Sunday, August 12, 2012

Character Update: Irraere


Irraere
イッレール
Height: 5’1” (151cm)
Weight: 98lbs (44kg)

-Whimsical and lighthearted, she seems unserious about everything.
-She works as both as scholar, and a physician to the upcoming queen.
-Always seems a out of touch with reality, with a constant "lost in space" look

Irraere is the Chief Thaumaturgist of her house. Much like a alchemist, a doctor(which is much the same thing in Elf culture). She is responsible for the health of her house. She often resides in the Ward, and rarely leaves. When she does, she is often seen as aloof, lost in thought or lethargic. Acting more like a hermit of sorts, which, due to her duties as Fiore, is much to the annoyance of the rest of her house. Favoring old, and strange home remedies to cure any ailments. She can seem a bit scary to others.

Not much is known about Irraere's personal life, as she is often very private. And seems to seek seclusion, rather than personal contact with others. So it is a wonder as to why she is often so distant, and aloof about her duties, and handles her job rather unpassionately.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Forums and Subreddit

Over the last few days i've been working on Dizzy Hearts, but I took a small break in order to further spread the word about this project. Today I am putting up a subreddit for Dizzy Hearts, as well as a Forum, all for the purpose of discussion. Here you can talk about the game, ask questions, and I will answer them directly (within reason!). Part of the reason is to show the fans how dedicated we are to making this project happen. I know i've been working on it almost 2 years now, but then, that was only one person doing everything.

Those helping me now, are those who wanted it as well. These two sites however will allow much more interaction with the community, for people to grasp what Dizzy Hearts is, and where it's going. See you there!

http://www.reddit.com/r/dizzyhearts/
http://dizzyhearts.freeforums.org/

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Character Update: Nail

Nail
ネイル
Height: 6’1” (185cm)
Weight: 136lbs (61kg)


-Very of protective of Mercilia, her little sister. She wishes to protect her while also giving moral support for her duty.
-Seemingly quite firm and strict, she acts serious, and is even weary of strangers.

Nail is Mercilia's personal bodyguard, and whenever the Princess leaves the House grounds, Nail accompanies the Princess. In addition to this, Nail acts as personal confidant to the Princess. Protecting her physically and politically as she instructs Mercilia in the duties she must accomplish once she becomes queen. Unlike Aunyrae, Mercilia does not attempt to avoid Nail. But she is often bothered, or annoyed by her attempt to follow her in the presence of strangers. Quiet and impassive, she often only has to leer at others in order to make them uneasy in her presence.

Nail is one of the oldest daughters of the Queen, though she is female, she holds a much higher position of authority in her society. (Which is not to say that others are oppressed) And is the personal bodyguard and confidant to her sister, the Princess.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Character Update: Aunyrae




Aunyrae
アーネレー 
Height: 5'9" (175cm)
Weight: 122lbs (55kg)


-Attitude is lewd and perverse to others, but playful. She is otherwise kind and caring.
-She is often called names by Mercilia, who she knows does not actually hate her.
-Her duty is to be the new Queen's advisor, and is a former disciple of the current Queen's priestess

Aunyrae is a priestess to the princess Mercilia, and a former student of the current queen's priestess. Even for an Elf, she is known to be rather lascivious. Where most of the priesthood, including rival houses, have many wives. Aunyrae herself has fourteen wives. Granting her notoriety in gossip circles for her girl-lust.

A font of sexual energy (which is often regarded as a desirable trait in her society. (As long as it's non-destructive to society or oneself.)) Aunyrae is known to be very honest. Though salacious and perverted, she does not betray her wives, and should she feel the desire to pursue prey again. She does not do so without their consent. Often used to her behavior at this point. Her honesty makes her adept at providing spiritual advice to the princess in how to best succeed as a queen. Much to Mercilia's annoyance, who will often avoid or hide from Aunyrae before she can lecture the young elf.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Character Update: Mercilia



Mercilia 
メーシリア

Height: 4’7” (141cm)
Weight: 91lbs (41kg)



-Shy and insecure, she is flustered and embarrassed easily
-Her personality is somewhat tsundere, but not stereotypically.
-Under enormous pressure, she sometimes acts snippy and cold.
-Has trouble conveying emotions well.



Born as the youngest Fiore daughter of the current queen, she was chosen to be her heir at an enormously young age. The current heir, and princess, she is part of the 4 ruling houses that debate laws, and politics in her city. In addition to this, the three opposing houses are all run by her sisters, heirs of the Queen herself. Despite this, she was chosen, as the least experienced, and the most ill-suited to actually doing the job. Her sisters would argue, and Mercilia would undoubtedly agree with them. Unsure of why she was made the heir, Mercilia must handle the distant relationship with her mother. As well as the malevolent nature of her sisters. All while she must train, mentally and politically to handle the duties of the Queen.










Stay tuned for further updates and new character introductions, coming soon!
Also further character information in the near future.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

News Update

It's been pretty busy on my end! Dizzy Hearts is proceeding at the speed i'm comfortable at. The benefit of being on indefinite hiatus is that it makes me feel more lenient with my time. Also it allows me to work for fun rather than at a deadline. I spent a good chunk of time preparing this blog so I could announce a few things.

For one, I'm adding a member to the staff of one, to make two. I will be filling out the rest of the pages, as soon as possible. But I now have a musician to add to the staff roster.

Also I'm adding a wallpaper, the first one up for anyone who wants it.



