oelvn project Lucid9 (available for free on Steam)

[MuirAlen]

I think the story seems interesting. Good luck, i will check it out when you guys finished 

[melelisun]

Hello all!

 

For anyone interested in joining the project, we have opened a Recruitment page on our website. Feel free to check it out and see if anything interests you!

 

We really appreciate all the support - thank you for your comments and questions.

[Diamon]

A new update on our blog! Check it out here : http://lucid9.weebly.com/blog

 

And since we're quite curious, a question :

Which character seems the most appealing to you for the moment? (Without taking into consideration the difference in quality for the art between the drawings since only a lot of characters don't have their final sprites yet)

[Kirashi]

There is not enough information about your character for me to choose the more appealing, I'll tell you when I have more description, but so far, they really seem the same for me

[Nyanko]

I like your relatively frequent updates, it gives me the feeling this is acutally going to get there some day and I'll definitely read it when that time comes. Good luck to your new members too.

 

As for the charachter, I don't know if the text was already there when Kirashi commented to be honest but its pretty clear what kind of "nature" the characters are going to have. As for me I go for Elizabeth Oshiro atm.

[melelisun]

There is not enough information about your character for me to choose the more appealing, I'll tell you when I have more description, but so far, they really seem the same for me

 

Thanks for your input! We wanted to keep the character descriptions spoiler-free, so while they may appear vague, we crafted them with the intention of giving you a glimpse into their personalities. If this failed, we would like to rectify this immediately. Would you mind describing which characters feel bland or too similar to each other?

 

 

I like your relatively frequent updates, it gives me the feeling this is acutally going to get there some day and I'll definitely read it when that time comes. Good luck to your new members too.

 

As for the charachter, I don't know if the text was already there when Kirashi commented to be honest but its pretty clear what kind of "nature" the characters are going to have. As for me I go for Elizabeth Oshiro atm.

 

Thank you! Your support is very encouraging to our team. And ooh, interesting choice... Might I ask what intrigues you?

[Nyanko]

I like the more composed, smart and strong kind of character. If Elizabeth will be the more composed but not too bitchy character, I'd really like her. A lot of these kind of characters will start annoying though.. and later turn out to have the most interesting background stories, but then you already dislike them.. so if she won't be the bitchy type in the beginning, I think I really like her. Misaki is close though, but I guess the design is a bit more mainstream ^^; I like Elizabeth's hair.

[Kirashi]

Thanks for your input! We wanted to keep the character descriptions spoiler-free, so while they may appear vague, we crafted them with the intention of giving you a glimpse into their personalities. If this failed, we would like to rectify this immediately. Would you mind describing which characters feel bland or too similar to each other?

 

 

Well, in fact it's not that your character are bland or something, but in fact there is not enough information for one to stand out. But that's true that I should have try to guess more by myself. If I do so I can tell you that your most appealing character is Rui Hayata, because in some VN you always have those typical character: don't forget the bento i made for you, wash your face, wake up it's time to school gnagna... but I loved the fall down "devour his tiny brain" xD that's quite the conscientious character about the cleaning without being boring that attracted me.

 

I hope my answer was better than the last one

 

And thank you for your hard work, can't wait for a release

[Mr Poltroon]

And since we're quite curious, a question :

Which character seems the most appealing to you for the moment? (Without taking into consideration the difference in quality for the art between the drawings since only a lot of characters don't have their final sprites yet)

Airi Hiraga, she seems like a silent person, or at the very least, someone who likes to eat. I've had good experiences with characters like these in the past. That is the sole reason for me choosing her.

[melelisun]

I like the more composed, smart and strong kind of character. If Elizabeth will be the more composed but not too bitchy character, I'd really like her. A lot of these kind of characters will start annoying though.. and later turn out to have the most interesting background stories, but then you already dislike them.. so if she won't be the bitchy type in the beginning, I think I really like her. Misaki is close though, but I guess the design is a bit more mainstream ^^; I like Elizabeth's hair.

 

Thanks for your feedback! Yes, smart and strong characters are very desirable, although it seems that most of the ones who exist currently are exaggerated ^^" As for the other heroines, we hope that they will be seen as well-developed before they are disliked

 

Well, in fact it's not that your character are bland or something, but in fact there is not enough information for one to stand out. But that's true that I should have try to guess more by myself. If I do so I can tell you that your most appealing character is Rui Hayata, because in some VN you always have those typical character: don't forget the bento i made for you, wash your face, wake up it's time to school gnagna... but I loved the fall down "devour his tiny brain" xD that's quite the conscientious character about the cleaning without being boring that attracted me.

 

I hope my answer was better than the last one

 

And thank you for your hard work, can't wait for a release

 

Thank you, that response was very helpful! I suppose it is quite intriguing to have someone who seems like the "mom" archetype, but suddenly flip on a switch of verbal abuse

 

Airi Hiraga, she seems like a silent person, or at the very least, someone who likes to eat. I've had good experiences with characters like these in the past. That is the sole reason for me choosing her.

