Seven Swell Studios

Development blog for the fanmade Eureka Seven Visual Novel Project, Eureka SeVN.

[seven-swell-studios]

Things I learned from organizing things for the project:

1. Ginga is a first rate notetaker

2. We were probably all high on trapar half the time

[seven-swell-studios]

Seven Swell Studios Notice

Hi everyone! We’ve been on hiatus for a while due to school/jobs/and general issues with scheduling. This is a notice to let everyone know that starting Dec. 11, 2015 we will resume regular operations for the winter holidays.

All members of the E7VN project are required to notify us of availability via Seven Swell Studios.

We will be shifting staff if for any reason people are no longer interested; on the same note, recruitment is open, especially for background art and (some) writing.

If you have any questions, concerns, or other issues please notify us.

[loveisstrange-vn]

Any tips on beginning game development?

(The following consists of strong beliefs by @thegadgetfish)

1. Scope! Especially if this is your first time making a game. Keep it short and simple. You’ll be surprised at how much goes into even a super short application. It’s easy to be crushed by over ambition.

2. Don’t give in to feature creep. Sure, it would be cool if your game had X or Y or Z, but get the core mechanics working first. Don’t lose focus.

3. Use version control. I personally love using Git, and bitbucket offers free repository hosting. Whenever you finish a feature (working and as bug-free as possible), commit it. If at any point you accidentally screw up, you can rollback to a previous version. Also very important if you have multiple coders on a project, because it helps with code merges/conflicts.

4. Outline everything before you start. List all the art/music assets needed, core mechanics, overall purpose. Look it over, and think about how possible it is given time/skill/team. Cut down if necessary (goes along with scope). Again, it’s better to start small, and then add onto it once you get into the flow of things.

5. Don’t take shortcuts, especially if you’re just starting out. Having a hacky foundation will screw you over when you’re trying to implement additional features. (Think of a house with a really crappy base)

Of course, working in a team is a whole other matter. This post by @xumbra about the development of Summer Rose Court is a very good read. I highly recommend it.

[seven-swell-studios]

We’ve added our developer, Flip, as an admin to the blog so we can disseminate information about the game’s progress faster~

-Kairi

[seven-swell-studios]

Updates~

- The Sukaifishu System (Patent Pending) is up and running!

- The game now has the ability to tally your points based on what choices you make. As your total increases, your skyfish marker changes color after crossing certain thresholds. Aim for the rainbow and get different endings!

[seven-swell-studios]

Hey! We’re having an optional debug/coding session on IRC today. Drop in if you want to discuss anything regarding the game.

We’re still waiting for a few of you to accept the Google Group invitation; if you have not already done so, please check your email.

[seven-swell-studios]

Google Drive now up and running

I've sent emails/asks to our members in order to create a google group under the name Seven Swell Studios. Though it sucks we've lost our dropbox, this is actually kind of an upgrade.

In addition to keeping our organization system:

New Features

- Automatic private forums in the group w/ email notifications so that we can all stay in communication as a group, rather than having to send out 10 tumblr messages to get everyone up to speed

- Chat features included in the docs for easier collab

- More drive space

- Task spreadsheet! You can use this to check deadlines and tasks that everyone is currently working on.

[seven-swell-studios]

Important notice for all members

Due to a virus in the dropbox, Seven Swell Studios will be migrating its collaboration files to Google Drive. Once it is set up, we'll add the member's emails through asks.

Sorry for the trouble. :(

[seven-swell-studios]

The virus you got hit by sounds like the newest version of the Cryptolocker virus (I want to say the newest version is 3.0). The new version only came out earlier this year, so there are still things that aren’t protected against it. It’s technically considered ransomware. Infected computers have a popup that asks you to pay something like $500 to get your files unencrypted. Good news is that you get a legit key to unencrypt your files. Bad news is that you have to pay them for it or basically wipe your computer clean. Whoever infected the dropbox, please get your computer looked at and possibly reformatted. — captainmidas

[seven-swell-studios]

Raiflip here, our Dropbox was infected by a virus. The virus encrypts all the files it can. The files essentially become useless. We have a backup of all the files included in the release and the art was unaffected by the encryption. Please do not touch any files in dropbox as they may be infect your computer. The virus must have originated from someone with access to dropbox who was infected. If you were infected the best course of action is to install very very trustworthy anti-virus software

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ THIS GUYS

[seven-swell-studios]

Attention Seven Swell Studios

We'll be having a meeting on IRC this weekend on Saturday, 2/21, at 9 EST (6 PST). This is a mandatory meeting about staffing and deadlines, so please attend. If you can't come for some reason, please let us know via message.

