It’s Saturday and I’m writing a blog post! Let’s just say my partner has been playing a lot of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (basically hogging the TV) so I’m working a lot more, whilst watching him play of course. It really is a fantastic game; I love watching!
Personally, I’m playing Virtue’s Last Reward on the Vita at the moment. I figured I’ve actually only played a handful of visual novels so really need to play more for research. So far (9 hours in) it’s great! Smartly written and certainly something for me to aspire too, though it is half a puzzle game too, not just a visual novel, like mine.
Anyway, I’ve had an interesting fortnight. I’ve finally started designing the UI, but after about 1-2 days using a design, I start to hate it. I’ve made 3 designs so far and I think I’m happy with the latest one, but it’s only for the in-game section. I haven’t given much thought to the real life UI designs yet, mainly because I’ve not created much artwork for it. I feel, to design a UI, I need enough artwork to get a better idea of how it should look. I don’t think UI should be made last minute and slapped over the top of a game: It should be part of it, just like the character sprites, backgrounds and music are, or should be.
I modelled a bunch of in-game pets and monsters last week, then began to refine Emarin’s (the lycan) design. This is what I ended up with.
He’s been decimated to look more low-poly, but I love him! I mentioned in a previous blog post that I was really out of my comfort zone, designing a werewolf/ lycan, but I couldn’t be more please with how he turned out, though I still may make edits further down the line, haha!
Otherwise, I’ve been coding, writing and contemplating a lot in the last 2 weeks: I’ve had so many cool ideas that I need to get in the game! That doesn’t mean I’m pumping more content into the game that simply shouldn’t be there; rather, I’m removing a load of mediocre ideas and swapping them for new ones. I guess it’s natural for ideas to evolve like this over time; after all, I’ve nearly been working on this game for a year now... God.
Here are some more low-poly backgrounds anyway. I’ve noticed that the reception of these is better the brighter/ more colourful the image, so I’m going to start creating some brighter backgrounds in future. A lot of the game has looked pretty eerie so far anyway, I need to lighten up!
Personally, I’m playing Virtue’s Last Reward on the Vita at the moment. I figured I’ve actually only played a handful of visual novels so really need to play more for research. So far (9 hours in) it’s great! Smartly written and certainly something for me to aspire too, though it is half a puzzle game too, not just a visual novel, like mine.
Anyway, I’ve had an interesting fortnight. I’ve finally started designing the UI, but after about 1-2 days using a design, I start to hate it. I’ve made 3 designs so far and I think I’m happy with the latest one, but it’s only for the in-game section. I haven’t given much thought to the real life UI designs yet, mainly because I’ve not created much artwork for it. I feel, to design a UI, I need enough artwork to get a better idea of how it should look. I don’t think UI should be made last minute and slapped over the top of a game: It should be part of it, just like the character sprites, backgrounds and music are, or should be.
I modelled a bunch of in-game pets and monsters last week, then began to refine Emarin’s (the lycan) design. This is what I ended up with.
He’s been decimated to look more low-poly, but I love him! I mentioned in a previous blog post that I was really out of my comfort zone, designing a werewolf/ lycan, but I couldn’t be more please with how he turned out, though I still may make edits further down the line, haha!
Otherwise, I’ve been coding, writing and contemplating a lot in the last 2 weeks: I’ve had so many cool ideas that I need to get in the game! That doesn’t mean I’m pumping more content into the game that simply shouldn’t be there; rather, I’m removing a load of mediocre ideas and swapping them for new ones. I guess it’s natural for ideas to evolve like this over time; after all, I’ve nearly been working on this game for a year now... God.
Here are some more low-poly backgrounds anyway. I’ve noticed that the reception of these is better the brighter/ more colourful the image, so I’m going to start creating some brighter backgrounds in future. A lot of the game has looked pretty eerie so far anyway, I need to lighten up!
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That’s pretty much it for now, I guess. I’m going to finish the library background (for the real life section) next week, then work on concepting Zoe’s family. I have some rough ideas in my head of how they should look, but none scribbled down.
Afterwards, I’m taking a very important break from game development to work on my website, portfolio and social media channels. They need a lot of TLC, and that stuff is super important, nearly as much as the game itself.
Take care all, see you next time ;-)
Afterwards, I’m taking a very important break from game development to work on my website, portfolio and social media channels. They need a lot of TLC, and that stuff is super important, nearly as much as the game itself.
Take care all, see you next time ;-)