 

Nice choice! Hopefully, your investment will reap a suitable reward. ^^

[Diamon]

A little announcement, thanks to the new people we've been recruiting during august concerning the different assets creation, we might be able to release some playable content (ie a very short demo) relatively soon! I can't promise for sure, but you can expect it for second half of September if everything goes well (well, everything goes well only in an ideal world, so there might be some delay).

Content will be Day 1 of common route, and there should be around 20 minutes of reading content.

 

Hopefully day 1 will be a good introduction to our world setting, to the story and to some of the characters! 

Get hyped (or not)! 

 

Also, we just made some new blog posts :
One about writing, an interesting explanation about "method writing" from our lead writer Megan : http://lucid9.weebly.com/blog/off-the-record-method-writing

And another post with a Rui presentation, and a new OST from Greg! http://lucid9.weebly.com/blog/when-it-rains-it-pours

[Diamon]

We just released the forum for our project, there's not a lot of interesting stuff here for the moment, but if you have some time to waste, come chat with us!

http://lucid9.lefora.com/

[Hazel-Bun]

Good luck with your project! Saw it over on lemma a little while back and, am rooting for y'all ^^ The art is cute and I think I follow said artist on tumblr, I don't remember for sure though haha.

[Diamon]

The graphics for some of the characters has been updated to match the new theme of the blog!

 

We're still working hard for the demo release! Approximate date would be near the end of the month, and hopefully it won't get delayed (I can't promise you anything though!).

 

Here is an OST composed for the game in the meanwhile, it's Elizabeth's theme!

https://soundcloud.com/bluewolfie/counterfeit-heiress-version-3-full

 

Don't hesitate to share your thoughts on the track!

[nohman]

Don't hesitate to share your thoughts on the track!

[Kirashi]

look great, keep going

[InvertMouse]

Sounds great. Keep it up ~

[Diamon]

Today, we are celebrating the 6 months anniversary of Fallen Snow Studios! I think everyone deserves a little something for supporting us during all this time!

Chibi Rui, so cuuuuuuuute~ (made by our chibi artist, Nina)

 

So much progress made since when we first started... You can read a bit of the story of the studios in our blog : http://lucid9.weebly.com/blog/fallen-snow-studios-already-6-months-part-1

And anyway, here are some news and some teasers about the demo release!

 

First, I'm proud to  announce that Lucid9 will be partnering with Joilly in order to release the Lucid9 demo, but also the whole VN! the demo will be playable only on our website and on Joilly's site unfortunately for the moment, because the feature the download feature is not available for the moment (we do plan on having this possible in the future, don't worry!).

You can get more information about Joilly on this thread  : https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/6525-joilly-a-visual-novel-creator/

 

Now, what interests everyone I'm sure, the demo! I guess showing you some assets is better than a hundred speeches^^

Here is the textbox we're planning to have!

 

Yahiko's lineart + Basic Colors, courtesy of our new male artist : Elphaze!

 

And now, the main menu theme we will be using for Lucid9! Composed by Wolfie!

https://soundcloud.com/bluewolfie/lucid-9-main-menu-theme-v2

 

As for the demo, we should be able to release it at the very end of September hopefully, maybe I'll be able to come up with a precise date soon!

Again, thanks for your support everyone, we wouldn't be as half motivated as we are if you weren't rooting for us guys!

[Diamon]

The demo is arriving very soon! Like you can expect it in the next 24 hours! Finally

The latest sprites have been updated for the character presentations, and also a little gift from our male sprite artist, Elphaze, (who joined the team recently), you can find all of this in the intro post!

[Heizei_koukousei]

I've watching this thread eagerly awaiting the demo~

Everything is very professional, and from everything I've seen here I think it will a huge success with the VN community

[InvertMouse]

Hopefully I'll get a chance to play it this weekend, then ! A passion project that actually reaches a playable state is not something to be taken for granted. Good on you .

[Diamon]

Alpha demo of day 1 is finally here!! You can play it on our site :

 

http://lucid9.weebly.com/play-the-demo.html

 

 

Please don' hesitate to comment on the thread! And please share the word if you enjoyed reading this demo! x)

If you have any technical problem, please post it here and we'll try our best to solve it as soon as possible.

 

Also it would be awesome if you could provide us feedback by answering these little questions!

 

1. Logistically speaking, was the experience seamless? (Did the engine run smoothly, text legible, proportion of sprites to bgs, etc)

2. What were your first impressions on the VN?

3. Which character is the most appealing? (As an interesting character, not necessarily romantic interest)

4. What was especially well done in the game?

5. What could be improved?

6. Feel free to include any other comments/questions and we will try to answer them to the best of our ability

[Heizei_koukousei]

Alpha demo of day 1 is finally here!! You can play it on our site :

 

http://lucid9.weebly.com/play-the-demo.html

 

 

Please don' hesitate to comment on the thread! And please share the word if you enjoyed reading this demo! x)

If you have any technical problem, please post it here and we'll try our best to solve it as soon as possible.

