OS-tan Visual Novel!

[Aurora Borealis]

I know that have been several attempts or proposals at an OS-tan game, visual novels included. I made an incomplete experiment in Ren'py a couple of years ago, and put the idea on hold since I struggled to come up with a premise. Ever had that feeling where coming up with even an excuse plot is hard? @_@

This afternoon, I got a tremendous burst of inspiration to start an OS-tan VN, of which I've started coding the framework for!

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Premise: The Mac and Windows families are about to arrange a meeting, which must go well since a lot is at stake for both sides! An uneasy armistice if broken can turn into another OS War or at the very least be a painfully awkward meeting!

Protagonist: You can choose to play as the following characters, each with their own scenario.

Windows XP Pro-tan:
Among the obstacles she must overcome:
   1. Must prevent 95-tan from arranging the event; she'd get too hostile
      -must also prevent ME-tan from arranging the event; she'd end up messing up somehow
   2. Must also prevent herself from eating all the food; she must keep busy!
      -eating all the food will lead to a bad ending
   3. Sibling rivalries with Homeko and Vistan
      -Homeko doesn't like that Saseko wants her to be on her best behavior today! That means no messing with Homeo!   
   4. Carefully assign tasks:
      -if ME-tan makes the tea, the stove will explode or something will catch on fire.
      -don't let 95-tan be the one greeting guests! however, she is the best at making tea.
      -keep 98SE-tan distracted so she doesn't torment Homeo
      -ME-tan has to do something; XP-tan doesn't want to hurt her feelings!
   5. Keep household quiet so NT-tan can rehearse what to do for her ambassador role
      -failure will lead to a bad ending

Mac OSX Tiger-tan:
Obstacles:
        1. Must prevent the OSX-kuns perverted antics from disrupting the peace
      -must also make sure who deals with them does so constructively!
      -maybe let System 7-tan deal with them? She could do so just by politely asking! (but if you do that, who'll do the other tasks?)
   2. Sibling rivalries with OSX-tan and Lion-tan. Must prevent her own temper from getting the better of her!
   3. Don't let Leopard-tan snoop around with everything
      -i.e: When System 6-tan is cleaning the house using some robots she built, Leopard-tan tries to take the remote controller from her because she's really curious how it works. If she gets the remote, she might accidentally press the self-destruct button! (which would of course lead to a bad ending!)
   4. Carefully assign tasks:
      -don't let Puma-tan cook; she's a lethal chef!
      -don't let System 5-tan greet the guests; she'll pull pranks on them!
      -don't let Cheetah-tan decide what to wear for the event!
   5. Keep household quiet so Rhapsody-tan can rehearse
      -failure will lead to a bad ending

Windows 95 OSR 2.5-tan:
Being an unsupported Windows-tan who lives on her own, she is very vulnerable to malware-tan attacks, and will need an ally she can team up with so she can get to the Windows House safely. If she makes it safely, she has to be careful not to screw up in front of her family!

A/UX-tan:
Unix factions are fighting when she just wants to stay neutral, she will need an ally to help her stay out of the crossfire. She doesn't know about the meeting that will be at the Mac House in her scenario, will she be prepared?

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I have it arranged so that there are 2 Windows-tans and 2 Apple-tans; one of each in their main factions (Windows Family and House of Mac respectively) and one of each in the Wanderer Class. The faction-aligned protagonist (XP or Tiger) must arrange the meeting and motivate their family to cooperate; the wanderer protagonist (OSR 2.5 or A/UX) must make it to either house safely.

The wanderer OS-tans will need an ally with them (who will also be a wanderer OS-tan), some more helpful than others!

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I'd like to make this a collaborative project, starting with the dialogue and scenarios. After those are done, I'll be prepared to do the graphics and coding for them.

[Chocofreak13]

this sounds so cool. i love those random bursts of inspiration that lead to stuff like this. (this is how 9/10 of my comics came to be. :3) that said, kickass man.

do you need any help with anything? i'm willing to do art, but since i'm outshined by some of the other people here, i'm also willing to do voiceover work, if that'll help. ^^

[Aurora Borealis]

Thanks!

I like your art style, and I probably will need help with the art given the difficulty of this project; there will be so many characters to draw! Haven't considered doing voiceovers, but if those are done, those will have to be done near the end of the project. Right now I need help with the story itself, which I'll handle mostly one scenario at a time to prevent overload. ^^;

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Here's the beginning of the XP scenario:

An establishing shot of the Windows household fades into view; the scene shows it's morning time.
The scene fades out to black.
XP-tan being quietly woken up by 2k-tan.
2k-tan and the background fade in.
XP-tan is surprised, asking what the occasion is. 2k tells her it's the day of the meeting.
XP freaks out for a moment, forgetting. 2k understands; she was going to start preparing for the event earlier, but had been too busy; among the things she had been doing earlier were fixing the microwave after ME-tan heated up some soda in it, and clean up the mess.
XP points out that arranging the meetings is usually what 2k does; 2k says this time she's too busy helping NT rehearse.
NT walks into the room, greets XP, meekly says she has a lot of practice to do.
It's fairly early in the morning, and most of the Windows-tans aren't awake yet; 2k and NT entrust XP-tan with also keeping the household quiet so they can rehearse for the meeting.
Something about XP's and Vista's sibling rivalry should be pointed out; Vista appears later in the story as an antagonist, since
she was hoping to be picked for the lead role as an attempt to redeem herself. 2k was reluctant to pick sides, but felt like she had to.

After 2k and NT leave, XP fades into view and introduces herself.
Transition to next scene.

