! After playing, make sure to let us know your thoughts. That's all from me at this point

[desi 53]

Satsuki in demo or riot.

[Helvetica Standard 17]

Demo released! DOWNLOAD BELOW!

 

http://i.imgur.com/Y7Xisxt.png

 

Don't forget to visit our website for news, questions and content!

 

http://i.imgur.com/H9ijWgh.jpg

[moranara 25]

 

Yay.

 

Great from what I read, the writing is also good. Rin might be my favorite character so far; Her and Aoki's conversations are probably some of my favorite parts of the Demo. The abrupt ending left me wanting more. Can't wait for the full game (or maybe the next Demo).

Edited October 30, 2014 by moranara

[ChexGuy 13]

couple of typos and/or questionable word choice here and there ;o

 

I like it overall so far, though. Really dig the music, too. Awesome stuff, Palas/Vokoca.

 

EDIT: "mock her further" choice has Rin knowing your name without an introduction O:

 

oversight or foreshadowing?!

Edited October 30, 2014 by ChexGuy

[Helvetica Standard 17]

"mock her further" choice has Rin knowing your name without an introduction O:

 

oversight or foreshadowing?!

 

oversight. We totally missed that bit. XD

[riddle 11]

Aww yiss, gonna try it out after work

 

 

Ok ! done, had fun with it, music is great, the art is good, and the only problem i think is :

http://s4.postimg.org/fevjf406h/Moar_bear.jpg

Edited October 30, 2014 by riddle

[Pj900 10]

Just finished the demo and I really enjoyed it. I like the new art style and the BGM, cant wait for the final product.

[killerinsidee 14]

Mah feedback and some suggestions or whatnot. No trolling, I promise...well maybe a little bit. Also a lot of my personal nitpicking. (Keep in mind that this is just my opinion bla bla fuck you stuff)

1. Put the "company intro clip" and the "this is fiction, ..." stuff to the game launch, not when you press -Start-.

2. I didn't like the textbox "size change" when there are 3 or 4 lines in the box, it was a bit distracting. I would prefer it to be stationary...like in just about every other VN. Also, why not have square brackets on the spoken text?

3. There is a bit too much flowery language usage in the intro section (cave noise scene + rain scene), also a fairly large info dump from the start of the game. It was too much in my opinion. Trim that shit down a LOT.

4. The transition from that "eruption blue light scene" to the rain scene was way too sudden. I would prefer a something slower or some other effect. Also, stringing 3 different sfx tracks in a row didn't feel right to me. My suggestion: Since you can't change the starting sfx, due to the text (I woud prefer no sound for the first 10 or so lines), why not have some nice buildup to the rain scene. Like, double that "cave water dropping track" or intensify it in some way and keep doing it until that until that "blizzard CG". After that figure out if you want some "oh i passed out, now i'm in the rain memory thing" slow transition or the "oh crap I almost got a heart attack when that blizzard hit me" shock transition. Also, you have the ability of "place text in the center of the screen", why not use it in the intro section, especially in the transitions?

My ideas may suck badly, but I think the current way of dealing with that scene doesn't make you feel anything, pretty boring and lifeless. The intro really matters, like desi said earlier in the SB, people may be turned off by too much stuff in the start. You may want to get them interested first (by some nice easygoing intro sequence) and then dump more details as you go.

5. [You're making it out to be pretty innocuous 」and similar crap. Just no. No one talks like this to a friend guy over a phone. Away with it! Also, that phone conversation is like 80 lines long, trim!

 

Anyways, that's where I stopped. Too lazy to read more. Best of luck, this just might be one of the best OELVNs evah. (you know I don't really mean that har har)

Edited October 31, 2014 by killerinsidee

[Helvetica Standard 17]

Aww yiss, gonna try it out after work

 

 

Ok ! done, had fun with it, music is great, the art is good, and the only problem i think is :

http://s4.postimg.org/fevjf406h/Moar_bear.jpg

 

Just finished the demo and I really enjoyed it. I like the new art style and the BGM, cant wait for the final product.

 

 

I'm glad you guys liked it. We are working to get things done

Don't forget to visit our website for all the news and some more content before final release!

 

http://i.imgur.com/H9ijWgh.jpg

[Harlequin 17]

Alrighty, I finished the demo. Good job guys, you've got something interesting going on here, well done.

 

I'm gonna write down what I thought was good and bad with my own experience with your VN demo. Gonna try to be honest. I assume that's what you want, so.

