VN Ren'Py [Dead Drop] Random Thread of Koikatu

[Deleted member 1866322]

^What I'm working on.^
^2020 - 10 - 10^

(つ˘◡˘)づ❥ I'm back!! Let's push onward!

This thread contains poorly written, outdated guides and bad ideas.
My Koikatsu renders can be found here!

(Post #18) <-Will have a new post soon. You know what? Never mind. I'll leave it a surprise.
Back to work.
​

Welcome to my random thread of Koikatu! This is home to my development project as well as some guides and resources.
Thanks for checking this out and feel free to ask questions about Koikatu / CharaStudio, I'll do my absolute best to help you!
Also, make sure to check out the Koikatu Discord. There's plenty of resources and tutorials there.

Atlas:
1. re:Install (Post #1) - Abandoned. I failed this attempt. Hate me. ( >_<)
2. Guide: Material Editor Guide & Untitled New Project (Post #7)
3. Guide: Importing Textures into CharaStudio & Untitled New Project (Post #9)
4. Free Map (Post #13)
5. Map Creation (Post #14)
Abandoned. New Project -------> 6. New Project Details & Custom Sex Animation (Post #16) <------- I will redeem myself.

Spoiler: Old Banner

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7. (Post #18) My final go. Not much details other than I'll release it. Free animation.
Thank you for your patience and support.

Feel free to look at some of my old ideas below!



​

Title: re:Install

Developer: BeeBeeS

Genre:

Spoiler

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Tags/Genres will be adjusted accordingly to what's in the current chapter(s).
Future Genres:

Spoiler

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re:Install is an adult, Sci-Fi visual novel with an emphasis on story, character development, and romance. The setting takes place in both the virtual world of ZION and the real world.

"A 'ZION account' is both the access key to the virtual world and your identity. Your account is the same as your ID. Lose it and no one trusts you."

ZION is a virtual world that provides revolutionary services using state of the art technology. Such services include entertainment, from shopping to R&R. Everything from corporate to political administration. ZION's services is embedded in everyone's daily life. The state of paranoia from being hacked has caused society to shun hackers and hacking victims in fear that they may be carrying malware.

[Insert Name] (Optional):
"My account fell victim to an 'account raid'. - the work of hackers. My identity was stolen and every personal detail was taken along with it."
"Losing my account took away my right to belong."
Whoever raided your account has been using it for their own evils and you are soon placed on a wanted list for crimes committed in the virtual world of ZION. Society seems to think you're a hacker and, has since, left you astray. You receive a message from the "Guardian of ZION" who reveals the identity of the person who is responsible for hacking your account. You know nothing about the dark web, hackers, or even where to start your search for this hacker. You eventually stumble upon a small group of "handymen" - who call themselves "Yume". Yume have been contracted to find the same hacker as you and offer you to join them in their search. Yume may be your best bet at finding this hacker and clearing your name.

​

Rina: The 'youth' of Yume and the sheltered-in sister of Ryan. "It's not like i'm worried or anything... Just stay sharp. And listen to what my brother tells you to do."

​

Shelbie: The 'people's person' of Yume. "Silence implies consent! Everybody knows that!"

​

Robin: Robin is your best and only friend that did not abandon you when so many already have. "You know best out of anyone how dangerous they are. What happens if they do something to you again? This 'V' guy is a hacker himself, isn't he? Why would you listen to him?"

​

Ryan: The 'leader' of Yume and Rina's big brother. He cares about nothing but the future of Rina. "Alright, this is your test. What happens next is entirely up to you. "

​

V: "I am the guardian of ZION. I do not forgive and I do not forget any acts of barbarism that take place in this realm."

​

Some other character designs/previews of what's to come (and a lot more to come):

​

Maps will be handmade to ensure the most unique experience:

​

"Animated" Previews (Set to HD):
Naming yourself (Optional) screen:
The animated preview is under the picture. Currently, name must be between 2 - 10 characters, no numbers, and no spaces. Let me know if I should remove the name restrictions.

​

A chance encounter:
The animated preview is under the picture. The picture is used to give you an idea of how the scene would look.

​

Spoiler: Dev Notes/Deets

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Edits:

Spoiler

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ETA for first release: 2020-02-18

Edit: 3/5/2020 4:19 AM (lolz)

​

No development is not dead. However, I am having a problem adjusting back to my regular developing schedule. I'm editing this post because I can and bumping is the scourge of forums. (Lazy dumbass, you're gonna make people think this is dead!) No update? Hmm... Maybe I will cut/paste this as a post to bump?..
Figured out how to do black bars and I think it just looks so much better. Always been a fan of it, have used it on Skyrim ENBs since forever! (Have to redo the whole game now! "Dear god no!")
Anyways, I missed the ETA! Hold on, let me put on my reading glasses for this:

Spoiler: Excuses

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So, some random warmups to get me back in the developing mood - making characters!
Well, not exactly. Shelbie new outfit and bigger boobies. Rina converted to an elf (well... she was used as a base, but all her sliders were changed). And the Cat Girl is old, but she needed a total makeover! (The beautiful cleavage!)

