I wasn't as advanced in my AVN as I had initially thought.
Learning curves are a bitch, but the positive thing about them is that, once you reach the bottom of it, you surely start climbing up once again.
This devlog is going to talk about my progress so far on my first AVN, the struggles I've faced, the things I've learned and predictions for the near future. That said, I won't go much into what the game is about, but release some early storyboard/renders of it as illustrative elements to my series of rants/points throughout this post.
Chapter one done, but not really.
I've blanned for this game to be released with five chapters of content. The first chapters are pretty much done (Narratively speaking), but this point will talk about my presumption that developing an AVN in Renpy would be quick and easy.
God I was wrong.
Writing the two chapters alone took me about a week and a half, not to mention so far I've only managed to make corrections to about half of that in the last week as well. I've still got to read and re-read every line of dialogue in order to not have any errors whatsoever, and even then I won't be able to trust myself fully since english isn't even my first language. I didn't realize writing the story would be the tip of the iceberg for me. I didn't count on all of the storyboarding/rendering/editing that would be demanded in order to progress further in development. I am not discouraged, though. I am enjoying every single aspect of this journey.
Why didn't anyone tell me Storyboard is life?
I think one of the biggest mistakes I did as I wrote the story is that I failed to percieve I wasn't writing a book, but a VISUAL novel. (Emphasis on the visual part). I have boring dialogue and unnecesary lines that might as well never be used in the final game. I guess it can be argued that it allows the playtesters a mental image on what is happening inside the game as I continue to develop placeholder art for each of the screens, but the pacing as it is now is sloppy and kind of boring. As I continue development of this story, I will focus more on giving the game an adecuate pacing which utilizes the engine's tools so I don't have to redo a big chunk of my work. This as well will help me narraively, since I won't have to focus so much on descriptions of things, but instead I will be able to show what is happening pretty early on.
Storyboarding: 2D garbage vs 3D garbage
I am completely sure I shouldn't be struggling with placeholder art as much as I am right now, but this section of my log wiill be dedicated to the process of my realization in the importance of integrating visual elements as I write the story and how I will never do 2D storyboarding again.
(Caption: Your in-game mom talking to you inside a bus.)
This is the very first placeholder art I did for my game. If you have the power of at least one eye, you will see it is not very good. It is shit. But I really thought it wouldn't matter at all. "Nobody will see it anyway". But boy oh boy did people see it. Not only was I embarrassed each time I asked a playtester to check out my game, but the only friend I have helping me out with 3D modeling can't wrap his head around how the final renders are supposed to look like. Not only did my art look like absolute garbage, but was already beginning to mess with other aspects of my work, so I decided I should put more effort into the art.
(Caption: The game's main girl inside her house tossing a booger she just picked off of her nose.)
This is one of my most recent sprites. The background is still kind of simple, but at least the character is actually showing that she's doing something. For my friend, this was a huge step-up in my directive process. I was actually putting in the effort into each frame, and I was also using Aseprite as my main tool (Since it is actually the one I use the most. I don't really use Krita and my art looked bad because of it). The problem is, even though I was able to present work with better quality, it was still REALLY slow. Like... 2 frames in an hour slow. I'm not the fastest drawer, but if I wanted to make something well I needed to take my time. This is where the big leap takes place...
It might not look like much, but these are a couple of 3D renders I did as placeholders. The quality can still leave something to be desired, but this is the big upside of 3D storyboarding: I did both of these in about ten minutes.
Not only am I improving on my 3D modeling and rigging skills by doing each prop by myself (not the characters tho), but I'm also able to recycle each 3D model for different purposes. I won't have to draw each new frame for me to be able to communicate how I want my game to look like. This is a lifesaver for me. By using this method (also because my game will be on 3D), I will advance at a much faster rate so I can focus on other parts of the story.
Clean Your Heart is turning into a very personal and exciting project of mine and I'm so glad I am able to share progress and my learning process with people down here. If you are interested in learning about the game's story, I would like to have a conversation so I can share more.
Thank you for reading.