Ace and Gary, The Ambiguously Gay Duo from Saturday Night Live and Furry Force from CollegeHumor. Anyone remember those two cartoons? I know it sounds random as hell but while playing Glory Hounds, my mind immediately thought about those two cartoons. They're dumb fun at best, cringey trash at worst but thinking about it now, I wonder how bad of a picture they painted in the eyes of "normal people". Y'know, milquetoast, white-bread "Christian" types who stick their nose up at shit like this thinking "how horrid!" Blah blah.
Now, I never liked superheroes to begin with. I couldn't keep up with comics because there were too many multiverses or side-stories going off on different tangents. I grew up on superhero films but I could never connect with any of them. I don't like power fantasies (shocker, I know) and I couldn't relate due to how fantastic their backstories were while mine is rather bland and fucked up.
I didn't know what I was expecting from Glory Hounds. When I first heard about it, I gave it an 'ehh' due to my distaste in general. However, after reading Echo (and finally finishing it. Man, what a trip that was), I became obsessed with Visual Novels, excited by the prospect of reading again. So, I gave Glory Hounds another shot. The first thing that blew me away: the animation and the music just in the title sequence. My jaw literally dropped. This is coming from a Ren'py engine?? I couldn't believe it. I haven't read too many Ren'py Visual Novels but the Echo Project have impressed me in such a short span of time.
As for the first issue itself, I felt giddy after finishing it. This VN wasn't just gay, it was positively gay, it was upliftingly gay, it was BEAUTIFINGLY GAY! Nearly every character was handled delicately and had a great sense of charm. The futuristic world and atmosphere looked impressive and fun! The story itself was lighthearted but serious with an air of mystery surrounding it. This is not your typical superhero story and Alex is very relatable. I love Raoul and his overall goofiness. He is played off as a "Batman-type" figure but he shows how much fun he's having doing it, like nothing fazes him. I'm excited to see how the story unfolds and I'm glad you're doing this by " comic issues" giving us time to gush while giving yourself ample time to work on the next story beat.
Coming back to what I've first said, Glory Hounds is nothing at all like the two cringey cartoons I've mentioned. GH has heart, charm and a great sense of positivity embedded into its personal narrative. I can't wait to see what happens next
Batavia is one of the best vn settings I've seen! It's lively, futuristic and colorful. It's also fun to look for any Echo Project related easter eggs. I am looking forward to see more of the city itself!
This VN was extremely fun to read through; It was nice to see you guys incorporate a slightly more lighthearted tone, and the premise is an extremely fun one. The comic book visuals and animations are fantastic, as is the art style. I can't wait for the next episode. 10/10 y'all knocked it out of the park again.
[minor spoiler ahead]
The only thing I would say is it'd be nice to have some more interactivity in the future. Never worked with Ren'Py myself, but the whole secret chute discovery seems like a missed opportunity to let the user click and explore until they found it themselves - but then again to what extent that's even possible in the engine I have no idea.
Hey, I just wanted to say good job on the VN it's great, but I did want to bring up one small inconsistency that made it's way into issue 1.
VERY MINOR SPOILER BELOW
When you first meet Milo his sprite has a scar over his right eye, but in the very last scene with Milo and Raoul in the doorway his eye doesn't have a scar on it at all.
Edit: The eye his scar is on actually seems to change depending on the direction he's facing.
I.E.: when he faces the right side of the screen it's on his left, but when he faces the left side of the screen it's on his right.
That's the pesky thing of working with asymmetrical character designs in VNs, I suppose!
We're looking into the best way to make Milo's blind eye and scars match the direction he's facing. Might be implemented in a future build if it shakes out. Thanks for playing! We appreciate your support! ~ Redd
Nice, Echo Project yet again expanding their capabilities in a VN. The water physics are so pretty, the animated panels coming through are a nice stylization, the comedic timing is great, and the subversions to the cliches of a superhero origin story are on point.
Great game for the moment (too early to really know for sure), we will see where it goes... but...
Maybe it's just me... but the first impression of Dawn Hound is very bad.
