RMMV ✨【Love Net】✨ » A (Dark) Web Browser Romance - IGMC 2017

[sorabokki]

【 Romance ✦ Psychological ✦ Socio-Economic Issues 】

A game about love , desperation, and sensitivity.
Explore the world of romance with web browsers
while being exposed to dark, real world problems.

Theme: Everyone is Beautiful

Warning: Do not follow if you are sensitive to topics like violence, gender identity and death.

​

Demo Features

Over 10 events with at least 20,000 words

More than 10 CG's to collect for your gallery

Play mini-games to boost your love chances and story progression

Re-play value with 7 unique endings

Addresses real-world problems

6 Hot Boys & 1 Hot Girl
​

Summary

It's a brand new school year and you just transferred into W3 Academy. As you begin your 3rd Year, you meet some very interesting people who have issues of their own. School events and festivals lead to some interesting developments between you and a potential romantic interest. But be careful, there's more than meets the eye. You may struggle, cry, or plead in this not-so-ordinary high school life.​

Shunned if spoken, ignored when muted ｡​

Characters

Credit

The Programmer (Former Known As ProgrammerGuy) ◈ programmer | initial story

woobv ◈ director | writer | artist × ui designer
​

Demo Progress

Deadline: November 6, 2017

Outline: 100%
Script: Arc 1 (100%)
Sprites: 5%
CG: 0%
GUI: 100%
Programming: 5%

We will only be completing one route from Arc 1 for the demo.
If there is enough interest, we will continue the project after November 6, 2017.

* We will be using free Backgrounds and Audio under the Creative Commons License​

Updates

Oct. o9 Decided to make the game and recruited The Programmer
Oct. 1o Finished the Outline for Arcs 1 - 4 & 50% of Arc 1 Script
Oct. 11 Created concept artwork for Chrome Boy and Firefox Lad
Oct. 12 Made character sketches for Netscape, Opera, Safari
Oct. 13 Designed the logo, Microsoft Edge and 2 hidden characters
Oct. 14 Drafted the GUI for (1) choice box, (2) text box, (3) register screen, & (4) quit box | Decided to re-do the scope and only publish Arc 1 for the demo
Oct. 15 Finished Main Menu and (almost) the Gallery
Oct. 17 Wrote up Character Outlines & Backgrounds for 2 characters
Oct. 18 Designed Branching for Route 1 of 5 (Arc 1)
Oct. 19 Composer finished Theme Song
Oct. 23 Finished writing Main Events of Timeline (#1-10) and Ending #1 (18k milestone)
Oct. 25 All events and endings are complete (for 1 Route/1 Arc)
Oct. 26 Created the remaining GUI assets: (1) Settings Screen, (2) Mini-game boxes, (3) MC Portrait​

Questions

◼ What do you think of our approach to handle some very tough topics?
◼ What are you expecting/hoping to see in the game?
◼ If you could sum up the characters' personalities in 1 sentence, what would it be (more character concepts coming soon)?
◼ What is the most appealing aspect of this game thus far?
◼ Please describe your first impressions of this game.
◼ Using your best judgment, what do you think this game will be about mostly?​

Director's Notes​

Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for your interest in our game. The goal of this game is mostly to bring awareness to some very dark and sensitive topics that many high school students face today. Of course, there are so many issues that our youth struggles with, so we only tackle a few of the bigger topics that are sometimes swept under the rug (like bullying, sexual assault, gender crisis). This may offend some people, but overall, I hope to bring light on these topics. There are so many very. real. problems that people around us continue to deal with. I would like to dedicate this to those who struggled, are struggling, and will struggle with these things.

 

[sorabokki]

The Progression of Firefox Lad


Stage 1: Tritone Hair
LOL, nope.

Stage 2: Blue Hair
... But then what?

Stage 3: Red Hair with Accessories
Something's still missing...

Stage 4: Firefox Lad
Yasss

​

 

[sorabokki]

Oh, hooray! We have been approved.

Just wanted to share the latest update of our GUI. Below we have:
- Choice box
- Sign Up screen
- Text/dialogue box
- Main Menu screen
- Save/Load screen
- Gallery

 

[sorabokki]

Hi all!

Sorry for the delay in an update~

Here is the current branching for 1 of the routes (out of 5) in Arc 1! It is indeed fairly short. We are aiming for roughly 10,000 words for this route.

