12/06/2021 Patreon Devlog

Hi everyone! Time for this week's patreon devlog.

Computer is still being a brat. I'm hoping to get it fixed in the upcoming week. =w=; Until then, though, I'm still working on....art.

This Week's Summary:

• More sprites!

The Ramble:

This week I made some fixes/tweaks to the sprites I did last week, then continued on my sprite art spree. Honestly, at this point, it's all starting to blur together. I completed five (??)side characters, including three more of our KS backer characters (Rowan, Odette, and Celeste)  two of whom are associated with the Court and Crimson.

I also sketched out several others. So now I have....at least...four or five others (I think??) sketched out but not refined. A lot of times creating the pose and sketch is the most time consuming part for me, while actually refining doesn't take quite as long. So having them sketched out is a huge help.

I have been trying to put together a full spreadsheet for sprites I know I'll need for the base game.

I thought there were 44. Turns out....there are more like...50. I KEPT FORGETTING CHARACTERS.

About 56% of the sprites are complete. Another 14% of them are in some stage between 'sketched out and mostly shaded.'

Of the 30% that I haven't even started yet, most of them are very, very minor characters. In fact, at least two of them I'm not sure will even get sprites. Both of them are not totally necessary and would be on screen for a single scene.....for no more than a few seconds each.

I may end up leaving them out.

Very minor characters can share bases if I give them very generic poses so those won't take nearly as much effort as the proper side characters. So yeah. I've been making my way through the sprites while my computer is in a state where I'm hesitant to code.

(REALLY hoping to get this situation resolved in the upcoming week).

Either way I'm actually sort of enjoying the break from writing/coding to work on art and I don't think it's a bad thing to go ahead and get the sprite art out of the way. So even after the laptop is repaired I may continue to work on sprites until they're all finished.

Might as well since I'm getting close to it anyway.

Sneak Peeks and Previews:

Veli, Rowan, Odette, Trent, and Celeste.

Veli, Rowan, and Celeste appear in Jack and Caissa's routes. Odette appears in several of the Endgame routes. And Trent appears only in Ari's route.

Veli is one of Caissa's bodyguards and is a queen ranked Esper. He's...cranky. I was joking before that the only two people he likes are Caissa and Rowan. LoL He spends time training Morgan in Caissa's route while in Jack's route he only shows up toward the end. He isn't a fan of Morgan and views her as dead weight and a burden for much of his time on-screen. He gains grudging respect for her by the end.

Rowan is a rook who lives at the Court. He works there as a sort of guard for their territory there. He doesn't work at the mansion because he can't avoid fighting with other members of Crimson. He doesn't have much screen time in Caissa's route (but does serve as a vehicle for one of the bad endings). He has a more substantial role in Jack's route and befriends Morgan. He also thinks it's funny that Veli can't stand her. LoL

Odette is a bishop who defected from Crimson to Endgame. She is part of the King's Guard. She has scenes in several different routes and briefly trains Morgan during Magnus' route as Morgan's guard is busy with work and doesn't have time to train her. 

Celeste is a rook who lives at the Court and is one of only a smattering of rooks who can use bio-kinesis on people other than herself. This lets her function as a healer rather than just a tank. She's also one of the 'leaders' of the Court and is involved in a lot of the decision making about what goes on there. She's sort of a...cranky mother hen.

Trent is a nerd who likes Espers. And also a bad boyfriend. LoL He only shows up in Ari's route and helps spur Ari into acknowledging his growing feelings. He was going to be more of an antagonist for the route but I shifted that role to someone else. So now his role in the story is a bit different. I'm looking forward to seeing how players react to him.

Upcoming Week:

More sprites! I hope to get all the rest of the named side characters done this week. This will leave a smattering of "Bobs" (IE 'extras) to finish up for various routes. Most of these do not have names other than "Guy 1" or "Goon 1."

LoL

So yeah, that's the plan! I don't think I'll get to the "Bobs" this week but I'm looking forward to getting to the point they're all I have left because they should go quickly. Some of them wear masks or face coverings of some kind (sunglasses, etc) so they don't even need expressions.

That'll make those guys a breeze to complete.

Anyway, with luck I'll be nearly done with sprites next time I post. I'm looking forward to getting some of Lance's side characters done! He actually has four named side characters exclusive to his route. One of them is Edan, whose sprite is already done. The other two are some of Edan's colleagues. Of those, I'm most looking forward to Finch - a really sweet android who shows up in that route.

Look forward to meeting him next week! 

~Esh