Posted January 28, 2024 by TotES Studio P.
#devlog #progress #yearly summary
Hello everyone, it's been quite a while. How have you all been holding up? (´ ∀ ` *)
2023 threw some curveballs at our team, and let's just say it was one wild year, especially for me. Some major life events took priority, and mentally, I've been in a bad place for most of it. But even though we went silent across social media, we've still been behind the scenes, working away on Her Choice.
So without further ado, let's get you all up to speed.
Last January I made major progress on Kanzen's Day 4 and dove into some heavy-duty editing for the demo's script. I also touched up the existing backgrounds and started modeling the missing ones.
Meanwhile, Moon went on a sketching spree, delivering us the bulk of the CGs for Act 1. They also gave an alternate outfit to Hano and a new pose to Mune.
I instantly fell in love with the new track Hiroki composed, "From Dawn To Dust", and upgraded it straight to Main Theme (☆ω☆)
In February I went in for eye surgery ＼(º □ º l|l)/ Fortunately I only experienced glitches for a couple of months before getting my new eyes perfectly calibrated lol. Despite that, I completed the script for Kanzen's Day 4 and knocked out the first draft for his Day 5. I also continued working on the backgrounds, rendering the models I completed in January.
Moon finished sketching all the CGs on Hano's route, whipped up more sprites for the supporting cast, and tackled some commissions for funding.
In March I continued work on the backgrounds while taking a detour down GUI hell trying to untangle myself from the mess of a code I had originally written ( ╥ω╥ )
I also finished writing Kanzen's route (the missing % are the extra scenes) and went through a major burnout.
Moon cooked up more CGs — which are unfortunately locked away in the sorry, no sneak peeks zone.
We also announced that a new extended demo was "coming soon". (Spoiler alert: that didn't work out as planned, but at this point I'd say we're just rolling with the punches.)
In April we released "My Spring With You", a short sweet visual novel made in conjunction with Tymedust for the O2A2 Jam.
Stepping down from the writer's position for a couple of weeks was a much-needed remedy for my burnout. I eventually managed to tackle the missing scenes and extras from the script, but I'd lie if I said it wasn't an uphill battle __φ(◎◎ヘ)
Moon continued grinding away at the CGs, though it started becoming apparent that my inability to function in my role of team lead was affecting their workflow too.
In May I took a break from game dev and returned to Italy to introduce my partner to my family. Our wedding loomed ahead, so even though I continued working on Her Choice, I no longer had the time or the mental capacity to keep up with the social side of it.
My trip to GUI hell was not over, though, and the coding fixes I made created a whole new cascade of bugs that slowed down the demo testing to a crawl.
On the bright side of things, Moon gave me some beautiful new shiny CGs to feast my eyes on. (♡°▽°♡)
I spent June and July testing the demo and slowly adding back those extra scenes which I had mercilessly cut from the script during the worst of my burnout. But all the piled up stress from life was starting to show and my mental health went spiraling.
Moon continued chipping away at the sprites, and feeding me delicious CGs that kept me running on an otherwise empty tank.
In August I got married and went on honeymoon, which at the time seemed like the perfect way to run away from all my problems lol. I also got to spend some wonderful days with my team, working and making plans to come back at full speed.
Of course, all that was just a giddy illusion. And as expected, once I actually came back and could no longer live in my blissful denial, mentally, I was back in rough waters. I did some editing on Zanas's route and some testing for Hano's, but made no progress at all. I also stopped keeping tabs on what the rest of the team were doing.
By October my mental health had hit rock bottom. I did some editing on Kanzen's route and some testing for Zanas's, but once again, I was just messing around to tell myself I had done something, which doesn't count as really doing it （ ; ; ）
Towards the end of November, I started therapy, which meant I was once again a vaguely functional human being. I worked on the GUI, creating the graphics for it. I fixed the menus that I had previously broken. I did a lot of refactoring. I added a glossary and new trivia entries to the character profiles.
I also started checking in again with Moon, who in the meantime had drawn up a bunch of sprites. They also made new covers for the Memory scenes.
I did end up spending half of December in bed in the lovely company of my depression, and eventually took another month-long trip to get away from my problems (I mean, look how well that worked for me the first time round, what could ever go wrong).
Touching grass and spending time with my friends, hearing their words of concern, love and encouragement — did work its little magic on my brain as expected, and I came home in January, if not feeling like a new person, feeling a bit like myself again.
Let's put 2023 behind us and meet again in front of the shiny Totes gates. A year of laughter and doki-dokis awaits ahead of us, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you once again!
°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°
See you in February,
— Wavi —