-SPOILERS-
Not only he is thinking that putting a totally untrained guy to do hero job is fine (which means that he doesn't really care about his life or the lifes of all the innocent people he may fail to save because of his inexperience) but he also... makes offensive bets about the life changing decisions the dalmatian makes like it's a game.
Maybe that was intentional, and you wanted to portrait him as an inconsiderate inmature asshole who thinks the hero thing is nothing more than a harmless game, and doesn't really realize just how big and dangerous it really is. In that case, very good job, congratulations *thumbs up*.
But if it wasn't intentional... maybe you should reconsiderate a couple of things about that "presentation" of the character... just my opinion.
Raoul has reasons for what he does and how he goes about doing it. Some of that will become clear as the story progresses.
I will say Glory Hounds is not something that takes itself TOO seriously. There's a tiny bit of cartoon/comic logic involved. In terms of what we take inspiration from, think less Batman/Watchmen and more Totally Spies/Darkwing Duck.
You're free to interpret the character however you like though. :)
It's a Dutch word, and a play on words since 'doek' can also mean a painting canvas. If you throw it into Google Translate you get a pretty accurate pronunciation!
First Super-Nova, now this incredible super hero vn! This is a comedic super hero origins not just for Alex but also Dawn Hound. Echo Project really put in all the efforts to create another good vn.
Another great VN from Echo Project! This was absolutely amazing and super adorable, I loved every second of playing this! And I can't wait to see issue 2.
PC version needs a bit of permissions tweaking to get it running on Linux. [install directory]/GloryHounds.sh needs o+x applied to make it executable Several things in [install directory]/lib/py2-linux-x86_64/ need to have o+x enabled or the game will crash with "Permission denied" errors
Oh I've been waiting for so long! And it certainly did not disappoint! If there is one downside, I think there might be some bug with saving the game. When I tried it just said an exception had occurred.
I can't believe we finally got to see a wholesome EchoProjects VN!!!! It's gorgeous: the humor and jokes that are not cringy considering overall theme, the surprising depth of characters, the drama that is so well fit in and is not forced. I ain't saying that I was sceptic towards GH, because you guys NEVER disappoint, frankly, I couldn't believe that you could get this much out of "modern not-so-superheroes in leotard" and what can I say? It was a bull's eye!
When I heard for the first time about this project many months ago I though that it was supposed to be a silly VN to "recharge the batteries", just like Adastra was supposed to be (or from what I heard). I'm so glad that yet again I was this much mistaken :)
While we're definitely intending for GH to be a bit more silly and lighthearted, we're still writing characters that deal with some real issues and personal struggles. We don't want it to be all gags, all the time.
Having said that, we still have plenty of silly fun stuff planned!
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Ace and Gary, The Ambiguously Gay Duo from Saturday Night Live and Furry Force from CollegeHumor. Anyone remember those two cartoons? I know it sounds random as hell but while playing Glory Hounds, my mind immediately thought about those two cartoons. They're dumb fun at best, cringey trash at worst but thinking about it now, I wonder how bad of a picture they painted in the eyes of "normal people". Y'know, milquetoast, white-bread "Christian" types who stick their nose up at shit like this thinking "how horrid!" Blah blah.
Now, I never liked superheroes to begin with. I couldn't keep up with comics because there were too many multiverses or side-stories going off on different tangents. I grew up on superhero films but I could never connect with any of them. I don't like power fantasies (shocker, I know) and I couldn't relate due to how fantastic their backstories were while mine is rather bland and fucked up.
I didn't know what I was expecting from Glory Hounds. When I first heard about it, I gave it an 'ehh' due to my distaste in general. However, after reading Echo (and finally finishing it. Man, what a trip that was), I became obsessed with Visual Novels, excited by the prospect of reading again. So, I gave Glory Hounds another shot. The first thing that blew me away: the animation and the music just in the title sequence. My jaw literally dropped. This is coming from a Ren'py engine?? I couldn't believe it. I haven't read too many Ren'py Visual Novels but the Echo Project have impressed me in such a short span of time.
