Congratulations to my game-jam-game-turned-major-project (which marks my 3rd major project entry here. It's a long story) getting released! After toiling for a year or so, it finally escaped mid-development purgatory. Thank you, once again, to my friends who supported this venture & expressed their enthusiasm regarding the story with every step I took.
Welcome to Eat Your Heart Out!, a visual novel with mystery and fantasy elements, where both humans and Pernaturals co-exist. It talks about its world's underbelly & how such co-existence can happen, trust and what one would do when faced with reflections. In other words, would you like what's on the platter?
It's completely free to play on itch.io; more details on its page.
Devlog #15: WE ARE STILL HERE & all sorts of miscellaneous work
June has become a Very Busy Month as I predicted....Nonetheless, I'm continuing to chip away @ this game's laundry list. This month, I've worked on the backgrounds (as usual!) alongside hunting down royalty free music on the ole reliable (free music archive or FMA). More details below.
Bg work update
After god knows how long, there are now a total of 7 backgrounds I have to complete before the BG work here is finalized🫣This month, I managed to get out a background that I was Intimidated by --- mostly because I had to invent things & not copy reference photos 1-to-1 whilst leaving room for creative liberties. Since said background/s spoil a significant plotpoint of the game, I'll show off less spolery ones here :-)
^Despite the potential 10billion trillion 'mini paintings' I do in every BG now & again, they're somewhat cumbersome to come up with...thus, I spam the dithering tool instead + make a handful of abstract objects.
For the spoilery bg/s, though, I took inspiration from The Great Ace Attorney's steampunk elements, though take that with a grain of salt since I didn't go all out with the gears. I think it was around this time that I was losing motivation because acads took over my week @.@ ..I also caught a cold & had to lay low on making art because my immune system was Not having it.
Sound checks
I also began sifting through the pages of FMA for piano tunes. At first, I was picky & was searching for actual pieces made in the Edwardian era for immersion purposes, but I suppose a paywall blocked me from ever doing so. Thus, I shifted gears & went to passable classical BGM. As I'm writing this, there's still an overwhelming amount of piano in TI's soundscape (because, well, I only searched for it), but I'm thinking of branching out to string pieces & other instruments to further broaden the variety..& not have piano piece 1 or 4 loop every now & again. Perhaps even make instruments related to characters! There's too much keyboarding happening right now in my Edwardian Britain T.T but anyhow....
What next?
As usual, I'll work on the next set of backgrounds until the end of July + hopefully have time for additional sprite work if I have enough energy. More FMA rummaging will also be on its way on July. Anyhow, see you next month👋
Hello to this month's installment of TI's devlog. I'll admit that I've been stalling on doing a writeup for this month because of IRL matters part nth no it never ends again, but here we are. I suppose this will be shorter than the last installment because I only worked on one aspect of the game during May... & that's solely on backgrounds. As the days go by (especially during this season where my workplace..in the Attic is especially unbearable), I find myself working on my hobbies like drawing &, of course, this game, in after 5pm or so. & even then I sleep early! But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go to the main gist of what I've done.
Background update
Special thanks for the entirety of The Dear Hunter's act series for keeping myself afloat during work sessions --- whether I'm chipping away at TI's assets or at my weekly responsibilities. TOUCH, TASTE, FEEL IT RIPPING ME DOWN! I genuinely don't know what other soundtrack to those 1hr+ sitting purgatories would've made it easier.
Other than all of the backgrounds for Cambridge being complete as I've reported last month, the list I've made in TI's gdocs is looking greener by the end of this month (blurred for remaining spoiler-free!)
I must say that while I ran out of steam in the latter weeks in order to focus on my majors, I've surprised myself. Apparently, working on backgrounds in groups of three is more palatable to my brain --- even quells the nagging feeling that I'm not working 'enough' on this game (whatever 'enough' entails). For the sake of myself, I do think that I'll continue on this pattern for June as well & leave the sprite making for minor characters somewhere in the future. Much like last time, here are some backgrounds I did this month:
I've yet to resize them to the game's actual resolution, but either way, they're proof of my labor 🤷♂️By the way, I can't believe I've learnt that I can just ...fill a section in Aseprite with a certain pattern for easy wallpaper/flooring designs. I've been painstakingly piecing together shapes for 4 or 3 years, I forget...Why was I so delayed in knowing that??
