Hi VitaIslanders,
hope you are all alright (as far as this is possible in current Covid times…)!
Today I would like to present you a scifi visual novel, which tries to find its way to VitaIsland- The Star Legation.
The game is currently on Kickstarter, and has not received much support yet unfortunately.
The developer is a Vita fan himself, and would love to bring it to VitaIsland.
As you probably know, you can put in your pledge on Kickstarter, and you won’t pay anything if the project does not get funded.
If you want to take a look, and maybe consider to support, you can find the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starlegation/the-star-legation-a-scifi-visual-novel-game
Thank you!
And here’s the interview for you, enjoy!
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Hi Andy,
thanks for your time, here come my questions:
1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get into game development?
Now that I think about it, back when I was a kid there were 3 main things that I became passionate about, all around the same time: writing, music, and gaming. I started playing both tabletop RPG’s like D&D and video gaming at around the same time, too, and have been into them for most of my life. I made music my career—I’m a professional guitarist and composer—but I’ve always loved writing, too. So, in 2010 I began designing my own tabletop RPG, Solar Echoes, which I self-published in 2012. After about 7 years writing for Solar Echoes, I got the courage to try the next thing I’ve always dreamed off: making my own video game! To me, The Star Legation seemed like the perfect chance to bring together the 3 things I’m passionate about, combining my writing, music, and love for gaming into one project.
2. You are currently on Kickstarter with your scifi visual novel Solar Echoes, can you tell us a bit about the game?
The story of The Star Legation is actually a pre-history to the Solar Echoes universe, at a time when the alien races are just beginning to discover each other. Some begin to trade while others become locked in deadly interstellar wars. You, as the human protagonist, Trey, are selected to represent the humans and journey with other allied aliens into hostile territories to negotiate with leaders on their homeworlds and convince them to send a representative with you. The goal is to form the Interstellar Union, where all alien races are represented in the alliance. The game involves relationships among your alien crew, as you need to make sure everyone gets along and survives to the end of the journey. Trey also has romantic options with the 2 human females he reports to, long-distance.
This is a choice-driven visual novel, but there are also RPG elements at the beginning of the game, where you select Trey’s skills. Your skill decisions add new choice options throughout the game, and your relationships with each of the crew are tracked with hidden variables. These will ultimately have a huge effect on the game ending, if you survive to reach it. Regardless of which skills you choose, it’s still possible to succeed, but each introduces new challenges and benefits.
3. How far are you at the moment with the development of the game? What´s still missing?
The story is about 95% finished (all endings already written), and is currently around 300,000 words if all routes are included. I’ve finished composing roughly half of the music for the game, and a good portion of the art assets are finished or are being finished. However, the programming itself isn’t much past the length of the 40 minute demo, which is about 3% of the entire game.
4. Why did you decide to go for Kickstarter?
Primarily because I’m doing all of this myself, out of my own pocket, and I have a limited budget. This game project is in addition to my regular job as a musician. Between the very expensive artwork requirements, the many hours of composing the music, writing, editing and re-writing, programming and paying other programmers for help when I get stuck (because I’m not a programmer), plus other miscellaneous fees, the cost of making a game is really high. I’m trying to produce the best quality game I can with the budget I have, but funds raised through Kickstarter will help this all come together and allow me to afford the full development of this game.
5. How are chances to see Solar Echoes on the best handheld out there – the PS Vita?
I think the chances are looking good. At first, after talking with a few people, it sounded like it would be impossible for me because I’m not a programmer and Sony wants things made through Unity for their consoles. I downloaded Unity, but it’s way beyond me, so I’ve been using a visual novel building program called Tyranobuilder, which requires very little programming ability. I do intend to learn to use Unity someday, but it would likely take years. Instead, I know a few people that can convert the code to Unity, but for a fee, of course.
I’ve also talked with Ratalaika Games about my goal and they sounded interested in helping bring this to the Vita. However, since my game is not yet complete, I can’t yet begin official plans with Ratalaika. I’ve also reached out to Sekai Project, so I’m waiting to see where that goes.
6. How can we help you to make the Vita version happen?
It would be awesome to see the Vita community get involved and help support the Kickstarter, because the Vita has always been my real goal behind this—it’s the best place to play RPG’s and visual novels! Even if we don’t reach the stretch goal for the Vita, getting the Kickstarter funded gives me a huge boost at that goal and accelerates the timetable towards making that happen.
7. Are you a Vita fan yourself?
You could definitely say that. I pre-ordered and bought 2 of the original OLED Vitas on release day, and I literally use them every night. I used to bring one to work, too, but…I couldn’t keep doing that. These days, after my wife falls asleep, it’s Vita time, and I’ll play about 30 to 60 minutes on average before I’m tired enough to sleep. It actually helps me relax—without it, I’ll just stare at the ceiling for hours, planning and thinking about all the things I have to do.
8. What does VitaIsland refer to?
VitaIsland is the awesome community of Vita enthusiasts, and I guess we all feel like we’re together on an island because it’s the best handheld paradise there is. The rest of the world out there is totally missing out!
9. Which are your favorite Vita games?
My wife once asked me what my favorite movie was, and my list was so long she regretted asking that.
There are so many awesome Vita games, but a few that definitely stood out to me: Gravity Rush, Tokyo Xanadu, and The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel.
10. What do you want to tell the Vita community?
Of all the different gaming communities, you’re the most positive and appreciative gamers I’ve encountered. If we remain like this and stay dedicated to the Vita, developers are going to want to keep making games for us. I want to do my best for you with this game, but I also feel like you’ll appreciate the effort and passion behind it. As a developer, I couldn’t ask for more!
There’s also a demo available on the Kickstarter page!
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PlayAsia
Mainly thanks to VitaIslander and PlayAsia employee Hardy Pace, we are getting reprints on PlayAsia for rare Vita games right now.
While Dragon Quest Builders, Soul Sacrifice Delta and also Oreshika restocks have been sold out again already-
you are still able to find an English copy of
Sword Art Online vs Accel World
and Muramasa Rebirth!
Shoutout here to Hardy for his awesome work! And he was very open so far to hear more ideas for reprints in case you got any!
Personally, I just managed to order an Oreshika copy, which was missing in my collection, yihuu!
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Covid-19 and the Coronavirus
I found this video here very informative to understand what is currently going on around the world
Generally speaking, I just want to say that I hope you are all fine and not too much affected by the virus- both regarding your health and also your employment.
Stay Strong! Stay Safe, VitaIslanders!
Yours,
@LastRealGamer
VitaIslandViews 
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