Post-Mortem Devlog

Spooktober VN jam is done and over with. I learned a lot of things for this jam and I wanted to say thank you to the people who have given me support for this little project! It means a lot to me as someone who has just started working on projects like these and I hope to create more stories in the future for others to enjoy ^o^

Blue Moon Lament was my first visual novel as you might be able to tell! Admittedly it was also my attempt to see if the traditional style of VNs is something I could manage. I really admire other’s works in this style (Our Wonderland by CarrotPatchGames and Library of Ruina by Project Moon being good examples of indie/company-made VNs I’ve enjoyed!!) and I wanted to push myself to see what I could do.

Some fun facts about this VN in particular:

• A lot of initial ideas were scopeknifed. The original draft went from 21k to 15k, the fluffy creature companions I wanted to give the cast are gone, and the build up to the ending misses scenes I wanted to do with Irise.
• Vidal, Abby, and Michi all come from the same story (albeit Vidal and Abby’s names in Blue Moon Lament are closely related to their actual names). 
• In that story (which is nicknamed Gladiators for the moment) Abby is the protagonist, Vidal is the love interest, and Michi is a side character who is Abby’s dubiously supportive mentor (and Michi’s line of calling Abby his “apprentice” is also a nod to this fact!!!).
• Irise, who was made up on the spot for this project, may join my Gladiators story and reworked to fit a role I need filled there. 
• The monsters shown in this story were made up during the jam and have designs I like so much to the point you may see them again in later works! I have a fondness for monster partners, after all, and like the idea of certain monsters remaining present across continuities. 

I think I’ve learned a lot for this project. How to code the main menu for image buttons, how to build a game and export it, how to code things in and use ATL properly…that’s all stuff I learnt by doing this jam! So, while this project might feel underwhelming to me in terms of how I created it (as the story is more simple than I would’ve liked and the art I had too little time to perfect haha ;w;) I think I did the best I could in the time allowed, really! 

I grew as an independent developer through this jam and I think I’m very grateful for that fact: especially since now I have a clearer idea of my indie dev future and the confidence to fulfill my dreams of being able to write the stories I’ve always wanted to write <3