Finally, if you are interested in working on the project, please email me at Taosym@gmail.com

Part of my work in the next few weeks is going to promote Dizzy Hearts in a way that gets people interested. And i'm looking for people who are truly interested, and motivated to work on the project. I've been doing it alone thus far, and I personally am not hard-up for getting staff slots filled. But for those that want them. They simply have to let me know.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Dizzy Hearts Montage pt.2

デイジーハーツのキャラ落書き。
Rough layout for my coming redesign picture!

Remember that Mercilia picture a few weeks back? It's going to be part of a larger montage.
Plus there are some exciting things i'm going to be doing. The VN is postponed, but the project isn't dead!

Monday, June 11, 2012

Dizzy Hearts Story


As you no doubt have read, or not read. Dizzy Hearts is somewhat postponed. It's in limbo as the past year I have had trouble getting people to commit to working on the story. And have had to do a large part of the work by myself. Though understandably, a lot of this is new territory, and things I’ve had to learn myself. Part of it is. I've not found many who'd desired to inquire further about the story. To listen to what I have to say. I've said before a few times. But the writing for Dizzy Hearts as a whole is complete. And all that's left, and what's arguably the hardest to do, is the scenario planning, and then the paths layouts.

But here's the thing.

A few months ago I had a revelation. When getting some very useful critique, I realized that going through several paths. Some of which were not entirely story relevant would only serve to dilute the story. So what do I do? I'm only one person, who is arguably more obsessed with this project then one should be. Realistically anyone else would have canceled it and let it blow over, never to be heard from again. If they had seen the deafening lack of interest as I have had.

But I stuck to it, maybe selfishly. Because I believe it's a good idea. It's a good story. Just that no one, not one person, has ever heard me explain it.

I'll explain in what I can some redesigns about Dizzy Hearts, what I can without giving away too many things about the characters. You've seen the new Mercilia, some characters are changing, some small, some big. As I grow as an artist and become better I have to redesign things to keep in touch with that.



  • Dizzy Hearts is set in an unnamed realm/world separated from each other by the sun and moon. One side is always facing the sun, and the other, is always facing the moon.

  • The MC is from the side facing the sun, a people that live underground and are used to harsh, desert climates. Because of this, she has to leave home in order to 'reach adult hood'

  • The MC is still a girl. 

  • The MC is very basically exploring, and helps the cast throughout the story. as she realizes a few secrets about their past, about their personality. And the causes of their issues. As she follows the main story line. But does not have her own deep problems, or issues she must deal with so her characterization is intentionally limited and "self-insert"y.

  • The story takes place in the moonlit world.

  • The story is the telling, from the MC's perspective, how she meets Mercilia, her adventures, and her 'becoming more of an adult'

  • The major path of the VN is told in sub-sections called blocks. To reach the next block you have to follow the story of other characters in the VN. 

  • Each side-character path, influences the main story differently, but they themselves do not have their own path. In a sense. They will have more of a sub path, and by following it, you are able to help them and influence the central blocks.

  • You are not fixated into one side-character's path, but you will be prompted naturally by the dialogue, and your choices influence who you meet next. And what happens with them. But certain endings are only available by following the path in a certain way. 

  • Dizzy Hearts will not be strictly Eroge, but will feature optional tasteful adult scenes. But nonetheless, the sexual theme and 'adult reality' of the VN is a large driving point for certain parts of the storyline.

  • The "Fiore" futanari angle is still a part of this, where in certain characters. In a sexual culture, deal with problems. Not strictly related to graphic sexual content, but mature themes in general.

Please, if you at all have any interest, please do not hesitate to contact me via email: Taosym@gmail.com

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Progress

When this idea started, it was January last year. I had dreamt about this world, about dark elves. I often dream or fantasize about a lot of things. But I truly believe that this idea stuck with me for days and weeks, because it was a good idea. So I began to write about things. I had written about the world. I had thought up reasons about why it exists, and why it's possible (theoretically and religiously). And about the characters. Their stories. What their personalities are, what happened to them in the past to make them this way. I had a heap of notes,  and around the middle of last years I seriously considered writing a VN.

Before I got into VNs. Before I even really got into anime, or Japanese related media. I was playing RPGs. I was building my own worlds and campaigns. I wasn't very good, but I've always been far more interested in creating rather than doing fanworks of other people's projects. So I was always writing my own. I had been writing stories, characters and worlds for almost 15 years at this point, some erotic, some not. Some were good, some. Not so much.

My prior experience with VNs have usually been with Eroge, i'm a favorite of Sono no Hanabira, yuri stories and such. I liked the fact that VNs provide impact visually, mentally and musically. Rather than just doing comics, which are difficult mediums to tell complex stories. I had also thought about Light Novels. But I chose VNs because writing a story and putting it out in public is very difficult. Not many people read books any more, and unless it's based on an existing series, it's a very hard sell (in the abstract sense). But Visual Novels tend to thrive on original stories, and they are not hard to do with proper dedication.

A few months ago in later 2011 I started actively setting up websites for Dizzy Hearts. Some have proven better than others. With this blog being my most consistently viewed site. I began working on character concepts, and placeholder sprites. I set up story scripts and began to run test dialogue in Ren'py. Setting up dimensions and image sizes. I decided at this point that I was going to finish writing the actual script before I began to work on art assets. And over the past few months, I have completed the overall story. What's left now is bringing it down to dialogue and character interaction. Turning what I have into a script.

Most recently I have begun to talk more and more on other websites about this game. Not just here but /jp/ as well. I had asked for critique and feedback and I got it. And I realized I had probably been a bit over ambitious with how far reaching I was being, for a first ever, personal project. The story will stay the same, Dizzy Hearts will continue. And it will probably be even better because of it.


Dizzy Hearts on IRC

#Dizzyhearts @Rizon

See you all there!