Hanako Games

Black Closet - in development

#1 by hanako - Apr 13 2013

9 AM Monday morning. A report lands on your desk: Jeanette's monogrammed silver locket has gone missing. The last time she definitely remembers having it, she was walking in the Field with her friend Susan. Shifty hallmate Ashley had also been admiring the locket recently.

Do you:
Drag Ashley in for interrogation?
Comb the Field for clues?
Try to stimulate Jeanette's memory?
Put Susan under surveillance?

Find the locket quickly, and everyone will applaud your leadership. Be too heavy-handed in your approach, and public opinion will turn against you. Let a thief slip through your fingers to strike again, and the whole school's reputation will suffer.

This is no ordinary high school! Here the daughters of the rich and famous are polished and prepared for their futures on the world stage. Reputation is everything, and the competition is cutthroat... sometimes literally.

---

I've been working on this for a while but haven't said too much about it because I don't have the right art for actual meaningful screenshots at this stage. But this is the Secrets section, so... Basically, this is a mystery-solving game where you are the Student Council President and you assign your minions to try and solve all of the various cases that get thrown your way, while balancing the Council's "karma" (how much people like you - this goes down when you're caught being overly rough with suspects) and the school's reputation (goes down when you fail to solve cases before a scandal can happen).

But, of course, that itself would be too simple. There's more to the story... which you'll find out later.

(link to low-quality VERY VERY IN PROGRESS image, obviously not final graphics!)

#2 by FantasyFan - Apr 13 2013

Oooh, mystery solving AND girl/girl romance? Me interested!

#3 by Blue Rose - Apr 14 2013

You'll have my money.

#4 by Rinvee - Apr 14 2013

Oooh, I'm definitely buying that!

#5 by kyoli - Apr 14 2013

I always like having a male romance option, but I enjoy seeing the stories that go with the females. And I am super psyched about the idea of working to solve mysteries! So even is there is no male romance I am still looking forward to this and can't wait! (I swear I may as well just throw all my money at you)

#6 by witchboy - Apr 20 2013

Wow that does sound interesting.
I prefer a male love intrest (and male x male even better x infinity) but I'm still on board for this - all your games are great, so I auto buy nearly everything you put out anyways.

#7 by Gabihime - Apr 21 2013

Hurrah, finally it's time for Student Council Columbo-chan!

I live for girl detectives, as if that wasn't apparent.

#8 by biscuit - Apr 21 2013

The set-up vaguely reminds me of Dangerous Highschool Girls. O_O

(Not that that's a bad thing, but it gave me a blast of nostalgia)

I'm normally not a big mystery fan, but I've liked your other games, so I'll definitely be trying out the demo when it comes out.

#9 by Benazir - Apr 25 2013

I'm usually not interested in GxG romances. Though ... I really liked Colette in 'The Royal Trap' (probably because she didn't stick into me ... with her lesbian kisses).

#10 by hanako - Apr 26 2013

Some further information and slightly improved screenshots can be seen at:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet

#11 by Gabihime - Apr 26 2013

I really love the style, and think it seems awesomely cute.

I collect vintage boarding school books, so I have no doubts at all that I am going to love this game.

#12 by perch - Apr 27 2013

Oh that looks fun. I like the idea of having so many things randomized, it makes jumping into a new game exciting and fresh while also giving a sense of caution and careful deliberation about the actions taken in a current game.

It does remind me a bit of Dangerous School Girls (I think the overall design esthetic and portraits) and that's not a bad thing as I loved that games look and game play to pieces.

#13 by hanako - Apr 27 2013

I'm hoping it won't feel too much like that game once people can see it in motion - nothing against DHSGiT, I just don't want the games to get confused or people to mistake this for a sequel for that.

Though the author of that is one of the few indies I've met in person and I don't think he'd mind that much

#14 by perch - Apr 27 2013

Ultimately beyond a familiar feeling UI they're different games. DHSGiT was set in the 1920s (including slang and portraits) and duplicated a straight board game whereas this one is set in ? but the characters are written differently and while the pictures look 'ye olde timey' they're not the same.

Looking at the pictures my gut comparisons were:

Picture portraits in frames that look like cards (first picture)
Portraits have pips on them for stats so my brain connected to playing cards
Girls look set in an older time so combined with other two points (though not when I just look at them on their own)


Looking at it again with the dice, folders and case files it's not the same thing, but yeah, I think my brain just did some quick association. If I had to say anything from the screenshots Black Closet reminds me of one of those specialty card games that are a little bit Clue and then expand on it with extra rules and card types mixed in.

Which sounds fun as hell.

