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Hello everyone. This will be the longest update about the development process of Destined Dreams. I want to give detailed explanations about what’s happening in the process on three topics.
Story, Art and Coding.
Story
As you might known if you checked my previous updates, I finished the script of Destined Dreams way before I started with art and coding. It was done from day 1 of the development. I have improved it over the past 5 months, of course, but now, I’m giving more detail to the branches that we can choose in the game. After working on coding for the past months, I realized there is a huge potential in making branches more interesting. With this realization, I’m working on improving them a little bit but that’s not affecting the development process at all.
In Episode 1, there will be a major branching choice that will lead up to 2 totally different scenes. I’m not talking about minor dialog changes or anything. It will totally give you different stories based on whatever you choose. I’m not spoiling that. With that, I’m planning to increase the replayability aspect of the game. That branch also means you will get to shape your MC in minor and major ways. Of course, some dialogs can shape your character but with the branching choices, you will get to play the game as you want. Be a romantic, be a womanizer, or focus on your dream LI. That will be up to you. I planned the whole story in my mind and I’m committed to finishing Destined Dreams with that plan.
Art
I've largely completed the characters Evelyn, Zoey, and Olivia. They are three of the main LI’s in Destined Dreams. Since the characters we'll use in the first Episode will form the foundation of the game. That doesn’t mean I will not be adding more characters in the upcoming episodes but these are our main LI’s in Destined Dreams. I'm paying extra attention to their poses, outfits, and overall vibe. I'm also trying to make the characters as different as possible from each other, both in personality and appearance. That's why creating character designs and poses is taking longer than usual. In addition to what I've done before, I've added extra poses and facial expressions for the characters.
I'm also revising and improving the characters I made earlier, trying to make them more harmonious with other characters and the background. For example, even though Elizabeth was already completed, I reworked her body and adapted her to the semi-realistic art style I had planned from the beginning. Some feedback from Reddit suggested a more cartoony style, but overall, when we look at Destined Dreams, a semi-realistic style suits the game much better, both in terms of gameplay and visual style. That's why I'm paying attention to anatomical consistency when creating the characters. In addition to in-game illustrations, I've mostly completed the UI designs as well. The game now has its own visual style. The main menu design and dialogue box are almost in their final form. I’ll update you on that matter later since It’s not really a big deal.
Coding
The hardest aspect of the Destined Dreams personally. Thanks to the Ren’Py, I’m learning how to do most of the things I want in the game. I want to add some minigames. Even though I’m not a fan of minigames in Visual Novels, I think that will spice up things in the playthrough. They will be optional but still, I want them to be part of the game for immersion. I was working with creating art and coding simultaneously but I stopped doing that to finish 3 remaining characters. That’s why I’m not coding the game for the moment. But, the foundation of the game is already ready. Branching will be a little tough for me to do but as I told in the story section, all the branching parts are ready and all I have to do is implement them into the code. I need to do lots of testing of those branching parts which will I update you later on.
Overall, the Development process is going as planned. No delays and no rush. I’m too picky when it comes to making art. Lots of revises are happening in the background that I can’t update you on because It’s not a huge visual improvisation but just fixing the issues that caught my eye. Thank you for being this early in the development process. I’ll see you all later with great visual updates.