Hey all, this is a visual novel project that R3 Productions and I spent almost 3 years making. With the recent release of the 2nd part of the 3 part Visual Novel I thought a thread would be the best option to let people know about this new visual novel. If you are wondering what a visual novel is, it's basically like an interactive story.






Aquae ~Crystal Clear Waters~ is a fantasy/adventure genre visual novel by R3 Productions. Part of Project Aquaria, this is the first game in a trilogy. The first conceptual story was started on January of 2008, Aquae has been in the works for about a year now.

The game itself is going to be released in chapters or Arcs, as the staff of R3 would like to call it. Aquae is slated to have 3-4 Arcs. Once Aquae is completed, there will be a collective release with all Arcs and extras in it.

The game is to be an estimated 2-3 Hours playtime total. The current story has over 25,000 words and going strong.




People of all ages and races are astonished by the beauty and underlying rage of the big blue mass that coats most of our world. Many things are unknown about the sea, and many things have been made up about the magic and mystery because no one really knows. One particular myth is that of the mermaid; half human, half fish, able to breathe underwater and sing most beautifully. Most people now discard such stories, following logic's explanation that such creatures are impossible, but what if they were wrong?

The city of Murone [Mu-row-neh] is one that resides below the surface, merpeople and other types of sea dwelling creatures live in this warm water haven. Merpeople fear the above world for several reasons. The main concern is discovery. How would the humans react to finding that merpeople really did exist? Most merpeople shudder to think. However, some merpeople venture out of their watery haven and explore the world above at their own risk.

There are two islands near Murone: Ibis and Ibon. Each are home to humans and forest creatures. Ibis is larger in size and is currently hosting the Summer Festival. A giant bridge connects the two isles.

Now fate will bring the sea and the land together...the fate of both lay in the hands of a small group...

Will history be re-written, as waves upon the sand? ....
Or will bloodshed remain?














Lord Eron Imbrancht
Age: 39
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: Blue
Brief Bio: Lord of Ibis, a strong ruler who takes care of his country. His wife was swept away by the angry waves, never to be seen again. He still mourns her death, but still continues to be a steady ruler of his land.

Erika
Age: 25
Eye color: Blue
Hair color: Blonde
Brief Bio: Kaizarel's teacher and mentor, she is knowledgeable in many different subjects. Kaizarel often goes to her for advice.

Ameila
[url=http://"http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6834/ameiliacopyqx9.jpg"]http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6834/ameiliacopyqx9.jpg[/url]
Age: 15
Eye color: Green
Hair color: Brown/blonde
Brief Bio: Frain's human friend and owns a flower shop. Her mother is ill at the start at the story, leaving Ameila to look after it. Ameila has known Frain for a while. Her personality is quite upbeat, loyal, and caring.

Igor
Age: 35
Eye color: Brown beady eyes
Hair color: Black/Grey
Brief Bio: A rotund man...and Kai's personal assistant. He ensures that Kaizarel doesn't get into trouble and makes sure that he meets all of his appointed meetings.




These features are available in the Single Arc Version (Arc I, II, or III) of Aquae ~Crystal Clear Waters~
-Rich Event and Character CGs
-Customized main menu
-3D background CGs

These features are available in the Extended Version (Compiled Arc Version) of Aquae ~Crystal Clear Waters~
-Features from the Single Arc Version
-Custom music
-CG Gallery
-Intro Video and Epilogue Video
-Music Gallery
-Improved CGs



Screenshots from ARC I: Summer Lights v1.0

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c312/FireDragon_IceWolf/menu.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c312/FireDragon_IceWolf/screenie-1.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c312/FireDragon_IceWolf/Untitled-1-22.png



Why the Single Arc Version and the Compiled Arc Version?
1. The single arc version is kind of there for time convenience as usually most of the staff members are busy throughout the year.
2. The Compiled Arc Version is going to be a revised version that will be done mostly by Hirei (the chara artist and yours truly.) I realize my art isn't up to standards most of the time and I'm rather unsatisfied with myself for most of the art done on tablet for this work. So I'm going to improve while working on Aquae and put it to good use in the compiled version.
3. As such there will be new features as listed above along with storyline extensions by the writers if they feel inclined.
4. The compiled arc version will be the polished gem instead of the rough diamonds seen in the single arc version. Meaning....it's going to be an epic release.
5. In case you don't want to dl all of the arcs one by one, the compiled arc version is there so you can play through the whole game at once if needed.

