Cocytus - The Developer's Blog

2009-10-12T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ah look... something else for me to have to exert effort for.

I love exerting effort....

As usual I am the last to post or make a comment.

Typically I procrastinate all things -like a boss- as well as make horrible sarcastic comments. Some people are born with an innate gift to run fast or jump high, maybe compose sonnets about lint that make them famous. I on the other hand have been born with a unique form of procrastination.

See I'm even procrastinating making my intro...

Procrastination
Procrastination
Procrastination

-Sighs- Ok my name is Keiri, I am the lead editor. Silly I know since I take shit long to do anything. I mean I would totally rock the illustrations but I'm too lazy and I would write but -haha- I can barely get through an intro.

So I edit things.

To everyone out there who is also awful lazy and whatnot I salute you, or I would if I felt like it. So to all of you out there this is my intro.

See wasn't it worth the wait?

-I am also horribly sarcastic, see top-

Urban Fantasy and Why Its Kind of Hard to Advertise

2009-08-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

When people hear the words "Urban Fantasy", weird things happen.
Some people hear it and think "Swords and Sorcery and Taxi Cabs". They automatically expect kings and elves and dwarves and sub machine guns to all exist in the same setting and then shrug it off because something like that sounds so retarded that it could never, ever work.

This is kind of true, really. But also a very narrow point to look at.
Urban Fantasy pretty much counts as a setting which has fantastical elements in a realistic setting, yeah. But looking at that choice of words pretty much opens up the general standards of Urban Fantasy a lot more than many people see at first.

Example: Vampires.
Put a vampire in something, its horror. They run around and do horrific things horribly. But let the setting be anytime near the 21st century and its Urban fantasy because now there's a blood sucker running around a modern city.
And if you put a whole gaggle of them in and talk about vampire politics, well, that's U.Fantasy too.

Its usually the science fiction and fantasy stigma that turns people away from U.Fantasy type fiction by the name, but many people don't seem to catch something being of the genre unless they dislike it.

Harry Potter, Hellboy, much of Bleach, Buffy, Charmed, True Blood, Supernatural. All great examples. Hell, the online wiki SCP Foundation is an excellent example of how something like fantasy creatures running around the world would be treated by a government organization.

So Cocytus Investigations, in its world of Magic and Psychics and a smidgen of advanced science, fits very squarely in the urban fantasy tag. The problem with that is convincing people that its not, of course, your standard "Fantasy Creatures in a Modern Setting" fare.

The World of Cocytus I - The Hook

2009-06-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

Cocytus • KOH-KIE-TUS
1.A river in Greek mythology. Flows into Acheron and encircles hades. Located in the lowest level of hell as a lake in Dante's Inferno.
2.A detective agency specializing in the locating and collection of magical artifacts.

What is Cocytus? That is, what is the main idea behind Cocytus?
Cocytus Investigations, the current brain child of NHWS Productions is a take at the Occult Detective and Urban Fantasy genres. To list inspirations would be too long for this little explanatory post, so lets make the tl;dr version for those of you who just want the answers.

Cocytus follows Watanabe Jirou, a young man who – like all protagonist – was enjoying a simple boring life when – like all protagonist – is suddenly brought kicking and screaming into a world he doesn't understand by one Ando Satoshi, a man who seems to have a penchant for abusing and belittling him.

In doing so, Jirou becomes Ando's 'apprentice' – that is, slave – assisting him in the locating and collection of magical artifacts and stuff. This bare bones explanation, of course is just to tide the anxious reader over it. It does not include, for example, the incidents that occur throughout the story, such as—

• The strange love square between Jirou, two foreign girls, and an animated doll who wants to jump his bones.
• The epic and harried battle with a massive transforming robot that masquerades as an orphanage.
• Exploring the consequences of leaving a rhino in an occupied hospital, a minotaur in a china shop, or lizardmen at a restaurant.

May you hopefully stick around as we explore the world, the characters, and the artifacts of Cocytus.

