Changing My Blog Address for Hopefully The Last Time

For all two (three?) readers of my blog, please follow me here:

http://obscurasoftgames.blogspot.com/

It seems I can't change the name of my original blog address, and I'm really tired of looking at "makingmyfirstvisualnovel.com."

Sorry for the inconvenience, guys.  Please join me at the new address when you have a chance.

Very Dry Developer Entry

Writing


Word count so far: 5889.  Doesn't really mean much though...writing requires a lot of rewriting and reworking for me.  I think I just finished Act 2...though these acts are totally arbitrary.  I don't even know how many Acts I've got in entirety (5? 6?)  Basically my method of writing is, 1) follow my existing outline and 2) write the main plot line and dialogue straight into the code--all the necessary ingredients for the 'good' ending--and worry about the other branches when I make a second pass.

I'm estimating once I finish the first pass, there will be at least a second and third "writing" pass, with many more passes for testing.

Music


Garageband for the iPad is INCREDIBLE!  Extremely easy to use, and I've already picked several tracks for background music.  I asked my husband to do the music, and he composed a pretty sweet song, but I had to tell him, "could you do another song and stay in the major chords?  It sounds so indie-filmish right now."

Anyways, music should be a cinch now.  I'd highly recommend Garageband if you've got an iPad.  Especially if you're a music-newb like myself.

Tools


If it helps anybody, I'd like to record, briefly, all the tools I'm using to make this game:

• Ren'Py (latest version), installed on my Macbook
• iThoughtsHD on my iPad, for outlining and diagramming the main story
• Sketchbook on my iPad, to create sprites, expressions, colors, and shading
• Wacom Bamboo pen, for using with Sketchbook
• rgbstock.com and morguefile.com for backgrounds
• GIMP on my Macbook for cleaning up artwork, sprite resizing, and filtering backgrounds
• Wacom tablet (small) with Macbook to work on GIMP
• various Youtube and DeviantArt tutorials on figure drawing, shading, and coloring
• http://lemmasoft.renai.us/ for support, help, and general discussion about VNs.
• coffee
• tea

Writing

Approx 700 words of coding/dialogue this afternoon.

Yikes, I'm pretty slow.

I wish I could write faster, but for me, there is an inverse relationship between writing speed and writing quality.

Act Two

Trying to focus on writing, BEFORE I start redoing the art work this time.

Thinking of some other uses for the RenPy to make other sorts of games.

I really, really loved King of Dragon Pass, which I played nonstop on my ipod touch for a few months ago.  Something like that could have been made on RenPy.

As much as I love working on my current game, it would be cool to eventually build a game that has a broader audience than um, Western yaoi, right?

Timeline

Well, now that I'm done with the demo, I'm thinking I better start planning how I want to release the game.

I should note how planning, hilariously, always gets me motivated.  And how even more hilariously, my plans end up being turned upside down not soon after I start to execute.

The game theoretically has 5+ relationships, and each relationship has its associated story with approximately 10 plot points each.  I guess I could release the game in episodes?  In an ideal world, I'd like to give each relationship about 2 months of development time.  Of course, the wild card is the fact that I'm learning as I go, and quite frequently I can get stuck in code or have some issue with GIMP that sets me back a few days.

This is definitely the most Don Quixote-ish thing I've ever done.  I have no idea if more than a handful of people will want to play this.  I have no idea if those who play it will even like it.  It's an act of sheer faith and possible chemical imbalances with which I make this game.

So June 10th, then, for Chapter One?  Somehow I gotta get caught up on RenPy and GIMP within that time frame...

Slight Change in Dialogue

Latest version of demo, but not worth playing if you've already played Version One.  Slight changes to dialogue, and I've started to play around with variables.  (Updated due to variable-related bug).

http://www.mediafire.com/?qd0px4aj4brxf2a

Day 27: Demo on Mediafire

Welp, done with the demo!

So much that needs to be changed/edited/etc., but god, I have taxes to do.  And rooms to clean.

I feel a small sense of relief.  I wonder if anybody is going to play this thing.  What's funny is that I finally made a little game, but all the gamers I know personally aren't going to want to play it.

IRONY TIME.

Link to the demo.

Almost Ready to Distribute

Spent most of the day today fleshing out the script, working on a title screen, trying to fix any bugs, etc.

Almost ready to put the demo out.  I think I'll work on this the rest of the night, put whatever I have into a demo, and upload.

Then tomorrow I seriously got to catch up on the many errands I've been putting off because of this game.  I still haven't done taxes!  Aiiiiiiieeee.

