Shinsengumi Historical Game - Very WIP

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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Original post can be found below.

July 15 '16: Well, it might be a touch rushed in places but the demo is up, I think I’ve squashed all major bugs (he said as though to court disaster) but if you see anything weird or wrong then by all means let me know. It’s so easy to let stupid little things slip while I’m trying to look at the ‘big’ picture. Needless to say I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Seeing as how my laptop’s given up the ghost I’ve had to use dashingdon (thanks dash!) as a host because I’m writing primarily on an ooooold desktop which doesn’t play nice with Dropbox. I dunno if this is an issue for anyone but I’m gonna get it mended as soon as I can and we’ll go from there.

The demo’s only about 5k all-in-all but in future will probably expand to include most, if not all of the first chapter which ends in 1864 with Serizawa’s assassination. Anyway you can find it just below the synopsis, enjoy!

Synopsis: Shinsengumi is an interactive semi-historical novella set in the Bakumatsu, a brief but tumultuous period of Japan’s history which led to the fall of the Tokugawa Bakufu and the return of power to the Imperial Court which had previously been superseded by the Shoguns and their successive military governments. Players will take the role of a young swordsman who joins the Ronin of Mibu, the future Shinsengumi, as they attempt to protect Kyoto from the mounting influx of partisan violence between the supporters of the Shogun and the Ishin Shishi who support the Emperor.

MCs will interact closely with historical characters such as Shinsengumi captains Okita Souji, Saito Hajime and Nagakura Shinpachi as well as the Four Great Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu, the famous assassins of the Ishin Shishi.

You can play a short demo intended as a proof of concept here

Features:

  • A branching narrative (obviously) which will allow players to chart their own course through a turbulent era and decide who deserves their support.
  • Stats based on the seven key principles of Bushido, the warrior code of the samurai class, which will determine how history remembers you.
  • Depictions of famous incidents such as the Ikedaya Incident, the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and the Boshin Civil War which followed.
  • A choice of three distinct fighting styles.
  • More to be added.

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Hey there all, long time player, first time poster.

I’ve been playing COGs and HGs for some time now and can’t say I’ve played one I didn’t enjoy (not that I’m trying to butter you all up or anything… honest) but almost as long, I’ve been toying with the idea of writing one of my own. While I was learning the rudiments of choice script I was working on a story in the mold of Rocky/Raging Bull/Million Dollar Baby, but have since set it to one side. Just as well considering I’m seeing something similar in the works.

In something of a running theme the story I’ve started to work on now is similar to one already published and about to get its sequel, because obviously my brain wants to make this as difficult as possible for me. With no more beating around the bush what I’d like to know is would anybody be interested in playing a jidaigeki (period Japanese) styled story considering that Samurai of Hyuga’s second book is already well into development?

More specifically the story focuses on a member of the Shinsengumi during the period of upheaval prior to the imperial restoration in which power was shifted from the military government and returned to Japan’s nominal monarch. It’d be less of a fantastical affair than SoH, sort of a semi-historical novel… book… thing with a tight character focus.

Feel free to ask questions and poke holes in my vain plan and I’ll try as best as I can to answer without giving too much of the potential plot away.

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I’d write what you set out to, regardless of what else is being put forward.

My own story is a wonderful case study for you.

Even though there is an offering almost ready for publication revolving around a tribe and even though there are ten or more WiPs involving gods and goddesses - my work is carving itself out as a unique piece.

You also don’t know if the other projects will be completed… out of the many stories involving gods and goddesses there have been only two published over the years and one other really active WiP.

My advise is to write what you want to and put blinders on with regards to other offerings until you are close to actually pushing it out for publishing.

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like it. Yes please. This is a game that needs to be made

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I’ve tweaked the title of the thread to make it a bit more specific, otherwise we have a lot of “checking interest” threads and little way of differentiating them. Feel free to change the title to something more accurate.

There’s no such thing as an original idea. You definitely shouldn’t let that dissuade you from writing what you want to though. If you want to write a boxing game, write it. Yours will be different from the other boxing game.

Semi-Historical with tight character focus also sounds like it’s something that will strongly appeal to people. There are people around here who love that sort of thing.

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Got my interest! Making these games is tough enough as it is, so please don’t make it tougher by worrying about similar genres or themes. Everyone’s style of writing, their approach to choices and world building is uniquely their own.

So whether it’s samurai, superheroes or pirates, please write what you want to write!

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I’d be interested, but they have to be like the Shinsengumi from Gintama.

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Or maybe the ones from Rurouni Kenshin.

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This should do nicely for now, at least until I have a title that isn’t god awful, thanks muchly.

I think what dissuaded me from the boxing idea was that it had become more like a school project, an exercise, even if it was a pretty cool one all things considered. I might come back to it, in fact I put enough into it that it’d be a waste not to but not just now.

In this instance, I was afraid people might assume I was trying to pull attention away from Hyuga, or sort of cynically stand on its shoulders. At the same time I’d hate to work on a game which no one would want to play cause they were getting their genre fix somewhere else. I’m glad to see neither is the case. In fact it means a lot that you’d take time out to allay those particular fears, Multiple.

