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VN Ren'Py Game Dev Journal: Inner Demons (Ch 4 progress)

GrayTShirt

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Nov 27, 2019
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Well, it's getting insane now. The prologue sets up the backstory and the "justifications" for the actions that happen in the world, such as demon attacks, village/city services (bars, bathouses, farms and stables, etc), and magic. The story itself can be as rich as you want it to be. Beautiful histories, deeply involved stories, white-knuckle action.

The problem comes down to size. Alot of my story involves large set pieces. And as such, can be impossible to render in the time needed. For example: My opening battlefield shot only needs a "dolly" shot, i.e. fly-through camera. At 30 frames per second for 15 seconds, it would take 6.9 days to render 450 frames @ FullHD 1920x1080 with my current rig (which is still an excellent rig though). I dropped to 10 seconds for 300 frames @ HD 720, but the render time was still 2.6 days. All of this was AFTER scene optimization processes. I simply had too many assets in the scene. 30 G8M in battle worn (w/ blood overlays) and bellowtalon armor sets, large medieval lands environment, ground mist, HDRI skies, and spurting blood effects. I had to "settle" for still image renders, which took almost 2 hours of rendering each (I've rendered 10 shots from this opening scene).

The next set piece I'm working on now is the "hellgate" portal scene. Using the Highlands environment w/ HDRI render settings, props from the High Mountain Portal, and more HDRI ground mist. I wanted to make the mist appear from the portal, but there is a hard border around it. So I used it to my advantage and just scale the Y axis to appear as a light-beam/spotlight and gave it a red hue. I like how it turned out. But now the other problem comes from distance. The set was designed for panoramic and landscape shots, not for extreme close-ups. And any G8M asset merged into the scene is really, really small. (example below) I added some grass (but not very well) to give it some texture. I need to learn how to use materials and shaders now. And find a way to show a lava explosion aftermath. (Edit: The red portal image has a scaled-up Behemoth character stepping out of it. That's how big I made it.)

Set pieces that still need to be made:
Hometown completion, castle and capitol city, training camp, demon camp/fortress (ch 3/4), about a dozen or so interiors, and another battlefield that will be used around ch 3. After that, I can start actually making the characters. I need to remake pretty much all of them.

GrayTShirt
 

GrayTShirt

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Nov 27, 2019
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The good thing about developing all the script and set pieces in the beginning is you can focus on all the chapters without having too much downtime in between. It takes longer for an initial release, but the subsequent chapters come much sooner. It's also good to try to give yourself limits or a budget. As I mentioned earlier, you can fall down a rabbit hole of "acquiring assets". You'll think 50 different assets would be good when only a few will work. Building your sets in the beginning lets you focus on what's important for the story.

Think of it like this: Script > Sets > Characters > Actions > Testing and Edits. Just like making a real movie. Write a screenplay, scout locations and build sets, have a casting call, then film your movie. You can do re-shoots once you've finished your initial story to fill plotholes or fix any problems that arise.

Sidenote: Building sets all day can get monotonous. So, to reiterate a previous tip. Make something fun once a day, like a simple scene to keep you motivated. Something you probably won't use in the story but still saucy, and messy, and naughty, and TITTIES!
 
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GrayTShirt

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I'm getting excited for my open world city map. Still working on it, but I can see it coming together with adding props and working on sidewalks. Still need to learn about using Blender to work on the roads though. The tavern is looking nice. Looking into buying the now-crowds billboard Medieval City Life. Also, came up with the basics for a new character.
 

osanaiko

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Jul 4, 2017
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I'm getting excited for my open world city map. Still working on it, but I can see it coming together with adding props and working on sidewalks. Still need to learn about using Blender to work on the roads though. The tavern is looking nice. Looking into buying the now-crowds billboard Medieval City Life. Also, came up with the basics for a new character.
if you are trying to be period accurate, paved sidewalks were not a thing in medieval villages. at best you'd have some larger flat stones, or rough hewn boards along the base of the fancier merchants, or maybe stone "landing" platforms for nobles etc to dismount from their horses or carriages withou needing to step the the muck. Until you get to fairly advanced towns, the roads between buildings will generally be narrow, with the open sewer in the middle of the road, mud around that and hopefully drier dirt away from the centre. then you would have cobblestones on important roads or squares in larger towns.

Also, the billboard products can be timesavers but i find them to be quite expensive for what you get. definitely download a (ahem) "demo copy" to see if you really think they will be useful before spending so much on the asset. if you have the appropriate clothing etc, it's possible to make your own "billboards": gives the info.
 
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GrayTShirt

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if you are trying to be period accurate, paved sidewalks were not a thing in medieval villages. at best you'd have some larger flat stones, or rough hewn boards along the base of the fancier merchants, or maybe stone "landing" platforms for nobles etc to dismount from their horses or carriages withou needing to step the the muck. Until you get to fairly advanced towns, the roads between buildings will generally be narrow, with the open sewer in the middle of the road, mud around that and hopefully drier dirt away from the centre. then you would have cobblestones on important roads or squares in larger towns.

