T.O.S. (Dev. Sneak-Peek #1 - Patreon Exclusive) (Patreon)

I'm stoked to let you all in on a small "behind the curtain" peek into the development of my new VN project with an all-original cast based on the "Original Sin" characters!

If you follow me on Twitter (if you don't, you probably should (link), since that's the quickest way to catch wind of my most up-to-date tidbits), you probably know by now that I've been studying up on Unity game development for the last few days (mainly since I finished the "Deathmask" piece presented a few days ago), but it's not the same to "say" you're working on something than it is to actually SHOW you're working on something... So here we are!

This is a small collage from some screen captures of my current layout in the process of development (sorry for the low res, but it would have been huge otherwise).

At the top left corner, you can see the outwards graphic controls for the novel's User Interface (UI), where I'm tinkering with the layer's positions (sprites, textbox, option buttons, etc). This is the general window I utilize to ultimately assess what the final product will look like as I work on all the other aspects of the novel (as you can see, it's pretty barren ATM, but this is just as expected, since I'm still developing the game's engine, not the game per se. That comes after the engine is fully developed).

Following along, at the top-right corner, you can see the actual coding going on. I'm following a series of different Unity tutorials that specialize in VN development (it's a library of over 30 videos ranging from half an hour each to more than three hours each), and I'm personally adjusting the variables to fit the vision of what I want the novel to look and work like. I don't blame you if it's just gibberish to you... It kinda is the same for me xD I'm learning.

Finally, the two images below show both the general guides of object placement in a given BG scene (sort of a quick draft to know what goes where) at the right side of the lower end, and the drawing and painting process of said scene (at the left side of the lower end). Neither is a comprehensive, full design of the background shown in this specific case, but I wanted to show a bit of how I go about designing backgrounds, since I'm reading up a lot on the utilization of "vanishing points", and how to combine them for more accurate BG representation.

---------------------------------------

With all this, I wanted to give all of you who support my work a bit of insight into what occupies most of my time currently, as well as to reassure you that work is up to a healthy, constant pace, since I know that you, being on the other end of the screen, have no way of ACTUALLY KNOWING what I'm doing, and only get to see the final products of whatever I spend my time working on... Figured this would be a nice way to keep you up to date ;D

Now, for some thoughts about the mid-to-near future, I've both decided I'll keep these "Dev. Sneak-Peek" posts open to anyone collaborating here on my Patreon page (by ANY amount, from 1$ upwards) as an added bonus for your help, as well as started considering what to do when the project reaches a more "stable" or "solid" stage...

I will probably open up a temporal "Silver Rank" for Patreon Supporters (maybe around the $15-20 mark, I have to see how and what this would fully entail in the end) that will include the benefit of becoming "beta testers" for different Alpha and Beta builds of the novel (by getting the builds privately delivered along with questionnaires to take suggestions and observations in specific areas), and I will probably also add the benefit of having both "Bronze" and "Silver" ranked Patrons added in the credit roll of the game (be them "Special Thanks" in the case of "Bronze" patrons as well as "Beta-Tester" in the case of "Silver" patrons who decide to deliver their input).

That is that and this is this, though. We will get to all of that once at least the first builds become "playable", which is still a long ways from happening.

For now, however, thanks once again for your solid support, please let me know in the comments about your thoughts on all of this... And let's get this thing rolling!

Fate out!!