Black Sands Entertainment

We are currently WIP for this Promotional Image.


We will have a booth at NY Techday next thursday. Feel free to critique the layout.

Although I haven't played the title yet, I have a comment concerning the dresses of the characters.
For good chuuni fighting scenes, the characters also should have cool looking dresses that somehow reflect who they are. And overall I think the good old F/SN did a better job here with the dresses for both, the male and female characters and especially the servants.
In Tokyo Babel, we have Astaroth as the sole highlight, but the rest are just dressed in plain school uniforms and a... maid dress?! Aren't they supposed to be (warrior) angels and demons?! But while the school uniforms of the male characters in Tokyo Babel look still kind of okay with their elegant simplicity, I can't exactly say the same for the female ones. Especially Samael - does she want to fight or clean the kitchen?! And the rest of the girls also look more like ready for pillow fight than anything else. Compared to Rider's cool dress in F/SN that's just a joke.

So make them edgy as fuck.
Additionally, I feel like what you said applies just as much to Chuuni antagonists as well. I've only seen a few scenes from Dies Irae, but holy shit is Reinhard cool and twisted (and his voice actor does a bloody good job portraying him). 

I'm a fan of the humor in Demonbane, which is as chuuni as it gets. Humor isn't a necessity for every story, of course, and it may not be appropriate for yours if that's how you feel about it; but it's definitely not out of bounds for a chuunige.
I really like Clephas's characterization of the chuuni protagonist as a hedge philosopher, and I think Zalor is right about it applying to the antagonist as well. To put t another way, in general, the main players usually have a very obvious and central motive for what they do, the motive is very ideological, and it's usually at least a little bit crazy:
I want to destroy the world because people are irredeemable
I want to save people even though I don't really get along with anybody, because doing otherwise would leave a bad taste in my mouth
Something along these lines.

A good example of humor done right in a Chuunige, is Tokyo Babel (obviously I'm swayed, I'm still in the middle of it :P)
 
It knows when/how to create funny banter and setups.

A good chuunige?  The basic requirement of a good chuunige is to not be embarrassed/to not hesitate to do anything for the drama and to make the characters more interesting.  This also applies to every aspect of the game... a good chuunige protag will be something of a hedge philosopher and have a slightly (or greatly) twisted perspective or one that is just out of sync with the rest of humanity.  'Normal people' make bad chuunige heroines and protagonists.  There are no exceptions to this rule. 

In Black Sands, fighting "Bosses" is truly a lengthy and complicated matter. depending on your research and preperation, you might "automatically" know how to handle a situation or have to "take a chance" and that might end up VERY BAD if you make the wrong choice...

Investigation is critical in the sands. You gotta know what you are up against because the enemies are not just strong, but obscenely overpowered in some ways.

Well it depends; some end up being pretty badass on their own. 
But generally a chant of sorts will be superior to just saying somehting then punching a dude. 
 
I feel that the attack seems more powerful if it takes a few seconds of concentration and a chant to summon it.  
Some exceptions would be the "normal" attacks that Setsuna uses in Tokoy Babel. Though a tad bit cringeworthy at times, they are overall pretty badass. 
This pretty much. It has to make sense. It shouldnt just be because you wanted your punch to sound cool  

I think your points are important
I however value prose, poetryness and thriving characters above all.
These points can blend with the points you mentioned, as seen in Tokyo Babel, for example

*Links translated Dies Irae video here*
 
 

H-scenes
 
 
For me, nr 1 and 2 are really important.
Especially nr.1 if it's some kind of chant etc. (Some generic names for "normal" attacks can get a little cheesy, but chants always sound badass if they are pulled of right.)
Tiny Tokyo Babel spoiler. (Literally from the first half hour of reading )
That kind of stuff just makes me go "hell yes!"
 
