I bought my Nintendo DS a year ago and I thought an impulsive buyer like me would have been bored with it by this time. I’m surprised I’m still  enjoying it as games get better and better. I was about to buy PSP back then but pulled out the DS in the end after seeing the available games out there. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tekken and God of War, but that just about it. DS, on the other hand, has a horde of games that really suit my taste and style.

My officemate recently introduced me to Time Hollow. This was released last year and I don’t know why a great game like this just passed me by. The game is like a visual novel about Ethan Kairos who has a Hollow Pen that can pierce a whole in time and change the past. The point and click gameplay was a delight for a lazy player like me. The storyline, which reminds me of the movie “The Butterfly Effect” is very entertaining and engaging. There’s an overall anime feel to this game, from the character art, manga-like panels, to the anime cutscenes. The opening anime scene was nothing special but it was fun to watch.

Dragon Ball Origins is also one of the recent games that made its mark in the industry. The game follows the story of young Goku and Bulma in their quest for the dragon balls. It likewise features all the other adorable characters in the anime – Oolong, Chi chi, Yamcha, and my idol Master Roshi. The gameplay is simple and gets monotonous in time. What makes this game click, though, is how it almost accurately relives the wonderful moments of the classic anime and any fan would definitely appreciate it. Go Flying Nimbus!

As for homebrews, VNDS is so far the best app out there. The guys at digital-haze are just brilliant and I thank them for letting me play the ported Tsukihime and Fate Stay Night VNs on my DS. I’ll give Saya no Uta a shot pretty soon.

These games have pretty much occupied my playing time and some more exciting ones will be coming this year. I’m particularly looking forward to the English version of Lux Pain. The game features  ”Atsuki, who by wielding the power of Lux-Pain tries to unravel the mystery of the ‘Silent’; a worm that has infected humans and forced them to commit horrible crimes” (1up.com).  How cool is that? I hope someone could also translate the Higurashi DS series; that would really rock.

Yay, after 3 long weeks the project is finally done. A normal person could have actually done it in 5 hours but you know, I have other stuff to take care of. Anyway, here it is, the product of my boredom and false belief that I’m an anime artist lol. So some stat about the VN: it has 2526 words and about 149 screens of dialogue. I used about 15 BG images, 2 sprites, 5 BGM, and 5 SFX. Of course full credits were given to my resources. It was a wonderful experience for me. I used to just leech around for free VNs (I still do) and now I’ve finally made my own.

It isn’t perfect though, half-baked you may call it, but I think the structure is already there. I’ve realized that I’ve focused more on the technical stuff of the VN. While it is equally important, I think I neglected the very backbone of the VN which is the story. I think my story is still too weak. Thanks to my editor, I was able make it a bit readable. Then again this is my first time so I hope that excuses me lol.

PS. I already sent copies to Coeli, AS, Lanie-emon, & Setsuna-san who all requested a copy earlier.

Edit 3/3/08:
I’m now providing direct links to the SVN thanks to Pytom’s encouragement & support. For those who do not know, Pytom is the creator of the famous Renpy VN engine. Thanks for tips!^^ So sorry for all the hassle, I didn’t expect that visitors other than the regular commentators on this blog would really be interested in reading this. Anyway here it is, happy reading. Feel free to post your comments ad suggestions ^^

Versions:

Windows
Mac
Linux

*a minor bug: there’s a portion where the text window expands if the text is too large. Pytom recommended a short script to fix it but it is not yet included in this version.

Some Comments:

AS said: I finished the game, pretty interesting and something we otaku can relate to for the main character K ^^. The only thing that I would change is being able to pick the main characters name, but I assume that you will work on it and just made it K to make it easier for you while you finish the game. Interesting twist and good sound effects ^^. Send me more when you get more done lol ^^

Shin said: Just finished playing it. You already pointed out the weaknesses yourself, so I’m not going go there. Other than that, good selection of SFX and BGM. Loved the transition between each scene, as it gave the story a proper flow ^^xxx

Reviews of the SVN are available on these blogs:

Full Moe Panic

That Anime Blog
An Otaku(?) in Malaysia

Summary:
After having a strange dream, a character named ‘K’ decided to return to his hometown.

Status:
- done with scripting
- editing on-going
- sampling some BGM and SFX
- reconfiguring menu defaults

If I’ll have more spare time this week and if I don’t get too lazy I think I can finish it by Friday ^^

As part of my journey through modern visual culture, I am now officially starting this personal project of mine. That’s right, I’m gonna make my own Short Visual Novel (SVN) lol^^. I already have some background and character images to work on. I’ve also written a couple of short fictions ages ago which are more than enough to form a base story for the novel. In the tradition of Narcissu and since I suck at programming, I’m gonna make something simple, straightforward and linear.

I’m not going to sell it nor widely distribute it. I just want to try it and show it to my friends and perhaps to my blogger friends as well ^^

So wish me luck! ^^

Narcissu, a visual novel by Stage-Nana, tells a story of two young people who are both terminally ill. Not wanting to die in the hospital or in their homes, they ran away together. They drove all over Japan without any particular destination until they decided to go to Awaji Island – to the narcissu fields.

While the setting of the novel is reminiscent of Hantsuki, it takes a totally different plot. The story is solid and quite unpredictable. It felt like reading a good short fiction or watching a good movie on a Saturday night. It in fact reminds me of Haruki Murakami novels. The overall feel of it is sad but not taxing to read. The background images are beautifully drawn employing minimal graphics rendered on a cinematic screen. It has voiced and unvoiced tracks. Setsumi’s voice is soft and indifferent effectively depicting her character. There are also two translations which are both good capturing good monologues and intelligent exchange of thoughts between the two characters. Background music is relaxing and I swear I heard some bossa nova tunes there.

I’m glad I’ve come across this novel – a lovely story of two people who at the point of giving up found each other and made their lives more meaningful/memorable before it finally ended. Definitely one of the good free visual novels out there.