Anyways, the main menu screen:

What Happens When I Tell People About This Project

I've gotten some pretty amusing responses to the revelation that I am working on a B/B non-anime visual novel.

husband: that's pretty nichey, isn't it?  Like, a niche within a niche?
friend: raised brow, doesn't get it, changes subject
coworker: hysterical laughter
brother: hysterical laughter

Basically people are either like "uh, I don't geddit" or  "BWHAHAHAHA that's the FUNNIEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD!!!"

The one person in my life who was like, remotely interested, was my sister.  (I love her.)  Not sure if she was just being supportive or she would actually be willing to play my game.

Anyhoo.  Have been working on the demo all night.  Spent about 3 hours on redoing a sprite, trashing it, redoing it, and then going back to the original version after all was said and done.  Argh.

I guess it's coming along.  Hopefully it will be done by the end of this weekend, though it won't have all the bells and whistles I want it to have.  (Like characters blinking, incorporation of expressions in the code ...as opposed to just the separate .pngs I have set up for each expressions.  It could also use more expressions for the non-player characters.)

As I was telling my husband today, out of all the different things I've worked on (screenplays, novels, comic strips) making this VN is most like the time I tried writing a romance novel.  Even the online VN community I'm in reminds me a lot of the romance novel forums.  Generally very supportive, tilted towards female (though in the case of VNs, much, much younger.)

Writing the Demo

Writing the past two days in small chunks.  Have been trying to find some way to code at my breaks at work, but find it very awkward without my laptop.

Anyways, will finally get some big blocks of time this weekend to put this together!

Things I'm going to have to learn about: variables.

Useful to know: the command 'pass'.  I have a couple of menus with options that don't necessarily change the game in anyway, just make the reader hopefully feel more immersed.

I'd love to make those options have impact later on, but at this point they don't have any really impact in the demo.

Does this post even make any sense?  Argh.

The Making Of: Day 23

My shoulder has been sore for a few weeks.  Not sure if it's from my job or sitting hunched over the computer for hours at a time.

All right, I think I'm gonna stay up tonight and get my game to a "beta-ish" state.

Let's see what I can accomplish in a few hours.

If my husband wakes up before I go to bed, I think I'll take him to work and we can grab some McDonald's breakfast on the way there.  Mmm.

The Making Of: Day 22

Finally figured out how to put side images up.  It's in the tutorial, duh.  (Really helps to break the tutorial itself apart to see exactly what is happening.)

Still not happy with the player character...he reminds me vaguely of Wil Wheaton.  Nothing against Wil Wheaton, who I had a minor crush on as a child, but I had a different image in my head about what the main dude should look like.

Anyways, good grief.  As for artwork, did a couple of messy sketches of possible CG's (terminology?).   I've also got several different expressions for the main dude ready to use as side images.

Wow, this all must be completely thrilling to read about.

Confusing and Side Images

Spent the day trying to figure out side images in RenPy.  Major confusion.

Mark (Main Character)

Drew him with my vector app, then changed my mind and kept him the way I originally had him.

Made a couple of expressions for him.

Not entirely happy with him...he looks too much like a girl for me.  Maybe not so much in this drawing as some as the others.

But gotta get the demo out at some point, so we'll have to put our fixes on hold!

Note: HAIR.  I HATE IT.

Doing Art vs. Writing

Art takes forever to do but is relatively easier for me.

Writing takes less time but makes my brain hurt.

Redid Penny, Started Coding

Started coding the game today.  The sprites continue to taunt me to fix them.  Recolored Penny and added some expressions for Penny and Cody (whose name keeps changing, and will probably continue to do so until the game is finally compiled.)

My husband's comment: "hmmm....I notice everybody's got their hands in their pockets."

#($&#*&$#&$#

Cody (Brett?) Coloring Complete

Ok, obviously some problems here with placement, feathering around their bodies, and numerous other elements.  But the basics are in place!!!  I think I've got enough to start building the demo.

The big question is whether I need to make the main character or not.  I've got his line art...but will I even need to show him yet?

Needed for My Barebones Short Game Demo

• 4 character sprites: Penny, Mark, Alex, Cody (probably without expressions for now)
• left to do: clean up and color Mark and Cody, clean up Alex
• at least 4 backgrounds: apartment, bar, class, hall
• left to do: recolor class, make just a black bg?
• coding
• script outline and basic dialogue complete, left to do: code it in Ren'py

I'm estimating I still have about 2-3 weeks left of work before I can get my game up and running.  It will be very flawed, and I probably will want to redo all the art, but I'm hoping it will be playable.

