Thursday, January 30, 2014

Visual Novel : (x²+y²-1)³=x²y³


Hi there! ...yep, we're back with another visual novel project to write about on this starry night!

The title might seem to be intimidating at first glance, but worry not - it is more known among Genshiken ITB commoners and highnesses as Equation of the Heart, a reference to this. Yes, I've mentioned this visual novel project previously in this post - a project initiated by a group of nine, with I myself as one of them (it's quite hard to write this post without being bias, really).

From the screenshot above, you might've been already noticing that this visual novel runs on wide-screen resolution - however, the most eye-catching thing is perhaps the three chibis on the far left side. The main menu itself is completely made from scratch by the illustrators, with me doing the digital retouch (with all the tree samples and such) and Mario doing the post-processing edit.

Originally created for the Genshiken Staff Training event (a series of training for Genshiken ITB freshmen to devoid the 'future' from their 'future Genshiken staff' status), this visual novel tells a story about a notorious vandal high-schooler, Nero, who had a twist of fate by the sudden appearance of three charming girls with three different background stories. Project leader Mario Filino constructed the visual novel using Ren'py, based on the script written by Nicko Tama // Dopachin and proof-read by me. No, I won't spoil how the story progresses here (:


Some might find the theme taken is quite cliché though, as love stories tend to have similar ending among each other. To anticipate this, there are some options that could be taken at a certain point - this adds a non-linearity to the game. Furthermore, a fair balance of downtempo and uptempo songs are embedded to the game to accompany the main character's 'twist of fate'. It grandly results in an enjoyable storyline, in the end. The visual novel itself weighs 275 MB overall.


After all, I had to say that what makes this visual novel shine on the Genshiken Staff Training's project presentation day are : (1) The character design, and (2) The visual novel's on-time completion. As for the first, I personally need to deliver a deep gratitude to our illustrator trifecta - Rofid I. // RAKELUDIN13, Raniasih S. // chrovide, and A. Mudhaffarah // awabara. The end credits has an infamous typo, though - 'Thaks for Playing' - which was left unnoticed by anyone until the very presentation hour.

While the first chapter of the story is already complete and fully playable, the only physical copy of this game's whereabouts is currently unknown - good thing I still own it on my hard drive. The following chapter already shed its light, as the first route's script has already been finished.

Well, that's it for our Genshikenic visual novel adventure this time! Before I left, I'd like to mentioned previously that there are four visual novels submitted for the Genshiken Staff Training event? Yes, consider this as the tip of the iceberg - expect the unexpected as we dive deeply onto the other three in the near future!

- Nivalyx

3 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Salah satu masalah yang dihadapi oleh project seperti ini adalah kalau storywriter-nya mengalami writing block, anggota tim yang lain nggak bisa progress...

      ...yah, begitulah (:

      - Nivalyx

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  2. I demand a download link.
    On a more serious note, I propose another alternative for your team :get someone else to write the second chapter, and relegate the previous author to another position. It might even be a welcome change and a chance for the first author to recuperate from his/her author's block while keeping the project on the move. Do you have any intention to showcase the first chapter in GenCarnival?

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