 

[Kyuukon]

I won't spoil myself but you better allow me to choose waifu Safari-chan :3 else I won't play it!!!!!

 

[sorabokki]

I won't spoil myself but you better allow me to choose waifu Safari-chan :3 else I won't play it!!!!!

Bahah! XD Well, without spoiling, I will say that all the characters thus far are romance-able at one point or another in the entire game. :')
EHEHEHE!

 

[Kyuukon]

You have my vote then

Can't wait to try it out!!

 

[IAmJakeSauvage]

This is so cute! Can't wait!

 

[sorabokki]

You have my vote then

Can't wait to try it out!!

Whooooo! (Although..... Safari won't play *too* much of a role in the entry submission T__T), but we're hoping to finish ALL the routes in Arc 1 in the next few months, which will include Safari :^)))

This is so cute! Can't wait!

AHHH Thank you so much!!! <3

 

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

I have to say I’m looking forward to it as well. I’m gonna actually do my best to leave reviews for games I play this year. Lol.

 

[sorabokki]

I have to say I’m looking forward to it as well. I’m gonna actually do my best to leave reviews for games I play this year. Lol.

Awww, THANK YOU PALADIN! You are SO sweet! I'm also looking out for your game! I've been seeing those screenshots, they're looking hecka badass! >


===============

On another note, sorry for the long silence there! I was working on the script, but had a prior travel arrangement over the weekend (all day from Friday~Sunday) and couldn't really work on anything during that time.

But I've been working hard since I've come back!

Newest Update:

• Just hit an 18k milestone in our writing! This is just for 1 route in Arc 1, haha~
• Finished casting for voices for our characters! People have begun to submit lines too, very exciting.
• The theme song was finished on Thursday! You can listen here: SOUNDCLOUD

.

Screenshots:

Visual sneak peek of the script on Sublime Text Editor!

Almost at that 18,000 word count!

Some shenanigans that my programmer and I say to each other. (I'm "Waifu" heh)



Click on the above screenshot to check out my (hopeful) timeline of deliverables!

​

You'll start seeing some artwork again soon! ^ ^

 

[sorabokki]

HI FRIENDS!! I'm SO excited to announce that..........

*drumroll*




GUI ASSETS ARE 100% Finished!! (Sorta...)

I had to take out 1 feature for the demo (the "Love Net" book, which would show the romance progress with your character + profile info), just because I was having a super hard time trying to design it... I scrapped like 5 different designs because they weren't coming out very nicely! So... we're leaving it out for now.

I might try to tackle it at the very end of IGMC if there is extra time though~ ^ ^

GUI for the Timed Text Mini-Game

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GUI for Settings​

 

[sorabokki]

Started on the sprites *FINALLY!*
^ w ^

Whoooo! About time~ lol

WIP Shots

​

Step 1. Lineart + Base Colors​

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Step 2. Decide on coloring style​

​

*We went with the 3rd style because it was a good balance between polished, but also saves me some time LOL (our deadline is coming up! Yikes >.<;;;
When we end up launching a kickstarter, we might add "re-coloring" the sprites as a stretch goal. :3​

​

Step 3. Final Image​

 

[Kyuukon]

Yeee I think 3rd is the best (nohomo)

 

[sorabokki]

Yeee I think 3rd is the best (nohomo)

HAHA! :^) I meannnn. I would go homo for IE too. ayyy
(ALSO HI KYUU!! ~)


==============

Sorry I have been slow on updates. It's really getting to crunch time so I've been really dead, and been a little hard for me to keep up with some stuff. T ~ T;;

Here is a doodle of how I felt last night (also posted on the discord channel LOL):

On ANOTHER note...!

I have finally finished lining all the characters (minus the MC) and have put down the base colors. All that's left for the character is to color them all! I'm hoping to finish it by tomorrow evening before I go to bed. > w <

And finally, we have recruited a wonderful video editor, who is absolutely wonderful! Even with a tight deadline of less than 1 week, he has accepted to create a short simple trailer for us. A sneak peek of what he's working on:

I hope you guys are enjoying the updates! ^ ^​

 

[pandadodod]

This looks awesome! Thread Watched!
I agree on scrapping the tritone hair for googlechrome

 

[sorabokki]

This looks awesome! Thread Watched!
I agree on scrapping the tritone hair for googlechrome

Aw man, thank you SO MUCH! Glad to hear so ^ ^ hehe~ (He's actually going through a 2nd re-design XD ehe)


==================================

FINAL UPDATE!​

(Before the demo comes out...)​

Probably...



