"I think it's time you smile again... I think it's time we find a reason to stay for a while."
This is a special one because this is the first time you get to see the characters on a game frame! WOOHOO! Please enjoy the stunning duo that is Laura and Carmen!
Prologue Scene 1 Work:
Making seriously awesome progress on the first scene of the prologue, the lighting and environment is a little tricky but I'm having fun capturing the mood of it! I'm finding the really nice thing about rendering scenes is that once the overall lighting, tone mapping, and other cumbersome stuff is done, it just becomes about posing--which is usually my favorite part of a scene!
Renaming These To "Progress Reports":
As "update" was causing some confusion! Hopefully this clears things up!
Rendering Times:
As I continue to develop this update, I'm constantly trying to learn how to decrease rendering times. I have a very high level of detail in my renders and part of this process is learning what is "necessary" and what is just empty rendering.
Right now each "frame" takes AT LEAST an hour to render, with it generally being an average of 90-100 minutes.
I also only have one machine right now. SO! Until I can get more/better hardware, I simply at the whim of my rendering speed at this point. I'll keep you posted!
Away For The Next Week:
I may have to travel (not far) for the next week, which means I won't be able to do any developing between the 27th and the 2nd if I end up traveling.
It has been a long time coming, but now... now the fun begins!
I plan on keeping these updates brief, at least starting out, as I'm more interested in giving everyone quick, consistent updates--rather than larger sporadic ones.
(Please remember that everyone you see will always be subject to change before the final release. This includes the TEXTBOX you see, as it is a placeholder until we code everything into Ren'Py.)
What You See:
Episode 1 Title Screen
Scene 1, Frame 5
The first frame you have seen of the game! A "frame" is the final render, that has been put through post, and will be the one your eyes see while playing the game.
The textbox there is a placeholder, but the dialogue is the dialogue you will see in game.
Prologue & Scene Review:
Most of the time, writing a story feels less like describing ideas and more like wrangling ideas. In fact, the ability to become an author is not about how good your ideas are, but instead how well you can develop them, refine them, and publish them.
Part of making this game has been learning how to navigate the constantly shifting landscape of this story. Nearly every time I come to the desk things change, and ideas mutate. It's always a fun process, but it's also about finding a balance.
0.1 is going to be a very large episode, I expect well over 1,000 renders. That's a big task for my first game and my first update--so I've decided to take the first few parts of the game, and put them together into a "prologue". Narratively it works PERFECTLY for the story, and technically it gives me a slightly smaller task to work towards for my "first release".
So! This game will be having a mini release (likely a few hundred renders) of the games first couple of scenes, tied into a proper "prologue".
My hopes are also that releasing something like this will help get the game out there into the wilds. While support is never required by anyone, having more of it would help me in almost every way during this game's development.
I'll be giving a more detailed break down of how many "scenes" are in the prologue and where I'm at with them at the next update.
There are currently 8 total "scenes" planned for the prologue.
"Scenes" contain MANY different frames/renders, and is purely just how I organize the script. So expect hundreds of renders.
(The prologue has its own title, which will be shared in another update!)
My Journey So Far & Learning How To Develop:
While I'm not new to writing, this is the first "game" I've ever developed, The pace at which I have worked so far, has mostly been set by the amount of hurdles I've had to deal with. It's a constant learning process that while fun, is also rather stressful at times.
Part of the hardest part for me so far, has been learning how to take my works as a writer, and transmute them into a script/screenplay (with mostly dialogue and screen direction) that can be put into a 3D environment. The hardest part of that is realizing that while the "pen" is limitless in possibility, 3D art is not. Much of the time I spent last month was simply doing rewrites, edits, etc. to tailor the script to the 3D assets I have available. Which is very tough sometimes.
A random example of this, what if I want a character to meet someone in a medieval store that sells general goods? Well... if I can't find something online that looks like a store, I either have to make it, or change the scene to a different location--to that of an environment asset that I can find.
What does this mean? It means I'm now learning how to actually develop a game! So we are on the right track! Huzzah!
Anyhow, please enjoy my rantings and I look forward to talking to you again soon!
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