Trembling Essence:💙Fixing variables💙

Hellooo guys and welcome to my dev-log, here's how the progress of the game is coming along!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

This update will be a little short since I was gone for a few days and I might not have a lot of time to work on this week(?) but I've been fixing up some variables as you go through the game. :,]

The progression started out fairly easy now that I've been balancing things out but I accidently messed up a few variables in the beginning which lead to a automatic bad ending at this part of the game. :,[  BUT  In good news I caught it very early before I went through everything and the way to fix it won't be as complicated as I thought it would be! :D

While I was doing this I went and moved certain situations around so the story is a little easier to understand between The player(Y/N) and Noah. :[]

Immersive update progress:

I'm still in the starting stages of animating this scene! I still have to optimize it but I can't wait until it's done! :]

Also enjoy this CG I'm working on! Ignore the dialog text because this sketch has nothing to do with it. :D

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

I got a couple of asks recently + some old ones to answer so hopefully I answer one or two. :,D

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

Thank you to everyone for the support!! Even though this game development post is a small one I really appreciate the encouragement! :,,]

No problem, thanks for taking time out to read them! :,,]

Trembling Essence:💙Cabin quality of life developments💙

Hi guys and welcome to my devlog here's how the game is coming along!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

A lot of what I've been doing is cleaning up most of the dialog through the cabin! I went through and played the afternoon route fully and I managed to catch a few spelling errors along the way. :,]

Before:

After:

One thing I did was fix several of Noah's expressions/reactions towards the player(Y/N)'s choices and interactions. Some of the original sprites I placed made Noah come off as if he's blushing/flustered when it's just that the situation is awkward between the both of you.

Immersive update:

One thing I can't wait to start doing is animating this scene! It's one of my favorite environmental CG's and it was meant to have a raining animation etc, but I couldn't add this to the [Extended Demo] due to the size of it and I didn't know how to add multiple animation frames at the time. With what I know now hopefully I can optimize it! :]

I also took out this choice you could make in the game. There was a variable here that would effect the game later on but it wasn't anything major enough to continue through with it. This isn't to say that it'll be gone forever(?) but just that it doesn't belong here anymore. :[]

This choice is also being updated too since it extends from very old code that contained spoilers that happened too early. It'll still be available to choose but just not as extended. :[] The "Talk to Noah." choice is also getting re-worked since what originally happened there gave away big spoilers too. :,[]

This is a small quality of life change but one thing I noticed is that the player(Y/N)'s +HP gain wasn't visible during certain fade transition scenes so I added a small pause in between to make it visible.

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

Thank you to everyone for the uplifting support during all of this I really appreciate it! :,,]

Trembling Essence:💙Cabin development progress💙

Helloo guys and welcome! It's been a long while, now that spooky month is over here's how the game is coming along!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

A very big thank you to the recent influx of interest around 2 weeks or so ago, I wasn't expecting much since I was busy/drawing for Noahween. :,,]

Speaking of Noahween, for those who only use itch.io here's the result of Noah dressed up as Leon Kennedy! The file size is too big for me to post here sadly but the post I made about it has some fun facts about Noah on my Tumblr! :] 

**I'm going to still be busy but in good news not as much as before. Game development posts might be every 1-2 weeks now depending on how things go! :,]

After I posted the previous game development I wasn't able to work on the game until recently and I wanted to give myself another week to re-adjust before saying anything.

Now that I'm getting settled in here's what I've been doing to the game:

Dialog adjustments:

I've been going through and gradually adjusting certain scenarios. I want to keep the foreboding flow with hints of comfort in between so I'm still adding a little more depth on how the player(Y/N) feels/reacts from being back in the cabin again and Noah's attempt at hospitality during this segment.  I also cut down the dialog again by combining smaller sentences into one text box unless the situation calls for it to be separated. :]

More CG work in progress:

One quality of life change I really wanted to do back then was add a few CG's of Noah when you're back in the cabin again. Originally there was going to be one or two in the [Extended Demo] but they were scrapped because my art skills weren't where they are now and I still need to practice perspective, etc but enjoy these really really rough sketches, the second one is old but I'm trying to figure out how I want it to look and how I want the pose to be. :,,]

Choices that effects Noah's closeness with the player(Y/N):

Some of Noah's reactions to the player(Y/N)'s decisions give a neutral response versus a negative one that effects closeness are still being worked on. I'm going through everything but the process will need a lot of careful planning. Just have to make sure all the variables line up. :]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :,,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

Thank you to everyone for the continued support during this long game development absence! >:]

Thank you so much! :,,]

💜Surprise event!: Noahween Results! >:]🧡

Thank you to everyone that participated in the poll and left comments, 107 people to voted in total! Yay! :]

Overall, Leon Kennedy won for Noah to dress up as! :,,]

This doodle is just for the post itself and not the final art piece! :]

🧡Surprise event!: It's Noahween! Part 2 >:]💜

Here's Noah dressed up as Kento Nanami all finished from the previous poll!

The higher quality version is on my Tumblr!  There's a couple of abandoned sketches that I might come back to, it was very hard to choose since there were so many. >:,]

Anywho, I'm having a lot of fun doing this so I'm continuing this small spooky month event with Noah! All you have to do is pick which outfit you'd like to see Noah dressed up as and I'll draw it! :P

To vote on this, check out the poll I made on my Tumblr here!

Round 2 theme: Resident Evil

Leon Kennedy VS Carlos Oliveira VS Albert Wesker

There will only be 24 hours to vote, good luck! :]

(If you can't vote through Tumblr, feel free to comment your choice and I'll add it to the overall results!) :]

Awee thank you so much for all of the continued support through all of this and playing the game!! I'm hoping in the far future to update the [Extended Demo] with more content. :,,]

Translations for the game would be something I'd need a lot of time to look into so I don't have a answer for you right now but I whole heartedly appreciate the offer, thank you! :,,]

💜Trembling Essence: Spooky month cabin progress🧡

Helloo guys and welcome to my devlog, we're half way through spooky month so here's an update on how the game is going!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

**I'm still fairly busy so future game development posts will be every 1-4 weeks depending on how things go. :[]

Quality of life progress:

I've been doing a lot of brainstorming/organizing the game behind the scenes. I tried my best to simplify certain dialog parts and give a little more depth on how the player(Y/N) feels/reacts from being back in the cabin again.

I talked about this in my last game development post about fixing up the different situations depending on your interactions with Noah before he goes to bed:

At first I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make this work but I'll just have to do one section at a time. It was a very slow start at first but I'm gradually picking up the pace as I go along.  *Slight spoilers ahead*(:?):  Since there's different ways to approach the cabin and interact afterwards I slightly combined 2 of them together to make the layout/closeness with Noah easier to manage.

