Projects

These are merely some of the various art, literature, and software projects with which I occupy my time, in no particular order.



Through the Night, to You

This is my project for NaNoRenO. With relatively limited art, it retells the myth of Tanabata in a way that I hope will be entertaining.

The story concerns a goddess who falls from the sky one summer day, and the cow herder who tries to help her return home.

I hope to capture the feeling of a summer night in the country through this story.



Das Minneschwert
This is one of my more ambitious projects; who knows if I’ll ever complete it…it’s intended to be a dating simulation game with (very simple) tactical role-playing game elements. Also, the characters being pursued are, in fact, males. I don’t much enjoy otome games or yaoi, and wanted to create something with the kind of guys I like.

The central character is a police detective in what is otherwise a fantasy setting, and goes tramping about to arrest anyone looking like they’re about to open the Sealed Evil In A Can. By these means, he builds up a party of those in his custody, who slowly begin to think that he’s not that bad a fellow. The principle themes of the story include forgiveness, memory, and letting go of the past. As might be guessed by the title, there is a strong Germanic influence in the setting.



In The Chaos

Yet another visual novel, this time a mystery set in an MMO. It sets simulation of the actual workings of these games as a high priority, and is intended to match accurately with existing technological possibilities.

The plot revolves around a guild whose leader discovers a strange item, which purports to have administrative abilities to which players should not be privy. The question is raised of whether this is a tongue-in-cheek planned quest or an actual bug, and whether or not these powers should be used. Subterfuge quickly becomes the order of the day, and it is up to the players to decide whether to support an ally in the power struggle, attempt to obtain the item for themselves, work against the entire guild, or something else entirely.



Nakama
A webcomic messing around with the standards and staples of shounen manga (written by someone who actually reads and likes the genre rather than basing the whole thing on a TV spot for the Bleach games.) Long ago, humans lived in constant peril of destruction by monstrous creatures known as kaiju, but a method for preventing these effects was eventually devised. Since then, national borders have been all but abandoned, and for the sake of convenience during maintenance, the world has been divided up into numbered districts, with the borders based on the strength of the electromagnetic field which gives birth to kaiju. However, there are some who long for the thrilling days of the kaiju battles, and who deliberately seek out weak points in the anti-field.
Akashi, a young man of their number, loses his way during one such hiking trip. He is found by Futaba Aoki, a traditional-style priestess who maintains a temple in the tranquility of the forest. She extracts a promise from him to come and talk to her again, feeling lonely with the isolated life she leads.

When he returns, two things become apparent at once. One, Futaba’s brother Hitoha is borderline psychotic and far more dedicated to his sister than any brother should be. Two, their shrine is located on land where the antifield doesn’t work. Specifically, anything said with conviction on the affected ground becomes pathologically binding, to the point where one’s brain and entire nervous system will shut down completely if a promise is broken. Of course, Akashi only learns this after making some very dangerous promises, namely to protect the twins if anything threatens them. Which, to the field, really does mean anything.

Unfortunately, his now-frequent visits to the shrine bring it to the attention of a beauty-obsessed and amoral classmate, who decides to appropriate some of the artefacts being kept in the shrine warehouse. Akashi is forced to fight for the twins’ sake, and over the course of the series, comes to loathe the violence that his oath requires him to inflict.

It’s a very dark story in some places, but ultimately, I would consider it to be relatively idealistic. Too bad my drawing skills are still not so good.



Star Gazers

Yet another visual novel, this time a sci-fi affair with giant robots. Intended as a response to depressing crying games, its story is one of overcoming difficulty through love and persistence. The characters were initially intended as the standard mecha archetypes, but have ended up becoming quite different in most cases…

The current plan includes a gender-selection option, permitting the male or female protagonist to pursue male or female characters.

I have already written or am currently writing a variety of short stories set in this universe, having grown quite fond of it.



A More Distant Light
Basically a short sci-fi story anthology, except with homoeroticism. Because that makes everything better.