Aspiring Developer - Plum's Nightmare

[Zalius Black]

04/16
BIWEEKLY UPDATE TIME: Welcome to WIP Hell Part 2

Holy shit I got the date wrong last time​

Mechanical
Some balancing and minor changes but nothing crazy significant. Major focus has been on art-related stuff.

Visual
The past two weeks have been mostly practicing idea creation, just now learning wtf composition was, figuring out the process I mentioned last time, and figuring out how tf to nail plums likeness consistently.

DRAFTING/IDEA CREATION
I do character shape language/design studies from time to time and make my own from a set of 5 references. It's great practice and allows me to come up with looks to work off of for future characters I plan to implement (or maybe in future things), a few of them below.


The Sandrunner enemy has been completed, a demon enforcer is being drafted, and after that there is one more enemy that i plan on creating for the intro level.



ART LEARNING
Didn't know wtf a golden spiral was and the importance of composition, now drawing sex stuff & compositing RE's has become more digestible to create. I am beginning to learn how to block out shapes and color immediately - no lineart, see the cactus below. A quick method like this is preferable for RE's, but i'd like to make it so that Plum is still attractive within the style so ill need some practice.



PLUM LIKENESS - THE ETERNAL BATTLE
I've created a new battle idle as well as a fallen down sprite (which utilizes the new process - much faster rendering - i hope to continue using it). (Don't mind the random emoticon by the fallen down sprite, it was an experiment that I probably wont use again). Also, I get more revelations each time i draw her face, and not only that, her body type is something that I'm aiming to hone in on. I was creating the dialogue idle sprite (as I was last week) but i thought it was all off. Below you will see me using the new battle sprite to correct my proportions and whatnot, I think checking my new art of her with that battle sprite will be very useful to achieving likeness properly because that worked like a charm. Also, I'm going to hold off on making new alts until I have most of the art needed for the intro completed.




THOUGHTS SO FAR
This shit is hard! I'm pitting the quality control I put on myself against the skill requirement of achieving said quality control, and as high as it seems to be, I refuse to give up because I'm an arrogant bastard. I'll probably keep working on art stuff for the next 2 weeks, but I ended up damaging my iPad screen so I can't really do that till Friday.

HOWEVER, I've come pretty far. Below you'll find a colored drawing from the start of last year, and another drawing that was one of my earliest. I am absolutely making progress as time goes on one way or another!



Thank you for reading! Catch you next time on TIME, cause this was a day late. See you on the 29th of April!

 

[ShadowMaster69.]

Keep it up! Love following your development so far!

 

[Zalius Black]

04/29
BIWEEKLY UPDATE TIME: Every Time We Saiyans Fight, We Get STRONGER
And yet I keep having to re-learn which font sizes I've been using for these.
​

Mechanical
I've added at least one specific random event to each overworld map I have right now. To further explain...
In the game, four maps make up a minilevel, two minilevels (occuring at 50% and 100% trial progress) form a trial, and completing a trial counts as finishing a full level. Gaining trial progress inside each trial follows a random event loop inspired by World of Horror. What I'm working on and plan to release as a proof-of-concept - is a full playable trial. It'll make more sense when I release it, haha.

Anyway, I’ve completed the maps needed for the first minilevel, as you’ll see some snippets of below! My plan is to add at least two NSFW scenarios within each minilevel. I'm also working on the visuals and basic functionality for the second minilevel maps. As it looks right now, I’m predicting another mechanics-focused week in early June.



Visual
As I mentioned earlier, I've finished mapping the 4 maps for the first minilevel (I’ll probably polish them more later, but they’re solid for now). I also finished the Demon Enforcer I discussed last week, along with the rest of the enemies planned for the first trial. I considered adding non-lewd enemies... but honestly, I could be spending that time better elsewhere! Now that enemies are done, I can focus on painting random events and drawing NSFW scenarios that will appear in the minilevels, alongside the remaining map work. I'll be posting a cropped WIP for one of the scenarios in the first minilevel, along with one of its alts. Despite how it looks, the scene is more teasing than anything.


I'm noticing some of my clothing materials feel the same, sounds like another study I'll do at some point.


Still need to add the side HUD for the overworld random events.


Rendering on the left is FOR SURE not done either, but I wanted to show it so far! I'm experimenting a lot. This particular scenario has 2 ass grab variations and a spank/post-reaction in it. Im satisfied with the impact I drew but i cropped it out. I suppose you'll have to see when it's out!

SCENARIO/ARTSTYLE QUESTIONS
I'm not finished with the scenario art yet, but working on it raised some questions about how I want to utilize different art styles going forward.

• Should I use my full, polished battle idle coloring for idle-like poses and battle cut-ins?
• Should I use this faster, easier coloring style for characters in random event scenarios, especially since these scenes will be more complex and have alt variations?
• Then switch to a painted style for background elements in random events?
• Then with random events or scenarios that have a character and a background, I blend the 2 styles together??

I’m sure I'll figure it out as I keep working. That said, I’m feeling great about how much I accomplished (both for what's in this report, and what I've accomplished that wasn't mentioned!). The more I draw and work on the game, THE STRONGER I GET.

That's it from me, reader! I must return to the cold abyss now — but I always come back.
See you May 13th!