Other musings
Something I believe I've neglected discussing in last month's post (save for the cryptic word nudges) is why I chose to talk about Immortality as the main theme for it. I was wondering whether elaborating on this is a Spoilery Deal, but I reckon that, No; Hughes, one of the leads, Already has searching for it to be his whole schtick. Why not go full throttle at that topic, anyhow?? Thus, here we are.
Around a year ago, I, like many other literature majors before me in my uni, had to go through a qualifying exam before I can take the rest of our tailored subjects. Other than your usual pen & paper shabang, we also had to go through an interview --- something I thought that would occur 1-on-1. Apparently, it was more of a discussion table deal. Two professors from the department ask us about our reading habits, whether we read classics (<- I was very enthusiastic about this) & all of the aspects you'd want a lit major to have. & then they gave us the inevitable question: why do we write? Or not --- I don't recall it verbatim. Regardless, someone's response stuck to me because I believe it encapsulates a handful of creatives' motives regarding their craft. They write, like many, to be remembered. A dent is something rather than nothing. Then again, I wonder time & time about the criteria for achieving such a thing.
I think of my younger self, intimidated and anticipating the fact that perhaps, one day, a game of his would be picked up by a Youtuber --- if he was lucky, perhaps even Manly. The next academic year, remembrance came to me through the form of scrutinizing the literary canon; who has the privilege to be heralded? It seems that TI's themes followed me in between my ebbing motivation. & to think that TI stemmed from me, wanting to write about an off-the-rails researcher of some kind.
What now?
As mentioned, I'll keep on chipping away at the background work for June. If I'm lucky & don't get taken by the tides of PDFs, gdocs & split-screen setups, I may even work on more assets! In the midst of all of this, I've also been trying to pin down a side character's design, to much dissatisfaction & several other reiterations. I'll keep at it, though, as usual. See you @ the end of June 👋
Isn't this devlog title giving you a sense of deja vu? Apparently, it's been a year since I've written one of these. And it's been a year since I've started this current project😅Apologies for the Very delayed introduction (it's Real Life matters are always at the core of everything), but I suppose this will be a re-occurring Thing now ..& something that I should expect from henceforth.
Let me present Time Immemorial (TI), my latest venture about Hubris (tm) & human nature — set in Edwardian London. It follows William Hughes, a researcher intent on finding immortality; Richard Silverridge, Hughes' friend a future heir to his family's company who's fascinated by novelty; Agnes Fairfaux, a closed-off woman who's pulled by what she desires & is tethered to honoring her sister's name & Diane Copperclarke, a suffragist journalist searching for Agnes' sister.
When, How & Why (& other fun facts...)
During my gamedev hell with EYHO! last year, a concept kept returning to me during my walks to my commute & to my home; something about a 'mad scientist adjacent' character, his straitlaced friend and his estranged wife. At the time, I was still feeling The Great Ace Attorney's (TGAAC) aftereffects & perhaps that was why I decided on the project's timeframe. Much like blurred concepts that strike you during mundanity, I was also rotating a desired scene at the very end of the game that I wanted to build to. Eventually, that vision did come to life & elaborating on this would spoil the game before its release, so let's say that it was enough to warrant a heartbeat increase at its thought. Other than my festering TGAAC love, I've also been stocking up on Victorian & Edwardian novels to prepare myself in writing TI. I'm aware that in writing VNs, simpler prose is somewhat the ideal (because, well, you have visuals & dialogue doing the heavy lifting), but I wanted to Capture the essence of the era and not through architecture and fashion alone. E.M. Forster somewhat became my reference point for the language (Maurice, Howards End <- this was a bit of a slog to go through, The Longest Journey) alongside many other period pieces I read before & during writing the script (TPoG, NMT, EF, etc...).
