Thank you to everyone that participated in the poll and left comments, 107 people to voted in total! Yay! :]
This doodle is just for the post itself and not the final art piece! :]
Helloo guys and welcome! It's been a long while, now that spooky month is over here's how the game is coming along!
If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] : https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo
A very big thank you to the recent influx of interest around 2 weeks or so ago, I wasn't expecting much since I was busy/drawing for Noahween. :,,]
Speaking of Noahween, for those who only use itch.io here's the result of Noah dressed up as Leon Kennedy! The file size is too big for me to post here sadly but the post I made about it has some fun facts about Noah on my Tumblr! :]
**I'm going to still be busy but in good news not as much as before. Game development posts might be every 1-2 weeks now depending on how things go! :,]
After I posted the previous game development I wasn't able to work on the game until recently and I wanted to give myself another week to re-adjust before saying anything.
Now that I'm getting settled in here's what I've been doing to the game:
I've been going through and gradually adjusting certain scenarios. I want to keep the foreboding flow with hints of comfort in between so I'm still adding a little more depth on how the player(Y/N) feels/reacts from being back in the cabin again and Noah's attempt at hospitality during this segment. I also cut down the dialog again by combining smaller sentences into one text box unless the situation calls for it to be separated. :]
One quality of life change I really wanted to do back then was add a few CG's of Noah when you're back in the cabin again. Originally there was going to be one or two in the [Extended Demo] but they were scrapped because my art skills weren't where they are now and I still need to practice perspective, etc but enjoy these really really rough sketches, the second one is old but I'm trying to figure out how I want it to look and how I want the pose to be. :,,]
Choices that effects Noah's closeness with the player(Y/N):
Some of Noah's reactions to the player(Y/N)'s decisions give a neutral response versus a negative one that effects closeness are still being worked on. I'm going through everything but the process will need a lot of careful planning. Just have to make sure all the variables line up. :]
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :,,]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you to everyone for the continued support during this long game development absence! >:]
Hi guys and welcome to my devlog here's how the game is coming along!
If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] : https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo
A lot of what I've been doing is cleaning up most of the dialog through the cabin! I went through and played the afternoon route fully and I managed to catch a few spelling errors along the way. :,]
One thing I did was fix several of Noah's expressions/reactions towards the player(Y/N)'s choices and interactions. Some of the original sprites I placed made Noah come off as if he's blushing/flustered when it's just that the situation is awkward between the both of you.
One thing I can't wait to start doing is animating this scene! It's one of my favorite environmental CG's and it was meant to have a raining animation etc, but I couldn't add this to the [Extended Demo] due to the size of it and I didn't know how to add multiple animation frames at the time. With what I know now hopefully I can optimize it! :]
I also took out this choice you could make in the game. There was a variable here that would effect the game later on but it wasn't anything major enough to continue through with it. This isn't to say that it'll be gone forever(?) but just that it doesn't belong here anymore. :[]
This choice is also being updated too since it extends from very old code that contained spoilers that happened too early. It'll still be available to choose but just not as extended. :[] The "Talk to Noah." choice is also getting re-worked since what originally happened there gave away big spoilers too. :,[]
This is a small quality of life change but one thing I noticed is that the player(Y/N)'s +HP gain wasn't visible during certain fade transition scenes so I added a small pause in between to make it visible.
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you to everyone for the uplifting support during all of this I really appreciate it! :,,]
Hellooo guys and welcome to my dev-log, here's how the progress of the game is coming along!
If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] : https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo
This update will be a little short since I was gone for a few days and I might not have a lot of time to work on this week(?) but I've been fixing up some variables as you go through the game. :,]
The progression started out fairly easy now that I've been balancing things out but I accidently messed up a few variables in the beginning which lead to a automatic bad ending at this part of the game. :,[ BUT In good news I caught it very early before I went through everything and the way to fix it won't be as complicated as I thought it would be! :D
While I was doing this I went and moved certain situations around so the story is a little easier to understand between The player(Y/N) and Noah. :[]
I'm still in the starting stages of animating this scene! I still have to optimize it but I can't wait until it's done! :]
Also enjoy this CG I'm working on! Ignore the dialog text because this sketch has nothing to do with it. :D
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
I got a couple of asks recently + some old ones to answer so hopefully I answer one or two. :,D
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you to everyone for the support!! Even though this game development post is a small one I really appreciate the encouragement! :,,]
Hi guys and welcome to my devlog, here's how the game is coming along!
If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] : https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo
In good news I got a lot of stuff completed through-out the cabin including CG's, bad news is that during the second week there were a few days where I couldn't do much but I'll try to go over the key points. :,D
I had to re-do it several times until I settled on this. It took a while to finish this but I really like how it turned out especially since it's more of a perspective CG this time. I don't want to mention any spoilers but I'm happy how this turned out given that this is for a updated section within the cabin! :,]
Starting off I managed fix up a lot more of the dialog which includes the part where it it looked like Noah was giving player(Y/N) a bunch of blankets/towels. This was something that happened as a result of my wording not being where it is now. :,] I also added a little more description towards Noah's hospitality to fix this too. :D
I'm still balancing choices and fixed more variables along the way too. Alternate dialogs have been improved and a few more conversations have been added depending on how close you are with Noah! :]
I also fixed a couple of glitches that happened where:
I'm surprised I didn't catch these earlier. :[]
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
I got a few more asks recently so I'll try to focus answering ask these this week. :,D
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
For the most part this is all I have to share due to so many pauses in between working on the game! A big thank you to everyone for the support, I appreciate it!!
Hello hello guys and welcome to my dev-log , here's how everything is go so far!
Here's a link to the [Extended Demo] if you would like to play: https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo
This week went by really fast and I managed to get more completed when I had the chance.
Sadly, this post is a little delayed because the battery to my computer shorted out and died. In good news I managed to save 85%(?) of what I did but the progress towards the end was lost and I need to save up for a new battery. I might open up chibi commissions through ko-fi, I just need time to set it up. :,]
Outside of testing, grammar checking, etc, the beginning of the cabin part leading up to this section is nearly done!
I finished balancing the choices and alternate dialogs depending on how close you are with Noah. One or two of these also have 1* more choice added to sort of give a vague response that doesn't force the player(Y/N) to choose the "good" choice. I fixed a small glitch where a change in scenery abruptly popped up on the screen instead of fading towards it. More of Noah's sprites have also been adjusted as well to give the player(Y/N) a better read on his expressions during certain dialog scenes. The original sprites I placed had Noah coming off as if he's blushing/flustered when it's just that the situation is awkward between the both of you.
