Stuff...and some bad news

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

A few people (like ksarchet) pop up at #b-games IRC channel and freaked out at my handle name, so I might as well make a post to clarify this. Some game news for you people regarding game status, and other things. It’s been a while that I have been providing info due to my 3-month vacation, so I do have quite a bit to talk about.

- XC2 has finished testing. Final testing is close to completion, and printing materials are being worked on. It should be ready for Master-Up in a week or so in time for tentative release at Project A-kon in late may.
- BS release date is now set to UNKNOWN. Although it is tentatively set for release for A-kon as well, BS is now seriously delayed due to Lamuness’ (me) Hard Drive crash. I lost all the files…Forturnately the translated script files are backed up, but testing and editing will have to be started from scratch. Sorry guys…

And some stuff I scooped up during email exchanges with the japanese staff before my HD crash:
- Sweet Basil will tentatively be working on Little My Maid 2. It will not be a sequel to the first LMM, but more like a “another story” with a whole new different setting and characters etc.
- Crowd is currently working on a new XC title. Like LMM2 it will be a “another story” with new setting and charas, ie no more Takuya. And also, as you know…Peapri’s bestseller is XC1, and for Crowd themselves their bestseller is also the XC series. Therefore, due to the series’ popularity, XC3 is tentatively set for a simultaneous english/japanese release next year.

Ok that’s it…now stop bothering me while I redo BS from scratch

#2

bummer about the hard drive. wait a minute. this is april first. Is the hard drive crash an april fool’s joke? If not, I am very sorry to hear of your computer troubles. I didn’t think I was bugging you. Yes, I saw the handle and freaked. who wouldn’t? Oh, on a different note, Graphiesta was awesome. well done.

#3

k: The HD crash happened a bit AFTER you came in the channel and saw my IRC handle and freaked out…I seriously hope you are not the one who jinxed me, coz I will be VERY upset (well I am upset already right now)

#4

Ouch! Sorry to hear that Lamuness-san. Not just for the delay to BS, but I also know how annoying it is to recover after a hard drive crash.

Hmm, well Made in DNA-san had been mentioning that he was on the final edit in the other thread this weekend. Between that and this posting, hopefully that’ll make those clamoring for XC2 a little happier.

#5
quote:
Originally posted by Lamuness:
(...)
- XC2 has finished testing. Final testing is close to completion, and printing materials are being worked on. It should be ready for Master-Up in a week or so in time for tentative release at Project A-kon in late may.
Cool. Except I'm not interested by any XChange game, that is. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]
quote:
- BS release date is now set to UNKNOWN. Although it is tentatively set for release for A-kon as well, BS is now seriously delayed due to Lamuness' (me) Hard Drive crash. I lost all the files....Forturnately the translated script files are backed up, but testing and editing will have to be started from scratch. Sorry guys...
LOL! Oh well, I shouldn't laugh at that, but... [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

quote:
And some stuff I scooped up during email exchanges with the japanese staff before my HD crash:
- Sweet Basil will tentatively be working on Little My Maid 2. It will not be a sequel to the first LMM, but more like a "another story" with a whole new different setting and characters etc.
Oh yeah, I read rumors about that in a Japanese BBS. It is also rumoured the chara designer may not be the one who did LMM... Any info about that point, or is it too confidential?
quote:
- Crowd is currently working on a new XC title. Like LMM2 it will be a "another story" with new setting and charas, ie no more Takuya. And also, as you know...Peapri's bestseller is XC1, and for Crowd themselves their bestseller is also the XC series. Therefore, due to the series' popularity, XC3 is tentatively set for a simultaneous english/japanese release next year.
As I said, I'm not interested by any of the XChange games, but it's true I recall the XC series being quite successful in it time... Another sequel, owww... ^^;;;

[This message has been edited by olf_le_fol (edited 04-01-2003).]

#6

thanks, elyko

Fortunately (?) I didn’t work on XC2 so my HD crash had no impact on XC2 production at all…so things should be okay with XC2 at least

#7

Not April fool’s joke, right?

Goes to show, always pays to backup your data. I’m surprised Crowd isn’t demanding monetary compensation for the disappearance of their hard work.

#8

their hard work isn’t gone. Just Lamuness’s. Is major bummer. HD crashes suck. don’t make him feel any worse bokmeow.

#9

I wasn’t trying to make Lamuness feel worse, I was trying to lighten it up by saying it might be April Fool’s joke. I’ve had more than my fair share of Hard Drive crashes, they aren’t funny

Apple iMac 333: HD crashed
Compaq Presario: HD crashed
Same Compaq Presario: HD crashed again

Lesson: Always backup important, irrecoverable data.

Additional lesson: Don’t buy Compaq.

Additional additional lesson: HDs that have ‘Made in China’ stamped on them are of extremely suspect quality.

#10

I guess everyone has to learn the hard way once. I make my living in IT administration so I know all about having backups in place. I would never run a machine again that did not have at least 2 hard drives to backup my important data. With the price of hard drives so cheap its foolish not too. I feel fo you lamuness, you know that hard drive data can be recovered right? Not sure if it would be cost effective for PP to do this since its slightly expensive but if it had months of work on that drive it might be. Email me if you want info on some places you can send the drive to.