As for the first issue itself, I felt giddy after finishing it. This VN wasn't just gay, it was positively gay, it was upliftingly gay, it was BEAUTIFINGLY GAY! Nearly every character was handled delicately and had a great sense of charm. The futuristic world and atmosphere looked impressive and fun! The story itself was lighthearted but serious with an air of mystery surrounding it. This is not your typical superhero story and Alex is very relatable. I love Raoul and his overall goofiness. He is played off as a "Batman-type" figure but he shows how much fun he's having doing it, like nothing fazes him. I'm excited to see how the story unfolds and I'm glad you're doing this by " comic issues" giving us time to gush while giving yourself ample time to work on the next story beat.
Coming back to what I've first said, Glory Hounds is nothing at all like the two cringey cartoons I've mentioned. GH has heart, charm and a great sense of positivity embedded into its personal narrative. I can't wait to see what happens next
I've never liked Visual Novels. But I did really like this one and am excited for the next issue!!!!!
Daaaang this VN is soo lovely! Aaaaaaaaa 💕
ok amicus being in the stain glass got a laugh out of me
Batavia is one of the best vn settings I've seen! It's lively, futuristic and colorful. It's also fun to look for any Echo Project related easter eggs. I am looking forward to see more of the city itself!
created a Glory Hounds page on PDB
https://www.personality-database.com/profile?pid=2&cid=11&sub_cat_id=32786
I love the characters, kind of goofy, yet so loveable!
Thank you guys so much for this! I was laughing my butt off reading this! I CANNOT WAIT for the next installment!
The ARTWORK, the ANIMATION, the MUSIC!!! Praises upon Praises to you folks for creating this!
This VN was extremely fun to read through; It was nice to see you guys incorporate a slightly more lighthearted tone, and the premise is an extremely fun one. The comic book visuals and animations are fantastic, as is the art style. I can't wait for the next episode. 10/10 y'all knocked it out of the park again.
[minor spoiler ahead]
The only thing I would say is it'd be nice to have some more interactivity in the future. Never worked with Ren'Py myself, but the whole secret chute discovery seems like a missed opportunity to let the user click and explore until they found it themselves - but then again to what extent that's even possible in the engine I have no idea.
That is absolutely possible.
IS THAT AMONG US?????
Just amazing overall presentation. You guys sure stretch Renpy to its limit.
Hey, I just wanted to say good job on the VN it's great, but I did want to bring up one small inconsistency that made it's way into issue 1.
VERY MINOR SPOILER BELOW
When you first meet Milo his sprite has a scar over his right eye, but in the very last scene with Milo and Raoul in the doorway his eye doesn't have a scar on it at all.
Edit: The eye his scar is on actually seems to change depending on the direction he's facing.
I.E.: when he faces the right side of the screen it's on his left, but when he faces the left side of the screen it's on his right.
The left side. Probably.
His left I mean. Thought I saw something about the eye itself while I was looking.
That's the pesky thing of working with asymmetrical character designs in VNs, I suppose!
We're looking into the best way to make Milo's blind eye and scars match the direction he's facing. Might be implemented in a future build if it shakes out. Thanks for playing! We appreciate your support! ~ Redd
Holy crap!
Wow
Just... wow!
I'm left speechless after playing the first build!
The music, the "comics" like style, the details in everything -- I love everything about this!
Thank you so much for this and I can't wait for the upcoming updates! ^^
is there already uhm... *cough* NSFW *cough* scenes?
By what stretch? There's a shorts scene but not much is happening.
Nice, Echo Project yet again expanding their capabilities in a VN. The water physics are so pretty, the animated panels coming through are a nice stylization, the comedic timing is great, and the subversions to the cliches of a superhero origin story are on point.
This is so good and so well made already, its great as a VN and honestly as a comic book too !! Cant wait for more!!!
Omg I'm so loving this game hope we see more
Already obsessed!
"Adastra: on Ice!" x'D
Absolutely AMAZING in every sense of the word UwU truely epic~ and I love all the Adastra references :3
Great game for the moment (too early to really know for sure), we will see where it goes... but...
Maybe it's just me... but the first impression of Dawn Hound is very bad.
-SPOILERS-
Not only he is thinking that putting a totally untrained guy to do hero job is fine (which means that he doesn't really care about his life or the lifes of all the innocent people he may fail to save because of his inexperience) but he also... makes offensive bets about the life changing decisions the dalmatian makes like it's a game.