I was only able to fix up the rest of this route once you wake up and go with Noah into the kitchen. This section specifically is where I lost about 15% of progress. Most of what I did here was fix up the dialog and have it line up depending on how you talk to Noah before this route finishes out the rest of the day. I also found a glitch where past choices with Noah finding you in the swamp didn't match up correctly when the both of you talk together in the kitchen. :,]
I also updated a few choices by adding " " to the ones where the player(Y/N) is speaking to Noah versus it being an action. I'm still getting use to doing this so adjusting everything will take a bit of time. :[]
I talked a bit about this in past game development posts but I'm not sure if I posted screenshots since I was still going through everything. To sum it up, these are immersive updates towards the game that aren't in the [Extended demo]. Some scenes went on a little too long and had the player(Y/N) just staring at the living room CG even if something else is being described in the cabin. The new CG's of Noah I added fixes some of it but I wanted the dialog to visually match up with what you see on screen a bit more too! This also includes the new dialog/scenes of Noah's hospitality towards the player(Y/N) and parts taking place in different areas of the living room.
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi!
All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Since the battery to my computer shorted out and died I might open up chibi commissions through here, i just need time to figure it out. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
A big thank you to everyone and the recently influx of support and encouragement, happy early Merry Christmas!!
Hello guys, hope you all are having a wholesome happy new year so far! I want to start things fresh so here's what to expect:
Game development posts: I enjoyed uploading weekly* updates during 2023/2024 but starting this year, I no longer have that much free time anymore. Depending on how everything goes updates might(?) be every two weeks to possibly 1 month(???). In lighter news it'll give myself time to process the script, answer asks, and miscellaneous things to avoid burn-out. :,] Script fixing: When I originally created this in January 2023, I was going for a survival horror-game. The 2023 demo isn't canon and I stopped referencing it since March/April 2023. Now that it has both horror and dating-sim elements I'm going over certain sections/new concepts and slowly adjusting them. The original lore isn't being changed but will be updated over time with my improved writing style and overall story telling. This also includes all the routes/paths that weren't in the [Extended Demo]. Scrapped content: I was extremely new to everything and when genuine interest was shown in what I've been creating, I got very ambitious . ((Those that have been here since the early days probably remember that one post I made about writing over 10+ routes.:,]))Now that I'm getting a better idea of what I truly want for the game, some content moving forward will be cut to make sure the true story gets a better opportunity to shine. :]
Other things that will be updated within the game:
Kofi / Patreon: I talked about wanting to create a Patreon a long time ago and I really would like to create a monthly-tip jar / possible game credit perk for those that would like to support the development of the game, this is still a work in progress though.
And speaking of Ko-fi, I had been asked about doing commissions in the past and I wasn't ready to accept any but I hope to take in a few to help out behind the scenes especially since the battery to my computer is still dead and I don't want to risk losing game progress again from it randomly shorting out like before. :,]
I wanted to keep the development post separate from this so it wouldn't make this post super long but here's a vague look into how things being updated behind the scenes! :]
This is all I have to share so far, thank you guys for all of the continued support throughout 2024! I hope 2025 will be just as great if not better! :,D
Hi guys and welcome to my dev-log I hope you're all having a good and safe start into the New year!
This part will contain spoilers if you haven't played through the [Extended Demo], specifically the afternoon route.
I want to explain what all was worked on last year up to the afternoon route as a quick recap!
The early start of 2024 was the surprise Trembling Essence [Extended Demo] while the spring/summer of 2024 consisted of me redoing the start of the game leading up to the cabin which included Dialog, CG's, Endings, and the way Noah introduces himself to you.
This was done because a lot of what happened during that segment didn't match what goes on later in the game since my writing and story telling improved. All of it is aboutttt 90% done because I really needed a break from working on it.
Around the fall is when I went through and fixed up the introduction into the cabin.
I added more depth on how the player(Y/N) feels/reacts from being back in the cabin again and cleaned up the different situations you can get depending on your interactions with Noah before he goes to bed along with choices that effects Noah's closeness with the player(Y/N).
As far as the [Extended Demo] goes, I do have plans on updating it with new/updated content HOWEVER, it will be some time before that happens. I do have a future poll I want to do about this. :[]
Midway through December I've been going through the afternoon route and making adjustments as I go! It was a lot of fun to do since I don't think I've played this route since maybe.. the early start of spring? Overall, it gave me a chance to have a fresh perspective of what needs to be adjusted.
I'm still aiming for a meaningful slow-burn build up. :]
I cleaned up the dialog by combining sentences together and slightly removed certain key-words sentences to balance the pacing during this scene. I want some of the talking points the player(Y/N) mentions to happen later in the game since this is still the half of just Day 3. Noah and the player(Y/N) interacting with each other has also been adjusted but not by too much.
I wanted the closeness build-up to feel more rewarding so I added 1-2(ish) more choices during the lunch scene and dialed back the dialog so it doesn't drag on too long for both "Chicken" and "Vegetable" choice . I also added a couple of callbacks here too that in canon with how Noah reacts to what you add into the soup! I won't mention any specifics but there is a post or two in the #Get to know: Noah I answered recently that discusses what type of foods he enjoys. :]
I don't have too much to say about this because not much was changed outside of dialog adjustments and removing key-words sentences to balance the pacing during this scene.
I really loved what was already here and it was a lot of fun coming back to this because I was getting better at writing cozy/warm-like scenes around that time. :,D
I'm trying to be very careful when it comes to adjusting this part. The only thing I wanted to do is put a better emphasizes on how Noah truly felt when he caught you sneaking around. In the [Extended Demo], it felt as though you sort-of get punished for picking the choice that shows this because you don't gain any closeness with Noah. In good news around this time my play-tester was able to take a look into what I was doing and did a couple of playthroughs. A lot of good advice was exchanged and it really gave me a better outlook on what to do about this. I still have the original set-up jussttt in case. :,]
This is about where I left off since I didn't get to the final section of this route but I am surprised with how much was completed. I'm really excited about it because that means I'm closer to working on Day 4! :,D
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Since the battery to my computer still dead I might open up chibi commissions through here BUT i need time to figure it out. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
Thank you to everyone that recently sent in asks! I see them and at some point I will respond, I appreciate the small influx of interest! :,D
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Anywho, that's all I have to share right now. Thank you to everyone's continued support, especially those that have been here since the beginning and have been very patient! I wholeheartedly appreciate it. :,]
Hello guys and welcome new followers to my dev-log, here's how the progress of the game is going! :]
This part will contain spoilers if you haven't played through the [Extended Demo], specifically the afternoon route. Click here if you would like to play! :]
Now that game development posts are every two weeks I spent first week brainstorming ideas and putting the script writing in order before I went in and continued fixing up what was left of afternoon route. :[]
Since this is still just Day 3, I wanted to be extra careful with the pacing since I'm still balancing between a meaningful slow-burn and not to over-doing it. :,] I kept most of what I added recently fairly simplistic.
