[T][CE] A Real Name ●

[GuardianDreamer]

A Real Name

Created as an entry for The Soil Is Pink competition, tied for third place

Play it here: https://aaonline.fr/player.php?trial_id=146931

If you like exceptionally well-written characters or you enjoy feeling things, then you should definitely check this out

I was in a bathroom for over a f***ing hour

Features

• A cute dad!
• A character drama exploring the messiness of human emotions in a trial setting, using the format in a different but familiar way.
• A setting inspired by various tokusatsu works, easily accessible both to people familiar with tokusatsu and those who aren't.
• An all-original cast of characters lovingly created by yours truly.
• 5000+ frames of the newest weird soap opera written by GuardianDreamer. Some of those frames are happy. Some are sadder. Some are funny, maybe?
• A cute son!

Spoiler : Synopsis :

In the 20th century, a phenomenom occurred in which certain rare individuals started being born with special abilities, later termed as "superpowers". Fast forward to the year 2006, and this phenomenom is now seen as almost quaint: While there are specific laws in place regarding the rare 1 in 50,000 individual who possesses superpowers, they're more or less treated like any other person and most of these individuals live utterly mundane lives. These powers, once thought to fundamentally alter the world as we knew it, turned out to change much less than people thought they would: human ingenuity and the inventions they had crafted proved far more efficient than superpowers did, so the idea of "superheroes" or those who used their power to commit crimes became far less fantastical than people once imagined. Indeed, thanks to to later advancements in superpower research, the idea of using one's superpower to commit a crime became almost self-sabotaging: not when systems are in place that can trace each invidual power back to its source.

Most lawyers never run into any cases in their careers that involve superpowers in any way, or if they do, then it tends to be rather tangential to the case itself. But these cases do still exist, and there are those who specialize in them.

Our tale involves one such lawyer who in his 16 years of being a defense attorney has taken on a wide variety of cases. But for the first time in his career, he has to defend someone accused of using a superpower in a violent crime. It may be out of his wheelhouse, but if it's for an old friend, then the path forward is obvious.

Arn Ruth. One could apply many labels to him. A member of the rather well-known Ruth family of lawyers. A disgraced branch member of the Ruth family of lawyers whose parentage caused him much grief. A husband, a father, a reliable defense attorney who does his best to do right by his clients, a man cursed with the Ruth family's history of poor health. Today too he will do his best to juggle all of these roles as best as he can.

A Real Name serves as a prequel to A Silly Little Dream (a case I plan on making later starring a character in this which will take place in the year 2012) and it also takes place in the same universe as Make My Life Worse, set in the year 2022 (16 years after this trial) with local disaster dork Marnie Yao following her own story and doing her own thing. These cases share a setting and a few characters, but they're more or less independent. Still, you'll recognize a couple of familiar faces from Make My Life Worse if you've played that. Or maybe you can play A Real Name first and then read Make My Life Worse after to get the chronological view.

Note: As is standard with my own modern cases, ARN lacks any real gameplay penalties of any kind and isn't meant to be particularly difficult. Still, a walkthrough is included in this post if you need it.

Spoiler : Content Warnings (spoilery, but click if you need it) :

ARN contains depictions of the following:
- Illness and long-term health issues (usually vague, but at one point namedropping leukemia in specific)
- Self-loathing
- Bigotry (mainly background and backstory related and not displayed by the actual main cast)
- Depression
- Gender dysphoria (mentioned, not depicted onscreen)
- Some messy background family trauma, though the actual protagonist has very healthy bonds with those closest to him
- Discussions about drifting apart with people you used to be very close with.

Spoiler : Credits (major spoilers) :

Made and written by GuardianDreamer (any/all), hello yes it's me.

Made for the Soil is Pink competition hosted by Spoonmaster12 and risefromtheashes.

Arn Ruth sprites by Fen.
Lucian Ruth profile pic by SuperAj3.
Alec van den Ende sprites by June-pie.
Joseph Ephraim's profile pic by Fen.
Isadora Oran's sprites by PedigreeUnicorn.
Mariela Maravilla sprites by Mega.
Aminta Guerrerro sprites by Hess.
Dieman V. Evilheart sprites by Ceres.
Aine Ruth sprites by Hess.
Karen Saber profile pic by TonyAyers.

Employee Schedule custom graphic by christophr1.
Bathroom background from the backgrounds pack.
Arn Ruth's office background by Greeny.

Music sources: Hanakisou, Detective Pikachu Returns, Yu-Gi-Oh Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale!!, No, Thank You!!, Galaxy Angel, Radiant Tale, Tear Ring Saga, Nobunaga's Ambition, Aokana, Code: Realize, Raisond'etre, Process of Elimination, Fist of the North Star: Fitness Boxing.
Credits song is "Sorry, I'm Leaving Now" by Antihoney. May you rest in peace.

