In this thread, I will tell the whole process taken during the making of
EVE which can be found here. It can be lengthy and somewhat self-centered, so please press the Back button if you dislike long post or ego-booster. Also, I will include some tips in quotes whenever necessary. Oh, this thread will include spoilers that will ruin the game experience, so you are warned...
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Friday, December 20th 2008 around 9:00 pm(1:00 pm in UTC)As mentioned in the Staff Room, instead of working on another set of WS pages, I suddenly got an inspiration for a short story for Christmas instead. So I got everything ready on my working site.
Tip #1Quote:
While you can work in practically anywhere, it is good if you can prepare a perfect working site since it will help to give the optimum result. A working site is rated in how many distractions it has. The less the better. Below are possible distractions and way to solve it:
- The uncomfortable seat. Try and get a seat that you are most comfy with. Though remember not to get too comfy which will cause drowsiness.
- Hunger. As you work, energy is spent and soon you will feel hungry. Have some consumables around at hand reach, but not to disrupt your work.(Warning: Remember to clean up right after you call it a day. You don't want the waste to become another form of distraction.)
- Playing the wrong songs while working. Each has his/her own favorite tracks, so it is rather varied in what sort of songs to be played. Just don't pick any over-relaxing tracks.
Around 2 hours into the script, the person I was looking forward to was present. He is DrakeNavarone.
Code:
<FIA> hmm
<drakey> ?
<FIA> One question
<FIA> Think you are free for the next 4 days?
<drakey> for the next two, definitely
<drakey> i do have work come monday and tuesday though
<FIA> I would definitely need a proofreader.
<FIA> hmm, 2 days might be enough
<drakey> yeah i gather i can help you
<FIA> Hmm, give me around 10 minutes or so
I handed to him the script(Minus the memory section and the true ending), and called it a day.
Saturday, December 21st 2008It was the time to plan more while waiting for Drake's proofreading. I aimed to submit the game by either 24th or 25th, so I had to cut short on some parts.
Tip #2Quote:
Always plan before starting to work. It will be easier if you understand what you need to do by following the plan.
The idea of making custom backgrounds was the first to be thrown out of the window. That left me with only character sprites and cg scenes to work on.
First, the character was designed, since we cannot start working on the cg scenes without the characters beforehand. For EVE, I only need one character sprite, that will be Sandra( Not named yet at that time).
Attachment:
File comment: Early draft of Sandra, with her coatless design on the left
Image2.jpg [ 80.72 KiB | Viewed 101 times ]
I kind of like the design myself. Satisfied with the draft, I proceeded on drafting for the cg scenes.
Attachment:
File comment: Draft for cg scenes and Sandra's other sprite
draftcg.jpg [ 168.17 KiB | Viewed 104 times ]
The drafts were drawn on a folded A4 paper. That way, I could include up to 8 scenes per page. The purpose of folding it was so that I could work on it anywhere.
At night, I started tracing the drafts on tracing papers. Since I still could not assume I would make it by the deadline yet, the cg scenes are traced directly without redrawing them to a larger size.
Attachment:
File comment: Trace for the sprites and cg scenes
trace.jpg [ 73.63 KiB | Viewed 105 times ]
Around 11:00 pm, I met with DrakeNavarone as appointed. He gave me the proofread script, while I in return showed him the sprite. And called it a day.
Sunday, December 22nd 2008 12:00 PMSince I had to give a tutor class, I could not work on it till afternoon. And by the time I reached home, I played a game for an hour before getting myself back to work.
Tips #3Quote:
If you are not able to work on your project(Either by blockages or just stumped), it is okay to slack and do something you enjoy to release some tension. Just don't slack off too much.
2 hours into coloring them, I took another break, by working on an easier task in searching for suitable tracks. After finding the tracks I enjoyed, I returned to work, this time with the chosen tracks playing on the background. That way, I could clear up any second thoughts if a track does not fit in.
I called it a night after preparing a functional game download in mediafire, ready to give the link to DrakeNavarone by the next morning(Since he said beforehand he would not be around.)
Monday, December 23rd 2008Since I could not use the photoshop while working, I could only work on expanding the script(Note: Only during break). The epilogue and the memory were finished, however one extra route was excluded(It leads to a crazy ending, unlockable only after getting the true ending.)
After getting back home at 5:00 PM and doing my usual ritual( Some basic house chores, and the 1 hour gaming), I pressed on to finish with the remaining cgs.
On the other hand, I asked PyTom regarding some codes, especially the time reading one.
Another link was uploaded before I called it a day. The cg scenes were pretty much set at this moment.
Tuesday, December 24th 2008After submitting the last batch to DrakeNavarone, I realized something - I didn't supply a set of sprites for a coatless Sandra. Since it was a day-off, I could go easy for the day. The new set of sprites was made by tracing from the original sprite.
And by then the game was pretty much set to be released in the next 18 hours(I wanted to wait for the precise time). I started to work on customizing it by giving it a work on the text boxes.
6 hours before the release time, I sent a link to Drake via PM. I set the alarm clock and went to sleep...
Wednesday, December 25th 2008 4:00 AM... only to wake up at 4:00 AM of my time, which will be 8:00PM of December 24thin UTC. I got the 3 versions of EVE uploaded, and then press the "Submit" button by precisely 5:00 AM.
Just precisely 9:00 PM of December 24th in UTC...
And the rest is history.
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. I like how you organized tasks and allowed some off time to avoid burning out. I wish I had that kind of methodology ^^;