I saw that we could go ahead and set up our devlogs, so I'm going to do that now.  :-)

Hello, my name is Sciaenops and I run a one-woman game dev studio called Drone Garden Studios!  You can see a collection of my work on my profile or on my portfolio.  I tend to focus on narrative-heavy games like visual novels, and I really don't want to buck that trend for this jam.  

I'll be making a sci-fi/fantasy visual novel called Legends of Tzonac: Friendship & Automata.  Its an excuse to revisit a whole bunch of robot characters I've created over the past year and have them interact.  Originally, it was going to be a friendship sim.  Like a dating sim, but for buddies instead of kissin'.  But then after a fantastic nightmare (these are often what spark my inspiration), I decided to shift gears towards something more potentially tragic.  The player will have to maintain the friendships and loyalties of the characters, or else said characters will die at the end of the game.  So like the loyalty missions vs suicide mission aspect of Mass Effect 2, except in RenPy.  I would even like to see just how difficult it is to write around potentially-dead characters in a future game, see if that's as difficult as people say it would be.  But that's a future project.  Also, the game will have achievements.  I learned how to add achievements in an earlier project, and that was fun.

For this game, killing off my favorite characters is going to hurt enough.  I've not done that yet.  And there's two characters in this game in particular that will be very hard to write out death scenes and consequences for.  But that's another part of the challenge.  Working up the courage to take them out.

Yet another challenge will be selling my game.  I tried selling my first project, which was a game I was extremely proud of.  I even had it on Steam.  Long story short, it was a miserable failure.  The game was removed from Steam, with the users shaming me for trying to be greedy and sell a short game in the first place.  That hurt, honestly.  But it was kind of my fault, too.  I didn't know nearly enough about dev or visual novel writing to make a sellable game.  But I've been working with the engine for well over a year now, and I think I can make something worth selling/buying.  Now its just a matter of overcoming that little nagging voice in the back of my mind saying I can't.

My schedule set-up is going to be a maximum of two hours, Monday-Saturday.  I say a maximum of two hours because I can't commit to a stricter frame.  My work schedule isn't always the same, nor are my energy levels after work.  Some days I may only be able to put in a small amount of time, some days I may go hogwild.  But I definitely don't want to spend hours and hours and hours at one time on one project.  And I need my Sundays, I sleep on Sundays.

My marketing plan is this devlog, my blog, and posting a trailer once I have enough footage (usually, I wait until the week of release).  I am also considering posting some screenshots on Twitter.  I'm not a big Twitter user, but I can give it a try for this challenge.  And if there's any folks here who offer to livestream demos, well they can have a go.  ;-) 

tl;dr, I'm making a visual novel in at maximum 2 hours a day from Monday to Saturday, thanks for joining me on this adventure.

Nice schedule and I'm glad to see that you already have an idea in mind! Can't way to check your updates during the challenge!

So today I wrote up my Design Document.  It contains a game summary, potential pricing, mechanics, and assets.  A lot of it is stuff I've been building on already (as seen in my entry post), but its still good to summarize it and put it down on paper.

I was planning on working on some more sprite editing as well, but considering my work day I don't really have that energy.  I'll make up for it tomorrow.  ^^

Set up the RenPy project, ported over all the images I have so far, and set it up so that the player can name their robotic player character.  I also learned how to set it up so that the player can choose their character's gender, which adds a whole new level of interesting interactivity (on my end, at least; I have to remember to write every pronoun as a variable rather than just write it down).  I didn't plan on giving the player character their choice of origin story, but I did and we will see what all happens with that.  I really love how Amar (the character you see here, who digs up the player character; he's also from my earlier games A Cyberpunk's Dream of 2077 and Cut Me Deeply) looks in this scene, but I may need to shrink him down to keep him in proportion with the other characters.

Tomorrow, I'll work some more on this intro.  I want these two to run into another character (an AI named Hubert who is totes not a ghost), and then they fall into a dungeon where they meet the rest of the main cast and get the main quest set up.  I may also need to neaten up any rough edges on the sprites.  Usually I'd let it slide, but if I'm going to be making people spend money on this game then I need these sprites to look GREAT.

