Working on The beginnings of a M/M visual novel

towboat

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May 8, 2017
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I had been toying with the idea of making a visual novel for a little while now and with the new gift of free time on my hands when not working remotely I have actually committed to the drafting of art assets, some basic scene concepts and writing for the time being.

General theme of the game centers on a small group of 20 somethings specifically two college-age guys trying to figure out their place in the world, with the focus being on the as of yet un-named best friend character and his attraction to the main character. my primary concern is writing the main cast of characters to sound believably like young adults as personally when I read VN's that lack that characterization it immediately disengages me. Though I do still plan to include a variety of content when it comes to erotic elements with the optional asides being for M/M/F, Bi, Crossdressing being some things I'm lending consideration at the moment though that will expand as I get the ball rolling especially since I know gay content isn't everyone's cup of tea. Once I have a demo I think I'll start asking for feedback for what people would like to see and write to include them in some way. Though I do wish to focus on the writing to find a good mix between believable and enjoyable to make it feel a bit more engaging if that makes any sense.



So far I have been putting most of my time into improving and retrying drawing poses and am slowly making satisfactory progress on that aspect though I am encountering trouble with regards to a few things namely access to placeholder assets( such as backgrounds and sound effects) as well as a complete lack of an understanding as to how to work with renpy.

I have no prior experience coding or anything of the like and I see now that neglecting to have gotten into that earlier on has come to bite me as I am utterly confused by even the simplest of programs, as of right now I am tempted to utilize unity instead and use a framework tool to avoid coding all together because getting the engine to do what I'd like it to is difficult. If anyone knows of an idiot proofed guide to creating scenes and interactable hubs i.e. going from interior to overworld map it would be greatly appreciated.

In the meantime I will continue with the writing and sketching though I was hoping to have the basic skeleton of the game set up so I could have it laid out in front of me rather than being this disorganized mess but I will have to make do. Eventually, once I've got all the sketching done and more writing filled out I can start work on fully rendering images but I'd rather have them laid out before me first so that I might focus plus I need to work on my rendering before I feel comfortable including it in even so much as a demo this project is a opportunity to force my hand to improve at drawing digitally by holding me to dead lines and the expectations of others.
 
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KiaAzad

Member
Feb 27, 2019
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For the background placeholders you can use
As a suggestion: focus on the character art since that's the most important part of every game and you have a big advantage doing it yourself, leave the programming and writing for later.
If you end up going with renpy as your game engine, feel free to contact me on discord (Kia#6810) with your questions, I'll be glad to help you.
 
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