 

Also it would be awesome if you could provide us feedback by answering these little questions!

 

1. Logistically speaking, was the experience seamless? (Did the engine run smoothly, text legible, proportion of sprites to bgs, etc)

2. What were your first impressions on the VN?

3. Which character is the most appealing? (As an interesting character, not necessarily romantic interest)

4. What was especially well done in the game?

5. What could be improved?

6. Feel free to include any other comments/questions and we will try to answer them to the best of our ability

[Eclipsed]

 

1. Logistically speaking, was the experience seamless? (Did the engine run smoothly, text legible, proportion of sprites to bgs, etc)

2. What were your first impressions on the VN?

3. Which character is the most appealing? (As an interesting character, not necessarily romantic interest)

4. What was especially well done in the game?

5. What could be improved?

6. Feel free to include any other comments/questions and we will try to answer them to the best of our ability

1. Sometimes it requires two clicks to progress the text; this is most common when there are special effects occurring (1st click activates the effect, then 2nd click progresses the text. It would be nice to have a single click do both for better flow). 

I SEE THEM LOAD PERCENTAGES.

Interface & text visibility is sufficient; but I would prefer slightly larger text. (Though I didn't play in fullscreen).

Positioning of sprites on screen relative to protagonist's perspective is decent. I like seeing > 50% of a character's sprite; usually VN's have them so zoomed in you only ever see their upper body.

2. "Whoa, that's a nice background". "Whoa, and they got special effects goin' on!" "WAHHH BLOOOD!" (I'm hemophobic).

3. This is probably due to bias since she got the most exposure in this demo, but Rui's the most interesting for me at the moment.

4. I like how you guys actually have the sprites slide across the screen along with hearing footstep sounds when characters are moving. Little details like these help add to the immersion and give off a high quality feel.

A suggestion for sprites to add to their dynamic-ness: try to have 3 different zoom levels for them depending on the situation (one where the sprite is close up to the screen, one where they are a standard distance away, and one where they are far away). I've always been bugged by some VN's where the character sprites are always at the same static difference away from you from beginning to end.

 

The dialogue is very colorful too. A pleasure to read.

Really like the art. Character sprites look adorable, yet sophisticated. There's this charm to them. Though when it comes to the males, well, when you compare the size of Masato's head with Rui's you can't help but laugh

 

[InvertMouse]

Well done on the release . I am going to choose to keep things as positive as possible. Hope this feedback helps:

 

1. Logistically speaking, was the experience seamless? (Did the engine run smoothly, text legible, proportion of sprites to bgs, etc)

 

The first time the game preloaded, the music started playing, but the screen was black. I clicked to another tab, then clicked back, and the menu appeared. Chrome was what I used.

 

The same thing happened when I started the game. My screen was black, and I needed to click once for the first scene to appear.

 

Text and interface are both clear. No worries there.

 

Sprite sizes are all good.

 

2. What were your first impressions on the VN?

 

Nice inclusion of all five senses in the opening scene.

 

Good job starting the tale with something heavy.

 

Nice little character animations here and there.

 

All the loading parts only took a second to complete. In that case, I would rather not even see the progress bar at all. Perhaps the next scene could be preloaded while the current one is playing? Maybe it is already doing that.

 

3. Which character is the most appealing? (As an interesting character, not necessarily romantic interest)

 

Rui, because I like girls with a bit more energy, and because I have been seeing her in the promo art. She has a foul mouth as well, which is refreshing.

 

4. What was especially well done in the game?

 

I enjoyed the music quite a bit.

 

The fact that it is browser based could be a potential, since sometimes we can be too lazy to download. I am curious to see how saving will work, though.

 

The occasion changes to chibi art were cute.

 

5. What could be improved?

 

The menu fuzzes out periodically, which I believe was intentional. It is subjective but I found it pretty jarring.

 

If we can advance the text by mouse scrolling, that would be great.

 

A cross fade happens when we change from a text box that includes the character name to one without it. As a result, the box area flashes for a moment. Just a minor distraction. If we changed it so that only the character name box fades in and out, the problem will be fixed.

 

The music stuttered at times for me. Is it streamed? I was zipping some files in the background so that might have affected things as well.

 

6. Feel free to include any other comments/questions and we will try to answer them to the best of our ability

 

Anyone who manages to actually put out a build of a project immediately scores respect from me. Development is a long journey and some days are trying indeed. I hope you guys will remember to enjoy the process of creation and I wish you all the very best. Much love and I look forward to seeing how this project unfolds .