#15 by FantasyFan - Apr 27 2013

I totally LOVE what I read in the article (and the game's title). Can't wait!

#16 by DarthSnuggles - Apr 28 2013

Oh, this looks amazing! Looks like another one to add to my queue of "Games to Throw Money At!"

I personally am really excited to see how this one actually plays, because while I prefer to have the potential for romance in a game, what's most important are interesting characters, interesting plot, and fun game mechanics, in roughly that order. I'm really psyched to about Hanako games because they generally don't conform to the standard visual novel format of "read a whooooole lot, get to make a couple of choices here and there." Playing a Hanako game feels like actually, you know, playing a game. And it goes without saying that the characters and storylines in all of the games out so far are excellent.

Also, I'm a huge sucker for games set in a school, because I was home-schooled during my teenage years. I will DEFINITELY be buying this whenever it's available.

Yay!

#17 by marunero - Apr 29 2013

I'm so excited about the next game! The characters' sprites need some work though, so maybe this will be a longer wait... On the other hand, I really liked the sprite for Thais; she looks so BA. I just hope this game won't be as difficult of a game as Long Live the Queen. (>o<)

#18 by hanako - Apr 30 2013

Because I am silly and like to overcomplicate things, we're also working on a second game mode where you can create your own minions. That mode will not have the romance options, but will have some random interpersonal dynamics instead. So if that works out, you can import all your friends and watch them bicker with each other while you order them around.

(Avoiding the romance is not the primary reason for making this mode, it's mostly to avoid the main plot so that you can just play random mysteries if you like.)

#19 by Gabihime - Apr 30 2013

hanako:

Because I am silly and like to overcomplicate things, we're also working on a second game mode where you can create your own minions.

Sounds like I finally have my chance to play the Famous Five. I'm totally just going to name two of the girls Julian and Dick (and another one 'Timmy the Dog').

You have made all my dreams come true.

#20 by hanako - Jun 15 2013

Still plugging away - development of the storyline version is just about to hit a pretty key point after which everything changes, which of course means plenty more work to come.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet/images/case-logfile - developing the look of the "log" where you can check back over your performance and clues for a case so far.

#21 by hanako - Jul 18 2013

Started posting some of the character profiles of your minions:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet/images/altheas-profile
http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet/images/thaiss-profile
http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet/images/vonnes-profile

#22 by FantasyFan - Jul 18 2013

Awesome!

#23 by Wakuseino - Jul 19 2013

Yes, my plan is already coming together... I am looking forward to this game more and more.

#24 by hanako - Jul 20 2013

And the other two girls in your squad:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet/images/mallorys-profile
http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet/images/rowans-profile

#25 by biscuit - Jul 29 2013

Are these files meant more as teasers, or will these be in-game files that will be updated as we go along? Or, like LLTQ, would it be expected/encouraged for players to keep their own notes to understand who's doing what and why?

#26 by hanako - Jul 29 2013

At the moment those are teasers that don't appear in the game at all, just posted as a quick introduction to the cast.

Individual mystery cases have their own logging features (the case logfile I posted earlier) that you can refer back to for helpful notes of who's done what in the problem you're investigating.

Certain details about your minions and their performance are also automatically logged: http://www.indiedb.com/games/black-closet/images/choosing-a-date-for-the-weekend - From that picture you can tell that, say, Mallory is almost certainly not a traitor, because her performance is great. But the others? It's more complicated... and you'll probably want to keep some notes of your own about your suspicions.

Re: Black Closet

#27 by hanako - Aug 26 2013

Added profiles for the other two important characters:

the Student Council's Faculty Advisor

and the Student Council President herself

Re: Black Closet

#28 by Ren - Nov 17 2013

How old is Elsa supposed to be? She looks a bit older compared to the other characters, which could be partly because of the bright red lipstick and the weird shadow that goes in a diagonal line from her nose to the point where her neck line meets the jaw on the right. The shading on her temples, forehead and eyebrow bones is also a bit angular, which might contribute to the impression of her actually being in her late twenties at least. Also, the pen and pencil in particular look very big compared to the folder.

I'm quite impatient for this game, to be honest. I know you're busy with stuff going on Steam and the like but, so far, it looks like it's going to have a very interesting setting. I'm wondering about the way the story itself will proceed, though - if it's all procedural, does it mean that I just play the cases and see the culprit being a different one each time, or is there an overarching story that I can discover and stays more or less the same? I apologise if you've explained this elsewhere, I'm following possible developments for this here and there, in the hope to see updates. :)

Re: Black Closet

#29 by hanako - Nov 17 2013

I'm having my standard luck with artists - the person who did the sprites stopped answering emails after that, so once again I'll have to get someone totally different for CGs. The backup artist, of course, pulled out after only a single sprite. Sigh.

