Still Working

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that I am still working on my visual novel Trapped. The above unfinished image is going to be the title screen. Amenti's pose will make sense once the drawing is complete. I think on my next visual novel I might ditch Manga Studio. I know Manga studio is a great program for some but as of right now, the program is not working for me. In fact, I might redo the line art for the whole game as doing line art does not take a long time. Maybe someday I will go back and look up tutorials for Manga Studio but I want to spend time with Photoshop. I know a few months ago I mentioned getting a Programer/Art job in the future. The company has a name but the owner is having a hard time getting funded. It is a real shame since the company owner inspires to make video games focused on good stories and gameplay rather than making games that sell to mainstream audiences. I still love the idea of this company and I hope the owner finds a way to get funded soon however I will not mention this opportunity again until the company has an office and I have received a check. The company is extremely indie right now with only a few people taking time out of their day to help work on a game. I am still attending WordPress meetings and focusing on finding a job in the meantime to give me some money. In the future I would like to make an indie game company of my own and work at home. Trapped is my first step.

New Computer...Oh the Freedom

Two days ago I had the pleasure of opening a box which contained my brand new computer.  The computer is an Asus K53E-XQ2-PK 15.6 Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop.  In other words, my new laptop is made by a company named Asus, is a part of the K series, and it's pink (my favorite color).   

I had my old laptop since Christmas of 2008.  The thing was fine until I started getting into indie game development, vloging, and image editing software such as Photoshop.  That poor laptop was trying it's best to open up Photoshop, itunes, or anything in general.  My new laptop opens a program as soon as I click the program's icon.  The computer is so fast it frightens me.  Despite how much I use computers, I am not an expert on explaining how great a laptop can be.  So here is a link on what laptop I just brought:  http://www.amazon.com/K53E-XQ2-BU-15-6-Inch-Versatile-Entertainment-Laptop/dp/tech-data/B005E81QBK/ref=de_a_smtd

What buying a new computer means is that I can finally do some indie game development without worrying if my computer is going to freeze anytime soon.  The only thing that could hold me back from game development is just myself now and that is a really good feeling.  Well there is one problem I am facing right now.  I had to leave Photoshop on my old computer so I am looking for a free or cheaper alternative to stick with such as Artweaver 0.5, Gimp 2, Corel Sketchpad, and Inkscape. 

The decisions.

 

Deviantart Tme: DarkSirenftw

With dedication to my first indie game project I think people should atleast have the pleasure of seeing a visual novel with decent artwork. Deviantart is a place where people can submit their artwork for a variety of people to see.  I have been on this website for a while with little dedication devoted to my old profile name Lilith40 (curious?).  Here is my new Deviantart account for my art submiting pleasure.  The account is called DarkSirenftw (curiousity can be good for you). 

The account could have been called DarkSirenGames but such a tittle felt limited to drawing characters from my indie games.  Every blue moon I draw fanart from various anime and video games. I hope people can join me and help me progress with my artwork.  Reading "nice", "cool", and "kawaii" on my comments for my Deviantart submitions is a great ego booster and all but constructive critism is what really counts. 

Here is a picture that everyone will be seeing soon (maybe in a few weeks).

I am getting a new computer in a few days.  This may be my last blog entry while using this slow computer.  I can not wait to use a computer that can handle Windows Movie Maker or Photoshop without any issues. 

Trapped: What the Characters Look Like

This is a short blog entry but I hope you readers will enjoy this entry anyway.  Last post I forgot to post what the characters looked like.  Well here they are:

From left to right; Nindel, Amenti, Unette, and Bryan. At the bottom is Ronald. I did not give Ronald a body as both him and Bryan are wearing similar outfits. Nindel and Bryan are both possible romantic interests while Unette and Ronald are the "parent" figures. I should no longer refer to this game as a visual novel as it is a dating sim. Working with the digital tablet really helped cover all the notes I wrote on this sketch. I see why people like wacom tablets so much.

Now I shall move on to fleshing out the story of this game.

Trapped: Introduction to my first Ren'py game

This would not be a blog about Game development if I did not talk about my first game. As we all know now I am using a visual novel which means I have a set of characters and a story to tell.

