Seraphinite

Sorry everyone, I thought I'd already updated here! So, seeing as my NaNoReNo project is running over, here is the new plan:

Update I've nearly completed the art assets for the demo. I'm really pleased with how it's all coming along Here's some sneak peeks: Production on Courting the Seasons will now be hold for the month of March whilst I participate in NaNo, and I will be taking a bit of a break after that. Once back in mid-April though I will be back with a new plan of action See you guys then, and good luck to anyone particpating in NaNo!

Update Sorry for the absence, I was down due to illness But back to it now, and have some art previews to make up for it! All the sprites and backgrounds for the demo are now completed Yay! I have on more batch of CGs to do, and then that will be all the art assets completed for the demo. Hopefully then things will start coming together pretty quick. The plan is to get the demo ready for testers at the end of February, let the testers play it throughout March (whilst I participate in NaNoReNo), and then do final edits of the demo in April. Gives me a chance to work on the Steam Greenlight campaign and some marketing too, hopefully. Full steam ahead now!

This sounds really awesome, and I love the character designs!

Thank you so much! Hopefully won't be too long until I have some more updates and screenshots.

Ah, sorry everyone, though I'd posted in this thread already! Courting the Seasons is now back in full production as of the beginning of January! Over the Christmas I had a lot of ideas I wanted to implement into the game, which I've already started to do for the demo. But for now, I'm working through art assets. Here's a WIP shot of the CG I'm currently working on: Things will really start making a move forward on the demo once all the art has been completed for it.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I will be starting my Christmas break early. This means production on CtS will be on halt until January. I won't be around too much, though I will be in and out of the forums and social media during that time In the New Year, the focus will completely be on getting out the demo- which will be longer and have more in it now that it's been delayed until January Until then...

Update Sorry I've been so quiet! I've been busy coding in all the sprites and their expressions, which was... a lot But, things look like they're starting to come together with the sprites in game. I've finally started working on the CGs! If you're wondering why she's all watery, blurry- then you'll just have to wait to find out Will try and update with more soon.

Finally managed to update the profiles and art in the original post I will be coding in all of the character sprites over the next couple of days, then I will be moving onto starting the CGs- so more art to be posted soon!

Update That's it! All the love interest sprites are completed, yay! Here is the final one, the Secret Romance. ??? I wasn't sure whether to put him up or not due to spoilers, but I kinda figured most people could guess the secret romance anyways, so why not? His romance isn't in the demo, but obviously will be included in the full game. For anyone who's interested, I also made a height comparison chart: So, now I will be concentrating on the main character sprite, and once she's done, I have to code them all in...

Having 'me time' is important! Putting aside some time to do what you enjoy is a really necessary thing, I think, or what's the point to life? If we're just working away our days, then it seems a bit pointless. You got to have some and relax, or you'll just burn out. 30 minutes seems more than fair!

I see. It's useful to have those other opinions on a solo project so that you don't end up with blinders. The great part about solo design though is having full agency over the project. On my own project I originally intended to do almost everything myself, but it turned out to be way too much, so a lot of work has been contracted out. It takes some of the direct burden off, but also results in a lot of time and effort spent on coordinating everyone's activities. The scale of your project seems large enough that I would have thought it would be quite difficult to do solo. I suppose it's because you're doing it as a full-time job. How did you decide to make that commitment? Yeah, having a team of people can be tough, trying to get everyone organised and keep them all motivated for a start! Have you finished your project? Was it a visual novel? I decided to concentrate on visual novels as I was a romance writer for some time and, though I loved it, I also enjoyed art very much. One of my dreams when I was younger was being a comic artist, but that wasn't possible. When I stumbled across visual novels, it was everything I had been looking for: art, game, story, characters- everything! I know it will be a tough path as it's a niche market, and otome is an even smaller market in that tiny one already, but I am very, very lucky to be in a position where I can pursue a career in this. And I am going to give it my all to make it work, I love it too much to let myself fail!

I am doing everything myself! It takes longer that way, but it means I don't have to wait on others for things and can keep the direction going in the way I would like. Luckily, I have a great team of people more than willing to test and bounce ideas off of, so I can make sure I don't get stuck in one place or end up with something that doesn't make sense!