Elsa's 18, but she's a serious sort - and her sprite never actually appears in-game, her image is only a reference.

There are a few elements to the story that stay the same on multiple playthroughs... a general framing structure, so to speak. However, which elements those are won't be entirely clear until afterwards. Some big events always happen but resolve differently from game to game. I can't really explain more without spoilers.

I haven't touched the code for this since the greenlight madness, though. Sometime next week we'll be taking stock on where this is and how to get it into alpha condition (Testable alpha, lacking the romances, isn't THAT far out of reach last I checked, but we need to go over it.)

Re: Black Closet

#30 by Ren - Nov 17 2013

Sorry to hear that. :/ Well, regardless, I have quite some expectations on this game regardless of what happens with the art. It might be because lately I got into bordgames a bit and it kind of looks like it could be a digitised boardgame in some ways... and I'm imagining all sorts of mad conspiracies and backstabbing going on between the girls. But that's because I read too much stuff from Ryoko Ikeda.

Re: Black Closet

#31 by Bunni89 - Nov 17 2013

Darn! I hate when good ideas get delayed or cancelled because members of the team quit..
I wish I could jump in and give you arts but I can't draw anime to save my life! Good luck Hanako, I hope you manage to make this someday!

Re: Black Closet

#32 by FantasyFan - Nov 19 2013

I would totally volunteer to do art if I could draw worth a darn, but I can't.

Anyway, here's hoping you find someone soon. I'm looking forward to testing.

Re: Black Closet

#33 by Ren - Nov 24 2013

Out of curiosity: would the testable alpha be open to the public, provided we preorder, or would it be tested internally only?

Also, as weird a question as it may be: do all the characters wear something similar to Mallory (the only one I've seen in a half-body sprite) or are they all different?

Re: Black Closet

#34 by hanako - Nov 24 2013

Every student wears white, but it's a dress code, not a uniform, so the outfits vary a bit. 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' was the vague style reference.

Re: Black Closet

#35 by Ren - Mar 10 2014

Am I right in thinking that after Science Girls has gone through a thorough last testing and it gets out on Steam and after you rested a bit, more work is going to be done on Black Closet? :3

Sorry, I'm being a typical slave-driver gamer, but I'm really waiting for this...

Re: Black Closet

#36 by hanako - Mar 10 2014

I'm going to feel terrible if you hate it when it's finally available.

And yes. It's the only other real project we have in production. (Being me I have notes and sketches on a thousand other ideas and a couple of silly prototypes but they don't count.) It's just that Black Closet is so technically complicated that it needs Spiky to be able to dedicate a lot of energy and focus to it when adding things, so it doesn't work well in small doses while getting other things done. We did progress a little bit in Dec/Jan while I was waiting on the Science Girls pixel art, and I've been working on relationship scenes, so it hasn't been completely immobile, but we knew we didn't have time to take it to alpha then.

Re: Black Closet

#37 by hanako - Apr 12 2014

Some chibis I had made of the girls to keep enthusiasm up!

http://whineaboutgames.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/motivational-bonus-art.html

Re: Black Closet

#38 by Ren - Apr 12 2014

Cute. :)

Oh, Elsa now has longish straight hair? I was kind of fond of the previous very pragmatic cut (though it was really hard to paint for me...)

Re: Black Closet

#39 by hanako - Apr 12 2014

No, I haven't changed her hair, but the artist said she didn't know how to draw that in chibi style and since these aren't ingame it didn't really matter.

Re: Black Closet

#40 by Oki - Apr 19 2014

Hey no worries fantasyfan I've been offering to draw Hanako art at a discount for years and she hates my style too much to accept lol! She's a ninja with artists.

hnnngngngh I'm in such withdrawal I am going to buy this. Cause I can't NOT buy one of your games

Re: Black Closet

#41 by marunero - Apr 25 2014

Hanako, do you ever hire the same artist after a game? I would really like to see either the LLTQ or the Royal Trap's art style again. Although that really doesn't fit the image of this game. I also really liked the art from Bionic Heart 2...

Re: Black Closet

#42 by hanako - Apr 25 2014

I'm lucky if I can keep the same artist through one game. In fact, to date, I don't think I ever have! Even LLTQ I had to hire a second artist to do the stained glass windows for the update release because the character artist did not have time for the schedule I needed.

Quite often I work with people who are young and haven't yet found fulltime employment, and when they do, their availability is drastically changed. Even adults may change careers. I know at least one of my former artists decided to devote himself fulltime to science and not do art anymore.