The single arc versions will be updated as needed, if there are bugfixes or fixed artwork, and it will def. be re-released during the Compiled Version's debut.



Programmer-Rika and Ryoko
Story-Rika and Ryoko
Music Coordinator-Rezznik
GUI design- Rezznik
Art- Hirei
Colorist- Kaorien
Editor-Rika and Ryoko
Background Artist-Rezznik
Logo-Hanzo Kimura/Ry Yuuki
Beta Testers-Z and Miroku




ARC I: Summer Lights v. 2.0
Linux: http://www.mediafire.com/?sa8z0g74n2e7nc5
Mac: http://www.mediafire.com/?j4zfwybzmzg94jc
Windows: http://www.mediafire.com/?d73b3mpjupj5vd1

ARC II: Ocean Tide v. 1.0
Linux: http://www.mediafire.com/?dvahbmnhoih4rlp
Windows: http://www.mediafire.com/?ot7ltdjgwlz313v
Mac: http://www.mediafire.com/?rwreb29dgbdqyq0

Oh dear looks like the link formatting messed up. So I fixed it.

Er I've just finished the game and I was wondering when Arc III will come out?

at first it wasnt working because i downloaded the one for a different software lol

Arc III will come out sometime in 2011. It's probably going to be the longest Arc.

Wow, this looks like a beautiful game! How long did it take you to do this project?

We've been working on it since 2008, mostly because we're a bit slow and we all live around the world. So it's hard to get time together and I redid all the sprites at some point (200+) so....that took awhile. Hopefully our next project won't take as long.

Well at first I played it because I thought I'd have 'choices' in the game. I wanted to give up in the middle of the game but the artworks and storyline kept my interest long enough.

This game is great, can't wait for the next arc, but the only problem I've got is there's too few characters? Maybe there'll be more in the next arc?

Ah well first off it's a Kinetic novel, which there are no choices. It's fairly rare to find visual novels like it because of popularity issues. >_>:

There might be more for the next arc, but I wouldn't count on so many, simply because as stated before it takes a lot of time for me to the sprites... Characters will have costume changes sometimes, and even then there's around 5-7 expressions I have to do. Although considering, Aquae has more characters than most of the Original English Langange Visual Novels that I've looked through.

I'm really sorry the game didn't interest you that much with the lack of choices. But mainly the writers wanted to see how a kinetic novel would do >_>;

So far my results are: Unless it's a romance game or it has choices, it will never do well haha.... ^_^;

I liked Arc I and I'm downloading Arc II right now~ My internet is annoying right now, I had to try three times to get it working XD
EDIT: Hooray I got finished the second Arc!
Highlight to read:
Oh man I knew Aselia was the mother! I just knew it! XD From the first time I saw her! And ever since Frain thought Erika was scary, I figured there was something wrong with her!
This is a great game! I'm looking forward to Arc III ^_^

@sana
lol I also knew there was something wrong with Erika when I first saw her in the game


@Hirei
You're right about choices and romance, and tbh, the games I've played with the choices have really crappy artworks and the people who are playing it are only in it for the 'boys'. But what choices & romance games lack (artworks and REAL storylines), kinetic novel make it up.

it really doesnt work can somebody help me...this game would not open!

Are you sure you've downloaded the right one? (You can choose PC, Mac and Linux)

yeh i chose pc but it doesnt work when i open it...

@Ivana: True, I actually prefer this to the choices type games <3 Those games are good too but this kinda different I guess that's why I like it so much. This is my first kinetic novel and I really enjoyed it!

@Alea

Don't press the blue icon "Aquae - Arc 1", try pressing the one with the girl icon "Aquae ~CCW~ ARC I v. 2.0"

I can't download the first arc...and I don't want to play the second arc without playing the first one...

You can't download from Mediafire? That's strange. Does it show something? You do have .zip extractor don't you?

Yes I do, I can download arc 2 fine, just not arc 1 for windows

So you can't get it to download? Or can you not open the zip file?

If it's download you may have to delete your cookies or I'll upload somwhere else.