Progress Update 10/4/2022

Hello all! I'm back with another progress update. And a WIP picture of a lovely tea party at Laute castle. Doesn't everyone just look so thrilled to be there?

Overall

So things have been going really well. The itch banner is in the works, and it looks really great so far! Credit goes to SimonAdventure (https://twitter.com/SimonAdventure). 

Here's a sneak peek!

I think it might make a good start screen too, we'll see. 

In other art news, I'll be releasing a Sahi sketch I had commissioned along with his scene I'll be posting tomorrow!

A sahi scene?! you ask?? Yes! I did a poll on twitter in celebration of finishing the draft of chapter 1 (1/3 for the demo) and Sahi won, so I'll be posting one of his scenes. There's another poll going on to choose which dialogue option I'll reveal, so feel free to add your vote! So far, spoiled is winning: https://twitter.com/CapMinyan/status/1576621865711243266

Writing

I'm really happy with how the writing has been going! For the most part things are flowing pretty well, and I've gotten a good feel for how I think the choices will affect things. I'll have to do some testing to see if it's balanced, but right now I'm really happy with the amount of options there are, as well as the content. I'm striving to put at least 1000 words in each choice option that's not a full branch, to allow for a lot of deployability. Word count isn't everything, but since this is a more "traditional" visual novel than I usually do, my goal is to really stretch myself in terms of the choices, since that is it in terms of gameplay. So for this draft I have my basic idea of how I want it to go, but I'll probably flesh out a lot of the options during editing. 

There are two types of choice menus in Celestial Crowns. 

One is a stat-raising menu, where you have anywhere from 3 to 9 choices, and whichever you pick will increase that particular stat (remember, confident, practical, witty, impulsive, naive, spoiled, aggressive, strategic, gentle—just rolls off the tongue, I know). 

The other is an unlocked menu, where you have anywhere from 3 to 9 choices, but only the options you have enough stats for will be unlocked. I talked about this a bit in the intro post, but while the options will remain locked until you get enough points, getting more points in a certain facet will not lock out others. Too much aggressiveness is never going to lock out the gentle choices, for example. 

There are also options that have no associated personality facet, for the cases where you don't have high enough stats for any of the choices offered. 

Here's an example of a menu I'm currently working on. 

So you need at least 4 "wit" points in order to unlock the first option, at least 4 "spoiled" points in order to unlock the second, and so on and so forth. And the fourth option is always available. 

UI

There is so much news in the land of UI! For me, I don't know why, but the textbox is like...the ultimate expression of the entire game. The themes, the heart, the whole look of the game has to be in the textbox. So I'm always constantly reanalyzing and redoing the textbox. BUT, I think I've found a winner.

(background isa temporary background that will likely be used for the demo, courtesy of Rachel Chen's assets)

I'm really happy with the design, I think it has the decadent, kind of over-indulgent feel I want, while still being simple and readable. The character names are not likely to stay in that font because I find it a bit hard to read, but I'm happy with everything else. 

I also have programmed in the choice menu! Do you all remember the logo?

WELL, each planet actually represents one of the personality facets! So, they will be shown along with the choices (if the choice represents one of them), as a visual representation. It will also have the short name for that personality facet (confidence will be "con," for example) so it's clear and will work with screen readers.

With textbox and choices done, everything else should fall into place. I wasn't technically supposed to start working on this yet (oops) but whenever I test out the options and everything I just like having something pretty to look at. 

Speaking of choices, at the beginning of the game you will be given a choice as to what you want your "title" to be. "Your Majesty," "My Lord," etc. I have a lot here, but do you have any other ideas? Throw them out and I might include them in the game!

So far there's your highness, your majesty, sire, my queen, my king, my monarch, my lady, my lord, and Supreme.

Art

As I mentioned, I've been commissioning a few pieces, but nothing too exciting on the art front yet. I want to finish the writing for the demo before I decide what CGs will go in, so they won't be started until after that's done at the end of October. I do want to make the game page prettier though, so I can draw some more interest and spread the word of the game, even though it's still in the early stages.

I am still looking for a BG artist, though I'm commissioning a test piece, so we'll see how that goes.

Conclusion

Everything is going according to schedule! Ahead of schedule, actually. 

I'm on scene 15 out of 30 for the demo. Literally halfway there! I fully anticipate finishing the writing before Halloween. And once the writing is done, well, for me, that's half the battle! For once, I am only doing the sprite art for the game, so this will allow me to really focus on the writing and programming. There are still three more side character sprites that have yet to be revealed though, so stay tuned for them! 

One of them might even be a potential love interest if the kickstarter goes well... ;)