Neondust

New WIP sneak peek of a CG for my visualnovel game, HueandMe.

Here's a preview of a CG for visualnovel game, with Noah blushing, the very moment that changes Robyn's colorless life!

Sketch preview of a tense CG between Robyn & Noah from my visual novel game, Hue and Me!

Noah's intro CG is in the works! Here's a peek of the concept sketch compared to the current WIP.

Cleaned up some quick mini cut-in CGs for the prologue of my visualnovel, HueandMe.

Technically they're unnecessary but I feel like these quick little scenes add a lot to the narrative. Agh, when you have the power of art in your hands!

Finished cleaning up this prologue CG for my #visualnovel game, #HueandMe.

New finished visualnovel CG update for HueandMe, in color and monochrome, for Robyn's introduction scene!

Finished this park background for my #visualnovel game, #HueandMe!

Took me so much longer than I anticipated, never thought an empty park turned out to be difficult to work on. Will post progress shots soon!

Hello everyone! I'm back from a month-long hiatus!

Development slowed down quite a bit throughout May as I ended up taking a lot of stuff: organizing a bridal retreat, commissions etc. I wasn't able to dedicate as much time to Hue & Me as I wanted to. Now that things have settled down, I'm back to working on the game again and wanted to share some of the things I've been working on.

Robyn's apartment background finished

One of the backgrounds I completed recently is Robyn's studio apartment! This location serves as our first glimpse into Robyn's personal life. I wanted the space to feel lived-in and reflect her personality through the little details I scattered around the room (pandaaas). I'm really happy with how it turned out though after the demo release, I'd love to create a dedicated night time version of the apartment. You can see a colored version on instagram!

Hellish (not literally) Park background

I've also finished the park background! God, was a headache. This one ended up taking significantly longer than the apartment or the stairwell. You'd think drawing a bunch of clutter in a studio flat would be a lot more difficult that an empty spacious park, right??

Trees and foliage are difficult... Very difficult.  Finding the right balance between leaf density,  lighting, readability, and atmosphere took a lot more of me than I expected. I do love that I manage to add a lot of details that can make me re-use this background in many ways, just need to make a night (and afternoon?) version.

Working on CGs

Working on CGs! This illustration appears during Robyn's introduction and shows her looking up toward the morning sun as she makes her way through the city. This scene is particularly important because it establishes both her perspective and one of the central themes of the story—how she experiences the world despite her inability to perceive color the way most people do.

Here's another sketch of CG later on in the demo featuring Robyn with Noah in a somewhat unexpectedly intimate moment.

Another CG I've completed is a smaller scene from the prologue. In this moment, Robyn is rushing out of her apartment and pauses briefly by one of her houseplants. As she leaves, she reflects on how she has no idea what color the plant actually is.

Coding and Narrative stuff

On the programming side which is my weakest part so far, I've been experimenting with some small environmental effects in Ren'Py and implemented a floating dust particle animation that can be layered over images. I've re-written some parts of the prologue narrative, and have to re-check the script for chapters 1 and 2 after I put in these new BGs with their updated resolutions, some panning animations done with the placeholder assets will have to be fixed. 

Looking Ahead

My focus for the next few weeks is continuing CG production. After the slower pace in May, it feels good to be making visible progress again. Every background, CG, and little visual effect gets Hue & Me one step closer to becoming a playable demo! Fingers crossed!

Thank you for following the project and for all of the support so far. See you in the next update!

After a month hiatus, working on Robyn's intro CG. Cleaning up this sketch and taking parts off my character sprite so I don't have to draw everything from scratch!

Working on a new background! Wistfall’s riverside park. Still a rough work in progress but already one of my favorite views.

Here’s a scene where Robyn isn’t amused by Noah’s observations about her apartment!

To be fair... her interior design choices are a little unconventional (being colorblind & all). But Noah seems far too entertained by that fact. 😅

CG sneak peek! Working on a messy sketch of an early scene of Noah and Robyn from #HueandMe. Playing around with lighting and mood :D

Suzie's and Vidar's sprites are finished! I know they're only side characters but I wanted to put as much love into their looks as I do with Robyn and Noah (maybe even a lot more xD)

Very happy with how Vidar's expressions turned out with his beard/stache.

After 3 days of my fingers dying, I finished the first background for the demo of Hue and Me, the office stairwell!

Robyn will be spending a lot of time here to contemplate in peace and having unexpected conversations. ^w^

The game is in black and white (mostly) so I tried to make sure they read well in monochrome.

I did mention in my last devlog I'll share the process on how I made this!

Set up a scene in The Sims 4 as a simple base.

Take a screenshot at a camera angle I more or less like

Adjust and edit the lighting (especially in black and white to focus on values), and rearrange objects/perspective etc

Draw over the scene, and add extra details, do the lineart where I see fit, then paint and color over everything