The unrealistic fighting within the lore's reason is also epic. For me, the bigger scale the better. So like, if you have two people literally destroying planets in a fight, that is some serious badassness right there
 
For the characters though: characters that appear fairly normal and laid back, but then turn out to be absolute monsters in a fight is a really cool thing that never gets old in my opinion. Characters like that always seem so much more badass, because they are fucking stronk and they know it. They have no reason to flaunt their strength around to appear tough.

Not coming out anytime soon but here you go!

nah. I havnt posted in months in the vn reddit. I just hate the global mod.

Not coming out anytime soon but here you go!

Not coming out anytime soon but here you go!

Its one of the 6 shirts available for black sands when the kickstarter begins. blurry phone though lol.

Not coming out anytime soon but here you go!

Chronicles of the Sands
Apedemak when he first encountered the Medjai in Northern Sudan
I see great people here in the deserts of Kush. These people are not like the others scattered across the Nile. They are elites, warriors, and spriritual beyond measure. There is an aura in these lands that exudes terror. Animals are scarce to travel here. Yet, these warriors do not leave. They refuse to give up their lands. I have learned from the locals that demons constantly attack their homes. They seem to be drawn from lands much further then that of Kemet. I don't know what it is but I have seen their prowess myself. When the last creature was killed, they displayed its body in their halls. The serpent like jade beast look horrifying but not one citizen of the sands beats an eyelash when they cross it. Its as if it is a normal occurence no different from killing any other game out there.

These people fascinate me. When I become the King of Kush, I shall call upon them the days when we push into the heart of darkness in Greece. These people are hardened to the core. Medjai...Demon Killers...Warriors...Gods...
 

Genre:Adventure, Investigative, Management, and psychological Visual Novel   Platforms:PC, Mac, Linux, PS4   Languages:English (Fully Voiced), English (Text)   Visual Style: DreamWorks style graphics mixed with dark and mythological themes.   Progress:~20% of the game completed. (20 hour game)   Estimated release:~Summer 2017   “Whether friend or tyrant, I will become a King!"   Welcome to the Rift, a dimensional tear located in Canaan where the ancient gods were created and where you must prove your worthiness to lead the world of men. You have allies and the training needed to fight, but nothing will prepare you for the wonders and horrors of the unstable plains in the Rift.     Manage Respect, Relationships, and Mental will when making decisions. Assigning team members to missions best suited for them. Discovering weaknesses to epic enemies through investigations. Collecting real world lore and in game lore by discovering hidden items. Unlocking secrets of the past by collecting memory gems. Making timed decisions and avoiding damage in high intensity situations. Leveling up your characters to specialize in unique skills.     Time   In the game, everything will cost time to complete and characters may be away, unable to do a task available. Time is managed by the player and he has 6 months to prepare to face Nun. Special events will happen at certain times such as full moon cycles, changing of season, etc. This will give the player a level of management that makes them feel immersed.   Leveling   Each character has core stats which helps them succeed in feats. Completing certain missions and training will gain you very limited talent points to specialize your character in lore friendly ways.     Respect   You are a leader. You must earn the respect of your soldiers! Decisions you make and the success of those decisions will affect the confidence your allies have in you. If you fail a lot, they will lose confidence and go rogue during critical decisions. You may even lose command. A true Pharaoh never loses command…       Kinship   While how successful you are in decision making and your sense in the field affects the way they see you, it does not help one bit on how they think of you as a person. In order to get on their good side, you must appeal to their innate personalities. One cannot please everyone so make your choices wisely. It is worth noting that Kinship affects how allies act when not around you or when not commanded.     Stability   You are the strongest. Unfortunately, you are also the most flawed… You have an issue with Dementia and you must suppress these voices throughout your time in the Rift. The tradeoff is considerable though because when you were young, and you let the voices run wild, you could do things others could only dream of. In these dark days, will you allow your mind to slip in order to wield more power or will you avoid such pleasures and rely on knowledge of self?     The rift has stood for thousands of years, since the day Nun arrived from the planet Nibiru. Located in the barren lands of Canaan, this void was created to keep the outside world uncontaminated while Nun worked on his creations. He spent centuries studying the humans and when he figured out this world, he created ancients similar to the life found on his home planet. They warred with each other inside the Rift until only 3 families remained. When they left the Rift, Nun used a stability gem to alter reality and hide the incomprehensible damage done. But now, thousands of years since the great sundering, Nun has created another race of beings to combat his creations from ions past. In order for them to prove themselves, they must survive the Rift, as it were during the time of the ancients. Stability is no more! Can the mortals survive the Trials of the Rift?   There are many different types of quests in Black Sands. We will briefly go through some of them to better understand the gameplay mechanics involved in each. In Black Sands, time, health, and deployment all work against you as you stride to prepare yourself for the final battle with Nun.   Scouting - designed to seek new quests exclusively. Minimal danger   Investigation - A quest that requires discipline and perception. Player must decipher material and decide what is important and not. Proper investigation rewards secrets.   Tracking - This is an extremely heavy skill check category that requires quick decision making and a little luck. These missions are available only once before they go back into the quest pool.   Social - This is a quest where you develop relationships with the other characters and learn more about them.   Instant Events - Automatically happen when certain criteria are met. May have nothing to do with prior tasks.   Group Events - The entire group must participate. Nun will go over your notes and inspect your facility whenever this happens.   Epic Events - Storyline Events that are either triggered by actions or chose by the player. These tend to have more decision making then other events.   Exploration - A quest designed to explore unknown locations. These quests have no prior knowledge so player must use their wits to move forward. The farther you get, the better the rewards. These missions can be ended at any time but there is no guarantee you can return.     This game is directly inspired by Dragon Age and Telltale. Their strong narratives and crucial game changing decisions inspired me to design a visual novel unlike any before it.   Additional motivation was found in the way Hollywood depicts middle eastern and Saharan people. We do a lot of research and use annotations in game to teach the actual history behind the fantasy of our world.   Future   We will be converting all sprites to Live2d and making them look a bit more realistic and 20x more brutal. The goal is to make this like Conan while having the art leveling of pixar, dreamworks.     How can I help?   Follow us on facebook, Cosplay our characters, Share the hell out of this, and Pay homage to the gods by buying some of our merchandise.   Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter and remember, Nun sees all.   We have these posters and more. You can support us while getting something tangible that will uplift both you and your families.     Facebook Twitter Official Page Official Store Youtube

