Project 11A (and others) - Update 4 - 07/01/2023 (Patreon)

Hi guys!

Sorry, if the previous update was disappointing. I was kinda sick for several days during that time. However, I feel a lot better now.

I spent most of my time this week finishing Project 6B since it will never see the light of day outside of Patreon. I also managed to render a bunch of scenes that build up the story. I have to delay the release of the animation for next week. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience. I hope you guys could bear it. In the meantime, you can check out Pomu's newest animation right over here.

This is the update for Project 11A. Since it's already been the end of the month (I guess the beginning is a lot appropriate), I will also discuss the progress of my VN (Project Synthetic) later on.

I hope you enjoy this week's progress!

Project 11A - Scene 4

Project 11A - Scene 5

Project 11A - Scene 6

Project 11A - Scene 7

Project 11A - Scene 8

Project Synthetic

Last Month, I talked about the development of MDCF (Miraigata Arts Dialogue Creator Framework), which is designed for writers to integrate their scripts into the VN. I'm quite happy to say that I (and another dude, let's call him Alpha) managed to successfully integrate our ad-hoc dialogue script into the game. Now I will discuss how MDCF could be used for MVNF (Miraigata Arts Visual Novel Framework).

MDCF was designed as a future-proof program that enables writers to integrate their writings into their game, without the hassle of programming as it used to be in Ren'py. Of course both me and Alpha are engineers, so we technically do not have to develop MDCF to make a VN. However, the development of MDCF enables us to create dialogue scripts in any word processing app, export it into txt, and then just directly integrate it into the VN without getting confused or copy-pasting the entire script by ourselves into a code.

So how would MDCF be used for creating visual novels? MDCF creates an output called Dialogue Dataset. This dataset is then saved in JSON. We can technically use the list and imported it directly into MVNF. However, there might be cases where we want to modify this dataset to add additional revisions to the scripts. To do this, we are going to need "A missing link" program, created using Python. It converts the Dialogue Data List into CSV, where we can edit pretty much anything in the dialogue using any spreadsheet software, including Excel. 

The reason it is called "The missing link" is that the program is necessary in order for MVNF to work. Without it, any potential competitors would not be able (or at least will have a hard time) to reverse engineer the technology (without the proper funding to do it). So yeah, it is a trade secret.

The output of MVNF is the edited DialogueDataset that was edited by the users. It will then be used by MVNF to identify which characters need to spawn right now? What is the name of the current character that is speaking? What is the character speaking about? What is the current background that needs to be used? and more.

Map Proposals

There are multiple map proposals that I made, and I consulted with Alpha on this one :

1. Realistic (Principled BSDF)

2. Black/White Toon BSDF

3. Black/White Realistic

4. Minimalistic

Due to the futuristic theme of the game, we decided to use the minimalistic map as the baseline for the game map.

Imperial Logo

This is one of the logos of The Crescent Kingdom, which is the primary faction and location of the game. It was designed for authorization purposes in the kingdom. Every time that you have to deal with the kingdom, you are going to see this logo a lot. Regarding how we will implement it, I still have not made a coherent implementation plan on this one since I put a lot of focus on UI design and animation this month.

World Mode UI Overview

This is the UI design for the world mode UI. Where players can travel from one city to another. It displays the current date and clock, which is going to be a lot more important as the story progresses. In addition, it also shows Currencies, such as Ducats and Cryptic Coins (The names are subject to change if necessary). Ducats are used for item procurement, research, and anything that is related to the kingdom. Cryptic Coins are used for illegal things in the Kingdom, such as researching forbidden technologies or illegally procuring prohibited items.

For Your Information, all of the maps in the game have not been updated (these are all placeholders). So the maps in this  UI preview will not make it into the game.

Journal

Journal is the place to view the quests that you have accepted before.

Development

The development menu is used to review any development plans in the kingdom, such as infrastructure. Since time is going to be a lot more important late game, development is one of the things that players need to consider since sometimes there are timed events that occur simultaneously or at a tight schedule. This will force the players to pick an event that is going to be more beneficial at the expense of a certain sacrifice. It works quite similarly to the XCOM 2 dark events.

Inventory

In its current state, Inventory is a place to view your items. However, I realize that I would need to add a feature for players to equip their party members with items that would help them in battle. This menu is a massive subject to change.

Arms Race

Arms Race menu is a place where you would be able to research things that would benefit your journey, and also a place to identify which technologies have been compromised to "The Enemy". Technologies can be compromised every time you encounter an enemy, get hit, or even retreat. Retreating from the battle is an option, especially if you are planning to play an Ironman game (one save-only playthrough).

Relations

The relations menu is the place where you would be able to view your relationship with other factions and identify who are your allies and who are your enemies. It is also the place to view your personal relationship status with other individuals.

Party

The Party menu is a place to view your party member stats.

Map Information

Players can hover their mouse into a certain point of interest to identify the information about the place.

VN UI

These are the Visual Novel UI for the game. We have made MVNF available to identify dialogues, go to the next dialogue, establish the auto mode system to automatically go to the next dialogue if needed, create the skip system and the log system so players can skip and view their historical dialogue, and the ability to spawn, despawn characters and backgrounds depending on the needs of the Dialogue Data List. It is still subject to change if necessary.