VN Ren'Py The Artist [Development Thread]

[Grotslot]

The Artist

Step into the shoes of a successful lawyer in ‘The Artist’, a gripping and dramatic visual novel.
After a run of bad luck on the dating scene, and having seemingly explored every avenue available to you,
you unexpectedly meet a woman named Ava who captures your heart and attention.

You find yourself falling into a deepening relationship that is hard to get a grasp of. Ava is an
utterly mysterious muse that brings curiosity and so many feelings out of you that make you second guess yourself
endlessly. She is the kind of woman that will make you question everything you know about relationships.

With multiple possible endings and a branching narrative that adapts based on your choices,
‘The Artist’ takes you on an emotional and thrilling journey through the depths of love, trust, and betrayal.
Will you stand by the side of love, even as suspicions mount? Will you cut ties to continue on? Possibly even move on with your life?

Explore the intricacies of human relationships and make tough decisions that will shape
the outcome of the story in this unforgettable visual novel.
‘The Artist’ will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

​

Language: English
Genre/ F95 Tags:

Spoiler: Reveal

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Discord:

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Development Team: Grotslot (Artist) | Xaøs (Programmer) | JoeTheMerc (Writer) | You? (Second Artist)
Where: F95 |

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Introduction:
The purpose of this development thread is to keep the community updated on how things are progressing with 'The Artist', as well as a diary for the team to look back on from time to time to see how far we've come.

Development has only recently (and officially) started having successfully recruited our programmer (Xaøs), and our freelance writer (JoeTheMerc). Update speeds are very important to us so that we can break the mould of long, drawn out update intervals. Due to personal reasons, one of our team had to leave so we are on the lookout for a second artist to assist with posing!

The entirety of Act 1 (six chapters in total) is written, giving the first act an estimate 2-4 hours of play time depending on your reading style. There will be 3 acts in total, and the total duration is currently planned at between 6-10 hours long.

The posing and renders have already started for the first chapter, and are going swimmingly if I say so myself. As soon as enough content has been generated, Xaøs will work his magic on getting everything ready on the coding side.

It is worth nothing that this won't be the type of visual novel that you can click through to get to the lewd scenes, and would only recommend to those who enjoy a bloody good story along with their boobs. 'The Artist' will be heavily focused on story. We feel we have a really great story to tell, and aren't going to follow the theme of a quick sex game with no context. There will be sex, but it will be meaningful, emotional, and with purpose. Along with the unique artstyle, we really hope you come to love what we are creating as much as we do.

Feel free to ask any questions we haven't answered, and be sure to follow the thread to keep up to date with development. You can also join our Discord server to stay up to date, whichever you prefer! We look forward to hearing your feedback on the updates we give, and we can't wait for you to get your hands on 'The Artist'!

 

[Entropylol]

Hi, any ntr planned? Also, any futa character planned?

 

[Grotslot]

Hi, any ntr planned? Also, any futa character planned?

Hey! No NTR or Futa planned

 

[Grotslot]

Preview Images - 20/03/2023

Feast your eyes on some of our previews. Things are still under development so they may change slightly in the final product, but you get an idea of our style! Would be great to hear your thoughts! (Click the image to enlarge )

 

[Grotslot]

The Artist - Character Preview (27/03/2023)



Ava Blackwood is a 28-year-old artist with an alluring, enigmatic, and seductive personality. She enjoys hobbies like painting, reading, swimming, and hiking, finding peace in nature. However, Ava is also very guarded and has trust issues due to her insecurities. She can be a bit of a mystery to those around her, but if you're up for the challenge, Ava has many layers to explore.​

 

[Grotslot]

The team is complete!

Plastic Moon has agreed to join us as our second artist! Full steam ahead as we get ready for our first release, and with a full team behind us, it should be ready in no time at all!

 

[gloomyghost]

This looks really interesting! Loving the art style and your ideas behind it. Will keep a close eye on it!

 

[Grotslot]

This looks really interesting! Loving the art style and your ideas behind it. Will keep a close eye on it!

Thank you! Also, Strangers on Paper... *chef's kiss*

 

[Grotslot]

Update - 29/03/2023

Our Steam page has been approved and is now visible to the public! If your prefered platform is Steam, you can add The Artist to your wishlist ready for release! You can find the Steam page here:

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[osanaiko]

Love the art style! Is it based on a specific filter or are your team doing the overpainting manually?

Edit: and those facial expressions!!!! awesome!

 

[Grotslot]

Love the art style! Is it based on a specific filter or are your team doing the overpainting manually?

Edit: and those facial expressions!!!! awesome!

Thank you!

The art style is a combination of several different filters and processes in Photoshop. I don't want to admit how much trial and error it took to get to where it is now! However, the workflow is now saved as a Photoshop Action so it now takes around 10 seconds per image to convert to this art style

 

[osanaiko]

Maybe after you do some releases you could share?

