OS-tan Visual Novel!

[Chocofreak13]

no, the teacher said it was fine, and even encouraged it. considering he's allowing people to team up for the final project, he's fine with me presenting something that's a team effort. as for it being not complete by that time, he said that people are allowed to present sketches and concept if that's all they have and it's strong enough. if i can get screencaps, even if it's just of the coding process, that'll be golden and likely net me plenty of extra credit. >w<

so we left off with xp going to either the living room or front/back yard. where should we go from here?

[Aurora Borealis]

All I have for the front yard option is the time frame where Vistan will be cleaning up litter. I'm improvising here, and been a lot, but maybe this option is also an opportunity for other OS-tans to show up, possibly as guests?

Like I'd imagine Linspire-tan and Linux XP-tan being available in another time frame, and fangirling over XP-tan if she's outside at that time. And Linux XP could also offer her services as the professional XP-tan impersonator and do some chores for her... but at the cost of Linux XP getting caught by one of the other Windows-tans because her disguise isn't perfect, and XP-tan getting scolded for hiring a double, which is a sign of unreliability or something like that.

For the backyard, I don't have anything until 3.1 and DOS going there at 1 PM. :-/

[Chocofreak13]

well, going to the backyard at the wrong time is still a way to kill time.

as for the LinuXP idea, i like it, though i'm wondering if scolding is the right route for if they get caught. i imagine plenty of confusion if both are seen by one person! @__@

also, if the option to hire LinuXP as a double isn't chosen, and the character gets knocked out, perhaps LinuXP (disguised as XP) could be the stand-in for the incapacitated XP? i imagine it might make things go a tad smoother as XP not attending the talks might be seen as rude. ^^;

[Aurora Borealis]

Good idea! Not sure if Linux XP and XP would show up in the house at the exact same time. Maybe if XP invites her over, there'd be the option for XP to tell Linux XP to not show up in disguise to prevent confusion and potential chaos. As a guest in the Windows house, Linux XP could be helpful, but if she gets overenthusiastic, she risks annoying everyone and overstaying her welcome.

Maybe if XP is incapacitated, she'll get a phone call from Linux XP-tan. Normally, XP-tan is annoyed getting calls from her, but asks her a favor and promises to pay her for it. Linux XP would eagerly accept! If that happens near the end of the game, the player would get an okay ending because although the meeting went smoothly, XP wasn't there for it.

There would be some time-wasting pitfalls. If XP goes to the front or back yard when nothing is there, it would be only a few minutes wasted though. When programming, I did add in the option to go to the dojo when no one is there. Those time-wasters might add up!

[Chocofreak13]

i imagine they would. it's like in FF7 when the reactor's about to blow, and you decide this is a great time to train. ><;

so after either assigning 98 to go to the store or not, what options should XP have?

[Aurora Borealis]

If XP assigns 98 an errand, 98 SE asks if she can go with.

a. If XP lets her, 98 SE will be happy, but XP will have one less potential helper around the house.
b. If XP doesn't let her, 98 SE will be sad, and while she could help around the house, she will antagonize Homeo, and become an antagonist if not supervised.

Either way, XP will also think about who should tidy up the living room, since she'll let 98 (and also 98 SE if she goes with) get ready for her errand(s). When going back to the living room in the afternoon, she may request that whoever is there tidy it up.

At any time between 11 am and 1 pm, XP can take a lunch break, with different options (note: these options aren't finalized):
a. order pizza
b. cook ramen (this ends up being a time-consuming option because XP gets carried away and puts a bunch of ingredients in it because plain ramen isn't enough for her!)
c. raid the fridge for comfort food (only if XP is in a bad mood- she may end up eating the ingredients needed for dinner!)
d. eat ice cream

To me, XP-tan doesn't seem like the type who would eat healthy unless nagged by 2k-tan.

Also in the afternoon, XP (and ME if she's tagging along) goes into the bedrooms and picks up clothes that are on the floor and takes them to the laundry room, where she'll request for someone to do the laundry. Adding to the challenge of assigning tasks is that many of these tasks will happen in the afternoon, some at the same time. The laundry will also need to be put away before guests arrive. Of course, if ME is tagging along, XP can ask her to do the laundry, but would you trust her to operate the washing machine or dryer?