 

 

The Good:

 

* The mood and the atmosphere. I like it a lot, especially once the map system was introduced. Don't know how to explain it exactly... but it felt melancholy and somewhat mysterious. That's cool. Certainly helps that the music compliments it all.

 

* The music. Not much to say other than that it was very nice. Good piano songs. And even though it might not be super important, the songs used in the creepy scenes (ex. night at the school)? Yea, DAMN, well done.

 

* The setting and the story overall. Once I properly got into it, it was interesting and I wanted to learn more. I do want to know what happened to the main character, and possibly whatever circumstances that surround the other characters as well. Plus, Mindstorm. I kinda understand what it is, but not fully. There's definitely more to it than what has been shown so far.

 

* "Effects" and systems. Things like the phone, the notes/other items, and the map system. They add to the experience, even though some of them might seem like minor details.

 

* The visuals. Backgrounds like this are always welcome... I'm pretty used to them by now actually. Character art is nice and very distinct too, though I don't like all the expressions personally (most of them are fine). Speaking of expressions, Rin's face in the phone is hilarious, nice one.

 

* Characters. This is sort of a mixed bag for me personally, but it's all very subjective anyway. People like and dislike certain kinds of characters, that's just how it is. Anyway, I like Rin. She's got potential. Her interactions with the protag are great. Kanade and Akane are pretty good too, but nothing too special for me at least. The teacher seemed like a fun character even though her appearance was extremely brief - definitely want to see more of her. Then there's two other characters that hasn't been introduced yet in the game... I get this feeling that they might be favourites for me honestly, just based on what they look like and what their personalities seems to be like (you made a post with them included a few pages back). Whether they have interesting stories attached to them or not, that's a different matter of course.

 

 

 

The Bad:

 

killerinsidee already brought up some points that I thought of as well. Not all of it is a big deal to me, but some of it is.

 

* The intro. This is probably the biggest issue I had with the demo. Basically, I couldn't really connect with what was being told to me in the first few scenes. The Mindstorm was brought up, but... it didn't mean much to me at that point. And it was brought up in a kind of hard to understand and lengthy way. I probably would've liked it better if the protag's inner monologue was shorter in the beginning (less "flowery language"), and maybe if the Mindstorm stuff came up later on instead of right at the start. The world that this story takes place in seems to be normal - so the story could start out perfectly normal, but slowly introduce this foreign and interesting concept called Mindstorm.

 

* Textbox size that changes depending on the amount of lines. Not a huge deal, but a little bit distracting for me. Isn't it a safe bet to just make it one size?

 

* The transition from that "eruption blue light scene" to the rain scene (what killer said). Honestly not a big deal either for me, but it's definitely noticeable. It's a quick transition... too quick. It doesn't feel right. I think there are some more transitions like this in the game too, but because of the intensity of the blue light scene (sound+visuals), it felt extra abrupt when it switched over to the rain one.

 

* Aoki... well, I have mixed feelings about him. It's not just bad or whatever. Sometimes I like him, sometimes I don't. However it's quite often hard for me to put myself in his shoes. Is he supposed to be really smart in general or something? He sure loves to utilize fancy words. But sure, I guess that might suit him. That could just be part of his personality. I'd probably get more and more used to him when going through the story. It's not easy in the the beginning though, for me.

 

 

 

Aaaand that's most of it I think. Do I want to read the rest of it? Oh yes, definitely. I want to learn more about everything now that I've somewhat settled in with the story and some of the characters.

 

[spoiler=Violet Hills demo]Plus, you know... the obvious mysteries. What's up with that tape recorder and the note it had? Who put it there? Is it just me, or didn't it seem like the contents of the note was meant for Aoki? But if so, who put it there and how could they possibly know that he would pick it up? Maybe I just missed the point though and it's not all that important. Aoki himself disregarded it I think.

 

This was awesome and weird/unsettling: http://i.imgur.com/Mx9TdFG.jpg http://i.imgur.com/mdz8bsz.jpg Oh, and when you make a choice in the Mindstorm map, a somewhat disturbing and scary little sound plays... also intentional? Well done anyway. Everything about the Mindstorm (map) and all the places in it were great.

 

Such creepy music that plays in The Fringe and in the school at nighttime... didn't expect that, and I love it.

 

One more thing: The text displayed when you want to save and load a game was a nice touch. "Forever remember..." "Pick your memory...". It almost makes me think that saving and loading is directly connected with the story. Probably not though. But it does kinda fit in with Aoki's condition, right?