In good news the part leading up to the kitchen scene is done outside of a couple of grammar checks. Not much was changed here from what I had already fixed.
Last week I talked about how I wanted the closeness build-up to feel more rewarding. I had a lot of fun going through and updating this section but I did get carried away adding more than I should of here since it's a slow-burn moment. I'm still keeping what I fixed but taking out parts that suit more of a Day 4/5+ situation. I'd show a screenshot of it since it'll be a while until I come back to it but it's kind of spoilery(?) in it's own way HOWVEVER, I can say it was two light-hearted situations that can only be triggered by your interactions with Noah. :,] *The callbacks that are in canon with how Noah reacts to what you add into the soup are still here though and aren't being removed just to clarify! :,P
I wont talk too much about the sewing scene and instead focus on the final section of the afternoon route before it goes into Day 4.
I went through and adjusted this scene to happen differently but it was difficult to make it work around the progression into Day 4 so I cleaned up the dialog and did a small balance with the pacing. I added call backs the player(Y/N) mentioned with Noah to be shown around this part too. :[]
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
That's all I have to share right now. Thank you everyone for the encouraging support, I am very grateful! :,]
For the upcoming celebration of Valentine's day, a pop-up art event highlighting Noah's affection towards the player(Y/N) would be an amazing addition it! 🩷
Thank you to everyone that participated in the 🩷Surprise event!🩷
For the 3 emoji's : ❀༉‧💋♡⸝˚.✩⸝💌⊹🌹°˖➴❀༉ ended up winning!
I wanted this finished on Valentine's Day but it would've been rushed and incomplete. In the end it took about 3 Days(?) in total to draw everything and I love how it turned out! :,D
Here's some Valentine's Day fun facts:
He genuinely likes the concept of Valentine's Day and would probably rank it as his third/forth favorite holiday, Halloween is his ultimate favorite.
Leading up to Valentine's day, he would keep it simple while diligently making sure you have a enjoyable one. There are times where it seems like he isn't listening but he actually pays attention and takes note of what means something to you, just as long as he's not too tired.
Even though red roses are commonly given on Valentine's Day, Noah would rather give the player(y/n) their preferred flowers if possible. He would surprise you with your favorite home-cooked meal along with a personal made card in cursive reflecting on all the time spent with the player(Y/N) since he feels that has more sentimental value.
If the weather permits it, he'd happily take you on a adventure through the swamp and finish it off with star-gazing under the stars.
This is a question that's been floating around in my mind for some time now and I would like to know your guys thoughts and perspective!
This means there would be small but slightly semi-frequent updates to the [Extended Demo] every time I finish a specific section of the game. [Just for Day 3] Example: Only the start of the game leading up to cabin before Noah goes to bed would be updated with new content since the Morning/Afternoon routes aren't finished yet.
This means there would be large updates to the [Extended Demo] every time I finish multiple sections of the game/route etc. [Just for Day 3] Example: The start of the game leading up to both the Morning and Afternoon routes will be updated with new content. I am almost finished with Afternoon route and then I'll start working on the Morning route.
*This is all still subject to change but I do want to know your thoughts. :] *
Please only vote if you've played the [Extended Demo]!
Hi and welcome new followers, it doesn't feel like it's been a while month! Here's an update to progress of the game! :]
There will be spoilers if you haven't played through the [Extended Demo], specifically the afternoon route. Click here if you would like to play! :]
*To avoid confusion from my last game development post, please note that game updates about the game will be every two weeks to possibly 1 month(???) this year since I didn't clarify that correctly in devlog 2.
This post will be a little all over the place since there was week and a half where I wasn't able to work on the game mixed in with drawing practice. :,]
Outside of testing everything, this section won't be tampered with any further! Woohoo!
While I went to clean up this section with new and updated content I unfortunately had really bad writers block and it took a while before I was finally able to adjust. What caused most of this was redoing a lot of the old code and new callbacks. In the [Extended Demo] I didn't specify them correctly and tweaking it with new situations was hard to do. Once completed I went back and did a couple of test runs and there were still issues with Noah's responses. In the end I decided to just keep what I managed to fix and remove the rest. There was left over new content I forgot to take out in certain choices and pushed it further into Day 4+ to keep the pacing balanced. *Callbacks in canon with how Noah reacts to what's added into the soup are still here! :[]
Around this section is when the writers block was really getting to me. I really loved what was originally here along with the new content but not being able to go back and continue from where I left off for almost a week and a half was hard to get used to.
At some point while I was working on all of this I lost the new script I created for this scene and I thought I saved over it by accident and would have to start all of it from scratch if I couldn't find it. In very good news, I found it! I accidently saved it in a different folder. :,P For now I decided to combine the new content with the version from the [Extended Demo] which includes quality of life changes to the dialog/scenes/choices etc. This will take some time to go through and I want to be extra careful not to misplace anything this time. :P
Sadly I can't post it here but on my Tumblr you can see the little video animation clip I added!<a href="https://www.tumblr.com/zombeebunnie/777219781881380864/the-cooking-scene?source=share" target="_blank" ]<click="" here="" if="" you="" want="" to="" see="" it!]<="" a="">[Click here if you want to see it!]</a>
I finally got the chance to add in a animation scene! Yay! :D
I talked about this some time last year about wanting to animate this part of the game to give that immersive view of how bad the storm is outside. Originally I had planned to animate the morning, afternoon, and evening scenes too but after going over it with my play tester we both agreed that it should only be animated during parts of the game when it's genuinely needed.
<a href="https://www.tumblr.com/zombeebunnie/777219781881380864/the-cooking-scene?source=share" target="_blank" ]<click="" here="" if="" you="" want="" to="" see="" it!]<="" a=""></a>
I have no idea how this happened but at some point through testing out the game, 3 CG's turned completely black, specifically CG's where the player(Y/N) would turn out the lights. I didn't catch it at first until I noticed the screen was too dark and you literally couldn't see anything. I went through the images folder and all of them were pitch black. I thought I would have to go back and remake the images but it somehow fixed itself?
More stuff was added behind the scenes BUT I'm not ready to share it just yet and I don't want this update post to be too long. I'm going to take some time out and complete everything else I didn't get the chance to work on and hopefully by the next game development post I'll be working on the morning route! :,D
<a href="https://www.tumblr.com/zombeebunnie/777219781881380864/the-cooking-scene?source=share" target="_blank" ]<click="" here="" if="" you="" want="" to="" see="" it!]<="" a="">
</a>
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
I had a lot of fun answering recent asks I've been sent!
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
That's all I have to share right now. Thank you everyone for the support and patience! :,]
Hi guys hope all is well! I'm going through the script/game and I would like to know, given everything leading up to this scene, which choice did you pick when you played the [Extended Demo]?
It's optional but I would really appreciate any feedback on why you picked your decision, honest answers please.
