Ametist Dawn

BANDMATE LIFE - Winter has Ended update

I am sketching and fleshing out my BL otome's Love Interests (who are K-pop idols)!

I am liking how they keep improving and I see them more clearly. I have written a more or less full outline for Dohan (who I decided is going to have a rap stage name RAY because I took away his previous nickname to name the entire group, oops) and I changed his concept / theme to a - hopefully - more interesting one ^^

I am still struggling with Taeyoon's visuals and personality (I know what his storyline will be about but not fully sure about his character yet) because he's kind of too much of a so called twink now. And my good friend ro has me considering how much I want my character to be stereotypical / have recognizable traits or subvert expectations xD

Anyway! I still love how they came out in these sketches (and then I checked my previous drawings and realized they look nothing alike - well, I guess that's the inspiration's struggle!)

I'm also considering to join any itchio gamedev jams so I can have a deadline and maybe start making a demo first instead of fully making the entire game before I can show it anywhere. I think that'd help me keep going ^^

But first I'm curious -

I actually prefer to write the first draft of my scripts in fanfic shape instead of dialogues only, though I had to switch to 1st pov since it's a visual novel with the user as the main player... so it might be slightly cringy but we're cringe and free! Get the taste of Sangwon's personality and his dynamic with you as another member :P

We exchange pulls and finish the leg stretching exercise, but Sangwon doesn't let go of my arm. He moves behind me and paws at my neck.

"I noticed you were making a weird face sometimes."

His tough, strong hands massage my neck and shoulders. I close eyes, feeling how my tense muscles give way and finally start relaxing. I didn't even notice but I actually needed that massage.

"Mmmhm… You could make an earning out of this."

"I've got enough money, let's say that's my hobby. Reserved only for handsome cuties."

His arm suddenly wraps around my neck and squeezes tight. Sangwon caught me in a choke hold.

/ Wrangle my way out of this. /

/ Plead mercy /

This weekend I tried to make the working project a little bit more lively and add some colors to my K-pop BL otome game :)

I had a funny idea to let the player choose what kind of concept their K-pop group will have and the game could briefly reflect it at some points, the most visible would be adding screens or announcements with specific colors/imagery — and then I thought, what if I could change the entire UI based on the group concept you chose for your K-pop idols?

So far I have these concepts:

= Sensual and sexy (think SF9, Winner)

= Hip-hop and fun (like iKON, P1Harmony)

= Dark and Edgy (like Stray Kids, Ateez, Xdinary Heroes)

= Mysterious (like TXT, EXO)

= Your school/uni crush (like TWS, Zerobaseone(?))

This is a very rough separation based on the boygroup vibes I've seen the most over entire k-pop, but the point is – how can I include the player's choice in the game? Obviously, I can't create several versions of the story script, reflecting different concepts and the promotions, but it could be fun to bring the vibes to a player via game interface (but if you want to play for the cute and boyfriend-like uni crush idols and you hate yellow/pink/blue pastel tones - I do apologize beforehand xD)

Look at the result~

Anyway, I spent half of the day learning Themes in Godot and making sure the interface changed itself whenever you'd choose a different concept in the Character Creator (why is there no easy way to overwrite the global Theme of the entire game??)... And then I went to play the whole game and turns out, Dialogic (tool that I use to build the game structure) has its own interface styles that you can change and somehow they're not compatible with Godot ones (maybe I'm missing something but it gives me countless errors whenever I try to change the overall theme now)

So I guess, I'll have to start everything from the zero and try to make some pretty styles via Dialogic xD (and I'd still love to make the Character Creator change color as soon as you pick a different concept, but it does not work anymore...)

Result of this weekend is net zero oops but at least I have funky color palettes

The upcoming exam on Korean Society & Language knowledge distracted me from working on my BL otome visual novel, but I'm back at it again!

This weekend I made the base for the main character creator. The point of the game is to try and add as many unique interactions and reactions from the other members of your K-pop boygroup, so I needed to make sure the players can select the type of an idol they prefer (or can associate themselves with :D)

It's important to test the game system without being distracted by the visuals (otherwise I'll spend weeks drawing background or characters and then fall in hell of trying to shove everything together and making sure it works)... so don't judge how it looks, the most important thing - it works!

You can now give a Korean and Stage name for your K-pop idol, choose desired position in a team, group concept and your own mascot. In the future, I want to also add selectable hair color and body type (as much as it's possible to vary in K-pop industry lol).

For now, you can choose whether your K-pop group concept will be "hip-hop", "sexy", "boyfriends-like" or "mysterious". I couldn't think of other typical concepts (school/teenager boycrush also go to 'boyfriends-like' concept) but if you have any ideas, let me know!

What else should I customize? I'm also thinking about adding age (so that other members can call you hyung, maknae or other ways, typical for Korean language hierarchy...) and MBTI (but I think the dialogue choices will already let player choose somewhat different "personality" for your MC).

