Catsquerade - DEV LOG 003 (2-11-2024)

Hello furriends!

GENERAL UPDATES:

The work on Catsquerade continues! With all of the outside assets (Itch.io game page, developer page, and Twitter stuff) complete as of the last update, it’s been all engines go on in-game assets. You can see the progress report below for more details (and the brand screenshots showing off some in-game stuff too)!

A few minor story changes- as the script gets longer and choice jumping becomes more complex, I’m trying to keep things manageable. After a bit of thought, I’ve decided to narrow down the main characters to four (down from five). I feel the four characters left offer enough diversity as is, and removing one character will make things easier for the jumps in the script (between locations and characters). It’s surprisingly easy to carried away- I’m adding things all the time it seems! Hopefully removing one character will keep things on track and on the small scale I’m aiming for with this little project.

As a bit of a behind-the-scenes type of thing, I thought I’d write a little about the programs I’m using while working on the game.

INFORMATION ABOUT PROGRAMS:

One might think a Ren’Py game could be made entirely within the Ren’Py program (and it probably can!) but all you can really do in-engine is change some colors and add text (at least, that’s what I’ve found so far- again, not a programmer here!) 

I’m using a variety of outside programs to try and wrangle Catsuqerade out of my head and into the world. For anyone interested, here are the other programs I use and recommend!

• Clip Studio Paint PRO

CSP is my primary art program I’m using. I bought it on a Black Friday deal in November last year on a whim, and have been trying to learn how to use it. There are a lot of tools and it was overwhelming at first, but with some (a lot) of trial and error, the pieces are falling into place and I think I’m getting the hang of it, at least the basics!

• GIMP

Gimp is an amazing art and image editing program, and best of all, it’s free! It was the first image editing program I used when I was editing manga for fan videos on YouTube. It’s fast, straightforward, and works well. While CSP is the powerhouse, I sometimes use Gimp for fine-tuning things just because it’s more familiar.

• Canva

Absolutely love Canva. I use it for my work (and thus have a paid plan) so I’m quite familiar with it. There is a huge collection of assets available for use, and they make editing (some of) those assets (mostly text and basic shapes) a walk in the park. I’ve been using Canva for fine-tuning some things, and also wrote the game logo text in Canva.

• Google Drive

While I’ve had some issues with Google and Google Drive in the past, I haven’t found a better substitute so I’m using it for the time being. This is where I’m storing my script. I can work on it anytime an idea comes to mind, both on my laptop or via my phone when I’m out. 

• Dropbox

In the last team game jam I was part of, an absolute nightmare situation happened- the director got locked out of their Google Drive account and didn’t have a backup of the script anywhere. An entire new script had to be whipped up in time for the jam deadline. With that in mind, I’m trying to be good about keeping a somewhat recent copy of the game and script in Dropbox as backup. 

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PROGRESS REPORT:

Since the previous Dev Log update, I have made the following things for Catsquerade:

WRITING:

- Basic outline of story complete

- 2 possible endings outlined

- 1,000~ words added to script

- Finished the prelude/arrival scenes

- Finished the first scene meeting Felixia

GUI:

- Added logo to the main menu screen

- Added a popup window notification about consuming alcohol at the ball

ART:

- Player character sprite now has a dressed up version with a mask and a gold ribbon

- Made waiter number 1 (tortoiseshell) sprite carrying catnip wine

- Made waiter number 2 (brown) sprite carrying tray, with extra worried expression

- Finished two part-background: bar behind and bar front

PROGRAMMING:

- Got the two part bar (back and front with sprite in between) to work

- (Possibly) figured out the programming mechanics of having sprites have an open mouth version when speaking and a closed mouth when talking on the main screen

- Scripted the entire prelude and arrival scenes

- Scripted part of Felixia’s first scene into Ren’Py

- Successfully got two versions of the mc side sprite to work (original and wearing masquerade clothes)

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SOME FAILURES/ROADBLOCKS:

Things that didn’t go too well in production.

- Not so much a failure but a necessary readjustment- the script is getting long! This is supposed to be a small experimental game and I need to keep it in scope. As such, I have cut one of the main characters (Lady Purrtricia Grey)- mostly because she is the only one I haven’t written anything for. A bit sad to lose a character, but I do want to keep things manageable.

- Could not figure out how to make the button text in the pop up window screen box change to a different color on hover (but the background text function worked, so I’m using that instead!)

- Can’t seem to find a word counter in Ren’Py, so I’m not able to count how many words the game actually is (as I’ve added things and edited in-engine).

SOME SUCCESSES:

Things to celebrate :)

- Successfully made a working pop up notification window to alert the player about potential consequences of an action (drinking too much catnip wine at the ball) 

- Somehow wrangled the bar to be a three-part scene: background, changing character sprite in the middle, and the image of the bar front on top

- Found a way to have characters have an open mouth version when speaking and close mouth in between (using the “show” command around speaking text). I think I’m doing it the long way, but I can’t figure out a shortcut and it’s working, so it is what it is!

- Intro and arrival scenes are done and in-game!

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GOING FORWARD:

Within the next few weeks, I’d ideally like to:

Art:

- Re-do the two main character sprites improving from what I’ve learned (Fluffy and Jefurry)

- Create the final two main character sprites (Felixia and Fido)

- Background: some kind of courtyard or garden.

Writing:

- Finish writing the game:

Part I: Finish meeting Jefurry, meeting Fluffy, meeting Fido

Part II: All

Programming:

- Script the written game for Ren’Py

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That’s all for now- thanks for stopping by and for supporting Catsquerade!