PART TWO:
@Zenophilious- Was a very kind and generous fellow, and shared a MG key to a VN that would ultimately warp my mind and turn me into the broken shell of a man you see before you today. Kindness kills, everyone. But seriously, it was really nice of him. There was a second person who actually offered a key up at the same time, but I can't find the messages from then. If you know who you are, come claim your thanks and apology for my lapsed memory. And he got my lame ST: Voyager reference when he merged my duplicate thread.
@solidbatman- I'm sorry the Panthers couldn't come through. Maybe next year.
@Black Sands Entertainment- I like reading your posts. You handle difficult topics like race in a dignified and sometimes humorous manner. I eagerly await your game/novel.
@Zodai- I wish I could have been more of a help to your project. I think I took on too much in one go and I feel terrible because I feel like you ended up getting the short end of the stick because of it. You deserved better.
@Tiagofvarela- I hate you Maybe I can get back to being closer to what you expect.

I don't think there's something exactly like it, at least in the translated side
Two best examples I can give is Majikoi, from its shounen-y interactions and story and its humor
Second is Daibanchou, for its setting

I should have done this earlier while the hype for the game was still going on but better late than never right?
I hope this review will shed some more light on what this game is actually about because I think it deserves more attention.
You can read this whole review without fearing any important spoilers will be revealed. If anybody wants to discuss or ask about specific spoilers, they are free to do so as long as they use a spoiler tag.
 