To say that I was intimidated every time I went to write/continue from where I left off in TI's GDoc is an understatement. Looking back, though, I feel like I definitely captured Edwardian prose. & with the help of Not looking @ the script that much because of asset work, I often surprise myself with the sentences I managed to pull out Whilst dreading writing the script but @ the same time wanting to do so because of that Scene. Speaking of writing, I want to confess that I did the Bare Minimum here (no books have been perused through & the journal articles I Did look into are the same ones that I skipped right to the conclusion/ctrl+f'd what I want to know about). I hope no Cambridge...ians... come after me. This is solely a work where themes are the priority over historical accuracy👼 In the beginning, the outline's focus was centered on Hughes & Richard's dynamic (with Agnes taking the label of 'estranged wife' to another level), but at some point, I decided to give Agnes more of a spotlight & added Diane into the mix for parallelism's sake. The women in my works also tend to take a backseat so I want to change that pattern.
Speaking of themes, unlike my previous works where there are several Endings, this is a kinetic novel & all roads lead to 1 Thing. The good news is that the words are the priority & w/ Renpy, mass copypasting from the GDocs isn't as tedious as it were if I were doing this in RPGMaker. I decided on this Lack of gameplay because. Well. It fits w/ what I'm trying to convey 🤷♂️I also want to try out making that type of game.
(^I read my uni's Plain cover leatherbound version. Very immersive)
Writing-wise, I definitely like how I branched out w/ TI's cast e.O. A bit of a side-tangent but Forster's The Longest Journey def had a Larger influence on Hughes, Richard & Agnes' characters compared to the other books I mentioned here (Hughes -> Ansell; Richard -> Rickie..I gave Ricky's Slight Limp to this game's 'Ansell' tho; Agnes -> Pembroke). Though, I guess Agnes & Pembroke's similarities only end @ their names & the clothing/hair I imagine for Pembroke. Since Diane was a late addition, I structured her to be somewhat similar to Richard (ie. the cheerier out of the 2 in the pair dynamics). Fitting too, since she's his cousin :-P IIRC, I also incorporated a bit of Ibarra-isms to Richard (his flaws especially, but I think it's a bit subtler in the script itself). If you read TLJ, you'll notice some scenes are Legit the same in TI...that's intentional. (Hello, field in Cambridge...& company!)
As from the lack of Sub-header after Sub-header, this game's development is definitely less...messier than EYHO!'s😅Just as slow, though...perhaps even slower, but that's natural as time (lol) passes.
Current progress
Similarly to EYHO!, the script has been completed aaaages ago. It's just asset work...& implementing said asset work into the game. So far, the main 4's cast sprites (& their One pose variation) are done, but I still have to make the sprites for 3 other side characters. This task is, of course, set back because I'm prioritizing background work, which is More daunting knowing the time era's architecture style e.O I can't get away w/ somewhat detailed blocks here & there anymore. Past me also went 'this time around, I want the backgrounds + CGs to be Better than last time' sooo... Speaking of, I Do think that I'm living up to that because I like the way they're looking.
Importing the Second sprite pose variations is..A problem for future me but yk 👼(alongside many others...)
For now, here's the current look of the game:
Cambridge is the only category that has All of its completed backgrounds so far.... that's why Agnes & Diane aren't seen here😔The 2 are affixed by gray in the current version oops. Though, here are some of the completed bgs I've yet to import:
Not a background, but I want to share my favorite Anges sprite because I can:
What's next?
I guess it's expected that if I say that I'll continue working on the backgrounds🤷♂️So, that's the goal for next month. Currently working on those in groups of threes & adding another set once I get them done/till the month ends. Did you know that I get a One Month break Minimum these days?🤔Still kicking, though. I don't expect myself to get Everything done by the end of May becaaauseeeee. Life is fun.😅I don't like abandoning ship, though (& I Definitely like keeping myself busy), so I'll continue chipping away at this tiny world.
Reflections
Here's the Obligatory Reflections Header where I get all senti & what not. Sooo. It's been [checks calendar] 3 years since I've started posting devlogs here. It also wouldn't be a stretch to say that it's been 4 years since I started making games. That sounds odd to say out loud. Last year, I made my 1st venture into art boothing w/ POTA's Originals 2, promoting all of the people from these stories. & this year, I got a Boost in recognition because someone made a playthrough of angel care e.O (that I have yet to watch in full because I'm a Coward). Like the devlog I made, announcing EYHO! to the public, I'm returning to talk about angel care again.... I guess it's because that game is my period piece, in a sense. When I think about me, writing AC & dt-z compared to me, writing TI, I feel strange. & affected by Something, but I don't think that emotion is nostalgia. I think it's closer to being Rattled because 'damn, what do you mean that I used to live/think that way?' This emotion even extends whenever I think about EYHO!'s script as well. Maybe it boils down to the fact that I'm pulling from Somewhere else when it came to making TI itself... & while that place is Still personal, that sense of vulnerability is a different type (less bleaker, I think, than AC & dt-z's root causes).
