Akihabaka Day 5: Visual novels and you.

Hey guys, Calvin again.

This giveaway, is a bit different from before. The winners will not be announced until August 7th. The reason for this is, this isn't a simple giveaway. I've finally crumbled, and after much deliberation, I have decided to recruit here for my on-going visual novel project. When my site launches in early August (sorry for the delay) I will give you a sneak peak at what we have done so far. In fact, I'll post some concept art right here.

Right now, we are in need of staff, we are starting a simultaneous second project, and its gonna require some dedicated staff. Artists, editors, illustrators, and even sound mechanics.

Winners (recruited members) will receive lots of premium priced figures for free. So long as they work for the project, they will continue to receive more. I know its sounds really stupid to pay you guys in figures but the project has been in limbo for a long time and I want to kickstart it again. Also, I don't know if Danny will read this, but if you do, please promote us! Your help would be invaluable. I've contacted you before, but with your busy schedule, it's understandable that you wouldn't have time for us.

I guess before you decide to apply, I should tell you a little bit about the game. We are Akihabaka, formerly known as Satellite-Stage. Our visual novel is called, "Tsubasa no Negai" or "Winged Wishes". It's plot is around a certain university junior (You) and in your first year, you meet of interesting people. This game isn't like Clannad or other visual novels you've played. There is no fantasy element, magic, no paranormal stuff. It's as realistic as it gets. That isn't to say there isn't any drama. It's also as dramatic as it gets. That isn't to say, there's no humour or tomfoolery either, it's also very funny and enjoyable. This game was orignally for the iPhone, but we have now focused onto the iPad as the main platform. (There will still be an iPhone version...and possible an Android version too) We are Apple approved developers.

Now, a little bit about us. We are a bunch of students (some of us has graduated) that put our own sweat and blood into this project. What we have done so far is...

Art: 10% (Backgrounds are coming along well, characters on the other hand....)
Music: 90% (Music is our forte, I have a composer that actually lives in Tokyo and is making beats for us)
Sound: 0% (Unfortunately we haven't done any ambient effects nor sound effects yet, won't be a problem, music person can do these when the music is done though.)
Story: 50% (Most routes are finalized, we need editors, date/time streamers and possibly some material updates)
Programming: 75% (The game engine (completely in house) is mostly done, some stuff needs optimizing, and several features needs to be added.)
Localization: 0% (Game is completely in english as of right now, no one on the team is fluent enough to convert it to Japanese...again, not a priority though.)

Current staff member count is 5.

Me, Executive designer, character designer, BIG BOSS
Leaf: Writing assistant, dialoguer, person that whips me around to do more work.
Noah: My composer from Japan, hardest working guy of all time.
Karen: Art person that does the character/stock/cg art.
Vinh: Background artist, does beautiful paintings too :3

WHERE DO I COME IN?

Our biggest biggest gap that needs to be filled right now are more character artists and background artists. Sever lack of artist means severe lack of ...work. I have been browsing figure FM for a while now and I have taken note of some members that could be of help. I won't actively ask them to join us yet, but this post is a chance for people I have NOT seen yet, to ask me about our project.

Our second biggest need comes in the form of localization/and voice actors. Ideally, you'd be the same person. Can translate the game into Japanese and also speak with an effective and diberate tone. We need voice actors, would be of major help if we had some for the game.

Lastly, we could use some help on the programming front. Everything is basically done, might just need a debugger or two to preview the engine before we release.

WHY SHOULD I HELP AKIHABAKA?

Well...many reasons. Figures, for one. I treat my staff very nicely. I'm more of a friend than boss. I give them free figures. I am also very jolly. In all seriousness, there are many reasons. For one, a lot of you want to break into the otaku field. What would be better than to make your own game/manga/anime and have it provide food on the table for you? We are all serious about working on this project. It's way more than just a hobby or game to us. We fully intend to let Akihabaka become our career, and eventually, break into the Japanese market. It sounds hard, farfetched, maybe even impossible....but what if everyone thought things were impossible, they'd be no progress. Winged Wishes, or any subsequent game/app we release can be put on your resume. Having a released game/software on your resume is also big bait for many companies that are hiring people with experience, and of course, I will be your reference.

HOW DO I APPLY?

Same as usual, shoot me an email: info@akihabaka.com add me on msn: synsationATgmailDOTcom even send me something on twitter!

And now...a sneak peak. And yes, I plan to give ALL of those away.