This will stay pinned for about 1 week until all the results are in, thank you guys for all of your support in this! >:]
Helloooo and welcome new followers, here's how the progress of the game is going! :]
There will be spoilers if you haven't played through the [Extended Demo], specifically the MORNING route. Click here if you would like to play! :]
**A big thank you to the recent influx of interest towards Noah and the game itself! I have to catch up with a lot I missed but I am very grateful! :D
Thank you to everyone that played the [Extended Demo] and recently participated in some of the recent polls I've created! It's still optional but I would really appreciate any feedback on why you picked your decision to this one if you still would like to! This really helps me out moving forward with my game developing process! :,]
I'm going to dive a little bit deeper into to this: The results left me very surprised especially towards "Talk to Noah" and "Look around" being picked the most out of everything else and the "Go outside" having the lowest, which explains a few concerns I had behind the scenes given this one has the Morning route attached to it. With this information, I'll take all of it into consideration while I continue working on things behind the scenes! :D
I talked about this a few months ago but the "Talk to Noah" and "Look around" choice are being revamped and updated. There's some old game development posts that showed some of the old CG's and dialog with it but extends from very old code which had major spoilers in the script before I got better at pacing the story and realizing that I was missing the other half of Day 3 during that time. :S
In good news around this time I managed to have a conversation with my play tester about everything and we had a very good talk about where to go from this. I expressed a couple of ideas on how to move forward with the choices and they gave back a good amount of feedback I needed when I was struggling with writers block. :,D
Here is a small recap:
Midway through December up until the start of March, I went through the afternoon route and made adjustments to the choices, story-building, and overall pacing of the route to make the closeness build-up feel more rewarding given that I'm aiming for more of a slow-burn. Outside of more testing and grammar checks, CG's, etc, everything is about 95% done!
Since this is still just the second half of Day 3, I'm still trying to be extra careful with balancing a meaningful slow-burn and not over-doing it. :,]
The last time I played through the Morning route was around the start of spring(?) back in 2024 before I went and fixed up the beginning of the game leading up to the cabin.
With a new and fresh perspective of what needs to be done, I went back to the script and went over how I want certain parts of the game to happen. I noticed several inconsistencies that really needed fixing which is largely due to pacing/spoilers happening way too early for my liking. :,]
When choosing the 'Go outside' and the choices after it, I updated it with better dialog between the player(Y/N) and Noah.
It's nothing too extreme but just a nice quality of life to get a better understanding how Noah responds to this. I also fixed how much HP you lose along with editing the additional visual effects that happen here. It was originally split into 2 HP loss situations but now it's only one.
I won't say which scene but there was one part of this route I was going to ultimately cut but I've spent a lot of time brainstorming and came up with an idea on how I want it to go moving forward which might include a new CG and choices being made to give it more meaning. This is all still up in the air and I want to have my play testers check everything out first before I continue with it just in case I end up over-doing it again. :,,,]
I also found a couple of mismatched sprites and a weird bug where a CG of Noah pops up towards the end of the Morning route, I have no idea how it happened or if this can occur in the [Extended Demo]. I can only hope it's not though. :,]
Around the time I had announced the [Extended Demo] back in early 2024 there were parts of the Morning route that was actually suppose to have CG's but since I was still developing my art style I couldn't do much perspective art like I wanted to.
**As far as CG clean up goes, I do have plans to update some of these in both routes but for now I will keep them as placeholders until I get just a bit more practicing in. There's also 1 or 2+(?) new ones I have planned for this but I'm not ready to share them yet. :D
I think that's about as far as I've gotten up until I couldn't work on the game for about a week and a half so I'll stop here. :[]
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. I will most likely spend this time going through and catching up on everything I missed. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/new/ask/zombeebunnie" rel="noopener" target="_blank" ]<here]<="" a=""></a><a href="https://www.tumblr.com/new/ask/zombeebunnie" rel="noopener" target="_blank" ]<here]<="" a=""> or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!</a>
Thank you everyone for the continued support! :,]
Hi and welcome new followers, doesn't feel like it's been a month since the last update but here's how things are going! :]
This update will probably be a little small. I was trying to catch up with asks, drawing, etc. but I wasn't able to get to everything and I became very busy afterwards. :,,]
*Also, the Trembling Essence: 😤💪April fools 👁️👃👁️mystery event[NOT CLICKBAIT]?! will be delayed since I got too busy to work on it. :,,[
I mentioned this a little bit in previous posts but the very start of the game will be about 60-80%(?) different from the [Extended Demo] since my writing and story telling improved. I only have 2 CG's and one alternate route with a timer bug that needed to be finished. I took a break from all of this months back to avoid burn-out but I thought it would be a good idea to go and finish it all up since it kept being mentioned! :D
Even though things are still prone to change, I want to make sure whatever future update(s) I give towards the [Extended Demo] is something that won't be changed outside of minor things like grammar, bugs, etc and is more in canon with what I truly want for the game. Now that I'm getting better at what I truly want I've been cutting out stuff that isn't as necessary as I originally thought it would be and calming down on the habit of over-doing things. This makes it easier for me to adjust and not deal with burn-out. :]
I'm only going to talk about the choices that got major updates to keep this short.
I went through each ending one at a time and adjusted as I went. I combed through some of the dialog and fixed the long pacing by combining sentences and/or removing 'dialog fluff'. Another thing I've been doing is fixing all of the out of place SFX's that happen in certain paths.
Originally, there was going to be 3 endings for this but I removed 1 and changed how the player(Y/N) reacts to being in this area. I had to use a old screenshot since the other one I used kept getting taken down. This one was a little tricky to fix since there's a new scenario here but most of everything else prettyyyy much stayed the same. :]
This one has only 1 ending now instead of 2 and the player(Y/N) reacts differently here. This was easier to update but a CG was removed towards the end since I have a different way of approaching this area in the future. >:]
Speaking of endings, this one was heavily fixed.
To sum it up, it took a really long time to get to this ending since the player(Y/N) was continuously venturing through the terrain. Believe it or not but this one was actually a lot longer before I removed a chunk of the path previously. Some time ago I said the ending was awkwardly abrupt and I didn't like that but now that I have better clarity I toned it down even more. The player(Y/N) will wander but.. just not as long this time. :,] A CG that was added here has been removed and placed elsewhere. This was unexpected but I'm happy about this because it adds to the immersive gameplay I enjoy adding and it happens to matches the atmosphere! :,D
It's time(:P) to talk about this small addition to the game!