2009-06-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well since everyone else is introducing themselves, I might as well.

Hi.

I'm William.

I'm editing this thing. Actually I haven't even really been able to do that yet.

But I had the idea for the blog kind of. See, I'm helpful!

>_>

<_<

O_O

Introductions (Like a Boss)

2009-06-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

Good evening, faithful viewers. Just so that you understand how the process can go some days, I figured it be best to take you through the average day of an average member of the team. The first thing we do is...

Chat on webs! (Like a boss!)
Read some Cracked! (Like a boss!)
Play some Atlus! (Like a boss!)
Get to "That Boss!" (Like a boss!)
Lose completely! (Like a boss!)
Throw controller! (Like a boss!)
Cuss and cry! (Like a boss!)
Eat some pancakes! (Like a boss!)
Backseat writing! (Like a boss!)
Skimp on projects! (Like a boss!)
On a boat! (Like a boss!)
Score some
WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES

So that's an average day for us. At least for us editors. Not sure what we can say about the artists or programmers. ...Or writers. ...Or editors.

...

(Like a boss!)

Introduction fucke

2009-06-18T21:13:00.000-07:00

Ceci, c'est mon introduction, et j'hais le faire. Mais, je vais...

Fuck it and fuck your introductions. Just understand that once I have to get programming this together, you can expect gratuitous Fuck.

Just saying.

Introducing the Beards

2009-06-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Now that you've gotten to know our jobs, I think it's VERY important that our beards make themselves known.

Ventcore Frog: Has a terrible beard
GWT: Is not allowed to grow a beard
Garlyle: Has a beard that would make Action Hank proud
Keiri: Cannot grow a beard you are silly
Cecil Hoshino: Has a chinstrap beard
Will: Has no beard, just long hair
Mahleah: Didn't I just say you are silly?

I do not think that this project can be properly represented to our readers without extensive knowledge of the team's beards.

Introducing the Team (Part 1): These guys.

2009-06-18T20:27:00.000-07:00

Well.
Usually when someone introduces a team, they try to accent the positive. Point out stuff they've done, call them geniuses, etc, etc. You know, try to inflate their image to the audience so they're like "Oh snap, its that guy, I love that guy!"

Well. We don't have the luxury. Sorry, that's what you get from an amateur project. And with a team so small made up of such people, this is a really, really short post.

Not that we're awful or anything. Everyone involved is good at their respective position. Its just, well, making a list of credentials is pretty difficult when only one guy on the team is sort've known for anything and that's a script he made for RPG maker some time back.

Ventcore Frog: Co-writer for the main route alongside
GWT: Myself, obviously. Uh, I wrote some stuff?
Garlyle: The lonely programmer who did the aformentioned RPG Maker script.
Keiri: Our Lead Editor
Cecil Hoshino: The first subordinate of the Lead Editor.
Linksw--Will: The second subordinate.
Mahleah: Our artist.

I'll..let these guys introduce themselves. I'm sure they can do themselves more justice than I can.

That said, we are looking for some people to fill in positions (Namely, another programmer, artist, and composer). Feel free to contact us.

Introducing Cocytus

2009-06-17T06:34:00.001-07:00

Hello. Hello out there. This is GWT.
What you are seeing here is the developer blog for No Heart Warming Stories Production's latest (and for the most part only) project, the visual novel known as Cocytus Investigations: The Devil That Sits In The Detectives Chair.

Yes. Those are both long titles. From here on they'll be referred to as N.H.W.S and Cocytus.
You've likely heard nothing of this project and thats understandable. The publicity it has received has been minimal at best because, well, its being produced. After all, only one OEL project comes to mind and thats the very promising Katawa Shojou.

Needless to say, you may be wondering why you should be finding interest in this project. Well, the answer is this:

Whores.

But in all seriousness, stay tuned. I promise this won't be a waste of your time. And for those of you following us from Wordpress to Blogger, do spread the world.
May you all develop high hopes and dreams for this project and may we hopefully deliver.