And We're Back (With Extra)

Firstly, after such a long hiatus we've returned. With the help a few more people. Although by few, I mean one for sure and maybe one more.

Our newest member is coming onto the team as both an artist and as my mentor:
Sticky-Dice

Before introducing everybody on our team, this is a sample of an in-progress title-teaser-trailer (thingie) for a current project that is on hold.

Back to the topic of our team.

Powered-Up Studios (as of now) is made up of four people:

Aerozoeth - Co-Artist, Co-Programmer, [Writer]

I handle some art, programming, writing, and the general direction of workflow.

ChaosLord121 - [Programmer], Co-Writer

Our lead programmer. He's just starting out with Python but we've entrusted it to him and I will also be working with him in Ren'Py.

Saint Jax - Back-up Artist, [Musician], Co-Writer

The music man and one in charge of anything audible that enters our project.*

Sticky-Dice - [Artist], Co-Writer

An amazing artist who is serving as our leader in terms of visuals. I work with him on concept art and general designs for the project.


We look forward to working with everyone and I hope you enjoy what we do as much as we enjoy doing it!

My next post is going to feature some bits from our current project as well as the story so far.

* - "This ish is awesome." - Saint Jax

Hard Reset Overview

Emptiness...
An unfathomable emptiness...
However, it is an uncommon form of emptiness.
For as I open my eyes, I see...
Light.
A blinding light, whose origin remains a mystery, encompasses my being.
Questions race through my thoughts: Where am I? How did I get here?
As I trace through the knowledge stored within my mind, I stumble across a much more disturbing question:


"Who am I?"

Hard Reset - An abrupt shutdown of a system in which upon restart, can cause permanent corruption or loss of data or memory. This corruption can cause the system to remain unable to start, and requires the data to be recovered or replaced.

Introduction

     Having just woken from a coma induced by a vehicular accident three weeks prior, Lyric Dendrite is at a loss for words. And also his memories. All he can recall upon the point of regaining consciousness is a dream. A dream about a girl, who can only be described as Angelic. This Angel reads Lyric a story, a story surrounding two children, lost in the Woods, and their journey following a path of breadcrumbs. The Angel is required to leave, but promises Lyric that she will return. Following her departure, Lyric regains consciousness.

     Bad news is worst received after having woken up from a three week slumber. Informed of his mother's passing that occurred during the crash, Lyric is unable to feel sorrow. Instead, he feels anguish and frustration. For he can not remember this woman whom birthed and loved him, gave him reason for his existence; he remains incapable of remembering her, no matter how hard he tries. A thorough look in mirror explains his loss of memory: a healed scar that belonged to one of the injuries he sustained during the accident.

     Released after days of recuperation, Lyric meets his Uncle for the first time. Again. Uncle Bill enrolls him into West Mountain Academy High School (as Lyric and his mother had only moved to the city two months earlier), and prepares him for the upcoming school term.

     Lyric spends the rest of his summer trying to decipher his own mind, in hopes to rediscover even a glimpse of his past, as well as trying to explain to himself the purpose of the storytelling Angel that comes to visit him in his dreams at night.

     Nervousness strikes as Lyric stands at the front of his driveway. He tells himself to calm down, wills himself to. However, his composure escapes him each time his thoughts wander about the upcoming school day. How should he act; naturally, maybe? This proves to be a troublesome question as one can not act naturally if recollections of their own nature has escaped them. Was he popular when he was in school? Did people like him? He pushed these thoughts away as he further examines his surroundings. Down the street, also waiting for the bus, stands a girl. The girl notices his curious gaze, and quickly faces the other way. As Lyric prays that this isn't the reaction he'll be receiving from everyone he meets this day, the yellow bus arrives in front of him.

     With a breath to help ease the tension and break the hesitation, Lyric takes a step forward, fully prepared to enter his new life.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Overview

     The story of Hard Reset revolves around Lyric as he attends West Mountain Academy. It tells of the people he meets (which includes four girls that will be fully introduced in a later post), his recollections, and his actions as he furthers the relationships with each person he encounters. Whom is later revealed to have a certain secret that remains to be discovered, and with each discovery, allows Lyric to better understand who he himself really is (or used to be).

Wrap-Up

     Not all the information here is set in stone; later on I will propose the story to a VN community, and see their reaction. I fear to enter the VN-Dev IRC... because they're brutal in there. However, it's for the best, since, well it's true when it's said that people should be critical about only the things you are doing wrong, rather than what you feel is right.

     If you have any comments, suggestions, questions, anything, send me an email. I'm always willing to accept and respond to constructiveness.

~ Thank you for reading,

~ Aero

From Scratch...

Bear with me for awhile as I set up the blog's looks and gadgets. I have absolutely no experience in CSS, and am planning on working with it this week.

It's interesting though, and I'm grateful for the links to tutorials and training pages provided by Blogspot. I'm sure, though, that what's covered is nowhere near the limits to CSS, and I plan on exploring them further on.

I probably should have taken a closer look when I was glimpsing through that Dreamweaver 'how-to' manual. Well here goes nothing!

Welcome to Powered-Up Studios

Good Morning Everyone (it's 12:43 A.M.),

     This blog is to keep track of the ever-so-absurd antics of Powered-Up Studios, formerly known as Broken Helmet Productions. So, welcome if you're new, and hey again if you're not. Originally, I was planning on keeping the name of my old production handle, however, I feel it's time for a new look since I am now furthering myself later in life. Thus:

More maturity, more seriousness.

(Nah, just kidding.)

In any case, I'll be posting any news or updates about projects that we (meaning mostly me) are currently engaged with.

That brings me to the main subject of this post: Hard Reset
(Actually, I needed to see what was changing with what when customizing the template settings, but that's a secret.)

Hard Reset is an Original English Language Visual Novel (OELVN) that was officially conceived on May 24, 2012. I'll post all about it in a separate entry later (preferably after a night's rest).

The team for this project consists of three people:
Myself - I will be handling the story, scripting, and art.
Saint Jax - He's dealing with music.
ChaosLord121 - Official beta-tester as well as support role in story events and judgement calls on developments.

Any support is appreciated if you're interested; however, the only person we need at the moment is an artist.

As I progress with the development of Hard Reset, I will gain experience and knowledge necessary to become an average script-writer as well as artist. The project in itself, with complete seriousness, is an endeavor taken with absolutely no starting experience whatsoever in scripting, as well as a minor basis in art. Despite this, I am giving my full effort to produce noteworthy results.

The team aforementioned is heavily based on myself, simply because I've just moved to Colorado from Georgia. I have no acquaintances at the moment, and am looking for help wherever willing and available.

Anyways, wrapping this up, I hope you enjoy following along with us as we reach for the stars in order to attain our (very ambitious) goals.

~ Thanks for reading,
~ Aero