XP doesn't need to worry about assigning making tea, the snacks, or dinner until later in the afternoon. But it may be better to assign those earlier in case something goes wrong on the first try (i.e: XP can't control herself and eats the snacks)

[Chocofreak13]

giving XP the option to assign the tea earlier and then later sounds like a good idea, since multiple options gives the player more challenge as to what to assign first.

i think letting SE go along would be the better option, since XP has a wide range of people who would be willing to help. plus, the last thing XP needs is SE bothering Homeo. >>;

speaking of Homeo, when XP goes back inside the house, what if Homeo was in the living room with whoever was in there before? She could ask him to tidy up the living room, since he's used to tidying up after his sister Homeko anyway, and unlike most of the helpers available to XP, Homeo is a reliable, hard worker who's not crazy. :3

[Aurora Borealis]

Sounds good, and don't you think that if XP asks Homeo to tidy up the living room, she'd be more polite about it than Homeko? From what I've seen, Homeko sounds like the pushy type, but Homeo is all too used to that (akin to Puma putting up with OSX's and Cheetah's pushiness). Maybe there could also be the option for Homeo to tag along like with ME?

What I have for this so far is:

-Homeo gets up at noon to eat lunch. Afterwards, he is in the living room with ME-kun. Homeko is there too pestering them about ideas for her next yaoi doujin, and wants Homeo and ME-kun to model for her -- this is if Homeko got up at noon. While she'd like to get more art supplies, she isn't freaking out because she realizes she has just enough to finish her current comic.

-If Homeko was woken up at 8, she's still pestering them, but also freaking out about the approaching deadline and fearing her art supplies won't last her much longer.

-XP-tan and ME-tan can, and should intervene. It would be better for them to ask Homeo and ME-kun to tidy up the living room since Homeko would be too distracted at the time (however, she could do another task later).

**If XP assigned 98 to buy art supplies for Homeko, 98 will return to deliver supplies to her, and Homeko will be busy for hours working on her latest manga.

Any suggestions? I quickly thought this up.

[Chocofreak13]

i like the options laid out. no offense to Homeko, but she seems like more of a liability than an asset, so methinks distracting her with fresh art supplies would be the best option in this case.
as for asking Homeo and ME-kun to tidy up, that seems like the best option here, since both are polite, reliable, hardworking, and neat. :3
i was going to suggest Homeo tagging along, but was worried that having 2 helpers might be too much. but since you like the idea too, remember that i'm thrilled with it. ^^

if 98-tan wasn't assigned to get art supplies for Homeko, the player should find another thing to distract her with. maybe putting up decorations would be a good idea for her? or making/ordering lunch for everyone. :3

[Aurora Borealis]

Yeah, Homeko would be a liability. ^^

I'm stuck at the moment, I can't seem to come up with much between 10 am to noon in the XP scenario. Sucks that I could come up with stuff for the morning, and stuff for the afternoon, but not in between (and because of that, when testing out the game programmed so far, I can't get very far). >_<

Need to think of some events, tasks and distractions.

[Chocofreak13]

by now, she's probably seen 98, SE, and Vista already. if she has both Homeo and ME in tow, she can begin her search for people to help with the tasks. if she hasn't seen 95 yet, she could go searching for 95. she could also assign someone to clean up from breakfast, if it was made, and to start on lunch once they're done.

she could check the rooms upstairs to see if anyone's still asleep. she could go outside or maybe look for Inu-T (letting Inu-T run around alone likely isn't a good thing, since if Inu-T's bored or lonely she's more likely to get into trouble).

if all else fails (and you feel like writing up an extra place), XP could go out and run an errand herself. :\

[Aurora Borealis]

When planning out the events, and how long they take, I can't seem to get further than 10:30-11:00 under the quickest scenario (i.e: ME doesn't make a mess in the kitchen, the argument between 95 and XP in the kitchen or dojo ends quickly and civilly). Most of the events so far don't take that long, and I don't know if I can stretch them out. :-/

Good idea suggesting that Inu-T needs to be supervised, and if possible, XP may try and find a task for her, or find someone to play with her (this can include guests). If XP meets Vista in the front yard while she's picking up the litter, I envisioned having Inu-T with her playing fetch. But Inu-T would wander around- some characters she wouldn't do well around, such as DOS because she's so shy and hardly talks, and 3.1 because she's kinda distant and hard to approach, and she'd fear disrupting Homeko while she's working on her manga! (imagine the consequences!!)

I had in mind the kitchen being mostly clean after breakfast except for all the dishes piled up in the sink- the dishwasher would need to be unloaded, and the dirty dishes put in, which can be done right after breakfast, or later. I also thought of XP having a lunch break on her own instead of a family lunch being planned, but maybe both can be done, since XP has the appetite for both!

[Chocofreak13]

XP's like a hobbit. second breakfast and all. :3

well, maybe it would help to list who would be left to talk to at this point? 2k-tan and NT-tan are busy, 98-tan (and potentially SE-tan) is at the store, Homeko's asleep, 2k-kun's at work, and Homeo and ME-tan are following XP around. who is left, where are they at this point (let's say 11am), and what is left to be done?

[Aurora Borealis]

XP and Vistan are engaged in a rivalry when they meet. Inu-T would need to be supervised. Not sure where 3.1 and DOS would be and what they'd be doing at the time, but neither of them are very talkative anyways.