Another Angle.
​

Sadly, making these chicks makes me want to work on a new project... /shrug
No idea if I should since re:Install (I should come up with a better name) has a pretty decent story with story arcs (however, no game out, so... nothing lost?)...
But monster chicks!!!...
So I'm kind of torn... Maybe I'll do a poll, maybe not. We'll see. Or if there's a reply? A PM perhaps? Hmm...
Overall, I'm just lost.

 

[kytee]

I have a pretty good feeling that one of your problems is gonna be verbosity.

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

I have a pretty good feeling that one of your problems is gonna be verbosity.

That's a solid concern, thanks for pointing that out!

The MC doesn't actually talk much after the short prologue. Images, actions/emotes, or other characters will do the bulk of the talking for the story.

The most dialogue you'd see that comes from the MC are small tidbits of thoughts (if needed) and possible options. Let's just say the scenario was grabbing the attention of an angry person. The MC's thoughts could be, "He looks disturbed. What should I do?"

Option 1: (・ε・) (Make a dumb face) - Person reacts with dialogue and an action: "Stop making such a stupid face."

Option 2: "What's wrong?" - (MC does a gesture) the person sighs and reacts with an explanation of why they're mad.

Option 3: Tell a joke. - You don't actually say anything, but the person looks annoyed and reacts with a disapproving face: "You should work on your material."

Option 4: ... (Sit in silence) - Person looks surprised and reacts with "Wh-what're you looking at?"

Obviously everything would fall back to Option 2, but you're given a plethora of different options to advance a scene the way you'd like.

Once this scene has advanced, another render is shown of you "explaining" the situation to them. - to clarify further, it is just a render with no actual dialogue (We already know the situation, so there's absolutely no reason to explain it all over again).

The angry person can then give a small summary of what you "explained to them" and an answer: "Oh, so you're looking for 'X'. No, I haven't heard of him."

I hope this answers your concern!

Edits:

Spoiler

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[Deleted member 1866322]

I'm going to do small write-ups of random things as well as some previews every now and then for my personal enjoyment.
I'll start off with a short backstory.

Robin
​

Robin is the [MC]'s best friend. Robin is considered a black sheep for, what seems to be, everyone. As children, the kid's used to bully Robin for being the slowest, the weakest, and the worst at every game. Robin was always the last "boy" to be picked in any activity. The [MC] broke that tradition by opting to choose Robin first every chance he got - either out of pity, a want for friendship, or something more. Eventually they became friends. Robin and the [MC] would pass the time by playing their favorite game: Cops and Robbers. Robin gave the [MC] the opportunity to choose whichever team he wanted. The [MC] would always opt to play as the 'Cop'. Naturally, this made Robin the villain - the 'Robber'. Of course the 'Cops' always seemed to have the advantage in this game and combined with Robin's lack of athleticism, the [MC] would win every game. Robin is a tomboy at heart and looks up to you as her childhood hero.

Robin's design choices:
Robin is a gender-neutral name. The color purple is, to me, a "mysterious" color. When people look at Robin, I want them to see a "queer, frail boy" who's a pushover (or incapable of defending himself) - one of the perfect formulas for bullying. Her past experiences with bullies have caused her to be cautious of others - which is why I chose to showcase that specific set of dialogue for her:
"You know best out of anyone how dangerous they are. What happens if they do something to you again? This 'V' guy is a hacker himself, isn't he? Why would you listen to him?"

I wonder what you thought of Robin at first glance.
Definition for "Queer": Strange; Odd


Small showcase of something random:
There's someone that you may encounter all around the virtual world of ZION. A tour guide, an information dispenser, a friendly robot, and the mascot of ZION:

Meet Pete!


(・ε・)




​

Edits:

Spoiler

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[kytee]

Haha the success of this game will be carried on the back of Pete. Be prepared for the "Came for the porn, stayed for Pete" memes

 

[Jinnai]

I'm actually surprised how far you can go with Koikatsu assets, based on this thread.
For someone like me, who can't play a game that utilize 3D renders, this is a godsend.

I'll definitely keep an eye out for you game.

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

I'm actually surprised how far you can go with Koikatsu assets, based on this thread.
For someone like me, who can't play a game that utilize 3D renders, this is a godsend.

I'll definitely keep an eye out for you game.

Hey! That means a lot to me, it really does! I've been coming back everyday to read this post and, well, it's inspiring! Thank you!

Your words really do want me to write random tutorials, maybe someone will read them or improve upon it, or, best yet, help them with their projects! Something to give back to this awesome community.

I'm really not that good, I think I'm pretty amateur... Anyways, working with Koikatsu It's all just camera tricks, layering objects, and working with the scenes settings (like lighting, fog, ambient occulusion, shadows, character lighting/direction and color adjustment (Shade and Scene Shade Adjustment).

Like, for example, the banner looks like this, right?

​

The scene looks pretty basic, simple outlines around characters, different shades of colors, etc.
But if we adjusted the camera slightly, it's actually very dirty:

Two of every character, one normal and one completely black. The MC from this scene is scaled up from 1.0 (the front) to 3.5 (the back/his outline) and is manually adjusted to give him the black outline. It might look like a lot of work, but all it took was playing around with the charastudio to create these effects. It's just a lot of layering and a vision of what you'd want.

