March Update!
March Update!
Life has been very busy, but I'm going to try and give monthly updates at least. This has been harder than expected with work being busy, taking up most of my time most days.
I have two projects under active development, both of them visual novels.
I have a TCOAAL fangame in the works, I'm probably around 10% of the way through Chapter 1, all things considered. I'll release it chapter-by-chapter, for free - so stay tuned - I hope to have something playable before too long.
I am mostly using it as an opportunity to familiarize myself with the visual novel engine I'm using for this - Monogatari, if you were curious.
I'm hoping to commission as many artists as I can for various CGs, panels, assets, etc. - as a community endeavor together. If that interests you, hit me up and I'll see where I can slot you in. Our target rating for this is T/Teen - so keep your expectations grounded, it's not going to have sex scenes.
I don't yet have a release timeline for chapter 1, we'll see if that becomes more clear next month.
My other visual novel game that's in the works is a high-fantasy epic-adventure. I don't have anything ready to share for that, but it would be too early to share anyway. I am working with several artists and a composer so far, and I am making good progress on the art direction, and technical things I'll need to make that aren't built into the visual-novel engine such as subroutine jumps and quick-time-events. I generally have a dislike for QTEs myself, but I think I've got a setup that actually makes sense and is reasonable without being punishing - it's just a timing challenge where you get different scenes depending on how well you do. Just don't mess up too badly and you'll live. This game is also rated for T/Teen primarily. If there's demand for it, I might include an R-18 patch for it~ but I guess we'll see.
Because I can't keep seem to stop my brain from thinking of ideas I have two more games that are in the pre-concept phase - both of which are hentai games!
Why hentai games? I've changed my mind and ideas about content and have since dispensed with the notion of puritanism. The recent events in my country have really cemented in my mind how important it is to have freedom of speech and expression and to speak loudly and clearly, routinely flexing these rights like one trains muscles lest one not have the strength to hold onto these rights when it matters most. As such, I now embrace lasciviousness, outwardly and openly. I've been enjoying quite a few games out there that I would have previously dismissed, such as Corruption of Champions, Factorial Omega: My Dystopian Robot Girlfriend, A Simple Life With My Unobtrusive Sister, all of which I would highly recommend.
The first of these is like a visual novel, but I'm not entirely sure whether I should call it a visual novel or not. I have a habit of playing games and then wishing they could have done this thing differently or have a flash of inspiration of what they could have done that would have been great. This one is distinctly inspired by Factorial Omega: My Dystopian Robot Girlfriend, which if you haven't played and are into hentai games I would totally recommend. That said, I will be going in a different direction both thematically, mechanically, and technologically. I haven't yet decided what kind of toolchain I want to use for this. I'm really liking Monogatari, and since I'm going to be very familiar with it once I've completed two visual novels with it, continuing to use it going forward would make sense. However, a lot of the scenes I would make would be 3D renders in real time - as in a 3D scene itself, rather than pre-rendered 3D scenes, so that you can have characters animated, moving around, (multiple points of view for raunchy scenes), etc. That complicates things. Before I choose, I'll have to carefully and critically evaluate what options I have for doing 3D in the browser - because Monogatari is fundamentally a Web framework. 3js seems viable at first glance, but whether or not its usage is going to scale well is a different question, alongside performance. Unlike the previous two titles which were more traditional visual novels in their format, this title is going to be doing 3D rendering in real time, and I want the characters to look GOOD (Both good as in attractive, and good as in sexy). We'll see, it's entirely possible that 3js both just-works and I can get some nice cell-shading stylized characters that look great.
The second of these is far more complicated. Distinctly not a visual novel, I might not even bother with a web-playable demo for it. The concept behind that game is Dark-Souls meets Corruption of Champions meets Cult of the Lamb meets Factorio. That sounds like an abomination, and that's the idea. I expect that project to take me a LONG time, and honestly, I hope that I live long enough to see it through. If any of my titles sell well, or if a wealthy benefactor decides to sponsor me, those funds will be going to fund that game. Fundamentally, it's a game I wish someone could have made FOR me - a game that I can buy and have ready for me, and a game that I can experience for the first time instead of already knowing every little detail about it. It's different when you're the developer - you know what goes on behind the curtain, it's not magic, you know every trick, every storyline, it's nothing like playing a game that someone else put together. But since no-one else seems to want to make it, I will take up the torch and hope that I can craft a good experience for those who share my taste. I have many things I want to do in this game, such as online multiplayer where you can coop with your friends or allow helpers to show up to help you defeat bosses or invade other players to kill them for loot and xp, or get invaded yourself.
But those are later ideas. It's difficult to stay focused on my current work which is why I ended up with two games I'm doing active development on in the first place.
I plan to be streaming the development of these titles when I can, so keep an eye out on the various sites.
I'll do a big announcement when chapter 1 of the TCOAAL fangame comes out, when that does.
Take care and stay tuned y'all.
RazorSharpFang