Homeo and ME-kun don't show up until at or after lunch.

So the first thing XP would do in the morning is just talk to everyone, assess the current situation, and think about who should do what essentially. It'd mainly be in the afternoon when she does some chores (such as patrol the house, particularly the bedrooms picking up laundry, and assign tasks to others while she's busy, such as clean the kitchen if it hadn't been cleaned yet.)

======

Before continuing with this, maybe we should map out what characters may be doing throughout the day:

ME-tan: First appears in the kitchen, trying to cook breakfast if she's alone, or assist 95 if she's there. She will ask if she can tag along with XP after breakfast, since she knows about what XP is trying to do.
   -but what if she doesn't tag along? I'd imagine she'd spend a lot of time playing with Inu-T and keeping her busy.
   -choosing whether or not to have ME tag along has its trade-offs
   -yes: XP will have someone to count on to help her with tasks, but Inu-T will be prone to getting bored or lonely.
   -no: One less potential helper since she'll spend a lot of time keeping Inu-T happy. I'd also like to think she'd tag along with 98 and 98 SE at times, she seems to be close to them.

Homeko:Would first either wake up at 8 if XP woke her up first thing, or get up at lunch time.
-if she was woken up at 8, she'd be freaking out about running out of art supplies (I see Homeko as not being a morning person, and wouldn't be in her best mindset in the morning), and would raid rooms looking for some. Of course, XP would have to clean up those messes. But if she can catch up to Homeko, she can scold her and tell her to clean up the remaining messes she made!
-if she got up at noon, she'd be calmer.
-either way, after lunch she'd be pestering ME-kun and Homeo about getting them to pose in yaoi situations for her comic!
-I think she'd be oblivious to the meeting, being caught up in her latest comic. However, I think she could be assigned to do the decorations because she likes to draw.

95-tan: First seen either in the kitchen or dojo, at about 8:30.
-kitchen: She is cooking breakfast, and knows about the meeting, which she wants to lead the arrangements for. While competent at those tasks, there is the risk of her scaring the Macs away, and that risk is unacceptable so XP has to limit her influence for the sake of the meeting! **I don't know where she'll go after breakfast in this option.
-dojo: She is sparring solo at this time. She doesn't know about the meeting, but when she does, she gets hotblooded!
   -there is the option of having XP watch her train for an hour, which makes 95 happier and more agreeable.
   -if ME is unsupervised, they run out of the dojo to the kitchen and have a mess to clean up!
   **not sure where she'd go after breakfast in this option either
-if first seen in the kitchen, she'd train in the dojo with 95-kun in the afternoon
**she'd go back into the house at some points, but not sure what she'd be doing.
-Has the power to break up conflicts, but scares those involved! Maybe XP can ask for her help?

3.1 and DOS: First show up at 8:15 in-game, watching TV. XP has the option to watch some TV with them.
1:00 - 2:00: They are in the garden.
-If the conditions were met for 3.2-tan to visit, they will spend time with her from 2:00 - 4:00

98: First seen and talked to with 98 and 98SE in the living room after breakfast.
-if Vistan was woken up by XP, she is playing video games with them.
-else 98 and 98 SE are playing with action figures.
-Can run a morning errand before running another at noon.
-When she returns from her noon errand, she can help with tasks and be assigned one.

98SE: First seen with 98.
-If 98 is assigned a morning task, there is the option to allow 98SE to go with her.
-If she does, she'll be happier, else she'll stay at home and torment Homeo and possibly ME-kun if not supervised by someone!
**Not entirely sure what they'd be doing when home in the afternoon, but they'll be available to have a task assigned to each of them.

Inu-T: Gets up early in the morning and wants to tag along with Inu-T and 2K, but is sad that they're busy.
-Is first seen watching TV with 3.1 and DOS, but is sad and doesn't really know how to talk to them.
-After breakfast, she is outside with Vista cleaning up litter.
-If ME isn't tagging along with XP, I think they'd spend a lot of time in the back yard.

[Chocofreak13]

after breakfast, i can picture 95 in the front yard, sweeping the porch or something. she might be a good candidate to watch Inu-T, since she seems to be good with the younger os-tans. either that, or she could cook, or potentially help with decorations or cleaning. she seems to be the most versatile in terms of tasks that can be assigned to her.

98 and SE would also be good candidates to watch Inu-T. considering they're of similar age, but slightly more mature than Inu-T, they seem like they'd be great to watch her. :3

when it comes to OSes that don't have a task assigned and you don't know where they are, what if we assigned a default action for them? for instance, if 95 isn't assigned to be doing anything (or isn't scheduled to do something specific, like cook breakfast or lunch), we could have her be in the dojo, training. it makes it easier on the player to find people, yes, but it's also easier to plan. :3