Eroge Weekly Update #10 + #11 (Patreon)

So many things to talk about but let's start with the revised character designs! See attachments for full image.

Characters

What do you guys think? Who's your favorite, based on design alone?

Honestly apart from Eleanor the designs didn't change too much. It's mostly because I couldn't come up with better designs _(:3」∠)_ It's a little too late to say this, but I realized just recently that my approach for character design was wrong. Basically, I've been doing it with an illustration workflow rather than a design workflow; I was rendering way too early instead of iterating/experimenting with designs.

But as much as I want to redesign them, I simply ran out of time. I have to call it done at some point or I'll never advance from this. I might tweak a few things here and there, but otherwise these are final. Not to say that I dislike these designs btw, of course there's always room for improvement, but I'm happy with these. My favorite part of the designs are probably the faces haha.

These will also serve as sprites (they will be cut-off at the waist though) I still need to clean them but I'd say I'm doing good in terms of character art.

Last time I said that I revised the profiles for Miranda and Eleanor. I think I'll let Zetsubou write the profiles since he does justice to the characters and frankly I'd rather spend time on art. So for now, I hope the art will do!

Background Art

Here's a test I did this morning. I started tackling background art since I finalized the character designs. Right now, I'm trying to come up with a way to produce backgrounds in a relatively quick manner without sacrificing quality too much. 

I was mostly creating new brushes to speed up the process but I think it turned out okay? It has a painterly feel to it but not too terribly painterly that you can't make out the forms and shapes. Interestingly enough I also found some of my old background art process videos. It's a bit weird to watch my old self but at the same time I re-learned a few things from Sendo the Background Artist (circa 2015-early 2017) :3

Anyway, I need a fast and consistent technique because I have plenty of backgrounds planned for the eroge. I know that readers generally don't notice background art compared to character art, but the background artist in me also wants to showcase my story's world through backgrounds. I just feel that having more backgrounds will ultimately enhance the story even if it will take more time and work.

As for CGs, I think I'll be on the conservative side for the demo. I know that CGs are important but it really depends if I make it in time. Right now, my plan is to complete the Character Sprites(+Expressions) and Backgrounds.

Writing

The script currently sits at around 6500 words. Trying to aim for 15k-20k words for the common route, just to make sure that readers have a strong sense of a character before they choose a route. I'm guesstimating though.

Right now, the only thing limiting the writing is me; I take too much time to write outlines. Like it took me an entire week to write a 2000 word outline for the early scenes. My writer Zetsubou took 1 day to write a 5000 word polished script ready to be plugged into Ren'py. Granted he is a writer so I guess this kind of pace is normal for him. But I said it before man, I just love it when my outline is turned into a readable script. Even better, Zetsubou captured my idea of the characters. It's just a pleasure working with him because he can basically read my mind lmao. 

I wish I could show you guys the script right now, I think it's fun to read. But I suppose that's what you'll have to look forward to :3 

This week I'll be plugging in sprites, painting backgrounds and hopefully start directing the scenes in Renpy. Future updates should have actual in-game screenshots, at least that's what I'm aiming for. I'm still aiming for an early preview for Contributor patrons on November 19, we'll see if I can make it. 

That's it for this update. All these talk of progress pumps me up to work more. Thanks for reading and as always feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments. Until next time!