Story: Amenti, a mermaid, is finally turning 16. At sixteen years of age a mermaid is given the power to grant one single wish for herself or for others. Amenti wishes to leave her small house set in the middle of nowhere and outside of the city but her adoptive mother will not let her leave. Upon sneaking out of the house Amenti is captured by humans who operate an undersea laboratory.

Characters:

Amenti is the heroine of this story. She has been raised by her adoptive and over protective mother ever since she could remember and would feels that it is time she starts seeing the world. Naive to life in the undersea city and humans, the player must help her choose who she wants to trust in order to get out of the lab.

Unette is Amenti's adoptive mother who has raised Amenti for sixteen years. Unette loves traveling to the city, not cleaning up after herself, and sleeping at home. Despite her activities she is protective and overbearing when things come to Amenti. Unette wants to make sure that Amenti is living a life away from the city and whatever possible dangers outside of her small home.

Bryan is a young scientist who has been studying merfolk for years inside of the undersea laboratory. His adoptive father hopes to have Bryan take over the laboratory in a few years. Not fond of seeing Amenti's face behind a take, he tells her he would like to let her go when the time is right however conversations with his father makes Amenti believe she will be kept forever. Is he telling the truth? Generally smart, stuck on himself, and shy.

Nindel is a merman who has been locked inside the undersea laboratory's tank for months. Before his captivity he enjoyed hunting and working in the city. He has gone from a nice and welcoming merman to someone who is hostile and nearly unapprochable.

Ronald is Bryan's adoptive father who dreams of Bryan taking his position when he passes on. Runs, created, and funded project Blue, Ronald wants Nindel and Amenti to mate so he can have an easier time studying merfolk without having to capture them every once and a while. He believes that merfolk are purely animals and nothing more.

Game play? This is a visual novel so there are a series of points when certain choices are made. The choices will affect the story and if Amenti ends up with Bryan, Nindel, or alone. There is no release date for this game as this game is being made by me, myself, and I. At least I finally received my small Intuos4 tablet in the mail. Posting a blog entry a week is encoraging me to work on my game a lot more.

Why Ren'py?

After starring at a list of game engines for a long time, I decided to go with Ren'py. The game engine is easy, I can import my drawings, see my writing in action, and have fun with a hobby. There is hardly any effort in bringing a scene to the stage and having the characters talk either. I just need to know what are the names of the file that I want to bring on stage and post those files in the engine.

Example

label beginning

scene bg tank1 (insert scene here)

with dissolve

"stuff is happening" (narrative on screen)

A: "blah, blah, blah" (character "A" is talking)

B: "blah, blah" (character "B" is talking)

End Example.

Ren'py is mainly used for visual novels which means the engine requires a story. I have always wanted to make some kind of online series for people to enjoy and I have also wanted to revive my interests in writing for a long time. Ren'py will help me accomplish both dreams easily. I even began doing sketches in my notebook yesterday for the characters of my first game. Of course Ren'py is not the only game engine I will be using for life. There are other far more complex game engines out there such as flash and Unity3D (which I am experimenting with for a starting mainstream game company). For right now, I will relax and develop a few games in Ren'py.

By the way I ordered my first wacam tablet a few days ago. I cannot wait to use it.

Buying My First Tablet

In general Ren'py and making video game art requires a lot of digital artwork. Going solo on my first visual novel project I would like to provide my own artwork instead of paying someone to draw for me. Unfortunately I have never taken the time to fully understand how to color my pictures digitally. This picture is a result of me messing around with digital coloring.

This is Kneesocks from an anime called Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt.  Not a pretty sight and the process of preparing the line art was not painless either.  I have been told plenty of things about the wonders of a wacom tablet (digtial coloring is a lot faster with a tablet, I would not be struggling so hard to color if I had a tablet, etc, etc).

I know Best Buy sells tablets and I would have brought one there but research through the internet and friends have brought me to Amazon.  The majority of tablets at my nearest Best Buy are Bamboo tablets.  From what I can remember of using one of those things was that I did not like using the darn thing and even went back to using my mouse.  I did not feel like I was using a didgital pencil at all.  Lastly I can get a wired Medium Intuos4 Wacom Tablet for $50 cheeper than a wirless one at Best Buy.  I will update when I get the item and spend some time with it