Kiwi

Added a "Gameplay" section that delves a bit deeper into what the, well, gameplay will be about.

Mm yeah, I would hate for the QTEs to feel unfair. Right now the only actual QTEs play during battle when you have the chance to attack. For that to happen you have to trigger them yourself by either dodging or parrying (you can see a parry in the gif before the QTE starts). The better you time the dodge or parry, the better the QTE-attack. The dodge/parry system itself also works like a QTE, although it's a bit more subtle. Depending on what attack the enemy is doing, you do the appropriate defencive option and try to time it correctly -- press the right button at the right time. This is technically a QTE too, which is what I meant by the overall battle system working like a series of QTEs. The heavy reliance on QTE like systems is admittedly a bit boring though, so we have been reworking the battle system a bit for a while now. Main thing that we are changing is to separate defencive options from offence. This makes battle progression a bit more organic and based on player agency, compared to just following a QTE railroad to victory. Sorry for the ramble

I'm thrilled to hear that! And yeah, Gainax/Trigger stuff has definitely been a big source of inspiration. When it comes to the boss fights, more or less yes, but not in the traditional sense. The battles borrow elements from action games like dodging, attacking and health. But there is no movement, so the overall thing works out sort of like a series of QTEs.

Hi, I'm posting on the behalf of team Amaranthine. We are a small indie team of game design students from Scandinavia and we are making a VN/game, Ever End. The game is about two sisters born with psychic powers trying to escape a militarized research organization. Our goal is to make Ever End exciting, stylish and, to some degree, thought-provoking -- exploring existential themes of meaning and purpose. Gameplay The gameplay in Ever End is separated into two types: story and battles sections. The game alternates between the two as the story progresses. Although the two are separate, they function in symbiosis and are dependent on each other. Story sections let the player enjoy the story through the “edgelord” protagonist, End’s eyes. Now and then you’ll get to affect the story by choosing End’s words or actions. Critical confrontations in the story play out as action combat encounters. Here, timing and reacting appropriately with your attacks and dodges is the key to victory. Throughout both systems, End must balance her psyche between her orderly human side and chaotic psychic side to avoid losing herself. Every battle and every choice will drift her towards one side or the other. The state of End’s psyche will then affect both her abilities in battles as well as critical moments in the story. Note: The early alpha is a bare-bones version of these systems and doesn’t include stuff related to the psyche management among other things. Progress Last summer we released our early alpha on itch.io, so you can check that out here if you are interested. The MC defeating one of the bosses with a flashy finisher move. We are currently working on the first chapter of Ever End and have all in all 8 chapters planned. They will each be around the same length as the alpha and are going to be added for free to the base game as they release. We are aiming to release the base game, including chapter 1, sometime early spring (if everything goes as planned). Support Us In order for us to make Ever End happen, we need money . So if you can and want to support us, you can find us on Patreon here, or you can donate to us on itch. If you want to engage with the community or chat with the developers, you can join our Discord server here. If you just want to stay up to date, follow us on whatever social media or PM me an email and I'll add you to our mailing list. But that's all for this post, so thanks for the read. We appreciate all the support we get and really hope that you will enjoy Ever End as much as we do! Twitter Instagram Itch Patreon

Kochira koso yoroshiku (that's about the extent of my Japanese knowledge)

Hi.

Short answer, Steins;Gate. Slightly longer answer, what I wrote in my own intro that I posted like a day ago

Hi fellow VN noob, I'm a noob too so let's be friends What got you into Visual Novels?

Thanks! and yeah, I'm just a normal fruit, that is all.

Chaos Child has been on my radar since steins gate, and it's on the vita too, so I will definitely get to that sooner or later. Never heard of Shibuya Scramble though, looks way mad --> count me intrigued. Anyway, thanks for the welcomes and the recommendations!

These all seem to be part of the same series, based on my googles. Does it matter in what order I read them?

Whether or not a crowd of people in the background helps increase immersion depends on the game, I think. Brains tend to fill in gaps, so even without the visual indicator, if something is implied through other means (text, sound etc.), that something can still appear to make sense, even if it isn't visually present. This is why the lack of crowds in VNs rarely is a problem. On the other hand, the presence of information that doesn't makes sense can decrease immersion, like in ittaku's example. The presence of information that does make sense (eg. a crowd of people on a crowded street) does probably make something feel more real. But then again, I'd argue that not everything benefits from being super realistic. Sorry not sorry for the gibberish.

Nah, don't have any experience with modding. Have considered messing with my old psp though, as it is basically just laying around gathering dust. Thanks for the recommendations in any case, definitely going to look into those!

Thanks! The game is kind of a frankenstein between a VN and some actiony stuff, I'll leave it to the mods to shoot me down if it doesn't fit in

I like physical, it's nice to have a collection to look at. Physical also feels more intimate, if that makes sense (not in the lewd way lol). Digital is usually more convenient and cheap though, which tends to be a priority for me. Kinda depends on how much I want something on my shelf.