Choices that effects Noah's closeness with the player(Y/N):

I didn't mess with this in the [Extended Demo] but there's some choices that are being adjusted. Noah's reactions to some of the player(Y/N)'s decisions now give a neutral response versus an negative one. I'm still going through everything but the process is going nicely so far! :]

There was subtle immersive changes too. It's nothing too serious, just little things that make the cabin feel a little more comfy. :]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

In good news a few asks that got deleted popped back up again so I'll get to those first since these are all the way back from February. :,]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :,,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

This update was a small one but that's everything I have to share right now. Thank you to everyone for the uplifting support, have a happy spooky month! >:]

Hello and I appreciate your thoughtful words, thank you so much! :,] I'm happy knowing you enjoy Noah and what the [Extended Demo] had to offer so far! :,]

🧡Surprise event!: Noahween Results! >:]💜

Thank you to everyone that participated in the poll and left comments, I wasn't expecting 116 people to vote on this!

Overall, Kento Nanami won for Noah to dress up as! :,,]

This doodle is just a for the post itself and not the final art piece! :]

I added your vote, thank you! >:]

Your vote has been added, thank you! >:]

🧡Surprise event!: It's Noahween! >:]💜

For the celebration of spooky month I thought it would be pretty cool to do a small event featuring Noah! :P All you have to do is pick which outfit you'd like to see Noah dressed up as and I'll draw it! >:]

To vote on this all you have to do is check out the poll I made on my Tumblr here!

Round 1 theme: Jujutsu Kaisen

Kenoto Nanami VS Choso

There will only be 24 hours to vote, good luck! :]

(If you can't vote through Tumblr, feel free to comment your choice and I'll add it to the overall results!) :]

Trembling Essence:💙Happy spooky month + It's cabin time💙

Helloo guys and welcome , it's been a while! I'm still fairly busy so future game development posts will be every 1-4 weeks depending on how things go. :[] 

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

Happy spooky month! >:] 

 We're finally back in the cabin!! You know what that means.. >;] It is time to explain what will happen next!

Starting off with quality of life changes:

1. One of the main things I'm going to fix up is the different situations you can get depending on your interactions with Noah before he goes to bed.

As time went on it became difficult to keep track of everything since there's different ways to approach the cabin and interact afterwards. To remedy this I'm making a layout where your amount of closeness with Noah can place you into different categories instead of it all being under one scenario. I don't know how else to explain this without adding spoilers but hopefully this makes sense!

2. Another thing that needs fixing is what choices effects Noah's closeness with the player(Y/N).

I didn't mess with them in the [Extended Demo] to avoid breaking the game but there's some choices that will updated. Noah's reactions to some of the player(Y/N)'s decisions didn't line up well which caused him to lose closeness when he'd really be neutral instead.

3. The cabin is getting a update!? -Gasp- :[]

I can't say much due to spoilers but this originally wasn't going to happen until I started adding more depth to the story. It won't be anything drastic but for right now, only the living room is getting this.

4. But what about The Swamplands?! >:?

It's somewhat done outside of a few CG's but I need a break from cleaning it up. I'll fix it up again later. :,,D

5. Optimizations images! :[]

I found away to lower file sizes when making CG's / sprites / animations etc. There's certain parts of the game that will be animated and this is one of a few I really want to add without making the game file size too big. :,]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :,,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

This update is getting a little too long so I'll stop here. Thank you to everyone for your continued encouragement and support and have a happy spooky month! >:]

Trembling Essence:💙Clean up changes + New CG💙

Helloo guys and welcome to my devlog, here's how the game development is going so far!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

A very big thank you to the recent influx of interest and comments stemming from my last game development post! I will try to get to everything when I can! :]

Important notice towards updates about Trembling Essence:

For a good while I've been able to post updates about the game's progress weekly! Now that it's getting closer to fall and spooky month(Yay! :]) I am going to continue to be busy so I want to let you guys know that future updates will be irregular. Game development posts will be every 1-4 weeks depending on how things go. :[]

I spent the first few days continuing off from the previous development post by going through the last of The Swamplands and patched some things up! Towards the end of that week however, I got very busy and didn't get a chance to get to the cabin section or much else which is why this was delayed by an extra week so I appreciate the patience! :]

New CG:

I drew up a new CG that you can get depending on your choices when talking to Noah. My play tester saw the first version I colored up but unfortunately the perspective was really off and his shoulders were too wide. I was given a couple of tips and pointers so I redid it and here's how it looks for right now. I couldn't do much else after that. :,,,]]]]

Last bit of clean up changes:

Intro:

When it came to the introduction of Noah, the new parallax effect I added created a small glitch where the HP/COLD indicators were still shown behind CG's during a screen transition.  There was some minor dialog adjustments, mainly describing certain situations a bit better. The moments where Noah talks to the player(Y/N) have been tweaked, not by too much but just enough to fill out this section of the game a little more.  While I was going through the choices, I came across new dialog I added at some point and never came back to so I fixed it up just a little too. :]

Before:

After:

I altered the choice text for this since the previous wording was a little confusing from my play testers perspective. A good portion of the dialog was fixed and there was going to be a timed situation later on but I decided not to add it since this is a fairly straightforward path.

Chasm Ending:

This ending got expanded by a fair amount mainly because the end is awkwardly abrupt and I didn't like that. I corrected it but the CG you see at this part didn't match the text so I went back one last time and a added visual effect. Overall, this part is done! :]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah ! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :,,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

I can't guarantee I'll be able to answer them right now since I practice drawing for responses but do know that I've seen them!

This update is getting fairly long so I'll stop here. Again, thank you to everyone for your continued support and influx of interest! I really wasn't expecting any of it since I got very busy towards the end. While I continue working behind the scenes on the game I'll try and respond to stuff/comments I missed! :,]

Trembling Essence:💙Finalized Endings + route change💙

Hi guys and welcome to my devlog!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

Here's how the game development is going so far! :]

Endings are being finalized!:

In very good news most of the endings I managed to work on have been cleaned up and finished!

The cave:

All I did this time around was fix some of the parallax effects and leftover dialog that wasn't needed anymore. This ending didn't have much else to fix and I like how it turned out in the end.

The bridge:

For this ending, not too much was done besides small adjustments to the dialog and some CG's. I couldn't do the parallax effect the way I wanted since it glitches when zoomed in but I found a way around this and I think it'll be better for the immersive feel. Other than that everything is done here! :]

The thicket:

I think I only talked about this one during the end of May(?) but this did get adjusted every now and then up until now. The only thing I need to do here is redo one of the CG's towards the end (Not the one I posted :[]). I don't really like it and I kind of want it to be zoomed in and have more shrubbery (Maybe even looking up towards the sky? :?), I'm not sure yet but I do want the area to look... different. This isn't anything that needs major tending to but I recently came across a image of inspiration for this. :[]

Route change + new background:

Here's a sneak peek of a new background I finished some time ago! This is from one of the paths you can get depending on how you interact with Noah. Since this version has a different outcome I decided to add a timer here due to the player(Y/N)'s apprehensiveness.