Today I decided I was going to fix up the sprites for my game.  Which was EXTREMELY TEDIOUS.  Especially since I came down with some sort of illness (not covid, thank goodness, I got that confirmed).  But if I'm going to be selling this game, then I can't be slacking off with the sprites.  So I added a black background so that I could actually see the imperfections, erased any extra bits floating around the sprites, got rid of the background, then saved the new sprites.  It makes a world of difference, and no one will probably even notice since the extra bits were usually hidden by the background because same sepia tones but whatev I will know that it looks better.

I was also going to work on writing bits some more today but again I'm sick and need a shower and sleep.  Tomorrow I'm working on the intro, both writing and sprite animations and things like that.  Best case scenario would actually be getting the entire intro written.  If I feel healthier tomorrow, then that will happen.  I don't like being sick, I miss out on doing things when I'm sick.  :-(

Got through the first bit I had written.  Using variables for pronouns is going to be very tricky, especially with all the subtle differences in grammar (you use his and him for two different statements, but her for both of those, that sort of thing).  But, that just add a fun new layer of challenge!  I'm too comfy with RenPy anyway, I need to break out of  my comfort zone.

Also added the first possible friendship affector.  It will be possible to get negative friendship points.  Not that the player will ever see it, I just think its funny.

I also kind of laid out the story.  I commented different sections to state each story beat.  If I write one section a day (playtesting and editing as I go), then the game will be fully-written about two days before the end of the challenge.  That'll give me enough time to add music & sound fx, as well as get a page ready to go.  Its just a matter of sticking to my schedule and not crunching.  ^^

Anyway, tomorrow another robot lad enters the picture.  Its a robot lad that I wrote specifically to cater to me, and is one of the two characters that I will find REALLY hard to write out potential death scenes for.

Kalzrak is officially in!  I got to throw in all sorts of references to past games in today's section, which is admittedly going to be confusing to people who have no idea what I'm talking about because they haven't played my games.  Oh well, they'll just have to go back and play them then.  ;-)  I'm undecided on whether I want to shrink Amar down or if I like him at his current height.  Leaning towards shrinking, but that's a decision I'm going to sleep on.

Another decision I'm struggling with are the optional loyalty quests.  Mostly because...I don't know if I'll have time to get them in.  The way my schedule is, it'll be cutting it really close to the end of the month.  And I don't know if it will need it.  If i keep up the length of each section, it'll be about an hour or an hour and a half.  Loyalty quests might not be needs.  Then again, I'd like to just play around with the concept of side quests in RenPy.  idk, maybe not for this challenge.  Again, need to sleep on this decision.

Also changed up the GUI a bit, added new menus and icons and a fantasy-ish font that I like to use for Tzonac games.  I need to further touch up the UI, some of the menus are hard to read and I'd like the names to be color-coded.  But that's another day, tomorrow is the next writing section (definitely) and setting up achievements (maybe).

But right now, I need to go teach Python coding to a bunch of kids who live on the other side of the country from me BYYYYE

Added the third robot - Clash - to the game.  He's a lot more laid back and mature than the others, because he's a hardened detective.  One of my favorite characters that I've come up with, and the second character that I'm going to have a really hard time writing out a potential death scene for.  Oh well.

Also, I was originally doing two jams at the same time...but I left the other jam, I got too much work this month (substitute teaching is fun!).  I refuse to leave this jam though, you guys are really chill and I like the general goals of this jam much better.  So while its sad that I had to quit a jam, this should theoretically give me more time/focus for this one!  If work doesn't get too in the way.   Sorry, but that's higher priority.

ALSO also, I decided to readjust Amar's size.  Glad I did, his proportions look a lot better now.

Tomorrow I introduce the fourth friend!

