December 13 Update
Added 2020-12-13 23:02:50 +0000 UTCThere's not too much going on this time, but I do have many images to show. First, a potential 90% finished cover for Blades Falling Softly. Second, two different version of a cover for A Hollow Mountain (TBS2). Third, the first finished draft of Bangville Forest for OEA. Please look at all of them and give any feedback, criticism, or thoughts!
For the rest of this update, I wanted to talk about fun TLS stuff. First, look at the tons and tons of sprites! Over fifty, in fact. These are thanks to the work of Lamsey, though I've also gotten them included in the game now.
Sprite sex has never been the most popular part of the game, but there are always some who ask for more. I'm finally meeting that desire, since I have extra bandwidth on my break. Look at how much fun the little sprites are having. ^-^ Our goal with this one was first to include at least one for every character, then to spruce up the Emerald Hall orgy. You'll have to imagine the animations for now, but they'll be available in the base for the next update.
Also in the next update: at least eight full sex scenes. Some I've been waiting a long time to do, like another Nalili/Esthera scene. Sabitha gets her affection scenes, and they're... well, I had fun writing them, hopefully some will have fun reading them. Esthera has a more conventional set, which I think turned out well.
That's all for this week! Please enjoy all the pictures.
Comments
Thanks for all the feedback! And your sprite work, of course. ^-^
Sierra Lee
2020-12-14 15:24:28 +0000 UTCI agree with Decanter about the Blades Falling Softly cover - it's fittingly rural and peaceful. I hadn't realised there was such a big size difference between those two characters (I guess it wouldn't be much of a spoiler to name them, but I'll err on the side of caution). I also agree that the gold-tinged version of the Hollow Mountain cover looks better, both aesthetically and because it's more evocative of sunlight and the Legend's blinding aura. The ridgewalk matches my mental image of that sequence very well, and the characters are instantly recognisable. Breilin looks like somewhere I'd really enjoy going hiking, so long as I didn't bump into any Heroes. I completely misinterpreted Tani's pose at first glance, since I didn't notice her hands; I thought she was wrapping both arms around herself and peering backwards over her right shoulder. Once I zoomed in and realised that what I'd been seeing as a hunched right shoulder was actually her left hand reaching up to her scarf, it made a lot more sense. Not sure if it'd be feasible to make her gloves and scarf more visually distinct to avoid this. Proportionally, I think both covers will work well. The first book's lettering style would fit nicely onto both covers with the title text at the top and the author name at the bottom. Cropping both to square audiobook cover proportions looks trickier but doable - it'll be a tradeoff between the positioning of the foreground characters and the visibility of the peaks in the distance. The Bangville forest looks good to me overall. I can see the noticeable seam Decanter mentioned in the grass alongside the path in several places, not just in the western rocky area. The straight edge and sharp corners on the north side of the log cabin's roof look a bit off, since it's made of round logs. That's in the category of things I could fix if you sent the relevant files. If anyone wants to check the sprite animations, they can be previewed fairly easily using online tools such as this one: https://www.leshylabs.com/apps/spriteSheetAnimator/ For the three-frame 'stepping' animation, use frames 0,1,2,1 and for the four-frame 'turning' animation, use frames 0,3,6,9. The three-frame and four-frame versions are identical in most cases; most files include both so that they're compatible with existing RPGM events.
Lamsey
2020-12-14 12:45:30 +0000 UTCYeah, some of the sprites are updated versions of existing ones - for example, Aka now has a demonic variant, and Hilstara's hair colour has been updated to better match her portrait.
Lamsey
2020-12-14 11:04:05 +0000 UTCHaven't finished BFS yet but I like the cover. It has sort of an impressionistic style that seems appropriate for old protagonists. It gives me a feeling of peace, of taking a break from adventures though leaving open the question of continuing. Had to flip between the AHM covers to see the difference, but I think I prefer the one with the more golden light. If nothing else, that's harder to mistake for snow. Either way the covers convey a sense of alienation, of people going in the same direction but not really connected to each other. Is that Tani near the camera? She's really losing her tan. Rocks at the top of Bangville cliffs look nicer than those in Killing Fields, and I like the plants growing on the sides even if they don't seem particularly sexual. If there's something to criticize it's in the slightly wider area between cliffs, where the leftmost edge of the path and light grass around it have a somewhat sharp and straight boundary with the darker grass. Sprites look pretty good, though the real test will be seeing them in action. That said, didn't we have some of these before? I know I've seen Yarra/Qum and Simon/Aka, and I even did some work on Simon/Hilstara when it wasn't animating correctly.
Decanter
2020-12-14 08:41:43 +0000 UTCIs there seriously a sprite for Elleani among these new releases? That's great
JJS
2020-12-14 02:09:35 +0000 UTCNoticing a certain Givini lady amongst the new sprites. A hint for the next update, or just planning longterm?
DankPotatoes
2020-12-14 01:19:00 +0000 UTCMentally I've always considered it a MMF train, but I don't know if it has a proper name.
Sierra Lee
2020-12-14 00:16:41 +0000 UTCTo be clear, there are covers for two different books, the second of which has two slight variations on mountain color. Glad it seems peaceful, since that's the goal. Conventional in the sense that Simon and Esthera have sexy times that reflect aspects of their relationship. Versus Sabitha, who has a demon's view of such things. The phrase "reproductive spike" is employed.
Sierra Lee
2020-12-14 00:15:56 +0000 UTCNever having played with cockwhore Altina, I did kind of a double-take when I got to sprite!ahegao. Number 6 confused me for a bit before I remembered the context. My first reaction was "...Is that Aka and an orc spitroasting Mestan?" Since I don't think Aka has the power to grow a demon-dick, this has sent me off on a journey of discovery figuring out what you even call that position.
Desertopa
2020-12-14 00:07:55 +0000 UTCI love the first picture of the cover a lot more. Adds such a nice feeling of peacefulness between the two, and a vastness to the world. And, who's standards of conventional are you using to describe Esthera? Because I feel like SHE might describe fucking her daughters mouth with a newly grown dick while her new boyfriend fucks her daughter from behind as 'conventional parenting' but other leading sources might not agree.
WaxerRed
2020-12-13 23:43:51 +0000 UTCIt took a lot of work to cover all the different outcomes (such as whether or not you have a specific character), but the base now has an event just like the bed in Stineford!
Sierra Lee
2020-12-13 23:40:02 +0000 UTCspeaking as a lover of sprites, any thoughts on brining them to the HQ? I remember one bed, possibly at an inn one time, everytime you slept, it played a sprite scene and I thought that was fantastic. Having that feature at the HQ I think would be amazing. That way the sprites can be viewed more than just in events. Anyway keep up the great work.
Jim Billy
2020-12-13 23:13:09 +0000 UTCI had to stop for a moment when my email notification said you'd just posted 50+ images. Sprites look good, though.
genericname12345
2020-12-13 23:10:46 +0000 UTC