 Due to this I removed one of the choices that had an extra two endings here. I did this is because the symbolic meaning already plays it's part in two other endings. Keeping them would make it redundant.

In good news 100%*** of The swamplands is completed! (*I will however come back to certain parts of this area if there's anything I left out/need to fix up.) There's more I wanted to talk about but I'll save the rest for next week since this is getting too long. :]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

Giving more insight the lore surrounding the game and Noah have been very fun so far and it's given me lots of time to practice! To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :,,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

This is all I have to share for right now so thank you to everyone for your generous support while I continue working behind the scenes on the game! I can't wait to work on the cabin section now! :,]

Awee thank you so much for taking time out to commenting and reading these development posts! I really appreciate your words and enjoyment towards the game/Noah and that my hard work for everything in-between isn't going unnoticed! You are very right this recent break was needed,  answering asks on Tumblr/drawing etc. really helped flesh out a bunch of Noah's lore and backstory without giving out too much spoilers. I'm excited to eventually get back to the cabin section of the game because of this! There's so much that didn't make it into the [Extended Demo]  that maybe one day I'll be able to add it or at least some of it! :,]]

Also it's no worries! I try my best to keep them weekly if possible and transparent/filled with informative details on what's going on and it makes me happy knowing people are interested in actually reading everything, especially the long-winded ones. Hehe. :P

Trembling Essence:💙Making progress + Adding timers💙

Hi guys and welcome to my devlog!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

This update post is very delayed but I appreciate the patience!

After the previous game development post I didn't have a lot of time to do much and when I did it was very scattered. Trying to adjust from where I left off each time was really difficult.

In the end I focused more on answering the multiple asks I've received and gave myself a break. I've been having a lot of fun answering these and fleshing out Noah's character and lore! This also gave me some good drawing practice! :,]

Anywho, here's how the game is going so far!

Clean up progression:

I don't want to make this too long but I've adjusted/removed parts that were either too repetitive, unnecessary, or didn't flow well with what you see on screen.  I know I've said this already in past game development posts but back in May I wanted to add more branching endings but I dialed it back not too long ago when it started trailing off from what was originally intended. Right now I'm fixing how the player(Y/N) goes through the terrain which is very different from the [Extended Demo].

CG fixing:

Before:

After:

Here's a new CG from a while ago that I went back and fixed up!

Even though I liked it at first, it looked a bit too empty with odd lighting issues. I added a little more shrubbery and trees along with adjusting the background to make it easier to see the details!  I also fixed up the animated CG where the rain was stuck in one part of the image and which looked 'frozen' on the screen. It was kind of funny because I didn't notice this for a long time until I was confused at what I was looking at. I can't show this one due to spoilers. :[]

Timer progress:

It's time(:P) to finally discuss this small addition to the game!

These won't be used that often but they'll be in places where I feel the situation requires quick decision making. It took a lot of trial and error before I settled on keeping it the same color as the player(Y/N)'s HP bar. I then went back and added a background so it's easier to see. I also moved it around since it was over-lapping with a couple of choices. This is just a mock-up image so no spoilers are shown. :[]

For right now I can't say I'm almost done since this required more fixing than I was expecting from what my play testers recommended but I'm happy to be even closer to the cabin section which I'm really looking forward to updating. :,]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

I've had a lot of fun recently answering asks! Giving more insight on Noah and the lore surrounding the game have been enjoyable! To know and understand Noah through Asks and random posts about lore, they'll be under #Get to know: Noah  on my Tumblr! :]

**Some asks won't be answered if it contains spoilers but I do appreciate what I receive. :,,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

That sums up what's been going on behind the scenes. A very big thank you to everyone, I appreciate the thoughtful support and the continued influx of interest during my absence for game development in the game and the drawings I've done recently! :,]

Trembling Essence:💙Cleaning up the game.💙

Hi guys and welcome to my devlog!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

This update post is fairly late and might be a little short but here's how the game is going so far! Enjoy this lighthearted thumbnail now that I can draw again! :,]

I also want to clarify this but when I said that "the pathing won't play out the same from the [Extended Demo] anymore" I mean the endings specifically not the way to figure out how to get to Noah, I like it the way it is.** :,]

"Cleaning up the game? What happened?":

Yes! Unfortunately I wasn't able to do much of anything and didn't have access to drawing until recently. I was going to wait until the following week to post but I really want to get this out of the way since it's still fresh on my mind! :]

While this was going on it gave me a lot of time to just think about the games progression and what I would like to do and change moving forward. It's not much but once I was able to get back to working on the game, the main thing I did was clean up more of the pathing for the choices you can make leading up to the cabin. I really took my time with this and made sure the dialog flowed correctly and corresponds with how the player(Y/N) is feeling during parts where time passes wondering around. There were a couple of misplaced sentences and grammar I missed that got fixed too.

Big quality of life change:

A path in the game where you can run into Noah again has been adjusted, this is from the [Extended Demo] and not new content. I want to keep it vague for those who haven't gotten this 'Neutral Ending' but the 'Endings Guide' is available! I noticed it took a long time to get through this so I cut one of the two exploration sections so it stays balanced with the other parts of the game. One thing I really want to add is a unique CG here. I have an idea on how I want it to look but I'd have to adjust the wording to make it fit. I might do a perspective pose but since I haven't had much time to draw my style is going to fluctuate again. :,] I also added more parts where Noah talks to you a bit more but I still have to go back and fix some of it because some of the writing isn't where I want it to be and this was while I was brainstorming. :[]

Kept the progress bar the same since only a small amount of stuff was done. Right now I want to continue fixing up stuff and most of what my play testers recommended already.

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

I'm going to get to a couple of them this week! I need to practice drawing/coloring again. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

Overall, thank you everyone for the continued support, the progress has been small but I appreciate the uplifting words and the recent influx of interest in the game! :,]

Trembling Essence:💙Choice adjustments + Exploration💙

Hello and welcome to my devlog!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

This update post might be a little short but here's how the game is going so far! Also I was very surprised at how well the endings guide was received so I'll keep that in mind in the future. :,]

Everything started off very slow again and didn't progress much up until a day or two ago. I was able to find the root of this issue so hopefully in the next few days things will return to normal! :]

I also want to talk a little bit deeper about the beginning of the game and what's to come of it.

Summary:

I want this section leading up to the cabin to give you an idea of your surroundings and give an introduction to Noah.

