I recently decided to buy premade background packs for Yobidasu. I was holding out for a while in the hopes of finding an artist to draw all the backgrounds that I needed, but at some point it became clear that this was unrealistic and out of budget, especially for a first game. As a result, the backgrounds in Yobidasu won't look exactly like the city that I imagined. Who knows? Maybe that's for the best. Maybe it'll make for stronger storytelling. For now, I'd just like to ramble a bit about the setting of Yobidasu, the fictional city of Aikure. A year ago, my brother and I had plans to visit Japan, but were forced to put those plans on hold due to the pandemic. So I spent a lot of time on Google Maps exploring a virtual version of Japan instead. And my curiosity wasn't drawn to the famous sites around Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka, but just some very ordinary cities that most people haven't heard of in the US. In 2005, there was a huge wave of municipal mergers in Japan due to rural depopulation. I saw cities that looked more rural than urban, cities formed from villages and small towns that happened to be in close proximity, scattered clusters of neighborhoods separated by undeveloped wilderness. And I couldn't help wonder: How do people feel about having lost their identity as a town or village? About being part of a city that is a city in name only? I've still never been to Japan. I've never met anyone from that area of Japan. So I won't claim to be telling their story by any means. But the thoughts that ran through my head as I saw those images are the thoughts that helped me to realize the story I wanted to write. The Aikure City whose story I want to tell is a small city that has the feeling of a town trying to look like a city. A city formed from nearby towns and villages being glued together. A city struggling with depopulation, abandoned dreams, and urban decay. I'll try and write more about Aikure City another time. Good night!
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I've referred to my VN as "Call to Me" in the past, but as you can see, the title became some bizarre Japanese word. What happened? I'm a stupid weeb, is what happened. This VN is partially based on an old Pokemon fanfic about some Pokemon stuck in PC Storage during a crisis. Obviously, this isn't going to actually be in the VN, but computers are sorta still kinda relevant. I came up with "Call to Me" as a tentative title, which could also be a pun on calling a method or function in coding. What a boring title, I thought to myself. One thing I really want to do with this VN is to make it the sort of VN that I enjoy reading. I'm more familiar with Japanese visual novels than English visual novels, so I guess that means making my VN feel similar to the typical Japanese VN. For example, the mouse wheel will open the backlog instead of RenPy's rollback system. So, why not spice up the title by making it Japanese? I might not be that good with Japanese, but I can sorta kinda figure my way out. Probably. The verb 「呼び出す」("yobidasu") can refer to summoning or calling someone over the phone, and is also used when talking about calling methods or functions in programming. But "yobidasu" is the dictionary form, some kind of verb conjugation is probably necessary. The -masu form is 「呼び出し」("yobidashi"), which sounds nice, so let's go with that! But "yobidashi" already has a colloquial meaning. Apparently it refers to the announcer in a sumo match, who calls the sumo wrestler to the ring. The protagonist likes to keep to herself, so an "announcer" isn't the sort of feeling I'm trying to convey with that word. What am I trying to convey, anyway? It's more like the protagonist's desire for someone to call to her. The "-tai" suffix is used to indicate desire (e.g. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai). And the "-are" suffix makes a verb passive. Which gives me 「呼び出されたい」("yobidasaretai"), or "wants to be called to." What a long, unwieldy word for a title. Sure, it's more interesting than "Call to Me", but it's too interesting. Who's going to type out that long word every time they want to find my game? After some thinking, I came up with 「エラよび」("Erayobi"), as an abbreviation of some hypothetical, absurdly long Japanese title that refers to the protagonist as "Error-chan" and also contains some form of "yobidasu." Something like:
Titles are hard. Maybe I should've just stuck with "Call to Me."
I figured I ought to create a new blog so that any dev-related stuff isn't hanging out under a giant piece of Pokemon fanart. I'd like to post updates on itch.io too, but the project is nowhere near ready to take out of draft status. Which means it'd just be me talking to myself. (Not that I anticipate many readers here. Haha!) I made this site back in February 2020, back when I started my little project, but I've been neglecting it for a while. Looks like the CSS still need to be touched up, if I can just remember how to do CSS. So, onto the main topic. About thirteen months ago, I started working on a visual novel. What's it about? Good question! I've been wondering how to answer that myself. Simplest answer is that it's a slice-of-life dating sim. I don't know if it'll be received well by otome fans, but heavy inspiration from shoujo manga. Our protagonist is Shana Masako, a high school student in the (fictional) city of Aikure, Kumamoto. A morning encounter with a transfer student! The kindness of a childhood friend! Could this be the springtime of youth?! Alas, the world doesn't work like shoujo manga. Also, there's this invisible fox that plays tricks on Shana. If the fox is real, of course... I'm aiming for a June release, and will try to keep this blog updated as I go. Stay tuned!
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Seven Tailed Fox
My aim is to make visual novels for people who enjoy anime and manga. I'm currently working on my first title, Erayobi. Archives
July 2021
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