Loading Complete sound effect from Shade BGM Collection volume 3.
Dieman's objection clip from J. Michael Tatum's performance as Rintaro Okabe in Steins;Gate.
Special thanks to risefromtheashes for pointing me towards the properly synced testimony sound effect.

Various special thanks:

Wada: Being a very good friend and answering a bunch of random incidental questions.
sparrow: Writing that one MMLW fanfic that inspired me a lot.
SuperAj3: For the Lucian Ruth sprite commission which motivated me to seriously try to write the character again so I could use the art for something.
Kiri and Ping: For hosting the Breakin' Da Rules comp a long time ago.
ZUN: For being an extremely inspiring creator just in general.

List of various works that inspired ARN in some way:

Hero must die. again
Like A Dragon 3
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
A Space for the Unbound
Sephonie
MAMIYA: A Shared Illusion of the World's End
Kokoro (Vocaloid song)
Witch on the Holy Night
Kamen Rider V3
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Ultraman Orb
Unicorn Overlord
Another Code Recollection
Romantic Killer
Sakura Wars
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Touhou Project
Symphonic Rain
Fire Emblem Engage
SaGa Scarlet Grace
Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden
Boogiepop
Atelier Ryza 3
The Caligula Effect 2
Vestaria Saga II
ENIGMA
Hatoful Boyfriend
The Legend of Heroes
SeaBed
Steam Prison
Yuri On Ice
Devilman
Boys Run The Riot
OreGairu
I Cannot Reach You
The Two Lions
The Summer You Were There
Bakemonogatari
Memody: Sindrel Song
VA-11 Hall-A
UuultraC

Spoiler : Walkthrough :

here are some fictional dads I like as a spoiler barrier, I hope you like them too





The case opens with a one-room investigation sequence. There's a ton of optional dialogue to get here if you present the evidence and profiles, though that's technically all optional. But all that's required is to exhaust all the talk options. At some point, you must examine the room and select the "I should wash up a bit." option. Once you're ready to proceed, you can select the "Finish Preparations" option. If you haven't selected the "I should wash up a bit" option at this point, you'll be stopped and prompted to do so. If you have, then you're ready to go to the trial.

First testimony: Press the 7th statement (the one about "interesting disagreements), then choose to add what was said to the testimony. On the newly revealed statement, present the Rules of Superpowers Primer or Isadora Oran's profile.

Second testimony: Present the Autopsy Report on the penultimate statement.

- When prompted, select "the second page" (that said, choosing incorrectly here still proceeds the trial)

- At the next present, choose to present either the Key or Joseph Ephraim's profile.

- When prompted to present again, select the Dour Spirits Diagram.

- At the dialogue prompt selection, choose "She wanted to cast suspicion on my client" (the third option here is a joke option you can select if you want extra funnies)

Third testimony: On any statement, present the Employee Schedule.

- When prompted to select a piece of evidence once more, select the Cellphone. (That said, feel free to select the Attorney's Badge first for extra dialogue)

- Select Lucian Ruth's profile. (Again, feel free to select the other profiles for extra dialogue, but Lucian's is the one that advances the story)

[Spoonmaster12]

Really well-written story with some very strong emotional beats. I highly recommend A Real Name, and I'm so happy it got submitted to the comp. If you're a fan of GD's other cases, this one will not disappoint.

[risefromtheashes]

We highly recommend this case. It hit us in a very personal way and we loved it. If you liked MM and MMLW, you'll probably like ARN too.

[CodingAnt]

arn ruth is very epic and this case is so cool

[icannothinkofaname]

A really good case with great characters. Play A Real Name. You will surely not regret playing A Real Name.

[DeathByAutoscroll]

A well written case with a refreshing mystery in both concept and presentation. A Real Name contains some emotional beats that will likely connect better with you, implied reader who has scrolled down instead of playing the case already or has already played and knows these beats well, than I, however don't let that stop you from scrolling back up and clicking on that case link for the first or Nth time.

[XavierWright]

All I can say is that GD has done it again. Written a story that effectively communicates the ideas it wanted to present. My hats off to GD again.

[papaouté]

I RECCOMEND this game.

[GuardianDreamer]

Thank you to everyone who's commented on ARN so far, it makes me very happy to see this cast of characters get so much love.

[ikuzonos]

this story is really really good and i highly recommend it to anyone with the time for it. i wish arn ruth was my dad.

[casewriter]

so we're not playing as rheel neh'mu?