Anyway, I've struggled with Godot a little bit but I decided to use Dialogic for storing MC's variables as well, so now the story is customized and other characters can react differently, based on the idol you've created for yourself!

Not bad for a few hours of work~ After this is done, I'll finally be able to build the structure for the story, considering all various options for the main character and how it can help/ruin their opportunity to romance their team members~

Sorry, Dohan, your rapper name is now taken away for everyone's good 😆

Look, you're here to become a K-pop idol, right? These are the trainees you'll be practicing together from now on. In best case, you'll be debuting together so it's in your interest to get along. Of course, you'll be competing in monthly evaluations and the judgement will be harsh, but the agency also wants to see great teamwork. So go and put some effort in getting to know your future bandmates and learning from them.

👽 KANG DOHAN (BL4ST) Position: main rapper Orientation: bisexual Favourite place: clubs and game arcades Introduction: "Show me what you've got. If you don't have the passion and hunger, you won't last here for long."

🐣 KIM TAEYOON Position: main dancer Orientation: gay Favourite place: dormitory kitchen and veranda Introduction: "I see you're dieting so hard, and my heart hurts for you... Want a snack?"

🐺 HUH SANGWON Position: main vocalist Orientation: unapologetic gay Favourite place: gym and Han river Introduction: "If you ever need a... sparring partner, just let me know. I'm always down. I have very few limits."

🦄 SONG YOUNGJIN Position: leader, all-rounder Orientation: asexual Favourite place: music studio Introduction: "I need to write so many love songs, where else am I going to get the knowledge?"

devlog #7, stay tuned for more snippets of my BL otome visual novel:)

KANG DOHAN (BL4ST) - main rapper

👤"I thought you were popular with girls."

"I'm telling them cringe pick up lines, purely running on charisma."

👤"Where is it now, then?"

"You're different. Someone who I feel like knows the real me. That's rare. Shit, I'm nervous. I'm not even nervous on stage anymore. Stop doing this to me."

KIM TAEYOON - main dancer

"You know… I'm not a songwriter, but I could write endless poems about your body." 👤"…" "And I know how to say 'I love you' in ten languages, but what is the point if you won't say it back?"

HUH SANGWON - main vocalist

👤"And what was that?"

"You're too damn hot. I couldn't hold myself back. Can you blame me?"

👤"What are you, a hungry dog?"

"Well, our fans think I'm a wolf. I think you might need to tame me."

SONG YOUNGJIN - leader, all-rounder

"I don't think there's a difference in falling for a girl or a guy. It all comes down to consequences, though. Well... it doesn't matter, we're all forbidden to date anyone anyway."

👤"Or we just have to be quiet."

"Or that."

dev log #4 Personal dialogue + their preference in love -> next!

Bandmate Life - Devlog #3

(BL visual novel game about K-pop boy group members :))

It might be a surprise that I'm making my visual novel in Godot, but I really came to love this little engine. So instead of RenPy (I had some experience with it years ago but I did not really enjoy coding there, even though I know how to code), I'm determined to figure out how to make a VN game in Godot.

First, I tested visual novel making tool via classes, based on some youtube tutorials (if anyone's curious, I shall find the link) - it was stable and a good idea but involved figuring out many basic thing from the zero, and I was itching to quickly do a prototype before I think I don't have enough time to figure it out.

So then, I found awesome tutorials on Dialogic (Godot tool for making dialogues) by Bean Bunny on YT. They helped me kick the project and test out the entire story structure in just about half a day. It was a blast to put some silly one-line descriptions and see the story already coming to life. (character image, interface and text will be improved ofc! you should make a working game prototype before you pour your time and effort into illustrating it all)

I still need to figure out how exactly route back the main storyline because I want to give the player an ability to talk to 2 characters per day, but unlike groundhog-day-like games, every day has its own location and concept so I need to carefully think through - what if someone suddenly decides to chat with a character they never talked to midway through, and there shouldn't be already relationship development. I think I have an idea but I'll need to make many-many playtests.

Anyway, this is my game structure... half of it... for romancing one character and going through the main story. Lol. I thought it's supposed to be a simple game...

After building the basic route/timeline structure, I decided to test out my ambitious idea - showing online community (Instagram-like) post after each day, reflecting players' choices and story they went through. It will have photos (hopefully I can make so many variations of each scene), fans comments (and maybe your reactions to them)

After all, how can K-pop idol exist without their fans?^^

Stay tuned for Bandmate Life future development!

First quick sketches, color palettes, tests and sneak peaks at two of the four members in the K-pop boy group. You'll be playing as the fifth one ;)

(of course, the actual game sprites will look way better, I just need to start envisioning characters in my head, though the script already goes swimmingly~)

// Kang Dohan, Kim Taeyon from BL visual novel/otome game Bandmate Life (working title, eheh)

I do accept suggestions for the K-pop boy group name... or should I give an in-game option to choose it for yourself? (but then imagine the chaos...)

One day, this will become an actual game.