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Kickstarter!
Thank you to everyone who backed the Kickstarter and made it a success!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/70918517/my-little-dictator-a-battle-visual-novel

Download the pre-alpha demo:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/g1ibcdn5djjbd53/My+Little+Dictator+Demo-1.0-all.zip

Plot
The world is on the brink of war. Tensions brew as the Europa powers prepare themselves for war. The treaties of the past have failed. The young leader of Germania, Hitora, finds herself drawn into battle. She needs a strategist. A man with the knowledge to help unite the continent under one banner. Yamato, a brave General from the Empire of Nippon, is summoned to her side. Can Yamato take on Hitora's vast enemies; the sly Cyrano, the wise Churchill and the devilish Starin? Or will the world be plunged into further tyranny and darkness? Battle on the side of Germania! Conquer and expand into new territories! Fall in love! Capture the world and the hearts of girls!

Backgrounds
Original backgrounds are being created for the game by Badriel.


About
The idea for this game was influenced by a manga doujin - “Transformed into Females!! Biographies of World Dictators” published by Ikaros Publications, which features works by artists Nisieda, Takeshi and Miki Nonohara who created about 70 images of the dictators: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2012-12-03/world-dictators-transformed-into-moe-girls-in-book. The first illustration in the doujin is one of Adolf Hitler, gender-bent into a pouting girl. Holding a brush in one hand, a pallet in the other, this brutal dictator was transformed into a sweet-looking tsundere - proof that the Japanese really can make anything look cute. But why stop at a static image? What if there was a visual novel where you win Hitler's heart and go on to take over Europe? What of Stalin and Churchill? If you can create a dating sim involving pigeons, or a battle game where the object is to not be raped by monstergirls, why not try something like this? A romantic visual novel with battle elements! (I was also on a GuP high at the time I thought of this. It's the brass band music, I swear...)

Team
DesertFox - The main dev for the game, responsible for the writing, programming, advertizing and GUI design.
Collateral Damage Studios - Responsible for the main character sprite art, chibi art and CGs.
Badriel - Responsible for creating background art.
Ievgen - Responsible for the pixel artwork.
Belgerum - Responsible for the music.
Leet Music - Responsible for the OP theme song.
Blue Wolfie - Responsible for the ED theme song.
LOOKING TO FILL - Responsible for the battle engine.

Gameplay
The game has several elements to it. A traditional visual novel format has been incorporated for character interaction. The main battle system is a turn-based grid battle in which your infantry, tanks and planes battle in an RPG style against enemies. There is also a one-on-one battle system used for mini-boss and boss battles along the way. A map system is also used but it is very basic. Some countries are easier to take than others so there’s a recommended path to follow if you intend to win this fictional version of history, and the game in this sense is very much linear. The object of the game is to defeat the three Allies, Britannia, Franzo and Sovia. Each enemy will vary in difficulty. You have allies to assist you in warding off enemies, as well as neutral territories that you can claim as a buffer zone against them. As you battle through zones, you will find yourself growing stronger. Placed in between battles and victories, are tender moments between yourself and the dictators.


Links
Website: http://war-girl.com
Forum: http://innomenpro.com/forums/index.php
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wargirlgames
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mylittledictator
Wordpress: https://mylittledictator.wordpress.com/
KS Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0PXvoLNBjQ

This sounds really interesting. As a history buff, the idea that you could change the events is mega intriguing. I mean, what would have happened if Germany won? I really like the idea of leveling up and the one on one battles, especially with "tender moments between yourself and the dictators". I like this a lot.

It's difficult to look at this story idea and not think of Axis Powers Hetalia, which began as a webcomic and became a multimedia franchise. Obviously, you want to create a unique story, and you have your own plans for art style, themes, and so on. Just make sure that My Little Dictator is easy to distinguish from other stories with moe anthropomorphism, especially about World War II.

Creating complex stories and gameplay are admirable goals. *Completing and releasing* them is the difficult part. There's a lot of half-finished and never-finished visual novels on this forum, including a few of my own. My advice...

* Do you deeply care about your story? It helps if you're passionate about your characters and their world.
* Be sure that you're prepared to commit a lot of time and energy to your project. Especially if you plan to release this as freeware.
* Keep the scope under control. In other words, decide if you want to focus on gameplay or your narrative, and get that part done first.
* Give yourself goals and routine deadlines. Don't stress yourself out, but make sure that you have some self-discipline. If your project goes on hiatus for months or years, it will likely never be completed.