And then there's the times when people just decide to stop answering my emails for no reason, and I have to quietly rant about it.

The artist who stepped in to complete the CGs for TRT after the first artist vanished is the same who did the CGs for Date Warp, so it's not like I never work with the same people, it just often isn't possible. Especially since I don't make new games very often, so there's a long, long stretch of time in between me wanting projects in which any freelance artist would have to go off and find other gigs. I've actually had artists write me wanting to offer work and I've had to explain that I didn't have anything for them to do at that particular point in time because no project was at the right stage to take on a new artist.

(Bionic Heart is not my game, so I don't actually know who the artist is.)

Re: Black Closet

#43 by hanako - May 2 2014

Some news on status -

Althea and Thais's "path" scenes have been written and implemented, at least the first take of them.

A rough take on the Climactic Boss Battle has been written. It's still buggy and being polished, but it is playable (and beatable) which means it is now technically possible to play through the game and get to the ending.

Epilogues not done yet, other girls paths not done yet, lots of art not done yet, still a good ways to go, but it's been a week of feeling like things are finally moving.

Date Warp was greenlit but hasn't been touched yet because we wanted to get this past another milestone first before looking at it (and the artist isn't available until next month - I want at least one new CG for the new version and I'm trying to get it from the original person). I have a couple of people working on new art for the trading cards, which will also be packed into the base game as unlockable art so that people who aren't on Steam can see it. I am hoping to get some of Date Warp's GUI redone as well but I can't start that until Spiky has had time to do a code check.

I am also working on an updated release of The Royal Trap. That's not something that will slow anything else down, it's pretty much just slotting in some art, once the art is done, and fixing one or two bugs. I'll show some screenshots of that later when it's further along.

Re: Black Closet

#44 by Ren - May 2 2014

I'm crying tears of joy.

And when it's done, it's time for smutty tasteful teaparty fanart.

Re: Black Closet

#45 by chudah - May 2 2014

Have you considered putting TRT on Steam? With how many visual novels have been getting Greenlit these days, I think it might have a decent shot. Plus, I would love to play the game again with achievements and cards.

Re: Black Closet

#46 by hanako - May 2 2014

An issue for another topic I think.

There are several reasons why it's not listed there at the moment. We'll revisit that when the new art is done.

Re: Black Closet

#47 by FantasyFan - May 4 2014

Excited! Very excited!

Question, when Black Closet is ready for testing, will we be able to purchase the Alpha version for a discount like we could with MD and LLTQ?

Re: Black Closet

#48 by hanako - May 4 2014

Probably, although I'm considering whether I should do something sneaky to ensure that people doing so ACTUALLY test the game.

(Not because I want to be mean about people getting discounts, but because these games are super-complicated and really need a solid testing.)

Re: Black Closet

#49 by Spandex Faffy - May 5 2014

So maybe like some sort of deposit that you get returned if you are active in testing and bug reports? I wouldn't mind that too much. Personally this solution seems pretty cool as those who are just buying it just to have an early copy end up getting it with a slight markup and those who will actively test will get a nice discount and will be able to help the development of the game they are enjoying

Re: Black Closet

#50 by hanako - May 5 2014

Probably too much work to set up, though. We'll see.

Re: Black Closet

#51 by phoenixgirl - May 5 2014

I don't preorder games often but when I do, I honestly don't want to put in the work to test it. I buy it early to get the discount and then just wait until the final game is released to play it. There are most likely others who have the same thinking.

Re: Black Closet

#52 by hanako - May 5 2014

Yeah, and that's the problem, because then it gets released broken and everyone whines about it. And the people who didn't want to test it STILL end up facing bugs and crashes in their 'finished' game, that we didn't know about because we thought it was tested...

This is why some companies have gone the other way around and are charging *more* for the pre-release version, to ensure that only people who are invested are going to take part.

My favorite solution would be to have some sort of bonus that is only available to people who download and play the game during the testing period but then I'd have to figure out what that would be. Dunno. Got more important things to worry about at the moment!

Re: Black Closet

#53 by Ren - May 5 2014

And that is why professional game testers are quite valuable. :P

You don't necessarily get OCD people to test your game, make repeat play-throughs, make testing plans, art checks etc. etc. The only "valuable" thing I can think of, for those who might care, is to put people as testers in the final credits, perhaps, but I got the impression that anyone who plays the game before it's out gets that privilege anyway. The problem for a small company is that a tester doing proper testing would end up costing you quite a bit, in the end, the pro is that a real tester is quite good at hunting down bugs, providing steps to repro, feedback and suggestions and all that stuff.

