21/08/2021

08/21/2021

This Week's Summary:

• Coding sprite expressions up to Ch.10 for Magnus
• Added in some new sprites
  • Of course made sprite adjustments first tho
• Lots of fiddly image additions for one specific scene. LoL

The Ramble:

So this was kind of a strange week because there was a lot going on that isn't related to GS game development. That took a lot of time this week.

As well as stress due to the growing Covid outbreak in Australia and increasingly restrictive lockdown rules in my state. It's been...a TIME.

So the main thing I worked on when I was able to work was Magnus' character expressions. I was able to get up to chapter ten. I have five chapters left but at least two of those are made up exclusively of Magnus and Morgan, and will go fast. One has a fight sequence in it and will take more time to orchestrate. And I really don't remember the other two!

I do remember the story climax doesn't have a huge fight sequence or anything either. I think it's just Morgan, Magnus, and one other character for the most part. Anyway, I think it'll go fairly quickly - it's just that there's a lot of other stuff going on.

I put another new character sprite in the game but also had to, of course, change her design. LoL.

Lethe was one of the first sprites I did and I've made changes to other characters that necessitated a slight redesign of her outfit. I also had to add some new effects for one specific scene she's in.

In addition to that, there's a scene in Magnus' office where we finally meet the infamous Endgame Council. But I really didn't want to add in six new sprites for this one scene. I came up with the idea to have them on a screen as silhouettes, which honestly fits well with how they are anyway.

And it let me use existing sprites that don't have distinctive silhouettes as the council members. But I still had to set up the screen and make individual portraits of them for when each one is talking.

So the big meeting scene took some time to set up and code. I'm happy with how it turned out since it saves me the trouble of making multiple sprites just for a single scene (and some of the council members only have 1 or 2 lines anyway).

I have worked out most of Magnus' CG moments. I have one to decide on still. So that's also good.

I did not work on flowcharts at all this week. There's been so much other stuff going on that I really focused on Maggie's route and then non-game related THINGS that kept taking up time.

Sneak Peeks and Previews:

Morgan's flat at Cor Solaris. This is the only route where she starts out living in this flat. In the other route she moves into it by the end, moving away from the one that is a recreated version of her original flat.

Yuu is one of the only characters Magnus teases vs tries to provoke. It's a pretty subtle difference but with a lot of the other characters he mocks them to try to make them mad. With Yuu, he just teases him. They have a very 'give each other a hard time' relationship. LoL.

Yuu has a bigger role in this route so it's been fun getting to code more of him.

Magnus being pretty...

Magnus being pretty...and an idiot.

Finally the first appearance of this character. I have been looking forward to introducing her. She's another character that doesn't reveal much emotion through her expression. In that sense, she's really easy to code.

But I just have been really looking forward to her showing up in the game.

Morgan's relationship to these three is a bit different in this route than in some of the others since she gets to know them a bit later on. They're not quite as close and there's a little bit of awkwardness there. But they still do their best to support her and befriend her. And they're all their lovable selves, as usual.

A wild Magnus outside his natural habitat.

And Magnus in another form. LoL. Back to the outfit he's wearing when the player first meets him.

Upcoming Week:

So for the next few days, anyway, I'll continue to work on Magnus' route. Chapter 10 or 11 is the more time consuming chapter. Then 12 should be an easy one. 13 relatively easy. And 14 is always a breeze.

I will have to make some more bobs when I do the chapter with the fight sequence. I am hoping I only need two and can reuse some existing sprites (but slap different hair on them). I may need three though.

I feel like I need three. LoL But we'll see when we get to it. All the bob components are complete, I basically just have to tell the game how to layer stuff and sometimes recolour hair or eyes or whatever. So they're not that hard to set up, regardless.

As always, though my focus will be sprite expressions, there's always a chance I'll work on other needed things like flowcharts and the like. I think I won't try to push Caleb's route out for testing until I'm done with Maggie's route though. So I don't think I'll really work on his flowcharts before then - and, of course, I want the flowcharts done before testing. 

So yeah. Not sure when exactly I'll do that but it'll be after Maggie's route is complete. OwO

And that's all for this week. We are progressing. Slowly but surely. It's always a bit of a slog to do this kind of stuff but what matters is forward progress, not necessarily speed. 

See you all next time!