These timers won't be used that often but they'll be in places where I feel the situation requires quick decision making. There's a path you can get that includes a timer but somehow it got bugged and even though it didn't crash the game it pushed the player(Y/N) into a false route(?) with Noah which was pretty funny but not suppose to happen. In really good news, it was an easy fix and I am grateful it wasn't something that would leave me having to start over. :P
There's 2 more endings I need to get through but these shouldn't take too long to complete. Most of what I saw that needed fixing was fairly minor. :[]
This section will be short since I was mainly brainstorming with my play testers about the cabin section throughout this month and mainly focused on dealing with finalizing the beginning of the game after I paused midway through fixing up the morning route. I also plan on talking about the cabin in a future game development post that will be split into two in May since the whole idea of what's going on behind the scenes will be really long most likely. Woohoo! :[]
From the recent polls I've created, I brainstormed how to go from this section of the game, specifically the "Talk to Noah.", "Look around.", "Go to sleep.", and another choice which is still up in the air. It's been difficult since these choices stem from very old and outdated code/routes that contained spoilers, etc. This specific section of the game is a personal memory so I'm trying my best to avoid removing these choices specifically due to that. :,D In good news I managed to have a conversation with both of my play testers about everything and where to go from this. I expressed ideas on how to move forward with the choices and they gave feedback when I was having writers block. :,,,,]
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. I will most likely spend this time going through and catching up on everything I missed. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask [here] or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
This update is getting fairly long so I'll stop here. Thank you guys for the continued support and influx of downloads for the [Extended Demo]! I wasn't expecting much since I've been busy, I appreciate a whole bunch! :,]
Noah's choice in music progressed and changed over time before and during the events of the game. I tried my best to incorporate this in 1 playlist but I didn't like the sudden jump into different genres so now it's 4 separate playlists that'll have a description for each one.**
1. In the beginning years of his finance career, Noah enjoyed and mainly stuck to instrumental jazz music. It's the kind of sound you would possibly hear in elevators, jazz clubs, commercials etc. Later on in his career something happened which caused him to no longer listen to the jazz genre and his music choices became melancholy for a short while. [Click here to listen.]
2. With a time skip, his music developed more into a interesting form of Smooth/Neo-soul with hints of gospel sounds mixed in. [Click here to listen.]
3. This goes on for a while until something causes Noah to go into a deep ambient state towards music and this lasts for a long time. [Click here to listen.]
4. In the end, Noah's music choices ultimately develop into what he listens to currently which is influenced by not only R&B, alternative indie, and neo-soul with lo-fi textures but, his friends tastes in music! **There are still hints of deep ambient music mixed in but it's from a better healthier, headspace. [Click here to listen.]
**Please note: The description of these playlists are still undergoing music adjustments and additions. :,]
Noah used to celebrate his birthday but certain reasons caused him to lose interest in it during until his mid 20's. He treats it like any other day or completely forgets. If Y/N shows interest in celebrating his birthday he would be very happy about knowing you cared enough to do it anyway and he'd eventually find joy in it again.
Noah honestly isn't that picky when it comes to birthday cake as long as some form of effort was put into it. For the flavor, he does like and prefer vanilla flavored cake and maybe even cookies & cream. His least favorite cake would be the kind that has that artificial chocolate taste.
You'd win him over if you made him a frog or duck themed cake, he'd find that very thoughtful and endearing.
He would really want lounge wear, preferably in the color realm of dark earth tones. If you want to go a step further, a good flannel shirt or hoodie would make him happy. For necessities he'd ask for maybe a pair of comfortable boxers and a good shaving kit for his beard. Speaking of bath products, Noah loves to smell good and any body wash that leans into the essential oil Lavender, Mint, Cashmere Wood, Sandalwood, and Amber category is a plus. This would also include some cologne's but I have something planned for this so I'll save it for another post. :]
He does and would like to be surprised, If you asked him what theme he'd want specifically he most likely wouldn't have an answer for you until weeks later. He does have a soft spot for silly lighthearted theme's that would catch him off guard.
He does actually! If Y/N went out their way to cook anything or order out, his top 2 picks would be:
1. Grilled BBQ - Chicken, burgers, hotdogs, ribs, steak. 2. Seafood - Catfish, crab legs, shrimp, lobster. **For the sides it would be between corn on the cob, red beans & rice, sweet beans, collard greens, macaroni & cheese, potato salad. Any left overs would be saved and eaten over the next few days. Noah would be very happy if you surprised him with some lavender/taro boba!
May is considered his birthday month so hopefully I'll be able to post more drawings and fun facts about Noah, etc! :,]
Helloooo and welcome new followers, it's been 2 weeks since the last update so here's part 1 of how things are going this month of May! :]
Firstly I want to say a big thank you as there's been a recent influx of ratings being given towards the [Extended Demo], this really helps the game behind the scenes!! Noah's birthday post for his Spotify playlist also did really well on itch.io which is very awesome given Noah's views towards his birthday! :,,,]
I'm going to go through the last few things that needed some clean up before going straight to the cabin! I mentioned before that I had some CG's and 2 more endings that needed an update.
I'm not sure if I gave these unique names so I'm going to call them downpour and marsh:
Sadly I can't post any of the screenshots here since they're animated but you can see them on my tumblr [Here!]
This one was tremendously fixed and upgraded.
To sum it up, even though this ending is similar to one that happens in the [Extended Demo] it plays out in a different area and has two animated sequences instead of one. A animated CG I had for another ending was placed here which gives it a better immersive experience. It took some time to get it to work correctly but I think this ending might be a good 2nd/3rd favorite of mine, specifically for the beginning of the game. :[]
This one got a fairly large update as far as the dialog goes and there are new CG's that happen here.
I don't want to say too much but Noah and the player(Y/N) react differently towards each other in this path due a continuity issue I came across when going through this. I'm also still in the process of cutting out stuff that isn't as necessary as I originally thought it would be and calming down on the habit of over-doing things.
**I also went through and updated a lot of the animated sequences that still had old code attached to them which makes it easier for me to read and stay organized. In even better news, I was lucky enough to find some old CG files that I needed to bring up to date with all that's new in the game and fix an issue with one animation having a small bug that turned out to be a typo. After I fixed up all of that I adjusted/removed more 'dialog fluff' and fixed more SFX's that weren't in the correct places. :[]
Outside of needing to test through everything etc, I can now confidently say that the start of the game up to the cabin is 100% finished!! Woohoo! :D
Once I update the [Extended Demo] in the future, it'll have a total of 7 different endings specifically through the beginning of the game up until the player(Y/N) and Noah reach the cabin.
In really great news I found a way to keep up with everything I create for this game moving forward and I've been pacing myself. To give a bit of back story, I've written a ton of stuff for this game however, the old way my saving method made it hard for future me to find everything I did. Now that I'm getting better at organizing things I've been adapting as I go.
A lot of dialog and choices have been fixed from this, nothing too crazy but I did switch certain responses from the player(Y/N) around depending on your closeness with Noah.
