- Oct 29, 2021
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- Thread starter BaasB
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- Oct 29, 2021
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- Oct 29, 2021
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- Oct 29, 2021
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Hey guys! If you've seen a lack of communication from me or anything, it's due to the fact that my work got hit with the most business we've ever had, and I've been forced to work overtime as well as monitor younger workers and... *sigh* it's just been a mess. I've been going home and sleeping pretty much every day, and I WILL admit I've been grinding cod pretty hard, but sometimes when I take time to write I get distracted with actual real life responsibilities and family. Gross. However, the team as a whole is still working, and I'm taking a small vacation from work to reset and will be writing a LOT during that time.
I recently finished writing my longest scene to date, which ended up at 3893 words in one scene. For reference, the longest scene before this one (by word count) was Haru's scene, which was around 3500 words, and only had around 80 actual shots, and most of the word count comes from the dialogue tree in that scene. I had a lot of fun and ideas for bits in this one, even though it was a struggle. Small spoiler; this scene involves an unlikely pair in Autumn and Elara, which led to some difficulties writing their interactions, since I had to put myself in different mindsets while writing each of them. I really do like how it turned out, with the mc getting hit with the one two combo of the Manic Mystery and the Skater Girl.
Wanted to mention this again; I talked before about Winter not being in release 2 all that much. She will physically show up; unfortunately, that does not mean she will have a lot of screen time. I know she has already created an impact outside of the game, but I aim to give her a large impact in the game, even with her minimal screen time. I promise it's true when I say that her current lack of screen time has a meaning and reason. It's not something we will get to right away, though, so be patient, and keep thinking about it!
When it comes to scenes, in the time since I last messaged, we have finished about 4 scenes, I think. There is still a ton to do, though. We have only finished one major scene; those will be the giant time sinks, so we will have to keep at it and work hard. We are consistently working and also plan to get this out to you sooner rather than later. I want to remind everyone though, that if you expect some crazy instant release with everyone working extremely hard and getting it done by next week; I would LOVE that, however our group is working on a pay split between a small amount of money, so while we still all want to get this out to you guys, our IRL sources of income come first.
That's all for the update, but now I'd like to hear from you guys; I didn't have much to say this update, and I'd like to find more to say next update, or in between updates. What can I talk about each dev Log? What would you like to hear between each one? How can I help you interact and be more excited for the next update? I want to keep you guys as excited as possible for release two. It's gonna be a banger, I think.
Thank you, guys! Make sure to keep up on the discord and interact with fellow AVNers!
-Lampy
- Oct 29, 2021
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Hey guys! I wanted to interact with you guys a bit more with Patreon posts. I'm going to make this one members only, but not paid; I'm going to save that for stuff listed on member descriptions, like exclusive renders, nsfw versions of promos, Playdaz renders, and voting. Check out the membership levels if you're interested!
So here's some fun facts about Once Again! (no spoilers)
The original idea I had for a game was actually a short one. I wanted to make something that had direct meaning and relevance to my life, so the story was about the stuff you'd miss out on if you ended your own life, and the people that would miss you. However, I couldn't find a way to convey it properly in a short story format and felt it lacked impact. As I gathered a team together, I got another idea for a game...
The true idea for Once Again came from a really bad manga. I would often read manga when bored around this time, and I read one with one of my favorite story templates; going back in time to when you were younger. If I gave details about the story you guys might get the wrong idea about how much inspiration I took, so I will refrain from saying anything else for now. But let's just say I decided to start making Once Again because I read the manga, thought it was shit, and wanted to make a better version of it. Oh my god, the twist was SO bad in it too, Jesus Christ
Did you know Winter used to look a LOT different? Long time fans of the game may be aware that before release, she got a huge makeover. What most of you guys aren't aware of, however, is the journey that was the creation of Winter 2.0; and by journey, I mean absolute torture for Krash. It took 3 weeks to pick from a bunch of premade models, remakes, custom models, and other stuff before Krash was able to make one I was satisfied with. Krash probably still holds a bit of resentment for that one.
Heres the original Winter.
Another fun fact is that Harper used to be named Joey. That was changed right before release, and actually caused a lot of issues in our system, due to some profile bug. Thank God Hex is a miracle worker. I still have no clue what happened. The only real reason for the change was her name was really similar to Joy, and Joy's name was important to me.
Joy and Jenny are twins, and their names both reference the same show. Do you have any idea what they're referencing? Hint: they're both parts of very large families, and all their sisters share the same name.
Last fact of the day; no, Autumn is not trans. I actually considered making a main girl trans, but felt it was best to confine the trans girls to a side girl, to make sure people didn't feel forced to have a relationship to a trans girl if they weren't into that. Again, you're not forced to date anyone in the game, but it was just an example.
Thats it for this post! I actually wanted to add more facts, but the Patreon app is being an absolute menace right now. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed!
- Oct 29, 2021
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- Oct 29, 2021
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TLDR in comments.
