Friday, February 15, 2013

Dizzy Hearts: Demo

After a lot of hard work with editing, drawing, scripting. I'm putting out the demo for Dizzy Hearts.

The last beta test 1.03 was downloaded nearly 700 times. Since then I've added missing/incomplete BGs, updated the menu screen, added the edited script, added the new expressions/pose changes, fixed some of music looping problems and more. This is as close to a clear representation of my plans for Dizzy Hearts going into the full version.




I must say though there were times where I felt I would never realize this game. The response hasn't always been so favorable in the past, and many people had reacted negatively to the game without finding more about it.

To me, It's liberating to have people compliment my writing, and while I did so out of emergency, I was apprehensive about it. Having dyslexia, I was never a good writer, and this made my ability to learn grammar  and even to read and write stagnate. It was part why I turned to drawing in the first place, I felt that I never would have the ability to realize my fantasies otherwise.

These last few weeks I've been riding a wave of happiness from the outpouring of critique, comments and response my game has generated. From those who would never pick up a game like this and liking it. And also those who do like futanari really appreciating my unique approach to the theme as something that seriously attempts to balance a good story with erotica and sex.

However there are still more things I want in this part of the overall game, including this demo. Currently the script is planned around 90k words. This is just purely for the sake of us being able to complete it on our own.

Ideally we would like much more music, sprite outfits and poses, more CGs, BGs, expressions, etc. However we must be reasonable and do what we feel we can accomplish now.

That said, the final thing I'd like to say is that the completed DH game will be distributed in two parts. One with adult content, and one with hidden adult content. However this has the flaw of removing some of the necessary story (because the game is designed with the adult theme in mind. It is relevant to the characters and their secrets, and their stories.) however I feel it is needed to put it on sites that don't allow adult material.

Think of it like the different versions of Type-Moon games or other PC/Console Visual Novels that have had to do the same. Though Dizzy Hearts will not have any mollusk references.


http://www.mediafire.com/?k8b0628zi5hdoo6


Not to keep you waiting forever, please download the Demo now and let me know what you think!

18 comments:

  1. can you include those story elements (for the hidden adult theme) in another way?

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    1. The only way I can see to do that is to either change the script between versions and dump the story after the scene. Or to have the scene there but not show any CGs.

      The second one is a lot like romance novels and female-centric erotica, where sex is described but never shown.

      Also because of US law, if any sexual act is shown in art it can count as pornography. However if it's in text form only it's merely erotica. See stuff like 50 Shades of Grey which really pushed that law to it's boundaries.

      I'm trying to have a happy medium of full adult content, and a 16+ lite edition that's fit for general distribution.

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  2. Hello Taosym. I first found out about you through TERA, and I'm glad you finally got a demo of this out. I really enjoyed the demo. When I started really getting into the reading it ended! I can't wait to read more!

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    1. Hey! Yea I've been working hard to get it out. Thanks for taking a look and I'm glad you liked it! Stay tuned for some more info!

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  3. That twitter post over there makes me concerned about your promise that the VN won't be Futa-porn...

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    1. Let me clarify this. Going back several months, I clarified that the goal with this game was to make a good story. I was also going to have two versions completely separate from each other. My goal was to take a theme that was basically just porn and nothing else and make it something that is story driven.

      Understand now, that this is incredibly hard to explain because people don't try to do this. The prevailing opinion is that porn, and story are completely inseparable. I don't think so and I plan to prove it. Just like a movie can depict sex, this game will depict sex in it's /mature version/ only. The sex in the story is also a part of the story, it makes sense to the characters and the plot. So it's not "just happening" etc.

      It's also not extreme because I personally don't like futa with extreme dicks, etc. I enjoy things a bit more mellow and romance based.

      It has futa in it, it has sex in. When people say "futa-porn" they specifically mean oonnnne type of porn, and that's not what's in the game.

      Dizzy Hearts has basically been a fight against an incredibly misconception that any time you mention sex and futa, it can only be one thing. That just isn't true, and I aim to target people who are looking for erotica, and looking for something that isn't extreme.

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    2. Well, the folks at 4LS succeded at this, so I know it's possible. If Dizzy Hearts is going to be half as good as Katawa Shoujo, I'll consider my money well spent.

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    3. Thanks, I'm very glad people understand what I'm trying to do, and I think the demo shows it's now (porn without plot) I think Katawa Shoujo did show you can have sex scenes in the game and it can be nice and meaningful :)

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  4. I have played through the demo and it enticed me from the moment I played. The setting, the characters, the places the story went through so far in the demo, were very interesting and I looked forward to reading more. I had a good chuckle at the end of the demo too.

    I will say though, there wasn't as much character development in the introductions of the characters but I may have expected too much from just a demo. All in all, I can't wait for the finished product. Will be hoping for your success.

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    1. Thanks so much!

      Yea characters like Nail don't show up much in the demo, but I'm glad the characters were interesting. There's definitely going to be much more to them when the game comes out. I can't wait!

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  5. German Review: http://digitalnippon.de/anime-manga-japan/novels-/dizzy-hearts_t18149/

    I can't wait for the full version
    Thx for this awesome title and good luck with the project. I hope the review will help to bring more german fans to Kickstarter

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  6. Nice presentation! Thanks for linking this to me. I will definitely be getting a German translation as well from the funding on the Kickstarter, so that should make people happy too. :)

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  7. VNDB(the visual novel database)entry for Dizzy Hearts
    http://vndb.org/v12218
    Feel free to edit :)

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    1. Cool, I wouldn't want to edit it though, it might seem weird for a developer to edit databases for their own game, especially with ratings involved. I'm glad you took time to review it. :)

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  8. So I found out about this project a few months ago, either from DeviantArt or some obscure forum which I have forgotten the name of. I remember reading how you were tackling this project solo, so I was skeptical that any progress would be made in a significant period of time, especially considering how independent VNs tend to become delayed indefinitely. Imagine my surprise when I came back today to see you already have a demo up, and that you raised ten grand for your project! It is simply incredible.

    I haven't had the chance to play through the demo yet, but I am delighted to see so much progress and all of your enthusiasm over DH. That being said, I am curious about something: do you have a target demographic you are aiming to sell to, and if so, who? The reason I am concerned is because of your risque character designs. I am afraid that people will shy away from trying out your product, much like people didn't want to try out Katawa Shoujo, believing it to be nothing more than a "cripple porn sim". However, this may not be an issue, seeing how you generated significant interest already.

    I wish you the best of luck, I can't wait to try out the demo.

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  9. Got to the end of the demo. It was fairly interesting. Looking forward to more!

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    1. Thanks, I'm looking forward to making the full version even better!

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  10. "That said, the final thing I'd like to say is that the completed DH game will be distributed in two parts. One with adult content, and one with hidden adult content." Can you elaborate a bit on this? Will the final version on steam contain both of these parts (the one with adult content and one with hidden adult content) and have some kind of in game option to switch between versions or are you going to sell the mature part on mangagamer or some other site and sell the other version separately? Is there going to be an adult patch? Also, am I the only one who keeps getting forcibly redirected to your steam creator page? I've been trying to post this comment but I get redirected before I can finish.

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