Worked at one job all day, came home and worked at another job for about an hour and a half, had to really force myself to hammer something out and realized quickly that I'd forgotten how the character in question talked/acted.  Managed to whip something up, though.

The ghostlike figure on the right was a sprite I made for a creepypasta version of totally normal remake of one of my most popular games, The Man The Alien and the AI.  We were supposed to redo the sprites, and since the original version was just a glowing circle I thought that a humanoid torso would be much more striking a design for an AI.  The creepypasta remake got canned (because I kept trying to turn the game into Doki Doki Literature Club), but I kept the sprites around.  Glad I get to use them!

Tomorrow, I plan to write out the main quest set-up.  I also want to record everything I have and make a trailer.  Maybe I'll even post the page?  Little iffy on that one.  

On the one hand, the lady robot should be in-proportion with the other sprites.  On the other hand, I like that she looks slightly closer to the player than everyone else.  I might stick with this.

Made a scene that lays out the quest and gives Vanessa's (thats the lady robot) backstory a bit more in-depth than when she gave it out in her last game (where she was literally named Villain because I couldn't think of anything better at the time).  I was so tired today, but somehow that made my writing a bit better?  Idk, I'm happy with the scene.

Tomorrow is the first day of the journey, which means writing out at least four scenes with friendship points to gain or lose (five day journey, each day the player tries to bond with the characters).  Of course, today I also realized I'll need so many different variations of the endings of THIS game based on who dies or not.  Which was intimidating.  But that's not tomorrow, so I refuse to worry just yet.

(Okay, no picture on here today, because for some reason itch.io isn't letting me upload it.  If you're dying to see it, its on my twitter or my blog.)

Today I did some calculating, and I can get all of these big talking scenes done on the 20th if I 1. stick to my schedule-within-a-schedule and 2.) stay focused.  That latter part's the hard part.

Today I wrote Amar and Kalzrak's parts.  Kalzrak turned out kind of fatalistic, while Amar was really cutesy.  They also have two different dialogues each where you can gain or lose friendship points, which I really hope come across well.  I'm also not marking which option leads to which result, which is what I've done with a bunch of my past games (admittedly, ones that involved romancing aliens and robots, so that people didn't accidentally stumble into an ending they found fundamentally weird).  But that makes me nervous about potential complaints.  But you know what, if you get a character killed off then yall can just replay the game and do better.  ;-)

Tomorrow, more of this but with Clash and Hubert.  Then, day one of friendship building is done!

*EDIT* I also changed the cover image and the trailer thumbnail.  Its a calmer image now.

What's a lot of fun is going into a scene with plans to write something heartwarming, and instead the characters go off an a debate about compassion and sympathy for enemies.  I didn't plan it, but it went off that direction and I followed along and when I was done writing I was surprised.  I like it, but I need to be careful not to make all of Clash's parts a sermon or debate.  I mean, yeah, that's a part of his character but he needs to CHILL because writing this kind of stuff is EXHAUSTING.  Also, it made Hubert's section that I also wrote look and feel very anticlimatic in  comparison.  Oh, well.

Anyway, thats the first section of friendship-building written!  Only four more to go!  Yaaaaaay.  And after those sections are written, its the sections where I write scenes where characters die horribly.  Noooooo.  Also, I realized if all these friendship scenes are taking place at night then I should probably tint the backgrounds a darker color.  If this were a free game, I'd let it slide.  But again, I gotta up the attention to detail if people are buying it.  I'm a former retail worker, I know how people get when their money is on the line.  :-)

Tomorrow is my day off, so I will see you guys Monday.  Again, feel free to check out the page!

https://itch.io/embed/1273168?linkback=true&border_width=5&bg_color=f2d4ba&fg_color=3f2832&link_color=9e2835&border_color=c14b58

*EDIT* Oh I forgot to mention something interesting I've noticed.  While views on this game's page haven't been so good, views for all of my OTHER Tzonac games have been going up.  Hmmmm...

Moral decisions: do you hurt the tall lad or do you not?

