Lemma Soft Forums

New year has just started (for me anyway), so it's time to start with a clean slate and get on with the VN development.

I put out a small linear VN in 2014 but haven't managed to put anything else out since. I did manage some background art for Lads in Distress (so not a total washout). But trying to write a branching VN has been causing me grief (I even had one totally written ~40,000 words and had the characters commissioned and half the backgrounds done; when I decided the plot wasn't working for a branching VN. I've tried returning to it a couple of times to rework the climax but it's just not working, so I'm shelving it again.)

I do have another plot outline done that looks solid to me and I think that will be my project for 2018.

What's your new years project/plans?

My VN resolution is quite simple: GET THAT DAMN ALBATROSS OFF MY NECK.

...By which I mean, finish and publish my projects. And also move my complete one (Colette and Becca) to Steam.

Of course, the former will mean allocating the funds and time and programming to finish up the one, and then have to go through the nightmare of marketing and all that. There's another one that's been kept a tight-secret for some time, and I hope to be able to go public with that one, too...along with the marketing nightmare.

I'd like to spend at least 10 minutes a day reading visual novels, at least on "normal days".

I'd like to spend some time developing visual novels, rather than Ren'Py itself.

And I'll be getting Ren'Py 7 out the door, as well as work toward a version that supports shaders, 4k, live2d, and python 3.

I would like to work lots more on my game and completly finish the script. If possible, it would be cool to even start putting my demo together (no rush here though).
I also want to draw more. I want to draw more backgrounds and learn as well to work more with backgrounds in my art overall.

1. FINISH EVERYTHING I STARTED SO HELP ME!!!

2. MORE NANORENO AND LUDUM DARE!

3. (and stop biting off more than I can chew. haha.)

4. Working with awesome people is a must. <3

I'd like to finish at least one more project by the end of the year.

I need to draw characters better and finally start creating backgrounds. Maybe learn some Live2D.

I have a few projects open that I'd like to finish (namely Efemural Hearts and It Ends With Graduation). I've also formed a dev group with a couple friends late last year and want to get that to take off somewhat.

I'd like to improve as a writer and programmer too but those are more intangible goals.

1. Draw at least 30 minutes a day.
2. Release something. Anything!
3. Create a development schedule for my projects and create milestones.
4. Stick to milestones.

1. Start drumming up interest in "Unsound: Minds" and start revealing information on it.
2. Get "Unsound: Minds" demo finished.

I want to finish the game already! It is only a 10 minute game...I just need to finish the direction! So! Finish this game!

I'm going to invest money in a VN with the intention of earning it back! Which would have seemed like a crazy goal to me two years ago (back when I was drawing stick figures for sprites and when my backgrounds were just random photos I took in Dublin, for some reason). But now that I've released a commercial game and it accomplished what I wanted it to, that goal doesn't seem so crazy.

We're not talking big money, mostly just stuff like the Steam Direct fee and maybe a little bit toward music (since my current project involves a specific musical genre and the authenticity of the music is a potential selling point). But it still feels weirdly empowering to do even basic spreadsheet math: "OK, if I spend X, how many copies do I have to sell at what price to break even?"

[jaded, old man's voice]

Finishing a game.... Ha! I used to think like that when I was a young whippersnapper.

Now I just settle for finishing the intro

My VN dev resolutions would be:

1. Making shorter projects!
   Projects with around 20k words, 40k words being the absolute maximum.
   Long-term projects are great, but it's easy to burn out on them. I'd really like to experiment with different styles, to improve my writing. I'm realising that perfecting One Long Project Which Will Hopefully Be Good is ultimately not as interesting creatively.
   
   ---
2. Switching to contemporary settings!
   I've been pretty much exclusively dealing with pseudo-Victorian and fairy-tale-like settings since forever, but I'm finally getting an itch to try out very modern, contemporary settings. I find using old-timey settings to be great to deal with certain themes indirectly, but for some reason I'm finally feeling like being more direct.
   
   ---
3. Taking & Using my own photographs for photographic BGs!
   This one won't happen this year, in all likelihood. That's just an odd dream of mine. I have a few places in mind that I'd love to use for certain story ideas.
   
   ---
4. Not burning out, taking it slow!
   It's just not worth it! I guess I've been realising how precious and fragile health is? Also it's easy to put a great deal of pressure to succeed in x or y way in this world, but I mean it, it's just not worth killing oneself through work.

Release my first VN (which was supposed to be published last year and is ironically called "The Deadline"), and start to work on a smaller but more creative project I'm already outlining. Also I'm hoping to spend at least 2 or 3 hours per week on reading VNs, which won't be that easy since I'm gonna become a dad soon and my day job is already taking up enough time.

-Hopefully finishing my current project 'The Thorn prince' before next newyear. Don't know if that's a realistic goal though.
-Finishing the demo should be though.
-Come up with a better title, I'm liking v3 better than the previous two names it had but not enough.
-NOT making any new versions of what I made thus far. Especially my MC, we're already 5 versions in...
-Doing a bit more proofreading
-(Optional sidequest:) NaNoRenO?