November, 4th

Hey guys its Joy and it's officially exactly 1 month before my 25th birthday... yay aging lolol. But first things first, happy birthday to Gala today! 🎂Thanks again to my bestie Snakks for the gorgeous headshot of my beautiful birthday girl! Follower her at: Snakkberry Studios or Snakkiez. 

Shoutout to another one of my besties Lacy of lacydigital for suggesting another topic for this week’s devlog. Backgrounds of characters, original character designs and major changes from the “Princess Poison” novel to “Lord of Lies” the game.

And the biggest shoutout to Gisselle the character sprite/CG artist for Lord of Lies. She’s incredibly talented, patient, and kind. I can’t thank her enough for bringing my ideas to life and making them more gorgeous than I could have ever imagined!

Original art for an RPG Maker game was never necessary, especially considering I don’t mind the MV generator. But her art just brought all my characters up an extra notch!

Original vs Current Character Design

Because of the generator though, I had walkable sprites, and fighting sprites that needed to still be used as I couldn’t afford to get an original one based off of Gisselle’s redesigns so I asked if she could keep the outfits and colors as close to possible while adding her own ✨style ✨AND SHE DELIVERED!!!

Lawrence’s original design I actually like quite a bit. He looks his age (25) soft, but also stern. He’s just the boy next door. Her outfit for him really gets across that he doesn’t come from much. But hidden underneath is someone with boundless potential and a huge heart.

I discussed last week how many changes Charles has went through as a character, and in design. In the Princess Poison game, Charles was 13/14 and was an Orphan and all the orphans wore a church uniform, and the boys wore hats. I didn’t mind this so much, but I love that Charles looks cool, weird, and like himself. 

King looks almost the exact same (except better, and has a tan (thanks Gisselle) he also looks friendlier, in the original design he looks a bit too villian-y for my liking.)

Gala’s design was the most important design to nail. She had to look like a warrior, a princess, who was also goth, and had an interest in Lolita fashion? I told Gisselle of all this and she made it work without it looking busy or disjointed! I am blown away STILL by Gala’s design. I thought her game design was cute, but she feels more like a poster character now than just: first short black hair anime girl with sword result on google. 

Duke’s original design struggled a lot for me because I wanted him to look Hispanic and RPG Maker’s diversity options are not readily available unless you look for assets on the internet. (his and Duchess’ skin tone is not found in the original engine, it was added in.) Duke also needed to be conventionally attractive due to his marked ability- which makes him extra attractive to any who are attracted to men. And his original face was not giving that at all. If Gisselle can do anything, it’s make someone hot. And that’s what makes us the perfect duo!

Duchess’ original design is…confusing. She’s supposed to be a tall, strong, noble and I had no tools to really show this, (not to mention a severe lack of hair options for a black woman). Duchess’ current design is incredible in every way, and she looks like a capital W-woman.

Prince’s original design is the worst in every way. I hate it. Princes’ character I struggled with in almost every iteration before this game and it shows. The only things that stayed were colors of hair, eyes, and skin, and his signature beauty mark. He’s the last party member, so half the time I didn’t even get to him. He was just Gala’s younger brother, and that was it. This time around his design says so much about him, while also subverting some other aspects of his personality and he has slowly become one of my favs in the cast to write for. Basically anything Gisselle would have done would be a huge improvement to his original, but she knocked him out of the park he looks 🤤. Bonus points for her saying she loves drawing him!

I haven’t spoken much about Solana and that’s for good reason. She’s funnily enough based off of one of my wizard 101 characters. I loved the design so much I threw her into Princess Poison the game. Now she has evolved into a much important character than I had ever intended.

Duke

Meet Duke! Duke is an actor, witch, and Lawrence’s best friend.

Duke is a lot.

He was originally my most liked character in the novel, but I’ve made some changes lol. I’ve mostly made him a tad more insufferable. I actually have a soft spot for obnoxious, flamboyant characters. Basically characters that the rest of the cast goes: 🙄but deep down, they’ve got a heart of gold. Duke is no different. Though you’ve got to dig past all the bravado and acting to see it.

He, like Lawrence, is very honest. And that’s something that Lawrence admires about him. Even if he’s being ‘rude’ or talking too much, he’s speaking the truth. It helps that Lawrence is one of the few people whom Duke is genuinely friendly too (in his own way). 

Lawrence isn’t sure what to make of their relationship at first, but with time, plot events, and (Duke’s insistence) they actually form a genuine friendship. 

Duchess

Meet Duchess!

Duchess is a physician, practicer of magic, and noble of the country New Hampton.

She’s elegant, intelligent beyond her years, and incredibly strong. Super strength, is actually her marked ability. She’s 7 feet tall making her the tallest member of the cast and in the game is rumored to have defeated a giant and gained wealth and fame as a result.

This isn’t true of course, but she is tickled by the rumors.

Duchess has a great deal of relevance to the story more than she ever had in previous iterations. I want to keep her role a secret, but I adore the part she plays in this story.

Duchess was actually the opposite of Duke, she was the most hated character in the original story. She was pretty pompous and condescending, she goes through a character arc of being less insufferable, but this time around she has made a full 180 and is one of the most easily likable party members. 

So in that sense her and Duke swapped. Of course I won’t know exactly the general reception of these characters, but I am happy to hear the feedback in play-testing, and when the game is eventually out! (December 31st 2023, save the date lol)

Duke and Duchess are of equal strength and utility as party members, while also being strong personalities. The other similarity they share is they have a romantic relationship with some of the other party members 👀which ones? Well, I guess you’ll have to wait and find out.

Next Week’s Devlog Sneak Peak

I want to keep talking about the character cast next week, and something I haven’t yet which is music! Lord of Lies is going to have an original soundtrack, (the menu theme is in the works currently, and it’s already phenomenal!) I want to talk about my influences behind characters, their designs, personalities, and combat abilities, and in addition talk about the Lord of Lies soundtrack which is massive. 

The game’s progress is going swimmingly! Main story is nearly finished, and I am working on making sure my dungeons function properly, the fighting mechanics are interesting, and boss fights are varied and unique.

I look forward to discussing more of the game. Until next week!