[seven-swell-studios]

More mockups and a new background~

E/R is moving into the later first season stuff, so having backgrounds of the Gekko is a must.

[seven-swell-studios]

We’re currently looking for artists who are interested in helping develop the fanmade Eureka SeVN game.

New artists would be responsible for backgrounds only. We want to help our current artists with their huge workload, which includes talksprite design, CGs, and BGs. If we took BGs off their hands, it would speed up the project immensely. (It also means you don’t have to draw people, which I know is preferred by some artists!).

Know that we have a monthly deadline, and that you may be asked to handle several pieces in that time, which may range from landscapes, rooms, etc.

If that sounds okay and you’re interested in being part of a cool project, come talk to us, or apply here!

[seven-swell-studios]

We're still looking for potential artists! Having more artists makes our progress waaaay easier, and thus less time consuming for everyone involved!

[seven-swell-studios]

Deadline Window open from 2/7 to 2/9

[seven-swell-studios]

Hey everyone, reminder that there’s a deadline window every month from the 7th to the 9th.

This month is not optional.

Tips and guidelines for handling work over the month:

It’s easier to stagger the work over the month, rather than allowing it all to pile up before the deadline.

Work together! If you need help, ask for it!

Writers: You are responsible for at least one scene per month. Length does not matter as long as it is a complete scene. It’s best if the scene is prepared for Ren`py the next month (when your art comes in).

Artists: You’re responsible for a list that every route will prepare with requests monthly. Backgrounds can overlap with other routes, so check in with each other to see if you can split up BG work. CGs and sprites are route specific, but once the majority of your characters are established, the amount of work will lessen. Make sure to let your writers know if there are problems with the amount of work.

Composers: We’re opting for a larger fanmade OST for the final product, so at least one or two tracks per month would be good, if possible. We need classic BGM and ambient tracks too.

Programmers: Try to at least tackle one problem or goal with the code a month. Currently we’re working on the Sukaifishu system.

[seven-swell-studios]

Last month, several people didn't contribute to their deadline. Please let us know if you think you may be delayed this month, otherwise we may have to start dropping people and that would be the worst. :(

[seven-swell-studios]

Doing some quick mockups and tests with the new sprites.

[seven-swell-studios]

Sprite Update

After the demo, we decided that we wanted to make the game's art look more uniform and crisp (haha, get it? no? okay...). This was in part both to user input as well as a general consensus among the developers that we wanted a more signature look for each route. In the end, the lovely Ticcy has updated our look for the Anemone/Dominic route!

[seven-swell-studios]

Deadline Window open from 1/7 to 1/9

[seven-swell-studios]

Hey everyone, reminder that there’s a deadline window every month from the 7th to the 9th.

This month is not optional.

Tips and guidelines for handling work over the month:

It’s easier to stagger the work over the month, rather than allowing it all to pile up before the deadline.

Work together! If you need help, ask for it!

Writers: You are responsible for at least one scene per month. Length does not matter as long as it is a complete scene. It’s best if the scene is prepared for Ren`py the next month (when your art comes in).

Artists: You’re responsible for a list that every route will prepare with requests monthly. Backgrounds can overlap with other routes, so check in with each other to see if you can split up BG work. CGs and sprites are route specific, but once the majority of your characters are established, the amount of work will lessen. Make sure to let your writers know if there are problems with the amount of work.

Composers: We’re opting for a larger fanmade OST for the final product, so at least one or two tracks per month would be good, if possible. We need classic BGM and ambient tracks too.

Programmers: Try to at least tackle one problem or goal with the code a month. Currently we're working on the Sukaifishu system.