SoVR Post-Game Diary #2

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay between the first post and this one but my way back home got delayed because of different reasons and I lost more days than initially planned.

I'm now fully operational and back to work properly!

Today I'd like to talk to you about aborted projects (yes, there's a link with SoVR.)

There are two kinds of aborted projects. Those who advanced enough so you could see a glimpse of them (SoV3, Slice of Cards) and those who never went further than the prototype or even just the game doc on my side (or worse, simple ideas.)

Whenever I read a doujin, a manga, or play a game, there's often a moment where I'm like "oh, that would be a neat idea". Sometimes, it's a question of setting, in which case it's easier to insert in an already existing game (the whole Elizabeth quest in The Hunter 2 was based on an idea I had after playing a specific game) but sometimes, it's a question of gameplay. And THAT'S where things often stay at the state of a game document.

I've already listed you the games I'm planning to finish before retiring. As such, I can reveal the projects I had planned but never saw the light of the day. I think I already mentioned at some point that I wanted to make a zombie-invasion spin-off featuring Yuki & Ayame back when I was working in the first SoV. I also commissionned an artist to make a small clicker game featuring Eri. Yes, I have a whole PSD featuring Eri with different variations that has been sleeping on my hard drive for easily 7 years :x

Did I already mention I wanted to create a platformer game featuring Kaya? With shooting and stuff? I'm not joking. We even coded it and started to implement a real sprite.

And you know that's the funniest about this prototype ? Hime and I spent, what... one afternoon? On tweaking the controls. It plays better than 99% of the H platformers I've tried on DLsite :x So yeah, it's empty, there's nothing. But there's a sprite of Kaya who can run, jump and shoot and it's pretty flawless in terms of controls. Why did I give up? Because I need a real pixel artist for the rest of the game and my experience with SoV3 and the swindling I got victim of doesn't make me want to try again.

Anyway, the goal is to show you that it's easy to think about other projects even when you're in the middle of something else. There are ideas I had you never heard of :p (and probably never will since I have memory trouble and some might be lost forever ^^')

Why am I talking about all that? Because I want you to understand where I'm going with SoVR. This is post-game content and more importantly, this is going to be non-canon content. It's a real sandbox. But not like The Hunter where I can do whatever I want. It's a properly delimited sandbox.

And in this sandbox, I want to implement some of my dead projects content. Some people (JFC being on top of the list) worked on elements I asked them based on whims I had over the years with the huge disappointment of never seeing their work transformed into something. It's even truer with character designs.

I see SoVR as the end of the Slice of Venture series (Slice of School being a spin-off and with a complete different setting and mindset, I don't count it) so I don't want to leave with a regret. I'll use all the elements I didn't have a chance to use and want to see.

And it will start with a girl that Yuki will meet during her story part... But that's for the next post :p

See ya o/