Maybe that was intentional, and you wanted to portrait him as an inconsiderate inmature asshole who thinks the hero thing is nothing more than a harmless game, and doesn't really realize just how big and dangerous it really is. In that case, very good job, congratulations *thumbs up*.
But if it wasn't intentional... maybe you should reconsiderate a couple of things about that "presentation" of the character... just my opinion.
Raoul has reasons for what he does and how he goes about doing it. Some of that will become clear as the story progresses.
I will say Glory Hounds is not something that takes itself TOO seriously. There's a tiny bit of cartoon/comic logic involved. In terms of what we take inspiration from, think less Batman/Watchmen and more Totally Spies/Darkwing Duck.
You're free to interpret the character however you like though. :)
I will wait to see how the story continues then :)
Thanks for the reply.
Not sure if this is a spoiler but..
How do you guys pronounced 'Opgedoeckt' in the beginning?
It's a Dutch word, and a play on words since 'doek' can also mean a painting canvas. If you throw it into Google Translate you get a pretty accurate pronunciation!
Tysm ^^
i know this will be good any thing from the echo project is goooooood
First Super-Nova, now this incredible super hero vn! This is a comedic super hero origins not just for Alex but also Dawn Hound. Echo Project really put in all the efforts to create another good vn.
Btw I love the Adastra references
Is this a JoJo reference?
Another great VN from Echo Project!
This was absolutely amazing and super adorable, I loved every second of playing this! And I can't wait to see issue 2.
Does this story take place in the Echo universe? I noticed that Cliff (The Smoke Room) is also from Schippersburg, Batavia.
There was originally a TSR tie-in intended, but this was scrapped, although some references will still remain.
I think this is preferable. No need for a tie in.
The music is absolute perfection. And the art style too tho.
How many plates do you guys need spinning at once?
But this is great. Well, they all are.
PC version needs a bit of permissions tweaking to get it running on Linux.
[install directory]/GloryHounds.sh needs o+x applied to make it executable
Several things in [install directory]/lib/py2-linux-x86_64/ need to have o+x enabled or the game will crash with "Permission denied" errors
There's a Linux-specific build now! I hope it fixes the issue. - Redd
It did indeed. New linux distro just boots with no tweaks needed.
Looks really good, Im gonna try it.
Oh my god that first update!!!
Absolutely adore the music and the art, it all feels so good!
Oh I've been waiting for so long! And it certainly did not disappoint!
If there is one downside, I think there might be some bug with saving the game. When I tried it just said an exception had occurred.
AYYY ITS FINALLY OUT 🐱🥬✨✨✨ woop woop, im so happy to see a dutch based vn plus its wholesomeness, 🍵✨🪴
Never know I would come across a dutch based VN. I realy like it!
Are there NSFW scenes?
Not in this build, no.
They may appear down the line, if they serve the story. :)
Oh... My God.
I can't believe we finally got to see a wholesome EchoProjects VN!!!! It's gorgeous: the humor and jokes that are not cringy considering overall theme, the surprising depth of characters, the drama that is so well fit in and is not forced. I ain't saying that I was sceptic towards GH, because you guys NEVER disappoint, frankly, I couldn't believe that you could get this much out of "modern not-so-superheroes in leotard" and what can I say? It was a bull's eye!
When I heard for the first time about this project many months ago I though that it was supposed to be a silly VN to "recharge the batteries", just like Adastra was supposed to be (or from what I heard). I'm so glad that yet again I was this much mistaken :)
Can't wait for the next updates guys!
Thank you so much for the kind words!
While we're definitely intending for GH to be a bit more silly and lighthearted, we're still writing characters that deal with some real issues and personal struggles. We don't want it to be all gags, all the time.
Having said that, we still have plenty of silly fun stuff planned!
Honestly, it adds that much more to grounding the story in the believable. Could not be anymore excited to see what comes next!
Gosh, absolutely love the style, and obviously, the characters too
Great first issue, I'm eagerly awaiting the next one!
the game is beautiful and wonderful,I came running to install when I received the email .🇧🇷