Re: Black Closet

#54 by FantasyFan - May 7 2014

Well I can say this - should the pre-release version be available early for a discount, I PROMISE I'll make the best effort possible to thoroughly test it.

Re: Black Closet

#55 by Troyen - Jun 7 2014

One thing some of the older Mac game companies used to do (when shareware was more popular) was send out free license keys to the really active testers during the beta to encourage people to actually test the game, but that was before the pre-release purchase model.

Re: Black Closet

#56 by hanako - Jun 7 2014

It's not really a big deal, I'll probably do what we always do, although of course people who speak up during the testing period have more ability to sway the way things go, so clamoring for certain features or harem routes or whatever might get better results then. But first we have to get that far!

At the moment I'm midway through writing Mallory's story - and Spiky is flapping about in despair trying to figure out if he's been chasing down a blind alley codewise for the past few months. Cross your fingers.

Re: Black Closet

#57 by FantasyFan - Jun 9 2014

Can't wait!

Re: Black Closet

#58 by hanako - Jun 17 2014

Mallory's story is prelim-finished, will probably pick up at least one more scene at some point though.

The remaining paths are slightly more complex: both Rowan and Vonne may end up having two entirely different paths each. However, one of the versions may be quite short, it depends on how it works out in writing. May also need to throw in some more 'no path' scenes so people who ignored or broke all the possible relationships still at least see people occasionally!

Spiky also has to get some features working before any testers can be let in. When the first testing DOES start, the art will still be full of major holes (the CGs at least will be missing, and it's possible there may be other changes) and new case-content will continue to slowly pour in. This thing is SUCH a big complicated mess of noodles.

Re: Black Closet

#59 by FantasyFan - Jun 17 2014

I'm still in to help test it. Your games are awesome.

Re: Black Closet

#60 by Ren - Jun 17 2014

hanako:

This thing is SUCH a big complicated mess of noodles. :)

Awesome noodles! I'm quite thrilled work has resumed on it. :D

Re: Black Closet

#61 by hanako - Jun 24 2014

One weird path written in, it came out fairly short. She should get a bit more in her other path.

Re: Black Closet

#62 by FantasyFan - Jun 24 2014

A weird path - now I'm curious.

Re: Black Closet

#63 by hanako - Jul 31 2014

Rowan's path basically done now - need to finish some additions for Date Warp before writing Vonne though.

Re: Black Closet

#64 by FantasyFan - Jul 31 2014

Yay! Making progress, making progress.

Re: Black Closet

#65 by hanako - Oct 23 2014

Rough end of Vonne's path written (some extra bits for the epilogues/etc still to write but those are quick)

There is a working tutorial.

Major game areas not yet finished: the savegame system is only half-complete at the moment, the beginning-of-week calendar hints haven't been done, Vonne's path hasn't been imported yet, epilogue system hasn't been written, one plot-critical case needs to have some options rewritten, some extra game balance elements need to be added, options screen and ability to change difficulty hasn't been touched yet, probably more things I haven't thought of at this exact second.

Also, I need to hire another artist for the CGs.

Re: Black Closet

#66 by Ren - Oct 23 2014

Too many CGs? :P

Waiting for it! I'd try and apply for the position, but I'm not sure I'm meeting the bar.

Re: Black Closet

#67 by hanako - Oct 23 2014

No, it's more the usual problem of artists flaking out and disappearing. People get busy with other things, especially when a game's got a long dev cycle.

Re: Black Closet

#68 by Ren - Oct 23 2014

Do you have an ad anywhere? Just to see the requirements and stuff, at the very least I'd like to use them for practice. :D

Re: Black Closet

#69 by hanako - Oct 23 2014

Not yet. Juggling too many things atm.

Re: Black Closet

#70 by hanako - Nov 17 2014

Save system should be complete, with some tweaks that make it friendlier than most RenPy games (cutting down on saving over games when you meant to load, for one thing), week-start calendars and hints are in, options and title screen are in, difficulty settings are adjustable although we didn't mention them in the tutorial so you kind of have to know they're there, epilogues are starting to appear. If I weren't going to a convention at the end of the week I'd say we were near alpha but because of that it'll probably be early December? Or maybe the end of November but we'll see.

Re: Black Closet

#71 by FantasyFan - Nov 18 2014

Still anxiously anticipating this game!

Re: Black Closet

#72 by FruitySnooty - Nov 28 2014

At first, I wasn't really that hyped about this game - but man, I'm really hyped now lol. Perhaps I'm not really one for GxG games (straight female here yooo) but if it's made by Hanako, it's going to be amazingggg. Eeee, I'm really looking forward to this game.

(Also, happy late Thanksgiving for those who celebrate! If not, happy holidays to y'all.)