Anomie [Mystery, Suspense, Psychological, Dystopia, Drama] (Kickstarter live!)

[LeafCascade]

Released. can be found here : https://store.steampowered.com/app/625410/Anomie/

 

Kickstarter link can be found right here!

Anomie is now on Steam Greenlight!
_____________
Introduction

Hi there. I go by the name of LeafCascade - mainly on reddit's visualnovel sub (/r/visualnovels). Today, I'm here to show off a demo of a game that my team and I have been working on during the last couple of months. After about 60 full-length titles under my belt, translated and untranslated alike, I am making my own VN.

This is merely a demo. It is rough around the edges at times. I have, however, put a great deal of effort into this, and so have a few of my friends. Not releasing it didn’t feel like an option, though. Here is a list of things I know it is lacking/issues (mostly due to engine limitations - probably going to have to migrate the project elsewhere):

- Backlog
- A proper title screen and menu
- Settings
- Preemptive line breaking
- Skipping sometimes makes the engine turn BGs dark
- One of my beta testers couldn’t get the game running at all (no fix at the moment)

About the work that has been done so far

I wrote the majority of the demo scenario in a bit over a month around this winter after mapping out major future plot points. Since then, we've also spent around a month polishing the text and rewriting segments we weren’t happy with. A huge shout out to insanityissexy for helping me out with a whole slew of things (without compensation, I might add) - you’re the best, and the text in particular simply wouldn’t be what it is without you. I’d also like to thank my artist Veera (DulcetDove) for getting involved in the project on such short notice - the dedication you’ve shown to me and our project truly warms my heart. I could go on thanking people, but I’m afraid this text would end up far too long: Daniel, Gustav, Majk, Isak - you all know who you are and what you’ve done for me.

About the game itself

Anomie is a major and recurring theme in this visual novel. The term anomie signifies a breakdown in the norms, values, and culture of a group or society. With influence from some of my favorite visual novels (Sharin no Kuni, Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Harumade Kururu/Natsukumo Yururu, Forest, Cross Channel) I'm confident I can bring something worth reading to the table.

This demo should be around an hour long, and it shows off the setting and the characters to a degree. Mostly though, it demonstrates my idea of what makes a VN interesting. Vague, I know, but I really would prefer if you just gave it a read! Though, if you beg me, maybe I'll write up some kind of summary...

I can't wait to actually get started on the real thing, or well, I hope I even get the chance to. I'll make this fun. For us all!

Conclusion

Lastly, as with most indie projects: I need your help. As I stated earlier, this is more or less a one time effort, should everything go as planned. If you do give the demo a try, kindly do me a huge favor and fill out the form at the end.

Thank you for reading both this wall of text and the demo itself. No matter what you think about it - let us know. We can take it, and we fully welcome it, too. Regardless of which side of the spectrum you end up on, truthfully, I’m just happy you used some of your free time to give our demo a try. I'll be answering all and any questions in the comments.

Collection of links!

Demo

- Demo download (Windows)

- Demo playable in browser

Twitter

- Toneye Media’s
- LeafCascade’s
- Veera’s

Miscellaneous

- LeafCascade’s SoundCloud
- Isak Björn Hedlund’s SoundCloud
- Majk’s SoundCloud
- Veera’s DeviantArt

-LeafCascade

 

http://i.imgur.com/2us3S1K.jpg

[AaronIsCrunchy]

This was genuinely excellent. The concept is interesting, the writing is pretty fantastic and the protagonist isn't a complete and utter numbnuts - if/when you get the Kickstarter up and running for this, I'm gonna have no issues throwing some money your way, as I really wanna see this come to fruition.

[LeafCascade]

1 hour ago, AaronIsCrunchy said:

This was genuinely excellent. The concept is interesting, the writing is pretty fantastic and the protagonist isn't a complete and utter numbnuts - if/when you get the Kickstarter up and running for this, I'm gonna have no issues throwing some money your way, as I really wanna see this come to fruition.

Wow, thanks for that, Aaron! Your words mean a great deal to me. The prospect of resuming work on the VN excites me!

[bigfatround0]

What's with the weird name? Is it a swedish word?

[qhp]

It's a term that's been adopted into the sociological lexicon that's originally from Durkheim, a French sociologist. It's explained in the first minute of play.

[bigfatround0]

I haven't played it yet.

 

No offense to LeafCascade but the textbox is kind of plain and I'm not a big fan of plain/ugly textboxes.

[AaronIsCrunchy]

2 hours ago, bigfatround0 said:

No offense to LeafCascade but the textbox is kind of plain and I'm not a big fan of plain/ugly textboxes.