Another gimmick:
I've been messing with another neat gimmick which is attaching moving parts to character limbs. Could be cool, might have uses in the future. So I've been trying out different settings to make "custom" animations. You can already retain some movement, but I wanted to try add "more" flavor to it. It doesn't seem like a lot, but I had no idea what to do before this. This gimmick is very stiff... but I'm sure it'll come in handy somewhere in the future.

Moving index finger to simulate scratching your face. An embarrased emote basically.
This mockup has two moving parts for the hand gesture:
This is the getup the .webm above uses. I basically attached the spheres to the piston and joint, then attached the spheres to the wrist. I'll probably do a write up when I improve.

Different camera settings (literally just made it closer and added a letterbox). Rotating head for our robot.
​

Yet another gimmick:
I'm generating ideas for new main characters for a new project. Why? I can do better than that. For example, I have been neglecting to use material editor in CharaStudio for my maps! (Many of my characters use it, but not in CharaStudio!) It is way too cool! So, well, it's pretty explanatory with pictures. (I know, I'm great at writing guides).
Check it:
Mat. Editor this is the button (mid-right screen) that opens many possibilities in CharaStudio. Pretty whack.
Shader: Shader Forge/main_item_studio is the base shader used for this item.


I'mma just choose Fur/FurRimColorShader for this cat:


Now we have this monstrosity... Scroll down on the Material Editor window and we have a lot of random values:


With a bit of playing around we now have this!


Adjust the lighting a bit...


Dear god, it has fur growing out of its eyes!
This is not a perfect process, but it is totally fun to play around with. For example... ghost cat into a spectral (pretty much same meaning...) cat.


One last thing:
Also I'm going to practice on importing textures (using Skyrim retexture mods). I'll letcha know what happens in the next blog/post update. Coming back I'm finding more and more tools, I'm extremely excited to play with them!

So here are my plans for this new project without spoilers:
1st Person PoV (some 3rd Person).

Harem (eventually).

It's a survival/fantasy VN - not open world.

Linear story with options to express yourself (and kinks). - No walkthrough.

Dark themes. (Death, again...Obligatory no ryona, necro, rape, or anything that sadistic. Wait, so how can it be dark?)

Monsters are possibly mutations from animals or humans. Maybe mutant cats with fur coming out of their eyes? Monsters hunt at night. Why do they hunt? They're nocturnal and hungry, duh!

Piezomagnetism. *Hint?*

Maybe you starve to death and we call it a complete novel?

It's an outline right now, I need to iron out details.

I hope you enjoy this preview of a dog girl that fits into this new title.
You know how I said the gimmicks are stiff? Well, in this context the wagging tail is totes adorb!

 

[Jinnai]

Hey! That means a lot to me, it really does! I've been coming back everyday to read this post and, well, it's inspiring! Thank you!

Your words really do want me to write random tutorials, maybe someone will read them or improve upon it, or, best yet, help them with their projects! Something to give back to this awesome community.

I'm really not that good, I think I'm pretty amateur... Anyways, working with Koikatsu It's all just camera tricks, layering objects, and working with the scenes settings (like lighting, fog, ambient occulusion, shadows, character lighting/direction and color adjustment (Shade and Scene Shade Adjustment).

Like, for example, the banner looks like this, right?
View attachment 581153

​

The scene looks pretty basic, simple outlines around characters, different shades of colors, etc.
But if we adjusted the camera slightly, it's actually very dirty:
View attachment 581154 View attachment 581155
Two of every character, one normal and one completely black. The MC from this scene is scaled up from 1.0 (the front) to 3.5 (the back/his outline) and is manually adjusted to give him the black outline. It might look like a lot of work, but all it took was playing around with the charastudio to create these effects. It's just a lot of layering and a vision of what you'd want.

Another gimmick:
I've been messing with another neat gimmick which is attaching moving parts to character limbs. Could be cool, might have uses in the future. So I've been trying out different settings to make "custom" animations. You can already retain some movement, but I wanted to try add "more" flavor to it. It doesn't seem like a lot, but I had no idea what to do before this. This gimmick is very stiff... but I'm sure it'll come in handy somewhere in the future.

Moving index finger to simulate scratching your face. An embarrased emote basically.
This mockup has two moving parts for the hand gesture:
This is the getup the .webm above uses. I basically attached the spheres to the piston and joint, then attached the spheres to the wrist. I'll probably do a write up when I improve.
View attachment 581157
Different camera settings (literally just made it closer and added a letterbox). Rotating head for our robot.
​

Yet another gimmick:
I'm generating ideas for new main characters for a new project. Why? I can do better than that. For example, I have been neglecting to use material editor in CharaStudio for my maps! (Many of my characters use it, but not in CharaStudio!) It is way too cool! So, well, it's pretty explanatory with pictures. (I know, I'm great at writing guides).
Check it:
Mat. Editor this is the button (mid-right screen) that opens many possibilities in CharaStudio. Pretty whack.
Shader: Shader Forge/main_item_studio is the base shader used for this item.
View attachment 581132