 

[Grotslot]

Maybe after you do some releases you could share?

View attachment 2506150

Haha! I imagine I will share the action file at some point Can't say when though!

 

[Grotslot]

Update - 03/04/2023

We are pleased to announce that our

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page is now live, which will allow us to connect more directly with those who choose to support us and provide them with exclusive updates and insights into the game's development. Our Patreon rewards and tiers may change from time to time to better serve our supporters' needs, so be sure to check back regularly for updates.

We are thrilled to see that the number of Steam wishlists for 'The Artist' has performed better than we anticipated. This is a great indication of the interest and excitement that people have for the game, and we are grateful for your support.

On a less positive note, we had to say goodbye to our newly joined artist due to personal issues. We wish him the best and are currently in the process of searching for another artist to join our team.

Despite this setback, we have made significant progress in the development of 'The Artist'. We spent some time tweaking the night time scenes, and we believe that we have achieved the perfect balance between atmosphere and clarity. We are also in talks with a composer who is willing to produce an entirely original soundtrack for the game. This will provide a unique and immersive experience for players, and we are excited about the prospect of this collaboration.

In addition to these developments, we have already planned out Act Two and expanded upon it to provide a more detailed idea of what we want to happen. This will allow us to get to work on Act Two immediately once Act One is released, which is very exciting news for us.

We are pleased to report that we are almost halfway through with the posing and rendering process, which is a significant milestone considering that we only started a short while ago. With a good chunk of the work done, we are now able to begin programming the game, which is an essential step towards bringing 'The Artist' to life.

As we move forward in the development of 'The Artist', we will continue to keep you updated on our progress. We are thrilled to have such a dedicated and enthusiastic community behind us, and we are confident that the finished product will be worth the wait.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to sharing more exciting updates with you soon.

 

[Grotslot]

Update - 11/04/2023

Hey everyone!

First of all, if you celebrate it then happy Easter! If you don't, then happy weekend number 14 of 2023! We hope you're all enjoying your chocolate eggs, spending time with your loved ones, and taking care of yourselves!



We've got some great news to share on the development of 'The Artist'. We've officially crossed the halfway mark with the posing and rendering process, and we're feeling pretty proud of ourselves. It's been a blast creating the art for the game, and we think it shows in the quality and speed in which we're doing them.

We've also started programming the game, and our programmer is making fantastic progress. It's so exciting to see everything coming together and taking shape.



We're currently planning on expanding some of the dialogue to create a more immersive and deeper experience when playing 'The Artist'. We want players to feel like they're really part of the story, and we think these changes will help achieve that.

We're also thrilled to see that Steam wishlists for 'The Artist' continue to rise. It's always awesome to see people excited about our game!



That's all for now. Thanks for following our progress and being part of our community. We'll keep you updated with more exciting news as we continue to work on 'The Artist'.
​

 

[Grotslot]

Update - 23/04/2023

Hey everyone! Another update on the development of 'The Artist' here for you. First of all, we have started playing around with what we imagine the main menu to look like. The video below is what we're currently leaning towards. It fits in with the theme of the novel and the songe choice... I can't remember where I heard this song before but I'm a sucker for it! Let us know what you think to our menu!


Whilst we were on the topic of main menus, we decided to mock up what the text box would look like. I know there are a lot of people that want a text box, and a lot of people that can do without. The textbox will be on by default, but can be turned off in the settings for those who prefer it without! The simple brush stroke image of the text box keeps in line with the theme of the VN whilst helping the text stand out more! What are you prefrences on textboxes?



Lastly, we have been working on some custom transitions! This transition won't be to swap between each image, but rather used as a device to indicate a scene change or a pass in time if the scene doesn't change. We weren't happy with the ones built into Ren'Py for this purpose, and feel that the custom transition adds a little more depth into the whole visual experience. Let us know what you think!


Lastly, the progress graph has been updated and we are flying with the renders. It's a testement to how much fun we are having developing the VN given how fast we are churning out the renders. We will have to go back and fix a handful before release, but in the grand scheme of things it won't take long at all!

Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing your thoughts on our progress so far! ​

 

[osanaiko]

Grotslot I think you missed two images in your latest post.

 

[Grotslot]

Grotslot I think you missed two images in your latest post.

Hmmm.... odd. I'm guessing it's the two videos that are missing, but they are showing up for me! On mobile and desktop!

 

[osanaiko]

Hmmm.... odd. I'm guessing it's the two videos that are missing, but they are showing up for me! On mobile and desktop!

Actually it was just two images in the center of the post. And they are showing for me now too. I think it might have been a hiccup in the f95 attachement handling - i had an issue attaching an image to a different post earlier.

 

[Grotslot]

Actually it was just two images in the center of the post. And they are showing for me now too. I think it might have been a hiccup in the f95 attachement handling - i had an issue attaching an image to a different post earlier.

Awesome! Glad it's working for you now