Dev Log 2023-06-16
The third option.
A Visual Novel that takes place in a single day. Really the story takes place in a single hour. I find it difficult to think of a more minimal viable product than this that isn't basically akin to a tech demo.
Story so far:
Honestly I thought this would be the hard part. I will not pretend that writing is easy, but it hasn't taken too long to come up with a script that's 7K words long. If the script is any good that's another story, luckily what I'm writing is run of the mill adult content so I don't have to worry about story threads, plot holes or much of any character development. I set the bar low and if I can lower it further, I will. The goal still is 1) completion. 2) learning. 3) fun. 4) success.
The story features 4 characters: Player Character, Conner (bara), Justin (swim team), and Ben (bara). Ben is just a cameo who gets a handful of lines. Location is a gym. Player Character (PC) meets up with a friend (Justin). Justin introduces PC to Conner. Conner takes a liking to PC. After some choices, commence the festivities. 🎉
The story is long enough to have several character sprite changes, background changes, player choices, and a few set conditions with story changes dependent on those conditions. This should in theory be enough to throw me into the deep-end of what should encompass most of my future VN projects. It feels fairly straightforward in concept, but I won't know if it all functions until I buy the engine 'v';
Projected art:
PC, Conner, Justin sprites (10 sprites per character x 3 characters x 2 clothed/unclothed options) 60 sprites @~@ . Still a huge amount, but the estimated 10 sprites per character is a worst case scenario where I splurge on sprites. In reality, half as many sprites should be enough, but the art does have to carry this project as opposed to the story.
Ben Sprites: 2 (maybe 3).
Nothing should go to waste. Sprite art from PC and Justin can get reused for the Swim Team VN. Conner and Ben's sprites can get reused for the smaller bara dating VN.
Scene Images.
Probably about 30? This is certainly a lot compared to the handful that a regular VN would use with the amount of writing proposed, but I cannot remind myself enough: the art will have to carry this project as opposed to the story. Plus the standard way VNs do their story presentation is something I would like to change, something I'll explain next time.
With that in mind even with something like this, if it's done as a hobby on my free time, will have a minimum 6-month development schedule. It'll be exciting when projects won't have to be done on my free time.