When I went on to redo this part some time around May I got carried away with wanting to add a bunch of adventurous endings. Even though I enjoyed doing this, I understood that it was too much and I was missing the mark I was aiming for. There were a couple of signs but what really made me realize this fully was working on the 'Endings guide'. I want the endings you get at this part to reflect what could possibly happen later on in the game and have symbolic meaning. There will be endings that just 'happen' but I do want to make sure I do that right. :]

With that being said, the start of the game will be reduced from 4 choices back down to 2. No spoilers but again, the pathing won't play out the same from the [Extended Demo] anymore. :]

Exploration:

Before:

After:

I managed to get some CG's done too! For the before and after, I did not like how it looked anymore and the dialog didn't match with what you were seeing on the screen. I wanted this part to look like an actual spooky path you were going down covered in fog. I also added a parallax effect here that really sets the mood! I do plan on fixing up the 'before' image just not right now. :]

This sort of sums up what all has been going on behind the scenes, super close to the cabin. Yay! I fixed up most of what my play testers recommended to me but there's some endings that still need to be seen. :]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

There's been a sudden influx of questions and I really appreciate it, I'll try and answer some of them when I get the chance! Some did have major spoilers being asked so I can't answer them. :,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

This is all I have to share for right now but thank you everyone for the uplifting support and patience, I appreciate it! :]

Trembling Essence[Extended Demo]:💙Endings guide💙

Hi hi and welcome to my devlog!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

Firstly I would like to say thank you to everyone that have been supportive of the [Extended Demo] + game development posts! I got a comment about this and since the [Extended Demo] has been out for a few months, here's a guide for all the endings if you couldn't find them. :]

• Please remember that this is still a demo and these are still subject to change! [Major spoilers ahead!] It is also possible to get some of these endings through different choices than the ones I provided. :]

BAD ENDINGS:

1. You never woke up: Choose 'Walk.", "Go left", "Drink the water.", "Go through the water."
2. You stopped struggling: Choose 'Walk.", "Go left.", "Drink the water.", "Hop on the tree stumps."
3. The water engulfed you: Choose 'Walk.", "Go right.", "Go inside the cave."
4. You were dragged deeper into the water: Choose 'Walk.", "Go right.", "Climb up the sides of the hill."
5. Your final moments were agonizing: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Walk."
6. You were stabbed in the back: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Stay.", "Stay.", "Stay.", "Go to sleep."
7. You can't feel anything anymore: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Stay.", "Stay.", "Go with him.", "Run away.", "Stay on the ground."
8. The cold took you in: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Stay.", "Stay.", "Go with him.", "Fight back.", "Go back the way you came."
9. You fell into a deep sleep.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Stay.", "Stay.", "Go with him.", "Fight back.", "Go a different direction."
10. The lightning took you away.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Stay.", "Stay.", "Go with him.", "Brace yourself.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Go outside.", "Go to the door.", "Keep running.
11. You kept running through the swamp.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Soup.", "Go down the hill by yourself." "I do.", "Take a shower.", "....", "Sneak into Noah's room.", "Yes.", "Go inside his room.", "Say nothing.", "Walk around.", "Examine the water."
12. Your mind displayed a false reality.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Soup.", "Go down the hill by yourself." "I can do it myself.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Go outside.", "Go to the door.", "Open your eyes." "Get up on your own."

Neutral Endings:

1. You tried talking to Noah.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Talk to Noah.", "Knock on the door.", "Knock even louder."
2. You tried to peek into Noah's room.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Talk to Noah.", "Peek inside."
3. You decided to look around.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Look around.", "Open one of the boxes.", "Check a different one.", "Tell the truth."
4. You decided to wait for a cup of water.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Sneak into Noah's room.", "Yes.", "Wait.", "Take a cookie."
5. You decided to go to sleep.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Go to sleep."
6. You didn't give him an answer and decided to go to sleep.: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Stay.", "Stay.", "Go with him.", "Run away.", "Get up.", "No.", "Take a shower.", "..."

Full Route Endings:

Morning Routes:

1. You were caught sneaking around: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Cookies.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Go outside.", "Explain yourself trustingly.", "Let him help you up.", "Stay on the couch and rest.", "Check outside.", "Yes.", "Sneak into the kitchen.", "Take the glass jar.", "Check the front door.", "Check the back door.", "I'll be okay."
2. You tried waking up Noah: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "Cookies.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Go outside.", "Explain yourself trustingly.", "Let him help you up.", "Stay on the couch and rest.", "Check the kitchen.", "Take his hand.", "No.", "Sneak into the kitchen.", "Leave the glass jar alone.", "Wake up Noah."
3. You tried going back to sleep: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Go outside.", "Explain yourself trustingly.", "Let him help you up.", "Stay on the couch and rest.", "Check the kitchen.", "Take his hand.", "No.", "Sneak into the kitchen.", "Leave the glass jar alone.", "Go back to sleep."

Afternoon Routes:

1. You hope tomorrow will be better: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Sneak into Noah's room.", "Yes.", "Go inside his room.", "I promise I didn't see anything.", "Go to sleep.", "Yes.", "I think it will clear up.", "Chicken broth.", "Add some thyme.", Add both.", "Add turmeric.", "Take a piece of chicken.", "Take another piece of chicken.", "Let him have the rest.", "Yes.", "Go outside.", "Talk to him.", "Give it back to him."
2. You went to sleep comfortably: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Sneak into Noah's room.", "Yes.", "Go inside his room.", "I promise I didn't see anything.", "Go to sleep.", "Yes.", "I think it will clear up.", "Chicken broth.", "Add some thyme.", Add both.", "Add turmeric.", "Pour everything into the pot.", "Let him have the rest.", "Yes.", "Look left." "I was worried about you."
3. You anxiously await the next day: Choose "Wait for help.", "Wait for help.", "Go to sleep.", "Go with him.", "soup.", "Stop him." "Hold still.", "I do.", "Take a shower.", "I do.", "Sneak into Noah's room.", "Yes.", "Go inside his room.", "Say nothing.", "Go to sleep.", "Yes.", "I think it will clear up.", "Chicken broth.", "Add some thyme.", Add both.", "Add turmeric.", "Pour everything into the pot." "Let him have the rest.", "No.", "Go outside.", "Talk to him.", "Take it."

Hope this helps, If this is too cluttered/hard to read please let me know. I wanted to space it out but I couldn't get it to work. :[]

There will be a guide for all the endings some time in the future! :]

Trembling Essence:💙Play tester help + Cleaning up endings💙

Helllooo and welcome new followers, things fluctuated a lot this week but here's how the progress towards the game has been going. :[]

Play tester help:

My play testers played through some of endings again after I added touch ups, here's a couple of things they critiqued! :]

The bridge:

I added some minor animations in areas that were suggested to make it look like you're actually walking towards the bridge! I found a better way to avoid the animation reset but I'm still hoping to discover a way to fix this so I can apply this in other areas. :[] Certain words were accidently repeated too many times and my play tester said it was very noticeable. More of the dialog has been cleaned up along with hidden grammatical errors. >:] A small bug was found where skipping through the dialog too fast can cause the CG's to blur which has been fixed too. :D

The Chasm Ending ???:

I have no idea how I got to this part anymore but this is one of the endings you can get from the [Extended Demo] that I went and fixed up. I can't upload the animated one here  but here's a screenshot of it, I'm really happy with how it turned out. :,,,,] 