Lucy -The Eternity She Wished For- is a remake of a 2010 Korean visual novel that is the result of a Kickstarter project started by M-Vizlab. The project attempted to translate the original game in both Japanese and English as well as rewrite the story and remake the art assets in order to deliver the most polished version possible. The campaign successfully reached its goal and went on to raise a total of 18,155 CAD, meaning several of the stretch goals were reached, one of which included full voice acting in both Japanese and Korean for the main character, Lucy Valentine. About a year later, the game is finally released on both Playism and Steam for users worldwide to enjoy.
I have to admit I was very excited when this title was initially announced. Not only because it would be the first Korean visual novel I would get to experience, but also because I have read several Korean web comics and I know just how different and engaging fictional stories created in Korea can get. Does this mean I am a little biased? I wouldn’t deny that, but I did not really set any expectations for what the game was going to be about, so I like to believe my first play through of it was as unbiased as possible and that’s what I’ll try to carry over to the people reading this.
The story starts off with you. Yes, “you”, the protagonist. From the get go the game sets itself up for self-insertion by having an unnamed protagonist with the name tag “You”. This is a very curious choice given the events that unfold later, but I guess the creator thought having a self-insert protagonist was his vision for the story, and I have to say that despite my personal disdain for these types of protagonist, this one didn’t really impact my overall enjoyment, especially given that the game is set up so that the characters would never really need to call you by your given name so very rarely does cognitive dissonance kick in. The only problem, and this is a general problem with these types of protagonists, is that the choices they make while carrying “your” name might not actually be the choices you would make, and that may break some of the immersion, but again I think the story handles this fairly well and most people will hardly notice it.
So who are “you”? You are a regular student going on about your life in a technologically advanced world where owning an android at home is an everyday thing. The only caveat is that you hate androids in general, and so does the family you live with. While not much is given to the reader about the protagonist, the game does make it clear that they do not like robots, and this is what sets the tone for most of the game and the future interactions you will see.
One day, while going home, you decide to drop by the local junkyard, and that’s where you encounter a fallen android amidst all the scrap metal. This android is more realistic than any other you’ve seen and you wonder why it’s even there to be destroyed. Against what you previously said about disliking androids, you decide to take this one home, perhaps due to a sense of pity, but regardless, it’s now your responsibility. And this is when we’re introduced to the main heroine of the game. Although it might seem unreasonable for a character that’s set themselves up as an android hater to take an android home, I think the protagonist’s inconsistent morals are what later make these moments make some sense, so even though I was initially questioning it, I later became to understand some of the reasoning behind it.

(Could anyone really ignore this!?)
After several comical attempts at talking with the android, you discover she’s named Lucy Valentine and that she’s a multi-purpose android that can essentially do all kind of house work. However, some of her parts are severely damaged and she is unable to move. The following day you take her to the repair shop and drop her off there while you go to school. In school we’re introduced to yet another character, and the protagonist’s supposed best friend, Gears. Gears is an android fanatic and owns several of them at home and he is an incredible contrast to the protagonist, which makes you wonder how they became friends in the first place. Although they might initially come off as the comedic relief character, Gears actually represents one view of the world, the side that wholeheartedly accepts androids.
Once school is over, you drop by the repair shop where you’re greeted by Lucy, who’s now fully recovered and jumping around, excited for your return. She calls you “master”, and despite your attempts at making her call you something else (the game actually prompts you to type a name you want), she ends up not believing that’s your name (in my opinion, “Onii-chan” is a wonderful name) and continues calling you “master” anyway.
After chatting some more with Lucy and getting familiarized with her new personality, you arrive home, only to encounter your father in the living room. Similar to the protagonist, the father is unnamed and is always referred to as “father” by both the protagonist and Lucy. Much like Gears, the father character represents another viewpoint of the world, one that despises androids and their existence. The father is very adamant when he sees Lucy and thinks she is a worthless robot that could never replace a human being. Despite this though, you convince him to let Lucy stay, so long as you don’t let her affect your grades and you take responsibility for her. After this, the main journey of the game begins.
Although I didn’t initially think about it, the game clearly attempts to set the protagonist as someone who lives in between this android hate/love dichotomy, a dichotomy represented by two characters the protagonist interacts with on a daily basis and that Lucy comes to disrupt, and this is essentially the central theme of the game and what most of the story that follows centers around.
Most of the main story deals with interactions between the protagonist and Lucy and their relationship. When I say “relationship” I don’t mean a romantic relationship. Yes, that’s right, this game does not center around (or have, for that matter) romance, which is actually something I quite appreciated. Yes, they could have gone for some human x robot romantic plot, but they decided to keep it more grounded in reality and in the setting the story takes place in and focus on other key aspects of human and robot relationships, mainly whether or not an android can fill the same kind of roles a human does in terms of emotions and feelings.
The tone of the story is set up very nicely and subtly without going overboard. I never once felt like things were being rushed, even though there was never really any noticeable filler. Each scene is important and reveals something, and even if it’s not related to the actual plot it’s a scene revolving around the connections between the characters, which I truly appreciated seeing. If you think the whole thing is a drama fest though, I'd like to inform you there's plenty of nice comedic relief moments you will witness throughout the day, most of which revolving around Lucy's social awkwardness, and I don't mean to say that she is shy, but rather the complete opposite.

