I decided to make this a general MoaCube games thread in case they release more visual novels, but let's face it, this will mostly be about Cinders. Cinders! It's awesome. It's beautiful. It's $22.95, but it's worth it. What is it? An updated and much more feminist retelling of Cinders. No more is Cinderella the passive little Disney princess we've known her as. Nor is she even the slightly-passive talker-to-birds from more modern adaptions such as Into the Woods. No, here she's full of character and life as she tries to take control over her life, possibly befriend her stepsisters, and maybe even accept her Stepmother. Or not. What does it look like? Seriously, this game is gorgeous. Also, those backgrounds? They're animated. What does it play like? This is a visual novel, so you watch dialogue scenes and you make decisions. But oh, what decisions. There's an unbelievable number of points where you can make choices, and each of those choices feels like it has a definite affect on the gameplay, or at least character development. To help you keep track, there's a very helpful branch icon that appears whenever you're in a scene that could go differently depending on decisions. How many endings are there? Officially they say there's 4 endings with variations, but I think that's underselling it quite a bit. These aren't the "did I succeed at my job" kinds of variations. Basically, each ending is grouped into a category: there's one for if Cinders becomes Queen, one if she runs away and escapes, etc., and while the different endings are variations on these themes they are also undeniably their own ending. Running away with one of the guys definitely feels like a different ending than escaping on your own, for example. Wait, guys? What guys? It wouldn't be a Cinderella story without some guys to romance. You can go for the classic handsome prince, who's more interested in political negotiations than falling in love; his faithful captain of the guard who is becoming outmoded in this new world of spies and intrigue; or your childhood best friend, now grown up and managing his own shop. Or you can say to hell with it and not romance anyone. Again, choices. So why should I play it? Why shouldn't you play it? Do you have something against good games? Do you hate fun? But I don't have any money! Well, lucky for you, there's a demo on their website you can play to get the feel of the game before deciding to buy it. You can also read more about the game here, and see what the press has to say. I cannot discuss things without seeing them in video form! Well you're in luck!
They are also a very friendly and open studio; the lead developer is very generous in terms of sharing his experiences and giving advice to less experienced indie developers. They are transparent about their creative process (just check this post for how they plan their branching narratives!), and their blog is full of interesting essays for people who are interested in visual novels and how to make them. They even mentioned this very forum (the Cinders LP, to be precise) in one of their posts about the reception to Cinders! You'll also be pleased to know that they're currently working on another visual novel with the same staff, so that's definitely something to look forward to! (See this post for some gorgeous concept art!)
First ending I got was Machiavellian Queen and True Love with the prince. I wonder what that says about me...
Hey, one of Cinders developers here. Just found about this thread and it totally made my day. Thanks! Much love to you, people <3.
I loved Cinders, it's the only commercial OELVN where I felt it was not only really, really worth paying for, but really worth recommending to just about everyone. Plus it has the potential for one of the best endings I've ever seen. If I could figure out how to properly screenshot Ren'py games rather than doing the printscreen thing I tend to do, I would try to complete an LP of it.
Cinders was made in GameMaker, not Ren'py. I recommend downloading IrfanView for screenshotting; it's free for non-commercial use and really convenient.
You're welcome! I saw your posts in the Cinders LP and was hoping you'd see this. Thanks for the awesome game.
The only problem with that is I think it gives you a timestamp? Which wouldn't look pretty for LP purposes.
Since I'm here, I may as well let you know that Cinders is 50% off till the end of December. You can even buy it as a gift for someone else from now on :). We also introduced an option for those who would like to support our studio during its growing pains. More info: http://moacube.com/news/cinders-december-sale/
I should totally buy it for all my friends as a Hanuka presents. Saves me looking for socks and sweaters! The thing I like the most about the game is how Cinders's personality changes depending on the choices. It makes each playthrough different, rather then a game of skip-till-new-content appear like most VN are. It's so cool to have a bit of roleplay introduced into this familiar formula. The graphics are also absolutely gorgeous, I sometime just stop and look the backgrounds for a while, everything is so preeety.
I just got the ending where she gets her stepmother arrested and basically becomes her. I thought it was very well done, because when I started out my feelings were "This will be perfect! She'll get her comeuppance, I'll get the house, and everyone will Love Me." And then the actual story progressed and I could see how she was slowly becoming just as bad, and I was not surprised when she ended up ruling with the same iron fist. Also, the animated backgrounds are completely mesmerizing.
All those endings where we realize that Cinders is in fact not that different from Carmosa are my favorite too. That's an important point of the game for me.
Oh man, Cinders looks really awesome. I'll totally get it event- Ohmygosh 50% off until end of December... but I'm getting a new computer next month! @_@ Conflicted feelings are go. You know, I found that gif by chance and I'm not 100% sure, is that Amu from Shugo Chara?