I'mma just choose Fur/FurRimColorShader for this cat:
View attachment 581134

Now we have this monstrosity... Scroll down on the Material Editor window and we have a lot of random values:
View attachment 581138

With a bit of playing around we now have this!
View attachment 581141

Adjust the lighting a bit...
View attachment 581143

Dear god, it has fur growing out of its eyes!
This is not a perfect process, but it is totally fun to play around with. For example... ghost cat into a spectral (pretty much same meaning...) cat.
View attachment 581151 View attachment 581152

One last thing:
Also I'm going to practice on importing textures (using Skyrim retexture mods). I'll letcha know what happens in the next blog/post update. Coming back I'm finding more and more tools, I'm extremely excited to play with them!

So here are my plans for this new project without spoilers:
1st Person PoV (some 3rd Person).

Harem (eventually).

It's a survival/fantasy VN - not open world.

Linear story with options to express yourself (and kinks). - No walkthrough.

Dark themes. (Death, again...Obligatory no ryona, necro, rape, or anything that sadistic. Wait, so how can it be dark?)

Monsters are possibly mutations from animals or humans. Maybe mutant cats with fur coming out of their eyes? Monsters hunt at night. Why do they hunt? They're nocturnal and hungry, duh!

Piezomagnetism. *Hint?*

Maybe you starve to death and we call it a complete novel?

It's an outline right now, I need to iron out details.

I hope you enjoy this preview of a dog girl that fits into this new title.
You know how I said the gimmicks are stiff? Well, in this context the wagging tail is totes adorb!

Now I'm no animation designer and I don't know a thing about how to put up a scene using 3D assets - but from the insight you're giving here, this doesn't feel like an amateur at all to me.

The amount of thought and energy you put into a simple scene is stunning. And something that I haven't even touched on in the first post is the character design - especially the ladies look really gorgeous. I usually don't play that many harem games, but this one I'll definitely give it a try.

At least I can say for certain that you put real passion into this project, which sadly, can't be said for every game on this platform. So please, please keep us updated.

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

Now I'm no animation designer and I don't know a thing about how to put up a scene using 3D assets - but from the insight you're giving here, this doesn't feel like an amateur at all to me.

The amount of thought and energy you put into a simple scene is stunning. And something that I haven't even touched on in the first post is the character design - especially the ladies look really gorgeous. I usually don't play that many harem games, but this one I'll definitely give it a try.

At least I can say for certain that you put real passion into this project, which sadly, can't be said for every game on this platform. So please, please keep us updated.

Aww, stop it, you're flattering me! I'm just a D-tier Skyrim modder that liked to take pictures, I am a total amateur at this! It's mainly whacky ideas, thinking of how I'm going to get there, and doing it. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, but I'd never know unless I tried! Koikatsu has a lot of limitations, so I'm trying my best to stay ahead of the curve with my designs and decisions.

Harem tag would make sense cause I have plans for a max of 3 girls (very, very unlikely 4 - but I won't rule it out) in this setting. It's technically a harem - a realistic sized harem is typically 4 concubines, but I guess it's different from harem games where you run around and collect an infinite amount of girls. I'll probably get flak for this tag due to the norm attached to the harem tag. Hmm... maybe I don't need this tag?

Thank you again for the uplifting words! It really does motivate me and gives me more food for thought! Sincerely, thank you!

I like to type what I'm thinking, but it's basically notes for me (ranting for everyone else). It's like a vision of what I want, how am I supposed to get there, then improving the process over and over. So here's a bit of that process.

This is the first scene in the VN (nothing is spoiled I swear)... I thought a render would fulfill the needs of it, but...


It's supposed to be raining. The picture just does not scream rain.
The bad thing about rain in Koikatsu is that its all RNG. There's no way to make a perfect loop.

So, here is a video of this render.

​

Next scenes I won't have the hobo man fidgeting, but I'll probably make them videos just to have the rain move.

I promised to look at porting textures, so let's try that right now!..
And it works! Converted the .dds into a .png because Koikatsu can only read .png. I'm surprised the alpha maps carried over!
I don't know a simpler process yet. I plug the textures individually into GIMP then export it as a .png. I've done this process 110 times so far. A bit tedious, but I could always do more and maybe find an easier way.
(Ignore my mistake with labeling the cameras. It should've been Max-FOV...)


I would've linked the texture, but it's 11MB as a .png... (Not everyone has the bandwidth to load a picture of leaves).
The texture ported is 2048x2048, so now we have HD textures in Koikatsu! This opens up so much more possibilities! I'm really excited for this.

Put everything together (and this is the improved direction - a hobo man with HD leaves and animated rain!):

The scene just feels fuller.​

I haven't imported the normal maps yet, so let's check it:
Nope difference. No Normal Maps vs. Normal Maps. (No difference.)


And here's an example with parallax maps:
No Parallax vs. Parallax. (No difference).
Edit: I lied, I found out ways to make it work.


My conclusion: you only need to import a main texture file.

