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.

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.