Development Blog: The New VN - June 2nd, 2020 (Patreon)

Hello y'all! It's time to finally talk about the new Visual Novel I will begin working on now that Repeat is being put into a temporary hiatus. As I mentioned before, I still fully intend on completing Repeat, but after 5 years of nonstop development, I really need a new project to work on as a creative breath of fresh air.

Please note that I am also using this time to continue writing for Repeat in the background. This will be a good chance for me to review everything about Repeat's development and story progression without a massive deadline looming over my shoulder ;w;

The new VN will still be very gay and lewd, so if you're staying for the porn I assure that you have nothing to worry about haha. The working title is "Temptation's Ballad" and it will be a Dungeons & Dragons inspired fantasy story set in vaguely the medieval era in times of magic and adventurers. There will be 3 main characters with a much larger cast of side characters compared to Repeat. 

The 3 main characters of our new story are as follows:

Cole the Hyena (Bard) - The Liar

A trickster and tiny gremlin. Cole is the son of a famous mercenary captain who expects him to take over as the mercenary company's leader in the future. Cole would like to point out he is a tiny little man and can barely lift an axe, but his father is convinced he's simply a late bloomer. 

Sidd the Badger (Fighter) - The Commoner

Sidd is the son of a humble innkeeper and a lactose intolerant cheese-maker from the downtown area of the city. While he considers himself nothing more than a simple working man, he dreams of one day becoming an adventurer and carving a glorious path through history with heroic deeds. His parents worry for him constantly and urges him to refrain from pursuing the life of an adventurer until he finds trusted friends to form an adventuring party with. Thus far, he has yet to find such friends.

Artemi the Golden Retriever (Paladin) - The Chosen One

On the day she was born, a golden light descended from the sky and blessed Artemi as The Creater's Chosen One, a hero destined to "save the world" one day. Ever since then, she was raised and groomed to become the perfect Holy Knight. Artemi wishes to go out and help people, maintain peace, and generally be a good person, but the church had forbidden her from leaving the church district until very recently for her own safety. She grows frustrated from her leashed position and feels utterly inadequate and unprepared for her role as someone who will supposedly "save the world."

Cole would like everyone to note that "Artemi is a prudish goody-two-shoes with her shield stuck up her ass."

Artemi retorts that "Sir Cole is a crude little liar and is not to be trusted."

Development:

This month will be spent mostly creating assets, backgrounds, and character sprites for all of the new characters in Temptation's Ballad. Some developmental changes I'm planning for this VN compared to Repeat is a larger focus on character sprites and animation as opposed to illustrated scenes. As proud as I am of Repeat's over 100 illustrated scenes, they are a massive time sink and the artwork can only be used once throughout the store. In my new VN, I will be making many more character sprites that can be used continuously throughout the story. I also plan on creating very simple animations for the characters, similar to the Ace Attorney series. 

Temptation's Ballad will also be much more linear than Repeat was. The story is told in 3rd person and all 3 characters will experience major character development throughout the main storyline. 

As for lewds, there'll be a budding romance between a few of the characters that develops throughout the story. However, there will also be an abundance of casual lewd scenes because I find them pretty fun. Cole is a bard, and it's a bard's job to seduce his way out of problems. 

I hope to have a short, working demo by the end of this month that introduces the 3 main characters and the world of Temptation's Ballad. Let me know if any of you have questions or concerns about the project! I will also be posting regular status updates and WIP artworks in the #shirokoi-workshop section of my Discord server if you guys are interested in chatting about the game's development there!

https://discord.gg/RnMvaKpcrp

As always, thank you all for the continued support! I wouldn't have made it this far without you guys! ;;w;;/