I kinda liked the plain/ugly textbox. If it was all fancied up I think it would have detracted from the austere feel of things.

Most of the time I agree, though

[LeafCascade]

10 hours ago, bigfatround0 said:

I haven't played it yet.

 

No offense to LeafCascade but the textbox is kind of plain and I'm not a big fan of plain/ugly textboxes.

 

7 hours ago, AaronIsCrunchy said:

I kinda liked the plain/ugly textbox. If it was all fancied up I think it would have detracted from the austere feel of things.

Most of the time I agree, though

Sorry you feel that way. He's quite spot on - I wanted something simple and fitting so not to be a distraction from the actual game elements.

[bigfatround0]

13 minutes ago, LeafCascade said:

 

Sorry you feel that way. He's quite spot on - I wanted something simple and fitting so not to be a distraction from the actual game elements.

Alright I'll give it a try just because you're cool and because I highly doubt a big OELVN hater like you would put out trash. About how long is the demo?

[LeafCascade]

2 hours ago, bigfatround0 said:

Alright I'll give it a try just because you're cool and because I highly doubt a big OELVN hater like you would put out trash. About how long is the demo?

Hahaha, awesome! Well, if it is trash, then I'm sure you'll let me know. I do hope you can enjoy it for what it is though. It's about an hour long, I'd say. 

[bigfatround0]

29 minutes ago, LeafCascade said:

Hahaha, awesome! Well, if it is trash, then I'm sure you'll let me know. I do hope you can enjoy it for what it is though. It's about an hour long, I'd say. 

I'll give it a try later today and then post my thoughts.

Yeah I'd probably tell you straight up if I found it to be trash but no hard feelings since I'm biased when it comes to OELVNs. I don't know if you've noticed or not but I'm about as big of an OELVN hater as you. Really, the only reason I'm giving it a try is because you're a fellow /r/vns regular or else I would have ignored it. That was pretty much the only reason why I gave chekerpeck's VN a try.

[LeafCascade]

1 hour ago, bigfatround0 said:

I'll give it a try later today and then post my thoughts.

Yeah I'd probably tell you straight up if I found it to be trash but no hard feelings since I'm biased when it comes to OELVNs. I don't know if you've noticed or not but I'm about as big of an OELVN hater as you. Really, the only reason I'm giving it a try is because you're a fellow /r/vns regular or else I would have ignored it. That was pretty much the only reason why I gave chekerpeck's VN a try.

I appreciate it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, even if you think it's trash, haha. And it's okay, I just wanted to do my own thing.

[bigfatround0]

9 hours ago, LeafCascade said:

I appreciate it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, even if you think it's trash, haha. And it's okay, I just wanted to do my own thing.

There are some things that bothered me but it was pretty good overall, around an 8 or so. My biggest problem was the music/sound effects cutting off abruptly. Like the engine sound , the chatter, and the curtain closing/opening. Also no backlog is big no no imo. But other than that it was pretty good for a demo. I'll probably back the KS when you get around to doing it. I do have some questions though: are there any routes or is it a linear VN? And do we get to meet the girl in the fourth floor? I'm kind of interested in her. One more thing, I think the little teaser kills that solemn like mood from the end of chapter three. I suggest cutting it out.

By the way I tried doing the survey but I was having trouble on the money section so I quit. I can try doing it again if you want.

 

[LeafCascade]

1 hour ago, bigfatround0 said:

There are some things that bothered me but it was pretty good overall, around an 8 or so. My biggest problem was the music/sound effects cutting off abruptly. Like the engine sound , the chatter, and the curtain closing/opening. Also no backlog is big no no imo. But other than that it was pretty good for a demo. I'll probably back the KS when you get around to doing it. I do have some questions though: are there any routes or is it a linear VN? And do we get to meet the girl in the fourth floor? I'm kind of interested in her. One more thing, I think the little teaser kills that solemn like mood from the end of chapter three. I suggest cutting it out.

By the way I tried doing the survey but I was having trouble on the money section so I quit. I can try doing it again if you want.

 

Cool that you liked it! Feels good to make at least a decent impression on those who feel similarly about many OELVNs as myself. And yeah, those are two of the main issues with the current engine. Definitely migrating the project elsewhere if the Kickstarter is successful.

Quote

I do have some questions though: are there any routes or is it a linear VN?

Tough question at this point. Here's an answer, but I won't promise it's a good one: I don't mind writing heroine routes. At this stage I have some ideas for at least one full heroine route on top of the true route. The question is whether or not I'll have the time/money to do so. Depending on how the Kickstarter goes, I may or may not have heroine routes. The true route will definitely be prioritized though. Such a messy answer, but yeah. I want to, though!