Anyhow, see you @ the end of May for the next devlog installment 🙏
Assorted short stories & etc: Descent to Negative Zero v1
We're back again :-P This is about the scrapped true end for dt-z, but the QR code in here has spoilers for Rex's backstory. The piece not in the QR code is in Josh's POV.
Happy 1st year anniversary to rexosh & dt-z! 🥺🥺🥺To celebrate, I've recorded a walkthrough/gameplay video of the entire game showcasing everything to it for anyone to see, knowing the limited platforms you could actually play the game on (along w/ making an updated itch.io thumbnail). See the whole playthrough below; no commentary.
We know what the 'R' stands for in R&A Target Practice Coaching, but who's 'A'? Well, not someone with a name who starts with it, at least.
"Hey, what's up. I'm Holland, one of the guys who run this joint. Ahh, so you got redirected here by Zane, didn't you? Makes sense, makes sense. He actually brings half of our clients in here, really. I gather you've figured out what we're really dishing out here, no? At first, I suggested ice cream related codewords, but Zane said that it'll be too hard to decipher. Isn't that the point of codewords, though? He confuses me. Anyway, you're in luck! You're just a day away from availing our services. If I assume correctly, he also told you to wait for 3/12, yeah? He did? Of course, he did. Well, I'm waiting for it, too for different reasons, ha! Looking forward to meeting you!"
Who exactly is RUBY GEM EXTRACTION SERVICES? Well, not that it matters. That website is defunct now. But, I'll let the man answer that question himself.
"It's me, Zane, the aforementioned 'man' above. Was being Ruby lucrative? Definitely, yeah. Why else would I still continue doing so for so long? But, what exactly am I doing with target practice coaching, you ask? It's a code word, as you may already assume by looking at my site; I'm not really honing gems nor extracting them. If I say that I'm selling info, that would be too obvious, wouldn't it? Either way, the 'A' in the website name is a friend of mine. Both of us are still finishing up with a client, so if you want to reach out, maybe wait for... two more days? Yeah, two days -- 3/12; what a nice combination. Anyhow, catch you later."
Why don't you come on down to Blush Bar, where you can meet one of our prestigious staff members, Rosalie?
"Oh, but do note that my service hours are a bit cut for this month! At least, until the situation dies down... You haven't heard of it yet? It's all over the local news! It's practically unmissable, unfortunately. But, you do want to book, right? Hm... I see. Well, you're in luck! I have a vacant spot just for you on 3/12! Isn't that great? Just fill out the form in the website, and I'll be your girl!"
Devlog 12: Is your heart running? - Love month coloring & GFX
What a busy month! For me, at least. The entirety of February felt so jampacked with things going on -- both panic & joy inducing. Knowing that, I'm glad to report that as the month closes, we're ending on quite a joyful week, as I've gotten a handful of work done on this project. This devlog entails the current state of the CGs, the new main menu (along with a revamped logo) & possibly more. As always, more is below the cut.
(Quite unrelated, but the rando Japanese text is from Milkyway's One Night Love -- a bit fitting knowing February's holiday).
Finished CGs
I'm glad to say that we have a lucky number for this game's total CG count: 27! Thankfully, I managed to pull off one of my goals for this month regarding this game's development (& that's finish coloring/rendering all of the CGs that I've previously lined the month prior. As for my opinion on the CG style this game adopted, I'm quite a fan of how they look like, even if their style deviates greatly from my usual rendering style. I owe my better skill on being able to line things better to this game, really.
Below are some snippets of the finished CGs from the early game (because the rest of them are quite literally heavy spoilers, whoops).
New Main Menu/Logo
While I do like the old logo, after getting some skill regarding GFX from a YouTube video I watched, I wanted to give the logo a face lift of sorts.