At the moment I'm spending about 5 hours a day on coloring and drawing.  On the weekends I'm spending about 8 hours a day on those things.

I've noticed that I originally planned to do all the coding and writing first, but it seems things have actually unfolded in this order:

• outline and map of game
• basic drawings
• backgrounds
• character sprites
• coding ?!?

Coloring Penny

This was easier than Alex.  Learning about shading, coloring hair, etc.

Line Drawing of Penny

Penny is the main character's best friend.  This line drawing took me about 1.5 hours.  The battle continues with hands.  Thankfully the google image I was using for reference had her hands shoved inside the pockets.  Hurrah!

Otherwise this drawing would probably have took me another 8 hours.  I swear...I will practice hands and arms...any second now.

Time Spent on Hair and Hands = Too #*$&# Much

This guy took me ALL NIGHT.  His hands and hair were driving me nuts.  I think I spent about 7 hours on him total...and its funny because he is supposed to be the main character...which I don't even think the player ever sees except once or twice.

Coloring Tribulations

Worked on coloring Alex today.  Have to redo the backgrounds because they are far more colorful than my sprites will be (my sprites will probably be very close to two-tone.)

Here is a test shot...the dialogue is from a different scene...just seeing how this looks.

I realized what keeps me motivated today, when it comes to art.  When I draw and color, it "looks" pretty good to me.  I'm like, "oh yeah, baby!"

It's only a day or two later that I think, my god, this is all wrong, "wtf was I thinking?!?", and start over again.

I guess that's a good mindset.  If I actually knew it sucked as I was drawing it, I would probably be discouraged and give up more often.

I gotta learn how to clean up around the sprites.  For some reason Sketchbook Pro on my ipad doesn't seem to export the images with a transparency (though I'm probably just ignorant about how to do this.)  So I try to pick everything up with the magic wand and end up leaving all this white detritus around my character.

Coloring hair freaking kills me.  Even worse than limbs and hands.  Just another thing on my long list of "I dunno how to do this."

One thing about clothes.  It seems like well-drawn clothes are so overlooked.  Most people only notice them if they're done poorly.  It makes me not want to work on clothes at all, but surely all my characters can't be wearing plain short sleeved tees throughout my entire game...can they?

Another Character and Backgrounds

Redid main character's roommate, and did all the backgrounds for the demo.  "Did the backgrounds" pretty much consists of outlining stock photos, and throwing a blur filter on them, as well as desaturating them.  I think I overdid it on the blur.  These will all be revisited later, perhaps!  Especially since the perspectives are entirely whacked!!!  Example:

Right now I have to focus on the toughest part of making this game: which is getting my character models cleaned up (effing arms & hands!), colored, and shaded.  I don't know if they'll have any expressions outside of their normal ones.  I really just want to get the first version of my game up and running.

I can't believe how much time I've been putting into this.  I dunno how many people out there want to play a non-Anime-style boy/boy visual novel.  So far there's just me.  :-D

More Characters

For my demo I need at least four characters.

I tried doing two more today...not sure how I feel about them.  One guy has a very "homeless" thing going on, and he's not homeless...he's the main character's roommate.

As you can see arms and hands continue to throw me for a loop.  ARGH.  Gonna have to sit down and practice arms for a day, I think.

Update!!!

All righty!  First thing's first, I'm ditching Tumblr and going back to Blogger.  Yep, out with the new and in with the old.  Main reason is, my husband can't even see my blog.  I think you have to register to see Tumblr blogs?  Which I feel is sorta strange, right?  Not something I'm used to when it comes to blogging.

So anyways, I've migrated my posts back to blogger.  Ah, that familiar, so-very-90s orange B.

Secondly, I've made some changes to the game plan.  I thought I'd write a complete relationship within the span of two weeks and start working on the art work, but honestly, I'm really worried my art work is what's in need of the most TLC.  I'm just going to make this game "demo size" and start worrying about the art work NOW.  So I've done most of the writing...all of which will now need to be coded.  But since it's pretty simple, I'll be able to devote more time to drawing.

This maaaay be the main character, Mark.  Not quite sure yet.  As I mentioned in the forums, my secret wish is to be able to keep his hands shoved in his pockets and stick with that one expression the entire game.  But realistically, I suppose that can't happen.

Right now I'm practicing my figure drawing from Characterdesigns.com, which has a bunch of great photosets that shows male figures in action poses.  I dunno if any of my characters will ever be wielding a katana in their everyday college world, but you never know.

