Time for the sixth installment of the Diary of Morn. This time I'll be talking about my writing workflow. How I go from a blank page to a full scene with images and soundeffects in Ren'Py. Also you can check out the current progress in development in the picture above. As you can see there is still quite a lot to do, but I'm definitely getting closer and closer.
My Workflow:
After four years of working on these games and going through trial and error with many different processes for my writing, I've arrived at a method that always follows the same general path. It consists of five steps and we are gonna go through each of those. This time without any pictures in between, because I don't want to show my WIP files. They would spoil the plot.
Also I'm not talking about how I came up with the plot, I'm talking about how I execute on it and write the scenes I've already imagined.
Step 1, Coming From and Going To:
The first question I always ask myself is, where is the scene coming from and where is it going to? That means both physically and emotionally. How do the characters feel at the start of the scene, how do they feel at the end? Where are they physically at the beginning of a scene and where do they end up? And if they feel exactly the same and nothing else changed, then can't the scene just be left out?
Then, when I'm set on the coming from and going to, I write a quick summary for the scene. A few sentences describing what is gonna happen inbetween the coming from and going to. Sometimes, when I'm stuck, I also write down the goals of a scene. Like, what do I want to show with this scene? And then use that goal to better define the coming from and going to as well as the summary.
Step 2, A rough Draft:
Keeping my notes from step one in mind I now open up my .rpy files in which I write my Ren'py scripts and simply start writing. I don't care how the first draft turns out, or to say it differently, It always turns out shit, but that doesn't matter. It's part of the process. Over the years I've realized that writing actually scares me, as it is the point in the development of the game where all the good theories and ideas have to bow down to the harsh reality that my skills aren't limitless. Far from it even. So I always end up stalling and waiting for the "right moment". That's why my first draft is always shit. I try to just drown out the high expecations I have of myself and simply go at it. I have a much easier time editing existing texts than staring at a blank page.
While writing I keep imagining the sounds and the images that go with the text and I note them all down. Kinda like I'm writing a scuffed screenplay.
A few lines of dialog.
Then some notes on how the next image should look.
Then more dialog.
Notes on sound effects and music at that moment.
More dialog.
More dialog.
Notes on how the image looks.
More dialog.
And so on.
Step 3, Starting the Renders:
With the first draft done I open up Blender and start rendering. Based on the notes on how the images should look from the first draft I start posing the characters, position the camera and light the scene. Step by step I render out all the images I imagined. But most of the time I find inconsistencies at this point. I imagined things that are difficult to do or just look strange, or the continuity of images makes no sense and doesn't actually fit the dialog. That means the renders or dialog need to be changed and adapted.
So while I'm rendering out the images for the scene I start going over the script and with each image that gets out I play throuh it in Ren'Py and start making edits. Refining timings for image switches, changing dialog completely and also completely changing renders if necessary. I'm basically working simultaneously on the renders, as well as the second draft for the script. But, I do not strife for a finished script at this point either. The focus lies on getting the renders done, not on refining the script.
Step 4, Refining the Script:
I have my dialog, I have my renders, now it's time to put everything together. In step four I start working on a script that can actually be shown to the world. I go through it line by line, keeping my notes from step one in mind and make sure that the scene is any good. Check the renders and start implementing the music and sound effects while I go through the script. Checking all timings, if it all works like I intended and if not, I change it up.
This part of the process is pretty slow and can take hours for even small scenes. But it's where everything comes together and I have something that you can actually play and enjoy. It is a very intuitive process and I can't say why I'm making certain decisions, why I want a pause longer, an image change faster a soundeffect one line of dialog earlier. I just feel it out and trust my instinct to produce something that is good. When I'm done mixing dialog, images and sound together and have made sure they align with the coming from and going to from step one, I move on to the final step.
Step 5, Some Polish:
Step five is simple. First, I take a few steps back, sleep on the scene for a night or two and try to forget it all. Then, I do exactly what I did in step four. Going through the entire scene, making sure that everything works out, that the timings for image changes and sounds are good, that the scene actually does transport the informaton I want it to transport etc.
Sometimes I do very little in this step as I'm already happy with what I had before, but other times I completely rewrite it all. Although the latter rarely happens as I usually take care of bad scripts in step four. It does happen from time to time though.
Last words:
And that is pretty much it. My entire writing workflow. Or at least my current one. It was different for the most part while I developed MIST. Back then I often made decisions around my technical limitations and time constraints, now that I've deepened my Blender skills and knowledge about writing, my creative decisions are a bit more clear and less burdened with technical skills. I used all that knowledge I gained developing MIST to make this workflow for Children of Morn, but that also means it might change when I learn the next lesson.
I hope that was interesting or insightful for some people and wish you all a great week. You'll hear from me with the next Diary of Morn and maybe I'll soon be able to actually put out a release date, who knows.