BUYYYY IT. I just bought it because 50% off!! I assume you can redownload the game? Since some people might get their downloads interrupted and what not.
It's Amu indeed! Man, it's been so long~ I love Shugo Chara, it's fun, although I wish it came out a few years earlier, when I was slightly less perverted and thus slightly less obsessed with seeing Ikuto sneak into Amu's bed. Also, I wish I had her clothes. Where does a an elementary school kid find clothes as cool as that? Um, anyways, Cinders! I always recommend buying everything you want and paying your dues later (IN HELL) but it might not work everyone. Still, I'd say it's worth the money, and also my Polish heritage urge me to reminds you that one is not to sniff at 50& off.
Luckily for you, you're in a forum filled with armchair designers. Seriously, if more stores had comfy chairs to sit on while you browse, they'd totally get more sales, at least from me. I often wear shoes that hate my feet and don't wanna go into a store because I rather sit somewhere. Something to think about, people who run stores!
I do have an actual thinking chair though. It's a creaky office chair that I love spinning on. I usually don't get much done on it cause I'm spinning too much, I just know I'll break it some day
I love, love, love this game personally. I'm excited to hear about a new Visual Novel project from MoaCube as well! I've gotten probably like 75% of the endings. Maybe at some point I'll finish it off.
^ This. And even if the link expired or you lost the purchase email, just let me know and I'll send you another one.
I just want to say that I love the concept art sketches for Moacube's new visual novel project. They have a very Norwegian feel to them. They remind me of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, one of my favourite folk tales (though apparently the project isn't another fairytale adaptation). I'm looking forward to learning more about it.
We should be able to announce it later this month, after we're done with some missing materials. In general, it's not a fairytale adaptation, but a sort of fantasy crime mystery, set in a city in the middle of a frozen desert. We also want to up the ante a bit in regards to presentation. Have animated characters, more lively backdrops, stuff like that.
Ooooooh, that looks so cool! And it's a mystery! I love it! Who are the two player characters (or can you not say yet)? Can you switch between them? I'm really looking forward to this. Totally buying it day 1.
One protagonist is a doctor on a contract, who starts investigating the missing local archeologist out of boredom. The other is a mysterious woman who just arrived with the last dog sled caravan. The game switches between them as the story progresses. Though, it's not said that both of them will see it to the ending. That depends on your choices :).
We released a short video presenting Solstice in motion. We're especially curious how you like the animated characters. I think they add a lot, but there's the risk it looks too jaggy. By the way, I kinda feel wrong turning this thread into our promotion channel. If you think it's not okay, let me know.
I'm not sure what to think of the animated characters. I do think they look a bit jaggedy, but that's just in the small promotional videos. I don't know what I would think when actually playing the game. I think the biggest issue might be that visual novels players are used to the "change pose at meaningful line of dialogue" way if doing things; when I was watching it I was trying to match each movement to the new word appearing instead of taking the animation at a whole and applying it to the sentence. It might be an acquired thing, though. I'm very excited to learn more about Ghede! I have no problem with you telling us about your new stuff; I think it makes sense and is appropriate here, as opposed to, say, doing the same thing but in the LP board. You're still discussing MoaCube, even if MoaCube is you? But I don't have a mind-link to Elyscape's brain so I can't speak for the mods.
Thanks for feedback :). I think it might actually be an acquired thing. I have no problems watching fully animated characters in Ace Attorney for instance. I think the trick is in making the pose change significantly, but the animations within the pose remaining rather subtle so they are not too distracting. Jaggedness may be a bigger problem and we may have to simplify the animations a bit to avoid it. Thanks again for your opinion. Also, apparently now we're sexist and racist for having a sensual character and a black character in our game. Just check this youtube comment. Argh! :(
Why have I not seen this thread before? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? I love fairy tales, or rather the deconstruction of them.
I just published the first part of Cinders postmortem. A sort of self-review where I pick our own game apart ;). http://moacube.com/blog/cinders-postmortem-1-the-game-itself/ Part two is coming in about two weeks and will talk about the business and production side of things. I hope you'll find it useful or at least interesting :).
Hi, guys! :) I finally published the part two of Cinders postmortem, so if you are interested in the business aspects of indie dev, check it out. Here's the link: http://moacube.com/blog/cinders-postmortem-2-production-and-business/ Also, we're strongly considering making a sequel to Cinders with Sophia as the main character (more info on our tumblr). On one hand, it's very appealing for us -- we've got the world and characters that we feel strong connection with, so writing should be easy. On the other -- sequels are tricky. It's always walking the thin line between fan service and fan betrayal, and we'd really rather want it to be its own story. If you have any thoughts on it, I'm all ears (eyes?). :)