Update Theo is complete, he's the last of the envoy sprites! Theo I'm working on the secret romance sprite now, which I'm not sure if I'll show or not. I might do, as everyone will probably guess the 'secret' romance anyways Then I can move onto the main character sprite. I'm really hoping to have all the sprites for this section done by next week. Everything is taking a lot longer than planned, but I'm looking forward to it all coming together in the demo!

Update Elisedd is finished! Elisedd And I just noticed that I haven't changed their eyebrows for the expression examples! They do have different brows, I just completely forgot. Moving onto Theo next, then it's only the secret romance sprite to do before I can work on the main character sprite! Really starting to get somewhere now

Update Finished another love interest sprite! Fell He took a loooong time to finish, but he's finally done! Moving onto Elisedd next, who hopefully won't take such a long time to complete

The choice structure sounds very interesting. You're right that the majority of games have clear options for "good" or "bad" choices and that the duality of the choice structure doesn't suit reality. A good counter-example is Fate Stay/night, which I still consider one of the best VNs ever made primarily for the number of choices and how truly different the various outcomes are that can be attained. There are very few (if any) outcomes that are purely "good" or "bad" and many choices in the game lead directly to sacrificing something in order to gain something else. If you are able to create a choice structure anywhere near that level, it will certainly be a noteworthy achievement. Best of luck with it. Well, I hope the choice structure is done in a way that will suit many people. I never wanted it to feel like I was punishing the player for choosing certain options, but obviously some decisions turn out better than others, just because that's how life is But that still doesn't mean that choosing a different option will lock you out of achieving a result, it just means that result will be different or will lead to something else unexpected. Thank you so much for commenting! - @Black Sands Entertainment - Thanks! I tried to create characters as people. The Seasonal Kingdom (where the story is set) is a diverse one, so there are very different cultures and people. - Update I've finally managed to finish a love interest sprite! Yay! They are taking a looooong time, but that's because they have so many expressions, arm poses, heads, etc. It'll be worth it in the end. Here is Gretchen! I'm pleased how she came out. I wanted her to be attractive (obviously!), but not conventionally so. I'll be working on Fell next, so hopefully will be able to put him later this week or next week. When I've finished all the love interest sprites, I will update the main post with their new art, as it's quite different to what is up there at the moment. - As for the script, it's coming along well. Haven't written much more to it than the last update, but have gone through editing it quite a bit, so it reads much smoother. My plan is to finish the sprites, code them in up to the point I've done, then work on the next chunk of art and writing!

I watched the video on your kickstarter page and it was terrifying Brilliantly done, but seriously freaky! I really don't do horror much, but this looks too awesome to pass up. Good luck with it!

I took the stats straight from Ren'py, so I'm assuming it is picking up on every menu/choice in the game It is a high amount, but this game is heavily based on choice and the player having the freedom to play as they want. Though the main character is not exactly a blank slate-type character, the player will still have a lot of influence on how she behaves- in both personality and ruler decisions. Though, not everyone will see all of those choices in one runthrough. A lot will be based on what paths they take, as there are choices within choices. For example- You might have a choice of who to talk to which leads to options 1, 2, 3, 4. Talking to your chosen person will then lead to new choices being opened. Choice 1 would open up to choice 1a, 1b, or 1c, choices you wouldn't see if you chose to talk to person 2. I have tried to structure this game so as it feels more like you're actually a character in a story, rather than just clicking options in a game. When talking to other characters, each conversation choice won't just give you a different line or two of dialogue, but quite a new bit of information on that character or the situation you've asked them about- as with a real conversation. I'm hoping this means if people want to replay the game, then it won't feel static, and things will still be fresh. It's not all dialogue choices though. The options on how to deal with events and handle situations play a big role, and the characters will judge and react on the way you respond to those types of things. One of the main points of this game was that there's no real good or bad decisions, just different ones. No 'click the top option for good, click the bottom option for the naughty' choices. There are different ways of handling things but, as in real life, not everything is a matter of black and white. Some ways of handling things are just different than others. I'm really hoping this takes away from the feel I have in some games that I must play a certain way to get the best outcomes, meaning people are open to play the character they really want to and will get varying outcomes based on that. I hope that makes sense Also, some choices or questions may seem irrelevant, but some may lead to other options being unlocked later, or special things happening, eg. that random maid you helped out may just reveal some snippet of info that helps in your quest to gain alliances later. Some of the choices are in there just for fun, but most have a purpose, either by giving a choice on how to handle things, or even just learning more about the characters and lore of the world to deepen your understanding of how things work. But, don't worry, I've written it so that the choices aren't popping up in your face every two seconds I've hopefully spaced them out to make sure the flow of the game is steady and the player can immerse themselves in the story as much as possible. ((Wow, sorry, you probably weren't looking for that essay of an answer to your question! But thank you so much for commenting It's nice to explain more about the gameplay mechanics that will feature in this.))