My play testers gave me a lot of pointers before I managed to get it looking right! A couple of CG's have added camera pan and I took it a step further and added a better perspective of animated rain falling onto the player(Y/N)!  In the original version the trees blended too much into the leaves and the angle where the rain came down looked really wonky. :,]  There was a couple of grammar issues and wonky wording that got fixed mainly because the ending plays out a little bit differently. >:]

Outside of other things going on with the game's progress this sort of sums up what all has been going on behind the scenes. The other endings (The Cave, etc) haven't been played yet but maybe next week they will be. Overall I've been fixing up everything my play testers recommended to me! :]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

Overall, thank you everyone for the constant support, the progress has been fairly small this time around but I appreciate the uplifting words! >:,]

Trembling Essence:💙New Backgrounds + Quality of life fixes💙

Hi and welcome to my dev-log this update might be short since I wasn't able to do anything for a few days. :[]

Ending update progress:

The bridge:

Last week I mentioned this ending being updated/adjusted from the [Extended Demo]. The progress for this was very small since I wasn't able to do too much for days.

Now that this area is only accessible to the player(Y/N) through two* different places I went back and fixed the first situation that leads to this place. Courtesy from my play tester's suggestions, this one is expanded out and most of the dialog is different. I've only managed to add small immersive effects but I am enjoying the process. This part is going to be animated like how it was in the [Extended Demo]. :,]

Extra quality of life fixes:

This was something fairly minor but I went back and adjusted this background so you can actually see both paths going in different directions that was blocked by the text box.

Timers:

I'm still working on the timed choices and how I want the design to look but I didn't have any time(:P) to edit them but hopefully next week it'll be finished! >;]

New backgrounds:

I've also been working on backgrounds behind the scenes and a couple of them have been animated for a immersive feel. For example, if the player has to move quickly there will be a small camera pan. Again, this is something that'll be added around in certain places that I feel are needed. :]

I did move the progress bar up since The bridge section has been worked on more compared to last week and some new BG's were completed. :[]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I continue to work on the game. Thank you to those that optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

There were some asks I genuinely couldn't answer because it would require me to mention major spoilers/the questions have spoilers in them. :,,,]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I enjoy hearing from you guys!

This is honestly all I have to share so far, thank you to everyone that has been understanding and patient with all of this when I couldn't do too much this time around. The encouraging support really goes a long way! :,]

Trembling Essence:💙Progress update!💙

Hello hello and welcome new followers, here's how the game is coming along! This update is a bit late and might be kind of short. :[]

Firstly, thank you to everyone that participated in the poll before it ended. The overall results and responses gave me a better direction for the start of the game! It's good knowing that majority of you found out how to proceed and didn't have too much trouble with it. :,] If you still want to give your opinion on the start of the game feel free to comment!

Update progress:

It's time to talk about the scenes for the endings:

Last week I mentioned the two endings you could get that are from the [Extended Demo]. Now that they both have their own separate choice I went through and did some final touch ups. Even though they're almost finished I may come back and tweak them.

Timers:

I had plans to actually add timed choices in the [Extended Demo] but I didn't have the time( :P ) to add them in. I'm still working on how I want the design to look and where to place it so this is just a test example of what's to come. These won't be used often but they'll be in places where I feel the situation requires urgency. >:[]

The cave:

Before:

After:

Most of changes for this ending ranged from dialog adjustments to small immersive effects being added to fit the scene better. There's another variant ending mixed in there as well, you get the same outcome but it depends on what you do before then.  I also dialed the exploration for this part back to it's original.  Given the players(Y/N) state at the start, this section would've made the path too long for my liking and wouldn't fit the original symbolism I was going for.

The bridge:

Before:

After:

I had a lot of fun with this one since it's another favorite of mine! This one required a lot of tweaking since this area is only accessible to the player(Y/N) through two* different places.

The way to this area is not the same from the [Extended Demo] anymore and was expanded out from the courtesy of my play tester's suggestions. Most of the dialog changed and I'm still in the process of adding immersive effects here. I loved the way the original looked and decided to just revamp what I already drew. I even moved the bridge upwards to actually show the lead up to it versus being blocked by the dialog box. This one won't have a variant(?) ending but will play out differently compared to the [Extended Demo]. This is still a big work in progress and I didn't get a chance to fully finish this yet. :[]

I didn't adjust the progress bar only because not too much has been updated for right now and I'm still working on The bridge section. :[]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I work on the game. A very huge thank you to those that have optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io too, it really means a lot. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

I won't be able to do too much for the next few days but thank you guys for the encouraging support and patience, I really appreciate it! :,]

Trembling Essence:💙Ending progress + poll results💙

Hi again and welcome new followers, here's another progress update about the game! >;]

But before I write that out I just want to say a very big thank you to everyone that participated in the poll I did so far, The results and responses have been helping me for the final version. :,] If you still want to give your vote/opinion on the start of the game here's the poll from my tumblr! There's less than 24 hours to vote!

I took a small break to gather my thoughts before continuing from where I left off. I was brainstorming a lot about this because I didn't want the beginning of the game to be too long when it comes to figuring out how to get to Noah, but I do want the explorative side to give some lore.

Suddenly, an idea came to mind that'll help me solve this issue I've been having. :,]

Last week I mentioned the two endings you could get that are from the [Extended Demo]. I don't count this as spoilers but these endings will have their own separate choice to go down instead of it being in the same path. This replaces a section from the [Extended Demo] and lowers the amount of time it takes to figure out how to get to Noah, especially for those that are new to the game. Consider this a healthy quality of life change, only one ending has been put on the shelf that I didn't have a connection with so far! :]  This also gave me a chance to go through both endings individually and give a deeper exploration into these areas as they do play a part in the game. I added a few choices to show the differences in the terrain and how the player(Y/N) reacts to it. You can get an alternate situation but it will still end the same. I also fixed up some errors I found through the alternate choices that I almost missed too. For right now I'd say this ending will be finished once my play testers look through them! They've given me pointers on the CG's and dialog but not everything else yet. x] Speaking of quality changes I also went back and adjusted some of the new CG's I've drawn. I had a habit of drawing the landscape too low so you couldn't see anything unless you toggled the text box away. :,,,] Luckily this was a quick and easy fix.

Here's the results:

Before:

After:

I'm very happy with how far I've come when I draw backgrounds now! It's been a interesting journey but overall I enjoy knowing everything is coming together no matter how long it might take. There was another one I wanted to share but this the second CG I tried posting gave me an error. Luckily I had everything saved so I don't have to rewrite anything! :,,]

It took some time but I went back and fixed one of the effects that happen when you lose HP. The old version lights up the edges of your screen but sometimes it can be hard to see if there's another effect happening. I went back and gave a small hue effect every time you lose HP instead. I can't upload the video here but the post on my tumblr shows this.

