Writing is hard 8′D -shot- I really admire writers wah (so have a tiny Travis sparkle at books) Everytime I re-read the script, I find things to edit. At some scenes I go “Okay this is a comedy but I wonder if I went over the top omg XD”
I’m currently editing and proofreading the demo for the last time before passing it over to my beta testers and editor. I’m really hoping to finish by the end of this week >w< After being taken down by critique I will hopefully be able to release the better demo sometime during May wah 8′D
On the other hand, I got a background artist jumping on boat ovo There will be an art update soon XD
Since bg artists are kinda expensive, I’ve been looking around for a way to manage my budget ovo I got both suggestions about Kickstarter campaign and maybe a Patreon. So far, Green Tea Latte will probably try running a campaign to feed the helping hands I will need >w< Still figuring out stuffs though so this will go into another update later on.
Plans for April: Editor and Beta Testers do their thing while I work on uploading gameplay information and a bit more detailed character profiles
So, I have started scripting in the new sprites and so on.
Aaaand I have realized, putting them next to eachother, some sprites are smaller than the others 8D -shot- Of course, smart as I am on the first time doing this, I didn’t notice that before saving them all. So now I have to resize them and save them again 8D //slapped
Lesson learned, put them next to eachother to compare next time 8D
This is starting to look like a coloring picture book lol but I guess it’s how the demo will be like.
And I have noticed that the speechbox might be too long. I think I’ll have to resize it >w<
I’m finally free from my real life work! (And ended up with 350 hours overtime that still need to be paid but duuuuh I AM FREE!!!) That means I can finally work more on this game again! Time for a progress update >w<
It’s forever one of my biggest obstacles. But, I’ve finished the writing for
the demo!!! ; v ; -celebrates while being dead on the ground- So far, it consists of only
around 15k words, since the demo will just cover the first week in the
game’s timeline. Plus, being the kind of sim it is, the game has more
small events than long story events. I’ve been struggling a lot with
the characterization. But I think they pretty much are stable now, and
their dialogues have started to come to life on their own >w<!
And
I might have to up the game’s rating because of….bad language. -stares at Cyan-
As for things that need to be worked on from now on, in chronological order:
1. Add the new sprites and music into the script / scenes. Also, there are still some SFX missing. 2. Go over the whole game once more, editing things I am still not content with (especially the writing section) 3. Self-Beta test the thing a few times and check for bugs / crash / balancing / flow 4. Beta test it together with a friend for feedback, reaction etc 5. Repeat 4 with another friend (and probably a few people who offered their help here) 6. Edit the game’s information to add gameplay information and new character profiles 7. Release the (long long overdued) demo ; v ;
I will try to keep updating once every two weeks at least now! >w< So hopefully see you soon!
Hello guys, it’s been a while (again) XD First off! Happy New Year! I hope you all had a blast partying out the last days of 2015 >w< And I wish you all (and myself) a good, happy and productive 2016.
Now to the game’s status. Before I move onto the progress and changes, I will get some bad news out of the way first.
Both of the game’s composers have resigned from their positions due to real life issues. This is why I will have to look around for new composers soon. Meanwhile, I will work on the game with reference tracks.
As for me, while school starts in April, I have to attend some preparatory classes, and I still have my fulltime job, which holds me for 5 days a week. Due to all that, the time I got to work on this project has become very scarce.
However, that only means for the game to be delayed! Not cancelled! I still work on my spare time all I can.
Then, let’s move onto the game’s progress ovo
I changed the baking screen. Mainly the timeslider and the ingredients display. Since I don’t think I have ever explained the baking gameplay before: You get a time span of 2 hours each baking session. Each item you make reduces the time. Once you run out or manually cancel, the baking is over and you recieve the items you have made. Simple as that.
While letting a friend beta test the game, she said the way I displayed the timeslider before (above) was too confusing. So I changed it. She also wanted to have more tooltips or at least an encyclopia where she can check up the tutorials, so I added those as well XD
Onto the sprites. After adding in the sketchy placeholder backgrounds, I have decided to properly line and color more of the sketches. While it still looks okay, the level I aim to reach for the beta is a bit higher, so I want at least most of the sprites to look nice >w< But this is still a nice-to-have, so my main priority doesn’t lay here.
The thing I am trying to focus on the most is writing. Since I am not a writer (I am a reader, really) I am experiencing a hard time fleshing out my characters in dialogues. The writing is okay, but many of the character sound similiar to eachother and I don’t feel content with that >w< I don’t think I can afford to hire a co-writer at the moment though so I will have to look around for volunteering help, maybe.
That’s all for now. Since I am not sure how art school will turn out for me, and my main life priority is school, I guess I won’t make any promises anymore as to when to publish the game XD But I really love this project and will for sure continue to work on it! It will be published someday OTL XD As soon as life allows.
I really need more creative names for my updates…. -shot-
Hello guys, some time has passed again since the last update and I have made some more progress that I think is probably worth showing XD
So far, I have finished all CG sketches that will appear in the demo! And because there are only 6(½) of them, there won’t be another preview for now >w<!