Simple before and after. (A lot still needs to be done tho, and sorry about the same camera and pose, too busy doing the maps! - But I guess it's good for comparisons...)


Random fire retextures (Comic Sans cause its the best font):


New skybox (may as well have a fantasy sky in a fantasy setting!) - Before and after:

 

[Deleted member 865655]

Absolutely loving your models, dude! It amazes me what people can achieve with Koikatsu.
Especially your use of color in each character's outfits, especially Robin. I'm biased, however, since purple is my favorite color.

You mention that you're going to create each map yourself, right? Would you mind going into that process from start to finish? I assume you work in something like Blender first and then somehow import it, but how exactly are you achieving that? Are there any pitfalls that one has to look out for when going about this?

Sorry to just dump these questions on you and no biggie if you don't wanna answer!

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

Absolutely loving your models, dude! It amazes me what people can achieve with Koikatsu.
Especially your use of color in each character's outfits, especially Robin. I'm biased, however, since purple is my favorite color.

You mention that you're going to create each map yourself, right? Would you mind going into that process from start to finish? I assume you work in something like Blender first and then somehow import it, but how exactly are you achieving that? Are there any pitfalls that one has to look out for when going about this?

Sorry to just dump these questions on you and no biggie if you don't wanna answer!

Hi etnenik! Purple is my all time favorite color too! That's a totally awesome question too! Never be afraid to ask!

My map creation is done purely through CharaStudio. I literally just use whatever object I can.
So for this scene you can see all the manual placements of objects, lighting, shadows, etc..
I actually did a bit on my creation process for specifically this map in my introduction thread. (This post).
(I got kind of carried away making this map.)



A simple map like the ones in post #9 is the base Koikatsu map. I just added a ton of imported textures into it. (Still a WIP.)


I'm not exactly sure on the process to import things into CharaStudio. As far as I'm aware, to port maps, objects, or anything custom, it'd need to go through Unity last because Koikatsu uses the Unity engine.
A lot of the assets in Koikatsu have the .unity3d extension, and I think I read about how to do it somewhere. I just really don't remember how to do it at the top of my head.

Pitfalls: It takes a lot of time to do it in CharaStudio because you're limited to the objects in Koikatsu. A lot of time loading a scene (loading hundreds of objects), FPS drops (loading hundreds of objects...), whereas if I did it in Unity and ported it would take a lot less time to load and not be impactful on my system because you'd only be loading one object (the map).

The benefits: You don't have complete freedom with creating objects, but you make up for that with having complete control on the placement and coloring of objects to match your personal settings or whatever a scene calls for. For example, I wouldn't be able to throw a cup because the cup is glued to the map.

I'll totally do a better write-up with pictures the next time I create a map to show you the creation process!

 

[Deleted member 865655]

Oh wow. I went through the post you linked to and that actually explains a lot of what I was wondering!

I've gotta know, though, how much of a resource hog does a map like that (the one you showed the creation of) become in terms of loading, editing, and setting up scenes in? It has a lot of detail, and as you said, it takes a while to load because of all those objects, but how much RAM/CPU/GPU usage does it all cost?
Are there ways to "Fake" details so that it doesn't take as long / as much? Like having "Walls" just be a simple plane rather than an actual complete wall?

And thanks for the Unity tip! I'll have to look more into that!

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

Hey etnenik!

Okay, I was exaggerating when I said it took a while to load, I'm just impatient and an idiot... I saved and loaded it around various points of the map, so occlusion culling is definitely a thing in CharaStudio.
I did timers:
Corner - 4 seconds.


Desktop - 27 seconds. (This is forever for me when I have to stare at a black screen)

/shrug it varies, my best suggestion is to save looking at something that doesn't have a lot in the background! (Like all my Skyrim saves were just looking down standing in a corner for that juicy low loading time.)

I also found out what was causing FPS drops...
A mirror (so multiply everything in this scene by 2) and CharaStudio loading 10 characters (who were posed for different scenes, so 20 characters...). My bad, lol! I gave very bad information, please forgive me!
You'll totally be fine creating tons of detail and using normal objects, FPS drops and load times were on my end.
That was my fault! Sorry!!

With 0 characters and mirror disabled:
(Warning: Suck computer)
RAM usage: 2.1GB on 16GB
CPU usage: 28% on an AMD Ryzen 5 2600X (Six-Cores)
GPU usage: 1.01GB on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB)
(Koikatsu installed on a SSD)

Sometimes the best way to learn is to rip it apart! Here's the map:
I think it saves my scene settings too, so you can always take a gander at that.
(Koikatsu>UserData>Studio>Scene)


To answer your question about using planes. (Totally great idea by the way, and it's definitely not fake details!) Planes have many, many uses. For example, my floors in this map are made entirely of planes. Stick a floor to a wall and you get... a wall! Pretty much how showers are made anyways.
Planes = floors. You can totally make it a wall if you wanted to.