I haven't totally settled on a style either, e.g. what level of cartoon-y I want to characters to be.  The main thing is I hope the player can connect and feel empathy for them, and you know, maybe crush a little over them too.  Hrm.

Writing (Week 1)

Yay.  Weekend.  Now I can fully devote my time to finishing the writing, before I get into the coding portion.  As I lay out the plot in my mindmapping app, I’m trying to figure out how detailed I want to get.  Right now I’m just mindmapping the “main” story line, and not where any extraneous branches might lead.

I also can’t stop practicing drawing.  I feel like I lack so much in that department…that it takes YEARS to get really good.  I would consider trying to recruit an artist, but some wanna-be-artist inside me wants to give it a shot.  I dunno if that’s good or bad.

Writing (Week 1)

I’m continuing to map out my story, and now starting to write direct dialogue into my mind mapping programming. Haven’t even’t gotten to day 2 yet (there are about fourteen days altogether?)

Writing (Week 1)

Ookami Kasumi from the lemmasoft forums recommended using a mindmapping app to outline a game.  I went on a shopping spree this weekend and download a couple of different things for my ipad, one of which was iThoughtsHD.  It looked a little intimidating to use, but as soon as I opened it up, it was a cinch to start mapping out my game.  Very smooth, easy, and fun to use!  Works well with Dropbox too, which is fantastic.

The tough part now is keeping the game simple enough so I’ll be able to complete it by my deadline.  The storyline I came up with involves an additional character and of course, additional backgrounds.  Yikes.  I’ve been told how producers look at scripts differently than writers: how each person and prop and effect and scene imposes a new $$$ figure.  I definitely get it now!  Each new element I bring in means much more work for me.  :-/

The other tough part is trying to figure out how double blackmail is going to work in the storyline.  Without giving away too much, the player does something to save somebody else, but I haven’t found a creative solution yet of how this is done.

"Art"

Coming along with backgrounds and character art.  I didn't include Cody in the second background, but hopefully you can see how I'm improving (?)

Learning GIMP as I go.  I hate arms and legs.  Why you gotta be so hard to draw, limbs?!?  I've check out about a dozen different arms and legs tutorials on Deviant Art, and they are all completely different.  

Deadlines!!!

Well, as it was suggested to me by a member on the forums (thank you, ffs_jay), keep my first game short and sweet, and give myself a deadline!

That I will do.

Project: Finish the first relationship in my vn, so it’s a standalone game.  Will need to produce backgrounds, three character sprites (and possibly relevant expressions).

Deadline: Sunday, April 22nd (approximately one month) for prototype

My pie-in-the-sky schedule:

Week 1 & 2 (this week and until April 1st) - write and code relationship to completion

Week 3 (April 2-8th) sprite linear drawings

Week 4 (April 9th-15th) color sprites

Week 5 (April 15th-22nd) color and tweak backgrounds

Post prototype: Week 6 (April 23rd-29th) testing

On May 1st I should have my game available on the forums.

Figure Drawing

Out of all the skills I'll need to make my first vn, my art skills are probably the least adequate.

I'm a decent draftsman, but my figure-drawing-from-scratch skills are clunky.  Different parts of the human body continue to befuddle me, specifically where the limbs connect to the body, and the different muscles in the legs and arms. 

I need to get comfortable enough with drawing the human figure if my game will look halfway decent.

I'm starting with a bunch of tutorials on deviantART that show you the basics of figure drawing.  There are dozens of great tutorials on the site, all with different techniques.  Today I think I'll tackle head, neck and shoulder proportions.  These have always given me much grief.

But first, here's where I'm at with figure drawing without use of any reference material.

Soooo, not sure what's going on here.  He should probably have a penis, first of all.  But we'll tackle that area later on, when I'm feeling more confident.  Or maybe never, since I didn't plan my game to be showing off wang.  :0)

I AM planning to make the sprites somewhat cartoony, but not this cartoony.  In other words, his head is too freaking big.  I don't know why his hips are so small, his feet are so mutated, and his arms sit so weirdly against his body.  (Note, the figure's right arm and its position against the right side of the body ALWAYS throws me.)

Anyways, hopefully in a few weeks my figure drawing will be much improved, and I can draw a male figure from scratch without too much embarrassment.  I'm hoping compared to this "BEFORE" drawing, my "AFTER" drawings will make me proud.

For reference: I'm using an ipad2 with a Bamboo pen, using an app called Sketchbook Pro.

Best tutorial I found today for neck drawing!

Steven Sanchez's neck tutorial