Even though this is supposed to be a weekly update, I keep forgetting to update. Does that mean I'm really busy writing games right now? Hmm...I wonder. <-terrible jokeCard Sweethearts is moving along beautifully. Currently doing testing of the poker game, and it's a lot of fun. I'm a terrible poker player, but I do enjoy a round of Texas hold'em or two, so it's a lot of fun to play. Mad props to PyTom for writing such a nice poker AI. I think the main pulls of the game will be the poker and um...::cough:: other things. Estimated release date is in a month or so. Should be fun.As for what else is going on in my life, do expect a more official announcement about a mystery game coming soon. ::points at sketch:: There's a sneak peek already. There're also a couple other games in the works including more otome (which I already hinted at) and another really cool adventure game inspired by the works of one of my favorite writers. But more on that later~
Two important card-related updates. As you can tell from the photo above, I now officially have some beautiful business cards illustrated by Deji. They're more like miniature art prints that happen to have information about sakevisual on the back. I kinda want to frame one. XDAnd the second card-related update is...dundun...I have finished writing all the scenario for Card Sweethearts. Yaaay! It clocks in around 29,682 words, but seeing as most of the game is about playing poker, that's actually quite a bit of exposition surrounding a lot of poker games. The game still needs to undergo plenty of testing, proofreading, and other stuff, but at least all the writing portion is done.
It's that time of the week again, friends! Time for a wordcount~Card SweetheartsFinished Lisa's arc. My favorite scene is in this one. It's actually based on a restaurant I read about in New York, but that's all I'll say on that matter. There's only one arc (and the endings) left to go, so yay!Current word count: 26,336 wordsHappy MemoriesWrote all the intro scenes for meeting your friends at school. The variety is really interesting. For the record, if I had to pick a guy, I'd go for Taro.Current word count: 3,151 wordsThere's other stuff going on in the background (see above image for hint), but I'll save that for later. XD
I made a new logo. I'm actually going to KEEP this one instead of make a new one every two days.Anyway. Time for an update. Now with word counts!RE: Alistair++Finished writing for the extended edition. Some new scenes, some updated scenes, hopefully fewer bugs and typos...Final word count: 23,254Card SweetheartsFinished Carla's arc, and getting close to being done with Lisa's. Hers is fairly linear, so it's a little easier to finish. It's a lot of fun, though. After that, one more arc to go and yay!Current word count: 24,344Happy MemoriesWrote a few more meeting/intro scenes with some of the characters. This game is pretty varied in terms of how things change based on your actions. There are many different ways to meet the same character, so each time you play, things are really different.Current word count: 1,970Ripples RemixFinished recording for Kuu and had someone in (ha, if you know me, you know who I brought in), to record for Koda. All the vocals and music are now in place. Woo!Final word count: 1,947
Well, lots on the list of things to do right now, but I'm going to write out a gameplan so that I get everything finished in good time.February:The deadline for the two month challenge fast approaches. RE: Alistair is doing okay, but we're seriously in crunch time right now. A couple thousand more words, at least, hopefully done by the end of this week so that we can spend the last week testing and cleaning up any emergency issues.March:Crazy insane writing month. I intend to actually finish writing both Card Sweethearts and Moonsong this month. That's a lot, especially seeing as both have several tens of thousands of words to go, but I really want to get these done ASAP. They've both been sitting around much too long, and they'll get stale if I don't put a rush order on them.April:If my March plan works out, start writing three new games. Yes, three. A sequel to a game that's currently doing very well, a horror/otome game, and a personal project that I hope to be able to release commercially. @^@In the meantime:Ripples, Plat du Jour, and hanami x 2 will move along at whatever speed is appropriate based on the schedule and workload of the artist.
Finished editing another chapter of Card Sweethearts today. This is the end of the "linear" portion. The rest of the game uses a scheduler and plays out something like Bionic Heart and The Flower Shop (not exactly, but...you get the idea). It's a lot more freeform, and I think it's interesting because it gives the player a lot more control over the flow of the story. It feels a little less like a visual novel and a little more like an adventure game.
Another day, another chapter edited. Lots of other things happened like research and stuff. But another chapter edited.
Fu~ just finished editing/revising the first two chapters of Card Sweethearts. It's definitely strange coming in in the middle of something. I still feel as if I have a lot of catching up to do. People play poker in the strangest places.
Well, I've been off the blog for a week to reorganize myself, my games, and get new projects in order. And now I'm back. So what's in the queue these days?Card Sweethearts - A poker-themed visual novel. I have practically zero poker experience, so I taught myself Texas Hold'em so I could at least learn the rankings of all the hands. I also understand why the game is so addictive. It's definitely a fun way to pass the time. Good thing I like writing more. XD I'm actually coming in late on this project, with a good chunk of the story already written. I've been spending the past week revising and editing everything so that it sounds kinda like I wrote it. That way, the whole game will have a little bit of coherency. I'm not making too many changes (there's no point in writing something that's already been written), but just a few here and there. I'll actually pick up writing sometime within the week.Moonsong - More writing and tweaking the plot with people who know better than I. The current edition weighs in at 2,013 words. Still a lightweight, but so far I've only introduced two characters. XD I'm also doing art for this one, so character designs are being worked and reworked and then some.Plat du Jour - The demo still isn't done being written, but I'm getting closer! It's currently at a pretty decent 10,905 words, and I've just begun to write the various "endings" that will lead into the respective branches. I also started work on a teaser site (see above) meant to act as the "official" homepage for the main character's school. The culture of the school is a large part of the game, so I think giving the school it's own website is a nice touch. It's also a nice way for me to brush up on my rusty HTML skills. Also working with the artist on designing a super cute logo for the game. ^-^hanami x 2 - I actually found another artist for this! Finally. This is the third artist I've had on the project, and I hope this one sticks, because she's absolutely wonderful (then again, when have I not worked with an artist who is wonderful?).And of course, there are a thousand other things being planned or sketched or plotted, but these are the ones I am currently focusing my attention on (especially the first two).