In the opening paragraph of my page for Once Again's description, I alluded to the fact that the game was about using your "limitless powers" of memory from the first loop to do whatever you want. That was kind of my initial idea, but I dropped that idea pretty early in development. While the game does have elements based on using your memories of the past timeline/loop in order to shape your current journey, MCs memory is severely limited. He has to go through mental hurdles and unexpected triggers in order to recover his memories.
So while I advertised stuff about "winning the lottery" and "limitless powers," that's not in the cards for the story I created, and it was something I failed to even think about changing. While this may give an impression that I'm really bad with little details, that's not true. I'm just an idiot lmao
Heres some other things I want to clear up:
I, Lampy, do none of the art for the game. I often post promo renders, and most of them are done by Krash, who does way too much in the game already. The game would be dead in the water without him or Hex, our coder. Rick was our artist for the first release, but he left due to real-world conflicts. Our current artists are Farmer and Astro, and we also have Lovorko on animations.
The two trans characters are Harper (MC met her at the Cafe, she's Haru's coworker) and Jenny (Joy - the bookstore worker's- twin. You haven't met her yet. Jenny has blueish hair and Joy has reddish.) While there is an option to turn off trans romance, that does not mean that the trans women will disappear from the plot; Harper shares a class with MC, and Jenny... well, you'll learn the twins' gimmick in the next release.
The main girls are Summer, Winter, Autumn, and Haru (Haru means Spring in Japanese). The naming process started as a gimmick, but I think it actually does really well for their characters and adds personality to the game. These main 4 are also referred to as "The Seasons," so if you ever see that, I'm talking about the main 4.
Winter is VERY important to the story. I've seen concerns that just because she hasn't physically shown up that I will forget about her, but we will prove to you guys just how important she really is. For now, though, we have to let the story form properly.
Chapter 1 (the next release) is another introductory chapter. The chapter will still be focusing on world building- but that will not stop the story from being built as well. You're not just meeting the good guys this chapter, after all.
There will potentially be a 1.5 chapter with a pool party. It will be shorter than Chapter 1 but probably longer than the prologue. This will be the first taste of freeroam type scene- no confusing navigation, though, just a lot of variables Krash and I will have to keep track of. However, girls in bikinis!!!!!
I've seen a lot of questions and concerns about CNL or the Chaotic/Neutral/Lawful system. While these don't seem to have much meaning so far, they will, I promise. As someone who doesn't play rpgs with this alignment system, I'm working with the nerdiest of nerds to make sure we do this right. You won't notice big changes around CNL anytime soon, just minor changes; however, I've got a lot planned out. Just think of it like this; chaotic means you don't care about your consequences, neutral means you have a "shit happens" mindset, lawful means you are focused on doing things correctly.
Summer's variables are "love" and "relationship." To clear those up; "Love" is equal to her viewing MC romantically, where "relationship" is equal to her viewing him more as a friend. The variable names WILL be changed.
MC is not changing physically. It's too far in the dev process to change how he looks. That won't stop us from improving him, though!
When it comes to the seriousness of the plot and subject of the game vs. some of the goofiness - expect goofiness in the beginning. My humor is fucking dumb, and I love goofy jokes and scenes. However, the game will get serious, and I'm going to work hard to feel out the script to make sure everything flows naturally, and we don't have any drastic inappropriate mood shifts. I understand your concern on that end and it's totally valid, however I do not want to compromise mood identity.
I'm not gonna talk much about the payment thing, but remember, I'm doing rev share with a crew for MY dream job, and they deserve to be paid for the great work they do. I understand all your points; however please stop trying to convince me to change things about the way we work our revenue, because it's a group decision, and trying to tell me how I'm wrong for it is just shouting to the wind.
Thats it! Thank you, guys, for your support, I see all of it and am very thankful for it. Can't wait to bring you more info on the next release log!
-Lampert
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Last edited:
- Feb 21, 2023
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Tried to check in the thread but I don't think it was asked/answered.
I saw that this is not a harem game, is it possible to romance everyone if I want to or I'll have to choose an LI before the end and thus miss scenes with other LIs?
Basically I don't replay games, so if this game has a lot of branching and makes me miss a lot of content I rather not try it out.
Thanks and good luck!
I saw that this is not a harem game, is it possible to romance everyone if I want to or I'll have to choose an LI before the end and thus miss scenes with other LIs?
Basically I don't replay games, so if this game has a lot of branching and makes me miss a lot of content I rather not try it out.
Thanks and good luck!
There will probably be a decent amount of branching. You are right there is no harem, but I am pretty sure dev said he has a couple throuples in mind.(not sure who yet, I have an idea of one though)
- Feb 21, 2023
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Oh I didn't see that then, my bad.
Based on what you said it does look like this game will have quite a few branches so I'll probably miss a lot by only having one playthrough.
Thanks anyway, good luck to the dev.