That being said, I found a lot of continuity/balancing issues specifically regarding a certain path/route in the game that's more on the negative side. To be fair, this is probably one of the weakest parts of the game right now since I never really had the chance to expand on it after I uploaded the [Extended Demo] and much has changed since then. After going through more of the script, I feel more comfortable keeping this one just a bit more linear(??) instead. I have no idea how to explain this without spoilers being involved. :,]
Anywho, In great news I managed to get all the way to the 5 choices you can make at this part once Noah goes back to his room.
So on and off for the past few weeks I've been talking to both of my play testers about the cabin section and this specific scene. After the recent polls I created, I was having writers block which made it difficult to progress since the "Talk to Noah.", "Look around.", "Go to sleep.", and "Continue to wait." stem from very old and outdated code/routes that contained spoilers, weak writing, etc. I expressed ideas on how to move forward with the choices and they gave feedback when I was struggling. :,,,,]
I managed to find a decent idea on how to go about the "Talk to Noah" choice. This one used to progress from the players(Y/N)'s choices but all of this was cut due to early spoilers/over-doing it and a lot of it isn't canon anymore. This had a unique CG too but since I want to be careful on file size/optimization I might re-use a previous CG instead since I plan on redrawing it. There was a continuity issue I came across too but I think I might've found a way around this. I was debating on how the story will progress from this choice but as I was typing this, an idea came to mind! Woohoo! :[]
I'm going to be vague but I was lucky enough to find a decent balance with the "Look around." choice. I was really surprised from recent polls that this choice was picked the most so I do want to focus on this one a little more. This option used to have a different situation happen but I don't think I ever got that far from the outdated code and when I came back to it, all of it isn't canon anymore. I have a interesting way in progressing the story from it which will help certain parts of the game get more shine! I also plan on re-doing the CG at some point now that my drawing skills have improved! :]
I won't have to be too vague with this one but there was a new route intended for this choice. I don't think I ever posted any screenshots from this one specifically because I started working on the [Extended Demo] surprise update back in late 2023. Out of all the routes I wrote up, the strongest ones story-wise were the "Morning" and "Afternoon" route. At some point I'll have to go and find the route for this one.
I won't be vague with this one too since a lot has changed but to give some backstory, this choice actually led to a completely different route as a sort of "Wait...THERE'S MORE? :[]" situation that I think I posted screenshots from but I'm not sure. As I started working on the [Extended Demo] surprise update, everything that happened here got put on hold since it wasn't strong story-wise. Much has changed since then and I've been talking with my play testers on how to progress the story from this choice since this sort-of put a wrench in things since I don't want this pick to line up with the "Afternoon" route. Some ideas have been swirling around in my mind on what to do but nothing is 100% confirmed yet. :,,,]
There's been a lot of stuff I've been working on behind the scenes which involves adjusting a lot of outdated variables, failsafe situations, etc. but I'll talk about all of that in the next game development post! :D
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive.
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
This is part 1 of 2 of the update so I'll stop here. Thank you guys for the continued support and influx of ratings for the [Extended Demo]! I really appreciate a whole bunch! :,]
Hi and welcome new followers, it's been another 2 weeks since part 1 so here's part 2 of how things are going in this month of May! :]
So leaving off from part 1, I found a way to organize and keep up with everything I create for this game moving forward and I've been happily pacing myself.
Before I could continue with anything else, I had to bring a certain path/route up to date with the rest of the game. In good news, I manage to finish this pretty quickly!
A lot of dialog and choices from the player(Y/N) and Noah in this route is abouuuuttttt 90% different compared to what's in the [Extended Demo]. I won't go too in depth about it but I'm happy with this change and balancing out all the inconsistent variables going on.
One thing I want to talk about is the route progression of the game. I was going to talk about this in depth with a Master-post however, it's still in the works and I ultimately decided that once I finally have all of Day 3 sorted out I'll hopefully have it ready.
After having a very long discussion with my play tester's and their advice, I've decided that there will be only 3 routes in the game. There was a time where I had created multiple routes/paths, I don't remember the specific number anymore since I have to go and find every single one I wrote in the script but ever since I've gotten better at learning new concepts I came to terms with a few things. Trying to progress all of them past Day 3 would be a very big challenge and drag the development process out even further, a lot of the writing in them is extremely outdated, and I personally believe keeping all of this would lead to burn out.
Does this mean a bunch of content will be scrapped?:
Not really, I do want to give life to most of what I wrote and I actually had plans behind the scenes of turning these into Day's instead of routes/paths. There were some I wrote that gave off Day 4/5+ vibes when I was trying to pick routes that were strong enough to be in the [Extended Demo].
Will any of this be added for the next [Extended Demo] update?:
It's too early for me to really give an answer. There's so much of Day 3 that needs to be fixed up before I can say much else.
It's time to talk about them! :D
In the [Extended Demo] I used a lot of these as callbacks for the player(Y/N)'s choices, closeness with Noah, etc in order to make sure these had an affect on the overall story building. I'm getting better at keeping up with these and I'm making them easier to go through. Due to spoilers I can't say much else although, I can talk about one other thing I added into the game which is a [fail safe!]
Basically if the player(Y/N) doesn't meet the set requirements for certain parts of the game, a specific outcome will happen. There were some [Extended demo] bad endings inside the cabin that I was going to scrap but I stumbled upon a great alternative! This sort-of [fail safe] style will only be used for very specific situations I have no way of writing around without dragging the story out and/or adding 'filler'. This also helps me in the long run so I don't have to keep up with too many unique variables, It feels nice having this structured and simple enough to check back on. >:]
I'm still brainstorming it out to make sure it doesn't have too many situations routing to it but there's 2 variables where this [fail safe] WILL happen regardless and another 2 that can only happen if the player(Y/N) makes certain choices that can possibly trigger the [fail safe]. I then grouped them into separate areas because originally, the player(Y/N) could make several choices but I decided to make this a little more linear as a quality of life change so it's easier to navigate out of if the player(Y/N) restarts the playthrough.
I don't have plans on changing this in the future. A lot of the code had to be updated to get it to work which surprisingly took a lot of time for me to adjust to.
I don't mind this since the choices, CG's, SFX, dialog, etc. in these endings were all outdated anyway. I even took it a step further and removed some responses so it's more straightforward. :P
This won't be too long but in very exciting news I found a really awesome way to save on space/optimization towards the game!
Basically, when I was new to everything regarding the game, I really wanted to have a Day/Night setting with detailed backgrounds depicting the different times of the day for a beautiful immersive experience.
I had a lot of fun messing around with the different hue's, saturations, etc however, this made the file size of the game itself too large and I was barely able to upload the [Extended demo] as it exceeded 1GB and it's not even complete which heavily worries me. :,,,,[
I am still new and learning as I go but I managed to discover a way to adjust the lighting, etc within the game! This will take a bit of time since I'll have to add/remove CG's but I mighttt put a pin in this as something to look into in the future or adjust them as I go.