After XP gets up, she goes to the living room, where 3.1, DOS kitty and MS DOS are watching TV. XP chats with them (well, with 3.1-tan) , they say they're the first ones up in the morning so they can have some peace and quiet. They know of the meeting, but are apathetic towards it. However, they might help XP-tan later on depending on what decisions she makes.

[Nichi]

If we have narration, I could read it...or attempt to do the voice of one of the ladies xD

[Aurora Borealis]

Possible auditions in a voice acting thread?

Any input on the first scenario so far? If the start of the XP scenario sounds good, let's decide what events, and possibilities happen next. I'm eager to get back to programming this once I get some more input!

[Chocofreak13]

i like it so far. ^^ i'm curious to know what XP would have to do to get the DOS Trio to help her, but i imagine that's thinking a bit far ahead. :3

considering she's already destroyed the microwave once this morning, i assume ME-tan is already up. and it's reasonable to expect the resident yamato nadeshiko (read as 95-tan) is up, likely practicing her katana swing in preperation for the Macs' arrival. but i would assume that Homeko would still be asleep, along with Vis-tan, Nanami, and any OS-kuns that would be featured.

maybe there could be an option on who to wake up first?

[Aurora Borealis]

The DOS Trio would help XP-tan if she keeps the household quiet enough; they like their peace and quiet after all!

I haven't decided if ME-tan would still be asleep or not. If she's one of the first awake, she'd probably be trying to help someone with housework, but she wouldn't yet knowing about XP's plans. If ME finds about the plans, she will frequently beg her for a role to help, any role! XP-tan would have to find a role for her, but would have to pick very carefully. Not helping ME-tan might give Vistan another reason to justify antagonizing XP-tan!

Bwahahaha! I'd expect 95 to be one of the first to get up in the morning; either practicing her katana swinging, or cooking breakfast. Maybe I could make that a list of story-affecting choices! If 95-tan gets carried away with what she's doing (she knows of the plans and wants to be the leader, because she's the most experienced with family politics; plus she makes the best tea!), XP would have to carefully stand her ground. Of course, XP-tan has her own impulse control issues, when it comes to food!

Sounds good that for simplicity's sake, most of the others are still asleep. I like the idea of choosing which one to wake up first, as that could affect how the story plays out. Any suggestions for each of the characters if XP wakes them up?

[Nichi]

I just read over it, and I like it so far. Not sure of what I can suggest to work in at this point, but I'll point out things as you go along

[Chocofreak13]

me thinks that Homeko is not a smart choice to wake up first. :3 she seems like the type that likes to sleep in. as for Vistan or Nanami, Nanami seems like the safe choice in this, given that she's so perky anyway. (plus, she's too new to be angry at anyone. xD ) if the player picks Vistan first, i don't expect any giant repercussions, but it would probably be slightly less favourable than waking Nanami first.

as for the OS-kuns, i can't give you a personality reading unless we determine who's going to be there.


if we're going for every subtle nuance possible, we could have some thing early on effect what 95 is doing; if XP runs into her in the kitchen, i imagine that the butting heads would start there, since if XP doesn't see her till later in the day, she'll have already started the preperations, nullifying any arguement 95 would have about taking it over.
(also, i imagine that a catastrophic failure of keeping 95 out of it could result in an early loss for the player. xD )

as for ME-tan, i think 2k's excuse of cleaning the microwave implies that ME is already awake; if the microwave accident happened the night before, what would stop 2k from cleaning it then? As for what ME is doing, it could relate directly to what 95 is doing; if 95 is cooking breakfast, ME could be attempting to help, or waiting for food, if she's practicing her swings, she could be attempting to cook breakfast by herself or watching tv with the DOS Trio (or whatever scenario you see fit here, etc).

[Aurora Borealis]

@Pentium: Okay!

@Choco: Sounds good with the wake-up choices.

Yes! What time of the day XP meets 95 would be very important!
-In the morning, the player decides whether 95-tan is in the kitchen cooking breakfast, or training in the family dojo. If she's in the dojo, the player chooses whether XP visits her then or not.
-95-tan doesn't want to completely concede, she still wants to do something leader-like. In the best-case scenario, XP is able to help 95-tan do so in a constructive way.
-Yes, there's potential for a bad ending early on if the worst choices are made!

I had in mind cleaning the microwave and the mess as having happened the day before; today 2k is helping NT-tan with rehearsal. There could be an option of having ME-tan in timeout for messing up like that! XD

ME-tan trying to cook breakfast, with or without 95's help sounds like a good idea... err... story-wise.

[NejinOniwa]

I totally missed this. Now I'll need to practice dat voice... :3

[Chocofreak13]

whether or not XP takes the time to help ME prepare breakfast could have big repercussions later. xD i'm picturing that if ME is left to her own devices, there will be egg yolk over the walls and celing....

if 95 is in the dojo and XP visits, that could have a positive effect, since it shows that XP still wants 95 to help, but by taking the initiative of going to see 95 asserts herself as the leading role in this case.
also, since 95 wants to take a leaderly role here, i think the best option for her would be preparing the snacks and tea. Of course, there will be other options, such as having her answer the door..... ^^;

@nej: who are you going to play? you'd probably be perfect for the mac catboys. :3

[NejinOniwa]

That was my thought, but there might be some unexpected cameos in the Windows Mansion, too...

HUHUHUHUHUHUHUH

[Chocofreak13]

think you could pull off homeo? aurora mentioned he might have a cameo. :3

[Nichi]

If Nej can't do it, I could attempt doing a voice for Homeo :3

Who better to provide the voice of the crossdresser of the OS-tan universe than the OSC's resident trap?