Magical Diary: Wolf Hall (Early development thread)

[Staldice]

Oh wow, I didn't expect such prompt and thorough feedback, cheers Hanako! That was a good read ^^

I actually quite like the newer art style from what I've seen, I feel it's a lot less generic than the cookie-cutter character art for Horse Hall, I imagine now you have a chance to get a lot more in-depth with your designs. On a side note, it's nice to see all this unreleased art, too!

As someone who might be making a fangame for LLTQ, I understand the need for a strong art direction all too well!!

[EenPersoon]

It's very interesting to see these different versions of Minnie! Umm... are there other sprites that won't be used for Wolf Hall? I would love to see them if that is all right with you

[hanako]

Hanging onto a couple of things in case I ever get around to running a Patreon.

[Oki]

a lot of the time it's mostly down to "who's available" because I don't have a staff artist.

While I appreciated the work the original Horse Hall artist did, I know it was met with mixed reactions by many players. I wanted to give her the chance to carry on with future games anyway because I felt like it would be wrong to just drop her, but her style was shifting further and further in a direction I didn't really like, and she was pretty clearly not interested in the project - communications got slower and slower until eventually I offered to call the whole thing off and she instantly agreed.

I tried out a few different artists, while incorporating the feedback from the first game (the robes, for example, I felt were a little plain and heavy in the first game which made them not much fun to cosplay, so I figured if we were changing artists we might as well consider some style tweaks). This was someone's test version of Minnie, which I didn't think fit the game so we didn't go forward with that artist.



Unfortunately the Wolf Hall sprites were made YEARS ago by an artist I haven't been in contact with in ages, so I may have troubles when it comes to trying to do CGs, if I can't reach her!

Why don't you love me omg that art is so beautiful ;___; that being said I agree with changing artists. A lot of the art from the game is..meh. Besides, if someone isn't interested in a job opportunity...as an artist I don't understand that. How does someone just? Gah.

[EenPersoon]

Hanging onto a couple of things in case I ever get around to running a Patreon.

Ah, I understand. Thank you for showing the Minnie ones!

[hanako]

WolfPC watching Medea like "oh yeah, the historical Medea was even worse."

[Oki]

WolfPC watching Medea like "oh yeah, the historical Medea was even worse."

This is why I give you money.

Plz get a patreon so I can fund your company lmao.

[hanako]

problem is that taking the time to set up the patreon distracts from getting writing done!

script file wordcount at the moment is at about 136K words (two files). Just finishing up the candle sales.

[Oki]

Very true. Maybe in between this release and the next?

[Tomo-chan]

The thing I am most interested in seeing is how the Damien romance will play out. I doubt it would be a rehash of the Horse Hall romance, since that would be boring to write, boring to play for those who have played the first game, and would spoil anybody who picks up the HH after WH, so I am guessing no Damien as initiation mentor. But will he still try to seduce you to steal your soul ? Will it be possible to achieve a romance ending without being a complete pushover who agrees to give up their life for their first high school boyfriend and readily forgives him afterward ? (Obviously I don't except Hanako to answer this)

I guess that might sound like harsh criticism against HH's protagonist. Damien was a favourite for players when the game came out, but I wonder if it would not raise commentary on abusive relationships if Horse Hall came out this year ? What with people being a lot more aware of these issues.

Sorry this post ended up sounding so negative. I am really excited for the game, will play all the routes no matter the creepiness, and wish you the best of luck, Hanako.

[Gamer]

I'm still rooting for Damien x William, as unhealthy as that is! Haha. But can you tell us what the romance options will be? Is William a playable route now?

[Foelhe]

Hanako talked about some of the romances in the old thread, under spoilers:

Specifically, yeah, William is a love interest. Or at least that was the original plan.

[hanako]

I'm interested in hearing from people who want to date William - provided that you acknowledge that any comments or suggestions you make may or may not have any effect on what actually gets written. (Obviously I know a lot more about what's going on than you do so suggestions are likely to be way off-base and therefore probably not going to work in the game as it is. Don't say anything if you'll be upset at your suggestions being used OR not being used. It's not stealing if you offered it to me!)

With that in mind, if you're a William fan, what sorts of things do you like about him? What would you like to do with him?

[Gamer]

I like that while William is portrayed as this perfect, big brother-like figure who's kind and smart, he might have a dark side since he was originally sorted into the same hall as Damien. I also like his interactions with Damien in particular though we don't seem to see him interacting with Angela.

With that being said, if I were to date William, I'd like the option to cheat on him or play mind-games with him because I'm evil like that! I want him to think I'm different from Damien or Angela, only to not be that much different from them in the end. It would be cool if I could date both him and Damien at the same time so I could play them both.

[Tomo-chan]

With that being said, if I were to date William, I'd like the option to cheat on him or play mind-games with him because I'm evil like that! I want him to think I'm different from Damien or Angela, only to not be that much different from them in the end. It would be cool if I could date both him and Damien at the same time so I could play them both.

I never take "mean" routes in VNs except for completionists purpose, so I would never want to do that... Since you (Hanako) have talked about personality options that are defined by how you act at the beginning, maybe being a cheater could be locked behind a certain personality type, but you have already said that it wouldn't affect the story that much, so I dunno.

Personnally I would like to not always feel that he (who is 3-4 years older, right ?) is always leading the relationship, teaching me stuff and impressing me. He has that "cool big brother" persona which is great, but I don't think would really work in a relationship. I would like the PC to display some knowledge/skills that William would know nothing about, even if it's just being super good at pinball, or know plenty of constellations...
Actually I think that is something I like to see in any relationship where one is expected to "lead" the other, be it because of being older or something else.