Also, I made two new hyper links that will be on my pinned [Extended Demo] post!:
I'm still working on stuff behind the scenes which includes some stuff regarding Noah's birthday month, it's just a little scattered right now! :,D
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive.
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/new/ask/zombeebunnie" ] <strong="">[Here] </a> or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you guys for the continued support and influx of downloads for the [Extended Demo] recently! I really appreciate it! :,]
Hellloo hello and welcome new followers, HAPPY SUMMER BREAK WOOHOOO!!! It's been a whole month so here's how things are going! :]
I'm getting better at balancing out the game and it's routing BUT, I can't progress too far into the "Morning and Afternoon routes" until I bring the "6" choices up to code! :D
I'll try and avoid as much spoilers as I possibly can. I talked about this a while back about how these choices would progress story-wise but I didn't talk about what happens when you do pick them.
This is a small summary but my play tester recently played through the updated version of the cabin where I adjusted Noah's sprites, dialog, the player(Y/N)'s dialog, CG's, etc. Here's what was improved:
There was some dialog I had to go back and redo as it gave away potential spoilers too early. Certain scenes were adjusted due to comments in the past that expressed that Noah reactions towards the player(Y/N) gave off the impression that he's blushing/flustered a lot. These parts were actually suppose to represent the moment just being awkward. When my play tester went through the updated segments, it was mentioned that Noah's reactions and expressions towards the player(Y/N)/choices came off a little too cold which wasn't my intentions. :,[
I think when I originally updated all of this, I didn't have as many sprites of Noah around that time compared to now so I cleaned up the areas once more. Everything should be good now! :,]
I wrote up a different way for the story to progress but it'll take time for me to get used to this change so it'll probably have several adjustments over time.
In the [Extended Demo], there's a brief time skip that leads to Noah being asleep before the player(Y/N) finally decides to confront him and I think the dialog after this was a bit longer too before you get the "To be continued" screen.
Parts of it extended from old code that lead to an extremely different situation compared to now. I removed a separate choice where you could "opt" out of knocking on his door or not, this was more of a quality of life decision to progress the story along and to avoid a continuity issue I discovered when I was testing everything. I wanted to be careful on file size/optimization and I originally thought about re-using a previous CG but I figured out better ways to save on space!
I also came across a bizarre bug that caused one of Noah's sprites to disappear throughout the game. I somehow managed to fix it however.. I don't know what I did?? :,D Playtester's advice: So in really good news my play tester was able to play some of this and gave some pointers on what could be fixed for the progression of the story.
Outside of a few grammar issues, etc. It looks as though its good to go! Other than that I can happily say that this choice now progress and no longer has a "To be continued." end screen! :,,]
I was only able to tweak this choice a bit so I can't really give any details on what all was fixed just yet!
I can't really give any details on what all was fixed just yet but I can say that I have some cool concepts planned in the future! :,]
I did go through and adjust this choice quite a lot. I was going through and balancing the variables and I'm not 100% sure if this is in the [Extended Demo] or not but the player(Y/N) actually loses so much closeness with Noah that If you 'made the wrong choice' once, you'd get auto-routed into a bad ending which wasn't suppose to happen. It's been fixed but I still need to do some more testing.
Another major change is this scene. Midway through December 2024 up until the start of March of this year, I went through the afternoon route and made adjustments to the choices, story-building, and overall pacing of the route to make the closeness build-up feel more rewarding given that I'm aiming for more of a slow-burn.
Everything was about 95% done but I now have to go back and make sure that everything progresses correctly now that new content has been added that might conflict with this choice and it's progression into the story. I can't say much else because of spoilers but my play testers really liked it! :,]
In good news I have plans on how this choice progresses the story however, I can't really give any details just because I haven't gotten to it yet. :,]
In the [Extended Demo], the player(Y/N) finally decides to actually listen to Noah's advice and go to sleep which would then lead to the "To be continued" screen.
Due to spoilers I can't say what happens now but I do like the new outcome a lot more. :,P Playtester's advice: My play tester was able to play some of this and gave some pointers on what could be fixed but Other than that I can happily say that this choice now progress and no longer has a "To be continued." end screen! :,,]
A lot more has been completed behind the scenes but I think this game development post is long enough so I'll save it for later! I am happy that I'm getting closer to updating the [Extended demo]!! >:,]
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]!
All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Since the battery to my computer still dead I might open up chibi commissions through here BUT i need time to figure it out. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] on itch.io. :,]
Thank you to everyone that recently sent in asks! I see them and at some point I will respond, I appreciate the small influx of interest! :,D
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you to everyone's continued support, especially those that have been here since the beginning, I appreciate it!! :,]
Hellloo and welcome new followers, It doesn't feel like it's been a whole month but it has so here's how things are going! :]
This update might be a little short this time because I want to avoid as much spoilers as I possibly can but I've been balancing out the game routing and redrawing some outdated/new CG's. So far I've been focused on the "Afternoon" as of late.
I decided to make a progress bar chart to kind of give an estimate on how far I've gotten with the choices that can be made in the game! This includes dialog, fixed CG's, testing, choices, grammar checks, etc. The "Continue to wait." choice isn't up there for right now.
I've been warming up to the new content and I feel a lot more positive about how it's turning out compared to a few weeks ago.
I am being super careful with the pacing and my play testers have been very helpful through all of this so they deserve some credit! It took way more time than expected for me to get used to the new changes that fixes some if not most of the issues I came across when the [Talk to Noah], [Look around.], [Go to sleep.] and [Continue to wait.] choices were outdated and not complete. There was a chunk of a dialog scene that was cut however, I turned a part of it into a choice instead! I like this a lot more and it makes it easier for the story to flow correctly! :]
Here are some sneak peaks from the new content! >:3
I talked about this here and there but I do plan on updating some of the very old/outdated CG's in the game. At first, it was starting to look as if doing this would drag [Extended Demo] update out later into the year but I noticed I've gotten a bit faster with drawing CG's. Even though my art style fluctuates a lot I am happy seeing how far I've come with my overall drawing skills! :,]
For this scene I wanted to go for a foreboding atmosphere:
When it comes to updating these I try to look at the "bigger picture" :P and think about what all could be improved.
I don't want to spoil where this takes place but I've been wanting to fix this for a very long while. Around the time I originally drew the old version I was still getting used to drawing and I didn't have an official reference sheet for Noah yet ((still don't buttt I still want to improve my art skills a little more :P)). I thought the outcome of the old one was good back then but now I feel very different about it.
I had to go and search for the old file because I actually liked the old background itself, just not the way I colored it. For some odd reason it took longer to fix the old version of the background because I originally colored the door frames brown?? I have no idea why I did that as the area where his bedroom door etc is are varying shades of a cream/tan white color. Once I finally got it to look correctly, I went on to fix Noah's overall look in the frame. I wanted to have Noah's pose facing more towards the front and take up more of the shot versus him leaning on the door frame.
