Welcome to Otome High!

A school for people interested in making cool games, specializing in otome style games! If you're interested in taking part, look at the links on the bottom of the page.

[ritualsofsin]

[otomehigh]

Thoughts

Dear Diary,

Geez. I have a lot of stuff to talk about today. Wow. Where to even start.

Okay first off one of my old game reviews was found by a classmate. And... it was one of my more embarrassing ones. It was for a Ren'Py game called Save the Date and... I had a lot of criticisms about the game. I didn't necessarily say them in a polite way either. I really didn't want that to come up here at school, I honestly came here to learn and not really try to act like I knew anything about games. Still, I guess it could have went worse.

I finished my first play through of the Game Magical Diary. My first thought through it was 'wow this plays really similar to long live the queen but not nearly as violent or exciting.' Then I saw Hanako Games and was like 'ohhhh okay. Fair enough.' It's what I'd expect from a game made by a real pro company with multiple employees. Lots of... stuff. In some ways that's really good! There were a lot of different stories that I could play through depending on my decisions and stuff. There was a lot to do. At the same time, I felt like the biggest weakness of the game was that you had so much stuff happening but no real overarching plot. A lot of stuff is introduced and then nothing comes of it. A huge chunk of text is given over to talking about witch immigration and First Nation witches and stuff, but there's no native american characters at all and as soon as it's mentioned it's forgotten. Empty exposition. I'm also super tired of magical characters being a stand in for oppressed ethnic groups. And some of the plot elements about the whole science vs magic thing felt anemic and badly executed. Still I really enjoyed playing it!

Playing it got me thinking of why I choose certain media when I want to make something, like specifically when I want to make a story. I do a bunch of stuff with stories and I realized that choice in media sort of determines not just how someone engages with it, but also what they're actually engaging with. Like, this is the chain of thoughts I had.

I want to make interactive fiction and otome games so that the player can engage with an alien experience and context on their own.

I want to make tabletop role playing games so that the player can engage in an act of purposeful narrative creation.(preferably with me)

I want to make books and comics so that the reader can engage with my own specific thought processes. 

And so on.  I never know if writing these sorts of things out do anything for me as an artist or as a creator, but I  definitely keep doing it! Alright journal, that's enough from me for the night. You take care!

-Gregg Ulundi, Nov 20 2014

[otomehigh]

Choices

Dear Diary,

I applied at a temp service today. Well, yesterday. Fuck it's late. Anyway I'll be taking work anytime that I'm not in class. I feel weird about it. I told myself I wouldn't do this to myself but I mean. Circumstances dictate decisions.

Good news! Um... I used the loci method for the first time to memorize a paragraph and it worked! I know my teachers don't really care about me knowing pieces from a 1981 report on projected environmental changes in 2000 but I mean... I can use it for other stuff. The important thing was I made up a mnemonic and it worked! I can hopefully apply this to other stuff!

I dug deeper into branching my story. Teacher said I might be going a bit ambitious for my first project, which I probably am. I probably should knock a few endings off. I probably will. I came up with a few neat ideas on how to use color to illustrate a specific feeling I want to get across(hopefully I'll have some stuff to show soon!). I feel happy with my progress, but I'm also feeling a bit lonely. I hope I meet someone around here soon I can talk to about this stuff.

I started to think about my twine project too. The teacher said since the system itself was so simple, we should spend time trying to do something outside of our comfort zone, do some research and stuff. That got me thinking about some stuff too...

I also found myself getting wrapped up in a strange train of thought on my way back to my room. Like, I've always loved all kinds of games. Lots of games. And I started to wonder what the choice of game I want to make means about how I want to interact with people. I'm not sure if I have any real answers yet, but I feel them sort of bubbling under the surface. I sort of feel like that in general. There's a bunch of ideas inside my head not quite ready for me to see them. I just have to be patient, you know?

Well I should probably sleep at some point. I might get called in to work tomorrow! Wish me luck, Diary!

PS started playing a steam Dating sim called Magical Diary. Will keep you updated

-Gregg Ulundi, November 19 2014

[otomehigh]

Sloggin

Dear Diary,

Today... bluh. Today had a lot of stuff in it. Looks like I'm gonna have to take a seasonal job on top of studying. Things are tight with the fam... like last year. And the year before that. But I mean hey! Hardship's just a way to gain story grist, y'know. That's what I'll tell myself... everyday. For the next few months anyway! School stuff!

