So the last couple days I’ve been hammering along at the script and working out the paths and menu choices. I even bugged Tom, the Ren’Py creator, to help me out at the beginning when I realized that there would be possibilities of going on a character’s path without being properly introduced to them. Thankfully he helped me get that working so all is well in that aspect. While I haven’t really done any new artwork, I’ve been playing around with photoshop filters to achieve a less photoey but still a nice background to use during the character dialogue. For event CGs, I was actually going to draw a background, but perhaps do it otome game style where it’s a flat color with sparkles & bubbles all around lol. As far as status goes, at this point I got the “main branches” done, and Jen and CJ’s routes also done, bad ends inclusive! The next 2 routes are going to be difficult for me but I can’t go into detail to avoid spoilers. And for the inquiring minds, yes I plan to stick Impz in there as a resident trap. (He does already have some dialogue early in the story.)

Here’s a question I bring to you. I began to write a little dialogue here & there (although it’s mostly placeholders) and I found myself going “holy shit this is SO CORNY.” Is corny ok? I mean aren’t these kinds of things supposed to be corny? I wanna bang my head against the desk when I write some of these sentences XD The other thing is, how does one express love in English? I mean in Japanese you always have your おまえのことが好きです！ but then in English do you say I love you? Or I really like you? Or I want to be with you? I mean I’m having difficulty deciding on what the heck to write. I’m gonna have JP proof read my script since he was an English major after all but for these kinds of things I wonder what’s the best way to approach it?

Well since some people like to see progress here is some progress for you! I jumped head first into programming last night and getting familiar with Ren’Py and the codes. Sure it involved me screaming out loud “what the fuck is wrong with this stupid thing” (And JP can attest to that) but eventually I got something going. I wrote out a couple lines just for testing purposes but I’ll probably do dialogue in greater detail once I get the paths & routes all smoothed out. At least the “basic” skeleton is done so it’s art, programming and writing from here on out!

P.S. Anyone recommend a good FREE sound FX site? All the ones I found require you to either register or buy their CD :S And Flashkit doesn’t have as many options as I would have liked.

Owen asked me on MAL if I was still working on the RenAi Blogger Project. Well truth be told I am but certain things have distracted me. I’ve been working on an excel spreadsheet with routes, events, paths and bad ends. I’ve pretty much done all but 1 character which I hope to finish tonight. While browsing my blogroll today I ran upon this post by zepy in regards to CatSystem2 which was another Visual Novel engine used by people who made Trappyness.

I downloaded and played around a bit, and while I have to admit, based on the tutorial, you could do a lot of cool shit with this thing…but since my Japanese reading knowledge is god awful (especially when it comes to technical things) I found myself even more lost than with Ren’Py. I mean programming is hard enough for me but programming and Japanese kanji? I think I’ll pass. Most likely Ren’Py will be what I ultimately use to do my game in. Also I realized after I did most of my routes that the game could almost be like an otome game except from a guy’s POV. What have I created!

So as promised I finished characters for the other 2 female heroines. Below is Jen (left) and NyaChan (right). I really had trouble for Nyachan’s character Natsuko. (This will be her game name.) Edited the face a bit and adjusted the glasses. Now she looks young. xD

I figured I could use this post as a way to give you guys a basic idea of the story (without giving away too much) and some basic character background information. Continue Reading »

So for the non-believers, I really am going through with this (j/k Sixten I still love ya). I’ve spoken to my token females and gathered some info I will use to build a game personality. Some chose to change their age in game or their nickname etc. Here are some character cutouts for the protagonist & CJ:

I don’t have profiles written up but I figured I’d do that once I have all the character cutouts ready. Continue Reading »

That’s right it’s an otome game where you get to do your brothers! Well step brothers that is. When I first started playing this game I was excited by 2 factors. One, Koyasu Takehito was in it. Also the guy who voiced all those dudes in the other otome games I played was in it too. (He was Leni in Under the Moon). That happiness was quickly dispelled the moment that their characters were angry and/or emo. Well it was still pretty amusing so I decided to roll with it anyway. Also this post is naughty, proceed with caution. Continue Reading »

So I really think I’m gonna go through with this. I thought about this a lot today, like what setting I’m going to make, the story line, events, how many bad ends etc. While I really do appreciate all the help offered, I also realized that if I ask too many people to do too many different tasks it’ll be too hard to keep track of everyone and it would be easier for me to just whip something up myself instead. The only help I’m going to need is Ren’Py programming but I’m hoping I can at least figure out the basic stuff myself. Continue Reading »