​

Previews of Sprites!:​

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Chrome Re-Design:​

​

.


As you can tell, I went through some character design updates on a couple characters! I know, with the deadline coming so close, probably not a smart idea.. but....I just had to do it. T ~ T;; Still have to color 2 more characters after Chrome... and draw 1 more... sigh, kill meeee -- AHAHA. (Just gotta keep telling myself it'll be over Sunday night eeeeeee)

Hope you guys are excited for the demo coming soon!

 

[Plueschkatze]

I'm soooo gonna play this!

The character previews look amazing!

 

[sorabokki]

I'm soooo gonna play this!

The character previews look amazing!

UGHHHH// YOU ARE TOO KIND @Plueschkatze !!! <3 Thank you not only for being so encouraging towards me with your kind words and comments, but also for sharing such beautiful works with the entire world.

I'm so excited to play your game * - * YASSSSSSS-- get ready for me to fangirl all over your entry! XD


=================================

Unfortunately, I have some very bad news.........
*CRIES SO HARD* It really makes me sick to my stomach to have to announce this, but it is inevitable...

​

Unfortunately, due to some issues with programming, the game will not be finished in time for IGMC 2017. This was originally planned to be a "demo" for a bigger game, so thankfully I won't be cancelling the entire project! I put in a lot of time, sweat, tears, blood, nightmares, sleepless nights, and hotties to let this be an entire fail!

Ultimately, the demo will be delayed until the end of the year. I'm so, so, sorry to everyone who was expecting to play it tonight. I was SO stoked to release it for everyone's enjoyment. You have no idea, I could barely sleep earlier this week because I had finished most of the art assets needed to get the game ready.

(The image above is also one of the CG's you would have seen in the game!)

Overall Problem: There were a lot of hiccups and hurdles in terms of programming and nothing was ever fully finished. More than half the script was left out (none of the 7 unique endings made it...), and no UI was implemented. There wasn't even a mini-game unfortunately. It was very disheartening.

The Solution: I will be starting the code over from scratch using Ren'Py and will be doing it myself!

PROS:

• I will know just how much is getting done in realtime
• I will have realistic goals & milestones set for myself
• 95% of this game will be made by me! Whoo!
• I will have more time to add more customization and things I couldn't get done in time for this demo

CONS:

• I have to start from square 1
• The demo will be delayed because it will add more burden on me
• My coding ability isn't the best, so I may be slow to start...
• I won't be using RPG Maker anymore, so... I won't be able to update this thread anymore, sorry. :'(

I'm - again - so sorry to the people who were looking forward to this game and for those I've disappointed and let down! I really did try my best to get it out. I hope everyone can forgive me for my lack of delivery! T __ T;;

If you're still possibly interested in staying up to date about this anyways... I did make a very simple impromptu website. :^)
http://www.lovenet.moe
www.lovenet.moe
(very ghetto and nooby website lel)​

OKAY ONE FINAL WORD:​

Thank you everyone who has been with me during this journey! It has been a ROLLER COASTER of emotions for me, mostly me crying because of how sweet, amazing and supportive people have been. Like, I don't even know how to describe the warmth and blessings of this community. I've made a lot of friends here and on discord that I won't ever forget working late into the day with. So many talented and skilled people crammed long hours together and shared progress and motivated each other. I have never felt so much love, passion, kindness, sincerity, and magic from a game dev community. I loved every single part of this journey, and thank you to everyone who has made a difference in my life!


I LOVE EVERYONE.
I'M LIKE SHEDDING A COUPLE TEARS AS I WRITE THIS. OK.

 

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

I’m gonna cry! I wanna play the game!!!!!! I demand an update posted somewhere on this to tell me when you have something uploaded!!!!!

On a more serious note, I’m sorry for all the issues that stopped it happening and I wish you the best of luck with the game in the future.

I know how hard last minute issues can affect you, (luckily I managed to get mine done in some sort of fashion, though I’ll have to go back and finish it the way it’s supposed to be!) so I can only wish you luck and tell you that I will be waiting to play the game.

And if you ever need a tester let me know!