Happy new year 2024. Sorry for not posting any update in several months.
This game started its development (at least, the making of the story script) in January of the past year. Unlike all my incomplete projects, Harmful Heaven was started without thinking so much and without planing. It changed with the time, and now it reached a definitive point. Let's share the progress in three parts:
On technical
RPG Maker has been dropped for this. Harmful Heaven is now being made in Ren'Py.
Inserting the script in the game (in RM) is tedious and slow. Also mimic the feel of a visual novel. But I was still decided to do all of it in RPG Maker MV... I dropped Windows 10 and install Linux on my PC. Since then, using the computer is 50 % more enjoyable. and much less stressful. I was relieved knowing that RPG Maker MV has native support on Linux. RPG Maker MV can be executed in linux. But the quality of the software there is very questionable.
So I change to Ren'py, what I should have done since the start, but I didn't because I'm bad in coding, but is what is has to be done. I haven't done big progress in it, but at first sight, inserting the script in the games is so much comfortable, fast and simple. I have trust in the Ren'py community and my capacity to learn, so Harmful Heaven can get fine in technical terms
On the story
The process of the making of the story is like this: This is the story. Is bad. I changed how the story develops. Is bad. I give it an ending. Bad. Drop everything. Now the story is more extended. Is bad. I check and change what I think would improve the story, and a final arc with a new ending. Bad. New route written until the half of it. Is bad. Drop everything, start again.
That's the summary of the process from the past year to today. The script is in a 'Redo' status, and I want it to be the last. Is still a fun and frenetic story of the dumb Sera and the dumb Dess fighting in a dying world. What mainly changes is the important moments, all the dialogues, quit and put traits of the characters, more stupid jokes, adding and deleting arcs, and making sure that everything is cohesive.
This is a simple story, but when Harmful Heaven is finally out, I want it to be of a quality that others can enjoy and say "this is fine" at least. This section should be more larger, is the thing I was working the more, but I think this is enough.
On the art
This is 'Good old RPG' Sera. This is gonna be his way of showing. He and the whole game. Novels teach me that with well written words your mind can show you awesome images. And, you know it if you see all the art of this thread... I barely can draw. So the art will be of this simple style, admitting from the start that I don't count with actually good skills. I'll still continue to draw everything (sprites, map-style backgrounds, portraits, etc) but with a new approaching. (Goodbye, every-screen-of-the-game-looking-like-a-(bad)-manga-panel).
And about me, I'm the same, but worse. Thins are going worse. Things in and outside of my control. Is possible that the internet gets cut, and the computer breaks, or get trough months without electricity. Several stuff. I wake up early, and since then I was trying to start up the monitor of my PC, sometimes lasted half and hour, or two hours, but today lasted six hours, just trying to start the monitor. My thoughts in these hours were sad. It was like this since the past year in the end, but is worsening. Like everything here.
This is more to how far I can get, and time doesn't forgive. My PC and internet were in a 'yes' status in these months, but I don't wanted to update this because another post of "the development is hard but I still there" would be just annoying. I hope that with this, the development is now more clear.
Is a matter of going forward. The development of Harmful Heaven continues.