My play testers really helped me out when it came to advice so for the tense atmosphere of the situation, I added some animation too and more depth to the shading. Once everything was settled they did a couple of tests and gave it a thumbs up! One thing that also made me happy is being able to convey this part using only 4* CG's instead of the old version having 7! :,] I have no plans on updating these CG's again unless it's for minimal stuff otherwise it'll just lead to burnout. :[]
Speaking of CG's I'm really happy going through and cleaning so much of this up. I never knew just how much space these drawings were taking up until I compared them to the old drawings. Hopefully when all of this is fixed up I'll have enough space to keep it under 1GB by the time Day 4-7 are added in the full game! :D
Right now I'm still replacing a lot of the old CG's but once I'm done with that, testing, etc, I'll go forward with the Morning route which is going to need some TLC. :,] I think this game development post is long enough so I'll stop here!
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game!
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you to everyone's continued support, I really appreciate it!! :,]
Hi helloo and welcome new followers! Now that things are quieting down from summer break here's how game is going! :]
I plan on doing a future update that serves as a quality of life to fix issues from the [Extended Demo] I didn't catch during the initial release. This includes updating most of the script, CG's, and bringing the overall story up to date with how I want things to be. :]
This update might be a little short again as I'm trying to avoid spoilers. Overall, I've been finishing up the "Afternoon route" by updating most of the outdated CG's and placing new ones in. With all of them done I went through and double-checked/did a lot of testing.
This is how far I've come with these choices so far! Yaya! >:D This includes dialog, fixed CG's, testing, choices, grammar checks, etc. The "Continue to wait." choice still isn't up there for right now but I'm happy that I'm slowly starting the process into updating the "Morning route"! :D
One of my favorite parts was re-doing a lot of the CG's. I didn't realize how much I improved until I did side-by-side comparisons and kept track of what could be adjusted. I really like going for an immersive-like feel towards scenes so it was nice doing an even better job at making it be known. I also learned how to optimize images and save up space within the game. >:]
**Certain CG's might be re-used in specific parts of the game in Day 4+ etc, just in case/to save on file space. :,,,]
In 2024 I hadn't played this route in months after uploading the [Extended Demo] so I had a fresh perspective of what I wanted to adjust once I finished updating the start of the game leading up to Noah going back to his room. I began fixing up this route in late December of 2024 into the spring of 2025-ish and even though I got a good amount done, this was during a time where I wanted to do 4* routes. Now that it's only 3 I had to go back and pretty much adjust everything I did during that time and make sure all of the pacing was done correctly. It was very rough at first having to change so much of what I originally had planned but with the help of my play testers and you guys answering some of the polls I did, everything eventually went smoothly. :,,]
With everything finished, I'd say the 'Afternoon route' is abouuuutttttt 85%(??) different depending on your choices. :,] Speaking of choices I did edit/combine some of them to make the flow of the story a bit better. I have no plans on updating anything else for this route again unless it's for minimal stuff otherwise it'll just lead to a loop of burnout. :[]
Other than that, I don't think I have much else to say towards the 'Afternoon route'. Anything else that I left out is more than likely something I want to be experienced through the future update instead. :P
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game!
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you for all the continuous support, I really appreciate it!! :,]
Hi helloo and welcome new followers, here's how game progression is going! :]
I plan on doing a future update hopefully before the end of the year that serves as a quality of life to fix issues from the [Extended Demo] I didn't catch during the initial release. This includes updating most of the script, CG's, and bringing the overall story up to date with how I want things to be. :]
I usually get very busy closer to the end of the year so I tried to get as much as I could done. So far I've been editing the "Morning route" and updating most of the story building which includes outdated CG's. I did end up getting a good amount finished before spooky month starts! :,,]
I want to be super careful with the pacing but this shouldn't take as long compared to the "Afternoon route" which took more time than expected when the [Talk to Noah], [Look around.], [Go to sleep.] and [Continue to wait.] choices were outdated and not complete.
I only played/fixed a little bit of the "Morning route" back in the spring of this year when I wanted to do 4* routes. Now that it's only 3 I now have to go back and pretty much adjust everything I did during that time and make sure all of the pacing is done correctly.
The 'Morning route' might be abouttt 65%-80%(??) different depending on your choices but I still need to do a bit more work towards this. Some choices were edited/combined and a good amount of dialog/certain scenes were updated to make the flow of the story a bit better. While I was going through the demo I found more continuation issues that I didn't catch. If Noah's closeness towards the player(Y/N) doesn't lead to a Bad Ending but isn't high enough you'd get alternative dialog but when the game continues the rest of Day 3, an error would happen. There was also a section of dialog in this that I decided to cut since it's very outdated and I think It may have added as a form of 'filler dialog' initially but I'm not sure anymore. I also added 2 more fail-safe's in the game to balance things out a bit more. These have also been adjusted with updated dialog and CG's.
I'm reallllyyy hoping these fail-safe's aren't too intrusive during game-play. I'll probably do a poll about this in the future after the update to the [Extended Demo] has been out for a while. :,,,]
Here's the progress on the choices being updated. At first I had a good idea on what to do and I got pretty far with my ideas but unfortunately I hit a writers block during the middle of this month because there was a continuation issue that I just couldn't write around. There were also some interactions that happened way too early in Day 3 between the player(Y/N) and Noah that ended up creating 3 branching arcs that were too spoiler-y and too much for me to try handle. Eventually I got help from my play tester and we bounced off ideas and there was a happy solution in the end that I liked. Speaking of my play testers, in good news both of them were able to test out the new content and I got a lot of great feedback! :,D
I was really looking forward to re-doing a lot of the CG's for the "Morning route". Back when I uploaded the [Extended Demo] this route was actually missing(?) CG's but at the time, I really wasn't good at perspective so a lot of them were scrapped. Something funny happened while I was testing things out though, I discovered I had two different living room CG's that were slightly different in morning hues. I have no idea how I didn't catch this when uploading the [Extended Demo] back then but one good thing that came out of this was finding a hidden Noah sprite behind the CG's which got a laugh out of me. Speaking of this I ended up finding a few more in different sections too. :P
*Speaking of CG's, certain ones might be re-used in specific parts of the game for Day 4+ etc, just in case/to save on file space. :,,,]
Here's an example of what I mean! This CG can be seen in the "Afternoon route" but things like lighting etc, will be adjusted for different times of the day in the routes. :]
Other than other stuff being taken care of behind the scenes, I don't think I have much else to say for right now. :[]
If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi [Here]! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game!
To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]
**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]
If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!
Thank you guys for all the continuous support, I really appreciate it!! Happy early spooky month! >:]