Also, the billboard products can be timesavers but i find them to be quite expensive for what you get. definitely download a (ahem) "demo copy" to see if you really think they will be useful before spending so much on the asset. if you have the appropriate clothing etc, it's possible to make your own "billboards": gives the info.
Thank you for the tips! My "sidewalks" note was more for separating the buildings from the ground, giving it a more detailed look. I don't think there would be anything historically accurate about this town, or even this story. :p I do like what you said about the muck though. My streets are a little "too" clean right now. After I get everything placed, I'll start learning how to import assets into Blender so I can start giving the streets/roads themselves those little details.

I'm really loving your suggestions! Definitely going to give you some credit with helping me out.
GrayTShirt
 
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GrayTShirt

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Town Map Update.
The map is looking really, really good. I'm setting it up so the individual location shots can be taken from any angle within the map. Also setting up day and night versions, which requires extra lighting for props. My biggest mistake so far is setting up lights during the daytime. Easy enough to fix, just going to take some time. A few more props, maybe a couple more buildings to fill space, then work on some crowd billboards and the street details and I should be done! Maybe a day or two.
After that, some interiors which should be easy since I'll be working directly from pre-made environments. Every location outside of town will be premade also. I really can't wait to start working on the story. Alot of good ideas. I even have one about a nun. That one should be between chapters 7 and 8.
 

GrayTShirt

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QUick break form the town. Decided to make a demon queen.
EDIT: Need to fix some clipping issues.
 

GrayTShirt

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So, I'm finally starting the game! Got the first dozen or so renders done. Working on a few dozen more. Still need to create the rest of the cast and tweak some locations. But here's a quick tease show of the "Power Couple". I got alot of ideas on how to use them in Ch 3 through7.
Like any good Prologue, it sets up the backstory. I'm going to divert from my previous summary though. It'll still introduce some main cast members, but not all of them. Really just the antagonists and the Royals, with the MC at the end. The models I used for alot of the test shots and quick views need to be redone. I keep using the guy in the images since it was the first one I made, but he's changing too.
Things I still need to learn:
Iray HDRI environments
Render settings and improvements
Geometry shells
Materials substitution (changing colors of fabrics and such)
Fabric and clothing manipulation (I tried to pull the pants down and behind the balls in the nun test shots. Need to get better.)
How to properly use the "Open Wide" asset
 

osanaiko

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Congrats on reaching a milestone, i'm cheering for you.

Fabric and clothing manipulation (I tried to pull the pants down and behind the balls in the nun test shots. Need to get better.)
This is basically ridiculously difficult in Daz (and to a large extent any 3d software). moving clothing and then getting it to drape and conform realistically based on the underlying geometry body and/or environmental objects is just plain complex. I think this is largely because clothing etc all gets automapped to the underlying body geometry, so it moves (mostly) realistically as you change the figure's pose, but it is still far from a proper physical simulation.
The "dForce" stuff is supposed to help, and to some extent it can be good, but it's really fiddly to setup.
I don't want to discourage you, but except for the few clothing items with built in morph sliders for taking off, you'll be spending a lot of time getting partially removed clothing to look good.
 

GrayTShirt

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Wanted to test out some low light stuff, and learned Daz doesn't like some lighting stuff. Have to turn up luminence from 1500 to more than 10,000 at times. Learning about rendering in low light too, still wonky for me. Thought I'd try out my new Queen Royal model. Almost no reflectivity for moisture, and the monotone look is weird. I'm hoping to get some quality dramatic/atmospheric/artistic renders.
Need to learn: Low light photography and rendering.
GrayTShirt
 
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osanaiko

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Wanted to test out some low light stuff, and learned Daz doesn't like some lighting stuff. Have to turn up luminence from 1500 to more than 10,000 at times. Learning about rendering in low light too, still wonky for me. Thought I'd try out my new Queen Royal model. Almost no reflectivity for moisture, and the monotone look is weird. I'm hoping to get some quality dramatic/atmospheric/artistic renders.
Need to learn: Low light photography and rendering.
GrayTShirt
Yeah, the default 1500 is ridiculously low, you may be better served by increasing it dramatically (like another 2 or 3 orders of magnitude) and then controlling the washout with the render settings tone mapping instead.
Regarding the "yellow tint" you get when trying to setup lighting to mimic torch/fire/candlelight, somewhat counter inuitively you need to use some other color lights as well, perhaps spots focussed on the character, in the scene to get a better look. doesn't need to be dramatic, but of course iray engine will not magically introduce other colors if you don't make it happen.
 
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GrayTShirt

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I think I'm finally figuring out interior lighting. Using HDRI ghost lights and tweaking up luminescence. I'm also really liking the HD detail my cast is showing. So far, all of my images are FullHD 1920x1080. Getting more and more excited to finish the prologue and start the story.
GrayTShirt

EDIT: Didn't realize which assets I had shown next to the render. The King knows what's up.
 
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RedPillBlues

I Want to Rock your Body (To the Break of Dawn)
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Honestly, instead of fighting enemies with a sword, he should just swing his cock at them instead. Its it would probably be more effective against that armor anyway :ROFLMAO:
 
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GrayTShirt

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Sneak Peak shots. Learning sweat, moisture, lighting. Got a long way to go still.
GrayTShirt
 
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osanaiko

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I'd tone down those sweat spots a lot.... it looks like a pattern of grime or dirt, or grey freckles. apart from that, very raw and animal looking renders - is that the impression you are looking for?
 
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