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1) Well, I know a bit of programming, but I'm a novice and certainly not prepared to do something under the pressure of having to work hard enough and regularly enough to live up to a boss's expectations. 2) I make pixel art sprites for my own projects but they're trash lol. 3) Actually, I can maybe offer a few pointers on this (although bullet hell is not the genre of game I'm normally interested in making). I can't say I'm really interested by your project, but I will at least post some of my thoughts on your project as feedback in the spoiler tab below. *protip - you can use the spoiler tab to hide massive text walls*  

Things like   ̀  in names and japanese words is an emphasis for the right reading; There is a lot of text, so don't rush and read everything carefully and attentively - it is worth it, and here is everything I want you to know. Please, this is my lifework. Sorry for the clickbait. Of course, even if you make a dammaku game with better visuals, gameplay, lore and etc. than in Touhou, you can't really believe to rival such a colossal media franchise with more than 22 years of history by making just one game, right? But everything begins with something... Anyway, to the point: Greetings. I'm writer working on concepts of a dammaku game which is named "Maiden Deity: The Dragonfly's Dreams", and productive worktime is around 11 months so far, doing 95% of things solo. This game set in completely different universe with different characters, but, mostly in terms of game design, inspired greatly by Touhou (but not only by it), so this is the best place for me to make such a post. Also, this is not Len'en-like parody, but completely serious and different project. While game universe is also greatly inspired by Touhou, it has significant differences in details, as well as some completely unique ideas compared to it. Further, all characters are original completely, not a bit inspired by the universe of ZUN, even whatever similarities you may find, being very interesting and unique in all of their aspects, be it bio, design and etc., which I will show you below. To remain interested, look at this (you can zoom art to see every detail, just wait for its full loading): - Sketch of the 1st boss, kijimùna Shaggygа̀icho (wings will be removed); - Almost final art of the 2nd boss, mermaid Lady Yvѐtta Mizushì (will be number of changes, most importantly more lush tail) and her planned musical theme which will be renamed to "Surpassing Elegance ~ Splatter Dance". Currently I do not have rights on this song, but I plan to discuss it with the composer. Current state of the team: 1. Me - team lead; producing and publishing; writing; gameplay\level\character\music design; community management; advertising; russian and english translation; 2. Characters' portraits artist and designer, who done, for now, only 2 arts that you saw, and will continue to work only when I will form the rest of the team. His style and methods of work are perfect for me, so I don't need another man on this position; 3. I have composer and sound designer in mind (maybe you know Sylvysprit). Last time we spoke, she was interested to work with me, but we discussed only schedule and prices. I want to make a "big talk" only after forming the rest of the team. I'm looking for: 1) programmers of everything; 2) artists of backgrounds, sprites, interface, and the like; 3) gameplay and level designers. Also, even if you can't directly help in development, I welcome opinions, critique, proposals and etc. about my concepts and\or my way of work. Even if you will just say that "I like your character X a lot", it will already help me - however, I much more prefer elaborate opinions. To gain more of your interest, I will show you below: 1) A Short overview of game's characters, levels and music; 2) Short overview of the game universe in comparison with Touhou; 3) Features of the project; 4) Concepts of the game's universe, main heroine and first 3 levels (including midbosses, bosses, attacks and etc.); 5) Notes to programmers, artists, composer\sound designer, payment standing and thoughts on the success of the project. Important! - Everything is spoiler-free; - Please, pay high attention to the notes (to the right of the documents - just click on brown text to see a proper note) and hyperlinks; - The best way is to read trough Google Docs, not drive, since Table of Contents is available then, and docs look better in overall (formatting and etc.); - Main Heroine and 3rd boss currently don't have a sketch or art, but you may read about their visual design and look at design references (see "Pictures" on drive); - Even if you will not be impressed by, let's say, Main Heroine, and will think "nah, priestess bla-bla-bla", please read about other characters - currently, I am most proud of 3rd boss. Everyone has different tastes, but I also offer a variety of character types; - Main Heroine's and Levels' concepts have Shorten and Full versions. Choose Shorten first if you want to read less text and not interested in specific game design details and design of first 2 bosses; - There is too much of inspirational music to listen at once and some compositions are looped, so you may left most of the compositions for later; - Remember that english is not my main language, so maybe some wordings in these files are not perfectly beautiful, mostly regarding character's bio. It can be worked out, of course. General 1. A Short overview of game characters, levels and music 2. To break your bias about "Touhou clone", let me give you a Short overview of the game universe in comparison with Touhou 3. Features of the project Game universe 1. "Prehistory" 2. "Deities and other mystical creatures" 3. "Spirit" 4. "Spirit Battles" Main Heroine 1. Shorten 2. Full Level 1 1. Shorten 2. Full Level 2 1. Shorten 2. Full Level 3 Here I decided to leave only Full version, so be prepared for 14 pages 1. Full Development notes 1. Notes to programmers 2. Notes to artists 3. Notes to composer\sound designer 4. Payment 5. Thoughts on the success of the project There is a lot of writing done beyond the first Main Hero and 3 levels, but there is no sense to place it here (around 48 more pages currently, compared to 42 pages of content that I provided right here not counting documents in General and Development notes sections). Approximately 85% of full game writing is done. If you are interested, here is the overview of current writing and music progress, i'm not hiding anything. In any case, the closest goal right now is to make a demo of first 2-3 levels to allow crowdfunding, and for this writing is done fully - while making demo, I will, obviously, continue my work. Even 11 months was not enough, heh, but i'm close. Contacts Maiden Deity's Discord - https://discord.gg/9cUe696 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Ctrekoz Discord - Ctrekoz#5174 Or write a message here Thank you.

I added more screenshots, Now we have both versions 😄 (I edited my previous post too) Comparison 2 Original (Japanese):   Official in-game translation:   thcrap, Subtitle mode: Off   thcrap, Language: English (Subtitle mode: On)  

Well, looks to me like the thcrap version is more polished, which is about what I expected. Thanks, this comparison was really helpful (although I should point out that you could've made it a bit better by putting the same text in each screenshot. As in, two of your screenshots have the 'maybe I'll possess you next' winning text and the other two have the 'You are only loved by animals' winning text'). But yea, "My sister is also loved by nothing but animals, so are you hated by humans, too?" is a much better translation than "Animals always love my sister but do you also hate humans?"