Lastly in other news, I finally started work on Noah's reference sheets! >:]

There will be a total of three(?) which will have specific details for each one! It's took some time to create since I'm still learning how to do angled faces/poses but I've gotten time to practice so I'm ready. >:] I also want to state that Noah's sprites/side sprites in the [Extended Demo] are accurate to how he's suppose to look too. Since I've improved my style certain specifics of his appearance might be slightly different! :]

Almost there to the cabin section, yay! I just have a few more things to fix up. >:]

If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do on kofi! All donations and tips help tremendously while I work on the game. Also a very huge thank you to those that have optionally bought the [Extended Demo] and the March 2023 demo on itch.io too, it really means a lot. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

There were some other things I wanted to discuss but this post is getting too long so I'll save it for next week, thank you guys for all of the support, I appreciate it! :,,]

Trembling Essence:💙Choice exploration + finished scenes💙

Hello and welcome new followers, here's an update on how things are going with the game! Firstly a big thank you to the sudden influx of support I got this week, I'm happy knowing people liked the little meme video I did! :,]

This post might be a little long since I had to rewrite a few things, I was trying to upload a picture of one of the new areas you can go in but I got an error and couldn't save what I wrote. :,S

Anywho, I mainly focused on quality of life changes and continued working with the one of the endings you can get at the start of the game.

I don't really know where to start but this ending took a lot longer than expected to really hit what I've been trying to go for. At first, it was going to have two different endings. I took out one of them because I didn't have much of a connection with it and I liked the idea of it being straightforward instead. When I went back over it, everything happened too quickly for my liking.  To fix this I went back and added a few choices to at least give you an idea of what the area is like and how it effects the player(Y/N) while making sure the dialog transitioned correctly with what you see on the screen. It's nothing too wordy but I do like it a lot more than I did before. Even though this is still considered one ending there is a alternate version you can get depending on a certain choice. Towards the end I fixed up all the spelling errors I could find and happily enough, there wasn't many. For right now I'd say this ending is finished! Yay! x]

Here's one of my favorite CG's I drew for it:

I love how it turned out because I really want to do different angles and perspective through the terrain, I think this one is my favorite so far! :,,]

Here's a evening time version of it:

It's suppose to be raining in this image but I still need to practice getting the angle correct. :,,]

I'm also fixing/brainstorming up the second/third ending. This one will have two different areas you can navigate through to get an idea of where you are and a few hints of lore that will be referenced later on in the game. Those that have played the [Extended Demo] you probably know which ones I'm talking about. >;]

I already like the idea of them but for one of the paths, I didn't have enough time to branch it out and make backgrounds for it in the [Extended Demo] so here's a peek of a placeholder since I'm still sketching stuff out, nothing is finalized yet. :[]

Super close to the cabin section, yay! I actually miss writing/drawing out the segments in the cabin a whole bunch so I really can't wait to fix up that part once I'm done with the swamplands. :,,]

I said last week I'd post some of the new backgrounds/areas so here you go:

Kofi update:

I also had a small talk with my play testers and one of the things they brought up is that I should be promoting my ko-fi better so from now on I'll have little mini doodles doing so at the end of every game development post as a way to promote it! :] All donations and tips help tremendously while I work on the game. If you like what I create, please consider supporting what I do here! I was able to use previous tips to get a new wrist support brace when I'm drawing so a very big thank you to everyone who gave a tip! :,,]

Q&A / Ask box is open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

I enjoyed answering the asks I got recently this week! I'm trying to finish the rest when I can including the ones I remember that got deleted. There were some I genuinely couldn't answer because it would require me to mention major spoilers/the questions have spoilers in them. :,]

This post is getting really long now so that's all I have to discuss, thank you guys very much for all of the encouraging support this past week, I appreciate it a whole bunch! :,,]

Trembling Essence:

💙Quality of life changes + choice progress + backgrounds💙

Hi and welcome to my devlog! :]

This week focused on quality of life changes with the story based on your choices at the start of the game. There was some art practicing again but I managed to get stuff done!

In my previous game development posts I kept talking about making parallax effects in the game! I can't upload the video on itch.io but here's the link to it on my tumblr! :]

Here's some quality life changes for certain effects in the game:

When I initially added an effect for losing HP it was suppose to light up the edges of your screen. Sometimes it can be hard to see if there's another effect happening on the screen so I went back and gave a small hue effect every time you lose HP instead of it only occurring on the edges of the screen. I don't have an example of this only because I have to go through the entire game to fix it, maybe next week I'll have it all done! :,]

Before:

After:

If the player(Y/N) is feeling very cold a icy effect will be shown around the screen to indicate this. I really loved the original way it looked but the new backgrounds can make it very hard to see now. To fix this I added a touch of white frost around the center of the screen so it'll be more noticeable. I also optimized this image so it takes up less space in the game! :]

Choice progress:

I have been going through and writing out what happens with each choice you make.

Without giving spoilers for this ending I want there to be a variety on what happens when you make a choice but I don't want there to be too much branching for this one in particular. It's pretty straightforward.  When it comes to the dialog I found out a way to combine sentences together in a way that makes the pacing flow better. It's a little hard to visualize but when you get to the next statement sometimes it'll stay in the same line instead of dragging the dialog out.  I also managed to catch a very early bug that caused the screen to go black if you skipped through the dialog, I am very happy I caught this versus finding this problem later into the game. :,,]

Almost half way there! I redid a few more backgrounds and added some animations to them. Since this game development post is getting very long I'll show more of them next week. :D

Q&A / Ask box is open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here or on itch.io please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

I appreciate the asks I got recently these past couple of days! I'm trying to get to them when I can including the ones I remember that got deleted. I just need time to answer since I like to respond with doodles/drawings as practice. :]

I think that's everything I have to say right now, thank you guys very much for all of the positive support, I appreciate it! :,,]

YEAAA!!! >:]

Thank you very much for playing, it's great knowing you love the animated backgrounds and enjoyed that route so much! :,,]

Trembling Essence:💙Background updates + script progress💙

Hi and welcome new followers!

A big thank you to the sudden influx of support I got this week, I wasn't expecting any of it and it was really encouraging! In between art practicing I managed to get more work done than expected! >:,]

Here is the new/updated CG's for the start of the game:

Since I've come a long way with shading I went back and fixed up the initial encounter you can get with Noah and changed out the background. It took longer than expected because some of his expressions didn't line up correctly but I'm happy with the overall foreboding theme I was aiming for. I even added a small parallax effect when he helps you up afterwards. :]

For the dialog I cleaned it up by removing certain parts that didn't add to the story or dragged the situation on for too long. I even fixed some of the conversations you can have with Noah in the beginning that was slightly misleading and confusing to read through. :[] As for the backgrounds I tried looking for more references after I finished redoing this CG, specifically ones that helped me with perspective. Sometimes I have a habit of drawing scenes too flat. In good news, the fog animations are optimized in them so it's easier for me to add! :,,]

The overall progress has increased quite a bit! Everything is going smoothly so far! I don't know when all of it will be finished but it shouldn't take too long.

