Dev Diary #28

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Dev Diary #13

 

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Dev Diary #07

 Here's to another week of an update!

So far, I have managed to write a couple of scenes for "Pink Rose" (the title of Bus Stop's work in progress revamp) and boy am I amazed how different the writing is now compared to the original! Likewise, some of the earlier choices will now have consequences within the game. 

Meanwhile, I've been toying around the basic interface over at Ren'Py to facilitate working on the custom UI for when the time comes (I already have some thumbnail sketches for the UI design) and experimented with the pronoun tool. Ideally, the new version will have the option for players to choose not only Fujioka's gender (making BS also BxB) but her pronoun. I posted a video preview of it exclusively over at ko-fi. Before the Tale, on the other hand, is pending while I'm updating my commission sheets with new art samples. All in all, the plan this month is to chill and recharge my creative fuel after working on "White Book" last month. If possible I want to avoid burn-out which will only hinder the projects even more. 

That's all I have for this week. Thanks for dropping by! 

Dev Diary #06

 It's officially 2021, here are my plans for the year.

For starters, I still intend to work on the revamp of either/both Bus Stop and Before the Tale. Once those two are out of the way, I have decided to stop developing visual novels entirely, although I wish I could have shared more of Strange Chemistry's universe. 

Not many of you probably know of this but from the moment S❤C was created, it has been my intention to create VNs and stories set in the fictional archipelago of Lunar Isle (a mixture of Japanese and Western-influenced country on the same geographical location of  Japan, how original I know). Bus Stop and Conspiracy, for example, are set in the fictional capital city of Moonville. Whereas No Thanks, Eros! and Nocturnal Affair are equally located in Upper Heights Hill, the major hub for entertainment and commercial industries. There was even a new city I recently created last fall situated in the Northern region, where the belief of the Archaic Gods and supernatural persists in modern times, called Caligo Hills (a must place to visit and live in for horror aficionados). 

Anyway, although I will stop developing visual novels, you may still find me occasionally making interactive stories, maybe with Twine or something else we'll have to see. Art-wise, I plan to offer my services as a sprite artist for short projects and/or games jams. Given my past experience, I don't think long-term ones are suitable for me.

In the meantime, I will be working on the GUI design for Before the Tale since the original script is finished anyway. Expect updates here once it reaches around 80% progress. I will be sharing snippets of works at Twitter (@strng_notes) and ko-fi as often as I can without burning out.

Visual novels have become such a huge part of my life, which makes it all sadder that I have fallen out of love with it. On the plus side, at least I will be able to finally play them again after all these years.

Stay safe and may this new year bring positive things in your lives. :)

Dev Diary #04

Happy weekend!

Can you believe we're two weeks into finally finishing 2020? It's been one hazy rollercoaster ride. Here's some excellent news this week!

Last weekend I finally unveiled "White Book: Complete Volume" page at itch.io and shared a timelapse process of one of the CGs thanks to Clip Studio Paint's latest update! With that in mind, I may or may not be inclined to share the rest of the videos I recorded over at ko-fi after publishing the full game. 

Speaking of, the first six sets of CGs are done with the minor ATL coding included! It's nothing exceptional, but it does add dynamic to the kinetic format. 

(A snippet of the ATL code in-script.)

In the meantime, I am focusing the last stretch of these endeavours on the remaining CG art. Hopefully, "White Book" will be done and available for download before the end of December 2020 (*fingers crossed*) just in time for the "Finish Your Visual Novel" game jam deadline. 😊

(Top to Bottom: CG work-in-progress sketches)

Now, regarding my first post at the start of November, I haven't exactly decided yet what to do despite announcing my 2021 projects over at Twitter last week. However, I am indeed excited to work on Bus Stop's revamp should I ever decide to go for it next year! In fact, this week I tried re-writing the script using the original - cringe-y as it is through my 2020 eyes - as a guideline. Plus, months ago I finished writing another one for a potential kinetic novel project that will be focusing primarily on the illustrations.

Nothing is set in stone, and I would prefer avoiding making any grand announcement before having something concrete for the goodness of my well-being, compared to my past self.

As always, I promise to keep you informed when I will reach a decision at last. Probably, by the start of 2021 if possible. 

In the meantime, that's is all for this week's post. Stay safe, take care and wear a mask! 

 

Dev Diary #03

 Here's to another week of updates.

Hello, how have you all been? The project is coming along nicely. I've been mostly concentrating on finishing the CGs hence why the lack of update last week. The art is at a good point and is slowly being coded into the script as I go. Fortunately, everything is working as they should be, even the gallery! 

What I would like to hype about, is my last-minute decision to try applying ATL on said CGs to add movements to the kinetic novel. It will mostly be a low-key sort of animation, nothing extravagant since I have little experience in that area. But what little code I managed to found and apply for works divinamente! I shared a behind-the-scenes preview of it a few days ago on fleet. 

I cropped the area I wanted the animation to focused on using the local photo editor, copied the height and width on the image's detail info then used Ren'Py's developer tool to locate the position where I wanted the movement to start, changing manually as I go. All in all, I didn't have to rely on photoshop for this. 😀

With the progress I'm making so far, I'm confident I'll be able to submit White Book before the end of the month. After which, I plan to release the timelapse process of some of the CGs over at my ko-fi account. So keep an eye on it should any of you be interested! 

That's all the news for this week. Thank you for stopping by and stay safe. 👋

Dev Diary #02

Positive updates this week!

After a lot of trial and error, I found a gallery code which I can understand to a degree at last. Thanks to tofurocks, and her very handy GUI template, I managed to set up the gallery screen after so many months of headache. Obviously, there have been slight design changes which had to be done but I'm very satisfied with it.

Here's a quick work in progress preview! 

With all the UI coding out of the way, I can now fully concentrate on finishing the CG art. Ideally, the style should be as low-effort, but equally appealing, as possible in time for the game jam deadline. Already, I started sketching a couple few of them. Overall the game should contain 12 unlockable images.

( Sketch of  Her reading a book )

( Sketch of  Her smiling )

In terms of art style, I'm considering going for a watercolour vibe akin to Studio Ghibli's "Kaguya-hime no Monogatari" (2013) and a short film I stumbled upon at Gobelin's youtube channel titled "Un Diable San La Poche" (2019).

Should personal circumstances and my mood be alright over the course of the week, then hopefully, this experimental KN can be submitted even before the deadline. 🤞 That's all for this week's entry. Thank you very much for reading. 

As always stay safe and take care. 😊

Dev Diary #01

Hello readers, starting from this point on, all visual novel dev related posts will fall under "Dev Diary" for consistency's sake. 

Here's the progress I made so far this week!

Since the ongoing project was already around 60% complete by the time I put it aside for Nocturnal Affairs, I have finally placed the last missing background images and music. Having not received any response from the coding issue problem I was having with the game's UI history, I decided to ignore the problem completely rather than obsessed about it.

In any case, I am currently re-designing the UI gallery screen and figuring out how to code it without resulting in a massive headache (the gallery UI continues to intimidate me to this time after years 😥). Every now and then I might alternate between programming the gallery and drawing the CG art to possibly help avoid procrastination. 

In regards, to what will happen to my future endeavour as a developer, should I manage to successfully submit this visual novel before the deadline, I am considering stopping entirely to focus exclusively on my art, or, re-polish my earlier visual novel releases. Once I made up my mind, I will make sure to write a proper announcement on all my social media pages. That's all for now.

Thank you for reading this week's update. Take care! 💕