Re-Life [7 Day Challenge]

[choklitchan]

The curtain opens...
A small, darkened figure creeps on stage...
It takes a deep breath, and says,
"I'm baaaaack!"

Hey again, everyone. =)
choklitchan here, and after a month-long absence, I'm back with a new project. I had to take a break from my VN loving-ness to study for AP tests and final exams. Now that classes are officially over, I can come back! *cries tears of happiness* I hadn't done a single VN-related thing since (except guiltily come back every few days to lurk in the forums) and I'm suffering from withdrawal.

After my ecstasy over finally finishing a VN on my own, Shrinkled, I decided I wanted to try again with another time-crunch project. Last time, my goal was to finish a VN within 24 hours. This included story, art, sound, etc.
Even though I'm happy I finished it, I know I could have done so much better if I had more time.
So I'm back for a second round of punishment of fun.
This time, I'm giving myself a week to finish.

I thought it would be interesting to see how this plays out. You guys can hold me accountable for my deadline. I'm posting this at 8:30 EST, and will update my progress at the same time each night.

Here's my timeline.
Note: each "day" is 24 hours. So this project shall be done at 8:30 pm, June 1st (*See below as to why*).

Day 1: Story idea and outline, Script start
Day 2: Script
Day 3 and 4: Sprites/Art
Day 5: Customized Art
Day 6: Backgrounds, Music, and SFX (I can't create any of these originally, so I'm spending the day searching.)
*This day is high school graduation, so I will not be working on it at all. So it doesn't count, people.
Day 7: Programming this all in. (I know this will take all day; I'm horrible beyond the very basics of renpy. Even Shrinkled took me four hours to get it working bug-free, and it was pretty basic.)

By this time tomorrow, I should have the a story synopsis ready, and will have begun on the script.

I know this is pretty odd; most people take months, even years, to finish a project, and I want to do it in a week?! XD
Haha... Goodbye, sleep, hello trauma.
But I enjoy it so much; I don't think I'll start hallucinating until... at least day 4. Hopefully.

Added drama: Life. My grandma's here to visit, I have graduation practices on two days this week which are 5 hours each (To teach us how to walk. Walk. High school seniors need to learn how to Walk. TT___TT), and I'm graduating on TUESDAY.
Hahahaha... *cries*

Anyway, please wish me luck! And hope I retain some semblance of sanity by the time I finish.

Mission:
To PROVE I have a longer attention span than a goldfish.
To SHOW I can make a good VN.
To FINISH. (Ah, what a wonderful word. Finished.)
To HAVE... fun. <3

[choklitchan]

Day 1: Story Concept

Re-Life
[Mystery, Romance (GxB)]

Alanna is having a lousy day. Over and over again.
She's stuck, going through the same day over and over. And she doesn't know why.
You play as Alanna. You can see yourself go through your day, and must try to figure out why you're not not moving on. Are you dead? What happened, on today of all days, that's so important you must live through it four times?
That's right. Four times. At the end of four days, figure out why you're here, because the answer is the only thing that might save you from... whatever is keeping you here.
There are rules.
Certain things must happen, no matter what.
Some things you can change.
Some things you can't.
Some you shouldn't.

Characters:
Alanna- The MC
Alanna is somehow unable to move past a certain day. But no matter what she does, the end never changes. The lights of a large vehicle heading toward her, and the painful darkness afterward.

Mitchell
Mitch is the kind of student you're told to stay away from. He's nothing but trouble, so everyone says. He's nosy and ubiquitous, and you can't seem to avoid meeting him. Even though he's supposedly "bad", you just can't seem to dislike him. Something odd is going on, and you have a feeling he knows what it is.

Cara
Your best friend in the world. She's always by your side, ready with the latest gossip or friendly advice. You know you can always count on her.

Mr. Rokken
A well-liked school teacher. His family is prominent in the community, most of his family being involved in politics. Even with all this importance surrounding him, he is a very kind teacher who is popular with his students.

[redcat]

@Choklitchan--> Self-challenge, eh? Interesting. I wonder how you could pull up a complete script in just 24 hours.
I'm looking forward to see your progress. Good luck!

*bookmarks this page*

[choklitchan]

@redcat: Thank you!

Okay, I cheated; I made scribble sprites. XD
Here are two previews of the sprites. Then back I go to the script.

Alanna

Alanna

Mitch

Mitch

[ofdawnandtwilight]

Oooh this looks interesting and the art is so beautiful!
I hope you will succeed your self challenge and I will be waiting
More GxBs, yay!

[Lumen_Astrum]

It looks so cool and cute, and the sprites are cute too :3
Good luck with it

[Arithra]

The sprites look really great and the story sounds interseting.
seriously I admire your determination.. i would never be able to do a self challenge...
Good luck!

[choklitchan]

@ Nero, Lumen_Astrum, and Arithra:
Thank you guys for your encouragement!

I won't be here at 8:30 tonight, probably, so I'm posting the update now.
I have the scribble sprites for Mr. Rokken, Cara- who is now named Nicole-, and the profile pic of Alanna.
The script I decided to do over the next four days- one day for each day left. I can't do it in a lump sum, it seems, not with my crazy schedule.

Here's Rokken, Alanna, and Nicole...

Mr. Rokken

Alanna Profile

Nicole

[Snow Blossom]

Wow very nice character designs
The story is quite original too!
Glad to see your determination! Good luck with this!

[SilverxBlue]

The teacher is <3 *Oh no! My obsessive "thing" for meganes are acting up!*
I liked shrinkled so maybe I'll be able to like this one as well.
And wow, finishing it in seven days? I don't think I'd be able to achieve that, ever!
Good luck~

I have graduation practices on two days this week which are 5 hours each (To teach us how to walk. Walk. High school seniors need to learn how to Walk. TT___TT)

LOL! Reminds me of my graduation practices 2 months ago. We took it for one week though O_o we practiced singing and walking.

[babyfish]

*pounces on Mr. Rokken and squeals* Senseiiiiiiiii~ ^o^

That's the guy I'm going for first. X3 All the best, and I took forward to see you trump this challenge~

[choklitchan]

@ snowblossom:
Thank you, I hope you'll enjoy playing the game once it's finished.

@SilverxBlue:
Thank you! I'm glad you played Shrinkled; I hope you like this one even better.
Thank goodness; at least we didn't have to sing. How'd your graduation go?

@babyfish:
I love glasses too, XD Hooray for eyewear!

Update:
I did a little bit of everything today; I've got most of day one typed up, found all my BGs, beginning to color Alanna's sprite, and the rest of the story outline is done. Tomorrow's hopefully interruption free, so I can work my heart out.
In retrospect, I don't know if I should label this as a real "romance". You can definitely get a romantic end, but the main focus is really the mystery, so... :/ There's not much "wooing" involved here.

Out of curiosity, and I won't hold anything against anyone for answering honestly, but who truly thinks I will pull this off?
No pressure, anyone. *Takes out rifle and polishes it. Slowly*
No pressure.
Just kidding.

Oops, I'm a little late posting this... gyah. >_<

[Lumen_Astrum]

Those sketches are cool

[babyfish]

Realistically? Anybody can pull off this kind of challenge.

(....It's just a matter of doing it well.)

...And I'm very sure that you'll do very well!!!!! ^_^;; Please don't fire that thing at me...

[choklitchan]

@Lumen: Thankye.^_^

@ babyfish: And doing it well is imperative. Nah, I just like polishing it...

Update:
What? An hour late? Yikes. My excuse: I kinda fell asleep... Sorry.
But I have Alanna's sprite done. Inking Mitch now. And I got more script done.