May I ask what role certain events during WWII will play into this, if at all?

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Reader Beware!


The Haunting of Blackbird School: In Progress

I support:
[broken image removed]

Ohhh gosh. I did not click on this expecting to see Stalin and Hitler as teenage girls.

Good luck with development! Is this supposed to be a comedy?

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Commissions Open!
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No need to fret. I've created many games before under different aliases. I've chosen a new name as DesertFox since this game may be considered more in bad taste than my other ones, due to the fact that the object is to help Hitler win the war. I've already done quite a bit of work on this; I wouldn't have made a WiP thread otherwise. I'm definitely planning to finish this game, although the timescale may change. Right now it really relies on whether I can work out how to design a tilemap based system or not.


It's still a bit up in the air. There are certain events that have to happen before real gameplay gets under way, such as the invasion of Czechoslovakia and Poland. After that, it's a little less certain. Creative license will definitely be taken, but I need to research more fully how Hitler could have successfully won the war, rather than just deciding a route for the player. I still plan to have desert battles with Rommel guiding you, and snow battles in Scandinavia (almost going down the path of Mario with Grass world, Ice world, Lava world, Boss, rinse and repeat). It also depends on whether I can incorporated a tilemap based battle system as well as a one-on-one. We also see a little of Yamato's fighting in China through flashbacks.


It's supposed to be quite lighthearted. As you point out, it's teenage female versions of WW2 leaders - how could anybody try to make a drama out of that? I'm aiming for lots of fun moments, some rather sweet intimate moments and some surreal and ridiculous stuff - for instance, every now and then there's a short cutscene involving FDR talking to an agent who's trying to convince him to get involved in the war and... well there's a lot of silly stereotyping. I'm aiming for a mixture of discussing strategy and battling one moment, and trying to win Hitora's heart and dealing with teenage love the next.

Heh, somehow I'd adore seeing Mao Zedong as a little girl in there with a strong admiration for Starin. Cannot have enough China.

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Commissions Open!
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I mainly meant, well...the not-so-cute moments of WWII.

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Reader Beware!


The Haunting of Blackbird School: In Progress

I support:
[broken image removed]

This is where it becomes quite tricky. At the moment, I've chosen not to make any direct reference to the Holocaust or other such atrocities. In the same vein as other moe-incarnations of German soldiers, war is the main focus - strategic and noble, fighting for a cause. I'm trying to get players to want to fall in love with Hitler, not feel uncomfortable (which they're bound to feel a little anyway). Perhaps the yandere element will be played on, but those particular events... I don't really want them to be played on. You could argue that it's immoral to not mention it, but it's probably immoral to be making this game in the first place. I'd rather just do something creative and leave it up to the audience to decide whether it's wrong or not.

Why not just make a game about cute girl dictators without referencing to Hitler?

Every dictator's responsible for some atrocity. Besides, the game I want to make is a game of Hitler.

Thought so, just don't really understand why. The only thing you seem to gain is displeasure of people whose families suffered from Hitler / Stalin (doesn't seem like here are any but still)


Pixel ones hurt pixel people while real ones not so much

I'm curious because apart from that I find the idea very interesting.

Looking forward to this one. I was sold on the parody idea alone, but the battle system should be fun too.

Best of luck to you; it looks great so far.

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"I was never crazy about Hitler...If you stand on a soapbox and trade rhetoric with a dictator you never win...That's what they do so well: they seduce people. But if you ridicule them, bring them down with laughter, they can't win. You show how crazy they are." - Mel Brooks

I've always thought that arguing against an idea only gets you so far - there are a small number of people who will believe anything, no matter how irrational. But if you can just openly mock a viewpoint, then nobody wants to be associated with it - and that's how evil memes die.

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"Do good work." - Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
Code > Drama

Not necessarily. I gain the satisfaction of having created a game. There's the possibility people might also rather enjoy the game. I don't think it's really in either dictator's favour that they're depicted as teenage girls that can be romantically won over - if anything, it mocks the memory of both dictators. I also believe in the idea that if you’re not offending at least one person, you’re doing something wrong. What I find interesting is that Hitler seems like a no-go for you, but other dictators might not be so bad. It depends on how connected you are to the history behind each of them. For instance, Hitler's image is very different in certain parts of the world to what it is in Europe or America. But like I said before, I'm just here to make the game. Whether or not it's moral or good is up to the audience.


Thanks for the support I'm hoping to get a Prologue out soon

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