I'm really liking the new concept art! The characters really seem to be coming to life

Update time! Sorry for the late update! I wanted to get all the bases for the 5 love interest sprites done before posting. But, the bases are done Now I only have to shade them all, but the hard work with all the arm poses and head poses, and clothing, etc is done. Colouring can be the fun part! I've still been working on the script, which is progressing really well- The game contains 4,326 dialogue blocks, containing 56,228 words and 293,169 characters, for an average of 13.0 words and 68 characters per block. The game contains 50 menus, 3 images, and 14 screens.Still got a good bit of writing to go before the script for the demo is done. The figures above do include part of the secret romance route, which won't be included in the demo, but I thought I'd go on and write it whilst doing the script and take it out before releasing the demo. Once the sprites for the love interests are completed, I will start adding them to the game to see what they look like. So you can expect screenshots some point soon! Things seem to be coming together quicker now (guess it helps that I got my computer fixed!), so hopefully the demo won't be too far in the future

I don't think you need to tone the freckles down if you like them. You added them for a reason, and they certainly do lend the character an element you don't often see in VNs. There are real people with freckles just like that. There's one in the office just down the hall from mine, in fact. I wanted the characters to feel like they had depth, not just physically, but personality-wise too, so hopefully the whole bundle of looks and character will come together to create that -- Update time I have been knuckling down and getting on with the art assets. I only have 1 and a half backgrounds to go to finish all the backgrounds for this section, so yay! Then two more sections to go before all the stuff for the demo is done. Managed to finish a couple of sprites, including a main one- Meet Lance: He's steward to the Gaia throne, and the first person you encounter once you stumble through to the Seasonal Realm. He plays quite a big part in your journey, acting as guide and, sometimes, protector against incredibly nosey courtiers! - As for the script, it's coming along really well. I will stop working on it now until I've finished the art for this section, but the script is all done for this bit. The game contains 2,956 dialogue blocks, containing 39,209 words and 205,264 characters, for an average of 13.3 words and 69 characters per block. The game contains 45 menus, 3 images, and 14 screens. Those statistics are just over half of what will be in the actual demo, as I have just passed the halfway point in writing. (Obviously, there will be a lot more images too I just haven't coded them in yet.) The next task is the backgrounds and then the sprites for the love interests! -- The expected release date for the demo is still October, but if things progress the way they are, it might be delayed yet again until November :/ I will keep everyone posted!

I think I have backups of backups of backups at the moment But, the computer seems to be doing really well now, wish I'd sent it off months ago! I've really tried to give uniqueness to all the characters. Their designs are something I spent a lot of time on, and I hope each one has a really individual look Are the freckles something you would have preferred toned down? Thank you so much for commenting, it's so encouraging to get feedback!

Update time! My computer is back and seems to be working perfectly now. Whilst it was gone, I worked some more on the script which is coming along even better than expected! I will have a proper update on it soon when I reach the halfway point. To test out my computer I sketched Fell- photoshop didn't crash once which was amazing! Art may start to look different as I lost all my photoshop brushes when my computer died, but it shouldn't be a drastic change.

Update time! Unfortunately, my computer is having some major problems, and has to be sent off to be fixed, so I won't be around to update or reply for about a week or so. But, after that, hopefully no more crashes and losing tons of work! Which also means I can get things done quicker. I have been working solely on the script for the demo the past couple of weeks, which I am pleased to say has been going really well! I will also be going back to doing art assets after my computer comes back, which means I should be able to show some stuff again (maybe even the main character sprites!). Until then, I shall leave you with one of my favourite, short quotes from the script: (After being sucked into another world, the first person who greets you doesn't seem to grasp how huge of a thing that is!) L: "This must be terribly confusing for you-" MainCharacter: "Oh, really, you think!"