Week 1... again.
Hello again! It’s actually week two of the semester, but the first week was sort of pre-sprint and I didn’t have much to say. That said, there’s a lot to say now!
Last week, I worked on the art bible and touched up the characters in the game. Last semester, we were crunched for time, and as a result, they came out a little bit flatter than intended. I had the chance to add some much-needed shading and change up the colors so the red isn’t so concentrated on the neck areas (yikes). All in all, I Margot got the most attention-- I changed her hairstyle, redrew her face, and gave her extra expressions so she can be something besides moderately sassy all the time.
Left: Margot last week. Right: Margot this week.
I’m worried that we’re not going to be able to get the shader working. It’s a programming problem, and we didn’t get any programmers during team selection. Our one programmer seems to think he can handle it, but it was supposed to be done this week, and it isn’t, which is worrying. I know he’s doing his best, but we do need to have it finished, and it’s starting to draw time away from other programming that needs to be done.
If we don’t get the shader working, our other option is handpainted textures. Kylie (the other art lead) and I assigned one of the new environment artists (Kirby) to work on a handpainted test. However, it doesn’t look like that’s going to be feasible for the final product. We have an entire mansion to furnish, and only 2 artists who will be working on it. I’d rather have a fully stocked mansion of non-textured objects than an empty, sad environment with some detailed objects inside.
This week, I’m planning on making some more sprites (and updating others) to meet our vision of the game. We debated a little bit about whether phone-only characters should have conversation sprites, but we decided that the phone calls felt too text-heavy without them. So, I’m going to make an Elinor this week, as well as updating Craig so he’s dressed more... casually. ;)
(It’s a joke. He’s in jail.)
All in all, I’m very excited about where the game is headed!