On a side note, Compaq makes argueably the best servers, but I agree their desktop models need some work.

#11

well, there’s no need to send HDs to anywhere, I think I am ok. Regarding loss of data, it’s only editing and testing which is not as bad as one may think…

Don’t worry people, I feel perfectly okay. Sometimes things do happen though.

#12

Well, cosidering my own Hard Drive Crash in December, Had to do a total reinstall of Windows, etc. I feel for you. EXTREMELY disappointed about Brave Soul., but the news isn’t all bad. It will be interesting to see the Visuals on both LMM2 and XC3.

#13

I’m surprised a developer doesn’t use a CD-writer for backups. It seems like a necessary device for producing a CD-ROM game. Get PP to buy a DVD-RW drive and expense it on next year’s taxes. Market delay = lost revenue.

#14

This is the main reason they don’t give market dates anymore. To be quite honest the delays will likely make no difference on sales. Those that want the game will get it no matter when it comes out. We have already been waiting a very long time for it. a few weeks, to a few months more isn’t going to matter saleswise.

#15

Well if it’s not an April’s fool joke then that sucks. But it’s nice to get some actual information about your releases. Now most of the fanboys will have to wait till the end of May before they complain :stuck_out_tongue: Well let’s hope that BS will be out before the end of the year.

#16

Yep i agree… ive been through a few HD crashes in the past… (one like 5 hrs before a programming thingy was due).
(the next day i brought my teacher the HD… and he gave me an extension)

Anyway, if you can repeat this exact same comment tomarrow… ill believe ya.

#17

you want me to continue to grieve tomorrow? well thank you very much… =_=

#18

Lamunes, even though you said your HD crashed and you lost some of the data for BS, i still think this is a april fools joke. I mean a game thats been worked on for years, and the files are not backed up…, who woudn’t back up files like that.

And when other people were asking if that was a april fools joke, you did’t really Deny it, you justdodged the question and went on talking about something else.


and if XC2 was going to be released soon, why wasn’t the news on the main site updated? Why post it here, i’m sure if PP was planning on releasing the game soon, as in MAY, they would want to put in on the site because not everyone uses the Forum.

Well,if your HD really crashed then, GOMEN.
i’ve had my share of april fools joke today, so i’m not taking what everyone says that seriously.

[This message has been edited by Crimson (edited 04-01-2003).]

#19

That’s because we are all busy on the final changes before we have any time to update this site. We will update it when we Master-Up to confirm everything


ADD:
and how should I explain this…of course crowd still has the original japanese source files so it’s not like everything is lost. And like I said the translated script is still preserved. What went down the drain is just my work on editing and testing

[This message has been edited by Lamuness (edited 04-01-2003).]

#20

Ok it’s close to midnight here. So I guess I should wrap everything up for today.

Yes, this is april fool joke. However, to prevent people from killing me afterwards, I have decided to include some facts in too.

of the 4 infos I wrote, 2.5 is lies, 1.5 is fact.

facts first:
- contrary to Crimson’s comment, XC2 IS INDEED VERY CLOSE TO COMPLETION. It will most likely be out for Master-Up within a week or so. Peapri will most likely have XC2 ready for A-kon and that has been their plan the whole time. Contrary to Crimson’s comment, peapri will prolly announce it when peapri confirms everything is ready for printing.
- crowd is indeed working on XC3, or so I think at least. If you look at the staff room pages and the BBS you will have some teeny-tiny info on XC3 or XC-another story since January 2003. However, when I emailed the japanese department about it, they refused to leak out any info to me…but they are not denying it. So a XC3 title is highly likely, at least for japanese release. And it’s also a fact that Crowd’s bestseller is XC series, according to what the japanese staff told me.

lies now:
- my HD didn’t crash. HOWEVER, I do have a lazy habit of not backing my stuff up so today I did back up my BS stuff so I don’t jinx myself. HOWEVER, my japanese windows is starting to become unstable with IE.
- LMM2 is bullshit…well at least to my knowledge.
- Since Crowd refuses to give me any confirmation on XC3, how can we possibly have a simultaneous release at this time?

As for Brave Soul (THIS IS A FACT), it’s done editing and testing. All aspects of the game run fine and well. Final testing will follow when they get XC2 out of the door. Peapri hoped to have BS for A-kon as well but since XC2 was in queue first it will not be possible. However, it should be out by Comic-con in august, possibly earlier. At the very least, my role as BS coordinator is pretty much complete, what goes beyond that (final testing, installer, packaging etc) not really my problem.

Well, happy april fool’s day and hopefully nobody got hurt…

OK that’s it, now stop bothering me while I play some of my piled-up unplayed b-games…(THIS IS A FACT)

ADD:
now…will people still consider the “facts” written on this post as part of april fool? ^^

[This message has been edited by Lamuness (edited 04-01-2003).]