The ceiling is a plane + a wall, because you can't recolor a wall, but you can recolor a transparent plane. There's a lot of possibilities for doing this, but the main reason is I want to retain "Light Influence".
(I've been forgetting to do this, so now I have to do a write-up, so I won't forget)


Bear with me on this: A long, long time ago when I was making a map inspired by Silent Hills...
Actually, it wasn't even that far, what? November 3rd, 2019?..
The other map uses it subtlety, but this was a better example of how strong it can be.
Light influence is really, really cool.
Here it is in action:


Off:


The light bleeds into many objects around it - walls and window. This is achieved using Map Lights (Add>Map Lights>Whatever Light). I used "Point Light".
Planes don't have the capability to absorb light, but you can retain light by making the planes semi-transparent!
Here's the room with some very nice wallpaper - Alpha of 0.6 for every plane.


If we made the planes with 100% Alpha then walls stop receiving any "Light Influence":


Another example of "Light Influence" on an old project:
It casts some nice shadows!


Definitely use planes to create "fake details" like wallpaper, recoloring, etc.. They're the best!

So, yeah you're probably wondering, "Well why didn't you use walls for the floor then?".
Ehe he...he.

You definitely won't need Light Influence on everything or all the maps you create, it's just something to think about when you're designing something. I shouldn't really be lecturing anyone on that though, I'm bashing my head against the desk because I completely forgot about it and need to redo my current maps so it can use it... So, very much, thanks for the reminder on that! These responses help me think!

I probably went off in a random tangent about light influence (because of my oh-shit moment and I need to write about it so I don't forget), but, yeah, you shouldn't need to limit yourself if you're worried about FPS or load times when adding details. Fake details are still details! And you're the one who figured out how great planes are!
Really, don't worry about the impact of details and objects, attention to details is good!
(Illusion did an awesome job with optimization, don't force yourself to lose out on major details to get an extra second of load time/FPS!)
That was completely my fault for being lost or something like that...I probably deserve death for worrying you about load times!

Totally check out the map and see if you run into any issues with loading or running it!
(Mirror is disabled, so you should have crispy FPS - but you can enable it to see how much it hurts your system.)

I hope this answers your question!

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

So I promised a tutorial of my map creation process.
And a new character. An elf. (Robin's bangs was used as my base).

Back to the map:
It's all about the vision and how am I going to get there when it comes to map building (and pretty much everything).
I've already got the hard part done which was making the animation and fitting the animation to fit the flute.
So girl and 1 object right now. (Background as a filler).


So I have two different ideas for her: tavern or outdoors.
I'm feeling outdoorsy.
Tree stump and landscape.


Fire pit and point light. This will be my base and I'll work the scene around it.
You can probably see where I want to go!


New lights, new sky, fire, fire pit, and some random foliage.
Added 3 layers of the landscape.
3 Layers of skies.
Added moss to tree stump.


More foliage. Updated colors of foliage.
Added a moon.


More foliage.
Getting closer, but I need something: specifically flowers.


Heh.

Of course that's only 1 quarter of the map, so there's still a ton of work that has to be done! Expect to see this map in the VN.

 

[Deleted member 865655]

Loving the elf's outfit! Thanks for going through the process!

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

Hey you. You're finally awake.

It's been two weeks, its time for an update.
I've been learning a lot these past couple of weeks and I'm going to keep setting the bar higher for myself and for the development of this game.
This is kind of a meaty post and, personally, my most enjoyable post so far.
I'm working on a ton of things all at once, but most of all is polishing my tool set. I want everything to be nice, so I'm meticulously designing, writing...rewriting, reading...rereading...proofreading, and setting my scenes correctly.
A new story, processing ideas, and tons of new doohickeys to make this development cycle just right.
The story is a bit different than what I had originally proposed. I like some of the elements that was said like comedy (Hobo Man), survival, harem, and horror, but what kind of plot would there be? (Besides survival)

With all the grand scheming I could possibly muster, I have came to the conclusion that Slice of Life is best suited for this VN. I can incorporate any element I'd like to drive the story in any direction at any point in time without it feeling too random or forced.

~ Events need to make sense for the setting(s).​

~ As always...​

Lets get technical:
Here's what I've done in RenPy so far:

• Input your own Name (optional). ~ My favorite function for games.
• Some screens so we can make this VN a bit more interactive!
  • You know, click an object or a person and something happens.
    • Screens are animated as well.
      • Limitations for animated screens are you won't be able to hover over something and that something getting all highlighted.
        • It won't be a catastrophic failure! I've got a simple solution.
• Multiple audio files play at once, each with varying volumes cause immersion...
  • That means lots and lots of audio.
  • I was bashing my head trying to figure this out. It took me a while, but its totally worth it.
  • Got audio that fits into the game, doesn't sound crappy and it can loop.
• I found music that actually fits into the game.
  • This is one of the most thrilling things for me to continue work on this project and I'll listen to it to make sure it fits the dialogue and the scene.
• Some choices have additional comments or animations.
  • ~ Cause more flavor ~.
• Every single scene is animated so far with relatively smooth transitions.
  • Custom animations/poses for every scene (~ mostly slightly animated, like breathing and blinking ~).
    • No stock animations in this VN!