Very clean, very thorough (past me would be shocked, as I didn't like working with text-based GFX mostly because I didn't know how). I like to think it conveys the ideas that this game puts out from the title alone. For me, I really like how I integrated the heart platter & the arrow this time around. Speaking of conveying ideas that the title puts out, I finally removed a title screen placeholder & settled on something a little more polished for once, now that the game (I feel) has almost run its course, development wise.
(While the option buttons look like that here, they won't do so in the actual build, as this is a reference where I should position the actual option buttons, coding-wise).
Of course, this wasn't the first draft I thought of when thinking of title screens. As shown below, I've went through some drafts on how I should go on about making it. At first, I wanted to include the trio in it, as it's been a pattern of mine to draw the titular characters in my games in the main menu itself. However, after drawing and coloring the trio way too much, I fear, I wanted a break from doing so. & so, I settled on making a banquet-esque scene that greets you upon booting up the game itself.
Albeit, the velvet table cover was supposed to be gingham, but I ditched the idea, as I didn't want to deal with making the pattern + it would be a bit unfitting, knowing that the game isn't cozy or gives you the impression of a picnic. I also decided on the table cover to call back on one of my EYHO! illusts featuring Holland & Zane. While that wasn't the original intention, the scene ended up being similar to said illust, which was very fitting.
What's next?
Now that we’re here (alongside the fact that playtesting closes the next day as I’m writing this), the only logical conclusion is that the prospect of releasing this. Knowing myself, I probably can’t endure a month’s worth of waiting for a project of mine to get published for the public’s viewing, so this will most likely be released in March or April — at least, after I get the publicity materials done and dusted (like the Itch.io cover, for instance). Either way, this will most likely be the last devlog for this game’s development, and while its journey might seem short on the surface, logically for me, this was at least a year’s worth of venturing & putting it in the back burner, so hooray for me! As always, thank you for your time & see you soon :-)
Happy new year & merry holidays every one :-) December has quite been a busy month regarding this project's development, especially with its aesthetics such as GUI and even CGs. As of right now, I've tackled on drafting up a bit of a placeholder GUI for the different menus. Moreover, I surprisingly got a lot done with the CGs. As always, more details are under the cut.
1st GUI drafts
Honestly, I forgot that I tackled this during December or so, the moment I started working on the previous devlog (because I've been busy with getting the CGs done...), but, yes, there has been work on the GUI side of things! A part of me feels unsatisfied with it, but what matters is that it definitely is better than whatever I was working with before December -- it also adds a bit of a unique flare to the game. I have also made a logo for this game to give it a try.
It's based on Red Velvet's Russian Roulette album cover, and as a first venture into GFX, it's definitely passable, but I definitely have much more to learn about.
CG placeholders
And so, we've reached the CG drafting stage. Albeit, I underestimated my ability to make so many sketches for them (yes, sketches and not composition drafts) for the whole of December, but either way, I got a lot done by the end of it. A majority of them are still stuck in the "still needs lineart" phase, but in the handful of days before the new year, I've managed to color in and add some needed polish to the CGs that did have lineart done. For me, I'm quite satisfied with the way they look right now :-). Though the process is a bit more painful now that I have other elements to take into account, such as pen pressure because for once, since I'm not doing pixel art for a game.
For January, I'm definitely prioritizing getting all those sketches lined, but with the limited time in that month for pouring my efforts (IRL matters again...), I'll still be satisfied even if I managed to do so halfway. EYHO! doesn't have a set release date quite yet, since I don't think about that until it's polishing time + the thing I'm only waiting for is the feedback from my playtesters. Speaking of which, the project's gotten to the point I managed to release a working build to my usual group of playtesters!
1/30/25 edit: I have successfully lined all 27 CGs (excluding variations I need to make) for this month! Good job on my end for managing to meet my set deadline! Yay!
Playtesting
As of right now, I have gotten back one editing log from one of my playtesters. To be honest, I'm quite surprised at the sheer lack of major bugs in the log itself (only minor bugs/visual errors, such as text going off the box and so on), which is quite a change of pace from what I've experienced in my past projects. As you know, this stage is where I spend most of my time on regarding polishing, but for once, that might not be the case with EYHO!, and I'll just have to prioritize dusting off the aesthetics along with CG works.