Finished all the basic modules for Ren'Py today! It feels good. I look at my notes and I say to myself 'that is knowledge.I can do stuff with these facts.' I mean stuff is mostly 'change the size and color of text and fool around with some other parameters.' Still!I actually got super excited when the teacher passed out the supplements. The color chart's gonna be mega useful, I'll have to see if I can find someone who can help explain color theory a little better to me!

I had an idea for a game that could help test all the different transition types we learned. Like it'd be a thing where you're chasing your love through different worlds or universes, but you're not sure which of the people is your love. Another idea for the idea pile. Thinking about things like that makes me think of how many other dudes have been in my position. Like. They learn one new feature they can utilize so all their brain is thinking of is ways to incorporate it integrally into game play. It's neat to consider!

We're going to be moving onto scripting in earnest tomorrow and I am /excited/! I'm not the most intuitive programmer and I have no art chops, but I can write and I am gonna and everyone is going to love it!

Okay I think that's enough for today I can feel my eyelids trying to pull themselves shut. I might have some stuff to show you next time, diary! Until then!

-Gregg Ulundi, 17 November 2014

[otomehigh]

Fired up!

Dear Diary,

So I'm not sure if it counts as 'coding' but I wrote my first few lines of dialogue in ren'py today! I also turned in my concept for the game I want to make this semester. The idea sort of came to me when I wrote the title, which is weird because that almost never happens to me. I think the title's pretty weak but hey, I got a game out of it!

It's called "Brown Glass" and I'll talk more about it when I have most of it written out. My teacher recommended that from here I need to start figuring out what elements I'll need to tell my story. Like backgrounds, character portraits, props, sound effects. She said I should try to keep this list as small as possible because of my schedule.

I'm grinding through the reading and taking notes on everything Ren'py. I can already feel myself itching to make something more robust than what these basic lessons will teach me to do but I gotta reign that in! Keep it simple, keep it small, focus on the details.

This is it though! I'm actually making a game and I'm that much closer to being able to make the project that I want to... just have to keep pushing. Talk soon, Diary! 

PS- Replayed kindness coins to get me fired up about Ren'py. Uuuuugh that game is so pretty. It helps to know that craft and good writing can make even short pieces really meaningful!

-Gregg Ulundi, Nov 17 2014

[otomehigh]

Signing up for classes!

Dear Diary,

Today's the day! I'm gonna be figuring out which classes I'm going to do for this semester. Uuuuuugh I'm so nervous I got like, a liter of ginger ale with me right now! 

I think I'm going to study Twine and Basic Otome games. Start slow, you know? I love Starcourt by Auntie Pixelante, and the beginning material on Twine is written by her! I'm going to have to make a game for both of them by the end of the semester. Uuuugh thinking about it makes me want to puke again but I have some ideas for both.

It's interesting to see how people take notes in class... a lot of people use computers which I guess makes sense, since we're here to make games and stuff. Others write in notebooks, there's even one person using a big sketchbook! She probably is taking a lot of illo classes this semester too. 

Personally, I use these little gridded flipbooks I get at Staples. They don't always have them and that really makes me mad! But they're kind of perfect for me because I like to divide up the page almost like I'm making a character sheet for an rpg or something haha. Little lists of different things. Notes are really important, and how you write them and how you preserve them really influence how you can draw stuff from them. It's all about systems, you know?

Speaking of which, I'm going to have to start transcribing my notes on these two systems I'm learning about. Till next time, diary!

-Gregg Ulundi, Nov 16, 2014

Class Materials

How To Make Games With Twine by Auntie Pixelante

How To Make A Simple Otome Game

[otomehigh]

Dear Diary

Since this is my first time writing, I feel like I should introduce myself. My name's Gregg Ulundi! This is my first year at Otome High. I can't believe I got in! 

It's weird to think of the journey that's taken me here... I've always loved writing and games, and you know how there's a point in time where you realized that like, people /make/ those games you play? And if you want to, /you/ can make those games for other people to play? Hahaha! It's sort of crazy.

Ummmm... I sort of feel like I should say some stuff about me so I can look back on this when I graduate and stuff. I can't believe I'm writing this I hate nostalgia! Anyways... I guess my favorite game maker right now is Christine Love. She's really amazing and Digital is one of the most amazing aesthetic experiences I've ever had. She's also a really interesting figure cause lots of people who are against the things she believes still concede that she's amazing at what she does. She's too good to ignore, how cool is that?!

I like books, videogames sometimes, architecture and urban planning, my family, and cooking! I want to make games that make people think about people living lives they've never considered. That's sort of my goal!

I hope I meet a lot of friends here at Otome high! I bet there's lots of cool people here wanting to make their own amazing games!

Talk to you later, journal <3

-Gregg  Ulundi, Nov 16 2014