(I wish I could look this happy doing the laundry too )
The story also touches upon the dichotomy I mentioned earlier, by having the protagonist make several choices that either lean him towards one side or the other and are also the main causes of both his internal and external (primarily with his father) conflicts.
Apart from that, the perspective shifts multiple times, primarily to the perspective of some doctor you don’t really know who seems to be in charge of Lucy before she met you. Not much is told in these moments other than what seems to be the backstory of Lucy when she was still in her development stages.
Going any further than this on the story would make me reveal important scenes and plot points, but I think the general outline I gave is more than enough to explain what the game’s main themes and atmosphere are like. The story spans across a total of about 4 hours, the first hour of which I roughly covered before.
As far as branching plots go, I was somewhat disappointed with the game. None of the choices apart from the last one actually matter, and the last choice merely has two options, meaning the game really only has two main endings. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly fine if a visual novel doesn’t even have branching paths, but for a title that seemed to have so many interesting choices to make during its main story, it sure lacked when it came to those choices affecting the outcome. The choices are primarily used in the end game to collect achievements or for pure comedic effects.
In terms of characters, the game naturally spends a great deal of time around Lucy and her antics, leaving the rest of the characters as more of a background noise than anything. 
Lucy is an extremely cheerful girl who I think is very likeable by anyone. Although some people dislike overly cheerful characters, Lucy’s personality does not feel too over the top but rather purely human, with her primary goals being making the protagonist have a happy and easier life. She tries her best every day to do the house chores when her master is not around and she tries to prove herself to his father constantly in hopes that she will be acknowledged. I found myself in love with Lucy pretty quickly and I think that anyone who initially does as well will likely have a great time during most of the story.

(You either love that smile or you're literally Hitler)
The other character that has a lot of relevance in the protagonist’s daily activities is his father, who’s the main source of all the conflicts in the story and who seems to be really abusive towards his son. It’s somewhat hard to comprehend his actions, even when the game later on somewhat tries to explain itself. In fact, I was genuinely concerned for the protagonist’s safety in his household, but maybe that was the intention as well.
Lastly, Gears is mostly only present when the protagonist is confused and needs someone to consult. As I mentioned, Gears loves androids and is very knowledgeable on them, so he becomes the protagonist’s number one choice for getting information on Lucy. He’s also like I said a representation of a viewpoint that loves androids, and he opens up the protagonist to the idea that androids aren’t actually all that bad.
The protagonist himself also managed to have some relevance, even if he doesn’t have a name, as he’s the one caught up in this divided world where he doesn’t know whether he should like or hate androids and he’s constantly questioning whether or not what he’s doing is the right thing. Personally I find that this is the most engaging aspect of the story and what kept me wondering if he will succumb to his father’s hatred for androids or if he will become independent and do his own thing.
Ultimately, as the main focus of the game, the characters managed to bring out the main themes pretty well and they did often make me question whether or not I was going on the right path. Their interactions are all relevant, none of them feel like filler, and that was probably the most enjoyable part to witness. 
After you complete the game, there’s multiple achievements to unlock, some of which include extra side stories that attempt to explain certain events in the story. The game really makes sure you take the most out of it and if you missed certain things in your first play through you’ll have to go back and replay it to get the achievements.
Moving on to the more technical side of things, the art is another great selling point for this title. As I mentioned in the beginning all the art assets were remade using the Kickstarter funds and boy did they pull it off. For such a short game, the developers understood when to have a CG to capture the moment and I think there isn’t a single important moment I could point to that does not have its own CG. The character sprites are lively and have several different expressions that properly convey their emotions, Lucy being the one with the most attention to detail, honestly almost every single CG with her in it was incredibly heartwarming to look at. Whoever was in charge of this game’s art design really nailed it.