Spoiler: example

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• Harder on whatever device you use cause its a video.
  • No idea if it'll be compatible for mobile devices...
• Particular attention to dialogue and personality (i.e. slang, relaxed, uptight, etc.), their actions will fit their personality or past experiences, etc.
  • I want characters to have their own personalities, but not make them feel like they have cliché personalities.

I've ironed out a ton of details and happily writing and rendering it. Removed some crappy ideas... (hobo man).

• Fun Fact: Remember our infamous Hobo Man? Yeah, his story arc was so short. We would've seen him get up all disoriented and adventure into the dark woods. Then suddenly black screen with some gory sounds and we'd see the image below with a shake. I put it together in RenPy to see how it would play out and I couldn't stop bawling my eyes out. It was too hilarious, but it didn't set the right mood for the VN. R.I.P. Hobo Man, this was his final moments.

I also scrapped the idea of making the KK school abandoned and the home of the VN because I can totes do better than that.

I've gone through some major polishing and design changes since my last post(s)!
So let's point out some of the stuff I did graphic-wise cause the loudest employee gets recognition and the raise.

• Brand new lighting and graphics.
  • My old graphics / lighting definitely makes me feel depressed now.
    • The new graphics just look better to me.
    • I'm being particularly meticulous with shadows and lighting.
      • Shadows will change colors depending on location and/or lighting.
        • (Under the sun ~ Yellow, Under a tree ~ Teal, Night ~ Blue, Afternoon ~ Red, Midday ~ Light Blue etc.)
      • Lens flares enabled when the sky is visible and from light sources.
      • Much better lighting than the stock Evening/Midday/Night settings.
        • (Looks at past posts in thread... lighting)
• Overhauls to main characters.
  • The new designs just have more personality to them.
  • Mix of Fantasy and Realistic proportions for the face and body.
  • Got rid of the weird side profile Koikatu tends to have.
• Lots of new textures
  • Custom clothes and accessories!
• I figured out how to control phonemes and expressions as well as things move (~ like tails, ears, hair, etc. ~).
  • It means less clipping and I won't have to rely on stock mouth and facial expressions!
• New tongue textures!
• I think I finally found the style I've been looking for.

Main character previews that will be in the novel cause their the main characters?

​

Before / After:
(Custom jacket) ( ^o^) ~!

​

Refined an old character so she can be in the VN:

​

Before / After: (Custom jacket, new ears!) ( ^ _ ^)!

​

THICC thighs. (Cause cat anatomy or maybe I just wanted THICC thighs). (-‿- )

​

Remake of our Wolf Girl:

​

Since this will be a "Slice of Life" VN I'm putting in the all the effort I can to make characters feel alive.
I always felt that emotes and expressions heightened that alive feeling and gave characters real personality.
For a more immersive experience I used references on canines and the way their ears behave based on their emotions, so here's an example of a random set of emotions for our wolf girl:

​

Before / After (Custom textures for ears and tail!) (・ε・) :

Big improvements all around, eh?
​

So I guess I want to end this post with something a bit different than what I usually post.
First and foremost, this is an adult VN. (I probably could've said that at the top of this post, huh?)
What could an adult VN possibly mean?

​

I've been practicing making my own animations in KK. Like the ones I showed in Post #7.
Here's an animation I've developed.

• Still room for improvement.
  • At least it ain't a preset! (`ω´)
• Custom breast physics.
• Normal sized PP.

Sorry if it isn't the greatest. Feel free to hate me. I'm doing my absolute best to make this an amazing development cycle and I hope y'all like this new direction I've taken.

 

[antmanx13]

Hey Beebees,

Any update on your new project? seem like something i would like to try

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

antmanx13,

I'm embarrassed and I'm very sorry for the late reply. I don't know how I want to convey my feelings.
I've rewritten this post countless times. This is the first time I have to gather my thoughts. So, again, I'm sorry.

I don't know how I want to react, so I guess honesty is all I have at the moment. I have abandoned that game (#2) and I also abandoned another game (#3). I won't explain my reason for abandoning game #2, it’s a very shameful and selfish reason. I haven't been lazy, I just don't know where to go. I've decided to go against my own ideals for my final attempt game.

The final game (#4):
I don't know which direction I want to go right now. I have a vague, watered-down vision. This is the one. I'm tired of failure after failure. From every design decision I've made up until this point this will go the opposite direction. I've been chasing after the idea that I want to make people happy. Instead I've decided this is going to be a game that makes me happy and I don't think many people are going to like it.

I don't really have details I can give out. It’s just a watered down vision. I'm not acting hasty or excited as I always do because I don't have anything to share. I'm at ground-zero with energy, creativity, and motivation. I've never thought I had talent, someone said I did, but I don't feel it. I'm at that point where I feel like I have absolutely no talent and nothing to give. I don't have the gift to recognize if something is good or not. I don't know if I have the gift to write, I've lost my gift to draw, I don't know why I decided to even show my work here.

I just like something and throw away things I don't like. That's not talent. You've probably also caught on to my "I can do better than that" and "Nothing is ever enough" attitude. My refusal to give up. All of that is gluttony. I don't have the talent to recognize if something is good or not. All you have to know is I can see practicality, uses for whatever gimmicks I can come up with, and I'm doing my best with whatever skills I have.

