It's been a month!

I'm glad to be able to share what I've been doing all this time!

It's unfortunately not as much as I had hoped to accomplish, though...

Story

I have a clear story I want to tell, which I didn't really have at the start of production. I know what I want to happen in the story, and how I want the big "secret" to become relevant.

I even spent an entire day to make the secret a very sinister one! Heheh! The game will still be considered T for Teen, right???

I've also spent this time fleshing out all of the characters. There's five... technically seven... and... it's a lot to think about! But I think they're all interesting and feel like real people, with backstories, wants, issues... all that neat stuff! Some are even sad people! (approximately 2.75 of them)

If you're curious how the game has five but also seven characters, it's because five of them are the "romanceable" characters you can bond with, and the other two are the protagonist and antagonist.

I had to make a chart to keep track of all their relationships... it became so much...

As far as what story is actually coded into the game... umm... it's only about 1,000 words... :(

I have this ambitious story with magic, mysteries, and friends... but so little of it is in the actual VN! It's definitely something to focus on this month.

However...

Visuals

It's a VISUAL novel! How's the drawing been? Surely it's going a lot better than-

It took me an entire month to draw one character with all of their expressions.

This is where how many characters there are makes things a little crazy...

So, there's five characters, and each character has two outfits. They also have two poses each. AND a minimum of six faces per character.

That makes a minimum of 120 pictures in the database, which, sounds worse than it actually is.

I've been very self-conscious of my art while making this game, though... I think my expectations are too high.

But it makes actually finishing a portrait very difficult for me.

There's still time, though. I can focus on only writing and drawing for a while now, since I have UI and database stuff (music/sfx) mostly set up.

This would be a good chance for feedback on the textbox, I feel! I don't really like it... My main issue with it is that I feel it's too plain. Do you have any suggestions?  It'll probably change in some way. (The symbol in the middle is the logo of Aether University)

Here's the logo (normal/simplified versions), if you want a better look. The design was inspired by real college emblems.

O yea, I also think the protagonist looks super cute!

Say hello to Shohei! (In his fancy uniform, no less!) :D

Aside from Shohei, one of the other characters has his uniform portraits finished.

Only the protagonist has a bust portrait. Everyone else is a 3/4 portrait.

You might've already figured out why that is. ^_^

Other

I'm starting to wonder if the name "Su-BARA-shi!" is a bit silly or not...

Feels a little... "in your face", doesn't it? It also isn't all the game is about. Not at all! I only started the project off of that idea, but it turned into a real compelling story.

While it's way too early to start planning on it, I have considered delaying the release by a month if I simply can't get it done in time.

But I really want to try and commit myself to that deadline! If I can just put it off, what does it even matter?

I'll only do that if I HAVE to.

Ohhhhh, I almost forgot to mention that I learned basic Ren'Py ATL just for this project!

It was painful! :D

For those who don't know what ATL is, it's basically how custom movements and animations can be created in the Ren'Py game engine.

But now I have a lot more control over the movement of characters, so I hope you look forward to (much?) more immersive animation!

To end this super long devlog, have a 1-minute drawing of one of the bois! (Drew it minutes after waking up)

Thank you for reading! I appreciate your interest and I would be happy to hear any feedback you have!

Bye-Bye~! <3