Kalzrak talked about his past today (and was basically summarizing the driving mystery of his origin game), and Amar went off on a rant about alligators.  Both scenes were very hard to hammer out, as I had a lot going on today even WITHOUT work (niece visiting and us going shopping, sewing some blankets and pillowcases, trying to get caught up on schoolwork...a wide variety of shenanigans today).  My brain was going five ways at once, it felt like, and it was hard to just sit down and write.  Especially Amar's section.  Once I started Kalzrak, his scene just flowed.

Tomorrow, more.  freakin.  writin.

*EDIT* Oh and I forgot to mention, I added a stat tracker.  While a dialogue options are still unmarked, players can at least get an idea of where they stand with each character

Well, with another day of talking and friendship-building down (and intrigue-building, with the bit of player character backstory I added), I'm tired.  It's hard to focus on writing, especially after a long day of work.  But I'm too stubborn to stop, and it seems like I get some of my better ideas while I'm tired 9like the aforementioned backstory).  And its only a few more days, I can push my brain.

(No picture today, I'm too lazy).

(Also, here's  my weekly update on the game's page if you're interested!)

So for day three, I think there's only going to be one potential point loss/gain section.  Mostly because Amar leads the day with a huge freakin bombshell and it feels like having more than one point option may cheapen that.  So instead of two options, there will be one option providing two points.  This should also make  the scenes shorter, and easier on me.

Even so, I ended up only writing the Amar sequence.  I had a very rough day at work today.  I'm banking on tomorrow being better, and catching up on the writing then.

(LOOK I'LL STRAT UP PICTURES AGAIN TOMORROW OK)

I've got all the normal days done now.  Argument days are going to be shorter, and may not even have full interactive cutscenes beyond said arguments.  So I'll be getting the arguments done tomorrow, definitely.  Depending on time, maybe the rest of the days too.  Then its just the dungeon, which are potential death scenes and also shorter (probably without branching dialogue, too).

Today I actually split up my dev time, did some in the afternoon and some in the evening.  That was much easier on my brain than just working the whole time at once.  HMM...

Finally got to the arguments today, and boy was that fun.  Unfortunately, I ran out of time to work on both argument sections today.  So, I have to rearrange my schedule yet again.  Ughhhh, the temptation to crunch is REALLY starting to settle in.  I have only two days of playtesting (which is probably nowhere near enough, but at least its something), and I still have the rest of the game to write AND the music to add in!  I might leave sound effects out, I don't really know of any scene where they'd fit at the moment.  But next week, I'm going to add in music while I write instead of adding it all in at once on one day.  Hopefully, that will help my dev schedule.  We shall see.

It really is getting close to finishing.  I have the second argument, the dungeon stuff with possible death scenes, and the conclusion to write.  It's all so close!  Surely, I can do this!

The gang's all here!  The five days of travelling have been written, and this is the background during the last-ditch speech that begins right before the parts where characters can die.  You need at least three points per robot to let them survive, and if you sided with one or the other during the arguments but were able to regain some trust then they're at two points.  So if you pass the speech, that keeps them safe.  That's assuming you weren't already ranking up negative points the whole game by saying the wrong things.

Dungeons should go a lot faster in theory, since I don't have to manage as many variables and menu options (main variables would be whether the characters die or not, theres no more friendship tracking).  So I'm still on-track to finish up writing this week.  Didn't get any music done though, I think I'm going back to my original plan of doing that all on one day.  That day would be Saturday.  This leaves me only one day for playtesting/editing, which makes me nervous.

But, maybe I'll do that post-challenge.  I mean, there's nothing stopping me from updating my game afterwards, right?  I've not really gone back to my other games after they've been released, which isn't a very good habit.  Seems good to start with the one I'm making people pay for.

Also, I need to start a playtest save from the beginning of the game.  I lost track of which save was which.  And i need to start over anyway, make sure everything flows and the stat tracker works.

*EDIT* I also realized I could do a week-long release sale, so it'll be 20% off its first week of release.  Discounts are fun!