Quote

And do we get to meet the girl in the fourth floor? I'm kind of interested in her.

Another difficult question, haha. You see... she's not your average heroine (as you may have guessed), which complicates things. I'm not sure how much more I should tell you, but I'd love to explore her character further.

Quote

One more thing, I think the little teaser kills that solemn like mood from the end of chapter three. I suggest cutting it out.

I see what you're saying, fair point. I figured I'd win some points with certain people with that, so that's basically why it's there. It was fun to write too, hehe.

Quote

By the way I tried doing the survey but I was having trouble on the money section so I quit. I can try doing it again if you want.

That'd be great - haven't gotten all that many form responses yet. Thanks for everything man.

[Forgetful Frank]

This sounds pretty interesting! I'll check out the demo sometime this week.

Please keep up the hard work! It's always a pleasure seeing new projects, especially when you have the chance to see how they're really coming along, I can't wait to try your demo.

[bigfatround0]

25 minutes ago, LeafCascade said:

Cool that you liked it! Feels good to make at least a decent impression on those who feel similarly about many OELVNs as myself. And yeah, those are two of the main issues with the current engine. Definitely migrating the project elsewhere if the Kickstarter is successful.

When are you planning on launching the KS?

53 minutes ago, LeafCascade said:

Tough question at this point. Here's an answer, but I won't promise it's a good one: I don't mind writing heroine routes. At this stage I have some ideas for at least one full heroine route on top of the true route. The question is whether or not I'll have the time/money to do so. Depending on how the Kickstarter goes, I may or may not have heroine routes. The true route will definitely be prioritized though. Such a messy answer, but yeah. I want to, though!

Another difficult question, haha. You see... she's not your average heroine (as you may have guessed), which complicates things. I'm not sure how much more I should tell you, but I'd love to explore her character further.

A single heroine isn't bad but I'm hoping to see more of 4th floor girl. Hopefully as a heroine but a side character with decent screen time is good enough for me too. For some reason I'm oddly interested in her.

50 minutes ago, LeafCascade said:

That'd be great - haven't gotten all that many form responses yet. Thanks for everything man.

I did it but I don't how much help it'll be. And no problem! If you ever want some more feedback from me then hit me up on reddit or on twitter.

[LeafCascade]

8 hours ago, bigfatround0 said:

When are you planning on launching the KS?

A single heroine isn't bad but I'm hoping to see more of 4th floor girl. Hopefully as a heroine but a side character with decent screen time is good enough for me too. For some reason I'm oddly interested in her.

I did it but I don't how much help it'll be. And no problem! If you ever want some more feedback from me then hit me up on reddit or on twitter.

Veera is in Germany right now, so once she gets back and has some time to whip up graphics for the Kickstarter page it shouldn't be too long. I already have all the text for it done. Maybe the second or third week in May? I also intentionally left a gap in between this and the Kickstarter so people have a chance to read it and spread the word. As for that heroine, I'll do my best in case the project is a success! Lastly, thanks again for filling out the survey. And I'll keep that offer in mind!  

8 hours ago, Forgetful Frank said:

This sounds pretty interesting! I'll check out the demo sometime this week.

Please keep up the hard work! It's always a pleasure seeing new projects, especially when you have the chance to see how they're really coming along, I can't wait to try your demo.

Have fun! Glad you're excited about it - I am too.

[LeafCascade]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/toneyemedia/anomie-a-dystopian-visual-novel

 

There we go. Months of hard work. I hope you guys check it out.

[Eyzi]

I think I saw your project before on LemmaSoft or somewhere (I can't remember exactly) but it looks good. Looking forward to it.

[LeafCascade]

43 minutes ago, Eyzi said:

I think I saw your project before on LemmaSoft or somewhere (I can't remember exactly) but it looks good. Looking forward to it.

Thanks, Eyzi!

[LeafCascade]

Anomie is now on Steam Greenlight! Please vote for us!

[Valmore]

I pledged to this.

[LeafCascade]

7 hours ago, Valmore said:

I pledged to this.

Thank you.

[Barktooth]

Tried the demo, it's pretty well made. The premise seems interesting, and I like the atmosphere and writing. I have to agree the teaser scene kind of ruined the atmosphere though.

Anyways, looking forward to the full version someday and GL with the Kickstarter!

[LeafCascade]

On 6/4/2016 at 3:32 PM, Barktooth said:

Tried the demo, it's pretty well made. The premise seems interesting, and I like the atmosphere and writing. I have to agree the teaser scene kind of ruined the atmosphere though.

Anyways, looking forward to the full version someday and GL with the Kickstarter!

Thanks for checking it out!