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.