Q&A / Ask box is open for itch.io now:

I had no idea that you need a Tumblr account to send in questions to the inbox so going forward I'll adjust my game development posts to reflect that in the Q&A section. If you have a question you would like to ask on itch.io if you don't have a Tumblr account, feel free to comment there as well! It will be answered there and on Tumblr :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

Overall, thank you to those who have sent in asks after everything got reset! I'm trying to get to them when I can including the ones I remember that got deleted. I just need time to answer since I like to respond with doodles/drawings as practice. :]

This is everything I have to share so far, thank you guys for your continued support through this process, I appreciate it! :,,]

Hello there! Also  no worries about Tumblr, I had no idea that you need an account to send in questions to the inbox  so going forward I'll adjust my game development posts to reflect that in the Q&A section. :]

I can just copy/paste the question and block out your name if you would like to keep this anonymous!

This was a thoughtful ask to answer! :]

If the player(Y/N) suddenly did this to Noah, his facial expression and body language would all depend on how close of a relationship the both of you have with each other and what leads up to this. Noah likes his personal space but if he trusts you and there's a genuine connection going on, he'd be more relaxed/comfortable.  

If the both of you are spending time together and being silly up until that unexpected moment he would be surprised at the sudden bold attempt. His eyes would slightly widen for a moment only to lessen as he fondly takes in the player(Y/N)'s features before closing his eyes and giving a sudden kiss.  He'd then flirt with the player(Y/N) given their flustered expression only to let out a small laugh give a warm embrace. :,]

If the relationship is very distant and there isn't enough trust going on he'd quickly go on the defense and firmly tell the player(Y/N) to move and not to do that again.

In the [Extended Demo] there's a small yet similar situation where he does avert his eyes. The first time is when the player(Y/N) falls onto him after he tries to keep you from tripping backwards. He looks to the side while slowly pushing the player(Y/N) off since the situation is awkward, you're in his personal space and he doesn't fully trust you yet. The second time it happens leads to the player(Y/N) accidently stumbling into him against the hallway. This time he's bewildered at the unexpected interaction since the player(Y/N) is holding onto him. When the player(Y/N) looks up at him he averts his eyes a second time before asking the player(Y/N) to get off of him.

Trembling Essence:

💙Background + poll results💙

Hello hello and welcome new followers! :]

Firstly I just want to say a very big thank you to everyone that participated in the poll I did last week, I was really surprised but happy with the results and responses! This will help me a lot moving forward! :,] If you missed it and would like to say which route you preferred feel free to comment!

Anywho, this week mainly focused on art practicing again but I did work on the game and managed to get my bearings even more!

Here is the new background for the start of the game:

This took a long time to draw up since I sketched out the background instead of looking at references this time. Once I got a basic idea of how I wanted it to look it felt.. too empty and flat. At first I couldn't figure out why until I added more shrubbery and grass. After that I started adding the trees and then added a few more to give it depth and adjusted some of the coloring. So far the immersive symbolism I'm going for is slowly coming together! Since it just finished raining where you're located I tried to give the background the illusion of looking tolerably humid but slowly getting colder over time with a hint of decay in the distance. This is a better look of the dreary foreboding atmosphere compared to the "fairy-forest" from last week. >:,] It took a while but I also added a parallax effect here and optimized the images to save space. I kept getting an error when it came to the middle ground so I had to find and fix the problem which delayed things. I don't have a video to show it in action but maybe next time. I do want it to be known again that these automatically happen and don't follow the cursor. :,,]

Here's a sneak peek of the new choices you can do when you're in this area now. >;]

This part required a lot of brainstorming before I figured out how I wanted the explorative part to go. This was originally going to go a different way completely but a particular day caused me to just scrap it and start everything over. I have a very solid idea on how I want all of this to go better than ever so I can't wait to show some of the new areas! I didn't expect this background to take as long as it did to draw up but hopefully next week I'll have more done!

Progress doodle layout:

Since certain endings are being changed I thought it would be cool to animate a progress layout to visually show how everything is going! It shouldn't take too long to finish this section up since I already have a foundation laid out.

Noah's sprite sheet update:

As far as Noah sprite sheets goes, it's still in sketch mode and I haven't messed with them yet since I've been practicing. :,,]

There are some old drawing prompts I wrote down and sketches that I'm still doodling up behind the scenes so hopefully I can get to them at some point with some attached lore. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is still open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

Thank you to those who have sent in asks after everything got reset! I'll try to get to them when I can along with the ones that come to mind that got deleted. I just need time to answer since I like to respond with doodles/drawings as practice. :]

Overall that's everything I have to share so far, thank you guys for your continued encouragement and support through all of this, I wholeheartedly appreciate it! :,,]

Trembling Essence:

💙Background + script updates💙

Hi hi and welcome to my devlog!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

This week mainly focused on art practice. I'm still getting back into the flow of working on the full game so this post might be very short. :]

Anywho, here are some of the backgrounds I drew up as practice.

I was going to use these in the beginning of the game but the immersive symbolism I was going for didn't match up to my liking. It just finished raining in the swamp where you're located at which leaves the area feeling tolerably cold but oddly humid with a hint of decay/mold in the air. I'm aiming for a dreary night theme that gives off a foreboding and a gloomy atmosphere. These give off a "fairy-forest" concept which I don't like all that much. Here's some reference examples of what I hope to bring next time:

I'm also in the process of creating a map for myself to make things easier to layout since certain endings are being changed. This due to specific areas taking place in the forest and not the swamp which have their own unique form of symbolism. I tried to convey this in the March 2023/[Extended Demo] but it's hard to tell the difference between the areas.

I can't guarantee this fully but if you choose to explore around the area there might be small parallax effects that move around automatically. It was something I wanted to try back in the [Extended Demo] but this would've pushed the update farther out into the year.

Lastly, happy belated birthday to Noah! His birthday is May 7th! :]

I wasn't able to draw a birthday doodle yet so enjoy this unrelated sneak peek practice sketch I did a few days ago. :,,]

My Q&A / Ask box has been reset!

Thank you to those who have sent in asks in the past, unfortunately they all disappeared except for 1 while I was gone. I have no idea what happened but I can only guess it just got reset.

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask or resend them in here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

This is all I have done so far but I'm enjoying the process even if it's a bit small, Thank you guys for the patience and continued support and patience I really appreciate it. :,]

Thank you very much for the thoughtful comment! It's great knowing that you enjoyed the atmosphere that I'm aiming for. :]

Trembling Essence is a slow burn horror game/dating sim visual novel which focuses on survival. Your choices will lead to multiple endings that will help you learn not only about Noah and the swamp, but everything else surrounding it.
If you would like to play, here's a link for it: https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo 

There are currently:

• 12 Bad endings 
• 6 Neutral endings 
• 6 endings that continue the rest of the Day 3
• It now has a Endings Gallery and a day notifier once you enter the cabin with Noah!