Its weird, getting all my dev time done while the sun is still up.

Got the start of the dungeon stuff written, as well as the first death scene (and because I wanted to test it, that means that Kalzrak did not have a nice time after this screenshot was taken).  I may have made the scene a bit too sudden and brutal, but I really didn't want to drag out Kalzrak's suffering.  He's one of my favorite characters I've ever made, so his death scene had to be handled the same way one would rip a band-aid off.  But still, I think it'll work.  Especially if people aren't predicting it.

I also finally got to see my stats tracker in action (my original playtest save was BEFORE I added it, so it wasn't showing up).  It looks the way I wanted it too, so that's a success.  I also started adding music.  I'll need to go back through and add sound effects, I was hoping I could sneak by without needing them but some scenes absolutely require SOME sort of FX.

But, as I was hoping, it seems like I'll have more time to work on stuff.  I just have to make sure I don't try to get TOO detailed.  Last night, I was wanting to write unique endings for every single alive/dead combination possible.  That's too much, but darn it you have no idea how hard it was to talk myself down.

(No picture today, but here's my Wednesday update  for the game's devlog!)

Wrote the second death scene today.  Also comes with an intro explaining why they are being potentially killed off, hopefully it is an explanation that makes sense.  This death scene wasn't as hard to write as yesterday's, and I will be honest about that.  ^^;

I'm just glad its going much faster now, I should be able to reach the end after all!

Mixing it up a bit, posting a picture of code instead of the game. 

Added even more achievements for characters living, set up the achievements/variables for a total party wipe or for everyone surviving.

And besides that, in-between cooking the turkey and watching the MST3K marathon,  I finished out the dungeon/death scenes and collected the device.  Now all that's left is the ending/endings!  Admittedly, everything is probably going to feel rushed.  Again, while I will finish, I think I mismanaged my time a bit and won't be able to go all-out like I wanted to.  Still, that's what post-release updates are for, right?  Well, that and bugfixing.  That's going to be the main focus for awhile.

Again, tomorrow I write the endings.  Saturday, I add in any remaining music or sound effects needs and do a bit of playtesting.  Monday, i playtest soe more and then finally add the game to its page.  Its almost over!

THE WRITING IS OVER (EXCEPT WHEN I PUT TOGETHER CREDITS PUT THAT DOESNT REALLY COUNT)

Holy CRAP, I rushed the ending though.  Post-jam, I may update it to make it a little more show and a little less tell, but for now this will do.  I still have  to go through the whole game, pick parts that need sound effects, and then add said sound effects.

But still, WRITING IS DONE.  I CAN RELAX MY FINGERS NOW.

And with that, it is feature complete!  All the writing, visuals, music, and sound effects are ready and raring to go!

Well, for the jam, anyway.  I already am forming a list of things I would like to do for post-jam updates.  Like I mentioned before, I want to do some post-release updates and bugfixes.  Which I've never done before, but then again pretty much everything I made is free (and the game I used to have for a price, that was done when I was still clueless).  It feels different, expecting people to pay for a game.  Like, if its free, sure okay enjoy it in its rawest format, it cost us all nothing.  But when money's on the line, I feel like I should polish it up a bit more. 

Plus, this  game has been a good test run for all sorts of new things.  Mainly Twitter marketing.  It'll be perfect for practicing post-release updates, too.

Tomorrow is my day off, but Monday I will be playtesting it at least one more time and then adding the game to the game's page.  I'm trying to hold off on submitting it to the jam until the morning of November 30th.

Well, since the game is ready and I plan on doing post-launch updates anyway, I went ahead and submitted it to the jam.  I know I was supposed to wait until tomorrow but I have a long week of teaching ahead of me so I thought it'd be better if I did it this morning.  But with that, my part in this jam is complete.

The game itself releases tomorrow at 4:30pm Central time, and it'll be at a 20% discount so be sure to grab a copy!  I'll be posting my post-mortem on that page on December 1st.

This was a great jam, I hope to see it again next year!