As to the characterisation of the Shinsengumi, well you’ll just have to find out :stuck_out_tongue:

Don’t think I’ll be looking for anything for some time Cooper, but you’ll be the first to know when I do.

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I like the idea and i don’t think it has to remember Hikuga . I would certainly love read a more historical style Japanese based game my own knowledge is very foggy. Also how do you want portrait WOMEN is very important to me personally. Do you go for women is a property jailed in home to be used as a exchange or for a more equality style game?

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I myself am no expert, but the mores and morals of the time are predisposed to a very rigid definition of femininity where strong, capable women were the exception and not the rule. There was however a tradition of women warriors in Japan named onnabugeisha who not only fought in battle alongside samurai men, but were in certain cases active in politics. Even in their own time though, women such as Tomoe Gozen and Hojo Masako were something of a novelty.

By the Edo period, the stringent view of femininity was one that went largely unquestioned, but I think the fact that the precedent exists at all is enough to justify a female MC and some more vibrant female NPCs.

Truth be told I think it’s far more interesting to play with the issue of gender inequality than sweep it under the rug in favour of a more uniform experience. I can understand perfectly why some games do introduce more modern values to their pseudo-historical settings, but I think in this case it’s something worth carrying over from source.

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It is some games directly goes you want play as girl in that setting BOOM FIRST SCENE FORCED RAPE OR MARRIAGE like being super gritty and gore against women in general in a violent rape fest orgy. And even if stuff was hard women wasn’t raped each five seconds or wiped and going on. Some racial and discrimination is logical but not becoming it in the violent orgy

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Oh heavens no I’d never write something like that, I’d find the composing of it far too unpleasant. The only reason I can think anyone would write that in to their game would be as a quick fix to create drama and I flatter myself that I’m a touch more subtle.

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I’d enjoy to see this actualized, but on the topic of that I believe that playing as a female with some type of established inequality would be quite an interesting challenge to tackle. Not every society is egalitarian, nor should all of them be, if everything was so cookie cutter cut and dry things would be lacking in uniqueness and as a result be rather bland. Not to say that I do not support equal rights for both sexes, just saying that different cultures have different set standards.
Differences is what causes people to turn heads and become engaged. And to be honest it would be quite a disservice to the history aspect of it if that part was simply ignored. So I’d welcome it and see how the author plans to tackle it in a way for the female MC to maneuver and overcome it.

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Maybe, if the author is an extremely (as in a masterful author) able writer - otherwise it can become too much especially for people who deal with such inequality in real life.

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Of course, at the end of the day it’s all up to the author and how comfortable he/she is on taking on the subject matter. If you’re knowledge isn’t extensive in that area it’s only safe to steer clear away or prepare yourself beforehand (though usually that’s a given).

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The author can confirm that he is not masterful, but he rather hopes he passes muster.

I think for many of the central characters (the likes of Okita and Saito and what have you) it won’t become much of an issue so long as you’re useful, but a few of the Shinsengumi will be a little more uptight. At first anyway. That and there’s a rather interesting scene planned for the late game during the Boshin War which male MCs probably won’t get.

I’ll say this much, I never expected that this would become such a talking point. It was tempting at first to limit the field as with certain games like Guns of Infinity, but I’m kind of glad already that I didn’t.

Edit: Sabres I should say, that being the first.

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Hajime Saito’s in this? Damn, I’m excited. (have you watched rurouni Kenshin by the way?)

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I have yeah, though I switched to reading the manga after the Kyoto arc simply because the anime left out THE BEST part of the story. Watsuki’s work was what got me interested in the period in the first place, whereas before I’d been more interested in the earlier periods such as the Sengoku era.

Saito will be around for most of the story, depending on your choices. I think he’s one of the more interesting characters given what he did with himself after the revolution (even considering he didn’t actually swan around killing burned mummies) and probably one of the few who were actually dedicated to the Shinsengumi’s stated aim without an agenda.

Also, for those tracking the thread, expect an update in the first post with planned features and a proper synopsis and other cool stuff soon. (Totally a professional here, yep, definitely.)

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Everything I learned about the Sengoku era is from shogun 2 total war, um, think what you will about that. On the plus side there was a DLC based on the boshin war, so aku sok zan, right?
Anyways, you seem to be doing great despite this being your first story (I dunno how I know that before you’ve even put up a demo, but I just have a good feeling) and there hasn’t ever been a japanese COG based on actual history so I am very excited. Good luck!

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Aku-soku-zan indeed, nothing can tame a Wolf of Mibu, rawr! :wolf:

I’m hardly one to talk, time was everything I knew about the Sengoku Era was from Koei Warriors games so there’s no judgement whatsoever from this end. The important thing with stuff like this is that you’re interested, doesn’t matter from where that interest springs. I mean how many bedroom Bible scholars d’you reckon the Da Vinci Code created? Pop culture often only takes a flying glance at something (and this folly of mine is of course no different) but inspiring interest in the thing itself is more than enough reason for a story or game or anime to exist.

Incidentally there’s a Sengoku period CS game being planned by one of our members Dylan Gauthier which is admittedly quite a lot more ambitious than mine in scope and deserves some love if you’ve yet to see it.

Incidentally incidentally I’ve updated the original post with some good things, not many but hey I’m still building the thing.

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