However, I have started using chibi scenes in the game, trying to illustrate the writing a little bit better (cause it’s still weak so far). Those are very simple and only take me about 10 - 30 minutes to line and probably just as long to color, but I like them. They help showing the cheerful and comedic side of the game >w<! A sample ahead
I am not sure if I will be able to color them yet for the demo, since there are still lots of other things that need to be done XD
So far, I am pretty much done with all the art stuffs for the demo. Right now, I am on a 3 weeks break from real life work and will be implementing them into the game aside with writing some more! >w< (The demo release is so close I can practically feel it except for the fact I still gotta finish a lot of work wah 8′D)
–
As a side update, the wonderful (miraculously sparkling) Succuren has been drawing some artwork for Cyan! I am so happy to see my baby in her fabulous style ; v ; <3
During the past week, I have been working on the cooking / baking tutorial. The tutorial in itself hasn’t progressed that far yet since I spent my time finishing up the item icons I need. I had many of them sketched but finishing them up does take a bit longer than expected XD’
So far I have finished 12 items. I need around 15 for finishing the tutorial and 20+ for the demo. Here’s just a small preview of what the finished icons look like ovo
Other than that, there has been some progress music-wise. While Shoko is still working on the evening track, my other composer has returned to work on the character themes. So far Ryuuga’s track is finished. Right now Cyan’s theme is being worked on. We have found a fitting core sound for him and building up his theme from there >w<b
I’m trying my best to finish up the tutorial this week to continue writing.
So, it’s been a while since I have posted an update (2 months, omg XD’)
I hope some of you are still with me, because this project is for sure still in development >w<
For those following me on twitter or reading the LSF thread, they probably know I have been on a short hiatus due to working on portfolio for art school applications. It took me quite a while, but I was accepted >w<b Due to some internal problems though, I will have to wait half a year longer until I can start. Again, I am working at high speed (as much as I can XD’) on this game project! So time for an update!
Writing:
The writing has progressed quite smoothly for me. Even though what I have at the moment is still unbeta-ed and needs a lot of editing. I have written both Travis’ and Ryuuga’s playthrough as far as the gameplay tutorial phase starts - readily scripted into Ren’Py including the use of music and SFX. For the demo, that would be roughly 20% of writing done. I will work on writing again once I have finished the tutorial phase.
Art:
I have started working on the game’s CGs. For the demo, they will all remain sketches, however, I like to illustrate them while writing since it gives me a better imagination of the scene I am writing about. Here a preview:
Music:
So far, Shoko has finished another track. For the daily simulation circle, that would be 3 out of 4. Afterwards, Shoko will start taking care of the character’s personal themes. Meanwhile, my other composer (who has been finishing up the title/main theme and started on the credits theme) is a bit on hiatus due to RL issues. He will be returning back to work as soon as he has settled them.
Programming:
Still finished at 95%, except for the CG gallery XD’ I won’t be working on that one before the final release though. At the moment I am working together with another programmer to maybe bring out the game onto other platforms than the ones Ren’Py allows. So this is just a head-up information. Once we have made some real progress, I will post an update on this.
What’s next?
During the next weeks, I will be working onto the gameplay tutorials. It proves a new challenge to me. Explaining a system I know inside out to other people is something I haven’t done before XD’ I will make sure to show it to people and get critique since I want everyone who plays to be able to use all the features the game has to offer >w<
While my hiatus for the art school applications has pushed the demo release back quite a bit, I won’t rush since I want to get this done right >w< So I hope for your patience and thanks everyone who’s still here with me!
This track was composed by Shoko on Lemmasoft Forums.
Shoko did an awesome job on that one! It’s very nice and relaxing~
Shoko did! >w< I am very pleased with the compositions I have gotten from her so far! (From our other composer too though they have high dramatic tendencies 8D )
It has been a while since the last update >w</ Still working steadily on the project, even though real life work has been taking up a lot more time recently.
As for the character sprites, I have been working on the additional poses for the main characters. Each character will have at least two different poses (I would prefer 3, but at the moment there are more important things to work on.) The first sketches are ready, and will stay sketches for the demo release.
Have a look at Travis’ standard “Is that so~”-pose >w</ //slapped
Meanwhile, I have also been sketching the in-game icons. It’s a first for me so I am still working hard on finding the right composition and style. Drawing food is really fun though! Here a few sketches out of those I got so far.
Some of those icons will remain sketches for the demo also, depending on how much time I have to polish them.
And at last, on writing. I have been making some progress, which is mainly thanks to the new composers that have come onboard!
With two composers right now, we got 3 out of roughly 15 tracks finished >w< They are already included in the game ovo Listening to them while writing gave me a good boost! XD
Music preview coming up in a bit!
That’s it for now >w< I hope to be able to give you more updates soon but real life work has been really stressing >w< Thank you to everyone who is still with me though!