(Look at that face. LOOK. AT. THAT. FACE.)
In terms of sound, the game does not have a lot of variety to offer, but what it does offer fits perfectly. Outside of the background music itself, which I actually really enjoyed listening to, the game has plenty of sound effects that it utilizes to bring the most out of the scenes. Ironically, the thing I remember the most about the sound is the menu music. I think it’s the first time a song has stuck in my head so much.
The voice acting was fairly good. I played the game in Japanese since that’s the language I’m more familiar with and the voice actress did a wonderful job as far as carrying Lucy’s bubbly personality goes. I did attempt to play the game with Korean voice acting but unfortunately it sounded too strange for me to find it enjoyable. I don’t want to comment on whether the Korean voice acting was good or bad since I have almost zero knowledge on the language, but this time I preferred playing the game with what I was familiar with. You can also not play with voices if either of the two bother you.
Lastly, on the writing front, the English is a bit stiff. I can't comment on the translation since I don't know anything about Korean, but overall a lot of the sentences feel a tad bit unnatural, not so much that you're questioning the nationality of the characters speaking, but enough to be noticable by those who really value that kind of stuff. Also Lucy speaks in 3rd person. Take that last part as you will, I personally am not a fan of the 3rd person speech in English but at the very least it was applied consistently and if you take into account that Lucy is a robot, maybe you can cut the game some slack for making this choice.
In the end, Lucy is a game about building bonds and fixing bridges between characters as well as tackle the issues that a world with hyper realistic androids could bring to a society. Does it deal with a lot of morals and science? Not exactly. I think the story is more about the protagonist and his journey to coming to terms with himself and androids, it’s just that it so happens to have a nice side message on top of being a heartwarming tale.
If you want a small yet impactful story about a human and his android, I think Lucy will certainly fit the bill, especially given its price tag. As for me, it was a journey I don’t regret taking or paying for and I hope more people who finish the game feel the same way as well.  I found myself completely absorbed in it after a while and I was even caught off guard by the game multiple times, which if I were to elaborate on would completely spoil the story, so do yourself a favor and go try it for yourself.
Final rating: 69/69 go read the actual review.
If you want to pick it up, the game is available DRM-free for $9.99 on Playism as well as on Steam. The Playism version also comes with a free Steam Key.

That was a very good and informative interview
Thank you for sharing

Thank you very much
Now then:
I did enjoy the slight cosmetic touches like the continuous animations, the fog in the background and the shadowed sprites, that don't speak. They're all nice polish
I understand the lackings on the technicalities and UI, as this is just a promotional demo.
I especially love Nun and everything about him. The laugh and voice acting is superb.
Overall, it shows a lot of promise.
Looking forward to more

You can download the teaser Demo  here. https://theblacksands.itch.io/black-sands-legends-of-the-rift

Please leave feedback. There may still be room for improvement

Eventually we will have a major Demo coming which will launch before our Kickstarter. It will feature some of the gameplay mechanics and will be 45 minutes long roughly. Fully voiced of course.
The Demo is crashing for lower spec comps so we will be optimizing it tonight. Be sure to leave your specs if it crashes on you.