Coding a visual novel in Renpy, much like making a game in RPGmaker, requires a ton of patience. Though, a notable difference with Renpy games is that you need to have a good tolerance for inputting repetitive code for sprites and so on within Visual Studio; the rest of the hard work mostly relies on the script. As my second visual novel game that's lengthier than is&d, I'm quite a fan of the support for the large text copy-pasting, as RPGmaker still requires you to input all the dialogue manually.
Knowing that, it definitely levied a lot of difficulty from me, when I had to backtrack and add more to the script to give more depth to both the world and the characters after getting feedback. Said feedback was especially useful, as before it, I felt like there was something missing from the game, but never pinpointed the thing that irked me, already too blinded by the fact that this project, in a way, already irked me in general because how long it was taking me (whoops). Anyhow, I definitely feel like the writing has more impact to it after that brief intervention, so I'm very grateful about it.
What's next?
After knowing that I'm done with lining all the CGs for this month, the logical conclusion for the next month's goal is to, obviously, get all of them colored and shaded. This game's finally going somewhere after a brief (?) period of purgatory! As usual, there is no set release date yet, but to play it safe knowing that I still have to work with the main menu GUI along with the pubmats for this game, it would probably be released in the latter half of March or early April. As always, thank you for your time and see you in the next devlog.
Old background drafts. Rendered style was when I was aiming for a quicker way to do them; using Pixabay pictures, adjusting the colors & painting over them, like sundark's BGs.
Sketches were the earliest drafts when I messed around w/ the perspective until I resorted to having 1 consistent POV for them (after reading a tip on Reddit about them & how to avoid sprites looking odd affixed them).
Devlog 10: Where has the time been????! + Timelining this is impossible, really
Hello, everyone. It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these ever since DT-Z’s release, no? At first, I’ve debated ever logging down the progress of this specific project because of, well... Production issues along with it having such a messy process (it’ll be a long story) that I don’t even know where to begin with it. I’ve even made a joke with myself that this one’s been cursed to taking me at least 10 decades to complete or so because of said process, but if I already started my work regarding it, I feel as if it’s a waste to throw all that away. I’ll admit it — this was supposed to be for a game jam — two game jams, actually, knowing that the process lengthened itself, but in the end, it became a “miniature” (with heavy quotes on that one) project of mine instead for the year to fill in the void dt-z has left me in regards to the gamedevving process. It’s my firm belief that with every developer, there lives a masochist within them *shot*
Ok, in all seriousness, let me introduce to you my mini-game-jam-project-turned-Actual-Project: Eat Your Heart Out! With a supernatural twist on the modern setting, it focuses on two characters, (from left to right) Zane and Holland's assassin agency, and the mission their mutual friend, Rosalie gave them, leading to more things being uncovered from the perspective of Holland. It'll detail secrets that are probably best kept safe, and centers around the theme of trust.
The 1st bloomings in December
So, what started this whole affair in the first place? Let me direct your attention towards the Yandere Game Jam, in which I stumbled upon around, as the heading suggests, late December. At first, the project was initially going to have a campy atmosphere to it -- a bit of a spin on the concept of turning the tables, and accidental mutual interest with the other. The fact that Zane and Holland were working together wasn't even the original idea; in fact, they were the complete opposite. The reason for the change? Perhaps it was the fact that my mind wasn't in the right headspace to write something lighthearted at the time. Although, that statement is a bit contradictory, especially knowing my mini-fandom fic side projects' general tone, I had a feeling in me that felt compelled to delve a bit deeper in the messaging/implication of everything the campy draft presented.
Don't get me wrong, I did have a sort of fondness for the EYHO's first draft, even kept the original text that I wrote up until the ending branches, however, it was maybe the endings' sudden shift in tone that led me to rethink where I wanted to steer the project towards. Regarding the spoiler-free aspects of the draft I can discuss here, within it, I already established the whole supernatural/modern world fusion of it, although the supernatural aspect held a bit more stigma with, let's say, humans in the world, in contrast to my current draft, where they're already well accepted. Rosalie wasn't even a character back then before I mulled over to myself on what to do with the feeling of stuck-ness I had.