Anyways, this vision isn't going to be beginner novel simple ~ those are extremely boring, but it'll be simple enough to make me happy and it'll have all the elements I want in a VN. All I can do is reflect on everything I've learned and go forward - whichever direction that is. It'll be the opposite of many VNs we see today. I am regretful to say, "I am obsessed with development". I'm also ashamed to admit I've been doing a pretty lousy job with this hobby.

I don't have an art direction. I don't have a story. I don't have anything premade. All I have is something vague - an image. This vague image is it for me, despite if it fails I'll work on it and post it. Once I post it, I'll be forced to work on it or wing it. That's the rule, its why I refused to post failures like re:Install. Don't hold your breath for this project, I doubt anyone will think this is good.

That's as much as I can say. This is that vague vision I have. I don't know why I made it, so all I can do is evolve it from there.
I don't think this work is particularly good either (or really any of mine are good...).
It resembles somethings that I've been wanting in a VN, so its the only direction I'm willing to follow.
This will evolve into final game #4.
Again, I don't have an art direction (this picture is old) or any characters made, a story or plot, a title, and I've been avoiding this selfish idea like the plague, but I'm settling with it. This picture may have nothing to do with whatever I come up with. This is to make me happy after all my failures.



So here's abandonment #3 to pile onto my failures.
Why?
I couldn't figure out how I wanted to portray bad guys. It was too "complex" of a story line. I took inspiration from Gundam, but I took too much inspiration from it. Mimicry is good for learning, but I don't want to be a copy-cat.
Problems getting the intro rolling, problems designing the Gundams (mine were too simple, lots of room for improvement, and even that took a lot of brainpower to get done), problems with coming up with a main plot. Pacing was the biggest problem. If conflict happened naturally instead of day-by-day, then it'd be weeks between each conflict. If conflict happened day-by-day it would feel forced.
Worked with a different art style using 3d noses. It looked good at different angles, but I also lost a lot of details using it.

Spoiler: #3

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Building upon last post I have been working on some things such as animation.
Its relatively simple. Least amount of bugs or issues.
It's the most efficient.
I don't care what you do with it, we're on a pirate site.

Spoiler: Free Animation

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I'm sorry for my display of a pessimistic attitude. I'm overcome with extreme guilt whenever I let someone down. (＞﹏＜)
I try to uphold my integrity, but honesty is an embarrassing trait to have. I'm not a very good liar, so its not even worth trying.
I'm lost and heading in a random direction, but this is the last try. Game #4 is final. A game made for me. (It's selfish, I'm sorry.). This is why I'm warning everyone this is not going to be a game that makes many people happy.
I'm sorry, there was only bad news and nothing really worthwhile to talk about this time.
Please forgive me.

As always, feel free to ask questions. I'll do my best to answer them.

 

[antmanx13]

Hey Beebees,

You don't need to say sorry as you haven't let anyone down! I believe most games made should be selfish and intended to be written for the author (especially VNs). Also don't worry about copy-cat work, we all had to learn from something which I would say; Learn from other mistakes and improve on them; Don't learn from your mistakes...if it can be avoid!

i'm just trying to find a good/fun story with characters who are likeable and are not just the cookie cutters templates from
Koikatsu and looking at your development, you seem to showed that from game (#1) to game (#2). So with that said, I think you have a keen eye from great design and your decisions are in the right direction. A lot of games on this site have some generic stories and/or models but they still get played and support. In the end it's up to the person making the game.

So, if you do find the energy, creativity, and motivation to complete/release game (#4), let me know i wouldn't mind providing feedback or helping what I can.

Well good luck and have fun with the hobby

 

[Deleted member 1866322]

So, if you do find the energy, creativity, and motivation to complete/release game (#4), let me know i wouldn't mind providing feedback or helping what I can.

Well good luck and have fun with the hobby

Its nice to see others that care!

Thank you for the kind words, but I haven't been able to prove anything yet. I've already started development on #4, kind of fast I know, but I won't rush it. I had some help from someone who I'd consider a friend already that really helped me out and motivate me yesterday. I felt a lot of release typing that post, I'm sorry it came from your response. I really do want to thank you for that response, but I don't know how to yet.

I've got a lot of design decisions in concrete already: story, plot, setting, writing, RenPy decisions, some characters, personalities, as well as some choices. I only have story-boarding figured out for a couple of days, but I've set it up to be rather simple for me to follow. I've also started writing in RenPy. I don't know how fast I can do this, but I think it'd be foolish for me to rush this as well. #4 is it for me. I'll do my best to honor it.

I said and I did mean I will take my development in the opposite direction that includes a majority of my workflow. RenPy is my #1 priority right now. I'm writing everything first, I'll look at sounds, music, and transitions after, and then I'll start working on art direction. My goal is for my art to enhance my writing. My goal is for my writing to enhance my art.

I won't be able to recognize if something is good or not, so I'd very much welcome an outside opinion. Whenever I get a working build I'll be sure to contact you. Even if this is a hobby, I'm glad its taken me on a path meet a nice people like you.

Edit: I had a random thought. I knew I mixed up my words.