You wake up lost within the swamplands that is surrounded by a large forest. The sense of time is lost on you and the moon is your only guiding light.  At some point you can choose to receive help from a man named Noah who resides in the swamp. He has vast knowledge that will aid you in your survival and if you choose to go with him, he'll take you back to his desolate cabin. He just wants to take care of you and keep you safe but there's a lot more to him than he lets on. It's up to you to make certain choices to survive to the end even if it means taking extreme risks. 

💙Script progress + Updates💙

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

Hello and welcome new followers, long time no see! I was very busy most of this month, but I am back and ready to continue from where I left off on the game! This game development post might be a bit long but I tried to condense everything! :]

"How are things going so far?":

It's going slow and steady! I haven't been able to do too much these past few weeks, however, I wrote a few parts out before I got too busy and couldn't do anything else.

I want to be very careful when it comes to spoilers but, based on your choices, some of these areas will give off immersive cozy/homelike vibes that really express Noah and the player(Y/N)'s view towards each other. In the old 2023 script I was very new to writing so the small semi-hints of romance weren't the entire focus compared to the horror aspect but there's a better balance between both genres now and I'm still aiming for a meaningful slow burn versus it just being all over the place. :] I liked writing them a whole bunch which lead to a lot of these taking place in the mid/end of Day 4+, they just need to be placed in specific areas that call for it. With that being said, it felt really comfy adding key details about Noah and creating meaningful sections in the game. I was even going to draw out some of the unseen script/scenes but I believe the best thing to do is give deeper lore from the [Extended Demo] first. Even though my writing style has improved I still have to fix the multiple pacing issues I wrote last year.

"Playtester's advice":

I wanted to continue working through Noah's backstory but I kept having moments where I'd get sidetracked into wanting to fix up the start of the game again. Eventually, I talked to my play testers about it and they gave me a few encouraging pointers.

To help keep my process at ease, I will fix the beginning of the game when I take breaks from writing up Noah's backstory. :]

I talked about this during early 2024 but the start of the game that leads up to the cabin is still getting reworked. I was able to get some of it fixed for the [Extended Demo] but I wasn't done. Things are still up in the air but, I will say that I have a better view of everything than I did before. :] Another priority that needs fixing are the backgrounds! I've improved a lot on drawing and they need to be optimized. When you first start up the game, you wake up in a holed out tree in the swamp with the choice to leave this area and possibly end up in the forest. I was going for a very immersive form of symbolism that only a few noticed but, I believe I can do a better job about this. Unfortunately I don't have any new backgrounds to show right now but maybe next week I'll have some finished up! :]

"Art process/Noah's sprite sheets":

As far as Noah sprite sheet goes, it's still in sketch mode.

I didn't draw anything since I was gone so I need to do a few warm ups before I get to them. There are some old drawing prompts I wrote down and old sketches that I never got a chance to doodle so hopefully I can get to them at some point with some attached lore. :,]

My Q&A / Ask box has been reset!

Thank you to those who have sent in asks in the past, unfortunately they all disappeared except for 1 while I was gone. I have no idea what happened but I can only guess it just got reset.

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask or resend them in here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

This is all I have to share so far, Thank you to everyone for the continued support and patience while I was gone! I was ready to accept the interest for this game to fade out and coming back to see that it didn't happen makes me happy, I really appreciate it. :,]

Hello and welcome to my devlog!  It'll be some time before there's another update for the '[Extended Demo]' so it will no longer be in the title of game development posts to avoid confusion. Also the next couple of game development posts for April might be a bit short and/or spread out. :]

Behind the scenes:

So far a lot of what's been going on has been brainstorming/going over the script with breaks in between!

I had a very long talk with one of my play testers and it was very fun! One hour ended up turning into several and it really helped me get a better idea of what I want to do for some of the routing/paths and the overall story in general. I believe that this entire month+(?) will just be overlooking the script and brainstorming more ideas/quality of life changes for the game!

My writing style has developed significantly and I'm trying my best to fix all of the multiple pacing issues in the story in a certain order. Noah's backstory is one of the focal points being thoroughly worked on since he expresses sections of his past throughout the game depending on your choices. I can't really share too much else because a lot of it has spoilers and happens later on in the game so right now I'm just writing everything down. So far, I'm still in the early writing stages and I would consider it about 20%(?) done.

I'm still in the process of creating Noah's reference sheets too but I think I'll end up ditching some of the sketches since angled faces/poses are still difficult for me to draw. :,]

Q&A / Ask box is still open:

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

Thank you to those who have sent in asks! I'll try to get to them when I can. I just need time to answer since I like to respond with doodles/drawings as practice. :]

Right now this is all I have to share so far, thank you to everyone for the continued support while I continue working on the game. :,]

Trembling Essence [Extended Demo]:

💙What happens now?💙

Hello and welcome to my devlog!

If you would like to play here's the link to my [Extended Demo!] :  https://zombeebunnie.itch.io/trembling-essence-extended-demo

Firstly, I just want to thank everyone that have been playing the updated [Extended Demo] with the Endings Gallery and Day 3 notifier! From this I was able to get a good amount of responses to help me with quality of life ideas going forward. :]

The game page has also been fixed to include the Windows and Mac logo downloads as I had no idea they weren't there until I was told. :,,]

Again, please let me know if you run into any bugs, glitches, misspellings, etc or if the Endings gallery doesn't show up for you correctly.

"So what happens now?"

As far as the [Extended Demo] goes, I do have plans on updating it with certain paths/routes HOWEVER, it will be some time before that happens. There's a lot of stuff that I need to rework and look over before I can add anything. Here's a peek from some of the old game development posts.

[Please remember that this is still a DEMO and anything is subject to change.]

The sections missing from the [Extended Demo] were from routes/paths I wrote during the late spring-summer of 2023. In the fall my writing style developed significantly which lead me to discover multiple pacing issues in the story that went unnoticed. Out of everything I wrote, the two full routes you get while playing were the only sections that were good enough for me to polish up and didn't contain spoilers. As for when the new routes/paths will be added to the [Extended Demo], I don't have an answer for this.

Right now I've been giving myself a break and mainly focusing on brainstorming things out.

In other news, I'm still in the process of creating Noah's reference sheets! There will be a total of three(?) which will have specific details for each one! It's taking some time to create since I'm still learning how to do angled faces/poses, here's the w.i.p sketch version below:

 /Ask box is still open:

Thank you to those who have sent in asks! I'll try to get to them when I can. I just need time to answer since I like to respond with doodles/drawings as practice. :]

If you have any questions about Trembling Essence/Noah feel free to ask here please. This makes it easier for me to see and answer accordingly! I would really like to hear from you guys!

This is all I have to share so far, Thank you to everyone for the continued support and encouraging words while I continue working on the game, I really appreciate it. :,]