Now that I mentioned, Rosalie's creation in the 2nd draft, I feel like this is a good time to introduce the various evolutions these three had every time I felt unsure about something/felt compelled to do so. Design wise, Holland is probably the one that got the most work out of the three -- flip-flopping from his rough draft I made on a whim on a Picrew I found to my various interpretations of "wolf", fashion-wise.
Yes, Holland used to be blonde -- it surprised me too. In fact, he wasn't even named Holland, rather, he was named Dustin, until I went to my friends to name him based on his aura because I felt like that didn't scream (or howl, rather) "wolf", at all. A bit off-topic, but it's my devlog, so I can do whatever, but I owe it a lot to my friends for helping me brainstorm a lot of the aspects of this project -- especially the endings. Either way, I feel like I've given The Fur Jacket to so many OCs these past few years, it's starting to become a pattern, and as I joke about this, there will be more instances of said Fur Jacket within my designs.
As mentioned before, Zane and Holland's designs were drafted with the help of Picrew -- Zane's draft being the one that I mostly stuck with because I was a fan of his overall aesthetic/the fact that he had a category of hair that I haven't drawn on an OC before.
In contrast to these two, Rosalie's design was conjured up by yours truly without the help of any Picrew. She was originally going to have a Frankenstein's monster theme (along with being a dude), however, I ended up making her have a Snow White theme (hence, the very shaped hair). She was also going to have a very big bow rather than her flower headband, though I changed it along the way as I contemplated which supernatural creature she should be. Her name (and nickname) came from a 77ke song. Yes, the lyrics are unrelated, but it was stuck in my head.
Regarding personality/character changes Zane and Holland went through before they became the men they are now, Zane was the one with the most drastic changes. The nonchalance/thick sarcasm was already a part of him in the 1st draft, though that's where his character ended. As such, this led to problems I mentioned before (lol). So, I ended up writing more depth to him by keeping that sarcasm and mixing in a bit of a hidden side to him one wouldn't expect when you just take him in face value. In that sense, he's a bit similar to Rex in terms of writing, and knowing I have a penchant for characters like those, I couldn't help it.
Holland, on the other hand, was mostly the same, with his playboy façade masking his actual busybody nature. Though, I did add more depth to him knowing the core theme of trust I now centered the project on in the 2nd draft, making it a point to purposely write out parallels between these two, and essentially make them mirrors of each other for the sake of honing in one of the conflicts one of them faces.
Wanting something new?
When this project idea came to me, it was when I was still developing Dt-Z. At first, I wanted to use the time frame the game jam gave me to dabble into another engine other than RPGMaker. While I give credit to RPGMaker for introducing me into game development, and teaching me the basic values that I should keep in mind when I develop a project that has a larger scale, I didn't want to limit my games to solely fit into that engine's limitations. If I solely stuck to that engine for the basis in which I told my stories, then I would be, in turn, stunting my ability to tell stories. RPGMaker, to me, is an engine that's good for beginners and doesn't require that much labor regarding coding. And knowing my tendencies to pick up hobbies that have a learning curve before I truly got good (or at least, good enough to satisfy my creative standards) at it, it was about time this crossroad would arrive.
Renpy was the first game engine that came to mind when drafting this concept, however, at some point, I had also dabbled with a bit of Gamemaker's engine (very strange, I'm aware), during the script's remaking stage.
During the very brief Gamemaker phase, I was inspired by Ace Attorney Investigations' top-down aesthetic, and pondered on the possibility of EYHO! having a more puzzle-centric approach, if not, something similar to angel care. This was during the summer before the localization released, but in the end, I had decided to make EYHO! a VN instead, using Renpy as its main engine.
Tone change?
Now that the slightly messy production of the 1st draft had been detailed, it's around time for me to expand more on the 2nd draft (AKA the project we're on right now) and the tone shifts. As mentioned before, I wanted to make something more lighthearted in contrast to my previous projects that hinged on horror as a main driving force to the story. Though, I wrote out most of the story with a campy tone in mind, conflicts arose, which, now that I think about it, was mainly the cause of the vagueness in message I wanted to put out there with the game.
Some of the highlights from the old script that I find amusing. You could still see when I was still writing it out and referred to Holland as Dustin.
Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly believe that projects such as these aren't obliged to have a sort of deepness to them every time -- it's just that, I find it difficult with personal original projects in particular to just put my time and energy into something that has my reason muddied; my reason in creating it, more specifically. You could argue that I wanted to make EYHO! (at least, in the beginning) for the sake of a game jam (YanJam & YaoiJam respectively), but to me, that alone isn't enough, especially once both of them are done and I'm left with something that's just so close to the finish line, only waiting for me to pick it up and polish its edges; I believe that's my relationship with EYHO! right now -- something that I could see potential in, and have already done most of the work, only burdened by the fact that my attention's split between various factors in my life.
It's quite a strange phenomenon, as with Dt-Z and AC, when I've developed them alongside academics, I never had difficulty in making weekly progress, despite my business. Though, with EYHO!, it's understandable, knowing that my life's a bit more busier and newer, in a sense. I'm unsure how I'll ever balance the usual along with this on the side, but as my past self had done so, time and time again, I'll probably do so.
Current progress
Now that all's been said and done, let's get to the actual devlog (whoops). As the main script has been completed ages ago, all that was left for me to do was import it into Renpy, and code in all the things that make visual novels, have their title. So far, I've been able to code in a rough draft of the game's entirety -- main sprites, audio, and choice branches included. You could claim that I'm almost done at this point, but you're wrong -- in fact, I'm only in the beginnings of the polishing stage. I have still yet to code in the placeholders for the CGs, so I'd have an easier time implementing them once they were done; making sure the CG goes away once the scene was finished and so on.
Since I mentioned that I already have a rough draft on what the final game looks like, here are screenshots from it that get a gist of what's going on:
Yes, the quick menu's position still needs a bit of adjusting, but no matter. In the first screenshot, you could see I've had a bit of fun including an OC Easter egg in the background (hi, Akashi!), which begs the question of my OCs lives possibly coinciding with one another, a la multiverse.
What's next?
I said it myself: I'm in the beginnings of the polishing stage. Other than the things that I mentioned before that I have yet to adjust, currently, I'm putting a priority on especially adjusting the GUI. As I'm unfamiliar with messing around Renpy's GUI settings, progress on that aspect has been slower than I'd like it to be. However, despite this, I try to not let that fact deter me -- I'm making some form of progress, after all, even if I cringe a bit at the GUI's current state and all of its short-comings. I'm also working on drafting up what the CGs would look like during this month (written during 12/6). Regarding BGM, I've been chipping away on replacing the ones that I've noted that needed a change, knowing the scene, or including it during scenes that lacked it. However, despite this, the GUI work has been a priority.
Reflections
Now that we're all caught up on where this project is (and was), I'd like to take a bit of time reflecting on my thoughts on the matter. Am I a bit disappointed that this took longer than my my older projects, knowing that I completed them in less than a year? Of course. And because of that fact, I feel as if I'm rushing myself to put EYHO! out, nice packaging and everything, since it's already been in so much stages that stagnated its development. Despite this, a part of me knows that while I share a part of the blame regarding the project's slow development (ie. losing interest, simply not giving enough pressure on myself to complete a feature by a deadline, etc.), that blame doesn't change the fact that I am a person, after all; I have a life outside this project -- responsibilities I need to fulfill, and so on.
Save for my friends that help with playtesting and giving feedback, making games has mostly been a one-man hobby for me -- a hobby that scratches the storyteller itch in me like no other medium could've before. Lately, whenever I've been developing EYHO!, I tend to forget the fact that making games has been, to me, a hobby first and foremost. And lately, the reason why I took up such a passion regarding storytelling has been escaping me as well; why exactly don't I want to let this project go? Has it not been delayed time and time again? Wouldn't it be better to end it rather than continue it? It's a project that I have fluctuating feelings about, after all. To those rhetorical questions I asked myself, the answer is quite simple. In fact, I already answered them in one of the devlogs I've written, when I was still developing Angel Care:
it has been quite an experience and though my love for this project often fluctuated whenever it felt like it, i still managed to get here. i’m taking the time i have right now to remember that i made this game as a letter to myself & as an ode to anyone who feels similar. i said that once and i’m repeating it again because it’s true.
