Et le grain mourut Devlog #4
Yes, finally. It's been exactly one year... So yeah April 16. Happy birthday Anatole France and Harahel. So. The devlog.
I did quite some things since the last devlog! Well, some various things happened in my life that prevented me from working on the game as much as I originally planned, but I'm still trying to do everything I can to be able to release the game in 2026. It won't before late 2026 tho (no ELGM tomorrow...). Tl;dr of the current state of the game if you weren't in the loop yet: it is fully playable (and several of my friends have already finished it), all features are here... but I need to finish the graphics and the English translation.
Nothing reminds you that you aren't a native English speaker more than translating your 70k word project into the language lol. Besides the personal stuff I have just mentioned, the translation is a big part of why I took so much time to write this devlog... I just didn't think it would take me so much time (and I'm not even done yet)! And as opposed to graphics it's hard to share interesting wips without spoiling anything. Brings me back to when I was working on the script... Currently, I'd say I'm around 60% done.
OmegaT is an open source CAT (computer-assisted translation) tool, and the program I use when translating ELGM. It helps me keep things organised and consistent. I recommend it if you ever have to translate big documents with repeated terminology or segments!
I'll be honest, I don't think ELGM is an easy text to translate, haha. Besides the usual difficulties you might encounter when translating a work of fiction, I had to make a lot of... choices given the setting, time period and the voices of some characters. I also sometimes had to adapt the text to make some concepts clearer, as I'm aware that the English version of the game will be played by an international audience. I hope the end result will be satisfactory enough and that you will be able to enjoy ELGM no matter which language you choose.
I've also finally started cleaning up character sprites, and will be able to progressively say goodbye to my sketchy and messy placeholders. Currently, I'd say I'm around 35% done with them, and once they are done I will move to cleaning up CGs. Other small graphics, such as inventory items or achievement icons, have already been done last year.
Émile and Cécile have finished sprites, but Olivier is still a placeholder. Of course the main character is going to take me some time...
I work character per character: first I properly place placeholder sprites of them in each scene they appear in, with the poses and expressions I want. I do that so I know which expressions this character will and won't need; depending on their personality and scenes, some character won't ever require a sad sprite, but could benefit from several nuances of anger, and vice versa. Seeing placeholder sprites together in-game can also help me fix stuff like heights and proportions ahead of time. Sometimes I notice that a character is supposed to noticeably shorter or bigger than everyone else they interact with, so I had to fix their eyes to make them look up or down and make it a bit less awkward!
Once I'm satisfied with every sprite I planned for this character, I clean everything up and make extra eyes and mouths for the blinking and lip-flap animations. That's a very time-consuming step but it makes everyone look more lively!
The Ace Attorney thing where two characters who have a connection of some kind share some sprite poses
Not directly tied to the development of the game, but I want everyone to look at the wonderful birthday gift I got :) It was made by https://www.instagram.com/plumes_crochet/!
Feat. my 1921 edition of Anatole France's Revolt of the Angels, Hara's favourite book and one of the inspirations behind ELGM
That's it for now! Remember that you can wishlist the game on Steam or follow me on Itch.io; besides just showing your support, it will allow you to receive an email when the game will be released (again, hopefully this year)! You can also follow me on Bluesky, where I sometimes post little updates ahead of time.
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