hello!

i know i normally post these at the start of a new month, but seeing as how i hadnt posted anything on here for a while due to taking the demo down i decided to throw one up a bit earlier to share some stuff. first off, the demo is back up - im not really happy with it, but because my jam plans basically fell apart i decided to just leave it up since its the only playable thing for the forseeable future. im going back and forth on if i want to leave it mostly in tact, or if i want to overhaul it with mercys new sprite and whatnot but thats a bridge i will cross when the rest of part one is written and coded in. same goes for andersens side portrait - i need to redo his sprite layering and then do expressions and im not doing any of that until everything else is finished.

ive decided i am just never going to stress myself out with jam deadlines and whatnot, im the type of person that works better in spurts with long periods of rest inbetween and so its just not feasible to do such a big project like this for any jam. sure, less eyes will be on the project - but honestly thats for the better, i think. less chance of harassment for the content my game contains, lol.

i knew the jam dream was over the moment i decided to redo some sprites, especially now that i am considering the entire main cast. we shall see if i actually go through with it - the only one im not touching is vyka, i think his sprite is fine and he already has a lot of his expressions done. the only unfortunate thing is i have to kind of redraw parts of his body for layering things, but thats true for the other two boys that have not recieved a makeover either. i was an idiot when i made the initial sprites, and EVERYTHING is on a single layer. if you are an aspiring vn dev/artist, please, i am begging you, for your own sake dont do this. lol, spare yourself the pain and misery

Mercenya - the new one also has an alternate hairstyle not shown here!

Rian - this is still undergoing changes; i am not happy with that hoodie and am going to be getting rid of it and putting him in a cardigan or something as well. still undecided on the kinda shoes he will be in.

while the other sprites are suffering from layering memes, these two SORELY needed an actual do over and im happy with how they came out! my only gripe with mercys new one is that with only one eye visible, i feel like im struggling to show the same range in expressions that her old one afforded me. its a lot easier to be expressive with two eyes, and i hope i can still convey her complex emotions with just the one

some more examples of her old ones

now onto the problem child........rian. its always rian, lol. there have been many times where i thought about just cutting his character completely, but i think i finally know what i want to do and how to do it. (especially because i think he has some of the most heart tugging endings!) a big problem was me not wanting to divorce this games rian from OG rian, who i played in a dnd campaign many years ago. i had already had to somewhat sacrifice some of his personality for vyka, which was fine - but i kept getting stuck in holes during writing and i think i know what i want to do now. i will be going back and rewriting his parts (AGAIN) but i can't do it until his sprite is finished to reflect anything that involves his clothing and whatnot. a lot of the change is also going to come from mercenyas attitute towards him; currently she kind of just shitposts and ive found her to be WAY too talkative considering how reserved she is, and she is, well, quite racist towards the people of his country. rian is also no longer bisexual - there are elements of his backstory that i thought would be more despair inducing if he were not.

now....CGS! i think ive finally decided on just where i want them, and how many the total is going to be. barring any changes (i doubt it would go up, but there is always a chance i dont add some of these) the current tally is at 23! quite a whopping amount for just a common route, i think. i know others (re: devs) are internally screaming at me on why the hell would i do this to myself, and yeahhh thats true LOL but i dont think its too bad considering im just kind of mozying along now rather than putting pressure on myself to finish by x time. as a consolation prize for my rambling, have this vyka cg! they are so silly together :)

i will be fully transparent - idk if i will have anything noteworthy to share next month as i am currently going on a dragon age binge lol. but as always, thanks for sticking with me and see you next time!

- sylla